LSP Environmental Studies Community Event Reports

Amanda Sakuma

I had managed to pick up a spare in the last round, but with only two pins down and one frame left, prospects were not looking good. My opponent was already ahead and she could plow down the field with a wicked curve that came out of nowhere. Sadly, that opponent was a 6 year-old girl who stood no taller than my waist. She was absolutely schooling me in pumpkin bowling. I watched as she lobbed the stemless pumpkin down the lane at the rows of butternut squash serving as pins. Each “pin” keeled over in defeat. It was no surprise when the little girl won the prize of a mini painted pumpkin for conquering the match. Her parents offered me warm, thankful smiles as a consolation. As if I had lost on purpose.

Instead of living in up at school in New York City, I was spending my first Saturday of October in farm country. After taking a 5-hour flight to my hometown of Burlington, Washington for a completely unrelated event, I found myself at the Festival of Family Farms. An annual event of the community, the festival was originated by Washington State University’s Department of Agriculture. Composed of 12 local farms in the area, the event was established to educate the community on understanding where their food comes from. Now a non-profit organization, the Festival of Family Farms combines learning with fun family oriented activities under the slogan of “Acres of Fun for Everyone!”

My family’s berry farm (yes, berry farm) was one of those featured in the festival. My parents had bribed me to attend with prospects of free food. So, with a steamy, hot and fresh corn on the cob in hand, I sat squished in between two little kids on a trailer of hay bails for a tractor-ride tour of the farm that I had worked on all summer. My mom, the tour guide of the hour, sat at the head of the trailer with what looked like a mini karaoke machine that projected her voice over the roar of the engine.

I munched on my snack with kernels lodged in my teeth as my mom explained the progression of how our food is grown and harvested. Though I had worked on “the farm” since I could remember, it was almost embarrassing how little I knew about it. I did not know that our plants were propagated, or reproduced, through a process called plant tissue culture. This process essentially replicates plants without ever having a seed. It still sounds crazy to me.

After the tour, I headed towards the information tent to get out of the cold and to grab more free food samples. Tables were set up along the perimeter of the tent, some offering tutorials on pruning; others were giving free samples of caramel apples. The table that drew in the largest crowd was the one dedicated entirely to information on organic food. “Charlie the Organic Guy” was already in a deep conversation with some young families by the time I had joined. The question of the day asked by many parents was why buy local organic food instead of what is available at the grocery stores?

Charlie had an interesting response. He told the crowd that though conventional produce at grocery stores offered lower prices, customers are unable to know where it came from, how it was grown, and what pesticides were used. An advocate of buying fresh local produce, Charlie explained the importance of knowing that what you buy is fresh and suitable for consumption. He had an interesting point that though there are organic certifications on food, they are only applied to how they are grown. According to Charlie, there are no government regulations concerning the transportation of organic produce. The verdict, he said, was to buy fresh and local whenever available. His talk made me appreciate the Union Square market that came in front of my dorm 4 times a week.

Overall, to me, the event seemed to be a success. This was the first year of the festival that I was able to be a bystander rather than the hired help. Washington is notoriously dreary during this time of year, and this day was no different. The gentle drizzle was a testament to the family’s dedication and stability against the weather. I was told later that the festival of all 12 farms drew in roughly 15,000-20,000 visitors throughout the two-day event.

I am an advocate of the festival and what it stands for. My rural community is expanding faster than ever, but it still seems as though community members still believe in farmland preservation. Kids were able to physically see where their food came from, and how it was harvested and brought to their table. Parents were able to learn about the difference between organic and non-organic products to determine what they want to offer their family. It really was “Acres of Fun for Everyone!”