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Dear John,

In the northwest corner of Washington State, the mighty Skagit river meanders from the Cascade Mountains to Puget Sound, creating a fertile valley as it goes. In this valley you’ll find Blue Heron Farm [[link removed]], an organic farm owned by Anne Schwartz who has been farming in this small community for 44 years.

With retirement on the horizon, Anne has put extra effort into training the next generation, namely, her former farm employees. She provides them with know-how and resources and in exchange, they work a small number of hours on her farm. Anne’s goal is to help them successfully start their own farms. “None of us can do this alone, so I’m trying to be as helpful to my former employees as other farmers have been to me.”

READ ABOUT OUR FARMER HERO ANNE SCHWARTZ [[link removed]]

In April, we joined agriculture, rural, and mental health organizations to urge Congress to continue full funding for the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network (FRSAN) [[link removed]]. FRSAN funds a service provider network that connects farmers and ranchers to stress assistance programs. Because of FRSAN, we've been able to increase the capacity of the Farm Aid hotline team, including expanding our hours of operation.

Speaking of the Farm Aid hotline, our Hotline Program Manager, Caitlin Arnold Stephano, was on the podcast Fresh Take this week. She discussed her work at Farm Aid and talked about our Farmer Services team. Take a listen! [[link removed]]

FIND OUT WHY FRSAN IS SO IMPORTANT [[link removed]]

Peas are one of the first crops ready for planting in spring. All it takes is a little bit of space, seeds, support, and some know-how, which luckily, you can get from our HOMEGROWN 101 [[link removed]].

LEARN HOW TO GROW PEAS [[link removed]] Forward [link removed]

Farm Aid

501 Cambridge Street, 3rd Floor,

Cambridge, MA 02141

Top photo: Rachel Van Boven

Middle photo: Yana Petkova on Unsplash

Bottom photo: Mikołaj Idziak on Unsplash

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