About Greentree Naturals

Greentree Naturals has been certified organic since 1992. Diane Green and her husband Thom Sadoski have over three decades of organic production experience. They started out selling garden crafts and excess produce at the Farmer's Market in 1990. After a few years selling at the farmers market, they expanded to sales at local restaurants, and have slowly expanded their marketing to include a CSA subscription service for farm fresh organic produce, a fresh flower subscription service, on-farm tours and workshops and on-farm events such as Sunday Brunch on the Farm and hosting an annual organic wine tasting.

An Interview with Diane Green 11/2015 Inland Northwest Food Network

What inspired you to become a farmer? There really isn't a simple answer. My background is horticulture, so I've cultivated gardens, worked outside or in greenhouses most of my adult life. My husband Thom has a biology background and grew up working on the family farm. We didn't start growing our gardens with the idea of pursuing making a living at it or to become small acreage farmers. The first garden we developed on our land just ended up more bountiful than we imagined. After we had canned, froze and stored as much food as we wanted, gave some away, then decided that selling the rest at the farmers market seemed like a good idea.

 I've been selling handmade items at craft shows since I was in college to supplement my income. When I first started selling at the farmers market, I sold dried flower wreaths and wheat weavings alongside a few assorted vegetables from the garden. I was working full time at the USFS, and selling at the Saturday Farmers market. After a couple of years of selling produce for "extra income", we decided that we would get more serious about growing for market and began cultivating more ground and marketing Greentree Naturals as a business. We started out like many do, without much of a plan other than we knew we loved growing food and being good land stewards for this place we call home.

We began working with our first restaurant in 1992. It was the beginning of local chefs wanting to connect with local farmers in Sandpoint. We had just certified organic and the owner/chef was an enthusiastic supporter of organically grown; he featured us on the menu and promoted us to other restaurants. After a few years at the farmers market and a year with one restaurant, we decided to start planning for expanding our gardens to meet the demand. We quickly added five more fine dining establishments to our venue and developed a growers collective to help us meet the need.

I quit my job at the USFS to pursue expanding our small farm into livelihood after a couple of years of juggling farming, marketing and working off farm. In hindsight, I can say that we made tons of mistakes starting out because we sort of made it up as we went. I participated in a multitude of grower conferences across the western U.S. and after each experience, returned home with new ideas and enthusiasm to explore new vegetable varieties and different venues. Over time, I learned the importance of planning, having a vision and a farm plan as a means to get to where you want to go. I've made the choice to teach and share what we've learned so others considering small acreage farming might avoid some of the mistakes that we made starting out.

What changes have you seen over the years vis a vis the local food scene? In the formative years at the farmers market, there were only a handful of growers cultivating a garden for market. Mostly we were made up of backyard gardeners selling their excess produce and flowers. As the years have gone by, the growers have increased in numbers, expanding the variety and quantity of produce available, and the community support has increased. Now our farmers market hosts an ever growing number of small acreage farmers; some are organic, some are not.

When we first started selling to restaurants, we were pretty much the only ones. The demand for locally grown, organic produce was greater than we could meet so I approached other growers at the farmers market to become a part of a growers collective. Greentree Naturals had the "contracts" with the restaurants, we just needed help meeting the demand. Basically, I was ordering and purchasing produce from other growers to supplement our restaurant orders. The collective disbanded when three of the restaurants went out of business. The restaurant business can be pretty volatile, especially in a small town like Sandpoint. They rely heavily on tourists and the tourist season is mostly Memorial Day through Labor Day.

When restaurants started closing down, we realized we needed to pursue new marketing outlets. I attended a conference about Community Supported Agriculture in 1996 and immediately started up the first CSA in Bonner County. I definitely encourage new and tenured small acreage farmers to make a point of attending conferences when they can.  There is always more to learn and what better way to learn than from fellow, experienced farmers?

When the first food co-op and natural foods store opened in Sandpoint, we made contact immediately and were one of the first farms to provide locally grown, certified organic produce to these local establishments. Now, there are a multitude of small farms selling through different venues and increased interest in supporting local family farms. There are only a handful of us are certified organic.

I think the public interest has increased towards buying local because of all the promotion going on across the country for health benefits associated with farm fresh. Farmers markets have increased in numbers across the country, more chefs and restaurants want local, and consumers are becoming savvy shoppers and want to show support to locally grown. Local retail outlets have learned that buying local, farm fresh produce means a longer shelf life, improved flavor, and special varieties offered that the food wholesale company cannot offer.

What is the biggest challenge you face in your work? Climate change is a considerable challenge. We have learned to adapt to the changes, and accept that there is nothing we can do but prepare for weather extremes. There is no "normal" with what to expect for first and last frost or much relating to the weather effects on the crops that we grow. For twenty years, we've been exploring all aspects of season extension to increase soil and air temperatures for early and lengthened harvest. Now many of those warming techniques we've been using need to morph into something different. Adapting to climate change is key to our ability to continue to grow crops.

Another challenge on the farm is simply that we are in our 60's and the physical challenges of land management have changed. We have learned how to set a steady pace and accomplish what needs to be done. We have learned how to prioritize and plan each days work. Things that I used to be able to accomplish alone, I now need assistance with. That said, any kind of small acreage farming operation is challenging simply in time management. Our motto for many years has been "do as much as you can, and then do some more."  Now it's more "do what you can, take a nap, and do some more". 

What is the most rewarding aspect of your work? It is a proud moment having an 86 year old man tell me "those are the best tomatoes I've ever eaten" at the farmers market. We have long time customers who have become friends and local food enthusiast at the farmers market. There is no greater praise to a farmer than "yours is the best I've ever tasted". To have someone introduce me as "my farmer mentor" always makes me happy. We love feeding people fresh, certified organic produce and teaching others to grow is a passion that I will continue doing this as long as I am physically able.

In addition to rewarding aspects of growing food, an integral piece of what we do is teaching others how to do what we do. Whether it is through on-farm apprenticeships or workshops, field days, on-farm research, or extensive educational programs through University of Idaho, it is most satisfying to have students walk away with knowledge that they personally utilize. We have hosted hundreds of student educational programs and many of them have gone on to become successful small acreage farmers. Some of our apprentices and gone on to become food advocates, managers of community gardens, school garden coordinators, and much more. Last year, one of the organic gardening workshop participants said she had been attempting to grow a garden here for 15 years and was ready to give up. After taking the on-farm organic gardening workshops, she applied what she learned and for the first time had a bountiful garden. I am proud of being able to help develop a foundation of hands-on learning that has empowered the next generation of small acreage farmers and food enthusiast. To me, this is as important as growing good food.

When you aren’t busy farming/doing your work, what kinds of things do you like to do?  I like to write and make a point of writing every day. Living in parts of this rural and wintery landscape of north Idaho, it's good to have a hobby to do in the winter months to pass the time; I am not one to sit without doing something. I don't think I've ever been bored at home. Winter is the time of the year that I can relax a bit and do things that let me explore my creative self. The crafts I have made over the years are working with things that nature provides, like growing flowers to dry for making wreaths and swags. I made these and sold them at craft shows for about ten years, but don't make them anymore. I also weave wheat into wheat hearts, grow gourds and dry them, then use a wood burner to decorate them with Native American designs. I started making what I call "Goddess Dolls" out of felt a couple of years ago just to give away to my girlfriends, but will be making them to sell next year. I make herbal salves and lotions from herbs that we grew and dried along with lip balm and elderberry tincture.

The thing about doing what you love for a living is, it all melds together. In the winter, if there is snow, we go snowshoeing often as there is 350 acres of wildlife management area behind our farm, and another 350 acres in front of us, so lots of ground to explore and spend time in the woods. The dogs love going to walks and they enjoy exploring the wild lands nearby.

What do you envision for the future of our local food system? I see a need for a local food hub in every community. What I mean by "food hub" is that there needs to be a central location where farmers can bring their food in to be distributed and marketed throughout the local community. A local food hub would strengthen the food system and make it easier to meet the needs of the wholesale marketplace, and increase quantity of sales to possibly be able to meet the need for supplying local schools and institutions.

For a small acreage farm to be successful and sustainable, the farmer needs to be a savvy grower, marketer, food handler, distribution manager, and a delivery driver. With a food hub, a non-farmer and team of food advocates would be managing the next steps for distributing food off the farm. This would make it possible to be able to meet larger orders by combining food from different farms to meet the need. The growers collective that we managed in the early 90's basically did this.

 Farmers markets serve the community well, but most small acreage farms have more produce to sell at the end of the market. There are many successful models of food hubs happening across the country; some are regional and include several states, some focus on locally grown being 100 miles from the place the food was grown. and I'd like to see more of this happening locally.

A Little History About Thom...

Thom grew up on land that his great grandfather homesteaded in southeastern Michigan. His family had a huge garden that he helped maintain all of his years at home. Aunts and uncles had neighboring farms that he grew up working on all of his childhood. Three generations of Sadoski’s worked and lived on farms in this rural part of Michigan. As a child, the family could drive for fifty miles and have relative connections on both sides of the family. His mother came from a family of thirteen, so family is extensive and an important value in his life.

He was the first of his family to leave Michigan and head for the west to attend Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. After receiving a BS in Biology in 1978, Thom began a long career of planting trees throughout the Pacific Northwest. Thom planted over a million trees in the course of twenty three years working with a tree planting crew by the name of Small Change out of western Oregon. Occasionally, Thom returns to work as a contract inspector for reforestation projects if the time of year allows his departure from life on the farm.

In 1987, Thom came to north Idaho to work on a reforestation contract for the USFS near Sandpoint. Diane was working for the USFS as a contract tree planting inspector. They met working in the woods miles from nowhere and fell in love over the course of an eight week contract. They made a date for the end of the contract and have been together ever since. They married in the center of the garden at Greentree Naturals in 1989.

A Little History About Diane...

Diane grew up in Oklahoma and traveled as a young adult in a hippie school bus during the early 1970’s. She traveled extensively throughout the U.S. searching for a place to settle when she found the Pacific Northwest. After studies in plant biology and horticulture at Spokane Community College, she was offered a job with the USFS in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho working on a research project propagating native shrubs. Because she was proficient at identifying native plant species, the USFS then offered her work doing forest inventory in St. Maries, Clarkia, and Avery, Idaho where she worked seasonally until 1986 when she moved to Sandpoint. Diane was among the first women to work for the USFS in the back woods of Idaho.

While Diane is the person out in front of most of what is happening at Greentree Naturals, it is important to note that the success of farm is because Thom is a part of it. Together, they manage to balance the work load, deliveries, apprentices, farmers markets and on-farm events with a shared vision and goals compatible with their future together.

Diane serves on a number of boards for organizations such as Rural Roots (the Inland Northwest Community Food Systems Association), the Idaho Organic Foods Advisory Council, and represents small acreage farmers on for the University of Idaho College of Agriculture advisory board.

She also teaches small farm marketing through University of Idaho Extension. “I think most of the students in the university are into conventional agriculture. They need to see there are other ways to do farming; that you don’t necessarily have to have 1200 acres and use a lot of chemicals to be successful as a farmer. Diversity is going to be the key to survival of farms in the future, not only how you market, but also what you grow. I always encourage aspiring farmers to establish a market before they plant. When we plant, we know where eighty percent of it is going.”

Currently, Diane is serving as a consultant for the Sustainable Agriculture program for the Washington and Idaho Partnership 2020 project. She has developed a training manual for the Cultivating Success program at University of Idaho that teaches farmers how to develop on-farm curriculums for becoming certified instructors to work with apprentices.

In 2000, Diane was selected as a recipient for a Founder of the New Northwest award by Sustainable Northwest. In 2006, she was presented with a ‘Steward of Sustainable Agriculture’ award from the non-profit organization Rural Roots (www.ruralroots.org)  at the Reclaiming Our Local Food and Farms conference in Boise, Idaho. Diane’s most recent publication is Selling Produce to Restaurants, A Marketing Guide for Small Acreage Growers, now in a second edition.

A young gentleman by the name of Theron Humphrey developed a project to photograph and record stories about individuals he met with while traveling across America in 2012. One of our apprentices extended an invitation to him to come and visit Greentree Naturals and this video link is the result of that visit to our farm: http://thiswildidea.com/stories/DIANE_GREEN