THE GOLDEN AGE OF SAFFRON

As farmers ourselves, the folks at Finnriver appreciate the direct connections that growers have to their land and to their crops, and to the stories that have carried them into agriculture. Our Botanical Cider series has brought us into relationship with a range of wonderful folks throughout the region who provide organically-grown or wild-harvested ingredients for these seasonally released fermentations. This year, we are delighted to be forming a new connection with saffron-grower Tanya Golden from Oregon. Her golden saffron is highlighted in our Solstice Saffron cider, which is begun each year in our barn on the Winter Solstice and releases in January to celebrate the returning of the light!


Humble Beginnings 


As a child Tanya Golden’s family started out as Peach Farmers, under the current name “Golden Orchard.” Later, her mother would branch out to sell creamed honey and gourmet preserves under the same name. Both of her grandmothers grew up homesteading and she grew up farming. Flash forward to the present-day Tanya Golden is determined to keep her family legacy alive, as well as representing her rich Native heritage. Tanya has moved forward with the name “Golden Tradition Saffron co. LLC.” Keeping Golden in the name to both “represent my family name and for the word play in the Saffron itself.”


That's What Friends Are For


Tanya was an organizer with Pacific NW Stands with Standing Rock at the time and made a run into town to pick up some flyers from friends who were vendors at “NAYA” (Native American Youth and Family Services) winter market. Tanya had made some raw chocolate truffles, for the Chocolate and Wine fundraiser event at her children’s school. Tanya made these delicious treats using her food stamp benefits, she was unable to afford a booth at the market. However, her friends loved these truffles so much that they knew it deserved a chance and made room at their tables to allow Tanya to sell her product at the market. They worked in conjunction until she had made enough money to pay for splitting the tables and to be able to afford salve and tincture bottles and jars.


In return for being an active part of the vendor community, Tanya was invited to the “Indianpernuership” and Micro Enterprise classes at NAYA. Although it appeared that opportunities were on the horizon, still a question burning in Tanya’s mind; What are you really going to do? Tanya happened to read some articles on Saffron a few days prior to a Wednesday evening class. On the eve of that class a friend walked in and handed Tanya a large container of Saffron that her partner had brought back from the Mideast. It was in that moment that Tanya realized exactly what she was going to do!


Triumph Through Challenge


Tanya was on the verge of something remarkable, however she found herself still navigating through the harsh trenches of financial hardship. It was suggested that she apply for the USDA/NRCS High Tunnel program, so she applied for both conventional and organic in hopes it would better her chances of receiving at least one. Indeed, she ended up receiving both! Coincidentally she had miscalculated and ordered enough Corms from Holland for both the conventional and organic as it turned out. Tanya used the IDA grant from NAYA to purchase the Corms. Tanya Golden is nothing short of an example of passion and persistence.


Tanya credits her ongoing success to her Creator, letting her know that she is on the right path. Gifting her with signs such as witnessing rainbows and eagles and even “meant-to-be” connections and phone calls including the one that put her in contact with Finnriver, she says. Tanya recognizes that being a small business owner and a farmer is a political position and it has given her a platform for her voice. Tanya recalls her personal accounts of growing up with conventional farming and says she has seen how toxic it is. “I’ve watched the old farmers die, many from cancer. I think it’s completely absurd that I should have to pay more to be a better steward to our earth and community.”


Acknowledging Ancestry and Traditions in a Modern World


Tanya continues to hold to the tradition of Women planting and harvesting in her family. She says; “Just like we have genetic memory, so do these plants. I like to honor them as much as I can.” Tanya is using her education as a clinical herbalist to experiment with the medicinal aspects of Saffron and is sharing what she has learned at the American Herbal Pharmacopeia. Tanya states that working with Saffron has had an altering effect, she says she has even experienced a sense of euphoria simply by being around the plants. I’ve been working with plants my entire life. These are seriously the happiest plants I’ve ever worked with! Tanya added, “among many other medicinal uses, Saffron is used as an anti-anxiety in traditional Persian, Indian and Chinese medicine.”


Tanya has fallen in love with her craft and with the process itself, even when she is tired and her body aches; she keeps moving forward. She is overwhelmed with the outpour of love and support from friends, family, community and even the kindness of strangers. As Tanya continues to grow her brand, she hopes to be able to create a life that allows her to give back in a substantial way and to continue to provide for her family and farm. “I feel so blessed to be able to do all of this. I can only imagine what kind of world we’d live in, if everyone could have this.”

Meant To Be?


Sometimes we recall a memory in life that makes us question the chain of events leading up to our current circumstances. Could the memories we record subconsciously play a part in the decisions we make along the way and where we end up? About twenty years ago, Tanya’s mother gifted to her a basket. Last year during her first harvest, basket in hand, Tanya realized that not only was the pattern of the basket and colors a Saffron flower. The basket itself was made from spent Saffron leaves! Only then did Tanya realize that Saffron had found her long before she had consciously found it.

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WORKING WITH BEES

May 1, 2020
We couldn't do it without the bees! According to the Pollinator Partnership, "Birds, bats, bees, butterflies, beetles,, and other small mammals that pollinate plants are responsible for bringing us one out of every three bites of food. Pollinators support healthy ecosystems that clean the air, stabilize soils, protect from severe weather and support other wildlife." At Finnriver, our farm and orchard rely on the work of pollinator, whose quest for pollen and nectar helps both feed their families and fertilize the trees. In our orchard, we provide home nests for mason bees, whose particular flight patterns and belly hairs make them very effective and thorough cross-pollinators for our fruit trees. We also have a handful of honey bee hives that promote pollination and make honey for the farmers. As organic farmers, we use an integrated pest management system to target pests and avoid or reduce the impact on pollinators and other beneficial insects, and we work to promote pollinator-friendly practices, such as planting the purple cover crop Phacelia. This wildflower produces lovely foliage topped with deep blue-violet flowers that produce heaps of nectar and attract an array of pollinators. Phacelia's common name is a translation of bienen-freund, German for "bee's friend." How Can You Help? You're helping pollinators by supporting small, local organic farms like Finnriver and all our neighboring farms. Grow your own pesticide-free garden with flowering plants, purchase organic foods and certified organic cotton clothing when you can, buy honey from local beekeepers, engage in citizen science and support legislation that protects pollinators.

BUILDING COMMUNITY WITH FOOD

August 1, 2019
Finnriver Orchard crew member Sam Scheidt and his partner Katelyn Porter were looking for an opportunity to get their hands in the soil, deepen their experience with production vegetable growing, and provide a needed resource for the local food bank. They found the connective tissue for their goals at the Finnriver farm when owner Keith Kisler suggested they dig into some underutilized space near the orchard. With the support of Finnriver, the Food Bank Farm and Gardens of Jefferson County, Sam and Katelyn began their first growing season this year.  They are currently responding to a need for an intentional grow of greens, lettuces and salad vegetables for the Tri-Area Food Bank in Chimacum. This is different from gleaning unwanted, overripe, or lesser quality foods from farms and supermarkets—how much of the food makes its way to the food bank. Sam and Katelyn feel passionate addressing the divide between people with means and people without means and the land’s capacity to provide for everyone. The same land can and does provide food for the food bank as well as for the Finnriver kitchen Sam says. Vegetables don’t make distinctions based on income and class. Perhaps humans can learn something from that. Either way, Sam is interested in blurring the boundaries, and feels good about all the labor he puts into growing food when he feels it is a needed resource. The food bank and this Finnriver partnership has also provided Sam and Katelyn a relatively low-risk environment to hone their farming knowledge and experiment with what they enjoy growing. Experiences like this can be vitally important and encouraging to young farmers, Sam says. He wants to encourage more farms to partner with newer farmers to better utilize extra space, address challenges of land access, and grow food for everyone in this community that needs it. This food bank garden has been producing a variety of lettuces, kale, collards, cabbages, and summer squash so far. A bounty of onions and winter squash are growing bigger everyday and will supply both the food bank and the Finnriver Kitchen later this fall. Looking toward future seasons, Sam and Katelyn are hopeful to put in more perennial crops like herbs and berries.

PARTNERING WITH THE SUN

July 1, 2019
Finnriver relocated our tasting and tap room in 2016 to a historic dairy farm at the central intersection in the rural community of Chimacum. Our goal was to show how rural economic development, land and resource conservation and sustainable agriculture can all converge and thrive. The old cow feeding trough was converted, using reclaimed barn wood, into a 75 foot long community table and the space covered by an open air pavilion. Alongside the pavilion, we restored an old feeding shed into our cidery tasting and taproom. These and other structures make up the Cider Garden, which looks out over the 50 acres of organic farm and orchard. This Cider Garden has now become an all-ages gathering space, music venue and local food court, offering a welcoming space for neighbors and visitors to gather and reconnect to the land that sustains us. In order to continue the mission of educating and inspiring wise land use, we worked with local renewable energy advocates and Power Trip Energy company to apply for the USDA Rural Energy for America program (REAP). With matching funds from REAP, federal tax credits, support from a Barnraiser crowdfunding campaign and loans, Finnriver was able to install an expandable, grid-tied 65-kilowatt system, using 212 solar panels. These panels cover 3,000 square feet of roof space here at the Cider Garden. Initially, we estimated that it would produce 65,000 kWh of electricity annually which would produce enough electricity to supply more than half of our annual power needs and send green energy back into the grid. After one year in service, the solar panels have in fact produced around 74,500 kwh – which is enough electricity to cover almost 80% of Finnriver’s portion of electricity use at the Cider Garden property. To commemorate this feat, a Sol Mandala was crafted by the ceramic artists at Millbrook Clayworks and with metalwork by Abraxas Crow. It celebrates the generous contributions of supporters of Finnriver’s renewable energy campaign. We recently installed an educational display that will teach visitors about the benefits of renewable energy near our North entrance.  We hope that this renewable energy system will provide a venue to educate our community about the benefits of solar energy and give us an exciting opportunity to 'walk our talk' about sustainability and to showcase how the local food economy can integrate land conservation, renewable energy and watershed restoration!

COLLABORATING WITH PLANTS, BACTERIA AND FUNGI TO CLEAN OUR SOIL

June 1, 2019
That patch of yellow-flowering, wild mustard greens behind the Finnriver Kitchen aren’t just growing tall to look pretty; they’re working hard! Results are in from the first round of testing on our bioremediation project, revealing the decontamination efforts are meeting our goals of clean and healthy soil! The Remediators, one of Finnriver's land partners, took up the task of removing toxic levels of petroleum and lead from an area of the property where farm equipment was historically repaired. A network of specially selected plants, bacteria and fungus (locally sourced willow, rapeseed, PDN-1 bacterial endophytes, and a mushroom strain similar to the edible Stropharia rugoso-anulata) have significantly reduced the high levels of toxins detected on the site since the project began two years ago. In a decontamination method known as the Integrative Biological Approach, mycoremediation and phytoremediation are used in tandem to leverage each organism’s purifying talents. These living beings have proven abilities to grow in contaminated soils and take up or break down petroleum and heavy metals. “By combining this suite of organisms together, they work better than on their own,” said Howard Sprouse, CEO of The Remediators and lead of the project at Finnriver. For example, the chosen fungi strain are able to transform heavy metals into a soluble form that the plants can then take up and store in their tissues. In general, the methods of bioremediation transform toxic organic materials at the molecular level, converting them into more innocuous compounds. While full mineralization of contaminants is desired, it is sometimes not possible, as in the case of heavy metals. In these scenarios, the hyper-accumulating plant material can be removed from the soil and taken elsewhere to decompose. This will be the method utilized at Finnriver. The biomass of the plant and fungal matter will be significantly less than if the contaminated soil were to be removed directly, as is the case in more conventional forms of remediation. In some cases, the plant or fungi material utilized in remediation create useful byproducts, such as bio oils that can be turned into fuel. There is even consideration that edible mushrooms can be harvested as a food crop byproduct in instances where the organic soil contaminants might be decomposed without so imparting toxicity. Soil contamination, particularly involving heavy metals and petroleum, pose huge health burdens to society and to the earth. Conventional clean-up invokes a sizable financial strain as well. Through observation, appreciation and application of the natural capabilities of some specific plants, bacteria, and fungi, we can remediate the damage as we work in partnership with these incredible beings. The samples collected from the Finnriver farm this spring were from areas of the project where plants were growing well and that were expected to be cleaner. More complete testing will occur at the end of this year’s growing season.

FEEDING THE SOIL ORGANICALLY

March 1, 2019
Last Fall’s rains and harvests may have depleted our soils of the nutrients that will determine the fate of our crops and the health of our garden this year. Early spring is a great time to add soil amendments because the rain and warmer temps will awaken soil microbes and bring those nutrients into the root zone. It is often said that we need to put a healthy dose of NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) fertilizers on our lawn and gardens every year. However, it is important to first know the components of your soil in order to understand what you may or may not need to add. At the Finnriver orchard, we test our soil every year as it lets us track how our soils are improving or being depleted by our fertility management program. With a soil test in hand, you can apply the appropriate amounts of amendments. By adding amendments such as lime (for alkaline) and sulfur (for acidic), you help "unlock" fertilizers that are bound to soil particles and increase the absorption of other amendments you add this year. It is essential to be careful about over-applying which can cause problems downstream when leached nutrients travel into storm water and aquifers that ultimately pollute river mouths and other bodies of water. This is why we encourage the use of organic means to amend soils. For example, a gentle means of replenishing nitrogen is to apply a 2-inch layer of compost onto your beds or around perennials. Earth worms and other arthropods will break down the compost and slowly release its nutrients to your plants. After a few years of composting this might be the only source of nitrogen that you need to add. Homemade compost from kitchen scraps, coffee grounds and leaf debris is a fine way to start. Other good commercial options are NutriRich (pelletized chicken manure) or Mushroom Compost in bulk. For more detailed information about the health of soils, I recommend “Teaming with Nutrients" by Jeff Lowenfells and “Soul of Soil" by Grace Gershuny.
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