One Day at Killarney Farm

It’s a warm July day and the 6-acre Killarney Farm feels as idyllic as Brigadoon— with little sound beyond the birds and bees.

About an hour southeast of Coeur d’Alene, well-manicured rows ablaze with herbs, flowers, vegetables, and berries surround two brimming hoop houses, a barn, and the solar paneled shake-andlog home built by owners Paul Smith and Ellen Scriven.

Photo by Mark LaMoreaux. Intern Carla Haegele picks strawberries for market.

It’s Wednesday—hours before tonight’s Kootenai County Farmers Market. Awake with the sun, Smith, Scriven, and two interns—here to help and learn from these icons of organic gardening— answer our questions and pose for photos only if we can keep up with them. Lean, muscular, tan as the earth, they run from rows to water barrels and hoses— cleaning vegetables for this afternoon’s customers—then back to the harvest. This is no task for those who expect coffee breaks.

First love is selling at farmers markets
“We both love to grow food,” says Scriven. Smith started clearing this land 28 years ago and 18 years ago they began growing more food than they could use. They stock a roadside stand and sell to area markets and restaurants. But their first love is selling directly to customers— especially at farmers markets.

“There is nothing like it,” says Scriven. “By 8 a.m. customers are lined up. It’s a mad rush. Customers are so supportive! They say, ‘This is the best spinach, the best broccoli I’ve eaten.’ They tell other customers. They can’t believe how long the produce lasts, because it’s so fresh. The feedback, excitement, enthusiasm is what keeps us going. It’s not the money. It’s the satisfaction. ‘We know it’s hard work’, they tell us. ‘But we are so appreciative of you guys.’”

Out in a strawberry patch, Carla Haegele, 25, a University of Victoria graduate, one of two summer interns, sweat streaking her face, searches for the reddest berries. She found this internship on the http://attra. ncat.org web site— Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas—a resource-rich non-profit site dedicated to helping growers build sustainable agriculture and communities.

During peak season, like today, Haegele works from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., helping harvest as many as 50 different crops, in exchange for room, board, a stipend, and insight. “They are great people to learn from,” she says. “Both Paul and Ellen have so much knowledge to share. And, oh yeah…they cook! We eat produce from this garden every day!”

Idaho’s 11th farm to be certified organic—in 1991—Killarney’s emphasis is on building and maintaining soil fertility by incorporating crop residues, mulch, onfarm composted animal manures, and green (plant) manures. They practice crop rotation, drip irrigation, hand cultivation, and harvest.

Reciprocal relationship with CALS
As with many small-acreage growers, their relationship with the UI’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences is reciprocal. UI Extension’s Vickie Parker-Clark in Coeur d’Alene “helped us a lot in the beginning, through organizing conferences, classes, and workshops,” says Scriven. They also learned through “wisdom she shared” from her leadership role on the National Direct Marketing Association board and from Idaho Master Gardener classes. In turn Scriven has taught college-sponsored workshops and was a founding member of Rural Roots with CALS and Washington State University. Also, Killarney Farm is sometimes open to CALS students on field trips.

“Not everyone can make a small farm succeed,” adds Parker-Clark. “Killarney Farm has done it. What we can do is help people plan, and connect them with tools to help them succeed.”

--by Mary Ann Reese

© 2004 University of Idaho, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.