Dana Visalli

Organic Farmer, Editor of the Methow Naturalist

Methow Valley, WA

8/20/22

We drove down a long dirt driveway to met with Dana on his farm, which consisted of a few large garden patches and a green house next to his cement, two-story property. He explained the organization of his land and gave us an introductory lesson on ecology and botany. One of the main tenants of his approach was that “nature doesn’t waste anything.” His eyes lit up and his hand gestures became more pronounced when explaining how photosynthesis uses the power of the sun along with oxygen and water to fuel life, and the process of cellular respiration moves around molecules to reverse this reaction.

He also described how he uses his compost pile to return the nutrients from his harvests to the soil for the next year. The way Dana’s property is organized serves as one example of how he matches his words and ethos to his actions. He built his house to be completely off the grid, with solar power and a back-up generator for power. His water comes from a well on his property next to the Methow River, and he supports himself by selling the produce from his garden. His self-sustaining approach minimizes waste he creates by using renewable, locally sourced resources. He also set up an outdoor classroom in his backyard for us where we used microscopes to view tiny, clear diatoms that live in the orange-brown scunge that coats river rocks. The conscientiousness that he put into this lesson and set-up demonstrates his enthusiasm for showing others that how the land around him supports life.

By Sonia Burns