Moscow Food Co-op Producer Profile

by Patrick Vaughn, from the April 2004 newsletter

Elizabeth Schwartz says of her 80-acre work in progress, Flannigan Creek Farm LLC, “It’s really all about teaching.” Recent health issues have required her to employ young men and women to take on many of the physically-demanding tasks associated with a new farming venture. Elizabeth has found that empowering them as “managers” of different aspects of the farm is an approach that can help her attain her goals, and at the same time, provide unusual growth and learning opportunities for her assistants. It’s an approach she wants to translate into niche marketing of organic produce to a variety of customers including our food co-op.

Elizabeth grew up in the Seattle area. She remembers spending summers at her grandfather’s property on Vashon Island as a young girl. Smiling, she recalls his orchard and gardens and the work she, her sisters and her mother would do together in canning and preserving the bounty.

As a young woman, Elizabeth attended the University of Washington and then the University of Vienna earning a degree in German. She worked in Washington D.C. for the U.S. government as a translator of German and Polish languages. There she also met her husband and started a family. After spending two years in Granby, Quebec, they settled down in Portland, Oregon, raised a daughter and son and worked for 22 years.

During her time in Portland, Elizabeth studied Landscape Design and Maintenance at a community college and ran her own small landscaping business for nine years. She earned a Masters in Counseling Psychology from Lewis and Clark College and spent eight years working with teenagers in residential mental health and drug addiction. She also started a small business offering crafted herbal teas.

So, she and her husband have now built a country home east of Viola. Elizabeth, with her small business, landscaping and counseling experiences finds herself positioned to pursue a labor of love. Her short-term plans are to grow a variety of cabbages, tomatoes and cut flowers for the Co-op, and for other customers as well. She has planted heirloom apple trees and is experimenting with growing amaryllis for December blossoms. To keep her family and farm hands fed (especially on big Saturday “communal” lunches) there will be a diverse vegetable garden.

Her long-term vision for Flannigan Creek Farm is inspired by Eliot Coleman’s writings on year-around growing with hoop houses. Elizabeth envisions cold-hearty greens, fruit orchards, raspberries, and asparagus beds some day gracing the property. She also wants to pursue making a truly healthy granola with organic dried fruits. “So much of what you can buy is terrible,” she says.

While we chatted, her “forestry manager,” Matt Gaither came up to the house. At 22, he is in his second year of school at the University of Idaho. He grew up in Germany and Japan. He is working part time for Elizabeth. He says that college seems best suited to teach classical subjects like art or literature but that practical experience like working for Elizabeth is a great way to learn a craft like farming. Thinning pine trees and planting a Christmas tree farm of blue spruce are on the agenda this year.

When she has time for non-farming activities, Elizabeth is interested in creative writing. She took writing classes at UI and has won a local poetry slam. “I’ve been most interested in non-fiction and essay writing,” she says. “And I really enjoy the research part of that kind of writing. That’s why I actually enjoy researching all the requirements for USDA organic certification.” Now she also finds she enjoys poetry. “I find myself thinking in poetic verse,” she says.

She and her husband enjoy working on the property, socializing with friends and taking walks in the beautiful country surrounding their property. Elizabeth enjoys shopping at the Co-op, especially picking up the black kale in the produce department. “And I love that I can get organic nuts and seeds in bulk for a reasonable price.”

Elizabeth says that customers will be welcome to purchase cut flowers and pick fresh produce. They should call first (883-5368) and make an appointment. Depending on driver availability, her produce and flowers could be delivered to Moscow, Pullman, Potlatch and Viola areas.

Pat Vaughan is awaiting the first blooms on his own farm and stepping into the race for the Latah County Commission.

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