About | Imoto Flower Farm

I am Michiko Murai, your flower farmer! I am so excited to learn how to be a farmer with my lil farm. I want to empower people to grow their own flowers and food, to find culture, community and a reciprocal relationship with the environment. Imoto Flower Farm is a small regenerative farm growing flowers in the Skagit Valley for bouquets, everlasting art and natural dyes! Thank you for being here!

Why Imoto

Imoto means little sister in Japanese. Imoto Flower Farm is named after the relationships in my life that truly make me feel loved, supported and inspired, like a little sister. Growing up, feeling in between many identities and different from many groups, I feel grateful to belong and feel like a little sister to not only my family but friends, farmers and my natural environment. These connections help me understand and accept who I am and what I want so I feel good enough to venture and explore life!

Imoto flower farm is all about relationships. I hope to deepen my own connection to the land and explore my identity and creativity with floral Japanese art. I want my farming practices to honor the land as it gives me not only yummy nourishment and energy but purpose, home and all things fun and beautiful in this life. And I hope to share a space that helps people feel a sense of belonging and community.

I am very grateful to have the support from my mentors, Koji and Lizzy at Makanai Farm and the Swayne Family farmhosts of Stoked Oaks Farm. Working for Koji and Lizzy since 2023, I have learned so much about regenerative farming, Japanese food/culture/shared experience that has been lost to me over the generations, and who I want to be as a farmer, friend and community member. Farming with the Swayne Family has shown me the importance and joy of sharing, growing and eating in community. I will forever be thankful for this opportunity to be their friend, grow with them and learn from them.

Practices and Values

Farming regeneratively and in community is an act of resistance against the industrial food system. I hope to live the rest of my years resisting and building local and regenerative food systems with these practices and ideals:

No till farming practice to support the microbiome health of the soil; protecting microorganisms, mycelium networks and soil structure.

Cover Cropping for fertilization, soil and water retention as it naturally mulches the soil surface during the winter months. No synthetic fertilizers or pesticides used.

Crop rotation and intercropping to naturally prevent pests and disease, use more space and understand relationships between plants!

Creating space and creative outlets for learning, observation and introspection.

Working towards a closed loop system where no inputs are from outside the farm. Limiting single use plastic, sourcing as local as possible and experimenting with amendments from the garden and local foraging for fertilization and pest management.

Farming in community. I am lucky to join an amazing movement of regenerative community growers in Western Washington including many Asian American, queer, women farmers.

Being open, adaptive and humble to new ideas and methods.

Growing traditional Japanese flowers along with others to explore floral Japanese art like ikebana, oshibana and shibori. I hope to provide access and education to these arts.

I am a guest growing in Upper Skagit, Sauk-Suiattle and Stillagaumish lands.