Nash's Farm Store and the 100-Mile Harvest Dinner

I'd posted yesterday about driving to Nash's Farm Store (www.nashsorganicproduce.com) and I suddenly woke up this morning and realized I hadn't specified where Nash's farm and the store are. Sequim is a small town on the Olympic Penninsula.  It takes about an hour to get there from Seattle.  I take the Edmonds-Kingston Ferry, then the drive through Port Gamble and bypass Port Townsend. (But do stop there if you have time, because the Port Townsend Co-op has produce from local farmers and local artisans on Saturdays in the summer, the farmers' market is a perfect lunch destination.)

As you can see, Nash's Farm Store (above) has rustic appeal.  Though it looks small, the store has an amazing amount of farm produce and community members are always shopping here.  Inside, Ellen reminded me that farm day on the Penninsula is October 3.  I noticed this month's copy of Edible Seattle (http://www.edibleseattle.net/) mentioned the Festival of Family Farms in Skagit Valley http://www.festivaloffamilyfarms.com/  on the same weekend and the King County Harvest Celebration on September 26, but no mention of the Clallam County farm festival on the Penninsula, and this is actually where the farm festivals began. Anyway on October 3, a  number of farms on the Peninsula open their barns and fields, giving tours and demonstrations, and in the evening Nash's farm hosts a barn dance and a fantastic potluck.  The food is laid out on a long table, everyone contributes their favorite recipe.  It's a feast. The dance often features  a Seattle band and everything from jitterbug to 70s freestyle to hip hop goes. The price of admission is minimal and the proceeds went to their farm to cafeteria program one year and to Friends of the Fields (http://www.friendsofthefields.org/) the next.

On September 27, Friends of the Fields is hosting a 100-Mile Harvest Dinner.  The proceeds from 75% of the ticket sales go to saving Finn Hall Farm.  This is a Sunday evening and it sounds like a delicious event.

On another note the most recent farm letter for Nash's Farm CSA mentioned the Olympic Gleaners.  The gleaners are volunteers who harvest surplus produce and distribute it to food banks and organizations like the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen and various shelters.  This year 50 volunteers harvested more than 4,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables from private homes and local farms.  Nash's newsletter said that 1,500 pounds of produce came from Nash's farm.  Now that's what I call an Incredible Feast!

This is my book, Local Vegetarian Cooking http://www.localvegetariancooking.com/ at Nash's Farm Store. This was one of the first places that sold copies of my book in 2005.  The book and Nash's farm profile have been revised for the newest edition of my book, due out in spring 2010.  Timber Press in Portland http://www.timberpress.com/   is publishing the revised edition that will include Oregon farms.