SEATTLE, WA © 2008 Barbara Adams www.BarbaraBerstAdams.com
Do dreams really come true in today's economy, or are they just the stuff of storybook tales of long ago and far away? What was it like to be characters of such tales, where the contented shopkeepers and farmers lived on a green island in a happy valley and handcrafted items to feed and beautify local villagers and travelers from afar?

Well, once upon a time, in the early days of the 21st century, there was a place called Happy Valley Farms. Here, on green Fidalgo Island, with sparkling waters and the fragrance of cedar and fir, two successful shopkeepers and farmers worked a little plot of land in the island's Happy Valley. For reals.

In an era of corporate mega-agribusiness, Marsha Mellana and her husband Bill Folmer live and grow crops on about ¾ of an acre on Fidalgo Island, Washington State, in an area named Happy Valley. This valley is in part of the island's rural area located just south of the town of Anacortes city limits. As Marsha explains: "(the valley area) is surrounded by Anacortes City Forest Land and supports a large population of wildlife, including coyotes, beavers and many water birds." Bill and Marsha grow flowers, garlic, catnip, onions, potatoes, shallots, basil and beans, which they sell year-round at their Happy Valley Farms shop in Anacortes, at local fairs, from their web site, and at the Anacortes Farmers' Market May through October. Dried flowers are sold mostly in fall and winter, fresh flowers spring and summer.

This means they are both the shopkeepers and the farmers, typical of the emerging new microfarms which grow the raw crop, craft something from it, and sell it directly to the customer, getting full price with no middle people taking a cut. And, typical of many microfarms, the lifestyle is one of simple abundance. "Our business has allowed us to meet very interesting folks, travel to fun places, and live a life of endless variety," said Marsha. But just how are these microfarms given birth in the first place? Where does the tale begin?

Bill begins the story: "Marsha and a friend, Paddy Bruce, met while living in Mexico in the early 60's." Later, as sociology majors, Marsha and her now husband Bill met while at Cal State Hayward University in 1972.

"There," Marsha said, "We studied the concepts of self-sufficiency -- Small is Beautiful -- and dreamed about leaving the city and moving to the country to try our hands at living a simple life."

Bill continued: "In 1978, we moved to Anacortes at Paddy's urging (who by then was living in Fidalgo's Happy Valley)."

"Well, we loved it at first sight," Marsha said. "So, without jobs, Bill and I relocated here." Marsha found office work and Bill found work as a welder. "We rented for a couple of years," Marsha said, "and then had the opportunity to buy a house that was located next door to Paddy's house in Happy Valley. Bill and I moved to Happy Valley in December of 1980. We plowed up a chunk of land between our two houses and began our first garden. The house was pretty beat up, but we loved the property. We have a very old apple orchard and a lovely pond that Paddy's ex-husband excavated in 1978. It now supports a lovely assortment of catfish, bass and herons."

Marsha soon realized after moving into our home in Happy Valley," Bill said, "that if she could only earn $5 per hour, she might as well work at her own business."

Marsha had by now found work at a commercial greenhouse in Mt. Vernon. This gave her inspiration. "The growers there were experimenting with some flats of dried flowers," she said. "I thought I would take some home and try them. It turns out they were easy to grow, very hardy and prolific. The following year, Paddy and I grew several colors of statice and took the flowers to Pike's Place Market." Pike's place is the famous farmers' market in Seattle, about 100 miles from Fidalgo Island.

So, that's how it all began. It was at Pike's Place that Marsha states was one of the first and biggest lessons she and Paddy learned about business, "Paddy and I grew several colors of statice and ended up selling them to another, more seasoned vendor at Pike's Place. He then resold them off of his bench at Pike's for twice the money. Needless to say, we learned a lot that day!"

After a few years, Paddy moved to Bellingham to pursue an education in graphic arts, and Marsha bought her out. Bill continued working as a welder while helping Marsha as much as possible. By 1988, Bill earned enough money to pay off their mortgage and began working with Marsha full time.

And so, a full-time microfarm business was born and continues to evolve.

In 1988, they stopped selling at Pike's Place Market and found other market outlets. Marsha continued: "We have done street fairs, worked for five years in the outdoor market in La Conner (a nearby fishing village turned artist and tourist community) in the early 90s, had a store there for five years, worked the Anacortes Farmers' Market for about 10 years, worked five years in The Skagit Rose Farm on Best and Calhoun Road, and did a wide assortment of other street fairs. We have also set up a store for a month at Tulip Town on Bradshaw Road for five years now. (Tulip Town is the name of the tourist attraction set up during nearby Skagit Valley's world-famous tulip festival that happens each spring when local farmers' tulip fields draw visitors from around the world.) This is our largest show and represents a large portion of our income."

Along the way to success, when one door closed for Marsha and Bill, they seemed to always spot the new door that eventually opened. Happy Valley Farms now has its own store in Anacortes, and includes items made by other artisans. "The Anacortes shop is something that happened because we lost the store space that we had been renting for a year with Sylvia's Garden which was on 7th and Commercial Avenue, "Marsha said. "The owners decided to retire and we had no space that would accommodate our needs with good parking. After a three-year wait, I noticed this great old house being renovated on 32nd Street. I stopped one day and discovered that it was zoned commercial/residential and decided to talk with Bill about it. This was November of 2001, just after the Sept. 11th incident. We were both a little hesitant taking this on, since the whole future appeared to be dismal, but I didn't want this opportunity to pass me by. I had actually been watching this property every day when I drove home and thought it would be a perfect place for us, even though it was off the main drag. The traffic was good and so was the parking. The landlady and I hit it off really well and I could tell how much they cared for the place. It will be three years in February since we opened."

Owning one's own business is a storybook wish for many people. If small is beautiful, does it also have bottom line advantages over larger enterprises? "Having our own business," Marsha said, "allowed us to change with the times and to continually experiment with other avenues. We have used the 'Guerilla Marketing' approach to our business. If something doesn't work, try something else."

As mentioned, the business also allows Bill and Marsha to travel. This year, they headed to South America, Argentina and Uruguay. "That is another one of the perks of keeping life simple," Marsha said.

Where is the magic wand that leads some people to succeed in small business? I came to realize the magic appears to be a special attitude that some people carry within them - an optimistic, supportive outlook. "I believe that it is our love of growing flowers and our support of each other that has been the motivating factor." Marsha said.

If once upon a time, then, can be found today, is it really an idyllic place of long ago and far away, or is it not really a time, but a way of seeing with motivated eyes, of being flexible instead of finding blame and failure, of using human innovation, and of then reaping the resulting benefits of creating something very special. For those of us who may have forgotten to see the world that way, I'll bet it seems long ago and far away. But I'll also bet that it is a place within every human that waits our return, latent, always calling, always hoping. "(We had) dreamed about leaving the city and moving to the country to try our hands at living a simple life," Marsha said." I am proud to say that this dream became a reality for us."

Edible Forest Gardens:
Ecological Design And Practice For Temperate-Climate Permaculture

Earth User's Guide to Permaculture
2nd Edition

Smart Permaculture Design

Permaculture in a Nutshell

The Permaculture Way:
Practical Steps To Create A Self-Sustaining World

Gaia's Garden:
A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture

A Biodynamic Farm