Chemical sensitivity led couple into new life as organic farmers

On Utopia Road there is a little piece of heaven where Angus cattle graze on organic grass and chickens lay beautiful brown eggs. When it's not pouring rain, there are eagles -- two, 10, sometimes more -- soaring overhead or roosting on the trees. At sunset most days, the geese swoop in, gathering at the crook in the river that abuts its namesake Skagit River Ranch.

The property covers about 140 acres in Sedro-Woolley amid a patchwork of farms, where mornings routinely begin at 5:30, and it's not unusual to see a father and son rounding the corner of a gravel road in a beat-up truck, a kitchen window lined with canning jars, or the mail lady waving hello as she whizzes by in her Jeep.


		Grant M. Haller / P-I
	George, Nichole, 8, and Eiko Vojkovich walk through one of several pastures grazed by their Angus cows. Raising organic-certified beef is as much about growing organic grasses as it is the cattle, says George.

It's also not unusual to see a man talk to his herd.

"Yo, cow," George Vojkovich calls. "Come here."

The "mama cows" talk to George. What they say, he won't tell: "That's between me and them."

Skagit River Ranch is the home of George, 50, his 46-year-old wife, Eiko, their 9-year-old daughter, Nicole, several hundred egg-laying chickens, two goats named Spirit and Midnight, a handful of cats, a dog, and, yes, about 150 head of Angus cattle. But because the farm is organic and the cows eat only grass, it doesn't smell like most ranches.

"If it smells, then there's something wrong," says George.

Skagit River Ranch is one of only a few, if not the only, organic beef producer in the state. (The Washington State Department of Agriculture was unable to give exact figures.)

The Vojkoviches didn't intend to become cattle ranchers, though George has always enjoyed, as he says, "propagating animals." Their friend, Bernie, gave them an Angus cow for a wedding gift 15 years ago. George ended up taking two because Bernie told him that cows are a herd animal and don't like to be alone.

George, who comes from a Yugoslavian fishing family on California's Catalina Island, spent many years fishing for king crab in the Bering Sea before he started ranching. Eiko, who is from Tokyo, was a sales executive for a fishing company in Alaska, which is where the couple met.

"I realized I was going to die fishing like that," George says. "I didn't get seasick anymore. I got sick of the sea."

The couple left the fishing industry and moved to Westport, where they took over a conventional, non-organic farm. They moved to Sedro-Woolley in 1995 and continued to farm using conventional practices. It wasn't until 1996, when George suffered auricular fibrillation, an abnormal heart rhythm, and landed in the hospital for three days that the Vojkoviches had to reconsider their diets and, ultimately, how they farmed.


	Grant M. Haller / P-I
Eiko Vojkovich collects the eggs from the farm's healthy, and hopefully happy, organically fed hens.

The doctor explained that the cause of the stress was something chemical in the work environment or the food. It took some pushing and prodding on Eiko's part, but George became a vegetarian.

"I spent so many years aboard ship, eating foods with a six-month shelf life," George laments. "I (developed) a chemical intolerance. We also realized that we were poisoning people."

The Vojkoviches sold their cows and embraced organics, starting fresh with new animals. If for no other reason, they believed they had to produce food that was safe for the family to eat. Skagit River Ranch was certified organic in 1998, and soon after, the family began eating meat again.

Maintaining an organic farm requires meticulous recordkeeping and aggressive marketing. The Vojkoviches not only have to raise an animal from birth to slaughter, they also have to pack and sell a "specialty" product with a commensurate price, which can be steep compared to non-organic beef. If you order a quarter of a cow, for example, the price per pound is $3.50. (You can buy smaller portions of beef at the farm store, which is open on Saturdays. Fresh eggs and frozen whole chickens are also available.)


		Grant M. Haller / P-I
	Chicken feed, in Eiko Vojkovich's hand, includes, clockwise from top, grit, seaweed and organic grains.

Skagit River Ranch beef, George believes, goes beyond certified-organic standards. Consider the types of beef available: In addition to conventional beef, there is "natural" beef, which means the cattle haven't been given any hormones or antibiotics. It doesn't mean that the cattle haven't been given conventional feed, however. "Certified organic" beef means that the cattle have fed on organic foods -- which could be organic grain -- for at least a year before slaughter, and that they never touch hormones or antibiotics.

George also emphasizes that cattle are meant to eat grass, not grain, though it can be converted into body mass faster than grass. Large-scale beef producers value that kind of efficiency, which is why grain is the preferred feed. George's animals feed on organic grasses throughout their lives. They aren't given antibiotics because they don't need them.

Bottom line, George figures, his organic, grass-finished cattle yield about 100 pounds less hanging weight at slaughter than cattle raised conventionally in feedlots. The extra effort and time, and lower yield equal a higher cost for the ranch and the consumer.

"Before you can be a cow farmer, you have to be a grass farmer," George says.

There are about a dozen kinds of grass that grow in his fields, including rye, orchard and fescue grasses, and six types of clover. The diversity provides a balanced source of nutrients for the cattle.


		Grant M. Haller / P-I
	The Vojkoviches share the spotlight with some of their organically raised Red Angus and Black Angus cows.

"I have come to the conclusion that we offer something special and different for people who prefer it," George says.

There are about 150 names on Skagit River Ranch's mailing list. The Vojkoviches think they need to double that, at least, in order to be viable. What profit they make now, goes directly back into the farm: building chicken coops, repairs, equipment.

The Vojkoviches are building a USDA-approved butchering facility on site, which will allow them to process their meats and prevent potential cross-contamination with non-organic items. Currently, Skagit River Ranch beef is butchered by Mondo Meats in Seattle.

Also in the works are organic beef sausage and organic pork.

The farm is a labor of love, and all the labor is worth it to the Vojkoviches, because they know they are raising beef that tastes like beef should. Their beef has what Eiko describes as a cleaner, sweeter flavor. Because the cattle actually rotate from pasture to pasture to graze, they develop their muscles, which means their flesh is chewier.

"We get older people who say they open the package and it smells like the butcher shop meat they knew when they were young," George says.

Even if you couldn't distinguish the subtleties in the taste, there's the knowledge that the meat was raised without chemicals.

"We pamper the animals," Eiko says. "People ask us how we could then kill them -- but that's farming."

The Vojkoviches are farmers, and they are stewards of the land.

"We live in a park," George says, gazing at his property. "And we're responsible for it."

Adds Eiko: "Our mission is to be able to pass this on to our daughter."

TO FIND OUT MORE

Skagit River Ranch will begin taking orders for beef at the end of March or beginning of April. For pricing and ordering information, visit www.skagitriveranch.com or call 360-856-0722.

The farm store is open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and is at: 28778 Utopia Road in Sedro-Woolley.

P-I food writer Hsiao-Ching Chou can be reached at 206-448-8117 or hsiaochingchou@seattlepi.com

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