We are thrilled to announce tickets for our 2024 Farms Forever are now on sale! We have a few changes to our event this year that we are excited about. First and foremost is our location change. We are honored to have partnered with the Squaxin Tribe this year to host our event at the Little Creek Casino Resort! We feel very fortunate that they are willing to work with us on our menu so that we are still able to offer a delicious farm-to-table feast featuring fresh food from our local farm community.
We are also foregoing our online auction this year for a small in-person live auction with exciting packages! We have hired an incredible auctioneer, Matt Smith from the Actors Group in Seattle. While we are not having an online auction, we will be showcasing our live auction items on our auction website prior to the event!
Coming Full Circle: Introducing our Keynote Speaker-Dani Madrone
We are so excited to have Dani Madrone from American Farmland Trust (AFT) as our speaker for Farms Forever this year! If you haven't gotten your ticket CLICK HERE to secure your seat now!
Dani leads policy agenda for Oregon and Washington as the PNW Senior Policy and Planning Manager at AFT. She has over a decade of experience in protecting and restoring food systems of both land and sea. Before joining AFT, Dani served the tribes of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission by supporting the implementation of their priorities for Puget Sound and salmon recovery.
She started her career with the South Sound Food Summit in 2011. This event brought people together to celebrate and plan for the future of their local food system. She has remained active in food advocacy and built strong relationships across sectors.
As a member of the Olympia City Council, she has developed partnerships and policies to implement local food priorities in the comprehensive plan. Dani holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Public Administration from the Evergreen State College, where she studied science and policy for climate change and sustainability.
In the not so distant past, Dani also worked for the Community Farm Land Trust! She knows first hand the work it takes to bring together farmers and chefs for Farms Forever! We are so honored for our continued partnership with her through her various positions on projects with the Trust. Thank you Dani, we are grateful to have your support and to work beside you on farmland preservation in our community. Please help us welcome her back to Farms Forever this year as our keynote speaker.
Happiest of Hours at Farms Forever with Kendl Winter This Year!
We are ecstatic to announce that Kendl Winter will be playing at Farms Forever this year! This is such a special treat for all of us to enjoy. Primarily known as one half of the Americana duo The Lowest Pair, Kendl is also a prolific collaborator and solo artist. Arkansas born, Winter honed her distinctive blend of country, bluegrass, and lo-fi indie folk in the late 2000s as a member of folk-punk band the Pasties, followed by stints throughout the next decade as part of bands like bluegrass quartet Blackberry Bushes, Americana duo Southern Skies, indie rock outfit It's All Gotta Go, and the afore mentioned duo The Lowest Pair. A multi-instrumentalist best known for her banjo playing, Winter has recorded several well-received solo albums for Olympia’s K Records, including 2013's “It Can Be Done!”, before joining the roster of Team Love Records for 2018's “Stumbler's Business”.
You can now buy tickets through our auction website! We have individual tickets as well as whole tables available. If you would like to sit with your friends and family, we encourage you to buy a whole table (8 seats)! Can’t fill up 8 seats for a whole table? Consider donating a ticket to a local farmer!
***If you received an email from us recently about tickets through our event platform Auctria, you are already registered in our system. Save yourself and us some time and please use that same email to login to buy your tickets for this year’s event. We should already have your contact from previous years.
We have three ticket options available to suit your fancy.
'Feed a Farmer' Ticket (1 Farmer Seat $150)- One individual seat for a local farmer!
Farmers do so much to feed our community so now is your chance to give back with a 'Feed a Farmer' ticket! Support your local farmer today with a ticket to our dinner! Perhaps you know a hardworking farmer that you would like to give back to? Buy a ticket and invite them yourselves.
Or maybe you just want to show some appreciation to a local farmer that puts food on our tables, let us find a farmer for you! Buy a ticket, and email us at Farms Forever . We will be sure it goes to a worthy farmer.
Farms Forever Table (8 Seats-$1200)-This is good for 8 seats.
Do you love baking? We are currently seeking bakers to donate delicious, mouth-watering desserts for our dessert dash. Each item needs to be enough for 8 servings per table. We are open to all kinds of dessert options from cookies, cupcakes, brownies, pie, cake, and whatever your heart can dream up! We would also love a good mix of vegan, gluten-free, nut-free, and sugar-free options for our guests with dietary restrictions. Local berries or farm fresh ingredients are an added plus in our book! Not a baker? Share this with your friends or family members that love to bake. Feel good knowing that your delicious dessert will help us raise more money to preserve local farmland. And if you come to our event you can watch people drool and bid extravagantly as they fight over your delectable creation!
Attention Farmers!
Food and Flower Donations Needed
Our menu is pretty much set with the chefs at Little Creek Casino. We are so fortunate that they are working with us to keep this meal a reflection of the richness and bounty from our local farming community. That being said this meal could not happen without the generosity of our local farmers. Farmers mark your calendars for the weeks of Aug 5th for less perishable items and August 12th for more delicate produce!
We just got our procurement list of farm fresh items needed to make our dinner farmtastic! We will be sending that out to our list of farmers to recruit your assistance in procuring these items. FARMERS be on the lookout for an email for donation requests early next week! Thank you in advance!
We are also looking for any and all flower donations! If you are willing to donate a bucket or two of flowers, please reach out to us and we will gladly take them off your hands!
If you are interested in donating to our meal, please feel free to message us on Instagram or click the button below to send a quick email to us. We will add you to our list of food donors and send out our donation request with quantities as soon as it becomes available! Priority for Feed-a Farmer tickets will go to farmers that donate to our event!
Cowlitz Valley Lavender Farm is hosting their 2024 Lavender Celebration all weekend! Shop the large vendor market with hand crafted items, grab a meal or treat, take part in demonstrations, and roam the lavender field for the perfect U-cut bunch. Free to attend.
Free to enter but if you register ahead on their website (free) you will get a BOGO deal on U-Cut during the event! Click the ticketing button below for more information.
A donation of 135 Fruit trees has been gifted to the Skokomish Indian Tribe Community. On July 12, 2024, they will be having a pop-up event in the parking lot at Tuwaduq Family Services and would appreciate everyone that is interested in planting some fruit trees in their yard to help provide food to the community.
These trees can be planted as a memorial marker, a property marker, shade for your yard, and a tree for your children to climb. Plant a tree for the birth of a baby.
Many of us remember when we used to go pick fruit from different trees around the reservation, the cherries, the plums, the apples etc. Plant a fruit tree and provide food for future generations!
Stop by Tuwaduq Family Services on July 12, 2024, and pick up some trees. Dig a hole, plant the tree, give it water, and lots of love and it will give you food in return.