BABA YAGA FARM
FEEDING THE SOIL TO FEED YOU
winter salad greens & hatch-to-harvest meat chickens grown on Lopez Island, WA
REGENERATIVE. ECOSYSTEM BUILDING. NO-TILL.
We believe Mother Nature is the keeper of wise ways, the answer to all our questions. Our farm practices are rooted in this wisdom while teetering between a wild and human-cultivated balance.
*Absolutely zero chemicals or herbicides/insecticides (not even "natural" ones like Neem oil)*
*Integration of diverse native plants to feed native pollinators*
*Establishing drought-tolerant perennials for year-round habitat and forage for birds and bugs*
*Creating home-made soil amendments and fertilizers out of harvests from the land and sea*
*Leaving the soil continuously covered and protected with living plants and/or mulch*
*Creating on-farm compost and vermicompost*
*Disturbing the soil structure as little as possible*
*Practicing daily gratitude, song, and blessings to this land that gives us so much*
We aim to keep our soil so healthy that plants can easily access everything they need and become incredibly nutritious for us humans (and animals!) to eat. Vegetables grown on no-till regenerative farms are absolutely more nutritious than vegetables grown on tillage-based organic farms! All these practices and more help us tend and grow the hard-working soil microbes that create nutritious and vibrant food for us. We must feed the soil to feed ourselves.
Baba Yaga Farm is a one-woman show, and a very delicate and sometimes overwhelming balance between the demands of motherhood and growing food for the community. Libby started out as a farm intern in 2013, worked on a few farms for several years, then created a homestead on the land where she is now long-term leasing with her husband and children. In 2020 she scaled up slowly to offer a variety of vegetable and animal products for sale to the local community, and receives so much joy in sharing the nutritious bounty of the land with others. Land access, as well as access to financial and material resources, is a large barrier for young farmers everywhere (and especially in the islands), but Libby has managed to create a small yet very productive farm without many bells and whistles. She is passionate about sharing her view that with some creativity and muscle, you can do a lot with a little.
In our household, we enjoy reading fairy tales from around the world and exploring the role the archetypal figures play in our modern lives. Baba Yaga is a wise old woman featured in many variations of fairy tales from eastern Europe. She lives in the woods in a house built on chicken legs, with bones of various animals holding the house together. She is a wild, powerful being, and she reminds us to live our lives in service of the world and always acting in integrity and goodness: for if we do, she will help us greatly on our journey, and if not, well.......
