Karissa Holcombe Represents KCAA at Wild & Scenic Film Festival on Bainbridge Island

On Saturday, April 19, the Friends of the Farms hosted the Wild & Scenic Film Festival at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art - bringing together community members, farmers, and advocates to celebrate stories of food, farms, and resilience. The event concluded with a powerful panel discussion featuring voices from Kitsap’s agricultural community. Karissa Holcombe, Vice President of the Kitsap Community & Agricultural Alliance (KCAA).

Karissa Holcombe, a farmer, educator, and Vice President of the KCAA, shared thoughtful insights on the challenges and opportunities currently shaping our local food systems. Below are some of her remarks reflecting on what’s changing, what’s needed, and where hope for farming still grows.


Q: What are the most immediate impacts you’re seeing from recent federal funding cuts — and how is your organization responding?

Karissa: The changes have been swift and serious. Grants we’ve relied on for years — especially those funded federally — have been downsized, delayed, or disappeared entirely. Programs like the Farm to School Purchasing Grants and Food Bank Purchasing Grants are vital in keeping local farms connected to schools and food banks. Losing them is a huge setback.

The KCAA is responding with creative, tangible support. One of the most effective tools we’re using is fiscal sponsorship. This allows us, as a registered nonprofit, to offer our 501(c)(3) status to local farms and ag-related projects so they can access funding they otherwise couldn’t. We’re currently sponsoring Roots Farm in Poulsbo, WA — a partnership that’s already opening doors to new grants and funding streams.

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Q: What types of partnerships will be most effective in building local food resilience?

Karissa: In my first year as an elementary school teacher, most of my students qualified for free and reduced lunch. Many came from urban families living in high-rise apartments, and for a lot of them, the idea that corn grows in a field was completely new — they only knew it as something that came from a can. That year, we planted a garden together on the school playground, and I watched their relationship with food transform. They were excited to get their hands in the dirt, to water and care for the plants, and eventually to harvest what they had grown. When they brought home boxes of fresh tomatoes to their families, they were filled with pride. It wasn’t just about food — it was about discovery, curiosity, and a new way of learning.

That experience has stayed with me. And now, I see it mirrored in the work that so many farmers are doing here in Kitsap. Nikki Johanson at Pheasant Fields Farm has opened her farm not only for fall pumpkin patches, but for year-round farm camps and school tours. That’s the kind of farm–school–community partnership we need more of. We need kids to touch the soil, watch a seed grow, and feel the wonder of it.

Farmers, teachers, gardeners, nonprofits, and policymakers all have a role to play.

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Q: Sustainability and food systems go hand in hand. How is that conversation evolving locally?

Karissa: Right now at the farm, we’re focusing on soil health. We’re asking hard questions: Are we feeding the soil as much as it feeds us? Are our practices regenerative or depleting?

We’re looking deeper into rotational grazing, silvopasturing, composting, and soil amending — and questioning how our tilling practices impact microbial life and long-term resilience. The biggest hurdle? Education. Soil isn’t just dirt — it’s a living organism. When we care for it, we’re not just growing food — we’re strengthening the entire local food system.

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Q: For those not directly involved in farming, how can they meaningfully support local food systems?

Karissa:
Here are some actionable steps anyone can take:

• Stay informed. Kitsap County’s Year of the Rural initiative is underway. Learn more and get involved at kitsap.gov.
• Attend the Kitsap Farm Tour. It’s a free, self-guided event in August — a great way to connect with local farms. Learn more at the Farm Tour site.
• Buy and eat local. Farmers markets, farm stands, and online food hubs like Kitsap Fresh are great places to start.
• Volunteer. Many farms welcome help. That’s actually how I got my start at Pheasant Fields — I worked at the farm during Pumpkin Patch season and then volunteered to help seed crops the following spring. That small step turned into a mentorship that has changed my life.
• Vote — and vote informed. Learn where your local candidates stand on agriculture, land use, and food systems. Advocate for farmland preservation and support policies that invest in local food infrastructure.

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Q: What gives you hope right now?

Karissa: My kids. They’re 7, 10, 12, and 14, and they already know more about agriculture than I did in my first 40 years. They help on the farm. They understand land use issues. And they’re learning that their voices matter.

Sure, they roll their eyes when we drag them to town halls — but they’re listening. They’re asking questions. That gives me so much hope. Our job is to show them how to carry the torch — and I believe they will.