The Farm's Story
Kim Kambak
Meet the Farmer
Kim Kambak is the heart behind Littlest Bird Farm, where healing the land helped her heal herself.
Kim and her partner founded Littlest Bird Farm as both a refuge and a renewal. After Kim had a serious bike accident, they restored an overgrown Vashon property. Kim did this through the daily work of farming. With deep roots in Oregon forestry and agriculture, Kim brings grit, heart, and a passion for community to everything she grows.
The Littlest Bird Farm was once the Zarth farm and Kim continues to honor that this land is forever stewarded by the Coast Salish people. Please read the land acknowledgement below.
Today, Kim raises poultry, sheep, pork, rabbit, blueberries, flowers and vegetables on 5.7 acres. She removed invasive plants and has planted over 100 native shrubs and bushes. Integrating various types of compost specific to the plant’s needs is part of the farm plan. Kim's days are always full on the farm, helping make sure the mamas take care of the new lambs and piglets, fixing fences, gathering produce and eggs, and working on the land.
“I hope to move towards the farm becoming a closed loop needing less inputs. I hope to leave this soil healthy and productive for future generations.”
Zarth Farm
Part of our history...
Littlest Bird Farm was allocated to the Zarth family due to the Homestead Act and was one of the original Non-Native homesteads on Vashon Island. The Zarths, immigrants from Germany, farmed it in early 1900. In the past 120 years, there have been many farmers, gardeners, music producers, hippie communes, and squatters here. The Zarth family was the first non-indigenous grain growing farm on Vashon, utilizing draft horses to plant and harvest their crops.
Restoration
How Kim & her partner healed the land while she was healing herself...
Many years ago, the east end of the Zarth estate had hosted demolition derbies. As a result, the place was a mess with cars buried in the wild overgrowth of blackberry. One of the early tasks was to arrange for all of this to be finally towed away to a wrecking yard.
The house itself was in poor condition. The farm name, “Littlest Bird,” was because birds had entered through broken windows and taken up residence throughout the house. Kim and her partner lived down the road at the local hostel as they began restoration. There were many people who helped with restoring the farm, in particular the Sherman family; John continues to provide invaluable help.
As the farm restoration began, so did her healing. They would pick a project to tackle each day. One day they would work their way across the property, picking up just bottle caps. The next day, it might be glass. Kim's mind tracing the shape of her new farmland even as her efforts added to its order and beauty. Out there in nature, her mind healed along with the land.
A century-old barn, built from old-growth cedar, had held up well to its neglect. Kim cleaned it up, and it’s now a beautiful, open space that has been used as a child play space as well as a venue for art showings. There are still posters and art boards, signs of all the decades of activities it hosted in the past, now joined by a new generation of events.
The farm is healed, and Kim is as well. She can be found at the farmer’s market, selling products fresh off her farm. She also sells fresh farm goods & meat she keeps in a freezer on the farm's porch, from dawn to dusk. Keep an eye on events to see upcoming farm and art tours, along with her annual turkey sale.
Visit the video we made documenting this restoration project that brought the farm back to life!
Paraphrased version of "Vashon Loop" article by:
Andy Valencia
Littlest Bird Farm
Located on Lands of sx̌wəbabš Coast Salish Native People
Land Acknowledgment
We recognize that Littlest Bird Farm lies on the ancestral and traditional homelands of sx̌wəbabš Coast Salish Native People, who were the first people of this island.
As a result of the Treaty Medicine Creek, 1854, the land was taken and sxwəbabš Coast Salish Native People were forcibly removed from this island. They were relocated into neighboring reservations including Puyallup, Nisqually, Squaxin Island, and Muckleshoot.
The 1862 Homestead Act allowed Non-Native settlers to claim 160 acres of land and allowed the flood of immigrants coming from the eastern part of North America to occupy and possess this island that had been the home of the sx̌wəbabš People. Littlest Bird Farm was allocated due to this Act and was one of the original Non-Native homesteads on Vashon.
The Zarths, immigrants from Germany, farmed itin early 1900. In the past 120 years, there have been many farmers, gardeners, music producers and squatters here.
Remembering though, this island was not “empty” nor was it available for the taking or allocating from tribes. It had long been used for gathering berries, foods,medicinal plants, hunting and fishing and for ceremonial gatherings. The Treaty ofMedicine Creek took the land and the Homestead Act allowed non-Native settlers to claim and occupy it.
Losing the lands to immigrants resulted in cultural genocide of the sx̌wəbabš and all other Coast Salish Native People who had lived here from time immemorial. Tribes lost their rightful connection to the place the Creator had entrusted to them. They were evicted from their homelands.
Today, as we tend this land in the 21st century, our hope is that this soil, through regenerative practices and stewardship, can grow food, native plants, native trees, and support the historic flora and fauna that flourish in the Pacific Northwest. Our hope is that we can steward this land and be responsive to the needs of the Native Peoples on whose land we reside.
We respect the sovereignty of Indigenous people especially the Puyallup Tribe and all the sx̌wəbabš Coast Salish Native People. We hope our actions will reflect with respect, the great Creator who brought us all to this place.