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Farm Fund Spotlight: Brittle Barn Farms

by Laura Steiger, Outreach Team, and Hannah Coughlin, Brittle Barn Farms

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Karl Prisk (left), Zack Tyler, and Tarquin, Zack’s trusty Australian Shepherd, take a break from tending their free-range turkey flock at Brittle Barn Farms in Ferndale. The farm prides itself in buying local and used a Farm Fund loan to purchase organic, Non-GMO Project Verified feed from Bellingham’s Scratch & Peck Feeds for their poultry flock.

Zack Tyler of Brittle Barn Farms, a local free-ranged meat producer, has been interested in animal husbandry for as long as he can remember.

Growing up on a half-acre in Arcata, California, with his younger brother and hobby-farm parents, Zack was inspired by his small community of do-it-yourselfers and small farmers. “Every Saturday I got to see farmers and artisans pour into an empty street and make it come alive with their hard work and passions,” said Zack.

His mom makes her living raising fiber animals (llama, sheep, and goats), spinning, and knitting their wool into wares that she’s sold at the Arcata Farmers Market for over 25 years. His dad taught Zack how to slaughter Thanksgiving turkeys when he was six. “My parents taught me to be respectful and compassionate to our animals from the beginning to the end,” said Zack.

After he moved to Bellingham to realize his dream as a small farmer, Brittle Barn Farms was born.

After he moved to Bellingham to realize his dream as a small farmer, Zack and his partner, Hannah, rented a five-acre plot just outside of Bellingham where Brittle Barn Farms was born. They raised meat chickens, egg layers, goats, ducks, geese, turkeys, and Icelandic sheep.

Zack noted, “Neither of us had any capital to start with—no inheritance, no wealthy relatives, and not much combined income.”

Zack works in the classroom with developmentally disabled or at-risk youth, and Hannah works for a local environmental nonprofit, RE Sources for Sustainable Communities.

“We had to start at square one—on a cheap rental with a falling down barn,” said Zack.

They named their farm after that barn to remind them of the virtue of small beginnings.

In 2014, Brittle Barn Farms moved to Cougar Creek Ranch in Ferndale, a 160-acre original homestead owned by the Prisk Family. “Karl [Prisk] and I have been friends for a long time. After he moved to town to farm his grandfather’s land, it was an obvious partnership,” said Zack. They went into business together and grew Brittle Barn Farms, increasing their overall production, and adding cows and hogs to the farm.

In the spring, the Co-op Farm Fund secured a low-interest loan for Brittle Barn Farms in partnership with Industrial Credit Union.

The farm used the loan to purchase organic feed from Scratch & Peck Feeds.

“It’s important to us to operate locally. That includes where we purchase our feed,” said Zack. Purchasing organic, Non-GMO Project Verified feed upfront from Scratch & Peck enables the farm to better control the price and quality of their free-range poultry, while keeping their money circulating in our local economy.

Zack’s dream is to farm full-time. “I love caring for the animals, being connected to the seasons and natural life cycles, and I love producing an important commodity for my community,” he said.

You can purchase Brittle Barn Farms’ chicken at the Cordata store. All their meats are available at both Bellingham Farmers Markets, Carne, and on the farm.

Learn more about Brittle Barn Farms or contact the farm at 360-610-7740 or brittlebarnfarms@gmail.com.

Farm Fund Spotlight: McIntyre Family Farm

by Laura Steiger, Outreach Team

farmers holding baby sheep at mcintyre family farm

Life is never dull on Jena and Matt McIntyre’s family farm where they raise and shear a flock of Icelandic sheep.

With support from a Co-op Farm Fund grant, couple shares equipment and know-how to help revitalize the art of sheep shearing.

In late May, Matt Curtis, Co-op graphic artist and photographer, and I had the good fortune to visit McIntyre Family Farm. We couldn’t have visited at a better time, as the McIntyre’s Icelandic sheep flock had recently finished lambing and we enjoyed the splendor of 20 adorable lambs, some only one-week old, cavorting around the barn, being generally silly and annoying their moms. Oh, we also got to hold a tiny lamb, which was a wonderfully satisfying treat for us city slickers. I’d recommend it, if you ever have the opportunity.

Oh, we also got to hold a tiny lamb.

Since 2013, Matt and Jena McIntyre, now with their young son Elton, live and farm off the scenic North Cascades Highway near Sedro Woolley in a charming farmhouse and chicken coop that date back to 1925. The farm is a diverse enterprise that focuses on pasture-based and grass-fed livestock.

The couple is in the third year of Sustainable Connections farm mentoring program, Food To Bank On, and has also completed a hands-on course at the Washington State Shearing School where they learned the New Zealand method of sheep shearing. If you’ve ever watched any of those televised sheep shearing competitions from New Zealand where people shear a perfect one-piece fleece in an insanely short amount of time (like in a minute!), that is the type of shearing they learned. Google it; it’s amazing!

farmer shearing goat on mcintyre family farm

The breed, valued for its thick dual-coated fleece, is relatively new to the U.S. having been introduced in the 1980s.

goat with full coat shearing process on mcintyre family farm

before
&
after

white, sheered goat on mcintyre family farm

Matt and Jena aren’t breaking any world records, yet, but the knowledge they acquired at the sheep shearing school did inspire them to apply for and receive a Farm Fund grant to purchase mobile shearing equipment so they could share their skills and equipment with other local farmers.

Shearing is somewhat of a lost skill, and small farms are outlaying a fair amount of money to pay professionals, in high-demand, to shear their animals. During our visit Matt and Jena sheared several sheep. Those New Zealanders make it look easy, but up close and in-person, it doesn’t look easy at all.

There is a lot of technique involved (and a lot of back strain)!

The new mobile shearing system, funded by a Farm Fund grant, will help farmers in several ways.

1. It is far more efficient than handheld electric shears, saving time and labor.

2. It can be run from a 12-volt battery making it entirely portable so sheep can be sheared on pasture even if no electricity source is available, which benefits the sheep since they don’t need to be transported for shearing.

3. By avoiding costly professional shearing fees, farmers can add another revenue stream from wool—a value-added product.

After word got out that the McIntyres had both shearing know-how and equipment, fellow farmers initially wanted to simply hire them to shear their animals. But, the couple is confident, that given time, the farming community will realize the benefit of learning how to shear their own animals.

Jena and Matt established their sheep flock in 2015. Of the 20 lambs born in the spring of 2016, all were twins except for two onlies. Matt explained that twins are not only common, but very desirable as the first lamb basically pays for the mom and the second lamb will generate a profit for the farm.

The couple is also establishing a herd of cows, raises pigs and poultry (mostly chickens) for both meat and eggs, and farms vegetables. They carefully care for their 30-acre pasture by constantly rotating their animals and crops, which not only controls parasites and disease but provides the best possible forage for their livestock.

You can find McIntrye Family Farm products at the Saturday Bellingham Farmers Market, and during the summer season they also offer a CSA.

Learn more at mcintyrefamilyfarm.com.

Co-op’s Farm Fund Takes the “Next Step”

by Jean Rogers, Farm Fund Administrator

triple wren farms, farmers, florists, salmon safe, sarah pabody, steve pabody, whatcom

Farmer-florists Sarah and Steve Pabody of Triple Wren Farms are happy recipients of a Next Step grant, along with five other local farms.

Whatcom County’s local, sustainable agriculture is changing. Food hubs, new markets, and an increasingly collaborative approach to growing and providing local food are creating a promising new farmscape. It takes a community to “raise a food system,” and the Community Food Co-op’s Farm Fund is in the thick of the action.

In an impressive fundraising effort, Co-op members and shoppers matched a grant from the Sustainable Whatcom Fund of the Whatcom Community Foundation to support an innovative new venture—the Next Step Project. As a result, the Farm Fund was recently able to direct $25,500 in grants to six local farms scaling up to supply the local wholesale market.

The Next Step Project pairs grants with loans taken out by farmers who are making the leap of significantly growing their farm operations and attaining a scale that is economically resilient and stable—good news for shoppers as well as farmers. Three recipients matched their Next Step grants with low-interest Farm Fund secured loans, offered through the Industrial Credit Union.

Billy Tate of Moondance Farm praised the project, saying: “I’m really so excited about receiving the Next Step grant award. I’ve had an opportunity to farm now into my twelfth year in Whatcom County and starting a farm from scratch is no easy task. It takes constant investment, risk, attention and sacrifice. The last few years I’ve seen a steady change in my farming style where I’ve been able to begin to fine tune my craft and not spend all my time learning how to grow and market but to focus on growing the right mix for the farm and the community. It’s nice to see a funding opportunity aimed at those farms that have weathered the seasons at a time where funding is still so needed.”

Along with Moondance Farm, the first round of Next Step grant recipients include Sage and Sky Farm, Boldly Grown Farm, The Growing Garden, Triple Wren Farms, and Brittle Barn Farms.

Their project descriptions almost leapt off the pages with creative ways to grow delicious food with care for the land, people, animals, and
future generations.

sage and sky farm, whatcom, bellingham, farmers, andrea roper

Andrea Roper of Sage & Sky Farm.

While we sadly don’t have room for all the details, here is a snapshot of what these local growers expect to accomplish with their Next Step grants:

„• extending the season for root vegetables and tripling overall production; washing and cooling root crops with a
re-circulating system that will reduce water use

• expanding into culinary and medicinal dried herbs; building WSDA certified
on-site packing and processing facilities

• purchasing a refrigerated truck to serve a rapidly expanding customer base and provide high-quality organic flowers, veggies, and eggs, using zero-waste practices. The truck can also be used by smaller farms

„• purchasing harvest equipment to increase vegetable production and offer crops with high nutritional and medicinal value that aren’t currently available for wholesale; adding processing facilities to harvest, store, and deliver more local food

„• adding a walk-in cooler to expand livestock production and increase profitability with the ability to break down 90 percent of the farm’s locally grown, organic-fed, wild-ranged chickens into parts

• purchasing a walk-in freezer and pens to nearly double production and sell local, grass fed, hormone- and antibiotic-free chicken in larger quantities for a
lower price

Responses to the Next Step Project have been extremely positive, and it will be exciting to see the advances these farms make over the next few years. Keep your eye out for their products in the Co-op and other local markets. We’ll continue to share stories throughout the growing season.

Farm Fund Committee Chair and Board Director Laura Ridenour expressed the Co-op’s hopes for the Next Step Project, saying, “If we can pilot this impressive economic incentive and opportunity for three years, we will reach many organic and sustainable Whatcom County farmers capable of scaling up their businesses, resulting in greater economic security for farmers and greater food security for us all.”

Donations by the Community Food Co-op, Co-op shoppers, and local organizations allow the Farm Fund to support projects that build the market for local farms, encourage ecological and socially responsible stewardship of farmland, and increase community access to healthy, local food.

Find more information, make a donation, or watch a video about the Farm Fund.

Questions? Email Farm Fund Administrator Mardi Solomon or call 360-734-8158, ext. 311.

Next Step Grant Update: Boldly Grown Farm

by Laura Steiger, Outreach Team

farm fund, local, farmers, skagit, whatcom, grant, next step, boldly grown farm, sustainable, organic, crops,

Amy Frye of Boldly Grown Farm working in the field. The farm has successfully filled demand for more local winter produce by growing storage crops like beets, winter squash, and pumpkins.

Photo by Nathan Doyle

Earlier this year, the Co-op Farm Fund, with support from the Sustainable Whatcom Fund of Whatcom Community Foundation, launched the Next Step Project.

The project was able to direct $25,500 in grants to six local farms scaling up to supply the local wholesale market.

One of those farms is Boldly Grown Farm in Skagit Valley.

Boldly Grown Farm is one of 14 farms operating at Viva Farms (a nonprofit small-business farm incubator in Skagit Valley). Its current focus is growing storage crops—winter squash, carrots, beets, cabbage, onions, and more—to extend the availability of local food into the winter months. It also grows flowers for sale and to provide pollinator habitat. In future years, Boldly Grown Farm plans to incorporate grains and pastured poultry, creating a diverse and resilient farm system.

Boldly Grown Farm was founded in 2015 by husband-and-wife team Jacob Slosberg and Amy Frye. Both have personal relationships to farming—Amy grew up next door to her grandparent’s farm in Minnesota and Jacob discovered his love of farming on a tenth grade trip to Costa Rica. The couple met at the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at the University of British Columbia where Jacob was in charge of managing all the annual vegetables and pasture-raised poultry and Amy was the Director.

Given their complementary skill-sets, they experienced a very strong start in their first year of farming; harvesting 20,000 pounds of food from one acre. There were many hits and one miss along the way—carrots were wildly successful and they couldn’t keep up with demand, while onions got in the ground too late and mostly fizzled out.

The couple had a strong network of friends and family who pitched in to help the startup farm. During the final carrot harvest in mid-December, Amy and Jacob, along with several farmer friends, found themselves working late into the night, calf-deep in mud, taking turns getting stuck and helping pull each other out of the muck. “There may have been a good amount of both cursing and laughing involved. This year, I’m sure, will have its own successes and challenges—it’s a constant learning process. Farming is very humbling in that way.” said Amy.

From the beginning, Jacob and Amy identified a niche market in the demand for extended season local produce.

Don’t we all long for flavorful, local, organic produce in the winter months? This past season they harvested carrots into December and cabbage into January. With other crops like beets and winter squash in storage from earlier in the year, they were providing produce through mid-February before selling out.

For the 2016 growing season, the couple added an additional two acres, which will triple the farm’s production and allow for more diversification and trialing a small amount of hoop-house crops such as heirloom tomatoes, purple globe eggplant, and red peppers. “We are passionate and ambitious! We want to feed a lot of people and ensure that a greater portion of the population has ready access to healthy and sustainably grown produce,” said Amy.

Next Step grant funds will be used to purchase a rinse conveyor

Next Step grant funds will be used to purchase a rinse conveyor that will improve efficiency of washing root crops, such as carrots and beets, and can also be used for hydrocooling crops like broccoli (an important step for storage and shelf life). The conveyor soaks roots before washing so they only need to go through the system once, thereby increasing efficiency and saving labor. The conveyor’s recirculation system will also reduce water use.

Boldly Grown is a perfect example of the farms the Next Step Project was created for—farms that are ready to take the next step to scale up for the wholesale market, but need assistance with a specific input to make the leap.

On Jacob and Amy’s farm it was the purchase of the rinse conveyor; other Next Step farms are using funds to invest in packing and processing facilities, purchase a refrigerated delivery vehicle, and expand crop diversity with new harvest equipment.

The Co-op is thrilled to launch this new program and watch as more local farms take the Next Step to meet demand for even more local, sustainable, organic food.

LEARN MORE at boldlygrownfarm.com and follow Boldly Grown Farm on
Facebook and Instagram.

farm fund, next step, grant, sustainable, organic, local, farmers, farming, skagit, whatcom, next step grant,

Jacob Slosberg of Boldly Grown Farm carefully navigates through crops while using the field cultivator purchased with a Co-op Farm Fund grant.

Farm Fund Grant Update: Viva Farms

by Laura Steiger, Outreach Team

farm fund, local, farms, farmers, viva farms, grant

Amy Frye of Boldly Grown Farm (see back page) prepares her field for planting with Viva Farm’s new field cultivator that was purchased with a Co-op Farm Fund grant. The field cultivator is shared with all 14 farmers working land at Viva Farms, and is more environmentally sustainable and efficient than using a rototiller. 

Photo courtesy of Viva Farms.

Started in 2009, Viva Farm’s mission is to launch a new generation of farmers.

In the 2016 grant cycle, the Co-op Farm Fund issued $8,000 in grants to seven inspiring proposals. If you tried your hand at playing the Farm Fund Game in the April Co-op News, you may recall the diversity of the funded projects. They tackled issues related to grazing management in a changing climate, formation of a new tool co-op, purchase and training for a multi-farm portable sheep shearing system, and four more innovative ideas. We are excited to watch these projects come to fruition in the coming year and to share their success stories with you.

One project that is already cultivating positive results is at Viva Farms, a nonprofit, small business farm incubator located in Skagit Valley. Its mission is to support aspiring and limited-resource farmers to overcome barriers to farm ownership by providing bilingual training in holistic and organic farming practices and management, and much needed access to land, infrastructure, equipment, marketing, and capital.

Viva Farms received a Co-op Farm Fund grant to purchase a new field cultivator. The implement was purchased from Farmer’s Equipment Co. in Lynden where the farm received a nonprofit discount, further leveraging its Farm Fund grant. Hooray for local businesses!

Several farmers at Viva have already had great success using the new field cultivator, which prepares soil for planting without the need for rototilling. Rob Smith, Viva Farms operations and incubator director, described the cultivator as “a missing link in our ‘toolkit’ that allows us to work up a field in a more efficient, timely, and sustainable manner.”

Efficient because the field cultivator is much faster to use in the field, and with fewer mechanical parts, it is less likely to break down and requires less maintenance. All these factors result in less downtime in the field, fewer costly repairs, and overall labor savings.

Sustainable because it is gentler on the soil structure, known in farmer lingo as the “tilth.” A rototiller, on the other hand, can create soil compaction or pulverize the soil resulting in hardpan that impairs drainage and plant growth. Also, because rototillers are powered implements, they use more fuel to operate than the cultivator that is simply pulled behind a tractor.

This improvement in efficiency and sustainability allows farmers more time to, well, farm, and will hopefully result in greater productivity and eventually more deliveries of local food to the Co-op’s produce departments. Throughout the growing season Viva, and the 14 independent farmers currently working the land and sharing equipment with Viva, provide certified organic vegetables, herbs, and berries to the Puget Sound Food Hub, which serves many Whatcom County food businesses.

In the same way that the Co-op is committed to the principal of cooperation among cooperatives, the farmers on-site at Viva Farms are building community and learning from each other. Rob said: “Despite working on their own independent operations, the farmers help support each other for success. This all happens across language and cultural barriers—finding out what is shared between all farmers, and all humans, really.”

For the first time, Viva Farms is at 100 percent capacity and will look into expanding in 2017. Rob wants to spread the word about what Viva Farms is accomplishing, and tell people that it wouldn’t be possible without the farmers and a network of community partners.

That network includes every Co-op shopper who has contributed to the Farm Fund and chooses to purchase local produce from the Co-op—Whatcom County’s only community-owned grocery store.

Learn more at vivafarms.org

In Support of Our Local Community

by Adrienne Renz, Outreach Department

the real food show set with frank and beans

Frank and Beans—the colorful characters of The Real Food Show—are played by Jason Quick and Della Plaster (also a co-writer) of the Bellingham Circus Guild. The show utilizes comedy, juggling, and other circus skills to inspire positive change in the attitudes and behavior of elementary school kids.

In alignment with the seventh co-operative principle—Concern for the Community—the Co-op makes community giving part of its annual budget. But when preparing to write about the Co-op’s community giving it was not as easy as pulling up a spreadsheet and writing down a line total, because the intention of Concern for the Community is woven into many of our projects.

Thank you for joining us in supporting local farms, nonprofits, arts, music, and community organizations.

In our recent strategic planning process we clearly heard from you, our community, that local food system development, healthy food access, and community engagement are core issues you would like your Co-op to take action on. With this in mind, I carefully consider each request and opportunity to support our community to ensure we are responsibly stewarding funds to meet these goals.

A few projects that exemplify this are the Farm Fund, The Real Food Show, and Community Shopping Days.

The Farm Fund recently distributed $25,000 in Next Step grants to six farms. The Next Step Project is an innovative new venture of the Community Food Co-op Farm Fund, pairing grants with low-interest loans to support local farmers in expanding their farms to serve the wholesale market. The Next Step Project is designed to help farms reach a financially sustainable scale, and to increase the quantity of organic and sustainably grown food in Whatcom County.

The Real Food Show is entering its third year and offering 10 free shows a year to Whatcom County elementary schools. The shows are a hit and “Frank & Beans” have begun visiting elementary schools in other co-op towns to share the fun of eating real food to fuel a healthy body.

The Member Affairs Committee (MAC), which any Co-op member can join, awards 12 Community Shopping Days annually. July 1 marks the release of our Community Shopping Day applications for 2017 awards. If you know of a worthy organization, encourage them to visit the Co-op website and consider applying to be a CSD recipient.

MAC takes this grant funding selection seriously and reviews, discusses, and votes on each applicant to ensure that we have new organizations represented across diverse areas of our community every year. Applications are due by September 1.

In addition to giving back $103,000 in donations, grants, and sponsorships, the Co-op also offers member-owner use of the community rooms at both of our stores, by donation, for a wide variety of purposes too numerous to detail. The rooms totaled approximately 1,837 hours of community use in 2015.

And what about all of you? In 2015, Co-op member-owners and shoppers not only chose to shop at the Co-op knowing that your purchases benefit the community, but you also generously donated more than $20,261 at the register in support of your community.

Thank you for joining us in supporting local farms, nonprofits, arts, music, and community organizations.

Choosing to spend your valuable food dollars at the Co-op is what makes all of this possible.

Thank you for fostering the Concern for Community principle that is a foundation of our Co-op business and a vibrant and strong piece of the Community Food Co-op.

Sean Humphrey House adult family care home

“I want to thank you for the donation from the CSD partnership! We are thrilled to have been selected to participate this year. It provides such great exposure for Sean Humphrey House. Your kindness means so much to all of us. Every bit of support we receive has a positive impact on the daily lives of our residents. Many thanks again from the residents, volunteer, Board of Directors and staff at SHH. Your thoughtfulness greatly adds to our residents’ lives.”

–Jeanette Campagna, Sean Humphrey House Program Coordinator.

Farm Fund Spotlight: Growing Garden

by Jean Rogers, Farm Fund Adminstrator

greenhouse interior community food co-op

Mike Long (right) is bringing new ideas to the farm: planning to extend the growing season, add more bunched and packaged herbs, and add a new line of dried culinary and medicinal herbs. Brent Harrison (left) will continue to offer guidance and a veteran presence as the farm takes a leap in size and scale.

The Growing Garden is preparing to continue its impressive legacy by combining a solidly established farm with the innovative ideas of a young farmer, backed by the Co-op Farm Fund and the community.

the Growing Garden, one of the longest-operating organic farms in Whatcom County, is also one of the most beloved

If you’ve ever brought home fresh, local basil, dill, mint, and other herbs from the Co-op’s produce department, you know why the Growing Garden, one of the longest-operating organic farms in Whatcom County, is also one of the most beloved.

Owner Brent Harrison—pivotal in local, organic market development for over 30 years—has been supplying the Co-op with herbs, tomatoes, and veggies since 1983.

Receiving a Next Step grant from the Co-op Farm Fund couldn’t have arrived at a better time for the future of the farm, as Brent is turning over the business to young farmer Mike Long, who has been managing the farm for the last six years.

Listening to Brent and Mike talk together, as they surveyed the existing greenhouses and fields, it’s obvious that there is a strong thread of continuity in their values and approach to the land. Brent said, “Michael can keep the farm alive. It’s a lot of work and you get compensated, but not to the level of a lot of other occupations. You have to value the lifestyle, a lot, and then you’re well rewarded.” Mike agreed, “Just being able to come and hang out with plants and bees and really cool farmer owners that got me into this, it’s like I’m just in my dream spot. Brent had the energy to build all this from scratch. I couldn’t get to this level of trying new things if it weren’t for a really core, solid foundation.”

Mike and his wife Molly recently purchased a 5-acre farm that is certified organic as a second site for the Growing Garden. The Next Step grant will be put to use at both sites to add a greenhouse, upgrade the existing packing shed in preparation for the next 20 to 30 years, and to build a new, USDA-certified packing facility. A cooler and possibly a solar dryer are also in the plans.

Mike has observed an increased demand over the last decade for herbs, tomatoes, and cucumbers. “We just need to zero in and boost our production a bit so we can meet those demands,” he said. Adding dried herbs is a way the farm can create a market for something they already have a lot of—herbs that need to get cut back anyway will now be marketable.

Both Brent and Mike see the Next Step Project boosting the vitality of small local farms.

Brent stressed the need for farms to scale up gradually, “I think this thing’s fabulous for the local producers and some of those may jump to a larger scale. But first it’s designed to pick up the small producer to be an efficient local producer, and that’s a big step.”

What we can be sure of is that we can look forward to all the wonderful produce we’ve been accustomed to from the Growing Garden, and an exciting array of delicious and healthful new products as the farm continues its journey as a mainstay of local organic farming.

Back to the Future of Farming

by Laura Steiger, Outreach Team

oxen with yoke

During their early training, Lars (left) and Tim are getting accustomed to wearing a halter and yoke, and learning how to work together as a team. It will be almost three years before they are ready to plow.

Passion. When people have it, they make things happen. Such is the case with Garrett Franz, who found a way to share his newly found passion for traditional farming methods using draft animals.

Garrett recently completed an internship at Tillers International, where he learned about training and working with draft animals. Thanks to a Farm Fund grant, Garrett and his three new best friends—Tim, Lars, and Deb—are bringing that knowledge to Whatcom County.

As you may have guessed, Tim, Lars, and Deb are the Milking Shorthorn calves acquired by Garrett in February when they were just wee little babes. The trio spent their first weekend in suburban Shoreline at Garrett’s parents’ house (I’m sure they were the talk of the neighborhood!), before arriving at their new and more appropriately rural home at Moondance Farm in Acme.

Since then, Garrett has been training them, which at this early stage largely involves bonding. Brushing is one of the main ways to bond and gain the trust of these creatures that will eventually weigh one ton or more, each. Once bonded, like most creatures (human or otherwise), they are motivated to work and want to please their trainer. Other early training focuses on familiarizing them to people, noises, halters and yokes, and very carefully building their strength and endurance.

Just like in the cowboy movies, it is critical for the team to learn basic voice commands—whoa, come, haw (left), and gee (right)—because you can’t physically control two tons of oxen power.

The key to early training, said Garrett, is setting reasonable goals, so they can successfully learn one concept before introducing something new.

They won’t be ready to do any heavy cultivating or plowing until they are 3 or 4 years old. It seems like a huge investment of time and money, but a team of oxen is a bargain compared to the price of a new tractor and requires much less costly maintenance than an older used tractor. Besides, for Garrett there are other tangible benefits. “For me, it is more enjoyable to work with living things. They are my teammates, not just implements. I pay attention to their needs, and walk right beside them.”

East of the Rockies, many hobby farmers still use draft animals. “People out here look at me like I’m crazy, but most of the developing world uses draft power and a high percentage is oxen, because they are affordable,” said Garrett. Draft power is also starting to move into the sustainable farming movement in the U.S., since it eliminates the need for fossil-fueled tractors, and the oxen provide fertility (aka lots of poop) to the farm.

Garrett’s goal is to preserve this traditional skill, share his knowledge (and his oxen team) with local farmers, support the local sustainable farming movement, and eventually expand his herd.

Garret also has one request for all of us. Back East, draft equipment is everywhere and is inexpensive, but here it is sought after by antique collectors and often sold at high prices for purely decorative use. If you have a neighbor or family member who might have draft equipment to share, Garret, Tim, Lars, and Deb would be grateful to receive it. Contact Garrett at franz.garrett@gmail.com, specify “Farm Fund Oxen Project” in subject line.

community food co-op farm fund

For more information about the Co-op Farm Fund, contact Mardi Solomon or visit the Farm Fund page at www.communityfood.coop.

Local Farm Feature: Flynn Farms

Co-op vendor Flynn Farms is woman-owned, veteran-owned, AAPI-owned and certified organic. We visited Flynn Farms to talk with owner Savannah about her journey and her mission to empower a new generation of farmers.

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