Honoring a Lifetime of Sustainable Agriculture

There’s a lot that I love about my job. I get to source some of the coolest, freshest, and most local produce to be had. I also work with a lot of great people. We have customers who really appreciate what we are doing and tell us so. And I am privileged to be involved in our weird, wonderful, vibrant local agricultural scene without having to actually farm anything.

Every year, we have a lunch meeting with a group of our key farms to discuss what went well, what could use work, and what changes farms have planned – to their lives, farms, crop lists, and so on. People from other co-ops frequently ask me about this meeting. In fact, it’s often one of the few things they know about our store, and I’ve only recently started to understand why they find it so interesting: Skagit Valley farmers are remarkably supportive of one another. There’s no fighting at our meeting. Farmers offer to share responsibility for crops, they sign up as primary or secondary growers, commiserate and offer advice, laugh, set up equipment sharing, and so on.

Anne Schwartz of Blue Heron Farm in Rockport has always been a key player at these meetings, and I think the biggest news at the meeting this year was that she is stepping back significantly after a lifetime of farming the upper Skagit Valley. With this big piece of news, I wanted to take some time to recognize and appreciate Anne, as she has done for us so many times over the years.

It’s hard to overstate Anne’s importance to our regional food systems, state agriculture, and even the establishment, implementation, and definition of the National Organic Standards. She has always been one of the Food Co-op’s biggest cheerleaders and supporters, and she helped me develop what we have today in our produce department.

Anne moved to Washington from New Jersey in 1975. She had been offered a full ride at Rutgers in their agriculture program, but declined the scholarship to pursue her interest in veterinary science at Washington State University. She earned a degree in animal and dairy sciences with hopes of getting into WSU's highly-competitive post-grad Veterinary Program. Although not selected for the program, she had learned an incredible amount about food systems and had noticed a lack of sustainability in farming practices; she saw monoculture wheat farms stripping the land, ill treatment of animals, and a lack of foresight and planning. So, Anne forged her own path instead - a lifelong pursuit of sustainable, organic agriculture, which brought her here.

She moved to Sedro-Woolley and worked for a dairy farmer at Northern State, learning how to handle trucks, tractors, and other aspects of farming. She joined what was then known as the Tilth Producers’ Cooperative, which later became Washington Tilth. In 1979, she joined up with Cascadian Farm, and started farming her own land in Rockport. She played a very important role at Cascadian with her knowledge of farm equipment and practices. For 15 years, the local fire department consisted of Anne and her husband along with one or two other volunteers at a time. She has volunteered on countless advisory committees, helped get the Pullman and Moscow Food Co-ops off the ground, mentored countless young idealists, and provided delicious, healthy food to many people.

Anne will continue to provide us with a few of her favorite crops. We will see some bamboo shoots, baby greens, raspberries, blueberries, and parsley with the familiar Blue Heron Farm tag. But also be on the lookout for a new tag. Long Hearing Farm will be providing some of the crops that Blue Heron has provided in the past, and is run by Anne’s student and farm hand Elizabeth on Anne’s land. I wish Anne the best in her semi-retirement, and offer my sincere thanks for all that she has done for so many people. Thank you, thank you.