Charming Thriving Little Big Farm

In the winter of 2016, only months after Maya Wood and Phelan Pagano graduated from Evergreen State College, they attended a farming conference together. Their goal was to explore their options, to help determine their first steps toward starting a farm. Little did they know, within a week, they would be signing a lease and starting the wild ride of owning Little Big Farm.

"We had a business plan and heard about a farm lease and literally the next week, we were signing that lease," said Wood, laughing as she recounted the story for Washington Grown TV host Val Thomas-Matson in Season 12. "And it was February, so it was time to start seeds. We had to get all the soils right and get all the materials. I was 21, and so I had all the energy in the world.

"We would wake up at 3 in the morning to harvest and then work until 10," she continued. "We were running on adrenaline for a few years, for sure."

In the years since then, Wood and Pagano have grown their little operation into a larger operation, shifting gears from the frantic rush of those early years into the more manageable rhythm that comes as a business matures. They focus on supplying produce to their CSA (community- supported agriculture) customers, along with some of Washington’s favorite restaurants (including Driftwood, featured on page 10). Today, they grow all sorts of vegetables, from bok choy and broccolini to parsley and peas. But it wasn’t always such a diverse farm.

"We found our success early because we focused on just one crop," said Wood. "We were like, ‘OK, we can’t grow 40 things perfectly, so let's figure out the one thing that we can do, something we can become known for, something that people eat a lot of, something that we like eating.’ And that was salad, so we started growing salad ingredients like arugula, lettuce mix, spicy salad mix, and microgreens."

Little Big Farm is, true to its name, both little and big. At just 3 acres, their farmable land is a tiny fraction of many other farms in the state. But because they focus on quality, they’re able to produce exceptionally high yields and profitability per acre.

"We call it market gardening," said Pagano. "It is a little more similar to what you would see in your garden, just scaled up to the max."

In addition to their small scale approach, Little Big Farm is, at heart, an organic farm. Their website states, "While we are not yet certified organic, we follow these practices with great intention and cultivate with biologically regenerative principles in mind and at hand. At the forefront of our efforts is building and supporting soil health and biological diversity through minimum-tillage practices ... We never use any synthetic chemicals for weed or pest management."

That organic approach has endeared them to a legion of fans who are willing to support them by visiting them at farmers markets and signing up for their CSA program.

"This is not easy work," said Wood. "We have so much fun and get to eat really well, but it's so beautiful to have people who are receptive to what we do. When people choose to go to the farmers market on a Sunday morning, when they could be sleeping? I love those people. Those are our people!"

Pagano agreed. "Getting to know the people that grow your food is a great thing. That’s why we’re big advocates for farmers markets, for CSA programs, for local food in general. I feel fortunate to be farming here in Washington state, and I think customers should be stoked to be an eater in Washington state. There’s so much beautiful stuff going on."