Seattle Urban Farm Company_Bee on Helenium_Hilary Dahl

Philosophy

At Seattle Urban Farm Company (SUFCo), we thrive on pioneering new ideas and empowering you to grow a garden you love. We believe that sustainable urban agriculture can promote healthy living, environmental stewardship, and stronger communities. We hope that developing economically sound, city-based farming ventures will increase public awareness of agricultural issues and foster a greater appreciation of farmers everywhere.

Products

We wanted better, more sustainable garden tools, so we started making our own. We believe that gardens should be beautiful and gardening should be fun, and we want to help you grow a garden you love.


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Garden Coaching

Seattle Urban Farm Co. is now offering garden coaching! Our newest service is for those who need personalized guidance in achieving their vegetable gardening goals, but plan to manage their garden themselves. During this one-time visit, one of our lead farmers will meet with you in your garden to perform a comprehensive overview of your site, and create a plan to help you make the most of your garden.

Read on for more info!

Maintenance

After garden installation is complete, we offer a range of garden maintenance services.

Our experienced farm crew can stop by your garden on a weekly or bi-weekly basis throughout the season. We bring all of the vegetable transplants, seeds, trellises, organic fertilizers, organic pest control materials, and tools necessary to keep your garden healthy and attractive.

You are always welcome to join us during our visits if you’d like to learn more about edible gardening. We keep you up to date with emails and newsletters detailing what is ready for harvest, what is coming soon, and other seasonal garden topics.

History

Seattle Urban Farm Company blends ecological landscape design with sustainable farming principles to create unique, productive outdoor spaces.

In 2007, founders Colin McCrate and Brad Halm decided to apply their years of horticultural and agricultural expertise to help aspiring growers get projects off the ground; or more accurately, in the ground. They bought a truck, grabbed some shovels, and got to work. In 2010, Hilary Dahl joined the SUFCo team, helping to develop an integrated design, installation, and maintenance program. 

Over the past 15 years, we have helped guide hundreds of urban farmers through the design, construction, and management of their own edible landscape. We pride ourselves on creating environmentally responsible and long-lasting garden elements. Sourcing quality materials and locally adapted plants ensures the long-term health and beauty of our landscapes.    

Our talented staff and comprehensive approach allow us to create sustainable, edible landscapes customized to site-specific conditions and client priorities. We are committed to the immediate and ongoing success of all of our projects, focusing on intensive plantings and organic soil management to ensure high yields of crops season after season.

Each season we build new edible landscapes, manage dozens of urban farms, and teach workshops across the region. With each new year, we find new opportunities. As public awareness of urban agriculture continues to grow, we hope to grow along with it and with you.  

The Seattle Urban Farm Company is licensed, bonded, and insured in Washington State.

Your Farmers

Featured
Hilary Dahl - CEO
Hilary Dahl - CEO

Hilary has been with the Seattle Urban Farm Company since 2010. She brings with her an educational background in landscape architecture and urban planning from the University of Washington. At SUFCo Hilary is our in-house graphic designer, photographer, marketing manager and leads the maintenance team. Hilary blends her design background and edible gardening expertise to create landscapes that are equally beautiful and productive.

Shiloh Bolton - Lead Maintenance Manager
Shiloh Bolton - Lead Maintenance Manager

Shiloh is our Lead Maintenance Manager and Garden Coach.

Liz Fredrickson
Liz Fredrickson

Liz heads up the vegetable garden maintenance team with Shiloh!

Morgan Gerstenberger - Services Operations Manager
Morgan Gerstenberger - Services Operations Manager

Morgan fell in love with growing food after she found it deepened her appreciation for preparing meals with seasonal and local produce (she loves to cook!). She comes from an organic vegetable farming background and has also enjoyed spending time working for a local nursery growing annual flower and vegetable starts. She is excited to be joining the SUFCo team and looks forward to helping others grow their own beautiful gardens!"

Colin McCrate
Colin McCrate

Colin has been growing food organically for the past 15 years.  He worked on a variety of small farms in the Midwest before moving to the west coast in 2003 to teach garden-based environmental education.  Quickly realizing that Washington is the most beautiful state in the Union, Colin has been farming, teaching and designing landscapes ever since.  He founded the Seattle Urban Farm Company in January of 2007 and still looks forward to planting potatoes every spring.

Brad Halm
Brad Halm

Brad’s interest in food production started in a small vegetable garden at the Homestead, an experiential living center at Denison University in Ohio. After graduating, he apprenticed on organic farms around Ohio for several years, then took a position as the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Manager for Village Acres Farm in Pennsylvania. He moved to Seattle in 2007 to help Colin start the Seattle Urban Farm Company, and he is still building urban farms to this day.

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS 

SUFCo owners Colin McCrate, Brad Halm, and Hilary Dahl are available for educational seminars, book signings and speaking engagements.

Their work has been featured in The Seattle Times, Seattle Magazine, Bon Appetit, GQ, Sunset Magazine, Grist, and numerous other publications and online news sites. Their first book, Food Grown Right, In Your Backyard, has received national press coverage and helped thousands of beginning backyard farmers set up and care for their own home garden. SUFCo received a Gold Medal, Silver Medal, and Pacific Magazine Horticulture Award for their display gardens at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show.

The SUFCo team has led educational seminars for the Northwest Flower & Garden Show, King County Master Gardeners Foundation, National Restaurant Association, and myriad garden related events.

As the founders of the Seattle Urban Farm Company, Colin McCrate and Brad Halm have heard it all: My backyard is too small; how can I make space for a garden? Do I really need to buy fertilizer? What on earth is that creature crawling on the tomatoes? My crops took off and the zucchini are in the sidewalk who has time to harvest this all?! FOOD GROWN RIGHT, IN YOUR BACKYARD is a primer for these questions and more.

Mountaineers Books, April 2, 2012

You won't believe your eyes when you see the size of your harvest! In Grow More Food, authors Colin McCrate and Brad Halm show you how you can make your food garden much more productive, no matter how big or small it is. Packed with the charts, tables, schedules, and worksheets you need -- as well as record-keeping pages so you can repeat your successes next year -- this book is an essential tool for the serious gardener.

Storey Publishing, February 2, 2021