Shelter and Seeds aims to turn your yard into a thriving, food-producing ecosystem

LEAVENWORTH – A new business in Leavenworth is helping landowners transform their properties using sustainable, regenerative practices.

Shelter and Seeds, owned by Sean Eriksen, specializes in native and edible gardens, water retention earthworks, food forests, compost systems, and more. Eriksen offers services ranging from consultation and design to installation and maintenance, with the goal of creating resilient and abundant landscapes.

“For the last few centuries or so…land stewardship has mostly been extractive…We're now in an ecosystem that is relatively scarce in terms of food, medicine, materials, and biodiversity,” said Eriksen. “Regenerative landscape is aiming towards bringing back the richness of ecosystems that used to be, and then expanding on that.”

Before landing in Leavenworth, Eriksen travelled around the U.S., working on different farms and learning techniques to create healthy and sustainable landscapes–knowledge he now applies through Shelter and Seeds.

“[I] just kind of went piece by piece and place to place, learning these different skills and like, wisdom and knowledge that people had, and they would forward me on to the next thing,” said Eriksen.

He first started on a farm in California, where he learned how compost tea could transform the health of soil and the growing power of plants. The compost is steeped in water to create a natural liquid fertilizer, full of nutrients and microorganisms, which is then added to the soil. As a result, the farmer’s plants were much more vital and rich than her competition’s, said Eriksen.

“She put a bunch of books in front of me, and started teaching me about permaculture and regenerative agriculture, and that, just like, sparked this interest. And she was like, ‘You should go check out this place and go check out that place,’” said Eriksen.

Next, he learned about water retention earthworks, using landscape techniques such as building berms, terraces, check dams, and ponds to slow, spread, and soak precipitation in the soil.  By passively capturing surface water, it increases drought and wildfire resilience, reduces irrigation needs and erosion, and replenishes aquifers.

In Texas, he witnessed how an acre of grass lawn could be turned into a food forest by planting mutually beneficial plants, letting birds and squirrels propagate the land, and building a system that mimics the natural ecosystem. Over time, the farmer created an abundant and resilient food forest, with over 200 different species inside.

“There's tons of opportunity for way more abundance than we even comprehend. In our modern day, we can't imagine what's possible because it's so removed from our awareness,” said Eriksen.

When he settled in Leavenworth in 2023, he managed 13 acres of landscape for Wenatchee River Institute, then helped Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort implement a food forest. Starting Shelter and Seeds, for Eriksen, was an opportunity to provide his services to the broader community. 

“I want to empower people to be their own stewards, so that I'm not just like this guy that goes around this business doing all the work for people…I'd rather see a whole community become super well versed and confident in their own abilities to like ecologically steward landscapes,” said Eriksen.

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media