Nellie is far from the typical farm dog. The basset hound’s schedule doesn’t allow much time for snoozing lazily on the front porch; she has school groups to entertain and a corn maze to memorize. And lately, she’s had to play the big bad wolf in a farm production of “The Three Little Pigs.”
Life is busy for other members of the Krause family, too. What started out as Ben Krause’s dream of owning a small dairy farm has evolved into a full-time enterprise suspended somewhere between education and entertainment.
The farm, owned by the Ben and Carol Krause, has 125 acres of “life on the farm” activities. The 12-acre corn maze, patterned in the shape of Washington state, might be its most popular activity. But the Krauses also offer other seasonal events such as a pumpkin patch, a petting farm, an 18-hole putting course and wagon rides. In addition, they host corporate events and weddings and run a bakery and gift shop each fall.
Some visitors come just for a taste of a simpler life.
“Most of our visitors come from the city,” Carol Krause said.
“People don’t have a lot of space,” Ben Krause said. “This is kind of a novelty now.”
Fall is the busiest time of year.
The Krauses host more than five groups a day when the pumpkin patch is ready for harvesting and the maze is open to the public. The maze, whose paths reflect actual highways and which shows the locations of cities, is a popular field trip for fourth-grade classes studying state history.
“You have to give schools a reason to come,” Ben Krause said.
The corn-maze map appealed to the Krauses, both former schoolteachers, when they decided to open their farm up to school groups and families.
“Working with people is a good fit,” Carol Krause said last month while waiting for a group of elementary school children from the Mukilteo YMCA to pour out of a bus. “After a couple of years, we decided to get out of the dairy business. We were kind of at the point where we had to make a decision about borrowing more money and getting bigger or getting out.”
The Krauses found themselves at the same crossroads many Puget Sound dairy farmers have faced in the last two decades, said Mike Hackett, a faculty member at Washington State University’s Snohomish County Extension Service. Hackett offers guidance to farmers looking for a strategy to beat the odds of a waning farming industry.
The number of dairies in Snohomish County has declined to 38 from 150 in the last two decades. The number of dairy cows, however, remains about the same, Hackett said.
“The smaller dairies went under and the larger dairies got bigger,” he said.
Hackett attributes the decline partially to the departure of several milk processors, of which Darigold is the only one remaining.
Environmental sanctions are another obstacle.
“The environmental constraints are getting more difficult to adhere to and still make a living,” Hackett said. “That’s why some of the larger dairies have moved away or gone out of business.”
Ben Krause echoed Hackett’s assessment, saying the sight of manure-saturated land doesn’t sit well with environmentalists. Farms near urban areas are often hit the hardest.
“We’re just visible,” he said.
Requirements to manage manure by constructing lagoons can cost a typical 250-cow dairy $100,000, said Jay Gordon, executive director of the Washington State Dairy Federation.
The Krauses bought the Saswick dairy in 1984 with the intention of making a go of the 64-year-old operation.
“It was me,” Ben Krause said. “I wanted to milk cows.”
But in 1997, they decided to give up their 50 cows and return to their roots as educators with the help of their four children, all of whom are now grown but still return to help out every fall.
“It’s maybe not for everybody,” said Carol Krause as she watched Nellie lead the group from the Mukilteo YMCA toward the petting farm.
Ben Krause said former owner Sid Saswick, now well into his retirement, comes down every once in a while to check up on the farm.
“He likes to see what we’re doing,” he said. “It’s been a huge change.”
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