My Journey in Small Farming

Thank you Rylea Foehl photography & Pierce County Fresh for choosing us to help tell our farming story & support our regenerative outreach mission!…More of Rylea’s photos at https://ryleafoehl.com/🌻

Hello Friends, I am Kathleen, welcome to my small farming journey! This is not my life story, but rather a brief glimpse of my 50 something years on the planet and how I transformed from a corporate sales executive into a sustainable farmer & fresh food advocate. This blog was created to hopefully help inspire, bring awareness and paint a bigger picture view of why myself (and others) continue to chose this small regenerative farming labor of love. Along with growing nutrient dense organic food, I also enjoy writing fun, farmy true stories as my own personal therapy. I have embedded some for your viewing pleasure below. If you’d prefer to just learn about our offerings & outreach mission, feel free to scroll to the bottom of this blog..Enjoy AND Thank You for following along! ☮️

CHILDHOOD MATTERS: If you truly want to get to know someone, always ask about their upbringing. This is where hope, dreams, & experiences shape our view of the universe.

I grew up the youngest of 8 kids to a single Mom in a rural Montana mining town. After a series of bad choices, my Dad walked out on us. I was just 7 years old. Children that age remember the traumas, not so much the good stuff. I recall my elementary years as a very stressful tumultuous time. My mother got busy putting herself through college, earning her masters degree and worked as a full time kindergarten teacher to support our family. She would come home after a long day of teaching little kids to feed & care for eight mouths of her own on a teachers salary. There was no support, financial or otherwise…none. Thankfully my Mom’s parents lived next door, albeit strict they provided the emotional support we all needed. Despite the stress of living lean in a chaotic household with seven older siblings, I had a beautiful freeing upbringing, mostly alone roaming the open landscape. While also a very lonely childhood, BUT that’s a story for another day…

When I turned eighteen, after some brutal teenage experiences, eager to forge my own way in the world, I hopped in my 72 silver Honda Civic. Giant teddy bear strapped in back seat and headed 800 miles to the big city. My little car, the only possession I owned paid for with part time job at the local Paul Bunyan sandwich shop. I was still a baby, young and fearless. Seattle was culture shock to say the least. Working multiple jobs to put myself through college. Cleaning windows in downtown skyscrapers, emptying garbages at spooky golf courses in the middle of the night, working the front desk at medical clinics, even shoveling poop at local shelters. Despite demanding school hours and multiple jobs, I seemed to always find time to venture off to play in the beautiful Pacific Northwest woods, fishing pole in hand like a well bred outdoor ‘Tana girl. Immersed in nature, something I still love to do with my kids to this day.

PERSEVERANCE: Bad choices and lack of supervision left me with a low highschool grade point. If memory serves, I barely graduated with a 1.7 GPA. Yep that’s true. I was not stupid, just a fatherless party girl looking for fun in all the wrong places. Arriving in the big city, I signed up for community college first, with some credits I had earned at a local Montana college earlier that summer. That was 1985, back in the day when struggling rural colleges still had to take you!

I worked hard to cover up my past failures and earned my AA, eventually getting accepted into the University of Washington under the direct transfer arrangement. Working a full time job in a physiotherapy clinic & 4 tough years later, I graduated from UW with a Bachelor of Science & started grad school. Finding work for a meager salary at a medical insurance company. With mounting student loans and tired of eating ramen, I bailed on grad school after just two semesters. Accepting a medical sales associate position for the global medical company ThermoFisher Scientific, working for their clinical diagnostics division. Basically hired as a “rep in training” to support the professional sales reps, selling laboratory testing to acute care hospitals. The only problem, I had earned a BS degree in Speech & Hearing Science NOT Clinical Laboratory Science. I didn’t even know what a graduated beaker was, let alone a complex automated chemistry assay!

Lucky for me, I landed an amazing supportive regional manager named Jim, who took a chance on me changing the trajectory of my life. Just one week into training, he offered me an open sales territory of my very own. He always said that he could tell a “born consultative sales person.” My absentee father was a car salesman, perhaps it was in my genes. Jim became my mentor, my biggest cheerleader and started the process of helping me polish my craft. Providing caution that when I became successful to never have an ego, treat support staff like gold, and always remember where you came from. We remain good friends to this day and I will forever be grateful to him for giving me the direction and support I so desperately craved.

I worked for Thermo for 8 years, studying the complex world of microbiology, immunochemistry and infectious disease. Along with some of the best sales training in the industry, I became a top sales account manager. Earning presidents club every year. In my fifth year awarded one of the largest sales bonuses in the country. Promotion to corporate accounts followed, because they could no longer afford me maximizing the pay plan. This is by no means meant as a bragging rap sheet, but rather to provide a glimpse into how driven I have always been, channeling my work survivor ethic from my dear sweet, hard ass mother. I believe that self confidence is channeled from others. When a human is given love & support, you can literally accomplish anything!

Through much therapy later in life, I also learned that over achiever mentality often ties back to lack of parental love. It has its benefits in corporate America no doubt, but can be all consuming and very hard on ones psyche and relationships. More on that later..

FARMIN’ LOVE: Early in my sales career, I met & married my soul mate, firefighter (now Captain) Rose. We bought a tiny one room cabin on the water with our laborador Kena, living a blissful five years in our little paradise. This was the place where I grew my very first garden. Planting my first crops in makeshift raised beds by assembling old railroad ties left along the beach. Soaked in yes you got it creosote! I shudder to even think about that..Boy have I ever grown in my organic food knowledge since that time. We would return to my home in Montana to backpack every summer, until a grizzly encounter changed all that. See my first ever short story:(https://willabellafarm.com/2020/07/22/go-away-bear/)

Pregnant with our first born, we purchased our 100yr old vacant farmstead with proceeds from the cabin & down payment from a large sales bonus that I worked my butt off for that year. That decision changed our lives forever!

The historic 10 acre farm was overgrown with forty heirloom fruit trees hidden in the thicket, historic knotty grape orchard, native plants, huge trees, deep forest, & fresh water creek leading to the bay. Along with a sinking rustic 1912 craftsman farmhouse & multiple dilapidated outbuildings. It was beautiful underneath it all, but the amount of work would become overwhelming beyond belief. We would find the time in between our brutal work schedules & raising babies to harvest and keep up on all the immense maintenance that comes from owning property.

The first few summers, we were so overwhelmed with fruit, literally raining down from the huge heirloom trees. Pears, apples, figs galore! We ended up giving most away to the food bank and anyone who would take it. Until our accountant suggested that we sell at the local farmers market to help offset our high taxes for the farm. So my wonderful in-laws, with our infant son in tow, could be found week after week dolling out organic goodness to long lines of fresh fruit loving folks. We became known as “Those Fig People” drawing a hungry crowd for our Vashon Violet delicacies planted by the Hansen family 100 years ago. I loved the energy that came from sharing our bounty with the community. My adorable sweet elderly father in law always out in front interacting with our fans, while educating folks on sustainable growing practices. Born and bred a Roy farm boy, I learned so much from him. We were farmy kindred spirits.

As the years past, Every spare moment was spent watching the seasons, listening to the land, the wildlife, and slowly bringing the farm back to life. While keeping natural ecosystems intact as the Hansen family had done so many years ago (see “Mary’s Heritage Place” for the history of our farm https://willabellafarm.com/2020/12/10/marys-heritage-place/)

A GREATER VIEW: After the birth of our second child, I took a break from work and signed up with WSU Extension to become a master gardener. I desperately wanted to learn how to truly take care of this beautiful land sustainably. The experience opened doors to so much collaboration with other farmers, conservation organizations and some truly amazing smart humans..AND and I thought only laboratory scientists were this intellectually complex!

Continuing to build on this foundation, learning about regenerative ecosystems and studying constantly. Signing up for the Peninsula Fruit Club and the best $20 bucks I ever spent!

Along with various other local food based organizations. We began to build large garden plots for veggies, coverting the hillside slope for cane berries, adding chickens & livestock shelters and fencing..oh so much fencing my neck hurts just thinking about it. Every bit of labor and input ourselves. We started growing for our local Fresh Food Revolution Co-op in the summer, using the small amount of proceeds for the kids college funds and help with Tax deductions. All the while chipping away at endless building restoration projects, as bonus money and time would allow. Truly a money pit from hell, but loving every minute.

Most small farmers have a second career or a partner that works fulltime away from the farm to pay the bills. Many have college degrees and are constantly in a state of self study mode….Seems I was cut out for farming all along!

I worked very hard in the corporate sales world, loved my customers as family, and the money oh the money. But having taken on bigger roles with other diagnostic companies by now, the corporate climb became toxic & travel away from home was brutal. Something was missing deep in my soul (See my WordPress story “Not Our Chicken” https://willabellafarm.com/2020/10/04/not-our-chicken/)

FARMING IS COMMUNITY SERVICE: For every potato and egg uncovered, I found myself daydreaming about the endless farm potential and drawn to the amazing power of organically grown food. The impact it had on community health, food access, soil biology and the environment. More and more of my time was spent on the farm and less doing the job I was being paid to do. I loved growing and sharing our organically grown goodness, but my heart was pulled to provide even more…

So without hesitation and enough in savings to carry us for awhile, I quit my six figure salary and began volunteering in local food system outreach. Exponentially increasing my time spent on local farms, markets, co-ops, boards, & committees. My kids joining me on many of my adventures. Our little farm team volunteering to teach others how to propagate fruit trees, build mason bee houses and worm bins at local farmers markets.

Helping increase community awareness around the SNAP ED Program, along with my volunteer commitments to the Master Gardener plant clinics. My son hosting his own youth farm stand, learning to grow better food and the endless hours of politics…oh my word the politics! Something that would eventually become the death of my internal outreach spirit.

If your going to drop everything and give back, you must be healthy of mind & home. Raised in strict organized religious faith, I had spent the first half of my life living in fear of the unknown. Mostly spending time with people who looked and believed as I did. Food system outreach thrust me into a beautiful world of diversity. Getting acquainted with people of all walks of life, color and creed. Most of my meetings held in low income areas, aka “food deserts”. Places I would have feared going to before. As I engaged with a wide array of eclectic humans on this greater food access mission, suddenly overnight I was no longer fearful. I began building a symphony of friends and deeper understanding of this beautifully diverse plant & human world that I had seemingly been closed off from before, in my own mind.

Our farm has since become our church and that works just fine for us. Having found my own spiritual path (with man nor woman no longer in the middle) providing a much deeper, peaceful connection to God. Upon witnessing the goodness of complete strangers come together to help me find my lost dog. I felt an even stronger pull to share the blessings of this abundant farm as a means to give back to my community. (see “Kellee Dogs Story” https://willabellafarm.com/2020/08/24/kellee-dogs-story/)

It was right after that gut wrenching lost dog experience, that I reached out to the city administrator of my small town, offering to help start a farm focused/ fresh food access market. Our current local market was mostly artisan crafts with very few farmers. Having worked in public health and seen the negative effects of a broken industrialized food system, I wanted to use my not so polished sales skills for something greater. My supportive husband seeing the need to connect our community to local farms, culinary chefs and healthy farm 2 table real food!

This new true Farmers Market prospect would focus primarily on the connection between healthy food & environmental education. It would be a positive community project, I naively mused. Our family would need to give up our anonymity & put ourselves out there, but it would be okay because we were doing something good. Yeah right. Nope dead wrong. More on that adventure later. http://www.southsoundtalk.com/2015/05/13/waterfront-farmers-market-in-gig-harbor/

NAIVE FARM GIRL: After a 2 year long sabbatical, and running out of funds, I returned to sales much to my chagrin. Finances were tight as we continued to sink our savings into the farm. I had accepted a sales leadership position as a Reagent Specialist leading a team covering 4 states selling immunochemistry testing to local hospitals, for the global leader BioMerieux. Our focus on infectious disease testing & launching a new procalcitonin biomarker assay for sepsis. I was pretty much gone that entire summer on a plane to some where. Working for a highly driven sales director. This public health work was meaningful and important, but the schedule was brutal. The farm went dormant.

In my spare airplane time, I began analyzing food & health system data, preparing spreadsheets and ultimately pulling together the SEED money to make this farmers market project of passion actually happen. I figured having been very successful in sales, that my big fat mouth could help local small farmers connect to the community. A win win for the local economy and our local food system.

It was a beautifully crafted SWOT analysis with various food system experts contributing to multiple strategic planning sessions, led by yours truly. However, somewhere along the way, this assertive, but very naive farm girl allowed the city administrator to be my forward facing voice. Feeding him all of my analysis paralysis from behind the scenes. Positioning myself only as needed to move all the players in the same direction. We were like two covert operators on a secret spy mission. Little did I know at the time, that our goals were vastly misaligned. Working my sales magic to pitch the project to numerous partners in search of the perfect non profit to take it on. Most medical sales professionals are slightly vaunting by nature. It’s sort of a requirement to be successful. My perseverance appreciated in some circles, not so much in others.

In February, after finding the organization to own the project and securing all partners needed, I walked away from the security of my high paying career and never looked back. This was right where I was supposed to be. The farmers market project was underway, a brutal intensive 6 month political process. I enjoyed reaching out and supporting our local farms and small producers, while diving deeper into food access programs and honing in on environmentally safe practices.

However I was just one lone farmy soldier thrown in with some very powerful players, wrapped inside a closed political bubble. I remained an outsider with a completely different view of the defined mission, despite my efforts to bridge the gap between my food access friends and this closed system of small city dwelling do gooders. So many agendas, so little time. My internal passion was chipped away day after day like a long slow painful convicted death. Despite the endless challenges, the market launch was a huge success.

As the season progressed, the original mission got lost in all the political gossip, along with my tiny insignificant voice. Turns out I never did have a voice to begin with. Much my own fault, as driven overachiever doesn’t work so well in a non profit model. Every penny of the $12K that I was paid for the project went to our personal lawyer and paid hourly to a friend to help me on market day. With the remaining intentionally fed back into the market producers. While I remained busy juggling multiple hats, my hubby & children sent to visit every booth week after week making sure to purchase farm fresh goods. I remember buying out one small farmer’s red plums at the end of the market one day, despite having our own loaded trees at home. It was important to us that our farmers went home with empty tables. We wanted them to be successful. They were our focus, and the reason we stepped up to do this in the first place.

My hubby would get off duty without any sleep and bring the kids to set up and break down canopies, load farm trucks, shlepping supplies home week after week, all of us crashing in exhaustion. The massive groups of volunteers that I was promised and food access program support never came to fruition. My hyper work hard, sleep when you die mentality wearing thin on close friends and family who showed up to help us each week. Adding yet another brainchild to the already unmanageable workload by harvesting and hosting our own RoseOrchards booth to share our bounty. Along with a co-op booth in support of small farmers unable to get away from their farms to attend the market. All the while managing 42 producers, multiple partners & coordinating umpteen environmental education tables. Tracking all the sales data and reporting outcomes week after exhausting week. So many personalities to manage, both inside the city and out. Trying to accomplish it all in the pursuit of perfection. Stupid stupid stupid. I actually lost 20lbs during that summer. Our entire family’s health suffered greatly.

In the end, I had given up a six figure salary to work my arse off to please everyone without one red cent or merely a whisper of a voice to show for it. The project morphed from my personal high energy weekly food access fix to the stressful tangled political mess I was now in. So many regrets. So many things I could have handled differently.

With the original farm team’s strategic mission deteriorating, physically & mentally drained, I continued to forge on longer than I should have. The false narrative about my intentions playing like a deafening chorus around me, keeping my head held high, while simply not wanting to let anyone down. My husband with a newly acquired shoulder injury from all that volunteer labor and my young kids begging to end the madness, I had no choice but to walk away. Despite my pleas to the many political powers that be, no lifelines would be coming anytime soon. A very public project for almost a year, our family quietly slipped away.

As difficult as it may be when emotions run high, I have learned that best to be silent, rather than spool up unnecessary public banter. Because as personal as it felt, it was never about us, it was about the farmers. I cried for many months afterward. I had thrown every bit of my codependent energy into this project. I had let myself down, I had let the farmers down. My internal outreach spirit had been broken.

OUTREACH INSANITY: Months passed, having learned some hard lessons from that experience. I realized that I needed to better leverage like minds and build an army of local food advocates, so I dusted off my ego and went to work again. Continuing on my mission to support small farms, help build a better local food system and educate others on the bigger global environmental & public health picture. Thankfully the market lives on without me (how is that possible grin😎) and continues to be a beautiful gathering of farmers & community still today.

I accepted a series of new projects some with positive outcomes, others not so much. Five busy years followed, yes 5 years! Trying my hand at grant writing, working with local partners to launch a buy local program, farmland preservation, supporting food co-ops, local food businesses, public speaking engagements, serving on multiple boards and committees. Deeply entrenched in endless strategy meetings with the Puyallup Watershed Initiative Ag COI in support of larger local agriculture food system impacts. Even being thrust to testify (and embarrass myself regularly) at local public hearings concerning farmland preservation and conservation easements. Who knew not all small farmers wish to place their farmland in perpetuity? This naive farmer wanna be, so so much to learn.

All the while studying & learning to produce better organically grown, nutrient dense food. Engaging local elected officials to help support the cause. It was all so invigorating, but beyond exhausting. The flurry of activity opened my eyes to just how political all the “earthy things” I cared about actually were. How deeply damaging small town gossip was, while also learning a lot about my self.

The single most important takeaway from my five years as a farmy political positioner and something I recite to my kids in regularity:

ALWAYS speak up during times of injustice. AND Never, EVER develop an opinion about someone, based on another persons view. You will most certainly miss out enriching your life with some amazing humans if you do!👩‍🌾

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS: It took some time to realize, but I also learned that I had a condition known as “codependency” from the lack of physical & emotional love as a child. Constantly working to prove myself to others to fill that void. While expecting excellence from those around me at all times. It worked well in corporate sales, where one is idolized and placed on stage every year at a national gala for all to admire. These traits were not so valued in small nonprofit outreach. Our marriage suffered as a result of all the time given to this crazy local food effort for little to zero money. 90% of my time logged as volunteer hours. All this added stress, while trying to manage the farm and raise two kids. Married to a dedicated leader in public service, experiencing his own work related stress, lack of sleep, chronic pain AND as could have been predicted…We both crashed…The relationship was in trouble.

Luckily for us after a painful half a year break, we got some help and began the brutal work of peeling the onion. Love me some farmy metaphors! Thrusting us down yet another path of 2 years of intensive family therapy. I had to quit every commitment, every committee. The farm went dormant once again, grapes left drying on the vine that fall. Even walking away from a grant I had written, where I would actually be getting paid for my efforts leading Pierce County Fresh. Turns out life’s little derailments have shitty timing sometimes.

Did you know that some of the highest suicide rates are among Firefighters AND Farmers? As self conscious humans, we tend to focus on our physical health, but rarely our mental health. If one does not deal with childhood issues they will eventually catch up with you. I am by no means an expert on behavioral health, nor an expert on anything for that matter. Speaking from my own experiences, our personal career motivations often tie back to childhood as well. Stress compounds day after day and unless we learn to unpack it through therapy, it often leads the human psyche down a path of personal destruction. Sometimes in the form of substance abuse, or other not so obvious addictions. Being needed in food system outreach became my personal drug of choice. With my husband managing his own demons, I escaped to a place where I felt valued. Having always felt like an outsider, a non-conformist since childhood, I had finally found my tribe.

Everyone is struggling with something, so getting help is okay… it really is. The very best investment you can ever make is diving deep into your inner self! Now I work hard every single day to temper my codependent tendencies and chose peace.

GROWING ECOSYSTEMS: In a regenerative farming ecosystem, food is hidden among native plants, trees and flowers, unlike typically row cropping. The goal is to use companion planting, permaculture, fruit tree guilds, vermi-composting, integrated pest management, no till practices and other organic techniques to combat pests and disease, sequester carbon & build healthy soil ecosystems. When you visit our farm, it is not easy to see all that is happening right in front of you. For every plant (or weed) you see, there is a teeming microbial community of life thriving underneath.

With every new season brings endless farm science experiments. Still a high energy, laboratory sales guy at heart, but much more grounded and centered now. My farm has become my outdoor laboratory, constantly studying the complex network of connections within the natural world. I remain focused on community through our personal farm mission AND no longer the agendas of the powerful few. Only engaging in food system policy on my defined terms. As a regenerative farmer & food system advocate, I have never worked so hard in all my life..BUT this journey continues to enrich me beyond measure.

We will always listen to the natural ways of our land, while slowly building a regenerative farming system. Some of our major farm accomplishments have been adding more fruit tree diversity, an herb garden, massive kiwi trellis system, Mason & Honey bees, beneficial insects, flowers, berries & numerous beneficial plants. We subscribe to no till/no harm methods. Pulling noxious weeds by hand, while never using any herbicides, pesticides or weed & feeds of any kind.

Building the clay soil with organic matter over the years. With endless opportunities to engage and introduce kids to the beautiful diverse world of where human food & animal food actually comes from. Teaching youngsters about Food Soil Web ecosystems is one of my greatest joys! 🐝

In an effort to become a “real” farmer. I also tried my hand at raising my own pork and fryers, while rehabbing our 100 year old fallow field…Oh those amazing rooting capabilities and golden poo! Turning out to be more emotional stress than I had bargained for, with no amount of juicy bacon being worth it. Having since gleaned so much respect for small livestock farmers, we now intentionally purchase our meat from them, choosing livestock only as pets for our youth education program and harvesting their enriching soil contributions!

My personal struggle with raising my own meat was real. You can read about my comical experience & why small non-containment livestock farming is best for the environment here: (“Here Piggy Piggy” https://willabellafarm.com/2021/03/14/here-piggy-piggy/)

FARM THERAPY: Prior to the pandemic lockdown, I had accepted a local job in medical research sales as times were tough again financially. (The beauty of being a proven sales guy, I am blessed to be able to return as needed). Our family was under tremendous stress living with a pandemic first responder, kids zoom schooling from home and grandma moving in. Both of us much older now and starting to feel the physical effects.

With the world crashing around us, I decided to stop the madness, giving up my comfortable salary once again. Placing my sole focus on our family and our farm. We spent quality therapeutic time as a family building a June bearing strawberry Hugelkulter garden. Utilizing our fruit tree cuttings and fallen leaves. While honoring my late father in law who loved their sweet tiny juiciness. Naming the space “Papas Patch”. The entire structure was innoculated with wine cap mushrooms to help break down organic matter making nutrients available to the plants. While also intentionally moving the bee hives in to help with pollination. The 100×100 foot space planted with over 200 strawberry plants in the shape of a peace sign…Lord knows the world needs more peace right now!

We are happy to report that we harvested over 200 lbs of organically grown strawberries from this patch our first season and the mycelium are taking hold nicely. It was a joy to share this bounty with the community at our weekly youth farm stand this past summer.

LABOR OF LOVE: There is rarely a livable wage in small regenerative crop farming. Our farm is no exception. It is a money pit cost center period. To provide some perspective, we spend approx $10K per year on all the inputs to keep the farm systems operating organically. Animal Feed, fodder, seeds, compost, organic controls, fencing, project materials, educational supplies etc etc. Some nominal income comes from our farm science camps, sharing our bounty with local restaurants and the youth farm stand. Depending on the season, we bring in roughly $5K per season with a goal to break even through agritourism….Yep that is it. Far from covering our expenses, let alone a livable wage!

Our season runs June-September. With the exception of kids helping harvest larger fruit crops, I am basically a one woman farmer, hot mess freak show. Working the farm 8 hours per day, every day during this time. You do the math! Every cent earned goes back into the farm and to our kids college funds. There is no profit ever.

So you ask? Why on earth do I continue to do all this exhausting labor for no money, with a perfectly lucrative sales career waiting in the wings? Well personal passions rarely have a simple answer friends. Like many small farmers, this is our chosen lifestyle. Basically our family cares deeply about preserving and building ecosystems, because what we do upstream affects every living thing downstream. We do our small part through educating, engaging, preserving, producing, protecting, building, nurturing, harvesting, sharing and hopefully inspiring others. In short, we believe in building a bigger table, sharing our bounty, teaching the younger generation, and preserving our one and only beautiful planet.

For me personally, success is not only measured in fiscal rewards. Rather now it’s more about making meaningful connections and being part of the greater good. Experimenting with science, Growing your own food & sharing the bounty has the power to do that!

I remain passionate about local food systems, healthy communities, public health and educating our youth on non anecdotal, scientific principles. Most small farmers invest in improving their practices and supporting the bigger local food system picture. I am fortunate to be able to return to sales, not every small farmer has that option…AND that is why I continue to advocate for others doing this difficult work. Our local governments need to do better to help sustainable farmers earn a livable wage. Food Supply Chain 101: Small Farming = Food Security.

A small farmstead needs nurturing every day, much like the interconnections between natural ecosystems. When the Farmer is away from the farm, the entire system collapses. My hope is to build the agritourism/education portion of our little business to stay true to our mission, with one day becoming a sustainable small business model with paid science educators. We hope to take on some WWOOFERS https://wwoof.net/ to help do the work, while educating the next generation of food producers. If I can can learn laboratory science and complex farming systems anyone can!

After 18 years on this land, we continue to share our extra bounty with our neighbors. Growing what I refer to as “A little bit of A lot of things”

Those include: Organically grown Figs, Pears, Apples, Cherries, Plums, Italian Prunes, Grapes, Kiwis, Quince, Bay, Herbs, Tomatoes, Raspberries, Strawberries, Blackberries, Blueberries, Mulberries, Numerous Root & Vegetable crops, Garlic, Flowers, Honey, Mushrooms & Fresh Eggs!

My body aches every day now, but I have so much more left to give. Yes it is work… beautiful, humbling, rewarding work and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

OUR MISSION NEXT YEAR & BEYOND🌱:

1. TEACH MORE FARM SCIENCE CAMPS for elementary aged kids, alongside our science teacher staff, June-Sept. All proceeds cover outreach farm operation costs

2. HOST SUNDAY YOUTH FARM/ART STANDS in summer months, offering fresh organically grown produce & teen nature art. All proceeds go to our teens and their friends to save for college!

3. PROVIDE AG LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES on the farm for teenage & college age WWOOFERS

4. SOURCE OUR ORGANICALLY GROWN FRUIT to more local restaurants who understand the bigger local food system picture

5. BUILD FRUIT TREE GUILDS to improve orchard health and build soils

6. PROPAGATE & PLANT MORE FLOWERS, NATIVE BERRIES & FLOWERING TREES to add bio diversity and help pollinators

7. PLANT HUGELKULTER FLOWER GARDENS to mitigate water runoff and provide higher margin specialty crop income

8. INOCULATE MORE MYCELIUM varieties among crops to help with improved nutrients, denser food and healthy ecosystems

9. PROVIDE MORE NATURE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES for Children via local partners off the Farm. Immersion within our community, schools, farmers markets & local events that support our environmental outreach mission.

Thank you to all our partners, neighbors and friends for the support AND for following along this small regenerative farming journey🌸 If you enjoy short stories, wish to sign up your child for Science Camp OR just want to learn what produce is in season at our Farm Stand..Please visit us on Instagram or my blog at WillaBellaFarm.com. You can learn more about supporting small farms at https://eatlocalfirst.org/listing/pierce-county-fresh/