At the confluence of Icicle Creek and the Wenatchee River, just a few miles east of the Bavarian-themed town of Leavenworth, you might see salmon spawning, boaters picnicking on a wide sandy beach, or bear sloshing across to an island preserve. What you may not notice is that this scenic piece of land is also in agricultural production. Here Nancy Denson and Nick Stemm grow gourmet organic produce on a farm that values what grows naturally as much as what is cultivated.

Nancy and Nick gave up life in the big city two years ago to pursue a path they once rejected. Nancy explains, “Nick was raised in this valley on a commercial apple orchard. His parents wanted us to take over the orchard in our twenties, but we chose to go live in Seattle. When they reached a certain age they thought, “We wish we would have kept the farm.” While they couldn’t go back to the farm Nick grew up on, that didn’t stop them from going back to a rural lifestyle.

Nancy and Nick purchased a twenty-six acre narrow peninsula of land that stretches out between Icicle Creek and the Wenatchee River and named it, appropriately, Two Rivers Farm. The parcel includes a mile of riverfront property and offers a spectacular opportunity. Nancy explains, “In October there is a fall run of chinook that come up the Wenatchee River, and their spawning ground is right here! We can sit in the house eating breakfast and watch the salmon spawn. Then in the spring, they come upriver on the other side, on Icicle Creek.” Protecting these salmon populations and the other wildlife that share their land have driven a lot of Nancy and Nick’s decision on how to manage their farm.

Since they bought the land, Nancy and Nick have run the farm using organic methods because of the rivers and the fragile natural environment. They grow a wide variety of fruits and vegetables on the inland portion of their property. They also raise a handful of cattle and sheep, about 40 heirloom turkeys, and 650 chickens for the meat as well as for the fertile manure that is the base of the on-farm composting operation. They pay extra to bed their animals on organic straw and feed them organic hay and grains so that the compost they make is approved for their certified organic program. Says Nancy, “Our certification is kind of secondary; our customers don’t really care if we’re certified, but I care. It’s a good way for me to make sure I am checking my methods because there is a lot of guidance in the organic rules.”

Two Rivers Farm sells most of their organic produce to Visconti’s, a restaurant in Leavenworth. They also have a small CSA program. Nick, who just recently began farming full time, admits, “Our limitation is our gardening skills. We have enough marketing skills. We have to learn how to grow better in some of our areas of production.”

Local customers buy organic poultry, eggs and lamb directly. “The meat all goes to private customers that buy it off the farm,” says Nancy. “I send out a memo to my meat customers in the spring, and I sell out for the upcoming season usually within a week or two.” Nancy knows they could sell more meat, but more animals would mean that they would have to worry about where the manure would go and if it was getting into the river. “At this level,” she says,” my stocking rates are so low that I don’t have to do a lot of math to figure out how much manure I can put on the land.”

Nick and Nancy are mindful of the well-being of their domestic animals. Nancy explains, “We are members of the Humane Farming Association, so there are a lot of management choices we make that are based on the nature of the animals, as well as the impact on the land. Our animals are out to pasture during the grass season. In the wintertime when the snow is deep, they are in paddocks and open air sheds with deep bedding. We don’t believe in barns for animals; that’s how you get illness.” Nick and Nancy use a rotational grazing system where they can, running “very free-ranging chickens” over next year’s garden plots.

Wild animals are also considered in the management plans. Half of their land is dedicated to wildlife habitat, including a five acre island in the river. Nancy says, “We are undecided whether to keep the island as a green belt or give it to an organization such as The Nature Conservancy. We like having it there because it is a place where predators can go; they are so pressured here in the valley. The island gives the bears and the coyotes an undisturbed place to exist. We don’t want them over here with our chickens, but we are trying to live and let live with them.”

Uninvited humans are even welcome on a sandy beach revealed each summer at the confluence of the Icicle and Wenatchee rivers. Nancy says, “This is a really popular beach with floaters. We don’t mind people using it as long as they don’t leave trash.” Nancy knows the river is a fabulous resource for the valley, and likes that it’s accessible to everybody, no matter what income. “It’s there for everybody to use and I think that is really cool,” she says.

The health of this land and the rivers that border it drive farm management decisions more than market demand or human aesthetics. “We have learned to ignore a lot,” says Nancy walking past a wall of brush that might make another farmer’s fingers twitch. “I like an open woodland, but we’ve gone to goats instead of bulldozers because the soil is too fragile for big machinery. There is more brush here than two goats can eat, but I don’t want them to eat it all. We need wildlife habitat and the brush is part of that too.” Nick adds, “All of this surrounding natural vegetation is a perfect habitat for beneficial insects.”

Pointing to long rows of crisp lettuce being misted under shade cover, Nancy acknowledges, “This is the only place I have allowed a battle against nature. If you are trying to grow lettuce over here in 100 degree heat, you have to have some kind of system, and lettuce is one of our main crops for the restaurants, so we’re trying to sustain that.”

For the past two years a pair of bald eagles have raised their young in a tall pine on Two Rivers Farm, and while some chickens may be at risk, Nick and Nancy prefer to celebrate the coexistence of the cultivated and the wild on their farm.

Contact
Two Rivers Farm
Nancy Denson & Nick Stemm
12450 Wilson Street
Leavenworth, WA 98826
Tel: 509-548-4422
ndenson@tworiversfarm.com