In May 2009, Thorn Creek Native Seed Farm donated and planted Palouse native wildflowers and grasses at the Artisan Barn in Uniontown, WA.  This is our way of saying "Thank you" for what they do for our seed farm, our communities and our local artisans.    The Shop at the Barn sell our seed packets and the wonderful works of local artisans and food producers.  Now The Artisan Barn is reciprocating the "Thank you" with posting us as thier Featured Friend of the Barn in their August newsletter.

Go to our website "Places to Visit" page in the resource menu and click on Artisans at the Dahmen Barn.
You can see list of all the plant species growing at the Artisan Barn.as well of pictures.  Also, check out The Artisan Barn website.  On Sunday, August 8th, Wylie Gustafson and his Wild West Band will be performing.  Wylie is the famous Yahoo yodeler who puts on a fabulous show!

For other Farm News, we have been busy harvesting our 20 species of Inland Northwest native wildflowers.  We have swathed and thrashed or combined Lttle Sunflower ( Helianthella uniflora), Oregon Sunshine (Eriophyllum lanatum), Clarkia-Elkhorns (Clarkia pulchella), Taper-leaf penstemon (Penstemon attenuadus) ...to name a few.  We still have six species to havest between now and October.

We use many methods to separate the seed from the plant.  It can either be a two or one-step process. For the Oregon Sunshine and Little Sunflower we cut the plant off close to the ground with a Swather (see the pictures). 

The plant materials is left to dry on the ground in rows or picked up and drys out on large tarps.  After one or two weeks of drying,the plants are thrashed by our portable Volmer plot thrasher (aka Jaws!) or a combine.  The trashing process separates the seed from the seed head.  Later on this week  and for the next several months, we will separate the seed from the small plant material with our seed cleaning equipment.  Then the seed will be ready for your fall native plantings.

It has been a month since we last updated our farm news. July went by so fast I do not even know where to start our July story- so much has happened!  First I want to re-introduce our wonderful summer employees-Katie, Anne and Christy.  Today I will introduce you to Katie.
One of Kaite's highlights this summer is the purchase of a laptop.  One lunch break on the farm, Katie showed us some of the fun applications she has had fun playing with!


Katie graduated from Colton High School as Salutatorian and class President.  This fall she will attend the University of Idaho for Landscape Architecture.    She plans to join two of the UI choirs as well.    The hills are alive with the sound of music when Katie is working on Paradise Ridge.  Katie started working at Thorn Creek Native Seed Farm when she was in the 8th grade - this is her 5th year with us.  She is always upbeat and is willing to and is able to do all of the hard physical labor the job requires.  She is good at distinishing the large and small difference of our species so makes a great collector.  She cleans many our species as well.  This summer she is learning the latin names of our native species.  Katie will hae alot to contribute in her plant eycosystem course work.



When Katie and I were collecting Mule's Ears ( Wyethia amplexicaulis) and Stickey Purple Geranium (Geranium viscosissmum), she came accross about 20 Mariposa lilies (Calochortus nitidus).  It looks like a large soft purple tulip on a12" stem.  Notice the many hairs on the inside.  Usually the deer get to the pods before we do!