There is always excitement as we welcome new farm interns to our communities each summer and we’re pleased to introduce to you several more interns that are helping our farmlands thrive this season. Cate Sheehan and Lilly Witte both work at Poulsbo’s Full Tilth Farm and Bainbridge Island’s Laughing Crow Farm and Bainbridge Vineyards. As well, they are roommates, sharing one of the reHOME tiny houses at Morales Farm and joining several other interns already living and working there.
Cate comes from a long family history of farming on Lopez Island, where she spent many childhood summers visiting her grandparents’ farm.
Farm interns, Cate and Lilly
More recently, her mother purchased the property next door, expanding the site. It was here that Cate learned to love being outdoors and later, she learned to love getting her hands dirty and growing things at her first “real job” on a vegetable farm in Duval, WA. She attended Evergreen State College, majoring in Organic Farming, and now she brings her passion and skill to our farms this summer. Right off the bat, Cate has been impressed by the tight-knit farming culture in our communities. She has found everyone she meets to be encouraging and willing to share information to the new generation of farmers like herself. Her bosses, Betsey Wittick and Renee Ziemann have quickly become mentors, helping her think beyond this summer and consider future ways to be successful in this difficult industry. Once the harvest season comes to an end, Cate plans to return to the family farm on Lopez Island and continue to put into practice all that she’s learned here, possibly adding growing garlic and developing her newest passion, growing flowers that can be transformed into dried wreaths.
Lilly, while not particularly interested in nature or growing food as a child, developed her love of farming in college after she volunteered at an urban farm in South Bend, Indiana. Last summer, she worked at the monastery on Shaw Island in the San Juan Islands where, for the first time, she witnessed the process she calls “Seed to End”; the relationship between planting, tending, harvesting and eating food. After a long road trip from Indiana to Bainbridge Island, she too has found this community exceedingly welcoming – taking her under their wing and introducing her to all the resources available to her in this internship position. She’s found time to pursue some old interests – baking and cheese-making and some new ones too – fermenting foods – all in an on-going pursuit to prolong seasonal foods well into the winter months when weather does not allow much to be grown outdoors.
Both girls have realistic views as they each consider what it takes to make farming a vocation. They see the years of commitment and dedication to one place, working hard to coax soil to become healthy and strong enough to grow good food. Here, they also have witnessed firsthand the patience and commitment the farmers have made to the long, slow process of developing a loyal customer base and building relational trust with customers, neighbors and other farmers. Both girls want to make these kinds of commitments themselves and are excited to continue to learn and grow in these coming months.
