Farm Life Spotlight: Wild Roots Farm

Meet Ashley, Tim, Everly and Maverick – the faces behind Wildroots Farm. 

​Born and raised in the beautiful California desert, Ashley and Tim chose to follow a dream to better teach their children how to become fine stewards of the land. This led to the fruitful valley of Emmett, Idaho – blooming Wildroots Farm. Here is where they teach, learn and guide one another in the art of sustainable living and farming. And thus is where their true farm story begins...

 “Our family farm is run with an unwavering dedication to produce quality goods that are shipped directly to you without the use of third party manufacturing. We harvest small quantities of our 100% organically grown goods, as we believe quantity should never out weigh quality. We strive to do our part in cutting out single use plastics that are plaguing our world today. We proudly package and ship our products with minimal to zero plastic and have a firm dedication to cruelty free, eco-friendly and permaculture style land tending. 

We started our farm in the Summer of 2018 with zero farming experience. We wanted to connect to the land a bit more and teach our children the beautiful ways of organic gardening and farming with animals. 

 I start my day around 7am and the day ends when the sun goes down. My days consist of lots of farm chores, garden tending and creating educational materials to share with family and friends locally or online.

 We focus strongly on regenerative  farming and creating a biodynamic space in which everything on the farm contributes to the greater good. This includes the animals here and all the things we grow. Each animal here plays a vital role in rebuilding the health of the soils and helping to grow organic produce and native pollinator-friendly flowers to help improve the lives of all the local pollinators.

Its hard to pick favorites on the farm but I have a deep love for growing Sunflowers. I also don’t think I could ever pick a favorite animal on the farm because they all have such unique personalities.

The most amazing thing about having a mixed species farm is that you get to watch beautiful bonds grow between unlikely animals. Our Scottish Highland bull, Thor, has always had a soft spot for one of our sheep, Clementine. He has always been so gentle with her, even allowing her to always eat from the same bowl as him. She is so small compared to him, but she trusts him so much and he is so kind to her. Every morning they share breakfast and every night they share dinner.

 There will always be challenges on the farm but the biggest one is learning to work WITH mother nature and AT her. Each year the weather seems to change so we need to realign when we start and plant our crops. We’ve also had to deal with mid spring snow and frost which damages all our fruit blossoms. Some years we’ve lost every fruit blossom in our orchard causing us to have a fruitless year. 

We involve ourselves in the community by donating free packs of organic heirloom seeds every spring grown right here on the farm and by offering educational classes to local schools about the importance and amazing lives of honey bees. I hope that our involvement in the community has encouraged people to grow their own food and to look deeper into the importance of keeping our pollinators safe. We also hope to inspire people to look further into the connection we can build with farm animals to help us live a happier and healthier life.

 Words of advice I would give any farmer is to never give up. Each year will be a little different and that’s normal. Some years your have a great season and some years you wont. Also remember there is never one way to do something, find the way that works best for you personally and go with that.

 I think, and hope, the future of farming starts to focus on the soil health more. I hope more people will see the benefits of creating health from the ground up to grow the best food. The harsh chemicals aren’t only damaging the foods and our health, it's damaging the air, water, soil, pollinators, and native wildlife. I hope the future of farming focuses on the benefits of farming with animals and not farming the animals themselves.” 

What started with zero experience has now grown to over 130K followers and is truly supporting the roots of our country. You can support Wildroots farm through thier online store and you do not want to miss out on keeping up-to-date with their adorable livestock and good vibes - make sure to follow them on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok or subscribe to their YouTube channel.