Key Peninsula Farm Collective To Take Over KP Farm Tour

This year marks not only the 20th anniversary of the KP Farm Tour but also its reorganization and rebirth.

At the end of 2025, many thought they had experienced the last farm tour, as volunteer fatigue and an unsustainable growth model threatened the Farm Council.

That’s when Christie Tackett of Moon Mountain Farm was persuaded to step in. Tackett brought her organizational skills, experience with new technologies, and a background in team and community building to her role as director of the recently rebranded Key Peninsula Farm Collective, supporting the KP Farm Tour.

The new mission statement is, “Dedication to the preservation and promotion of the working farms, rural heritage, and agricultural enrichment on the Key Peninsula. We strive to support local farmers and the land stewards by fostering education, advocacy, and collaboration that sustains a thriving agriculture community for generations to come.”

In alliance with the KP Community Council’s mission to create a central resource for the community, Tackett plans to provide an inclusive vision and passion for agriculture’s place in building community. “Not taking anything away from all the great work done in the past,” Tackett said, “there is a new focus coming from the people now involved: those who are genuinely farming and using agriculture as a primary source of income.”

Tackett defines the collective as a “bunch of farmers who are supporting each other to come up with ideas and events that support what we do. The goal is to create a place where farmers can lean on each other, support and share knowledge, and be a launching pad for those who’ve been hobbyists for years and now want to turn their passion into a viable career in agriculture. And especially to grow and support new generations of farmers to sustain and work the land.”

To achieve their goals, “holding on to traditions with new ideas,” Tackett and the collective have started by focusing on finding grants to raise money for promoting the farm tour and building a marketing team that will update and create well-managed websites.

Jason Ball at GW Creative, along with David Fuller and Lindsay Krogle from Shameless Productions, will work independently of the collective to update the familiar farm tour website and then create a new space for the collective. One of their goals is an interactive space on the website where farmers, volunteers, nonprofits, and residents can share what they have available, and the community can locate locally grown products, including meats, honey, and flowers.

“The challenge we face this year will be not taking on more than we can deliver successfully and laying a foundation to carry the farm tour into the future,” Tackett said. They will do that by engaging with the community, providing value to ag businesses, and encouraging farmers to see the collective not as an elite group, but as a platform with a directory where everyone in the community can find support.

Where there used to be a focus on making the KP Farm Tour bigger, the energy is now spent focusing down, Tackett said. Not adding more stops but concentrating on locations that are already hubs in the community to host other farmers who cannot host on their property, but have something to offer: beekeeping, goats, community-supported agriculture partnerships, and individual homesteading skills. “As a connected community, we can share resources and help one another grow and thrive,” Tackett said.

The biggest challenge now is to find balance, she said. To be sustainable long-term, there is a need for a more focused organization. Putting on events with the magnitude of the farm tour was too much work for a handful of dedicated volunteers. Tackett’s approach “is to stay focused on what is reasonable to achieve and to build upon what we aspire to add.”

Plans include website updates, a booth at both the Port Orchard and Gig Harbor farmers markets, youth outreach programs, a volunteer database, and working with the Food 4 All farm stand coming to Key Center later this year.