Whatcom County’s Cozy Farm Tour

What the what?
That’s Whatcom County in northern Washington where all the farms are! And this Saturday they had their annual free County Farm Tour. A chance to go to eleven of the farms that grow the gorgeous, local produce Seattlites can buy from the farmer’s markets and stores and put on the dinner table each night!

As fresh as it gets! (I bought these potatoes!)

Whatcom County is about 1.5 hours from Seattle and mostly a very pretty drive. I started out my day with enthusiastic recruitees Kimberly and Lori with our first stop at the local PCC Natural market to grab our map and a little lunch for the road. How lucky were we that Lori knew how to negotiate her way around those country roads – we couldn’t have done it with out you and your expert driving!
We were shooting to visit 5 of the 11 farms but only made it to 4. That just means lots more to explore!

Our first farm was Bellingham Country Gardens.

This is where I got my ‘taters dug right out of the ground! Although we were told that it wasn’t a very big crop that year they also had plenty of squash, pumpkins, carrots, beets and lots more!

One scary scarecrow!!!!

Our next stop was at Cloud Mountain Farm.

They have an extensive nursery which is a favorite among the locals. We took a beautiful walk through the apple orchard! So many trees and so many different varieties of apples!

Tomatoes (below) still growing like crazy!

Whats a drive through the country without a stop at the local general store? Lori had the inside scoop on a this one called “Everybody’s Store” - I’m pretty sure because it has something for – you guessed it, everybody!

From the La Times:
(Everybody’s) will bag organically grown produce, medicinal herbs, home-baked goods,wines and smoked salmon, plus books, wool hats and socks.”

The deli looked particularly amazing with lots of gourmet cheeses and Kimberly vows next time we return (to pick our pumpkins!) she’s getting a liverwurst sandwich! (I think I’ll probably stick with turkey..)

They had a great selection of candy including these espresso beans. Cool beans!

And these cool seed packages

Next stop on our tour was Boxx Berry Farm. And can you believe we had to drive through something called “Raspberry Ridge” to get there? Yup, this is where they grow the most raspberries in the country!!! The bushes were bursting and there were fields of them! Did I mention this is my favorite fruit! I had really come to the right place!

Wikipedia tells us:

Whatcom County is the top producer of raspberries in the state. According to the Seattle Times, in 2004 Whatcom County growers produced 46 million pounds of raspberries, 85% of the state’s crop. Given that the state itself is the #1 producer of raspberries in the country, with over 87.8% of the crop in 2002, this makes Whatcom County responsible for almost 75% of the nation’s raspberry production.
They also tell us that Russia and Serbia are HUGE producers – who knew?

It took a few u-turns but we finally arrived at Boxx Berry Farms.

This place was hopping! They really had a lot of great stuff going on from the little train ride for the kids

To free tastings and tractor rides for the adults! This actually was the highpoint of the day for us as we learned some cool things about farming. My take away: Blueberry bushes live for 40-50 years. Raspberry bushes for 8-10 while strawberry plants about 3 years.

Also, they had a huge field of carrots planted for the purpose of freezedrying and sending to nations in need such as Haiti. Love this!

The samples of local ice cream with homemade strawberry sauce were to die for!!!! (and I don’t even love strawberries but this was sooooo good!). They also were giving away roasted corn on the cob and are hosting the 9th annual Whatcom Harvest dinner on September 26th which I’m guessing will be pretty great! The menu sounds amazing with items like grilled oysters on the halfshell with heirloom tomato mignonette and sweet onion aioli and Lummi Island wild reefnet gravlax on rye toast with apple butter and crème fraîche. Oh my God…………..!!!!!!!!!!!

Last stop of the day was Bellewood Acres. You’ve heard of wine tasting? Well, now try apple tasting!
I’ll be a purist and have mine without homemade peanut butter please!

They have 25,000 apples trees are divided amongst varieties such as Gravenstein, Zestar, Tsugaru. Sansa and Sunrise. Ok, so I’ve only heard of one of these before – I’m learning!!!

They also grow pumpkins, decorative gourds and corns. And have a great gift shop with fresh ground Honey Roasted Peanut Butter, gourmet honey, caramel, and jams. New this year is our Apple Cider Vinegar and Apple Cider Syrup.

And I should also mention the bakery with apple pies and turnovers and a couple excellent cheeses too.

This post is making me hungry!!!!

I love that I can know some of the farms that my food might come from! And I will continue to explore the region and take lots of pictures so check back here for more info! And in the meantime, support your local farmer!