After closing down in June 2025, Cloud Mountain Farm Center has been incubating a new future. The Whatcom Land Trust took temporary control of the 20-acre Everson farm in Dec. 2025 with the main goals of conserving the land for agricultural use and finding a new permanent owner. But how did we get here? And what’s likely to happen next?
The Beginning of Cloud Mountain Farm Center
Long-time Whatcom County residents knew Cloud Mountain Farm Center (CMFC) as an enduring bastion of do-it-yourself agriculture and hands-on learning. For nearly 50 years, locals shopped at its regionally-renowned nursery, took workshops and classes, enjoyed its fresh fruit during harvest season, or simply showed up and asked for help with whatever they were growing. For those interested in agriculture, Cloud Mountain’s many developmental farming programs were invaluable.
The farm originally began in 1978 as for-profit Cloud Mountain Farm, founded by couple Tom and Cheryl Thornton. Cascadia Daily reported that the two had moved to the foot of Sumas Mountain as part of the “back to the land” movement of the ‘60s and ‘70s, where they began “planting orchards to see what would happen.” Over time, with support from local growers and experts, Cloud Mountain Farm successfully found their groove, and folks took notice.
Fruit trees became Cloud Mountain’s specialty, and their expertise in growing them west of the Cascades was highly sought after. Neighbors showed up on the Thorntons’ doorstep asking about their techniques. As the farm grew, so did its foothold as a community resource. Workshops began as early as the ‘80s, as did their annual Fall Fruit Festival. Their website became a hub for localized growing info. Although it remained a for-profit farm until the early 2010s, selling to grocery stores, producers, restaurants, and at markets, Cheryl told Whatcom Talk in 2016 that “we have always wanted education and sustainability to be major components of what we do.”
Photograph by Dean Davidson
Expanding the Mission: Cloud Mountain Shifts to a Nonprofit
In 2011, the farm transitioned into a nonprofit organization, motivated by several factors. The Thorntons were nearing retirement and looking for a way to begin winding down without necessarily ending Cloud Mountain. They were approached by a group (including folks from Kulshan Land Trust and Sustainable Connections, according to a 2018 Whatcom Talk article) looking to start an incubator farm. Incubator farms are agricultural launching pads where people can lease land plots to either gain hands-on experience or begin a new farming venture without having to fully own the production means.
Already shoulder-deep in community outreach and learning initiatives, the Thorntons decided to move forward with the idea and to expand Cloud Mountain’s mission. The Whatcom Community Foundation purchased the farm with their Sustainable Whatcom Fund, and the Thorntons transitioned roles, going from for-profit farm owners to nonprofit organization leaders. Cloud Mountain Farm Center, the farming education nonprofit, was born.
Programs at Cloud Mountain seemed to boom. In 2012, Cloud Mountain purchased an additional 20 acres nearby to dedicate to incubator farming. Their fruit program, online and in-person nursery, and schedule of workshops and classes continued to thrive. They developed an internship program, held farming roundtables, had an on-site food processing facility, and became an aggregation and distribution center for local farms and food co-ops. There’s no way to list everything CMFC did in its mission to cultivate and support farmers, gardeners, and healthy food systems in NW Washington.
According to an FAQ on Cloud Mountain’s website, part of succession planning for the Thorntons’ retirement was looking for new leadership. After a search for a new executive director ended fruitlessly in 2017, CMFC’s board of directors began exploring partnerships with “aligned organizations.”
The Merger with Sustainable Connections
In late 2018, CMFC and Sustainable Connections announced that they would be merging, voted on by a joint committee of board members from both organizations. While both would retain their unique identities and services, CMFC was essentially becoming part of the programming at Sustainable Connections. In a press release from Sustainable Connections, Tom Thornton commented that the partnership would help CMFC to develop as a nonprofit, expand their mission, and grow stronger.
We now know, from this update published on the CMFC website in April 2025, that one of the ways they were hoping to grow stronger was by “diversify[ing] the funding base.” When CMFC became a non-profit, the Whatcom Community Foundation supplied a fund that handled an average of 55% of Cloud Mountain’s budget. CMFC employees and Sustainable Connections knew that the funding had an end date and that it would need to be replaced.
From 2019 to 2025, Sustainable Connections owned and managed Cloud Mountain Farm Center. The Thorntons, while remaining involved and in residence at their home on the property, stepped down from official leadership roles. Cloud Mountain programs were slowly cut over those six years, as operating costs rose and Sustainable Connections continued to search for additional funding. Despite considerable efforts that did bring some funding in, it wasn’t enough to replace the lost annual donation and support CMFC. In late May 2025, the Sustainable Connections board voted to divest from Cloud Mountain by December of that year. At the end of June 2025, the nursery at Cloud Mountain closed, ending the last of CMFC’s community-facing operations and leaving just essential maintenance and food hub infrastructure.
Sustainable Connections hosted a community forum at Rome Grange on Mount Baker Highway near Bellingham shortly before the final closure. Read about it here from the Lynden Tribune.
Photograph by Dean Davidson
Incubating a New Future: Interim Ownership with Whatcom Land Trust
Sustainable Connections’ first choice for the future of Cloud Mountain was to find a land trust to assume ownership, with the hope that such an organization would be able to prioritize “community benefit, agricultural stewardship, and alignment with CMFC’s values and mission.” If no land trust was found, CMFC would be listed for sale on the open market, with proceeds going to the Whatcom Community Foundation. If no sale was made, the deed of CMFC would be transferred directly to Whatcom Community Foundation.
Luckily, no open market sale was needed. The Whatcom Land Trust stepped up, taking on interim ownership and management of Cloud Mountain in Dec. 2025. In a press release, the Trust enumerated its goals: to “permanently protect 19 acres of Cloud Mountain Farm Center … farmland through a legal conservation easement.”; to support CMFC’s “Processing, Aggregation, Distribution, and Storage (PADS) services to local partners during interim management.”; and to “work with the Whatcom Community Foundation … to find a long-term owner for the farmland.”
On Jan. 7, the Whatcom Land Trust held a community meeting at Cloud Mountain, open to anyone with questions, comments, or concerns about the interim ownership and the future of CMFC. The Trust’s Executive Director Rachel Vasak led the meeting. The Thorntons were in attendance, as well as people from Sustainable Connections, local farmers, neighbors, and community members with decades of cherished experiences at Cloud Mountain.
Vasak began by recognizing the love and connection many people in attendance had with the land at Cloud Mountain. She then clarified why Whatcom Land Trust was a good fit for an interim ownership.
“Our organization was formed in 1984 with a goal of helping preserve and protect farmland in this community, to make farmland accessible for farmers, and to keep farmland from being developed to the point that it isn’t farmable anymore,” she says. Although Whatcom Land Trust has evolved and its mission has expanded, they still strive to preserve farmland. When board and staff members asked themselves if taking on CMFC aligned with their directives, they found the answer was “yes.”
“The Whatcom Land Trust has the tools and the skills to help in this chapter of Cloud Mountain Farm Center,” she says.
She went on to say that their first priority was “to ensure that the current folks who are using the farm and the infrastructure here’s needs are met.” The Trust has retained the services of a CMFC staff member who had been coordinating those services for about a year.
“That’s a really important continuation of community use that we want to prioritize,” says Vasak.
She next spoke about the steps in conserving the farmland. The first order of business would be separating the Thorntons’ life estate, the one acre of land that their home rested on, from the rest of the farm. With that underway, they could then begin drafting a conservation easement for the other 19 acres.
“That’s the best tool that we have to make sure that whatever happens in the future, this land will stay as farmland, and it won’t be subdivided into three or four more homes,” says Vasak. “That is, I think, the most important part of the Whatcom Land Trust’s involvement, is that we can help conserve this land as farmland.”
She then clarified why exactly the Whatcom Land Trust was committed to temporary ownership, rather than permanent.
“ The reason that the right choice for the Whatcom Land Trust to be an interim owner is because we aren’t farmers. We don’t have the skills to give this land what it deserves. We do have the skills to be able to conserve it as farmland and to work with the Whatcom Community Foundation to find the next owner,” says Vasak.
Together with the Whatcom Community Foundation, and with additional input from the Thorntons and CMFC board members, the Trust is hoping to find a qualified, dedicated nonprofit organization to take the reins next. Vasak said they plan to do that through an open request for proposals sometime in Summer 2026.
If a nonprofit isn’t found, the farm would likely be put on the open market for sale, but remain protected by the conservation easement. Proceeds from that sale would be reinvested in agricultural conservation easements collaboratively with the Whatcom Community Foundation.
She described these two options, a nonprofit handoff and an open market sale, as “plan A and plan B.” Roughly, they hope to complete these goals within about a year, with the second and third quarters of 2026 seeing the bulk of the conservation and new leadership search.
“We don’t know exactly what the future will bring, but I really believe that the team of people who are working on it will pitch in together and make great things happen,” says Vasak.
When she opened the floor to community questions, one participant over Zoom questioned whether transitioning CMFC to another nonprofit wouldn’t continue the cycle of funding issues.
“Really great question,” Vasak says. “If a nonprofit decides to go away, then the standard practice is to take those assets and distribute them to another nonprofit organization who has a similar mission. That’s basically the best tool we have to not take public resources for private benefit.”
Vasak answered a few questions about what agricultural use would be permitted post-easement. She said that while the easement had yet to be written, the Trust wanted “to create as much openness as possible,” while looking to the Conservation District and recognizing that “good, healthy farming practices will be a priority.”
When asked about whether or not there would be ways for the wider community to support Cloud Mountain during the Whatcom Land Trust’s interim ownership, Vasak said that she hoped there would be in the future. Possible avenues might be through volunteer hours or work parties focused on cleaning, land stewardship, or refreshing the riparian restoration of the farm’s two streams.
Vasak ended the session by asking folks to continue to communicate.
“ I’m looking for feedback, for ideas, suggestions. You all have knowledge that we don’t. If we have the chance to learn from each other, the overall outcome will be better than if we just forge ahead with what we think is best,” she says.
At the time of writing, the Whatcom Land Trust didn’t have any updates to issue to Bellingham Alive. The Cloud Mountain website remains up, with archival nursery, fruit program, and growing tips pages still available as a resource to the community. If you’re interested in staying up to date or contributing to the future of Cloud Mountain Farm Center, head to whatcomlandtrust.org for more information. Whatcom Land Trust, 412 N. Commercial St., Bellingham, 360.650.9470, whatcomlandtrust.org
