Garden Treasures was formed in September 2005 after its founders, Mark and Patricia bought an old deserted dairy farm in Arlington to help revitalize small agricultural business' in the Stillaguamish River Valley. From the beginning we built our farm with sustainability and minimal environmental impact. We use recycled and roof-top reclaimed water for all our nursery irrigation needs. Our organic crops are washed and watered using fresh well water. Our fields are farmed within their limits and native coyotes, eagles, red tailed hawks, bobcats, deer, birds, rabbits, and voles all call our farm home.
In the beginning everything seemed so easy- we had a great location, fertile fields, and great old farm buildings to work with. We were very optimistic and believed earth friendly and environmental agriculture. Waiting for our customers to pull in and enjoy what we offered proved to be a slow but steady challenge.
We tailored our business with respect to our land, community, and place upon this earth as human beings. One of the first projects for our nursery was building a irrigation system. In fact, we were able to use a manure reservoir from the old dairy as a water recycling reservoir. Almost all the water that runs from the rooftops of our barns and greenhouses is diverted into this old concrete reservoir for later use. Using this system we can go for long periods during the summer using completely recycled runoff water for our trees and shrubs.
Fast forward 4 years and we are excited to finally be at a cozy equilibrium of work, rest, and enjoyment of bringing fresh farm products to our community. Our garden center has a full line of most everything garden centers sell. Our gift shop, nursery, CSA and farm stand are now fully operational. We also have a small but great staff of 6 people who all work very hard and believe in community supported, and earth friendly agriculture.
Thank you all for supporting us and our dream of growing healthy local communities and food crops in the Stillaguamish River Valley. Having a small farm and a environmentally friendly business is challenging in many ways and without the help from our community members none of this would be possible.
Sincerely, Mark, Patricia and Dante
Our historical Big RED Barn was built in the late 1930's and is made from cedar harvested in the hills around Silvana. Please feel free to stop in and talk about plants, garden design, and vegetable questions.
