Shiitake, Sheep, and Seaberry at Sweetwater Farm
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It can be easy to take water for granted in the Northwest, until you see it through the eyes of a farmer like Jake Stewart.
“I wouldn't call us climate refugees,” said Jake. “But we were certainly climate migrants leaving the droughts.”
Jake and his wife, Aja, were farming near Austin, Texas when their well began to run dry.
“I had studied climate models in graduate school and I knew where things were headed,” said Jake. “Growing food without having to fight for water is hard enough. That’s when we decided to move to the Northwest.”
Redefining Wealth
Jake and Aja didn’t start out as farmers—they both came to it after deciding to leave their professional careers. Jake had already become a pioneer in renewable energy by developing a system that used landfill gas to power a biodiesel production facility, allowing Austin to become its own renewable oil source. It was the first time it had ever been done.
From there, Jake worked internationally, directing nonprofits focused on renewable energy. While it was meaningful work, he found himself moving further from what he actually wanted to be doing.
“I got more and more into the business side of things,” he said. “We had checked all the boxes. We were successful, but we wanted to live closer to the soil.”
So Jake and Aja did what some people only dream about. They sold everything they owned, bought a travel trailer, and went looking for a farm.
After battling the droughts in Texas, they headed to Washington and eventually found a 24-acre property on Whidbey Island. It was already aptly named Sweetwater Farm and had three wells.
“To me, that’s true wealth,” Jake said. “Give me that over a 401K.”
Putting Together the Pieces
Since 2015, Jake and Aja have built a regenerative farm incorporating forest farming, food forests, silvopasture, water catchment, and renewable energy, including a solar-powered farm stand. About half of the property is forested and interlaced with pastures, vegetable plots, and small-footprint living quarters for farm stays.
“I love the notion that instead of seeing things as independent squares, we're trying to connect this big puzzle,” Jake explains. “The good news is that the answer is being presented to us all the time in nature. We can mimic self-fertilizing systems like forests that produce without our constant inputs and effort.”
Puzzle Piece #1: Fungi
To build a self-fertilizing system, you need a strong foundation of healthy soil.
“If I were to highlight one thing in agroforestry it would be fungi,” says Jake.
Shiitake mushrooms grown on logs
Mycorrhizal fungi have a symbiotic relationship with many plants, connecting them through a network of root-like threads called mycelium. Studies have shown that this mycelial network can improve the uptake of nutrients and provide protection against soil-borne diseases. They also play a critical, and often underappreciated, role in absorbing and storing carbon.
“People usually think about trees or biomass when it comes to carbon sequestration. Really the story starts in the soil,” explains Jake. (Read more about this in the climate change section below.)
In order to preserve the fungal network and maximize carbon sequestration, Jake and Aja practice no-till farming.
“I think it’s the best decision we ever made,” says Jake. “When you heavily till soil you release nutrients, but you’re also feeding the pests and the weeds. It’s like sugar that gives a short energy burst versus a complex carbohydrate. Being no-till is an investment in long-term fertility and keeps us from getting caught in the cycle of battling weeds.”
Fungi have another benefit—their fruiting body, aka mushrooms, which Jake actively cultivates.
“We often use windfall from our Alders and other hardwoods to establish Oyster and Shiitake mushroom logs. You just inoculate them with mycelium and keep them moist. The next thing you know, you're yielding delicious mushrooms that will produce for years.”
Puzzle Piece #2: Animals
The livestock at Sweetwater Farm also play an important role in soil health. Instead of grazing in a concentrated area, their sheep are rotated throughout the property, which gives grass time to regrow and prevents compaction.
“They’re great little lawnmowers,” says Jake. “And they leave behind manure that feeds the soil in a way that fertilizer can’t.”
Sweetwater Farm’s turkeys and chickens also help out.
“The turkeys find food in the forest, but we also bring them into our fields and let them pick through the leftovers. They're basically micro tilling. Same with the chickens, their surface scratching has a lot of value.”
Allowing the ducks to forage has had one of the biggest benefits.
“We used to have a really bad slug problem, but the ducks love eating them and somehow turn them into delicious eggs.”
The worms in Sweetwater's vermiculture system are another big contributor. Extra food and plant scraps are fed into a 20-foot long in-ground system with thousands of Red Worms (Lumbricus rubellus).
"Their castings are incredibly nutrient-rich and full of soil probiotics. They may be the littlest animals on the farm, but they do a really important job."
Puzzle Piece #3: Fixers
Planting nitrogen fixers (plants with root bacteria that extract nitrogen from the air and convert or “fix” it into a form that supports plant growth) is another way Jake and Aja build their soil.
One of their many “fixers” is Seaberry, or Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides). Besides fixing nitrogen, they tolerate harsh conditions, and don’t require much input. Their fruit can be used to make juice, jam, and sauces and their oils are highly prized in skincare products.
“You can plant them and pretty much forget about them,” Jake said. “The fruit is delicious—sour and citrusy—and they're super high in antioxidants.”
Seaberry is an example of one of the ways that Sweetwater Farm is “planting forward” for climate change.
“Those little maps on the back of seed packets have changed in the past decade,” said Jake. “We’re keen on trialing things that are on the edge of what we're told can grow and sharing that information with other farmers so they can be more resilient.”
Growing Agroforestry
a Sweetwater intern holding leafy greens
Jake is also helping to support the future of agroforestry by participating in a Western SARE Research and Education grant. Water quality data will be gathered before and after planting a harvestable riparian buffer along a stream that runs through the farm in order to measure the effectiveness of these buffers in filtering pollution. They're also working with WSU Extension to pilot practices that may help other farms integrate culinary mushroom farming.
But Sweetwater Farm’s commitment to growing a vibrant agroforestry community doesn’t end there. They offer immersive farm stays and have sponsored farm internships for those seeking to work with regenerative practices.
“I always say that if you want to change the world, leave the gate to your garden open. I call it the tomato effect. When people plant or pick something like their first tomato, there's something that shifts. It gives them permission to grow their own food.”
Sweetwater Farm is a lot like the fungal system they’re nurturing in their soil. A customer who stops by their farmstand may only see the metaphorical mushroom. But their less obvious contributions—like healthy soil, carbon sequestration, and education—extend much deeper and wider, like a mycelial network.
Fruits of Their Labor
Fortunately, all of this hard work has its benefits.
“There's times it's challenging but my worst day here is better than the best day in a cubicle,” says Jake.
This summer he’s looking forward to picnics on the farm with their two young daughters.
“We sit under the apple tree and enjoy freshly harvested crab, vegetables, and pie made from fruit gathered by the girls,” says Jake. “They know how to find the food and medicine here like I knew where the Wendy's and McDonald's were in suburbia. When they come back with a huge bowl of foraged berries and herbs, that to me is the real payoff.”
