How’s it growing?

Engagement between sustainable farmers and community members paints a bright picture for the future of agriculture in the greater Whatcom area.

The oldest group of basil stands above the rest under the grow light on Friday February 14, 2025.

Story by Paetra Cooke // Photos by Ross Osborne

March 29, 2025

Plants line the interior of a hydroponics farm just outside Bellingham, Wash., on Friday February 14, 2025.

The room falls at a comfortable and exact 72 degrees as Brian Rusk reaches down to the bottom suspended shelf of the grow room. Gently tipping back the Styrofoam tray, his beaming smile is telling. Beneath the board, brilliant pink and yellow chard roots appear dripping with the nutrient-rich water that houses them. For many small-scale sustainable farmers like Rusk, this joy of cultivation is what keeps them coming back to growing each season.

Collectively, Whatcom County holds approximately 1,600 farms. However, just 15 minutes down the road from Rusk’s farm is Bellingham, an urban landscape. 

Whatcom County grows four percent of the total produce in the state of Washington. Yet for many inhabitants of the city of Bellingham, the practices and people behind this statistic have remained a mystery.

Some farmers are moving towards sustainable agriculture as the future of food production in Whatcom County. As farmland becomes limited and more expensive and food insecurity continues to rise, engagement between sustainable farmers and community members becomes increasingly important, farmers say. Public engagement and participation leads consumers to buy more from sustainable farms, supportive permaculture practices.

Out at Farm Wild, run by Rusk, the practice of producing low-waste and high-quality sustainable produce is alive and thriving. Warm air pours out from the side rooms of the barn as Rusk carefully opens it. Inside of the lovingly named basil room, beautiful stocks of basil line both walls and create a wall of green in the middle of the space. The plants are fertilized with nutrient-rich water, which circulates from koi ponds within the greenhouse.

Plants sit under grow lights on shelves on Friday February 14, 2025.

Each of these stunning little basil plants was grown with a purpose, according to Rusk. Before even being planted, they had a destination to ensure the lowest waste possible. While a portion of the 50 pounds of basil harvested each week ends up in local restaurants, some is destined for farmers markets and other programs which distribute produce to people with less access to fresh, locally sourced food.

The Mobile Food Program, run out of food access organization Food Lifeline, is one such movement that distributes fresh food in “hard to reach” areas around western Washington. Programs such as this have created opportunities for farmers to supply low-access areas with high-quality produce, bringing greater accessibility to many areas classified as food deserts, such as Deming and Birchwood.

Along with having created immense opportunities for people in need of high-quality food, programs like the market have created opportunities for interaction with farmers and food systems through volunteering. This allows people from the community to take an active role in their food systems.

Food sovereignty, the allowance and freedom of a community to have a voice and power over where their food comes from, is another goal for many programs such as Food Lifeline.

By promoting food sovereignty in communities like Bellingham, the mystery of where and how food is sourced is being slowly revealed, through organizations. Clarifying the path between farm and consumer is an important step in demystifying a system that seems daunting and inaccessible. 

Between operations like food banks and Food Lifeline working beside the small-scale farming community, more is being done by the community and farmers to address food access issues at the root.

Food Lifeline is working to produce a new version of community interaction through integration of education about cultivation, such as farming practices and consumer knowledge. 

Connection to people buying from sustainable farms and integrating education opportunities creates space to understand the techniques and work that goes into farming sustainably, such as permaculture. 

A worker (I do not recall her name) labels and places baby basil plants into their new spots on shelves on Friday February 14, 2025.

“Permaculture is not about agriculture; it’s about permanent culture. How do we build culture that is regenerative and sustainable?” Brian Kerkvliet, co-owner and operator of permaculture-based Inspiration Farm, said. “Without engaging with the community that can’t happen.” 

The majority of consumers do not understand practices like permaculture, which integrate human activity into the natural landscape, said Kerkvliet.

For many of the farms practicing small scale sustainable farming, education and encouraging involvement is vital to developing and continuing successful businesses as well as food systems. 

One way Kerkvliet builds community is an annual seed swap, where people come together to trade seeds and learn about different crops for the upcoming season. This makes it possible to both distribute seeds to help community members interact with sustainable agriculture options, and lower the cost of producing crops.

According to Kerkvliet, when farmers disperse seeds to be cultivated by a wide range of community members, those community members gain an understanding for how to protect and support the next set of food producers.

Sustainable Connections is a Bellingham based non-profit that works in conjunction with community events and local farms to bridge gaps between consumers and farmers. Non-profits like Sustainable Connections are supporting events like the seed swap to serve these goals.

With help from organizations like Sustainable Connections, these gatherings can help to draw larger groups of community members and fellow farmers.

Cloud Mountain Farm Center is another non-profit increasing community engagement through a multitude of education based programs, such as their Agricultural Career Exploration, a student-based program, which opens doors for all ages to step into the world of planning for the future of farming.

By working with schools around the state to promote sustainable agriculture career paths, farmers of today can better create exposure for the next generation, fostering a new community of passionate and motivated farmers.

“A lot of small farmers, like me, do it because they love it. You have to love it; there's no point in doing this sort of thing if you don’t,” Rusk said.

1 week old sprouts make their appearance under a grow light in a hydroponics farm on Friday February 14, 2025.