Emma R & Wiley W
l ID:
299
Interested In:
For Sale
For Lease
Incubator Plot
Co-Op
Land Share
Preferred Acreage: 5-1000
Description:
We aspire to steward a model of restoration agriculture on the San Juan Islands to improve the local ecology while producing delicious, nutrient dense food. We plan to establish an alley cropping system with perennial rows of berries and nut trees (chestnuts, hazelnuts, oaks) and a rotation in the alleys of:- intensively managed livestock (sheep, layers, meat chickens, pigs)
- storage and staple crops (grain corn, beans, winter squash, root veg), primarily serving the shoulder and Winter seasons
We will expand the operation over time, inviting other stewards to share infrastructure and run their businesses as part of our alley crop rotation. Depending on the site and our partners, this restoration system could also include: community education, farmworker housing, value-add processing, agritourism, research, rewilding, and more.
We are actively looking for our primary site, either to buy or as a long-term lease, to be the hub of our farm operations and a community hearth where we can host educational programming and events. We are also open to shorter lease arrangements to develop our agricultural system while improving the biodiversity, fertility, and beauty of your land.
About us:
We both grew up in Los Angeles, met at Stanford, and lived together in San Francisco for four years, cooking from our abundant farmers markets and falling in love with good food grown by good people.
After studying biology & pre-med in college and working in health tech, Emma learned that true health lies upstream of healthcare: in food, agriculture, and soil. She left tech to work for the chef Dan Barber at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, supporting his projects to strengthen the Hudson Valley's regional food system. She moved on from that job in 2020 to farm and dig into what "regenerative" really means for different production systems in different ecologies, working on three farms: market garden and pastured livestock; diverse agroforestry; and flowers. She's now working for Sagra, an agritourism company, to design and launch two farm businesses in Vermont and Santa Barbara in Spring 2022.
Wiley studied Product Design (mechanical engineering and design thinking) and worked as a product designer in fintech for 5 years. While living on farms with Emma, he found his calling to cultivate more beauty and diversity in the world by aligning our economic systems with ecological ones. He left his job last summer to work full time on services and software that help farmers sell directly and regional food hubs thrive. Visiting and learning from experts in Hawaii to New York, he is developing expertise in diversified, low effort agroforestry.
Farm Business Type:
- Row Crop
- Livestock
- Pasture
Intended Farming Practices:
- Sustainable and Organic Practices
- Certified Organic
