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posted 02/15/01
Wayne Pullman is a regular customer at the San Juan Coffee Roasting Company next to the Friday Harbor ferry landing. "He comes in every day between 11 and noon for a double-short latte," says coffee shop owner, Irene Herring. Soon after Wayne began frequenting the coffee shop, Irene learned about Wayne and Ann Pullman’s Four Seasons Farm and began buying their farm products.

Irene would place her weekly order on Wednesdays from Ann’s meticulously handwritten list of what was available. With Irene’s order in hand, Ann would harvest on Thursdays and then Wayne would deliver on Fridays. Both the lists and the bountiful deliveries of fresh and varied produce were enticing. It didn’t take long for other regulars at the coffee shop to begin buying farm products from Four Seasons Farm. Ann and Wayne now have about 15 regular customers through the San Juan Coffee Roasting Company.

"We used to sell at the Farmers’ Market, but if the weather was bad and the turnout was poor, we didn’t always sell everything we had worked so hard to harvest and wash," says Ann. For health reasons, Ann can’t expend any unnecessary energy. "Now I only harvest what’s been ordered and I’m making more money for each day’s orders than I did on my best days at the market."

Ann talks of Irene as the key to their marketing: "Irene’s order has first priority. If we only have a small amount of something, Irene gets it if she wants it."

Wayne and Ann moved to San Juan Island 11 years ago. They have lived on their farm for just four and a half years. In that time, and on just two acres, they have established a 55-tree orchard, blackberries and loganberries, a large market garden, rabbits, pigeons, laying hens, a stand of willows for basket making, and honeybee hives to complement the mason bees that nest in the holes of the driftwood fence posts around the farm.

For Wayne, farming is a hobby. "I already have a job, and I don’t want this to be one," says Wayne who works just half an hour a day (except at butchering time) with the chickens, pigeons and rabbits. In addition to eggs, he sells pigeons (squab) and rabbits either live or dressed, frozen, and ready for the oven. He sells as much as he raises to regular customers who would like to buy even more. At Ann’s urging, Wayne plans to start raising pheasant this spring. It takes six months before they’re ready to dress, but Ann insists that this gourmet delicacy will be well worth the effort.

Ann is the gardener of Four Seasons Farm. She has created an orchard and market garden with both meticulous order and abundant variety. Of the dwarf and semi-dwarf apples, pears and plums in her orchard, there are no more than two trees of any one variety. "I like to harvest smaller amounts over a longer season," she says. Her pear harvest begins with Bella di Guignos in mid-July and ends with El Dorados in mid-October. Ann does all her own grafting, and some trees have as many as 20 different varieties. As a member of the Western Cascade Fruit Society and the Seattle Tree Fruit Society, she has made contact with other growers and exchanged favorite varieties of scion wood.

In her market garden, Ann chooses crops that yield well and that fit her customers’ preferences. She especially likes to grow unusual varieties like Rosa Bianca eggplants and Brandywine tomatoes that can’t be found in stores. Sometimes, though, she will have a crop she likes that’s not selling well, so she will put a free sample in everyone’s order along with a recipe for preparing it. That usually gets her customers ordering more.

"I love dealing directly with local people, learning their preferences and making recommendations that fit with what they like,"says Ann while talking about her love of finding new varieties to grow and new recipes to prepare them with. "If I’m going to grow something, I want to learn how to cook it every way possible, and pass that on to my customers."

In addition to the customers at the coffee shop, Wayne and Ann sell farm products to Kris Brown, owner of Printonyx, and three of her co-workers. They fax in their orders on Wednesdays, and then Wayne delivers to Printonyx on Fridays.

"Ordering by fax and having it delivered brings me so much good variety and freshness with no effort on my part," says Kris, who especially enjoys the opportunity to try new and different veggies. "I haven’t had much fresh produce since Four Seasons Farm’s growing season ended. We’ve been making do with what we canned or froze."

The benefits for Irene are twofold. "My busiest days are Saturdays in the summer, so I can’t leave my shop to take advantage of the farmers’ market," says Irene who does as little shopping as possible in her free time. "It’s a tremendous boon to have delivered this fabulous, fresh, meticulously washed and ready to eat produce." Placing their orders on Wednesdays and picking up their produce on Fridays gives Irene’s regular customers a reason to come to her coffee shop more often, and that gives them a reason to buy more from her than they might otherwise. "This has benefited my business, too," Irene says.

Just as our island is a closely-knit ecosystem, so too is our small business community. "Businesses on our island have to find creative ways to mutually support each other," says Irene. "If other business owners are as busy as I am, then they can’t get out to take advantage of the wonderful, local farm products we have here. By creating the arrangement that I have with Ann and Wayne, my business has benefited, their farm has benefited, and best of all my family and I have also benefited!"

This article appears in the Islands' Farm & Food Connection newsletter. Published with permission. For a copy of the newsletter, or more information, please contact Lovel Pratt at lovel@coopext.cahe.wsu.edu or at the WSU extension office at 360.378.4414.

San Juan Islander staff

by mail: San Juan Islander
PO Box 1118
Friday Harbor, WA 98250 USA

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