Meet us at Ruby Slippers Farm (12 The Meadows Road in Carlton). Cloudbird Bonin will show us how she grows vibrant, nutritious produce using a variety of holistic farming techniques including vermiculture composting, biochar preparation, minimal tillage, and Korean natural farming methods. Carpooling strongly encouraged!
July & August are super-full of some really exceptional learning opportunities:
To get all the details on these events, check out our Events page here.
With drought in the headlines, you may be wondering how the Valley’s rivers are holding up? As of June 25th, the Methow River is at 32% of the Median flow as measured in Pateros. That means we’re about 3 to 4 weeks ahead of last year, and likely to experience very low flows on all of the valley’s rivers over the next 90 days. This is a serious concern for the threatened and endangered fish who call the Methow home and for local agriculturalists. Read more…
Picture this - 54 fourth graders, two dedicated teachers, five mother sheep and lambs, a handful of volunteers, and a crew of knowledgeable local farmers and ranchers converging at the Moccasin Lake Ranch hay barn on a stormy day in June. It's Ag Day 2019. Read more...
Interested in county government but can’t always get to Okanogan? You can stay up to date on Okanogan County issues from the comfort of your computer screen or tablet. Thanks to Okanogan County Watch, a dedicated group of volunteers who attend, take notes and video at public meetings, you can stay informed about issues in our county! Visit www.countywatch.org for more information, to volunteer or to access this valuable service in our community!
A Burn Ban is now in effect for Okanogan County, which includes campfires and charcoal barbecues. Please do your part to prevent human caused wildfires in our valley this summer and watch the Okanogan County Fire District Facebook Page for updates.
You can access near real-time data showing the geographic location of lightning strikes as storms occur. Check out these sites for more information: LightningMaps.org, Blitzortung or WeatherBug and be sure to report any smoke columns you see after the storms have passed by calling 911 immediately.
On June 10th, the Okanogan County Commissioners adopted an interim amendment to the County Zoning Map which effectively changed the minimum lot size for the lower Methow Valley (south of the Methow Review District) between Gold Creek and Pateros. An upcoming public hearing is your chance to add your voice. Read more...
Our Conservation Biologist Julie Grialou is trying hard this summer to pay attention to smaller native plants that may not always have the show-iest flowers, but are fascinating, complex, and worth our appreciation, too. This month she delves into the native buckwheat family, important nectar sources for butterflies and other pollinators. Read more...
This month we share appreciation for Bill Tackman and Katie Haven of McFarland Creek Ranch for hosting our June First Tuesday on the Farm, for the awesome volunteers who started our restoration work on our newly conserved property in Mazama, for Rufus Woods of the Wenatchee World for an awesome article on our impact, for our newest supporters, and for Nicole and Ryan Scherler of East Slope Studio for our new website design. Read more...
Come read along with us in July as we’ve been fascinated by a smokejumper’s love story with the West, understood more about the priorities and challenges facing the head of WDFW, learned about a little known endangered species recovery effort right under our noses, grappled with the consolidation of large parcels in the West into the hands of a few extremely wealthy individuals, and took note of the development of new technologies that will help land managers to make quicker decisions about wildfire behavior. Read more...
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We sure appreciate you and your support of conservation in the Methow Valley. Thank you!
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