Sunday, February 24, 2013

Hello, Part Two

What if we could do our part in the effort to combat the growing threats to our food supply by starting a little farm? 

Reading the likes of Pollan and Kingsolver gave way to reading the likes of Elliot Coleman and Joel Salatin.  Becoming more intrigued with producing food, we started looking for a little farm. 

After 5 long years of searching, we finally found a little spread here in Enumclaw, formerly a nursery of some kind.  The infrastructure that was here already was part of the draw for us: 3 greenhouses and plenty of fruit trees and herbs.  Just add a family ready to build a small scale hobby farm, and we could be on to something.

With the possibility of raising animals, veggies and fruit, we have a huge learning curve ahead of us. The excitement of trying our hand at producing wholesome, real food, having people enjoy our bounty, and building a community based on food that is healthy and non-toxic is what drives us. 

We believe in nuturing our land--providing it much needed organic matter, rather than pumping it full of chemicals.  We believe in growing seed from small companies here in the Northwest that produce organic, non-GMO seeds and we try our best to support heirloom varities when we can.  We believe in treating our animals with respect and providing the best lives for them and in turn they reward us with the fruits of their labor.  We believe in supporting small businesses within Washington state, and whenever possible within our community.  We also believe it is important to give back to our community, especially to those who have a hard time providing any food, let alone fresh, wholesome food for their families. 

We hope you'll give us a try.  We currently sell chicken and duck eggs on site.  We are ramping up for veggie season and hopefully in a few short months will be offering things like onions, tomatoes, and peppers for sale as well.

Looking forward to meeting you and helping nourish you and your family.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Hello There, Part One

Hello. 

We would like to start this blog off by introducing ourselves and sharing a little bit about our history that brought us here.

For years, we were living like the typical American family in Suburbia, USA.  Shopping for our groceries from the nearest warehouse wholesaler, not even thinking about where those products in the cans, boxes, and styrofoam trays sealed in cling wrap came from or how they were produced. 

After our daughter was born, i had started reading the occassional article in the newspaper about industrialized food production and huge fluctuations in market prices that were steadily compensated for with frequent price increases.  Soon, i was reading books like Omnivore's Dilemma and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.  Then we watched Supersize Me.  Chemicals?  Steriods?  Inhumane living conditions? Genetic engineering?  Massive Recall Efforts?  We were left wondering what we could do to try to reduce the risk of our family ingesting poisons and Lord knows whatelse, while taking more responsibility for our own food production.

Armed with a library card and a dream, we scoured the shelves for books on organic gardening and food production.  We adopted a half dozen chickens, traded a fraction of our lawn for 400 square feet of garden space, and raised what we could using chemical free practices to help nourish our bodies.  And what we couldn't raise ourselves we sought out organic sources for. 

After a couple handfuls of homegrown raspberries and a couple of batches of scrambled eggs courtesy of our girls, we were hooked.  We learned to can jams and tomato sauces. 

We were feeling impowered by the flavor of those tasty ruby red morsels.  We couldn't remember eggs tasting so flavorful since our childhood.  With the bounty we could supply our family from our suburban lot got me to thinking...

What if we could grow even more of our own food, and share this delicious and nutritious harvest with others???