Planting Change (& Pawpaws!) at Rooted Northwest

The seed of Rooted Northwest started small, with just two families. They envisioned teaming up to buy just enough land where they could raise their kids on a farm and teach permaculture. However, when they found a 240-acre former dairy for sale in Arlington, their plans began to change.

“The aging farmer was getting offers from conventional developers who would have covered the land in houses,” said Rooted Northwest Co-Founder, Dave Boehnlein. "Our first goal was to preserve this as farmland."

Since buying the property, the vision of Rooted Northwest has evolved to match the size of the land. Instead of two families, there will be two neighborhoods. Both will have 35 homes grouped closely together in order to protect over 85 percent of the farmland.

Photo by Morgan Keuler

“We worked with the county to pass the Rural Village Housing Demonstration Program ordinance that allows us to cluster houses much tighter than usual,” said Dave. “That way we can preserve contiguous acres instead of a little patch here and a little patch there.”

This unique setup is also intended to be more economical for farmers struggling to find affordable land and housing in Western Washington. Each home will have a private entrance, full kitchen, and yard, but there will also be shared spaces, the largest of which will be the farmland.

Building a Model

Dave has an extensive background in permaculture and agroforestry and one of Rooted Northwest’s goals is to attract farmers practicing regenerative agriculture. Dave hopes their farming techniques will provide more than local, sustainable food. He’d like them to serve as a model for others.

“We want to get systems running, work kinks out, and then be able to show people, look—this works, it's viable, it's lower maintenance, and we're getting a good harvest.”

Dave intends to create an environment that encourages innovation and adaptations in farming techniques by making it “safe to fail.” He also wants to ensure that farmland is preserved long-term.

“If a farmer tries something and it doesn’t work out, or if they get sick and end up in the hospital for three months, they’ll just be one of several farmers here. So it doesn't mean that they lose their home or the land ends up being owned by the banks.”

Building houses has been on hold until the recent passage of the Rural Village Housing Demonstration Program ordinance, but Rooted Northwest already has 24 members. Dave has been eager to get projects on the ground, so when he met with Snohomish Conservation District’s Agroforester, Carrie Brausieck, and learned about the opportunity to participate in a WSDA Specialty Crop Block Grant, he was ready to dive in. 

Planting an alley cropping system

The grant project is focused on helping farmers design and plant agroforestry practices in soggy areas that would often be considered unfarmable for much of the year. 

“On parts of our property, our water table can fluctuate by as much as 14 feet,” said Dave. “Those places will need the most adaptable perennials.” 

Planting in wet soil isn’t new to Dave. In addition to his experience adapting chinampa systems, he’s also successfully worked with basketry willows in areas inundated with reed canary grass and grafted pears on quince rootstock where water lapped at their trunks for four months of the year. 

Dave decided the agroforestry practice that would work best in their wet area was an alley cropping system.

“Since we were planting in our hayfield, I wanted something that would allow us to continue to hay while increasing diversity and providing tree crops.”

The planting went in during the fall of 2022 with rows spaced 30 feet apart to allow for equipment. Three-quarters of the plants are Aronia and the other quarter is split between Hazelnuts, Elderberries, and Pawpaws. 

“We focused on Aronia because they’re the most versatile plant I've worked with, bar none. You can grow them on a dry hillside or in a swamp and they produce every year,” said Dave. “We’re also testing out some new wet-tolerant varieties of Elderberries and we have a mix of Hazels, including some hybrids.”

Passion for Pawpaws

Photo from For the Love of Pawpaws by Michael Judd

Dave is also mixing in some Pawpaws, a tree he first encountered when he moved to Orcas Island in 2005. At that point he’d only heard tales of their delicious fruit, so he was thrilled to find seedlings growing on the farm where he was living. However, trees grown from seed often take seven to 10 years to produce. They’re also self-infertile, which means they can't pollinate themselves.

“It seemed to take forever for them to flower. When the first two finally did, they had different enough genetics that they flowered at different times,” said Dave. “So we connected with a guy on the other side of the island with a tree flowering at the same time as one of ours. He brought a branch and we gave him one of ours and hand pollinated. I wanted to try Pawpaw so bad I was determined to make it happen with my little paint brush.”

What’s so special about Pawpaws?

“I don't know of anything else you can grow in the Pacific Northwest that if you handed it to somebody they would just immediately assume it's a tropical fruit. When the fruit is ripe, you rip it open and it's like eating banana custard.”

Since the fruit doesn’t keep for long, it’s not something you’ll find in a supermarket. Some farms on the East Coast and Midwest host festivals where people can u-pick, buy a basket, or try ice cream and other desserts made with Pawpaws. (See our recipe for Pawpaw cheesecake at the end of this newsletter!)

Pawpaws don’t do well in waterlogged soil so they wouldn’t be the first tree you’d think of for a wet area. However, soon after Dave first moved to Rooted Northwest, he noticed a 25-foot Pawpaw growing next door.

“Our neighbor has standing water in the winter, but we do have good drainage around here when the water table drops. It made me wonder if Pawpaws can tolerate water as long as it goes down before they break dormancy in the spring.”

Dave decided this project would be a good opportunity to test his theory. He’s trying several varieties that have been planted at the dryer end of the alley cropping system.

“If they die, we’ll just go in and replace them. And if they make it, in 20 years maybe we’ll be hosting a Pawpaw festival and teaching people about agroforestry while they’re here.”

A Rough Beginning

The planting project has had its challenges in the first year. The Aronia was ravaged by deer and the cover crop didn’t germinate, so grass competition has been intense. Keeping the area adequately watered before an irrigation system could be installed was also difficult.

“We have a fluctuating water table where it's standing water in winter and bone dry in the summer,” said Dave.

Photo by Dave Boehnlein

Many farms in the Pacific Northwest are experiencing this extreme wet/dry dynamic as our climate shifts to more frequent and intense rainstorms. At the same time, impervious surfaces are increasing with development, leaving fewer areas where rainwater can percolate into the ground.

“Before, we had less radical pulses of water coming into our rivers and streams in the spring,” said Dave. “Back then, wet ground was a real blessing for farmers because it didn’t get too wet and it stayed moist later into the season. Now we get these big pulses and it's way too wet when you need to get your crops planted and then it goes dry.”

Creating Solutions Cooperatively

Dave wants to help develop tools for farming sustainably under these conditions. He also wants to address a more fundamental issue—how people can steward land together. At Rooted Northwest, farmers will be encouraged to work cooperatively and share resources. 

“If you look at human history we've had common land that we managed collaboratively for thousands of years,” said Dave. “It's in our DNA.” 

Dave’s vision comes from his own experience living on a farm with other families on Orcas Island.

“We worked together managing a nursery, pruning fruit trees in the spring, and getting our crops in in the summer. Most people think that way of living is a unicorn. Sometimes I feel like I know something most people don’t—that unicorns do exist. I’ve seen them and they’re fantastic.”

It’s not just about a happier way of living, Dave believes that stewarding land collaboratively is critical for our survival.

“In order to not have runaway climate change, we have to figure out how to get along with one another and cooperate. If we don’t, none of our other tools are going to matter,” said Dave. “Banking on us not getting along is like saying, I give up, so we’re just going to go ahead and try to help figure it out.”

*Thank you to the Rooted Northwest members who shared their photos for this article!