Daily Sun News

Community supported agriculture thriving at Heavenly Hills Harvest

Corey Russell

October 05, 2010

Merritt Mitchell-Wajeeh says she has always had an interest in growing produce. For the past couple of years she has turned that passion into Heavenly Hills Harvest, a community supported garden that supplies customers from Selah to Richland with fresh vegetables.

Mitchell-Wajeeh says her passion was ignited while visiting the farmers market in Prosser. There she met people who practice agriculture on a small scale, selling their produce at farmers markets and local restaurants.

Mitchell-Wajeeh, her husband Sam and their twin boys moved onto their spread near Sunnyside in October of 2007. By the spring of 2008 she had planted her first 'test' garden.

"One of the first things I did when I decided to do this was start the application process to go organic with the WSDA (Washington State Department of Agriculture)," Mitchell-Wajeeh said.

Although Heavenly Hills Harvest is completely organic, Mitchell-Wajeeh said the farm isn't certified as organic, but will be very soon. The delay was caused because she couldn't identify what, if any; chemicals had been applied on the land by the previous owners. Land must be free and clear of chemicals for three years before it can be certified as organic, she explained.

For the past two years she has grown organic vegetables because she wanted to share the bounty of her harvest.

Mitchell-Wajeeh explained that a community supported garden is where customers buy a share of the farm.

"Their dividends are a share of the produce," she said.

She currently has 15 customers and supplies them with fresh, organic produce 20 to 22 weeks of the year, beginning in June.

Because customers buy a share of the farm they also have a share of the risks. If a cold snap hits the area and damages the crop or an infestation of bugs occurs, the losses are shared by Mitchell-Wajeeh and her customers.

But she tries to ward off any disasters. It's common to see Mitchell-Wajeeh and her intern farming apprentice, Lindsay Baynard, out among the rows of vegetables picking off any bugs they can find.

"We are beyond organic," Mitchell-Wajeeh said. "We don't spray anything. Our members are willing to put up with a few bitten leaves."

She takes a holistic approach to her garden. Scanning the rows of vegetables is very labor intensive, but she is also introducing predatory insects to help deal with unwanted pests. Plans are also underfoot to plant flowers and other vegetation along the fence lines. This, she says, will help attract beneficial insects to her garden. This new line of defense against bugs is self-sustaining and self seeding. She claims it will provide a variety of tasks, including shading out any weeds.

The Mitchell-Wajeeh spread encompasses come 91 acres of land, but most of that is dedicated to growing forage. She has three separate gardens which take up little less than a full acre.

"We grow a lot of produce in a very small area," she said.

Heavenly Hills Harvests supplies 11 varieties of tomatoes, four varieties of potatoes, four varieties of basil and four varieties of carrots. There are also green beans, cucumbers, summer squashes, zucchinis, onions, spices and lots of greens. She anticipates adding melons to the mix next season.

The food is eat-off-the-vine delicious.

Mitchell-Wajeeh said her customers pay between $20 and $25 a week and receive a large grocery bag full of produce once a week. There is always a variety but she said in spring there are more greens, but the color starts to come out in the summer.

She has drop-off locations in Yakima and at the farmers market in Prosser. At least one customer comes to the farm to pick up the weekly dividend.

"It's such a wonderful feeling to hear positive comments from our customers," she said. "We get a lot of positive reinforcement from the customer base."

Mitchell-Wajeeh said she attracts customers mostly by word of mouth. Many customers come from a church that serves as a drop-off point. Others learned of Heavenly Hills Harvest at the Prosser farmers market. She said a website dedicated to community supported agriculture has also provided a lot of interest in her farm this year. People can go to www.localharvest.org and enter their zip code. Entering the Sunnyside zip code brings up Heavenly Hills Harvest.

More information on Heavenly Hills Harvest can also be found at the farm's website, www.heavenlyhillsharvest.com.

Besides sharing the bounty of her land, Mitchell-Wajeeh says there is another reason she spends so much time working an organic farm.

"I want to instill in my children that you can grow your own food," she said. "I'm raising healthy, happy, vegetable loving children."