The goal is to be connecting people, the community with the land and the natural world we’re all interconnected with and dependent on.”

Niall Motson, White Lotus Farm

Earth Day is an event annually recognized to demonstrate and support the protection of our environment. The preservation of the planet begins and ends with us – human beings taking small steps toward making big impacts for the future of our home.

It’s not an easy job, but it’s one that can start just outside your front door.    

There is an abundance of businesses in the community that are eco-friendly and environmentally-conscious in their practices. That means Earth Day can be every day with some of the local vendors and small businesses available around town, at the farmers markets, and at your fingertips.

When browsing the aisles at Aldrich’s, foraging through the Food Co-op, and poking around the Chimacum Corner Farmstand, it’s easy to see the community doesn’t lack in local organic food suppliers. Unlike the big box stores, these grocers have a commitment to the consumer and to the environment.

They share a common mission: to provide their customers with the best of the best when it comes to local products. By supplying you with the local goods, these markets are supporting sustainability, minimizing waste, and decreasing their carbon footprint.

The products these stores carry come from local producers who also have a similar commitment to the land and the people they serve. Favorites like Midori Farm, Red Dog Farm, and Finn River Farm & Cidery who all honor the earth and the community through their organic farming and business practices; their products can be found dotting local grocers’ shelves year round.

When it’s market season, the Port Townsend and Chimacum farmers markets offer even more ways to stay green and support local.

By using certified organic practices, many of the local farms represented at the markets work hard to reduce the amount of synthetic pesticides and chemicals that pollute the ground and the water.

Find high quality produce, garden seedlings, and homegrown goods from all the local favorite farms. But also get a taste of outer Port Townsend with produce from the newer Soft Step Farm; and enjoy the gifts of Port Ludlow’s fertile grounds in the products provided by the up-and-coming White Lotus Farm.

“The goal is to be connecting people, the community with the land and the natural world we’re all interconnected with and dependent on,” said White Lotus Farm’s Niall Motson.

Alongside his partner, Natalie Swope, the big-picture mission of White Lotus Farm is to “build appreciation and awareness and a relationship with the land.”

“The food that we produce, we grow using practices that are striving to build the health of the land as much as possible,” Motson explained.

By building the health of soil through composting and encouraging fungal growth, promoting diversity of animals on the land, allowing surrounding wildlife and pollinators to thrive, and taking steps of sustainability, their regenerative care of the land minimizes impact and increases results.

In collaboration with two other businesses on the farm’s 70 acres, they are able to provide organic products of vegetables, fruit, nuts, meats, eggs, honey, and homemade breads made from local grain while also acting as good stewards of the earth.

Many farmers and vendors selling at the markets use methods that minimize the amount of waste and pollution they create.

Vendors like Cape Cleare Fishery use the unique system of SalmonCycling, trading in motorized vehicles for bicycles, to deliver 95 percent of their sustainably harvested wild salmon to the community. On top of their conservation-minded fishing practices, this delivery system leaves the smallest footprint.

At the Three Strands Handwovens’ stall, a percentage of the textile products are made with purchased or salvaged mill ends. This form of reuse prevents many pounds of fiber and cones from entering landfills. Another local vendor, Barbara Doolittle, crafts products that are frequently made from repurposed paper and other materials.

Don’t let Earth Day be the only day you support the protection of the environment and demonstrate your care of the earth.

In their everyday business practices, in their commitments to the community, and in their environmentally-minded decision making, support the businesses who make it their mission to support the planet.