This
is the time of the year when farmers on the mainland in the rich Skagit Valley,
donate hundreds of pounds of potatoes to us for the winter. We have been known still be enjoying them on
the 4th of July, which amazes our friends. We also receive beets and
brussell sprouts, which are still on
their long stocks.
"Skagit" can
refer to the Skagit Native American tribe, a dialect of the Lushootseed language, or a
geographic location like the Skagit River and Skagit County in
Washington. In the Lushootseed language, the word originally
meant "to hide away" or "place of refuge" and was
applied to the people who lived in the area, specifically the Lower Skagit
people on Whidbey Island, south of us.
This ultra-fertile valley is nestled under the
Cascade mountain range, with farmers producing about $300 million worth of
crops, livestock and dairy products on approximately 90,000 acres of land.
The Skagit River valley is blessed with
some of the most productive agricultural soil in the world. The valley's fertile soil has been rated in the top 2% of soils in the world, making the
Skagit Valley one of the most important and productive agricultural regions in
the world.
Thousands of years of flooding on the Skagit River deposited a rich layer
of topsoil in the Skagit Valley. European immigrants flocked here starting in
the 1860s and built houses in the flats, along with an elaborate network of
earthen dikes to capture land from the saltwater delta and prevent the rivers
from flooding the land.
Over 90 different crops are grown in the
county. Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, tulips, daffodils, pickling
cucumbers, specialty potatoes, Jonagold apples and vegetable seed are some of
the more important crops in this maritime valley. This summer one farmer brought us 30 flats of berries - to be frozen for winter- after we ate to satiety!
More tulip, iris and daffodil bulbs are
produced here than in any other county in the U.S. And our friend at Roozengarden is the largest. At Easter and Christmas (and special times in between) our chapel if filled with his flowers.Ninety-five percent of the
red potatoes grown in the state of Washington are from Skagit County.
In addition to food and fiber products,
agriculture in this region provides habitat for thousands of swans, snow geese
and dabbling ducks. I remember the first time I saw the snow geese in a field. It was January and as we drove by I swore it had snowed. As we got closer and closer to the site I could see the wings flapping. A magical sight, and people come from all over the world to see this wonderous bird, along with swans which feed amidst the geese.The
Skagit Delta supports 70 percent of Puget Sound’s shorebirds during migration,
the farmland being the reason why the Skagit Delta is one of the most important
waterfowl wintering areas in the Pacific Northwest, supporting over 90 percent
of the waterfowl wintering in western Washington.
The ongoing presence and preservation of farmland in the Skagit
Valley supports one of the nation’s last strongholds containing all five
species of salmon. The largest chum and pink salmon
populations in the entire lower 48, as well as the most abundant population of
wild Chinook salmon in Puget Sound are found in these rivers.
We are blessed to live in an area so rich in produce and to have so many farmer friends willing to share their crops with us.
Photos:
Top:
Jacob R. King
Tulips:
Ruth Choi
Bottom Geese:
Rahan Alduaij
