Historic Bell’s Farm on the market after 78 years

When the “for sale” sign went up at the historic Bell’s Farm property on West Beach Road on Whidbey Island, some residents felt that a piece of their childhoods spent in the strawberry fields was vanishing too.

The farm, now 84 acres on the market for $2.7 million, started as just 15 acres when it was purchased by Jesse and Margaret Bell in 1946. Today it is still run by two generations of the Bell family, the youngest being Paige Mueller and Kyle Flack.

“I hope we leave a legacy of good memories,” Flack said. “We have people that are in their 70s that come to us and say they picked strawberries here when they were a kid, and it was the thing they did every summer.”

The decision to sell comes from the rising costs of labor, housing, goods, butcher services and tractor services in the area and county restrictions. The sour cherry on top is a recent deal among business partners and the Whidbey Camano Land Trust which has turned into a legal battle.

Court documents describe Flack and Mueller applying for a farmland preservation grant to purchase the neighboring Massey Farm with support from the Whidbey Camano Land Trust. To supply the funds necessary to apply for the grant, Flack and Mueller formed Sher-Footed Farms LLC with five other investors.

Two weeks after the grant funding was received, the five investors, who now co-own the property, allegedly attempted to remove Flack and Mueller from the partnership. Flack and Mueller argue the other governors of Sher-Footed Farms breached the operating agreement.

The family went from expanding their operation to selling animals and equipment within a span of a year.

“We both grew up on this island,” Flack said. “We love this island, and we are devastated that this situation has come to this.”

The Massey Farm deal involved a misunderstanding of how much money Bell’s Farm would receive, which Flack said could be from dishonesty and withholding information by the Land Trust. Land Trust Executive Director Ryan Elting has maintained that officials at the group worked with integrity with the Bell’s Farm, doing what they were asked and being upfront about their actions.

“The Land Trust’s approach to farmland protection is to help ensure the viability of agriculture on the islands, encourage sustainable farming practices and help families keep their land,” Elting wrote in an email. “Bell’s Farm has been a beloved piece of Whidbey for generations, and we are honestly and deeply saddened that they are struggling. They do great farming, and we very much want them to succeed.”

This recent deal is the nail in the coffin, but Bell’s Farm has faced other years-long battles, Flack said.

Since Bell’s Farm opposed an elected official adding biosolids to an adjacent property because of possible contaminants, Flack said the farm faced a string of obstacles from the county, including weed enforcement, extra permits for their farm stand and accusations of mishandling of animals.

“There’s a comprehensive plan that is sort of using agriculture as this feel-good—we’re supposed to support agriculture, and this is an agricultural community,” Flack said, “but the reality of their policies don’t match that.”

The comprehensive plan is a public process, and neither Flack nor anyone else from the agriculture community has presented a specific proposal on what they want changed or improved, said Island County Commissioner Jill Johnson, noting that she would encourage them to become more involved.

“I have no idea what he is talking about, and the county doesn’t operate that way,” she said. “We aren’t vengeful or retaliatory. That’s simply not part of our business practice.”

In addition to the community’s fond memories of the farm, Flack hopes resistance to these struggles are also preserved in their legacy.

“Sometimes you just have to stand up and go, ‘you guys are lying,’ or ‘this doesn’t make sense,’” he said.

While Mueller’s parents are staying in the nearby home, Flack and Mueller see taking their family and continuing practicing regenerative agriculture in Wyoming or Montana, where the overhead is cheaper, and policies are less restrictive.

“They grew up on this property, and so that’s been super hard on our family,” Flack said. “Nobody wants to give up the fight, so to speak, and they understand and they’re supportive, but it’s also devastating for them. Frank, my father-in-law, he literally grew up here. His grandma graduated from Coupeville High School when there was like 12 students.”

Ultimately, he said, the legacy is the family, not the piece of land they are on.

“I don’t want our family to suffer anymore,” Flack said, “and I don’t want our family to lose the connection with agriculture just because we’re trying to hold on to this specific piece of ground.”