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The annual Jefferson County Farm Tour gives visitors a window on rural living. By Heidi Witherspoon, For the Kitsap Sun Chris Llewellyn made the move most people only dream of doing. She left behind a busy Bainbridge Island lifestyle after 55 years and headed for the hills.
Quilcene, that is. On Sept. 24, she’ll share what she and her family have been up to over the past five years during the fourth annual Jefferson County Farm Tour, in which eight farms of East Jefferson County open their acres to the public and offer engaging tours and activities for a slice of harvest-time farm life.
Llewellyn, proprietress of Serendipity Farm, has been actively promoting organic and sustainable agricultural practices for several years. Checkered throughout nearly four of the farm’s 46 acres are abundant flowers and vegetables — which go to the Port Townsend Farmers Market and are available on a weekly subscription basis, delivered throughout East Jefferson, North
Kitsap, and Bainbridge Island. The farm doesn’t end there.
Serendipity Farm also boards horses — a passion shared by Llewellyn’s daughter Arianne
Bertucci, 26, who lives and works on the farm with musician husband Franco Bertucci and their toddler daughter,
Filomena. Chickens scurry about in the humorously named coup, the "Chick Inn," and every day is a work day for the family.
One earthen building on the acreage — not yet crowned with a roof — commands ogling. Llewellyn explains it is a self-made "cob building" which she hopes will become a certified kitchen, complete with earth oven to use for instruction and gatherings. The building was made using all reclaimed materials from around her farm, and its foundation is comprised of broken cement castoffs from the Hood Canal Bridge.
"I held a cob building workshop here recently and it’s a really fascinating method dating way back; cob is made with water and clay, sand, straw or other fibers," she said. "Think adobe, but with a higher percentage of long straw fibers mixed in."
Many hands have touched the farm, notably visiting, seasonal interns and workers seeking experience on an organic farm. Word travels fast thanks to the Internet and testimonials about Serendipity’s fun working environment. Part of Llewellyn’s farm motto is to enjoy working. She said her credo combines "recreation, conservation and sustainable agriculture."
Whole groups from as far as Tibet have asked to intern or work for board at Serendipity next year, opportunities that Llewellyn offers through online networks such as World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (formerly Willing Workers on Organic Farms).
Llewellyn works tirelessly to teach sustainable and organic farming through on-hands application. One of the goals of the Jefferson County Farm Tour, she says, is to see farming continue in generations to come. The average age of the farmer in Jefferson County is 55, and teaching future generations to farm and demonstrating farm-to-table link is paramount in keeping farms alive.
A testament to her interns’ experiences, Llewellyn notes success.
"I can think of three sets of interns who worked at Serendipity Farm who are permanently farming and running operations in this area," she said. "It’s also something my daughter Arianna did in Central America and Costa Rica; she volunteered on farms, and it changed her life."
Adrianne Bertucci graduated from Evergreen State College, with studies in sustainable agriculture program. Today the college comes to their farm for inspiration during weeklong writing workshops. Bertucci and Llewellyn also enjoy mentoring to at-risk women through hands-on horticulture programs off the farm.
"It’s very fulfilling to build a sense of community through agriculture," Llewellyn said. "If we can inspire people, even improve their lives or empower them with a skill, AND do something that’s good for the planet, there’s nothing to lose." | |||
