I moved out to Vashon Island thirty years ago, with little plan except to find a place larger than my tiny studio apartment in downtown Seattle. Vashon at that time was a bit of a sleepy community, with few of my friends supporting me in this move. Over time they found the charm of this quiet island a ferry ride away from Seattle.
A farm was not the goal, and yet slowly I added a garden, and then a small orchard and then a few animals. When I had a cow and then many cows, I realized I was a farmer. Today Kurtwood Farms is thirteen acres, situated in the mid part of the island. The garden is much larger now, the orchard as well. Most of the land is in pasture for the Limousin beef cows that roam the verdant slope to the upper pastures.
My home is the Beall Log House, the oldest standing structure on the island. The garden is a rambling varieties of plants, reflecting my ever-changing interests. Szechuan peppercorn plants are left over from a proposed — but never written — book on Chinese food. Tea plants are from that same year. Large olive trees continue to grow, planted when I was sure I could make olive oil. Large beds of thornless blackberries were planted to provide fruit for my Seattle ice cream shop. They remain even if the shop does not. More and more of the garden is given over to flowers: needed specimens for my desire to photograph blooms with my old, large format film cameras.
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The busiest part of the farm is the Cookhouse, a timber-framed kitchen and dining room. In the center of the room is the large butcher block island, with high stools, facing the kitchen. This is where we host classes on the weekends throughout the summer season.
Beyond the Cookhouse is the creamery, a sturdy concrete building where the milk from our Jersey cows was made into Dinah’s Cheese. Twice a day, every day for the past dozen plus years, the small herd of cows were milked and that milk was cooled and processed. Dinah’s Cheese was a bloomy-rind cheese, a fresh cheese with a snowy white rind and a rich, golden interior. After more than a dozen years, I ended production of Dinah’s Cheese. Those Jersey cows were sold and a new small herd of Limousin beef cows has begun.
And now that masonry building where the cheese was made has been transformed into a lovely airbnb to rent for the weekend.
The Creamery sits on the edge of the pastures and is a calm cottage to relax, slow down and enjoy the quiet of the farm.
Kurt Timmermeister
