One year after she and thousands of others were flooded by an unprecedented disaster in Whatcom County, Sumas-area farmer Leea Rainey Heeringa is still dealing with the impacts, not only on her farm, but also in processing the trauma she survived. Heeringa joins Dillon to share what it was like to live through the historic flood, and why she remains so passionate about reminding people of the disaster and urging solutions to keep it from happening again.

After a setback due to the pandemic, the Whatcom Farm Circle event grew to new heights in 2022. Ellie Steensma Corbin, Whatcom Family Farmers' Agriculture Education Coordinator, joins Dillon to explain how the field trip for third graders from Whatcom County schools works, and what this year's event included.

New state rules forced Alan Schreiber, a fruit and vegetable farmer near Eltopia, WA to leave one of his fields unharvested and let tens of thousands of cantaloupes rot away. Now that a video of Schreiber sharing the story has gone viral on Save Family Farming's Instagram account, he joins Dillon to answer the inevitable criticism the video is receiving on social media, explaining how the critics are missing the big picture.

Salmon are being restored and agriculture continues to thrive in the Yakima River Basin thanks to a collaborative effort between tribes, farmers, environmental interests and others. But as Dillon hears from Scott Revell, Roza Irrigation District Manager, the process didn't start that way, and may never have succeeded if the focus had stayed only on the state's water rights adjudication and the acrimony it created in the courtroom.

More and more people all over the Pacific Northwest and beyond continue to discover Blaine's Drayton Harbor Oyster Company and it's delicious shellfish. But, as Dillon learns from second-generation oyster farmer Mark Seymour and his biologist partner Kat Garrah, it took a lot of work to make it possible. Mark and Kat explain why the whole Whatcom community needs to work together to protect our water resources and ability to grow shellfish.

Advocates for protecting farming in Skagit County are continuing to push back against Seattle City Light's attempts to buy up farmland and take it out of production to mitigate for the lack of fish passage on its Skagit River dams. Will Honea, Skagit County Senior Deputy Prosecutor, updates Dillon on the latest developments, including an upcoming public hearing on Skagit County's efforts to make its ban on such land grabs permanent.

The New York Times recently featured the success of collaborative efforts to solve water management problems in the Yakima River Basin, and Dan Keppen, Executive Director of the Family Farm Alliance, joins Dillon to share more about the opportunities that negotiated settlements provide, as opposed to the litigatory path the Washington State Department of Ecology is pursuing in the Nooksack River Basin.

A process that can achieve real solutions to Whatcom County's water crisis exists, and has been resoundingly successful in other similar situations across the country. Respected water law expert Paul Simmons joins Dillon to explain how a negotiated Indian Water Rights Settlement process could make possible the changes needed here to protect families, fish and farming, as well as how massive federal funding is available if our community collaborates rather than fights in court.

While Joe Nichols’ 2013 hit song “Sunny and 75” points to the weather described in its title as the quintessential perfect day, labor activists are now attempting to spin 75-degree weather as ‘hazardous’ for farm workers. Pam Lewison, Director of Washington Policy Center's Initiative on Agriculture, joins Dillon to discuss how the extremists' plan defied common sense and exposed their ulterior motives.

September is Eat Local Month, and Sustainable Connections is working to help coordinate the celebrations across Whatcom County. Jess Meyer, Sustainable Connections' Food & Farming Outreach Coordinator, joins Dillon with the details on the various events and festivities happening all month long.