The average age of the American farmer has been rising steadily for decades. While the slope has started to level off, it is still a long way from trending downward. In 1997, the average age was 54. In 2007, it was 57, and now it’s 58. Many older farmers hold on to their land and their conventional farming practices, loath to disrupt what has worked in the past, and without successors willing to take over. That’s why I love talking about the multigenerational organic and sustainable farming community in the Skagit. Last issue, I shared Boldly Grown Farm’s story, who got their start at the Viva Farm Incubator Program and grew to become one of our main local suppliers. This issue, I’ll introduce a few other young farmers we have the pleasure of working with.

Matthew and Giana Cioni of The Crows Farm

Matthew and Giana Cioni, owners of The Crows Farm, are also Viva Farms alumni. We were happy to have them on stage at the Lincoln Theatre for the introduction of our Growing Good Fund and our $100,000 donation to Viva Farms. The Cionis hail from Vermont, where Matthew earned a degree in Environmental Science, and Giana in Nutrition and Food Systems. After college, Giana worked for several months on a permaculture farm in Nicaragua. Matthew worked with the Vermont Conservation Corps, and during the off season, cooked and tended the garden at a farm-to-table Italian restaurant, where the two met. Fast forward a little and they decided to get married and move somewhere they could grow radicchio. They landed in Skagit.

After enrolling at Viva in 2014, they established The Crow’s Farm in 2015. As is true of the incubator program, they started farming on one acre, but now manage 14, still on Viva land. Certified organic by Oregon Tilth, they grow a wide variety of herbs and specialty Italian vegetables, as well as tomatoes, broccoli, artichokes, and edible flowers, to mention a few. They, along with Boldly Grown and Uprising Seeds, participate in the annual Sagra del Radicchio in Portland, “a culinary and cultural exploration into Italian chicory.” Now, with a one year old named Emilia, they are trying to find land to call their own. Look for their herbs to start popping up at the Co-op. If you want to learn more about The Crows Farm, or happen to have information about farmland for sale, take a peek at their website: www.thecrowsfarm.com.

As Natural Enquirer readers and members of our Co-op community, many of you will know the name, if not the individual, Anne Schwartz. Anne has been a pillar of the local, state, and national organic and sustainable farming movements since they began – a pioneer, really. She has run Blue Heron Farm, a 40-acre parcel in Rockport for 40 years, building soil and accumulating knowledge for the duration. And, well, she’s getting older and wants to concentrate more on policy issues and less on day-to-day farming. A few years ago, Anne and the farm’s landowner, Lois, decided to offer some of the Blue Heron employees a chance to take over the land as Anne stepped back (though she still grows berries for us!), and so, Long Hearing Farm was born.

Elizabeth Bragg, along with partners Kelly Skillingstead and Reed Rankin, are currently managing 6.5 acres of the 40-acre Blue Heron farmstead, 3.5 of which are in cultivation at a time. The farm is named after Elizabeth’s great-great grandmother, whose name translates from Blackfeet to Long Hearing Woman. Elizabeth has been involved in food and farming for the past decade, Kelly and Reed both come from families involved in forestry and agriculture in this area for over 100 years.

They have all worked and learned with Anne for years at Blue Heron, in what has amounted to a smaller-scale farm incubator program. The three of them, all in their early 30s, are passionate about sustainable agriculture. The farm is a worker’s cooperative that has forged strong ties with local food banks and school districts, as well as your friendly local food co-op. 2023 will be Long Hearing’s third season. Last year, they had a 75-share CSA program operating on a sliding scale, and this year they have over 90 shares, with a new drop-off in Mount Vernon.

Long Hearing Farm grows a wide variety of vegetable crops throughout the season, but look for early greens from their greenhouses in the spring: salad, arugula, spicy mix, and baby spinach. They will be using their new mechanical greens harvester, for which they’ve had to adjust how they plant: it picks smaller leaves twice as often. They also hope to purchase a delivery van this year to better transport their fresh produce from rural Rockport. To learn more about the Long Hearing crew, or to sign up for their CSA, visit www.longhearingfarm.org.

And in the words of Viva, long live farms!

Young Farmers with Passion to Grow