This post was originally posted to Fresh From The Market – my food, farm, cooking blog.
I had promised more details about our adventures visiting the farms…
I received a Local Harvest event posting for an Open House at a nearby farm in Carnation. In researching the farms in the area I’d come across Dog Mountain Farm in the past and it had captured my interest because they were hosting their own farm dinners. Additionally we’ve been considering a farm dinner style event for our wedding and would love nothing more than to have it hosted at a local farm. We had also seen Dog Mountain at the Carnation Farmers Market selling plants and eggs.
There were some conflicting details between the farm web site and the Local Harvest event so we weren’t entirely confident of the date and time for the Open House. After a call to the farm, we ventured off to the farm anyway. The weather was pretty terrible having been cold and drizzly all day, but we were cheerfully greeted by Shelby the farm dog upon our arrival and there were no signs of the weather dampening spirits. We began chatting with David and Cindy while a string band played and then got a personal tour of the farm.
We first spent a little time with their two Percheron horses, feeding them carrots and admiring just how insignificant an animal us humans can be. The horses were stunning in their massiveness standing at 17 and 19 hands. Cindy has been working to get the horses prepared to work the land and later hitched them up in order to give the children rides.
After admiring the horses Cindy began a tour of the rest of the land. They are growing a great variety of fruits and vegetables including quince which isn’t something you see that often. Cindy was happy to share some tips and tricks that they’ve learned over the years. We admired their flock of ducks, geese, and chickens while listening to Cindy describe the various natural predators they’ve faced over the year and how they’ve improved their housing while accepting that there is a natural balance at work. Despite the threats and loses, they still turn out a quantity of stunning duck eggs. We also marveled at the approximate 150 chicks and 30 ducklings that were cruising around under warming lights in a nearby building that will rebuild the flocks. We took in the stunning views and happily tromped around reading planting stakes to see what varieties they had chosen for the environment.
Following the garden tour, we began touring the greenhouse with David. He is growing hundreds of tomato plants in the greenhouse using an impressive set up that ensures the plants are well feed and watered and allowed to produce to their fullest. He also shared their cut lettuce garden that allows them to harvest greens multiple times from the same selection of plants.
Conversations during the afternoon flitted around about tips, techniques, and local resources. We were happy to learn that Cindy is involved with the new Snoqualamie Valley Slow Food Convivium as well as the Sno-Valley Tilth organizations. We were also happy to share our wonderful experiences with Outstanding in the Field and some things we had observed there that might help them grow their own farm dinners.
Both Cindy and David were incredibly friendly and helpful and we look forward to seeing them again through one of the many organizations or better yet, one of their future farm dinners.
Unfortunately I did not take pictures on the visit! I’m completely forgot in my excitement in visiting the farm. Sorry!
This post was originally posted to Fresh From The Market – my food, farm, cooking blog.
The farmers markets and farm stands are just getting started in our area. It’s been a very slow season for everyone so many producers don’t have quite enough product to get going. We’ve visited a few of them as they’ve opened but the selection is meager so I’m not sure they warrant their own posts. Here’s a brief overview of where we’ve been:
Woodinville Farmers Market – This is a Saturday market and the first we visited for the season. The location is kind of industrial being on a piece of land that is being prepared for some commercial buildings and therefore isolated from any sense of community or agriculture. They had of-the-moment asparagus, fresh flowers, and several vendors or food products or crafts. We were a little disappointed in the selection after coming from the very large and diverse markets in California but it is what it is. Spring onions, asparagus, some cold storage apples and potatoes from last year and a the occasional greens were the extent of what was available. We will quickly learn that is the effect of a long, cold spring.
Carnation Farmers Market – This is the first of our “local” markets and is held on Tuesdays. It sported much the same fair as the Woodinville market with some beans and more variety in the greens and lettuces. Many of the vendors are selling vegetables starts in place of crops, but they also had cheese, honey, eggs, bread, pastries, and greenhouse tomatoes. I think this is the market to watch if one was inclined to do such a thing. It’s in the heart of the King County agriculture region and provides many of the big city restaurants and markets with their products. We still visit this market as often as we can and are partial to the Golden Glen Creamery Medium Cheddar and Kittitas Valley Greenhouse heirloom tomatoes.
Duvall Farmers Market – This is our actual local market held in downtown Duvall on Thursdays. It certainly seems larger than it did on our chance encounter with it last year and the ratio of food to crafts seems tipped farther in the favor of the food. Similar to the other markets many producers are selling starts still, but things are slowly starting to flesh out.
Remlinger Farms- We’d been to Remlinger Farms before and seen their market, but some advertisements I’d seen lately for the farm gave the impression that they had more of a farm stand. We made another trip to see for ourselves and while they do offer flash frozen local fruit and u-pick they do not really have a “farm stand”. I’m certain we’ll still visit Remlinger Farms for some summer picnics and the farm zoo with the kids, but it’s a little too commercial and ambiguous for my preference.
Minea Farm – This is more of a farm stand and they don’t appear to have a web site. They are located on Woodinville-Redmond Road near to Root Connection. We were driving through and their whimsical eggs and cider signs always made me curious so we stopped in. We picked up a quart of apple cider, it might have been Pink Lady? I don’t actually recall, but man was it good. We don’t do many juices (or sodas) around our house so it was quite a treat. As it turned out I was coming down with a cold, but the heaviness of the juice was extremely soothing on my sore throat and the sweetness just right. I think I drank most of the quart with in two days of purchasing it and I keep craving more, but just can’t justify a trip for just juice. I might just justify it shortly by buying enough to freeze the extras for the coming months. Overall there is quite a bit of local agriculture, but the farmers market isn’t the place to be as it was in the bay area. It’s really understandable because the towns are smaller here and many of them know their local farmers and suppliers already. The farmers market doesn’t get the farmers quite the bang for their buck, or really, their time, that they do in more urban areas. It’s completely logical but not something I’d considered before we moved. It does give us the push to go out and visit the farms and stands ourselves though which is also quite wonderful. I’ll have to post soon about us doing exactly that last weekend.
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