Our 77th @realfarmercare recipient is Mara Lawrence & Lars Johnson of @mamabirdfarm in Friday Harbor, WA.
Mara writes, “Mama Bird Farm is our heart’s work. We are a little veggie/flower farm in the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington State. We specialize in heirloom tomatoes, mixed baby greens and flowers sold throughout our Islands Grocery stores, Co-ops, Farmers Market and Restaurants. This land has been one of our greatest teachers, greatest gifts and challenges. Running Mama Bird has taught us how to work the land, build a viable business, live close to family, work in a partnership, and fail and succeed in many different ways. We started farming together by first leasing family land under the guidance of my father who farmed in the San Juans for many decades, then we moved onto raw land, and have been building Mama Bird for the last 6 years. We feel so blessed to have this opportunity and also work really hard to make it work. For the first several years we both worked off farm jobs to build our business. Lars still fishes in Bristol Bay Alaska, but we are fortunate enough to have the farm be both of our main source of income for the last several years. Starting out on totally raw land and farming on an Island has been some of our greatest challenges. Inputs, equipment and building infrastructure are more costly on an island, and getting them to the island. The beauty of farming on an Island is feeling so supported by our community, people's commitment to local healthy food, and raising a family that is close to the land and our neighbors. Covid-19 has posed new challenges, and we are working at listening to the demand of the times and making such changes by diversifying our veggie production for market, growing plant starts for budding gardens, and growing seed crop. We hope to feed our community and provide safe and local food throughout this challenging time, and feel so grateful to have the opportunity to do so.” . #realfarmercare #mamabirdfarm #womenwhofarm #islandfarm #familyfarms #localfarms #smallfarms #communitycare
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