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Tani Creek Farm: A Vision as Vast as the Setting |
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Written by Carolyn Goodwin
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Thursday, 29 September 2011 13:43 |
Aronia berries, Shipova pears, Highland cattle, Shetland geese . . . spend any amount of time at Tani Creek Farm and your vocabulary will grow as quickly as seeds planted in the farm’s fertile soil.
Those words name just a few varieties of the heirloom flora and fauna that flourish on Tani Creek’s 20-acre hillside overlooking Rich Passage. It’s all a result of the vision and hard work of the Sassenfeld family. Helmut Sassenfeld and his wife Susan developed the home and farm buildings using old time materials designed to last – the house looks as if it was transported from a centuries-old European farm. One difference is that Tani Creek Farm is solar powered – the property includes the state’s largest residential solar installation, which provides more than enough power for the farming operations.
Son Max Sassenfeld grows vegetables on ¾ of an acre of the property. The amount of land in production might seem small, but the volume of food that comes out of it is not. Max’s intensive growing system produces an astounding amount of food per acre – in his second year on the far m he harvested 13,000 pounds of food from 1/4 acre of land. And he’s got even bigger plans for the future. We asked Max to show us what’s changed since we last wrote about Tani Creek.
A chilly downstairs room was our first stop. It does triple duty as the Sassenfeld seed room, root cellar, and wine cellar. Seeds of all colors and shapes fill jars lining one wall, representing Max’s commitment to acquiring and saving heirloom fruits and vegetables from around the world. This year he grew over 100 varieties of lettuce, which appear in all their spotted, streaked and multicolored glory in Tani Creek’s salad mix and are now going to seed. Some of the seeds are saved for future plantings, some are sent to the Seed Saver Exchange for safekeeping and distribution.
Saving rather than buying seeds is just one part of Tani Creek’s program as a biodynamic farm, which Max describes as “beyond organic.” Tani Creek is a certified organic farm, and is also one of only two accredited biodynamic training programs in Washington State. This year two apprentices, Lindsay Howells from Portland and Ali Odin from Milwaukee, will benefit from the lessons of Tani Creek as they help Max to plant and harvest the land in adherence to biodynamic principles.
 Biodynamic farming is a method of organic farming that treats farms as unified and self-nourishing organisms. A biodynamic farm needs to generate 75% of the inputs used to grow the food. That means most of the fertilizer must come from the property, which is where those Shetland geese and Highland cattle come in. Their manure is recycled to create the healthy soil that makes Max’s produce so beautiful and full of flavor. He also brews up big batches of nettle tea and other biodynamic amendments, including some rather esoteric formulations that include stag bladders and cow horns.
The livestock are Helmut’s domain. Just as Max is devoted to preserving heirloom vegetables, his father is working to bring rare livestock breeds back into production. One example is Shetland geese, which the farm will soon be processing and offering for sale. They are small (broiler chicken size, “not scary,” family members agree), with lean, fine grain meat that tastes “something like moist roast beef with a hint of duck,” Helmut said, continuing that “I want to see this breed come back!” In addition to the geese, he’s planning to raise goats for meat and milk, as well as Saxony and Welsh Harlequin ducks for meat and eggs.
We pass large food processing area filled with boxes of drying onions, garlic, and other produce in various stages of preparation. What doesn’t go to market will likely end up in the kitchen that’s run by Max’s mother Susan. On the day of our visit she was a bit frazzled after hours of transforming Cornelian cherries into jewel-like jars of sauce destined to accompany some of that fine goose meat. “Those little cherries are the pits!” she laughed, referring to the challenge of pitting such a large pile of tiny fruits. She led us
into her pantry, which is lined with hundreds of jars of preserved fruits and vegetables. She also dries and freezes to preserve the harvest. “I hate waste,” she says, “so this time of year I process up the hootenanny!” Her joy about food is infectious.
Susan was born and raised in southern England. Her parents owned a boarding school where they grew and processed food to feed 70  students and staff. So the self-sufficient lifestyle runs in the family. Max said his interest in food grew out of the excellent home-grown meals Susan prepared for him as a child in England. “I grew up eating good food.” he said. After graduating from Bainbridge High School in 2000, he pursued a degree in Environmental Studies in Oregon. “The more I learned about what we were doing to the environment,” he said, “the more I wanted to really do something about it – not just create policy.” Biodynamic farming, he continued, “seemed like the obvious, simple thing to do.” He worked at farms in Oregon and California, then came home to join his parents on the farm.
What’s next at Tani Creek? The Sassenfelds plan to clear three additional acres to create more pasture and a second pond. Max applied for and received a grant from the USDA to build a large covered composting facility on the property. He’s adding new hoop-houses to extend the season. This year he’s offering a winter CSA, for info or to sign up contact him at
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. A share in the weekly CSA costs $108/month for pickup at the farm, $120/month delivered. There are add on items that can be ordered with your weekly share including flower bouquets, cheeses from Mt. Townsend Creamery, local butter, local raw milk, and Pane d’Amore bread baked to order. In the future Max and Susan would like to sell value-added foods from their farm, like the jams, jellies and sauces they now make for their own use. And possibly use their beautiful property as the site of one or two farm dinners each year.
A great deal of hard work lies between them and their vision. Max says that what keeps them going is the response from the community. “The people on the Island have been great – they’ve been so receptive to what we’re doing.” Island chefs love his produce; Tani Creek vegetables regularly appear on the menu at Hitchcock, Four Swallows, Pegasus, and Islandwood. He also sells through Bay Hay and Pane d’Amore. Local Italian food producer Pino Sordello uses Max’s basil for pesto. And loyal customers at the Bainbridge Farmers’ Market and his CSA eagerly snap up Tani Creek’s glowing produce. Even when the offerings include things they’ve never heard of (black salsify anyone?), they know it will always be good.
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