Green Blog
Green Business Spotlight: Good Rain Farm
Xast Sqit, or Good Rain, Farm, is a Clark County certified Green Business located in Camas. Named in the traditional language of the sngaytskstx (Sinixt) the Arrow Lakes Peoples, Good Rain Farm works in harmony with the land.
Founder and owner Michelle Week, of Sinixt ancestry, embraces holistic agricultural practices from her own Indigenous heritage. The farm primarily sells fresh produce and rabbit meat through Community Share Agriculture and fulfills wholesale orders for local restaurants and grocers. By using sustainable agriculture practices, Good Rain Farm strives to "rebuild a culture of respect, honor, gratitude and reciprocity" through land stewardship, carbon saving and plastic reduction.
Land stewardship principles
Good Rain farms the land in partnership with the ecosystem and the animals and insects who support and live on the land.
The farm commits to tending the land without relying on the use of synthetic fertilizers, chemicals, pesticides and herbicides.
Through the Save our Seed program, Good Rain Farm teaches the community about how to breed, harvest, store and plant seeds passed down from generations. This seed saving program provides the opportunity to harvest and keep seed from featured varieties, while also providing the chance to package seeds for donation to local non-profit organizations and tribal groups.
Green Goals: Carbon-Saving
By creating carbon savings practices, the farm's goal is to increase the amount of produce delivered while decreasing the carbon generated during delivery. One way this is achieved is by reducing vehicle idling by adjusting delivery routes around traffic.
The delivery routes are also manually mapped for carbon savings by local Clark County farm staff because automated systems typically do not provide this option.
Additionally, Good Rain Farm's produce is delivered locally, further reducing the carbon footprint
Green Goals: Plastics Reduction
Good Rain Farm reuses plastic tarping materials and other farm "trash" from neighboring farms to avoid new purchases. Farm owner Michelle also gleans reusable plastic items from other farmers. Her time is often spent filtering through items placed out for discard by other local farms to find usable pieces including valves, handles, sprinklers and irrigation equipment. These found items are incorporated at Good Rain Farm to repair broken items, instead of rebuying and replacing.
Produce from Good Rain is packaged in minimal disposable plastics and in biodegradable food safe packaging including paper bags and reusable tubs.
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