Farm to Table Dinner Held at The Lodge at Sonneveldt Vineyard
After a long four and a half years, we were able to gather as a community of Sustainable Lands Strategy partners, neighbors, and friends to sit around the table and talk about why we all care about this work. The focus of this year’s Farm to Table event was to highlight the video premiere of “Life in the Floodplain - Skykomish, WA” featuring Morgan Ruff of Tulalip Tribes, Andy Werkhoven of Werkhoven Dairy and SLS Steering Committee Member, and Anna and Chris Groeneveld of Groeneveld Family Farms. The video features both the challenges and benefits of living in the floodplain—a place important to farmers and fish alike.
The video was produced with Floodplains by Design funding and is meant to capture a topic rarely discussed—the floodplain—and explore the intersection between salmon habitat and agricultural needs. As Andy Werkhoven says in the video, “Probably the biggest challenge of farming in the floodplain is getting people to understand the value of floodplains for farming, and to respect how important farming is in the floodplain. It’s not black top and concrete. It’s a green space!”
new display boards to promote our endeavors in Sustainable Lands Strategy:
Featured Speakers and Program Highlights:
Kari Quaas, from the SLS Communications Group, planned and organized much of this event and fulfilled the role as emcee.
Daryl Williams, SLS Co-Chair and Tulalip Tribes member, welcomed attendees and recognized the other Steering Committee members for their guidance of the SLS work.
Sultan Mayor Russell Wiita—who also happens to be the grandson of Jerry Labish, a neighbor along Fern Bluff Road—provided a few words about the importance of this shared work in integrated floodplain management for his community.
We publicly recognized the multimedia work contributed to our region by the team at CaravanLab—Jennifer Moslemi, Marita Davison, and Leika Patch—for designing our new SLS website and for creating such vibrant personal stories to highlight the collaborative work being done in Snohomish County.
Summer Daugherty from Snohomish Conservation District and Tom Teigen from Snohomish County shared updates on some projects including Swans Trail Slough and Shinglebolt Slough.
Photographs from the event taken by Emma Crocker, Snohomish Conservation District:
We are grateful for this time together and look forward to more opportunities to gather through other events including Special Topic Sessions, Steering Committee and IT Meetings, or other community engagement events this summer. Please be sure to sign up for our e-newsletter and keep up with us on social media.