Sunshine Farms

Sunshine Farms is a berry-growing commune on Vashon Island, notable as a stop in Tully Hart’s televised search for her mother. Its rolling crop fields, rows of yurts beside the river, and stalls of berries and preserves offer a calm, communal setting for a confrontation with the fact that Cloud has once again moved on—and may deny that Tully is her daughter.

Setting and Community

After a night of travel, Tully and the crew take a ferry to Vashon Island, following a lead that brings them to the Sunshine Farms sign at nearly ten o’clock. The commune stretches across rolling acres planted with crops. At least thirty domed tents, called yurts, line the river; nearby, tired-looking women sell berries, jams, syrups, berry butters, and handicrafts beneath cedar lean-tos. The scene supplies a specific, working community rather than the conventional image of a house where a missing parent might be found.

The Search on Camera

Tully arrives with Johnny and Fat Bob, the cameraman, after a journey in which the camera has followed her at every step. She has already interviewed the tellers at the bank where Cloud’s last check was cashed and shown the crew the old, creased photograph that is her only picture of her mother. She keeps smiling through the reporting, but the sight of the Sunshine Farms sign begins to unsettle her. Stepping out of the van, she takes a breath and tells the camera that Cloud has reportedly been living at the commune for almost a week, though she has not provided the address to her attorney and may not intend to stay. The public-facing account makes the uncertainty explicit: even a lead that brings Tully to Cloud’s reported address cannot promise that her mother will still be there.

Cloud’s Absence and the Location’s Significance

At the sales tables, Tully asks after Cloud. A woman tells her that Cloud is no longer at Sunshine Farms because the work was too much for her, and that the latest report places her at the old Mulberry place. When Tully explains that Cloud is her mother, the woman answers that Cloud said she had no children. The exchange turns the commune from a possible destination into another point along a search defined by absence. Sunshine Farms briefly gives Tully a location where she can ask for Cloud, but it offers neither reunion nor assurance: the person she seeks has left, and the account of her departure makes Tully’s place in Cloud’s life uncertain.