Land Trust honors Big Red Barn’s farming legacy

Published 4:30 am Wednesday, July 29, 2026

Descendants of the founders of the Big Red Barn Farm at the corner of Old Olympic Highway and Kitchen Dick Road have been named the North Olympic Land Trust’s Farmer of the Year.

The Dick Family Farm was honored at the Land Trust’s 11th Family Picnic on Sunday, July 26, at Olympic Bluffs Cidery & Lavender Farm in Agnew. The event featured a potluck, live music, beverages, and games.

Janice Hunt, the youngest granddaughter of William Dick, who purchased the property and built the barn in 1904, said, “It’s very important to keep it for farming in the community.”

According to the Land Trust, ownership passed to the Hunt family through marriage and inheritance, and was owned for more than 100 years by the Dick and Hunt families.

The farm dates back to 1886 when James B. Dick immigrated from Scotland to farm in Dungeness.

The Dick family bought 260 acres in 1904, and now the Big Red Barn Farm, historically known as the Dick Family Farm, is a 135-acre working farm. At one point it supported more than 100 dairy cows, and since the 1980s, the farm has been worked on by Adolphsen Farm, whose owners were honored as Farmer of the Year in 2013.

In December 2025, the Land Trust purchased the property for $6.25 million to prevent it from being developed into a subdivision.

According to Land Trust staff, their goal is to permanently protect the land with agricultural conservation easements, keep it in active farming, and eventually make it available to future farmers at an affordable agricultural value rather than selling it to the highest bidder.

The Big Red Barn Farm will remain farmland forever, they said.

Mike Auger, the Land Trust’s conservation director, said they plan to place agricultural conservation easements on the property, hold it for approximately six to seven years, and then sell it to a farmer when the time is right.

Because the easements permanently limit development, they reduce the property’s market value, making it more affordable for farmers to purchase, he said.

Future owners must follow the restrictions outlined in the conservation easements to ensure the land remains protected and in agricultural use, Auger said.

Irene Hunt, a direct descendant of Jessie, one of the farm’s family owners, said she is “glad the barn is preserved.”

Janice Hunt said the soil is so rich at the farm that it’s called Dick sandy loam soil, and that it’s “prime agriculture soils on that land.”

According to Land Trust marketing materials, they seek about $460,000 more for the Big Red Barn Farm fundraising campaign to preserve it as farmland.

For more information, visit northolympiclandtrust.org.

This was the 27th Farmer of the Year award.

In 1999, the nonprofit Friend of the Fields began awarding the Farmer of the Year Award to honor an individual, organization, or farm that has had a lasting and significant impact on the ability of the local lands to provide food and sustenance for the community. When Friends of the Fields and North Olympic Land Trust merged in 2010, the Land Trust continued this legacy.

Some of the past awardees include Nash Huber, Steve Johnson, Gary Smith, Johnston Farm, Clark Farms, Chi’s Farm, Sisterland Farm, and last year the Port Angeles Farmers Market and Sequim Farmers and Artisan Markets.