If you've managed to sneak a glimpse of the property located on the south side of U.S. 2 about three miles west of Sultan, you may have noticed a flurry of activity.
Along with a few critters.
The 60-acre parcel of property located near mile marker 19 used to be home to the Monroe Water Gardens & Nursery facility, which was abandoned in 2008. When Jody Kerr and his wife Tiffany purchased the land in 2013, they knew that clearing away the rubbish and debris left behind by the former owner would be a significant task.
But they really wanted a farm.
"The original idea was to find that preexisting farm with the house and the barn and that beautiful pastoral landscape that everyone has in their mind when they think of a farm,Gǥ said Jody. "WellGǪ Those are really expensive.Gǥ
"This wasn't quite so expensive,GÇ¥ he continued. "But of course it's lacking the views and the buildings and all the stuff, so we basically are having to build it all from scratch.GÇ¥
Once they purchased the property, Jody traveled back and forth from their home in Arizona until the couple was able to permanently relocate to the Sky Valley earlier this year.
"We jumped on the land when we had the opportunity, and then it took us a while to be able to shift everybody up here from Arizona,GÇ¥ explained Jody.
They moved to Sultan in June of this year with their three children; Tanith, Jensen and Eleanor. Tanith, a 15-year-old student at Sultan High School, enjoys art. Their son, Jensen, an outgoing and friendly young man, will be six in December. Eleanor is the youngest at 1-1/2.
They decided to name their endeavor the Scottish Thistle Farm.
Eventually, Jody hopes to convert the property into a fully functioning, organic Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) facility. Typically, CSAs function as a way for consumers to obtain fresh, locally-grown fruits and vegetables regardless of where they live.
Somebody living in an apartment, for example, could pay into a CSA at the beginning of a growing season, and then once harvesting begins, they would be able to obtain a weekly allotment of fruits and vegetables. Some CSAs also offer things like meat, honey and eggs. Occasionally CSAs will incorporate a bartering system, so that low-income families and individuals can work on the farm, packaging up fruits and vegetables, in exchange for their own supply.
"My goal is to take some of the technology that we implemented in Arizona and reverse it to make it work up here,GÇ¥ said Jody. "So, instead of building systems to make everything cooler, we're going to build systems to make everything warmer so that we can actually do a full production year round. It's going to take us a few years.GÇ¥
The infrastructure which will hopefully accommodate Jody's needs is nothing elaborate or troublesome to construct.
"It's hoop houses and things like that,GÇ¥ said Jody. "Not really complicated stuff, but you have to clear enough of the grass and junk out of the way to get it put in place.GÇ¥
Clearing the left-behind remnants from the nursery has, thus far, been a monumental task. When they were first getting started with the cleanup, they hauled away eight truckloads of garbage, and that was only from small one-acre section of the property.
The ultimate goal is for the farm to feature five acres of vegetables, five acres of orchards, and to have multiple aspects of the farm working together in concert to facilitate maximum sustainability. Jody hopes to acquire Shropshire sheep, which are specifically appealing for managing tree farms because they don't munch on the tree bark.
"They will only eat the grass around the trees,GÇ¥ said Jody. "So you can have them in amongst your fruit trees and they won't harm the trees like goats will do.GÇ¥
There are other animals he hopes to acquire to facilitate the sustainability of the farm, as well. Jody is planning on including raspberries and blueberries, as well as red
and black currants. To help him keep the berry patches free from weeds and other tall foliage, he will acquire African grass geese. He has already accumulated a small population of farm animals including 10 goats, three highlander cattle including two heifers and one bull, one llama and several ducks. He also has 25 hens and one rooster.
"Most of these animals here are either unwanted or adoptions, except for our cattle,GÇ¥ said Jody. "So most of these chickens, actually somebody dumped them off at somebody else's house and then they got stuck with them. These guys will go out and they'll clean my fields, they'll fertilize, they'll eat grass, and we'll just move them around the farm to where they're needed.GÇ¥
So far, the kids have enjoyed helping their parents work on the farm. They're youngest daughter, Eleanor, loves engaging with the goats and the chickens.
"She calls them "bobs.' We think she's saying "birds,' but it's coming out "bobs,'GÇ¥ said Jody.
In addition to hauling away garbage, Jody and Tiffany have primarily been focused on restoring the land and correcting its degraded state. They've tackled a portion of the invasive plant species, and worked all summer on stream restoration, which was an intensive process, all done by hand. While he could have brought in heavy equipment, Jody didn't feel like that would be entirely conducive to the whole idea of a sustainable farm.
Eventually, he will have a tractor on the farm, but for now, he is trying to minimize the use of heavy equipment.
In conjunction with the stream restoration, he also worked with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad to get the culvert under the train tracks cleaned out. With its close proximity to the Skykomish River, he is hoping that the enhanced water flow will significantly improve the flooding situation in the area.
He is already planning on how best to address the left-behind nursery trees that were killed due to neglect and floodwaters.
As often as possible, Jody has been seeking to manage the land via his animals, already with a positive effect. His goats are helping to restore the pasture, which Jody hopes by next year will be green and lush.
For more information on the Scottish Thistle Farm, please visit the Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/ScottishThistleFarm/info?tab=overview. You can follow their progress via their blog, which is located here: http://scottishthistlefarm.com/.
The Kerrs are planning on continuing the cleanup phase of their work, and are looking for fill dirt and wood chips.
"We're happy to have folks to come down and visit,GÇ¥ said Jody. "This isn't what you'd call traditional farming so I'm happy to explain it.GÇ¥
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