Rising up to feed our future

Last week over 300 people from seven countries and 23 states came to the seventh annual Great Grains Gathering. Bakers, brewers, millers, researchers, scientists, home and backyard varieties of the above, and at least one La Conner organic farmer came, to learn, admire, copy and take home techniques, tips, samples and business cards.

Washington State University’s bread lab team is breeding and harvesting its vision of turning the Skagit Valley’s barley and wheat crops into high demand flours, malts and whiskey feedstocks sought for their flavor and quality.

For some, the emphasis is beyond encouraging a local economy. They are stretching to create an alternative food system as the foundation of a sustainable society. That is where Gen Z is going to live.

Keynote speaker June Jo Lee’s research tells her the future contains an American population rich in diversity—the color of their skin, the languages they speak, the countries they or their parents came from—and they view life through multiple lens. The enchanted is as real as the physical world to them, she says.

Add to that her observation that “local” is an enchanted place. In defining it, inhabiting it, we make local real. We make local ours.

Combine local and food and what do you have? The Skagit Valley is one good answer and one good example of farmers, processors, producers, citizens, artists, poets, us, building a local food economy daily.

Consider the Hedlin Farm Market at the roundabout, Skagit Valley Food Co-op in Mt. Vernon, or the Bread Lab at The Port of Skagit. Each combines what an “economy” is about: people, products and services, customers, purchases.

All are making the Skagit Valley hum. That is a tune all of us can learn.