Nawiri Green Farm on Farmer Voices
Farmer: Daniel Waruingi, Sandra Muthoni, Grace Mwangi
Farm: Nawiri Green Farm
Location: Puyallup, WA
Daniel
My name is Daniel Waruingi. Nawiri Green Farm is located in Puyallup, Washington. We grow organic vegetables and traditional food using natural, sustainable farming methods. I started the operation two years ago. “Nawiri” is the word that came when I was thinking about registering my business, and that name “Nawiri” means “flourishing” or “thriving” –it’s a Swahili word.
So, I opened Nawiri Green Farm. We started with a small quarter acre and we kept on increasing. We are located on Bowman Hilton Road; we are under Pierce County Conservation District. The farm we are farming is a Washington University Research Center Farm. They have 200 acres there. We started a program called incubator farming where it’s bringing farmers together. We are having training, education in that place, and also tapping resources from government, and mostly supported by the Pierce County Conservation District. We have seen growing and it’s amazing.
Sandra
My name is Sandra Muthoni. I am the program assistant at Nawiri Green Farm. There’s a lot to farming than most people know. There’s the physical part of it, going into the farm, getting the produce ready, but also there’s the business aspect.
I help the farm in terms of office administration work, keeping communications with our buyers, some of the programs that we help with to support like the food banks, different institutions that we deliver our foods to, especially in wholesale. I also help the farm in regards to tapping resources from the government. I have some expertise in grant writing, so in terms of donor mapping, getting these funds from the government, writing the proposals, trying to secure funds, making sure that our finances are in check.
We also help to participate in giving back to the community. We work hand in hand with food banks to distribute our fresh organic produce to them. And we also have a farmers’ training where we have all these people who are interested in farming, they don’t know where to start, they don’t have the knowledge of farm preparation, taking care of the seedlings. It’s a very nice program because we have seen so many youths who are interested in farming, but they don’t actually have the knowledge on where to start.
So, as such, Nawiri Green Farm, we help support that by giving them that platform. They get to ask us questions, they get all these resources on where they can tap resources to fund their farm. We’re also going to share a link of your organization, Farm to Farmer. Just connecting people with all these resources so they can start farming.
Grace
My name is Grace Mwangis and I work in sales and marketing at Nawiri Green Farm. I would say my journey into farming has been so rewarding, and from my background, I haven’t come from a place where we farm, but I’ve grown and the passion of wanting to know more about farming has introduced me to this great opportunity to work with the Nawiri Green Farm.
For us, we’ve created the CSA program so that we can get the members together and update them on what we are having for the harvest, maybe for the next harvest. We’ve also done few content videos, advertising our Nawiri Green Farm and also the CSA program to allow the members to join. And when it comes to marketing, we have our Facebook platform and we are still posting there, just trying to get as many people as we can.
One thing I wish more people knew is that farming takes heart and planning and it’s a process. It comes from your heart and patience and commitment.
Daniel
When I came to US, it’s actually very encouraging if people can be able to know there are so many people out here who are willing to farm. But the sweet way of farming is that it has its own benefit. My heart was to encourage our people to farm because the practices we are doing in Africa is totally different practice here in the US. There are many ways to tap resources to be able to help you thrive in farming.
So, I can see many people coming to the farm asking me, “How can I start? What are the challenges? What are the barriers? Where can we start with this?” So I’m able now to tell them: it’s a process. It takes a process to where I am right now. But you have to be very passionate about it. You have to actually commit yourself to it.
Sometimes when I tell you to come to farm, to do like a tractor work, or the drip irrigation, it’s going to give you more insight to actually now begin to see, “Wow, I think it’s working. I think farming, I can be able to do it.” So I can say to what I have observed so far, a lot of hope, many people love, they want to join, they want to join farming, they want to know about, they want eat healthy. Even they’re asking us to plant food that actually they like and we feel so good because of the diversity.
Sandra
Farming is very therapeutic. You get to connect with nature, you get to touch the soil. You’re out there in the sun. It’s good for your mental health, physically also. I’d like to encourage more people to farm. Also, farming is a gold mine. It’s a resource. And there’s this misconception of farming is for old or older people, but it’s not. It’s a really great source of revenue and anyone can do it. You just have to be motivated, have the right attitude, get connected to the right resources, and then you’re on the right track.
For me, what motivates me in farming is actually sales. Once the numbers start coming in, that’s the biggest motivation because, like I said, farming is a gold mine. Farming is very profitable. That’s why we have grown from farming a two acre now to an eight acres farm. We were small scale, now we are actually doing commercial farming.
And also, you have a seed, you put it in the soil, it grows. Someone comes and buys, and they eat, and it helps to nourish their body. That motivates me because we plant organically grown produce using sustainable practices. We don’t use harmful chemicals, we only use natural methods of farming, so the food is actually safe to eat and it helps with improving the health.
Daniel
Since we started farming, networking has not been very good to us, but because of coming together and actually having this set up, it has really opened up a lot of avenues to be able to connect with other farmers in different regions, like King County, Pierce County, and also trainings and going to these meetings.
Currently, what is actually giving us a little bit of headache is marketing and signing contracts because, like now this year, the ones that we signed on the contract, they say that the money’s not there and we have already started planting, but we already bought our seeds, so we don’t know where to take the food. We are still working to see who else can partner with us so that this food can go out. So that is actually the challenge on my side.
Sandra
I can say the biggest challenge someone can face in farming, especially if you’re a new farmer, is access to capital. You see, farming doesn’t come easy. It’s not something like you wake up and say, “I’m going to start farming today.” You need to have a strategic plan. You need to plan yourself financially. You need to source out land, and that’s why we have your organization that actually helps so many farmers in terms of looking for a farm, because the first thing you need for farming is land to farm.
So yeah, there’s the access to capital. But, if you learn to adapt and network and search for opportunities, you have all the supporting resources from the government that help you in regards to farming.
You have the Pierce County Conservation District that support the local farmers, they have different programs like the compost reimbursement grant, whereby if you buy compost, they reimburse you for the money you bought. There’s also the fuel reimbursement grant, where you get reimbursed for money you used in farming and also transportation of the goods. There are also other grants from the USDA that support getting new infrastructure for the farm. So, if you have a good network that you’ll be able to get all these resources, then you’ll be in a good place to start farming.
Daniel
Yes, when you are farming, there is that growth because, as I said when I started farming, it’s not the way I am today. I’ve gained a lot of experience, and that has given me a lot of hope. And also, interacting with a lot of customers and farmers who are coming in, there’s a lot of knowledge and becoming even more knowledgeable. To us, there is hope, because as you continue farming, you find people need what you’re farming or maybe the crop you’re planting and you know, it’s expanding your capacity. So, I can say there is great hope for the future.
