In the winter of 2024, four local meat producers and processors in Clallam and Jefferson counties connected through a shared desire to strengthen their local food system and support farmers and eaters on the North Olympic Peninsula.

We are Colleen Iral (Centerstone Community Farm), Billy Fortini (The Sawtooth Ranch), Melissa Levenstein (Hidden Penny Farm), and Theresa Kim Trocano (Mollayo Farm)—small-scale producers and processors who know firsthand how challenging it can be to access poultry processing close to home. From raising our own pastured poultry, we saw that a huge limiting factor to scaling and becoming a sustainable poultry operation was the lack of processing facilities. Out of that shared challenge and desire to overcome this challenge, North Olympic Poultry Processors was born.

Over the past year and a half, we have been working together to plan and design a WSDA (Washington State Department of Agriculture) licensed poultry processing facility that will serve as a resource to local farmers and encourage local meat production and processing. This facility will allow users to sell pieced out poultry wholesale and direct to consumer, which in turn, helps strengthen farm viability, increases access to locally raised poultry, and builds long-term resilience in our regional food system.

We are proud to share that after applying for our 2nd year, this vision has received partial funding through the Washington State Department of Agriculture’s Local Food Infrastructure Grant—a huge vote of confidence in the importance of this project! However, the grant does not cover all of the costs required to bring the facility to life.

We are now raising funds to cover critical construction and installation expenses not included in the grant, including:

-Electrical and plumbing work

-Flooring installation

-General contractor labor costs

These are essential pieces needed to meet licensing requirements and open our doors.

By contributing to this campaign, you’re not just helping build a facility—you’re investing in local farmers, ethical meat processing, and a stronger, more self-reliant North Olympic food system. We not only raise local pastured-poultry in our own farm operations, but we plan to offer this facility as a community resource in 2027 after spending the first year building the facility, and trialing and erroring operations.

We are so grateful for all the support we’ve had for our poultry over the last few years and can’t wait to provide our community with more poultry and this facility as a resource. Every donation, large or small, brings us closer to a future where poultry raised here can be processed here, by people who care deeply about our land and community.

Thank you for supporting local food, local farmers, and local solutions.

-Theresa, Melissa, Billy, & Colleen