Frequently Asked Questions

1) Who owns the Farm?

The Port of Coupeville owns today’s 151-acre Green­bank Farm. The Port pur­chased the Farm in 1997 as part of a con­sor­tium of pub­lic and non-profit orga­ni­za­tions with each sav­ing a por­tion of the orig­i­nal 522 acres of farm­land and wood­lands from com­mer­cial devel­op­ment. The preser­va­tion effort was facil­i­tated by Trust for Pub­lic Land and included Island County, the Port of Coupeville and The Nature Conservancy.

 2) Who man­ages the Farm?
The Green­bank Farm Man­age­ment Group (GFMG) man­ages the oper­a­tions of the Farm under agree­ments with the Port. The Port is respon­si­ble for cap­i­tal improve­ments and replace­ments and for infra­struc­ture. This arrange­ment has cre­ated a unique and some­what exper­i­men­tal public/private part­ner­ship between the Port and the GFMG.

3) Is the GFMG a non-profit orga­ni­za­tion? What does that mean? 
Yes, the GFMG is a non-­profit orga­ni­za­tion. It may receive char­i­ta­ble tax– deductible con­tri­bu­tions to achieve its mission.

4) Can you pro­vide a brief his­tory of the Farm?
• The Green­bank Farm was a spe­cial gath­er­ing place for Native Amer­i­cans from pre­his­toric and his­toric times because of its loca­tion at an unusu­ally nar­row junc­ture of Whid­bey Island and its attrac­tion for hunt­ing, fish­ing and trad­ing.
• The Calvin Philips fam­ily owned and oper­ated a fam­ily farm at Green­bank in the early 1900’s, har­vest­ing trees and main­tain­ing a dairy herd. The main barn at the Farm dates from 1904 and the other build­ings repli­cate farm build­ings of the early 1900’s.
• In the 1940’s the prop­erty, which then con­sisted of 522 acres of fields and wood­lands, was sold to John Molz, who intro­duced logan­ber­ries and built the Farm into the largest logan­berry farm in the United States by 1970.
• Chateau Ste. Michelle acquired the prop­erty in the early 1970s in con­nec­tion with the pur­chase of the wine com­pany.
• In 1995 the com­pany shocked the local com­mu­nity with plans to sell the prop­erty for res­i­den­tial lot devel­op­ment.
• In 1995–1997 res­i­dents, islanders and friends ral­lied to save the farm.
• In 1997, a con­sor­tium con­sist­ing of Island County, the Nature Con­ser­vancy and the Port of Coupeville pur­chased the 522-acre prop­erty, the Port acquir­ing the 151-acre oper­at­ing farm and the other par­ties acquir­ing the adja­cent wood­lands.
• In 2009, a new Mas­ter Site Plan, devel­oped and writ­ten with com­mu­nity vol­un­teers, was approved by the Port of Coupeville and is now the Farm’s “road map to the future.”

5) Hasn’t Green­bank Farm already been saved?
Only par­tially. The land and build­ings were saved from the imme­di­ate threat of devel­op­ment in 1997, but the Farm has not been pro­tected for future gen­er­a­tions. Although a con­ser­va­tion ease­ment was envi­sioned in 1997, it has not yet been com­pleted and imple­mented. The Farm is presently sub­ject to a Spe­cial Review Dis­trict, a form of zon­ing that can be changed through county gov­ern­ment process. It is not per­ma­nently reli­able and leaves the Farm vul­ner­a­ble to future devel­op­ment threats sim­i­lar to those that occurred in 1997. The only proven method for the per­ma­nent preser­va­tion of land from devel­op­ment is a con­ser­va­tion ease­ment. The Port’s 2007 Com­pre­hen­sive Plan and the 2009 Mas­ter Site Plan both call for com­plet­ing this impor­tant preser­va­tion goal. A draft con­ser­va­tion ease­ment is in final dis­cus­sion among County, Port and GFMG offi­cials. Although we are very close, the ease­ment is not yet a reality.

6) I have heard about a Mas­ter Site plan for Green­bank Farm – what is it and how do I find out more? 
A Mas­ter Site Plan for Green­bank Farm was ini­ti­ated by the Port of Coupeville in late 2007. Over 60 com­mu­nity vol­un­teers attended the first pub­lic meet­ing and 45 peo­ple worked for more than eight months in one of four break­out groups. Each group (Agri­cul­ture, Com­merce, Envi­ron­ment, Recre­ation) pre­sented their rec­om­men­da­tions to the com­bined group in late 2008. The Port adopted this community-driven plan in 2009 – pro­vid­ing a “road map for the future”. A com­plete copy of the Mas­ter Site Plan can be found here.

7) Doesn’t the Port of Coupeville give the Green­bank Farm $50,000 each year? Isn’t this enough to run The Farm?
The Port pays the GFMG $50,000 a year to man­age and main­tain the fields and trails and wet­lands of the Farm. The costs of oper­at­ing the Farm, includ­ing the Green­bank Farm Train­ing Cen­ter, is approx­i­mately $430,000 per year — so the Port’s pay­ment rep­re­sents only 11.5% of the oper­at­ing costs. The Farm also includes his­toric farm build­ings which require staff and staff hours to address ongo­ing main­te­nance needs and facil­ity improvements.

8) How will recre­ation, hik­ing and other cur­rent activ­i­ties be affected if the prop­erty has more farm­ing and wildlife pro­tec­tion?
The cur­rent hik­ing trails, recre­ational activ­i­ties, retail offer­ings and events will be devel­oped in bal­ance with the agri­cul­tural, wildlife and edu­ca­tion ini­tia­tives at The Farm. These expanded activ­i­ties will add inter­est at the Farm.

9) What do the Farm’s facil­i­ties include?
The Green­bank Farm Man­age­ment Group man­ages 151 acres — one of the largest public/private sites on Whid­bey Island. The Farm’s build­ings include six sig­nif­i­cant struc­tures. The his­toric 1904 barn is one of the region’s largest old barns, with 2,850 sq. ft. main floor area, a 1,000 sq. ft. loft, a wine shop and café, admin­is­tra­tive offices, stor­age rooms and bath­room facil­i­ties. Other struc­tures include a smaller barn hous­ing a well-used com­mer­cial kitchen, a barn hous­ing retail shops and gal­leries, a trac­tor barn, a caretaker’s house, and the for­mer farm man­ager res­i­dence that has been remod­eled to house the ‘new farmer’ stu­dents at the Agri­cul­tural Train­ing Center.

10) I under­stand that the agree­ments between the Port and the GFMG for the man­age­ment of the Farm expire in 2014. What hap­pens then?
The GFMG plans to seek a new agree­ment in 2014. The GFMG views its rela­tion­ship with the Port as a con­struc­tive part­ner­ship that has resulted in many achieve­ments, such as progress on the con­ser­va­tion ease­ment, sup­port of the Agri­cul­tural Train­ing Pro­gram, the Solar Panel project pro­vid­ing a site and infra­struc­ture for pri­vate par­ties to install solar pan­els for renew­able gen­er­a­tion of elec­tric­ity, and a num­ber of other sig­nif­i­cant projects. With lead­er­ship ini­tia­tives cur­rently under way, com­bined with progress in sus­tain­able agri­cul­ture and habi­tat stew­ard­ship, the GFMG will be in a strong posi­tion to con­tinue its work at the Farm and in the community.

11) Green­bank Farm has had sev­eral exec­u­tive direc­tors in the past years – what’s dif­fer­ent now?
In the last 10 years, the Green­bank Farm has had sev­eral direc­tors. Each has made sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tions to the Farm and to the larger com­mu­nity. Dur­ing these for­ma­tive years, the posi­tion com­bined all oper­at­ing respon­si­bil­i­ties with non­profit respon­si­bilities. This allowed for man­age­ment of day-to-day tasks, but not for long-range plan­ning and pro­gram devel­op­ment. Now, we have sep­a­rated out the exec­u­tive direc­tor posi­tion so that it can carry the Farm into a more robust future, and have defined other roles to main­tain the nuts and bolts of the Farm’s day-to-day operations.

12) What can I do to help Achieve Suc­cess at Green­bank Farm?
• Talk to your friends and neigh­bors about the excit­ing things you see at Green­bank Farm.
• Become a fan of the Green­bank Farm Face­book page and encour­age oth­ers to become fans.
• Have a din­ner party with your friends, eat local food, and envi­sion a time when more than
1% of our food is pro­duced locally by Whid­bey Island farm­ers. Encour­age these friends to con­tribute to Green­bank Farm.
• Attend a First Fri­day event at the Green­bank Vil­lage of shops, gal­leries and café.
• Visit the Farm with a friend, neigh­bor or vis­i­tor – expe­ri­ence new excite­ment about cre­at­ing a new real­ity. • Donate or make a pledge today!

13) How do I make a dona­tion or make a pledge?
To make a gift, please con­tact the Green­bank Farm at 360–678-7171.

14) How to I access Annual Reports from pre­vi­ous years?
To view the annual reports from pre­vi­ous years, click on the links below:
2010 Annual Report
2009 Annual Report
2008 Annual Report

15) What if I have a ques­tion that isn’t answered in this FAQ?
Please send your ques­tions to The GFMG for com­ment and response via email to director@greenbankfarm.com.