Our Approach
Welcome to Cascadia Heritage Farm
We are a small farm on beautiful Whidbey Island in Washington State. We have been involved with breeding and promoting rare, endangered heritage breeds of livestock since 2018. We raised high quality registered Dales Ponies, Malay Chickens, Asil Chickens and San Clemente Island Goats, and some other heritage breeds of poultry.
Our goal in starting this little farm was to appreciate the miracle of life in its many forms. George came up with the acronym "ATM" for "Appreciate The Miracle" and have re-expanded the acronym: "A" stands for "Actively surround ourselves with life and fitness; "T" stands for "Try to effect positive change," and "M" stands for "Mindful, generous, and loving toward others."
Our Farm Breathes Life Into Our Values
In breeding these rare animals, our hope was to give them the best opportunity and life we could. This meant carefully selecting our breeding stock and handling the youngstock thoughtfully to produce the most healthy, sound, well-adjusted and enjoyable animals possible. We tested for all genetic diseases known to be an issue in the breeds we dealt with, in an effort to prevent propagation of any undesirable traits.
Our Story
We started out as a family of three: George, Shuna, and son Viggo. Before Viggo came along, in early 2011, George and Shuna made a "madness purchase" of a run-down log cabin with easy access to a state park trail system. We were dreaming of a different life than we had in Seattle, but our dreams were not well formed. We saw the cabin and it just felt right. So we bought it, and the adventure began. We worked on the cabin and the property for years, bought a horse that we saw weekly when we made the trek up to the cabin (our neighbors were kind enough to house him for us) and rode him on the state park trails. Eventually as we explored our values, hopes and dreams, we came up with the idea of Appreciate The Miracle of life/biodiversity in the world around us, (abbreviated "ATM") and started ATM Enterprises, LLC. Cascadia Heritage Farm is a dba of ATM Enterprises. Making our values a reality involved turning our cabin property into a farm focused on raising and promoting critically endangered heritage breeds. We bought the property next door to our original property, moved up to the cabin full time in the spring of 2018, and brought Dales Ponies, San Clemente Island Goats, and a few different poultry breeds to the property. Access to the state park trails was important for our work with the ponies. We loved the animals, the setting, and the work we were doing. Divorce is now changing the course of our lives and our farm, but the farm has been a rich experience for our whole family.
Meet the Team
Shuna is an accomplished veterinarian. Early in her career she chose to focus her work on dogs and cats, but she is knowledgeable about farm animals as well and has always enjoyed working with and learning from horses.
George loves talking to people, sharing ideas, exploring values, strategizing, and engaging in business activities. He has a strong artistic sense and a great love of animals, the natural world, and history. He entered this venture with no horse experience or farming experience, and learns as he goes!
Viggo loves interacting with the animals, playing on the property, riding his bicycle, skateboards, scooter, pogo stick and tractor, and helping and learning from people who help us on the farm.
Shuna Cerrato
Co-founder & Veterinarian
Shuna has lived in many parts of the United States. She has worked as a veterinarian in New York City, the Seattle area, and now works at the Pet Emergency Center in Mount Vernon. She hopes none of you will need to bring your pets to her at work, but promises to do her best to take care of you and your beloved pets if you ever have to. She loves being able to call Whidbey Island her home.
George Cerrato
Co-founder
George was born in New Jersey and co-owned and ran a small computer hardware business in Seattle for many years. He is pleased to be able to change his focus to the farm life and influencing people to think differently and explore different ways of living.
Next Steps...
If you would like to contact us, please reach out via email: cascadiaheritagefarm@gmail.com