Neighbors inspiring neighbors – Rosalie Kaune
We hope with this recognition to mark the anniversary of each month of the pandemic by highlighting a member of our local farm community whose sense of community and agri-culture and sustainability can point the way for all of us and reawaken our own commitments. We want to keep fresh the experiences of the early pandemic reality, and the growing awareness of the import of a healthy local food system. We want to hold onto the resilience and connectedness and community that were created through the experiences of limited resources, and the bonds that were forged through mutual need. We want to honor all of this, and to invite appreciation for the uncertainty that lingers still, trusting that this fragility and uncertainty can lead us toward the healthy community and healthy Earth we need.
This month we honor Rosalie Kaune, a long-time family friend who as a 19 year old in August 1963 had the opportunity to travel across the country with members of her church youth group to participate in the March on Washington. This monumental experience of solidarity and justice has been an inspiration to Rosalie all her life, and as she has made her daily choices toward a dream that we can all aspire to, her faithfulness is an inspiration to us.
Rosalie Kaune was one of our first customers six years ago when we were just getting started on the farm. At that time we had two Nubian goats that we were milking regularly, and Rosalie would buy a quart of goat yogurt and a dozen eggs from us several times each month. Although she was disappointed when we sold our goats, she has continued to be an almost-weekly customer over the years, and a fan of the bright yellow Wild Edge eggs that taste like the ones she grew up with as a kid. During the first weeks of the pandemic last March the farmers’ market closed, and we responded to the tightened supply of available meat and produce by offering pre-orders online and delivering them to our customers in the parking lot of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. Like many of our customers, Rosalie jumped right into these online sales, and we were able to build a warm sense of supportive community at those one-hour deliveries in the parking lot. This was enhanced a few weeks later when we offered kale and potato starts in honor of Earth Day for people to plant in their backyards. We also encouraged customers to walk or bike to the parking lot to get their orders that weekend, and had our kids engage the moment by riding their bikes in from the farm. What a joy it was for us all to see Rosalie, who was nearly 76 at the time, arriving on her bike to pick up her eggs and vegetables.
Seeking out the flavor of locally grown food reconnects Rosalie with the farm where she grew up in southwestern Idaho. She has great memories of fresh produce from the family garden, and savory meals cooked at home. Now she relishes the opportunities she finds to create nourishing, tasty and personalized food for her husband, children and grandchildren. She wants to share this enjoyment with family and friends.
For many years Rosalie has participated in the 5th Street Community Garden, and grows small amounts of fruit and vegetables in her own front and back yards. More recently her son built her some raised beds. Her creativity abounds in the simple beauty she creates with her gardens, and the balance of tree, rock, earth and flower blending with food to eat.
This year’s front yard vegetable bed 
5th Street garden Brussels sprouts 
Back yard trillium 
A gardener’s ever-present challenge
Rosalie and her husband Bob moved to Port Angeles in the 60’s when Bob, a naturalist and back-country park ranger, was assigned to work in Olympic National Park. Both Bob and Rosalie have always found much joy and inspiration in wilderness exploration and botany, and remain faithful and committed to this connection now in their “golden years” with yearly camping trips and daily hikes. There are few trails that Rosalie has not explored over the years. These hikes through all seasons keep her feeling strong and healthy, and also nurture her affection for the life around her. One particular love of Rosalie’s is the native trillium plant which she has reverently tended for years. She collects seeds on her walks and carefully germinates the trillium at home in dozens of backyard pots, a task requiring great patience and care because the trillium can take as long as two years to germinate, and another five to seven years to produce its first delicate white flower. But trillium can also be an extremely long-lived plant, when given the chance, and that is an inspiration for Rosalie who delights in checking each spring for new growth and flowering. I had the pleasure recently of walking our trails on the farm with her and discovering dozens of trillium patches growing in the wild edges.
As we walked the trails, I asked Rosalie about what motivates and inspires her in this connection she feels with nature. She appreciates the ease in Port Angeles of finding close, meaningful connections in the wild, and building our relationship to this place that we love and are nurtured by. Here Rosalie finds the presence of God, and the hope that we can learn to take care of our children’s legacy and life on Earth. The scope of suffering and death around the world this year with the COVID pandemic, the vulnerability of nature in the form of climate change, and our nation’s struggles to respond to systemic injustices have also brought with them a sense of solidarity with people around the world who have suffered similarly, both past and present. Rosalie anticipates that the experiences of this past year will carry a long-term impact, and that new ways of responding will be brought forth as we move forward. It is a time for renewed patience, and a commitment to offering her care and presence in whatever ways she can.
For years this has included service at the St. Vincent de Paul Center, serving as a lector in her church, taking her granddaughters horseback riding, attending youth sports activities, tending plots in several community gardens around town, participating in a weekly women’s Bible study group, years of cooking and baking for family and friends, and, as mentioned, daily walks or bike rides among the trees and mountains and coast lands of this beautiful place that is her home.
Like Rosalie, as we participate in the year-round activities of our community, and interact in our day-to-day relationships, we find inspiration and give inspiration to our neighbors, both near and far. This great commitment grounds us all, and nurtures the best in all of us.
