Willapa Bay Heritage Farm

Reduce, reuse, recycle; these three Rs drive the sustainability mission of Willapa Bay Heritage Farm (WBHF) as it establishes a healthy food supply using natural resources. The food producer works in partnership with the broader ecosystem to ensure that incoming materials and packaging are eco-friendly and waste stream-reduced; no resource goes to waste; and everything is used to its full potential to preserve soil, water, and the greater biodiversity.

The farm has chickens, goats, rabbits, and soon, pigs, which supply organic eggs; milk, cheese and candies such as truffles, caramels and fudge; pelts and meat. The chickens are humanely raised and kept in a free-range but totally enclosed wire cage secured four feet underground to provide them sunshine and air, yet keep them safe from harmful predators from both the sky and the ground.

Willapa Bay Heritage Farm has multiple tools in its arsenal when it comes to organic farming practices. Its sustainable farming method reflects perfectly in its compost program. WBHF take the hay and straw bedding and waste products from the chickens and goats along with the rabbit pellets and use the manure to create high-quality soil for cultivation. They use organic poultry spray that keeps their farm free from any pest-related issues such as mites and lice.

Located near the mouth of the Columbia River on the Willapa Bay, and just a mile from the Pacific Ocean, WBHF emphasizes the preservation and quality of water by doing monthly enzyme septic treatments to safeguard the bay from any water overflow. Willapa Bay is home to ~25% of the nation’s oyster production and is reputed to be the cleanest estuary in the country, with WBHF doing its part to maintain that status.

Out-of-the-Box Farming Methodology

Willapa Bay operates a nine-acre farm built with a raised bed agriculture system to produce organic vegetables and fruits. The beds help heat the soil for better germination and growth rates while also making it easier for workers to plant and weed, as the beds are two to three feet off the ground. This gardening approach aims to safeguard crops from moles, rabbits, and other digging animals. The beds are built from invasive, water-hungry juniper trees harvested in Eastern Oregon to help fight the severe drought situation there. Repatriating the land to native grasslands while providing employment, this ecosystem restoration project is an example of the type of “win-win” effort WBHF likes to support. Not only is the restoration juniper much sturdier than other wood, long-lasting, termite-proof, and cost-effective, its use enables WBHF to grow plants irrespective of climate change and work in harmony with nature.

Willapa Bay’s organic farming practices are further amplified by its solar array system. It leverages bifacial panels; wherein oyster shells are used to reflect the light on the bottom panels to increase the productivity of the solar plant. Willapa Bay gets almost a 25 percent increase in power owing to its innovative method of implementing its solar array, producing over 21.5Kw of power.

WBHF leverages two kiosks: one on the farm for its educational initiatives towards the community and the other on the opposite side of town to help sell organic products.

Turning Trash into Treasure

Cover cropping enables Willapa Bay to cover the soil and prepare it for the next harvest. It allows them to increase the farm's soil fertility and quality. All cultivated cover crops are later used to feed the chickens and goats, which become a supply of organic manure. This, combined with the nitrogen-rich manure procured from the local horse arena and ground coffee beans and paper cups from a local coffee shop, help it produce top-flight compost to further enrich the soil.

“We utilize different manure products of several animal species – chickens, goats, horses and rabbits – along with vegetarian food and seafood scraps tossed to the landfills by restaurants and coffee shops, to recycle and create a nutrient-rich soil amendment—compost,” says Deborah Howard, manager at Willapa Bay Heritage Farm. Creating compost from food scraps adds nutrients to the soil, and then, when returned to the earth, gets recycled back into the ecosystem and taken up by the next round of crops grown on the land. The nutritious soil enables Willapa Bay to cultivate fresh and organic vegetables and fruits without relying on chemicals.

By using vegetarian food waste in its compost, Willapa Bay has reduced the waste dumped in landfills. It has used approximately 40 tons of trash to create an effective alternative for fertilizers on the farm.

Walking the Talk with Promising Results

One of the local restaurants had an executive chef who is allergic to soy products; as a result, their menu did not include soy or eggs fed soy products. As the chef learned he was not alone in this common allergy, he decided to change the menu and offer a special category of dishes prepared for people with allergies. Willapa Bay got a new contract to provide organic eggs produced from chickens given special no-corn, no-soy feed to the restaurant. It has been a great pride for WBHF products to be featured on the menu and provide the restaurant’s customers access to a new range of organic food.

Such outcomes speak volumes about Willapa Bay’s mission toward sustainable farming practices, especially by ‘paying it forward’ to educate the next generation.

Willapa Bay is now focusing on developing a learning curriculum for 4H, Future Farmers of America, and culinary students to educate them on its organic farming practices, animal welfare practices, recycling, and compost program. Several students are working on individual projects to create content for the formal curriculum, while others are completing their service requirements by volunteering at the farm. Recently, Willapa Bay got a permit for a brand new educational building, and anytime soon, the education program will be out for the community.

While already certified as a non-profit Washington mutual benefit organization, WBHF is also working on getting the farm enrolled as an IRS Section 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation to pave the way for community fundraising to build more learning facilities for the community. WBHF’s intent is to become a “farm-to-table” venue for non-profit fundraisers, with its ultimate goal being to grant the farm to the community in perpetuity.

Willapa Bay will continue to find new and innovative ways to use natural resources effectively to produce organic food products and pave the way for a sustainable future.