04/04/08 Farmers market manual; an orchard walk

Washington Ag April 4, 2008 A new Washington State Farmers Market Manual is now available. The 90-page manual was developed by the Washington State Department of Agriculture in cooperation with Washington State University, and with support from the Washington State Farmers Market Association. WSDA says the manual has everything in it one needs to run a successful farmers market. A copy can be downloaded from the WSDA website or WSU's Small Farms Program website. WSU's Small Farms Team and Tilth Producers of Washington are sponsoring a Farm Walk featuring orchard production April 14th at Nicholson Orchards of Peshastin. Dennis Nicholson says of their fifty acres ten are certified organic, ten are in transition and the remaining are conventional. Nicholson: "We are going to talk about transitioning from conventional growing to organic growing and we are going to be talking about some of the pitfalls in that and some of the management issues. We are also going to have a grafting demonstration." That farm tour Monday April 14th is from noon to 3:30 at Nicholson Orchards in Peshastin at the intersection of Campbell Road and U.S. 97. More info is at www.tilthproducers.org I'm Bob Hoff.