Banking on You Featuring Timberland Bank
Key Takeaways
- Janice Bryant and her husband, Warwick Bryant, turned their dream of farm ownership into reality by purchasing and developing Kaukiki Farms with support from Timberland Bank.
- The 150-acre farm is built on sustainable practices, producing grass-fed livestock while preserving wildlife habitats and natural resources.
- A long-standing relationship with Timberland Bank has supported multiple family and business ventures, highlighting the value of personalized community banking.
- The Bryants have created a lasting legacy by protecting 114 acres of their property through the Great Peninsula Conservancy, ensuring long-term environmental stewardship.
- Kaukiki Farms demonstrates how responsible farming, community partnerships, and conservation can coexist for future generations
Buying the (Dream) Farm: The Story of Kaukiki Farms
Janice Bryant was a 4H girl from Iowa. Her husband, Warwick, grew up on a sheep and beef farm in New Zealand. Together, with a property loan from Timberland Bank, they found themselves preserving an idyllic corner of the Pacific Northwest.
"We literally bought the farm," said Janice, co-owner of Kaukiki Farms with Warwick. Nestled on 150 acres on Washington's Key Peninsula, Kaukiki was a dream come true for the Bryants: the kind of place that could be mistaken for a film set, where grass-fed Angus cattle and sheep graze while the surrounding forests, streams, and wildlife habitat are carefully conserved.
"We'd both grown up on farms and always wanted to have one," said Janice. In 2007, the opportunity "came to us kind of by happenstance." Through a former business, the Bryants had become familiar with, and captivated by, the Kaukiki property. They approached the owner to work out a deal. "We rented for six months, which applied against our balance, agreed on a price, and then we managed to somehow wiggle, niggle, find our ways and get a mortgage."
"We said, wow, if we can make this work, what a great way to bring our boys up in an environment like the ones we had, one they could really appreciate. And so that's kind of how it all started. It was trying to replicate our childhoods for our children."
A farm built on care
The Bryants raise sheep and cattle primarily on grass and hay grown right on the farm. They manage their pastures carefully and take a deliberate approach to the health of both their animals and the land. Nearly two decades later, Kaukiki has become much more than a family farm. It's a community-renowned operation, a source of locally raised food, a wildlife refuge, and a model of land stewardship the Bryants hope will endure long after they're gone.
A family banking relationship
Shortly after Timberland Bank opened its Gig Harbor, Washington, office, Chief Residential Loan Manager Richard Pifer was introduced to the Bryants through their realtor. Over the years, the relationship has grown into one rooted in family and community, as Timberland assisted the Bryants and their sons with personal and business ventures alike, including their son's newest endeavor, Kiwi Fencing.
"My dad gave me a bit of advice a long time ago: you should always know your banker," said Janice. "But you want a bank that is small enough that you really know the people who are there. Timberland has been just that."
"When you walk in, they know you. You have a relationship. And so we started that relationship with Timberland, and it's been fabulous over the years." Janice recalls her time as School Board President of the private school both families attended, when the school fell on hard times. "We had to refinance a loan with really no capital. I was able to sit down with Richard at Timberland and say, 'Richard, is there any way we can do something?'"
"And he found a way to make it work. It's been great. I wander in with a full stack of checks because I'm running between balancing hay and kids and everything else, and they're always there to make sure it all comes together."
A legacy of conservancy
Perhaps the most meaningful chapter of this story is the original loan Timberland provided to help the Bryants build their dream home, a property now part of the Great Peninsula Conservancy, with 114 acres of land permanently protected for the benefit of the community.
“We actually have water rights, which is rare, and it allows us to irrigate,” said Janice. The quality of Kaukiki's grass is essential to the quality of their beef and lamb products. In fact, the property has a fresh spring fed stream that runs through the middle of the farm. "We have other friends that live in our canyon," said Janice, referring to the wildlife. "They're animals that live on the grass as well, but we love having a spot for them to go. We'll sit at the pond at night with a bottle of wine and watch the bear come out."
One of the things the Bryants love most about Kaukiki Farms is how it extends a legacy of farming and conservation to an area that has developed rapidly over the years they've owned it.