2022 Our Valley Our Future Legacy Award
“I looked across the farmland and I just knew that if we didn’t do something to protect it, it wouldn’t be long before it was all developed. I knew we had to do something about it.”
All of life’s big, existential questions hit Philip G. Burton at a young age. Depression and the feeling that life was meaningless were a hard slog for him in his teens and early 20s.
He wasn’t sure he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, who were Anacortes jewelers.
Burton’s challenge to find meaning in life was met in his time outdoors and ultimately when, at 19 years old, he helped form a community group to save Fidalgo Island’s city-owned forests from being harvested.
That early work, and the belief that our agricultural lands were at risk of development, brought him to also be a nearly two-decade supporter of Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland (SPF).
“I was unsure of the value of material things. I spent a lot of time in nature. That’s what saved me. That’s why I wanted to preserve the forest land. That’s what really fueled my fire,” he said.
Burton has long held a reverence for the land. Even before founding the Friends of the Forest as a 19-year-old, he had driven across the country and considered the consequences of not protecting our farmlands.
Passionate Activist
“I looked across the farmland and I just knew that if we didn’t do something to protect it, it wouldn’t be long before it was all developed. I knew we had to do something about it,” Burton said.
Seventeen years ago, SPF Director Bob Rose asked Burton to participate in an event that would become the Harvest Dinner and Auction.
It was a small affair, first held in Rose’s farmhouse near La Conner and has since grown to become the premier community gathering event of the valley’s farmers.
Once he was connected through Rose to SPF, his support for the organization has been unwavering, and he continues to find every opportunity to engage with SPF’s mission to protect the viability of farmland and the required infrastructure.
“Phil represents a generation of business people and leaders in the community who recognize that the farmland is what makes this place special,” said Bob Rose, SPF Executive Director from 1995-2006.
“That’s the kind of people needed to save agriculture in Skagit County,” he added. “In the end, SPF is the right cause, but it still requires people and resources to speak out and against FCCs [Fully Contained Communities] and other ideas that aren’t in the right direction for keeping farming successful.”
Lifetime of Commitment
“It’s just been heartwarming to interact with the farm families. I just think it’s so important for all of us who care to engage and take the time to do whatever we can do,” he said.
“I’m just glad to be part of an organization trying to do the right thing. Our society revolves around making a dollar. The right thing often is not the dollar thing,” he said.
Burton has managed to find victory in the battle over depression and his youthful search for the meaning of life. He and his wife carved a home out of the woods on Guemes Island, where Burton milled the lumber himself.
They have planted 26 fruit trees, established full garden beds and a large greenhouse. “I am a farmer, too,” he said. But the commercial distribution of his goods is limited to friends and neighbors, as well as his store customers.
“My CSA subscribers are the older ladies in the jewelry store: ‘Would you like some eggs with your diamond?’,” Burton said with a laugh.
He still finds his solace in the woods, camping in the 1985 Vanagan that he’s owned since 1986. His cabin on wheels takes him mountain biking and kayaking, and across the Skagit Valley and its fertile farmlands.
Burton’s burning questions have shifted from his youthful search for meaning to asking, instead, how he can make a difference and amplify his conservation work through mentorship and philanthropy.
“I think we all have to give where we can,” he said.