Eaglemount Farms Partners

Norm Norton

Norm has owned Eaglemount Farms for over 35 years.  And through this time he has developed an intimate relationship with the land, the water, the wildlife and the small community of Eaglemount. He has tended the fields and orchards on the land with the help of family members and neighbors who live nearby.

Norm’s formal education included a degree in Forestry from the University of Washington.

He and his family homesteaded on Waldron Island in the early 60’s and they moved to the Eaglemount area in the late 70’s.

Norm is a machinist and all-around handy man who is able to steward farm equipment, buildings, field grains and other plant crops on the land. He has created hand tools for harvesting grains on the farm.  He is in the process of learning more about sustainable farming, permaculture and bio-dynamic growing  techniques as the farm is developed, because he loves to learn new things.

In 2017 Norm and Ellen will continue to work on the permaculture overlay that was designed in 2014. Norm  and Ellen have an interest in sustainable communities, community rights and the connection between local sustainable farming and healthy communities.

On his farm Norm has an interest in maintaining healthy heirloom orchard trees and each year adds a few more trees to his orchard including apples, pears, peaches, plums, hazelnuts and walnuts.  He has been stewarding  colonies of orchard and wild bees and is interested in bringing honey bees to the land.  We have a deep interest in developing heirloom berry crops and in the last years has added Mulberries and raspberries to his already growing berry collection. In 2017 Norm will be growing grains for our poultry.

Ellen O’Shea

Ellen has a lifelong interest in sustainable farming.  She is also interested in health and wellness, herbal and alternative healing and sustainable communities organizing.

Ellen’s formal education includes degrees in Journalism, Health Promotion and Education and Nutrition, and a Master’s in Social Work.

She has an interest in providing homes for all the people in her community, providing healthy food for all and developing a job creation program that will help communities to be healthy and self-sustaining.

Ellen grew up on a small farm in Oregon which helped to sustain a large family of 12 siblings and parents.  She has always had a garden and loves to learn about growing and supporting healthy plants and the Earth.

Ellen and her daughters owned a small farmstead in the Coast Range of Oregon and she helped to develop a Community Development non-profit in that community. She worked for Oregon Tilth in the education department as a writer and marketing specialist in the 80’s and developed a children’s organic farming and garden project for Oregon Tilth along with Linda Kapuler.

Ellen has been a life-long gleaner and supports local food banks by donating 10% of fresh farmed produce to the Chimacum area food bank.

Ellen was a member of the Oregon Tilth gardening and farming project and spent many years learning about organic and sustainable practices.  In 2000 she began to learn about Permaculture and embraces the practice as the next step in developing gardening, farming, and a whole system approach to creating healthy communities with all living beings and Earth systems. Ellen hopes to bring her skills, vision and energy to Eaglemount Farms and help to develop the farm into a self-sustaining and ecologically sane enterprise.

Ellen is the coordinator of the Herbalist Guild of Jefferson County, Washington.  Through the guild she teaches beginning level botany, herbalism and plant propagation.

In 2017 she is collaborating with Norm and others to organize resources, volunteers, marketing and project management for the farm. Norm is developing a project to bring high speed broadband internet to our very rural area of Jefferson county.  Project is called Eaglemount Broadband and the website for the project can be found at www.eaglemountbroadband.com

  References

• Backyard Bean and Grain Project – http://www.backyardbeansandgrains.com/
• Kelda Lo Rax – Divine Earth Gardening Project – http://www.divinearthgp.com/
• Herbalist Guild of Jefferson County, Washington – Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/groups/1463353357244975/

ABOUT US – Our vision

Eaglemount Farms is a 12 acre farm located on the Chimacum creek near the town of Chimacum, Washington and the Olympic National Forest.  The creek is prime wild salmon habitat.

The farm was used to grow hay for many years and is now being re-established as a multi-use organic/bio-dynamic farm.  We are in the process of removing hay fields using permaculture techniques.  Low tillage, no-chemical approaches are helping to protect the diverse wildlife present on this farm.

Our plan is to start raising berries (blueberries, strawberries, huckleberries, Logan berries, mulberries, and Marion berries.  Herbs: both medicinal and culinary, garlic and shallots,  native plants, produce, dryland beans and grains and a cooperative spirit.

The human community shares the farm with amphibians such as endangered frogs and toads, salamanders, dragonflies, fish, bears and other larger creatures.  We also have a multitude of wild birds including:  Eagles, geese, wild ducks  hawks, owls, finches, turtle doves, and many smaller bird tribes.

The farm is in the process of creating a cooperative agreement with several sustainable farming and wildlife conservation groups.Please We are a designated Pollinator Protection Farm  (Xerces Society and Endangered Species Chocolate designation June 2014).  We are in partnership with the North Olympic Salmon Coalition to restore Chimacum Creek to prime salmon habitat.  This will entail removing Reed Canary Grass from the creek and replanting with native plants.  The plants which follow the design of the Xerces Society will bloom from early spring to late fall and are part of our plant to create a pollinator pathway on our farm.

Each field will be planted with pollinator pathways and we are using buckwheat as a prime plant to smoother hay grass and prepare the land for farming or habitat restoration. We hope that our efforts will show other farms and land owners how to steward the land while farming it. We hope to show others how to live in harmony with the beautiful creatures who live here.

We hope to have berries, plants, herbs and other plants ready to be used to barter and sell in 2017. Exciting changes are coming to the land as we support the wild around us.

In November of 2014 The North Olympic Salmon Coalition in cooperation with the Washington Conservation Corp began the process of re-establishing Chimacum Creek on the land.  The creek had been overgrown with Reed Canary Grass and salmon could not swim up the creek.  Chimacum Creek is a long established spawning creek for wild salmon.  The  Conservation corp worked for two days to remove grass.  On the second day the crew prepared planting holes for native plants and finished cutting the grass. No chemicals were used to steward this area.  The native plants to be planted are  pollinator friendly native plants that will help to shade out the Reed Canary grass and allow the creek bed to be re-established. The WCC will be back in late December or early January to begin planting.  We have been working with the Xerces Society to come up with a list of native plants that will bloom and attract native and domestic pollinators from early spring to late fall (Pollinator Pathways).

We are working diligently to maintain habitat for the wild creatures and plants that live in this beautiful place while preparing crops and poultry for market.  It is our vision to become self-sufficient on this land and to sell to local farmers markets, CSA members (Community Supported Agriculture) and to over time come up with some value-added products.   Please support us as we grow our dream.  – Ellen and Norm

CONTACT:

info@eaglemountfarms.com