Country Green Turf Farms, Olympia WA
Given that I’ve got farming on the brain, our recent Amtrak trip across the western United States was fascinating. The train goes through a lot of farm country, I guess in part because there is a lot of farm country in the western United States. We saw strawberries in Oxnard, the metastasis that is California’s wine country, grand fields of lettuce, the most beautiful aggregation of iris I’ve ever seen and lots of wheat and alfalfa.
Wheat and alfalfa seem to be staples.
But the strangest farm of all came just outside Olympia, Wash., a carpet of green with little squares cut out of the edges, the largest lawn I’ve ever seen. When I tweeted a picture, Brett Walton recognized it as the turf farm where they grow the grass for the Seattle Mariners baseball stadium. With that clue and some Google mapping, I believe I tracked it down to Country Green Turf Farms.
Given the cost of a beer at the ballpark, I’d say that’s some high-value agriculture.
I am a big fan of your blog and have often praised your work and encouraged others to follow it. It was therefore with some disappointment that I read the words “the metastasis that is California’s wine country”. I am a California winemaker who devotes a lot of time and effort to understanding environmental issues, especially those concerning climate change, water, wildlife and wetlands. I also try my best to farm responsibly and be an advocate for a long-term view of the consequences of our actions today. What exactly is the point of such a throwaway careless insult? Your readers deserve better.
David – Sorry, a thoughtless turn of phrase.