AREAS THAT NEED ADDITIONAL ATTENTION OR QUESTIONS THAT STILL NEED ANSWERS ARE HIGHLIGHTED
We are a free online magazine connecting our neighbors with local resources to bring communities together.
Serving the greater areas and neighborhoods of: Bothell, Woodinville, Mill Creek, Snohomish, Brier, Alderwood Manor, Maltby, Cathcart, Kenmore, Lake Forest Park, Mukilteo, Lynnwood, Edmonds, Shoreline, Woodway, Mount Lake Terrace, Monroe, Duvall,
We feature interviews, profile businesses, provide solutions and tips, share other local news sources, and keep you up to date on what’s happening in your own neighborhood.
Our Departments Include:
Horse Life: Preserving our equestrian heritage
Living Life: Family fun and adventure
Youth Life
Healthy Life
Learning Life
Farm Life: Preserving farm life and activities
Pet Life: Pets, partners, and furry friends
Local Life: Featuring A New City Every Month
Live: In YOUR City
Here we talk about
- Community Resources – your City Hall, Fire Department, etc.
- Your Transportation Options
- Your Community and Religious Centers
- Programs and Community Involvement, including:
- Government Programs
- Volunteer Opportunities
- Non-Profits
- Sustainability Resources
Shop: Your Local Small Businesses
Eat: Your Locally Owned and Operated Restaurants
Stay: Your Local Bed and Breakfasts and Camping
Play: Highlighting Awesome Things To Do in Your City
Including:
- Outdoors: From Parks to Sports
- Indoors: Museums and Culture
Local Artists & Artisans: Meet Your Local Arts Scene
Wellness Resources: Your Physical and Mental Health Practitioners
Learning Resources: Where You Can Go To Learn Something New
History: Get To Know Your History
As a regional publication, we would not feel genuinely place-based without acknowledging that we are located on the ancestral lands of the Coast Salish peoples.
Get To Know the Common Ground Team
Robyn Smith, Our Lead Mare
Catherine Bradley, Editor and Writer
Kristin Bates, Graphic Design
Get To Know Our Fund for Youths in Need of Equine Assisted Therapy
Get To Know Our Marketplace
Supporting small businesses
Get To Know Our Community Partners Directory
A compendium of resources centered in the areas of South Snohomish and North King Counties, our Community Partners Section is designed to help you get acquainted with the multitude of establishments in your area that align with our mission at Holly Farm.
Do you know how many cities, towns, neighborhoods, and communities you drive through on the way to work or school? How many of those communities have amenities that might be relevant to you that you don’t know about?
In this section we have compiled a wealth of information to help you find out about the organizations, services, providers, homeschooling and educational opportunities, institutions, and other networks in your area.
While we focus particularly on the areas of homeschooling and general education, wellness, and agriculture and the environment, there is an abundance of variety in our Directory.
Get To Know Holly Farm
Holly Farm has a way of bringing people together, to share knowledge and resources, and form communities. What started as an idea for a newsletter from the small businesses that call Holly Farm home quickly became something bigger when we stopped to wonder what it would be like instead to formalize the community sharing that already occurs at Holly Farm.
Get to Know Equine Life Solutions
Equine Life Solutions’ (ELS) mission is to provide wide-ranging and comprehensive riding and horsemanship programs that bring horses and humans together to promote self -awareness, inspire confidence, provide emotionally transformative experiences, and teach transferable skills within a safe and accepting environment.
Our holistic approach allows riders and non-riders, professionals and amateurs to gain understanding, practice respect, confront fears in a relatable way with horses, and experience compassion for horses and each other in a finely-tuned program using the values and principles of natural horsemanship.
We focus on skills including leadership, communication, interrelationships, which our clients can learn and use to relate to horses and are transferable to relating to people. ELS facilitates relationship building between human and horse as well as human and human by helping riders establish clear expectations of themselves, their horse, and other people, and by giving them the knowledge and tools for effective communication that leads to a productive relationship and fulfillment. A horse partner provides a safe way to learn and master skills that work equally well with people.
ELS teaching methods encompass the physical elements of balanced, centered horseback riding, the intellectual acquisition of natural training techniques, and the emotional aspects of fear and confidence. The programs highlight goal setting, managing expectations, establishing and maintaining standards, and learning the seven steps to confidence. Humans and horses are paired so that riders see first-hand how different personalities need different teaching methods to succeed. Safety, respect and gratitude are elemental to the ELS Program.
The Proprietor
Robyn Smith – Instructor and Equine Life Solutions Director. ” I have spent the past 20 years on a journey from a primarily competitive, performance-driven horsewoman to a balanced, more appreciative partner of this great animal we call horse. As a Registered Nurse with a background in anatomy and physiology, I fully support the importance of balanced, centered riding through Natural Horsemanship training. I view the Parelli NH system as the most comprehensive way of communicating and “being” with horses. Now I help others find the most amazing partnership where horse and human compete cooperatively, on the ground and riding, in jobs they truly enjoy with their humans. “
Get to Know the Barn at Holly Farm
The Barn at Holly Farm has a history of being an education center for corporate team building, Fibershed education, farming, equestrian riding and equine therapy. The Holly Farm barn was constructed in 1922, which means we have been involved in the community for 96 years. It is also classified as a heritage barn – a barn in Washington that is deemed a cultural resource due to its unique historic character. Restored to retain its original character, we’ve created a celebration space right in the middle of the urban sprawl.
The Barn at Holly Farm has been designed so that it can support multi-functional events, and is considered a premier destination for weddings, celebrations, team building, and corporate events. When you book an event at the historic Barn at Holly Farm, you get more than just a space for your gathering. You get a piece of history and a platform for the present. The Barn at Holly Farm is a working farm that celebrates the efforts of local community and businesses.
While the Barn ground floor and loft are the primary venues, you’ll also have the opportunity to select from additional spaces around the property. Some of the celebration rooms include our Sweet Suite, Prep Kitchen, Family Room, Fibershed Room, the Den, and South Patio. We also have a Memory Making Maple Tree photo location, a farm yard back yard, and a tall trees farm field. Your event on your terms, as it suits your celebration best.
In addition to our in-house team, there are many local vendor partners that we are happy to recommend to you.
The Proprietors
Karmel Ackerman is a local entrepreneur, experienced in event production and skilled in networking to bring people together. She is particularly excited about supporting local business and promoting the FarmHers (female farmers) in our community.
Robyn Smith is a long-time horsewoman who has dedicated her life to rehabilitation – rehabilitation of the souls of both humans and the horses that share our world. She shares the property in stables and arena. Head over to our ELS Section to learn more about Robyn and her programs!
The partnership between Karmel and Robyn provide unique corporate team building and leadership communication training to align corporate managers with the teams they manage. We do this with the aid of our 4 legged stable partners in a ‘no ride’ custom designed program.
Get to Know Egg Song Farm
Egg Song Farms is a woman-owned and operated startup based at Holly Farm in Bothell, Washington.
Egg Song Farm provides local fresh eggs from our happy hens! We also supply homegrown mealworms, a healthy and tasty treat for all your poultry and reptile friends. Our Sass & Frass Mealworm Farm Kits will get you started growing your own sustainable darkling beetle colony.
We also offer unique educational farm field trips and an immersive agritourism program. Your field trip experience to Egg Song Farm can be customized to fit your age appropriate curriculum needs, as well as optional activities to extend your farm visit including interactive gardening lessons (seasonal), or guest teacher lessons with expertise on a specific academic curriculum topic.
The Proprietor
Holly Winters, Farmer & Owner of Egg Song Farm
Get to Know Fibershed of the Greater Northwest
Fibershed develops regenerative, regional fiber systems and forms economic and social connections between rural and urban communities through public education to advance the vital role that soil-to-soil fiber systems play in our regional economies, global climate, and the health & diversity of our ecosystems. Fibershed of the Greater Northwest at home on Holly Farm is part of the Fibershed Affiliate Program, an international grassroots network promoting regional farming communities, each maintaining their own focus following the guidelines set out by Fibershed California.
We focus on bringing together FarmHers with the connections they need to be successful in their chosen area of farming, whether that be fiber, protein, or vegetables, and on providing necessary scholarship for equine therapy for those in need through our all-natural fiber store.
In support of the greater Fibershed mission, FGN has held farm dinners with education sessions, worked on a regional processing plant, developed a business model to run fiber processing here in the Puget Sound, and run demonstrations, classes, and student fun days to explore all types of fiber for clothing, crafting and collecting.
Explore artisanal items crafted from alpaca fiber at Fibershed of the Greater Northwest.
We are also developing classes on herb farming for household and medicinal use.
The Proprietors
Karmel Ackerman is a local entrepreneur particularly excited about supporting local business and promoting the farm-HERS (female farmers) in our community. To learn more about Karmel, visit the Barn at Holly Farm Section.