My name is Katrina, and I am 28 years old. My farming experience started 7 years ago, and before that I had not had any experience with anything garden related except for the two accidental (my brother threw a tomato in the yard) tomato plants that we had when I was a child. I grew up in the city, growing my own food wasn’t anywhere on my mind.
My husband grew up on farms. His mothers and sisters ride and train horses, and his mom and her friend have owned and operated Freeway Farm, a small WA not for profit farm, since 2001.
We met in 2012, and we moved onto the farm in Lakewood, WA not too long after. Let me tell you, I was NOT a fan. Adapting to farm life as a girl who really likes shorts, flats, and sandals was quite hard and took a long time. There are still things to this day that I have trouble with!
We didn’t live on the farm long, but it was just long enough to get me interested.
Between 2013 and 2016, we welcomed 2 children; our oldest Oliver was born early in 2014, and our middle child, Thea was born in December of 2015.
Summer of 2016 we moved back to the farm! I started riding horses, and helping in the gardens much more. My first animal project would be the following year, and we got chickens, which I think is still my favorite animal on our farm.
I slowly took on more responsibility with the gardens, until the end of 2017, when my mother in law handed the reigns to me. I expanded the garden spaces little by little, got ducks and geese, and then sheep!
We welcomed our youngest, William, in July of 2019.
Together, my family is working on developing gardens and pasture on our small farm. This fall, I am working on preserving the produce that we grew for ourselves. My CSA has ended for the year, but planning for next year is already in the works.