Farm Walks
We’ll be visiting The Grainery (Chimacum, WA) and White Lotus Farm (Port Ludlow, WA). Farm Walk attendees will choose which farm they want to tour after registering. Space is limited. Farm Walks are not included in Tilth Conference registration — be sure to add your ticket(s) when registering.
Buses are limited in capacity. Farm Walk selection is on a first come, first serve basis. When a bus is filled, the remaining attendees will be assigned a Farm Walk. If inclement weather makes transportation impractical or hazardous, tours will be cancelled.
Lunch and transportation included.
“Land to Loaf” Farm Walk at The Grainery
Join us for a tour of The Grainery’s diverse organic grain growing and processing operation in the Chimacum Valley. The Grainery seeks to support regional food system resilience with locally adapted, organically grown staple crops. Starting with a field walk, meet with fourth generation wheat farmer Keith Kisler and learn about his collaborations with the WSU Bread Lab and Sustainable Seed Systems Lab to trial and grow out heritage and modern grain varieties that have been adapted for western WA climate resilience, along with restored nutrition and flavor. From the fields, we’ll head to the nearby home farm where The Grainery has developed stonemilling, malting, and microbaking facilities in order to generate as much local food as possible from their locally grown grains— with a commitment to maximizing nutrition through whole grain, sourdough and sprouted grain offerings.
“Integrating Agricultural Collaboration, Entrepreneurship and Land Stewardship on the Farm” Tour & Biochar Production Demonstration at White Lotus Farm and Inn
Located in Port Ludlow, WA, White Lotus Farm and Inn is a 70-acre farm, owned and operated by agricultural entrepreneurs collaboratively managing three separate farm businesses (e.g., White Lotus Farm, Space Twins Provisions, and Space Lotus Floral Collective). Focused on integrated management systems (e.g., land, nutrient, and business) and interested in progressive approaches to soil and carbon management, the owners and operators of White Lotus will tour us around their property describing their unique approaches to management. Then, we’ll be joined by Olympic Peninsula based biochar professionals who’ll dive deep into the carbon removal and healthy soil building potential of biochar.
- Building and Operating a Biochar Kiln with Norm Baker
- Making Biochar with a Flame Cap Kiln with Francesco Tortorici
We’ll investigate what biochar is and how it can be used on the farm, and, with two illustrative kiln burns, we’ll learn how it’s produced. A robust question and answer session will follow the programming.