Meet Rebecca Slattery, Farmer at Persephone Farm

Persephone Farm is a bit of controlled chaos. It has a wild freeness which, I think, reflects my personality. To me, there’s a magic and a mystery at the intersection of agriculture and wild nature. At my farm, weeds grow pretty unchecked; wild flowers bloom alongside the cultivated ones; there’s an air of whimsy. I find myself using the term “happy accident” and often have amnesty for plants out of place. It’s all good. I don’t feel compelled to have an overly strict hand in controlling my farm. It’s more fun (and for me, more realistic) to just enjoy the flow of it, keeping up as best I can, and relaxing into nature’s messiness. 

I was a home gardener for many years. As time went on, I started spending more and more of my time and money on my hobby to where I started to consider: maybe I should turn this equation around. In 1990 I participated in the UCSC Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture. This changed my life and helped me take the leap from home gardener to market farmer. 

When I moved to the Pacific Northwest, having grown up in Pennsylvania, I became enthralled by all the edible wild plants in my new garden and began harvesting them into salads. Friends asked if they could buy these salad mixes and from this my first signature product was born: “wild & fancy” salad greens. 

To this day I enjoy scrambling around the farm in search of wild edibles to enhance my salad blend and my customers seem to appreciate what I’ve created. No two harvests are quite the same, depending on the season and my whim. 

I believe there are nutritional superpowers—perhaps not fully understood—in the wild plants around us. It feels valuable to curate nutritious—perhaps even medicinal—greens mixes. My favorite ingredients include chickweed, lambs quarters, sheep sorrel, amaranth, oxalis, and wild mustards. 

This last ingredient takes all sorts of wonderful colorful forms at Persephone Farm. Over the years I’ve let many mustard species cross and mutate into a wild array of shades and leaf forms. New surprises are always popping up, delighting me with their unique combinations of spice, sheen, ruffle, frill, and hue. 

I’m an example of the saying: ”find something you love to do and you’ll never work a day in your life.” 

I honestly wake up every day asking myself not "what do I have to do?", but "what do I get to do?" I think the small scale and diversity of it all keeps me engaged. After 35 years, I still have so much to learn and I love that. I’m a born entrepreneur and enjoy analyzing and tweaking my business. I think of it like a puzzle. 

And, I’m a firm believer in a couple of cups of strong coffee in the morning. That’s been known to keep me going on the hardest days!

Persephone Farm was one of the very first CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) in the country, starting in 1991. We helped pave the way for this direct-to-consumer model which allows farmers and eaters to connect more intimately, building relationships around food and farming. CSAs now thrive around the region and across the nation. My subscribers are the backbone of my farm. 

I’m passionate about soil health and spend a lot of time and effort making and spreading compost. Over the decades, the water and nutrient retention of the fields have been tremendously enhanced by our homemade compost. My philosophy is to build the healthiest soil I can and then let the crops fend for themselves. My experience is that plants grown in healthy soils have strong immune systems, creating natural resistance to insects and diseases. 

Also, behind the veil of romance surrounding being a flower farmer, there’s a helluva lot of scrubbing and hauling buckets!

I count myself as one of the pioneers in Kitsap’s farm-to-table movement. Along with a handful of other then-young growers, we forged connections with local restaurant chefs and caterers and, together, built a vibrant local dining culture. I’m proud of that and feel like it’s rather rare and special. 

Don’t underestimate the impact of asking your favorite restaurants which local farms they are supporting and where they source their ingredients. I feel like a celebrity when I see my farm’s name on a restaurant menu!

Starting in the early 1990s, I began training farm interns. Over the years, more than 50 interns have passed through the farm’s season-long program. Many have gone on to manage other farms and some eventually started their own operations. At this point they are scattered all across the country, each with a piece of history spent training at Persephone. My continued conversations and mentorship back-and-forth, now as colleagues, gives me hope about the future of small farms.