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Laughing Crow Farm

Contact: Betsey Wittick

email Betsey Wittick at:Laughing Crow Farm

206-842-3516

Holiday Local Food Available From Laughing Crow and Persephone Farms

Last modified on 2008-12-05 22:55:47 GMT. 1 comment. Top.

If you’re still hunting for some fresh local produce, you’ll be happy to know that three women on two local farms, Persephone and Laughing Crow, are continuing to yield a bounty of delectable crops. You can find their produce at the Bainbridge Island Winter Farmers Market which operates from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. on Saturdays at the Eagle Harbor Community Church on the corner of Madison and Winslow Way in downtown Bainbridge.

Betsey Wittick of Laughing Crow Farm on Bainbridge Island enjoyed clear skies and sunny weather as she harvested some of her crops for this Saturday’s Market.

As Betsey plucked cabbage, kale and peppers from her tidy rows, she reminisced about her childhood interest in farming, horticulture, marine science and trees.

“I grew up in northern New Jersey but I loved growing things – I dug up our family lawn to plant my first little crops when I was ten or 11 years old,” says Betsey with a laugh.

Graduating from Rutgers University, she’d thought about majoring in marine biology, then forestry, but finally obtained her undergraduate degree in plant science.  After receiving her master’s degree in horticulture from Cornell, she eventually decided to ride her bicycle across the country.  She fell in love with the West Coast and says she was very lucky that in 1984, Junkoh Harui, the late owner of the Bainbridge Island Nursery gave her a job.

“Junkoh told me he didn’t hire me because of my education – he said it was because I had dirt under my fingernails and he said he knew I wasn’t afraid of hard work in the dirt,” said Wittick.

In 1989, she went to work for well-known Bainbridge Island Winery vintner Gerard Bentryn where she continues to work part-time today.  By 1990, the hard-working Wittick purchased about three acres of neighboring land and began planting her own farm.  In 1994, she joined the Bainbridge Island Grange where she undertook the monumental task of organizing and running a hands-on participant tour of three farms.  It drew about 600 visitors.

“We had 120 volunteers who showed people how to do all sorts of things on those farms from laying irrigation pipe to picking beans, Betsey said.

Early on, she  also joined two other farms to form a  co-op “grange booth” at the  farmers market  but she’s now on her own and specializing in certain crops such as heirloom potatoes, onion, garlic, peppers and cabbage.  During the winter market, she also sells some produce for a couple of other local farmers. She says she’s always trying something new and this year it’s a new type of corn for grinding corn meal plus some sweet potatoes.

“I’m trying to raise people’s cabbage consciousness,” says Wittick with a chuckle.  “It’s so good for you and there are so many ways you can eat it – raw, cooked in a stir-fry and pickled are just a few of them.”

And where did the farm name Laughing Crow come from? When Wittick first started growing her 25 kinds of heirloom garlic, the crows would pull all the stakes marking her rows, then laugh at her as she re-staked her rows.

Over in Indianola, Persephone Farm partners Louisa Brown and Rebecca Slattery also enjoyed the wintry sunshine as they harvested 21 different crops from their Persephone Farm.  Their produce was also destined for the upcoming Bainbridge Market.

Eight-year owners of the farm, Louisa and husband Damon Brown and Rebecca and husband Bill Richards, had the opportunity to buy their farm land because the Browns lived across the street and were among the first to hear that the property was for sale.

Louisa is originally from Michigan but says she has always been interested in farming.  She and Rebecca had been friends for a number of years before buying and working the farm together.

“We’ve developed sort of a niche in the market because we plant a lot of diverse crops so that we have very early and late harvests – our CSA runs about 22 weeks,” said Louisa.

Persephone’s CSA began in 1991, making it one of the longest running such program in the U.S. One of its unique features is the ability of subscribers to have add-ons from other local food producers such as fresh-baked bread, cheese, wine, salmon and berries.

Originally from just outside Philadelphia, Slattery says also started gardening early as a hobby.  She graduated from William Smith in New York but came west to earn an advanced degree in ecological horticulture from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1990.  Attending a wedding in the Northwest, Slattery, like Wittick, fell in love with the area so prior to purchasing her half interest in Persephone, she leased farm land on Bainbridge Island for ten years.

Though not certified organic, Slattery says she and Brown employ organic farming methods and are using bio-dynamic principles on their 13-acre farm that also houses chickens, turkeys, numerous flower beds, and 100 fruit trees.  Crops are rotated and about three acres are under cultivation at any one time.

Slattery named the farm for the Greek goddess Persephone who was said to have been the daughter of Zeus and Demeter.  While playing she was abducted by Hades and forced to spend part of the year (winter) with him but when she returns it’s spring and time to rejoice.

“Persephone was the Greek goddess of the seasons, particularly spring, so we thought it was a fitting name,” she says.