General
Family business finds drive to keep moving forward
Like multigenerational family farms, the “family” part of Younker Bros is important, and it’s something Shane Younker hopes will continue. “We’d definitely like to keep the business in the family if we can. So far so good,” he said. Younker Bros, in Spokane, was started in 1991 when Pat Younker;…
Pressed into Palouse history
It’s not a typo. Palouse, Wash., with a population of a little over 1,000, is home to one of the wonders of the world. A few of them, actually. Thomas Edison called the Linotype machine the eighth wonder of the world for the way it revolutionized the printing process. Until…
Together, on the road to Abilene
Progress. Seems to be a controversial word these days, yet it’s what most of us are striving for in one way or another. You hear some people say they’re a progressive person; I think that means they sell auto insurance though. Folks debate progress. Is it good? Bad? Does it…
On life support
For 130 years, the St. Ignatius Hospital has perched on a hillside overlooking Colfax, Wash. Once-bustling hallways and operating rooms are now empty and deteriorating, but a local couple is hoping to breathe life back into its neglected spaces. Austin Storm and his wife, Laura, purchased the building in 2021,…
WAWG past president still farming in the Palouse
In an occupation that is far more a way of life than just a profession, Dave Harlow has something in common with many other farmers. “I remember not particularly enjoying some of the jobs on the farm in my youth, but a few years later, my perspective had changed. Now,…
A little ‘whine’ with that wheat?
My wife said she thinks I stress over things too much. I disagreed. But apparently, my wife belongs to a powerful global cabal of worried farm wives, a cabal who’s influence likely spans continents, oceans, maybe even space itself. I know this because a lot of other folks started making…
Tractor Throwback
It wasn’t the fieldwork happening along Highway 95 in early October that was unexpected, it was the equipment doing the work — no towering, high-tech machines in sight, only old tractors, most pulling small moldboard plows. In all, about 30 tractors took part in a plowing bee organized by Palouse…
‘Man of action’ takes on new role as PNWA president
Tom Kammerzell is a man of action who wears many hats. He approaches issues and projects by conducting thorough research and then instituting a plan to achieve specific goals. “If you aren’t playing offense, you are always going to be on defense, in a reactive mode,” he explained. Kammerzell was…
Introducing the ‘new kid’
We’ve all been there. Sitting at the local café/coffee pot/rural community news center when a strange vehicle pulls into town. “That’s the new kid” one of the local farmers says. “He’s taken over the old Smith place.” Folks smile and shake their heads, bless his heart but he doesn’t know…
Different crops, same issues
Farmers in the Skagit Valley may be producing crops unthinkable in Eastern Washington, but they face many of the same pressures as dryland wheat farmers do. At stop after stop, producers on last month’s legislative food and farm tour discussed issues such as farmland preservation, labor, the cost of inputs,…
