As you may already know, Jan and Dean have been farming in the Nisqually Valley for the last 26 years. Most of you know Jan and Dean but do you know the history of their lush little corner of the Valley?
Let us go back a few dozen years to see a young girl living in Southern California helping her parents with flowers and plants in their little yard. But what she really wanted was to grow something to eat! When the family would go on vacations she would look at the fields they were passing and try to figure out what was growing. One farm they passed had a sign that read: ‘From Field and Vine to Thee and Thine’, that saying stuck with her over the years. Her dad was able to get permission for her to have a garden on a vacant lot across from theirs, he helped her set up hoses for water and she was off and growing. At just 10 years old she would put the veggies she grew in her little red wagon and sell them to the neighbors to raise money to go to horse camp.
About this same time, in Colorado a young boy watched his father growing carnations for the flower industry. The greenhouses, long hours, and lots of chemicals used at the time cemented for this young boy ‘I never want to do anything like this’.
Let us go back a few dozen years to see a young girl living in Southern California helping her parents with flowers and plants in their little yard. But what she really wanted was to grow something to eat! When the family would go on vacations she would look at the fields they were passing and try to figure out what was growing. One farm they passed had a sign that read: ‘From Field and Vine to Thee and Thine’, that saying stuck with her over the years. Her dad was able to get permission for her to have a garden on a vacant lot across from theirs, he helped her set up hoses for water and she was off and growing. At just 10 years old she would put the veggies she grew in her little red wagon and sell them to the neighbors to raise money to go to horse camp.
About this same time, in Colorado a young boy watched his father growing carnations for the flower industry. The greenhouses, long hours, and lots of chemicals used at the time cemented for this young boy ‘I never want to do anything like this’.
Look ahead a few years to a young newly married couple, one of their agreements was: his career for 20 years, then her career for 20 years. So a military family they were, Dean served in the Vietnam war, then was stationed in Korea, Germany, North Carolina, Texas, Arizona and Washington. Everywhere they went Jan planted a garden, grew food for her family and others when ever and where ever she could. Every time they were relocated she would start again, leaving behind a legacy of little garden plots. When they were stationed in Washington they would take their young children to Puyallup to the U-pick berry fields. Jan loved those outings and decided that this memory making experience was something she wanted to provide when she was able to have her own farm.
After Dean retired from the military they decided to settle in Olympia and start Jan’s farm. Looking for property was a difficult process for the realtors they worked with because the house was not the feature they we most concerned with. While they wanted a good location, the most important thing to Jan and Dean was not the house but the soil. Jan would take a small shovel with her and dig down into the soil around the property – she didn’t want rock or clay, but was looking for good workable soil. She found just that in the Nisqually Valley, nice river bottom sandy loam. The property was all in pasture at the time; it did have a barn, an old cement building and an irrigation well, but no house!
After Dean retired from the military they decided to settle in Olympia and start Jan’s farm. Looking for property was a difficult process for the realtors they worked with because the house was not the feature they we most concerned with. While they wanted a good location, the most important thing to Jan and Dean was not the house but the soil. Jan would take a small shovel with her and dig down into the soil around the property – she didn’t want rock or clay, but was looking for good workable soil. She found just that in the Nisqually Valley, nice river bottom sandy loam. The property was all in pasture at the time; it did have a barn, an old cement building and an irrigation well, but no house!
So, with their three children and a foster child (2 teens, Jr high & grade school) they bought the 10 acre property in 1989, bought a mobile home to live in and started building and growing. Dean says “I had never built anything bigger than a workbench” yet he found himself building a house. They built their home, raised the kids and taught themselves to farm. They laugh now about the year they decided to plant 10,000 strawberries. They ‘recruited’ their kids and friends over spring break one year to get them all planted, only to find later in the season that keeping up with picking that many berries and weeding them was a bit overwhelming. Regardless, Jan's wish for a U-Pick berry patch was fulfilled. These days it is more manageable, with 1,500 new strawberries planted each year. Jan and Dean host one of the states few certified organic U-Pick strawberry patches, open June-September. Their U-Pick Raspberries and Pumpkin Patch are also certified organic, as are all the other 150 varieties of vegetables they grow.
They have avoided all the chemical issues that Dean saw in the flower industry as a child by growing organically since the beginning, and their farm has been certified organic for all crops since 1994. They make their own compost and focus on feeding the soil. As Jan says “We feed the soil, that feeds the microbes, which feed the plants, that feed us!” They add trace minerals and natural nutrients to the soil to produce amazingly large vegetables. They encourage beneficial insects (did you know Jan is an entomologist?) and rotate crops to help minimize pests.
They have avoided all the chemical issues that Dean saw in the flower industry as a child by growing organically since the beginning, and their farm has been certified organic for all crops since 1994. They make their own compost and focus on feeding the soil. As Jan says “We feed the soil, that feeds the microbes, which feed the plants, that feed us!” They add trace minerals and natural nutrients to the soil to produce amazingly large vegetables. They encourage beneficial insects (did you know Jan is an entomologist?) and rotate crops to help minimize pests.
Jan and Dean have pretty much done it all, from a road side produce stand, to the Olympia Farmers Market, Co-Op, and a CSA program. Needless to say after nearly 50 years of working more than full time they are ready to slow down a bit. . .One of Jan's goals for the year is to only work 10 hour days!
Even as Jan and Dean look toward retirement again (it has been 26 years farming after all) they still want their land to continue producing lush food for the community. They are training up lots of younger folks and working with a local non-profit to devise a plan to have the farm still be productive and support the community even after they retire.
Jan has fulfilled her dream of having a farm and providing great wholesome food for her neighbors in a really big way. She could not have done this for all these years without your amazing support! Please continue to support this amazing family farm by signing up for the CSA program (5 different pickup options), buying produce at the Co-Op, Farm Fresh Market or the Olympia Farmers Market (starting in April).
Looking back with amazement and forward with anticipation - Celeste (for Jan, Dean and all the Crew)
Even as Jan and Dean look toward retirement again (it has been 26 years farming after all) they still want their land to continue producing lush food for the community. They are training up lots of younger folks and working with a local non-profit to devise a plan to have the farm still be productive and support the community even after they retire.
Jan has fulfilled her dream of having a farm and providing great wholesome food for her neighbors in a really big way. She could not have done this for all these years without your amazing support! Please continue to support this amazing family farm by signing up for the CSA program (5 different pickup options), buying produce at the Co-Op, Farm Fresh Market or the Olympia Farmers Market (starting in April).
Looking back with amazement and forward with anticipation - Celeste (for Jan, Dean and all the Crew)
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