Big farm milestone - we're flashing back to the beginning!

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posted on

September 15, 2026

Do you remember this?

If you recognize tiny Farmhand Eli at the Port Townsend Farmers Market, it means you’ve been with us since waaayyy back when. 🥰

In which case, prepare to gasp with shock. Because last year we celebrated One Straw Ranch’s 10th birthday…

Which means now we’re celebrating Farmhand Eli’s 10th birthday!

Oh, my goodness. Seriously. 🫣

Baby Eli was born the first year we had a booth at farmers market, and one his very first outings was to the market – cozied into the little blue front pack.

I remember quite vividly that it was a very windy, stormy day, and, being a brand-new mom, I wondered what in the heck I was thinking. But we got through that day, and many more after. 💪

Thanks in no small part to the kindness and understanding of our customers – and to the unending love and generosity of the myriad grandmas (biological and adopted) that volunteered to play with the poor little tyke.

And Farmhand Eli’s been helping us bring honestly good food to your table ever since.

We started farming all those years ago because we wanted to do something good and valuable for our community. To grow food you can feel good about eating because it’s truly nutritious, humane and in service to the environment.

Then we had a baby.

And meeting all those goals became not only considerably more difficult 😅, but infinitely more important.

Safe, clean, regenerative farming is no longer a theoretical “nice to have” ideal.

👉 Now we’re growing the food we feed our children – and caring for the land and environment that will one day be theirs. That awareness informs our every decision.

And it’s why we never use GMO feed, hormones, MRNA vaccines, or other unnecessary chemicals on our land or animals.

So you can trust that the beef, pork and eggs you buy from us are clean and safe – and raised by hand in the most humane and ethical manner.

Farmhand Eli taught me to be a mom who farms and a farmer who’s a mom. And is now growing into quite the responsible little farmer himself (when he’s not doing math, reading about ancient Greece or teaching himself Latin).

🥳 We’re so happy to be celebrating him – with his favorite Pozole recipe. (It’s so nice when they pick something easy to make for a crowd. 😉)

I have to say, I went on quite a memory-lane trip looking for that farmers market photo. We’ve come a long way in the last 10 years, and we can’t even begin to guess what the next 10 holds.

Thank you for being on this journey with us - we couldn't do it without you.

Yours truly,

Charlotte Frederickson