Meet the Farm
Moon Family Farm, run by Garrett and Jessica Moon, grows several grain varieties and hosts cattle from nearby ranches for grazing. They also keep bees, support burrowing owls and native insects with habitat, and have placed raptor perches across the property. A partnership with local Ethos Bakery connects their grain to a regional food system that values how it’s grown.
Ethos Bakery sources directly from Moon Family Farm for breads and pastries sold in the community.
The Horse Heaven Hills, near the Tri-Cities area of Washington, gets just six inches of precipitation a year. Deep silt loam soils and native sagebrush define the terrain, and this land demands a particular kind of farmer. The Moons understand that soil and water are their most precious resources and every decision they make keeps that in mind.
The Moon Family Farmstead
The Challenge
The Horse Heaven Hills present a unique set of conditions. Rainfall is so variable across the region that no single recommendation applies to every farm, which makes diversification difficult when moisture is this limited. And as input costs continue to rise, growers are under mounting pressure to fine-tune every practice, not just for profitability, but for the long-term health of their land.
The farm’s approach centers on working with the land’s constraints rather than against them. Recognizing that water used by weeds is water lost to crops, and that every disturbance to the soil risks the moisture stored within it, Moon Family Farm committed to a system built on conservation from the ground up.
No-till and field fallowing conserve water in an arid region
What They’re Doing
No Till and Fallowing
By using no-till practices, they preserve the stubble from the previous crop and seed directly into it, following a fallow rotation every other year to accumulate two years of moisture in the soil for each crop.
Integrated Grazing
Integrated livestock graze down large weeds and return fertility to the soil through urine and manure.
Moon Family Farm supports native species like this Common Yarrow that attract beneficial insects
Native Habitat
They also plant and conserve native grasses and shrubs in the canyons and other sloping areas of the farm where growing wheat is impossible. These include sagebrush and rabbit brush, which support parasitoid wasps and Common Yarrow, which is extremely attractive to a range of beneficial insects including predatory true bugs, flies, and parasitic wasps.
"The benefits to land and wildlife are real," says Garrett. "These canyons can be reservoirs of native species, wildlife corridors. They can be places of beauty and synergy, where one can feel the balance tilt toward health rather than degradation. And so, we plant native grass. With tractor; but also with bucket, rake, and sweat. How good it is, after all that effort, to see new grass strong and tall."
Certifications
The farm has achieved three independent, third-party certifications for sustainability and environmental stewardship: Salmon-Safe, Farmed Smart, and Food Alliance.
Native sagebrush and rabbit brush flourish in areas too steep to farm
Kernza Trials
Moon Family Farm was also the first in the Northwest to pilot Kernza trials – a perennial grain developed by The Land Institute. As part of an ongoing multi-state research network spanning Washington, Minnesota, Colorado, and Kansas, they are exploring whether perennial grain systems could one day reduce or eliminate fallow periods entirely, keeping living roots in the ground year-round and further protecting soil and water resources.
What It Means for the Region
In a landscape defined by scarcity, Moon Family Farm demonstrates that efficiency, ecological health, and long-term viability are not competing goals. Their work with perennial grains points toward a future where fallow periods shrink, soil biology strengthens, and dryland farming becomes more resilient.
What works here, in one of the driest corners of the Northwest, offers a model for every farm navigating the limits of a water-scarce world.