Willie Green's Organic Farm and Food Lust

Excerpted from The Northwest Vegetarian Cookbook (Timber Press) by Debra Daniels-Zeller

Willie Greens Organic Farm and Food Lust (word count: 739)

Food Lust is coming. The annual white tablecloth spring dinner and auction looks like another winner this season. This event is held at Willie Greens Organic Farm, a farm I profiled in The Northwest Vegetarian Cookbook (2010, Timber Press).

Recently I shared this excerpt from my book on another blog. It seems only fitting to also share this farm profile here.

Willie Green’s Organic Farm

At Willie Green’s Organic Farm, farmer-owner Jeff Miller didn’t start out with farming roots.Miller’s winding road to organic farming started in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where as a young boy he dreamed about becoming a chef, not a farmer. Miller said that his father “always had a well-trimmed lawn but had no interest in growing food,” so Jeff never thought about a farming career. But he was always cultivating something. “I grew vegetables in the basement when I was young,” he told me. “Wherever I lived, I had a garden.”

After high school, Miller attended the New York Culinary Institute of America and then returned to Pittsburgh as a chef. Eventually he moved to San Francisco and cooked for several four-star restaurants, including the famous Stars. While he was there, he was impressed by the quality and quantity of organic produce moving through the kitchen doors. In the early 1980s, one of Miller’s friends returned from a trip to Seattle and mentioned that there weren’t any farmers selling specialty greens to restaurants there.

Tired of the administrative aspects of a chef’s work, Miller daydreamed about having his own organic farm. As he formulated his plan, he spent time observing an urban farm in Berkeley that grew salad greens.

In the late 1980s, Miller cashed in a life insurance policy, packed some specialty lettuce seeds, hopped on his motorcycle, and headed north to Washington to become a farmer. He leased land near Woodinville and called his farm Willie Green’s Organic Farm—Willie for his grandfather and Green’s for the specialty greens he began growing. When his lettuce crop came up, he headed to Seattle and got eight different accounts right away. “I was a chef, so I knew how and when to talk to chefs,” he explained.

In 1996, Miller bought a 24-acre farm 35 miles northeast of Seattle. Outside Monroe, the farm is just across the Skykomish River in the Tualco Valley. Miller grew unique lettuce varieties and eventually added vegetables like Brussels sprouts, carrots, turnips, and sugar snap peas. Over the years, he bought and leased more farmland and now cultivates diverse row crops and a variety of berries, including golden raspberries and mulberries. In addition to selling to restaurants and other wholesale accounts, Willie Green’s sells produce at nine Seattle farmers’ markets and through their CSA program.

Nowadays, Miller oversees transplanting, growing, and harvesting as he fields phone calls for orders and discusses crop plans with his farm manager. At the farm, workers pluck, pull, and cut vegetables in the fields, then transport them to a greenhouse, where they’re washed and prepped for market. Produce is packed, stacked, and trucked to Seattle. When they don’t have to pack and load trucks for markets the next day, the workers weed, fertilize, and plant new seeds for crops. They build trellises for peas and beans, and transplant starts to the fields. Moving from restaurant to fields to restaurant brings the farm’s focus back to Miller’s other passion—cooking.

“You’ve got to love the farm lifestyle,” Miller said, his eyes brimming with culinary possibilities.

His enthusiasm is contagious, but being new to farming can be a challenge. One of Miller’s biggest risk factors has been the weather, like the black clouds that rolled in so quickly in 2006 that the crew had little time to react before marble-sized hail suddenly pummeled his fields for 15 minutes. The crop of peas, destined to be a bumper crop, was a mass of severed vines. Miller’s market tables were almost bare for weeks, but eventually they recovered, along with Miller’s chef-like confidence.

When I visited his farm before my book was published, Miller told me about his plans for a restaurant on the farm. “It will be first class, all the way,” he’d said.

However, due to unbelievably expensive building permits, land requirements and fees, the actual restaurant wasn’t a feasible possibility yet. Undaunted, Miller invested in a beautiful Raj tent and hosts the fabulous annual Food Lust dinner and silent auction and rents out his picturesque farm fields for weddings and gatherings.

This is first class in action—a simple farm dinner where word is spread about sustainable farms and local food.

Check out Willie Green's Organic farm produce at Seattle farmers' markets. They offer a great variety of produce and pantry staples.

Jeff Miller at Willie Green's Organic Farm in Monroe.

I hope you liked this sweet farm diversion from the usual food blog recipes. We'll be dishing up more recipes soon.

Nash's New Farm Store

Tomorrow I'm going to the opening of Nash's new farm store. For years, I visited this little store. I'll miss the retro 70's hippie look, but I can't wait to see what the new farm store will look like.

Last summer I contributed to the building of this store. I don't really have a lot of spare change to donate, but even just a small amount made me feel like I'm part of this food web that feeds the community, Seattle farmers' market customers, and supplies PCC Natural Markets with amazing local produce.

Since I'm going to this farm store grand opening, I thought I'd share a few photos of Nash's farm and produce from my files.

These photos were taken when I visited the farm in 2008. Kia Armstrong gave me a tour and told me all about the various parcels of land that add up to 400 acres. Nash's farm is also growing young farmers who will eventually take over the helm of Nash's Organic Produce.

At the market in the U-District, I always look for fresh whole wheat pastry flour. The flavor is amazing. Whenever I use it, I'm reminded of how stale whole wheat flour from bulk bins and bags in grocery stores tastes. Really, I can taste the stale flour in baked goods all around me now. The light nutty flavor of Nash's flour wins fans for my recipes who wonder what my secret is. I won't tell. If you buy some, it keeps best in the freezer

Nash's Organic Produce also sells triticale and field peas. My friend David loves these peas cooked with rice. I haven't found the right herbs and ingredients to pair with them yet. Maybe I'll get some good tips tomorrow.

The big clunky carrots from Nash's farm have become famous. At PCC Natural Markets on the "Walk and Talk" store tour, Goldie Caughlan used to call them carrot candy. Recently I asked Nash why these carrots taste like candy in the winter months. He said when the ground gets very cold the sugar in the carrots becomes more concentrated.

Last winter it seemed like no matter how many carrots I came home with, they disappeared right away. My Cooking Assistant loves them as much as I do.

I taught him the phrase "Nash's carrots" He's into learning new words now.

Nash's farm profile in my book deals with saving seed and saving land. This is what a carrot seed crop looks like. If I didn't know and I wasn't a gardener, I might mistake it for weeds. (Even though my roots are in small towns, the word city slicker comes to mind.)

A farmer needs additional acreage to grow seed crops because you have to let the plant stay in the ground long enough to produce seeds. The seeds are tightly bound in these dry flower pods. Getting them out and cleaning them up is a skill, and it's not something you usually think about as you grab a package of seeds to plant in your garden.

Nash's farm crew sells vegetables at a number of Seattle markets, and the Port Townsend, Port Angeles and Sequim markets. They also offer a CSA. When you sign up you get recipes and farm news. Sometimes I check their farm newsletter on their website for recipe ideas. Occasionally I'm surprised to see my own recipes there. But I shouldn't be because I got some of my best ideas at Nash's farm stand. Check out the "Carrot Hummus" recipe in my book.

Nash Huber won Land Steward of the Year Award in 2008. In 1999 a farm near his went up for sale, he contacted Joe Hardiman from PCC Natural Markets. After taking the idea (of buying the farm) to the Board of Directors, the co-op Board bought the farm and started PCC Farmland Fund, later changed to PCC Farmland Trust. Nash has long term leases on most of the farmland he tends now. That's how he's able to grow carrot seeds. The farm feeds the community. Farms not tract homes!

I can't take my Cooking Assistant tomorrow. It's not good manners to bring your canine friends to the farm, so as I piddle around getting ready, Finn pulls a long face even if Tom is home.

It's an act, and I have my suspicions about where he'll spend the day.

Dreaming of carrots, no doubt.

Let Us Farm, Mizuna and the U District Farmers' Market

Three Cheers for Let Us Farm

Located in Oakville, Washington along the Chehalis River, south of Olympia, Let Us Farm is owned and farmed by Cecilia Boulais and Steve Hallstrom. This sustainable organic farm was once a dairy farm and now boasts rows of vibrant vegetables.

When the U District Farmers' Market opened in 1993, Cecilia and Steve were among the first farmers selling their organic produce. Their farm then was called Tolt Farm and was along the Tolt River, which is east of Seattle, near Carnation.

When I was busy at cooking classes at PCC Natural Markets on Saturdays, my cooking Assistant Emily (not to be confused with my current 4-legged assistant) always brought me Port Madison Cheese and greens from Tolt Farm.

Besides their abundant greens, Cecilia and Steve grow and sell a wide variety of vegetables from rhubarb in the spring to pumpkins in the fall.

Small farms like Let Us Grow are fortunate enough to have flexible yearly farm plans. They can gamble on a few new varieties of vegetables, just to try them out and see how people respond to them.

When I inquired about a green (the one on the left in the photo below) Cecilia said it was a different variety of mizuna that they were trying out this year.

Mizuna is a Japanese mustard green, a little spicy but not as zippy as arugula. When I did a search I stumbled across this blog that described mizuna as hearty enough to grow during winter months in Japan. No wonder it does so well here.

On the left is white frills and in the middle is red frills mizuna. On the far right is the kind of mizuna you can find in grocery stores.

"White frills tastes very different from the others," Cecilia said. It's reminiscent of curly mustard greens with a zippy touch of wasabi. I bought it last week and yesterday, Cecilia asked what I did with it.

I'd added finely chopped white frills leaves to a soup, an omelet and a stir fry. I even sprinkled a bit (not too much) on green salads. But don't add it when you make a salad with arugula--I'm sure the two strong flavors would compete with each other.

Often when you aren't sure about a new variety of produce, farmers offer a sample to taste. Farmers can get instant feed back on a product and also pass on your suggestions and recipes to other customers.

"Are you in line?" A customer asked a little impatiently behind me. People are serious produce produce buyers at the U District market. I wouldn't say they're rude, but you should have your act together, pay attention and move along in line. I nod and move forward.

The line to buy produce wraps around the Let Us Grow table and we wait, people chat and trade news and recipes. I eye the radishes and mentally put them on my must-have list for next week. This year, I've vowed to use radish greens in a few recipes.

Even though I arrive at the market before it opens, I chat with so many people and I end up waiting in number lines. But waiting in lines is all part of the market experience. I gaze around well-displayed booths and impulsively buy other items not on my list. I often think about the amount of stuff farmers chauffeur to the market. It's amazing that they remember everything. Then after driving from farm to market, they unpack everything, arrange the displays, put up the signs and then maybe take a breath before customers form lines and pepper them with questions.

This past weekend only Cecilia was at the market. "Steve is farming," she'd said. One thing I really like about Let Us Farm is you can chat with Steve and Cecilia as they sell their produce. I'm not sure why but I tend to buy more at booths where the main farmer is the seller.

While I was waiting in line to buy white frills mizuna and Romaine lettuce, another long term market shopper remarked, "I was afraid Let Us Farm wouldn't come back this year."

And they nearly didn't come back, but their farm was saved by two enthusiastic interns who applied help on their farm this spring. A lot of market shoppers don't realize how difficult it can be to bring all this great produce to market. Farm labor is just one of the many issues.

The Future of the U-District Farmers' Market

Another farmer issue involves the fate of the U-District Market, a market that has helped sustain farms like Let Us Grow since 1993.

On Monday June 6th at 7pm at the University Heights Center for the Community, Room 104, Seattle Parks and Recreation and The University Heights Center for the Community invite the community to voice their opinions about the University Heights Open Space Project, a proposed new park where the farmer market is located. While the idea of a park is great, the proposed idea leaves a question about how farmers will be able to drive in and unload produce. Also the park is going to include a number of features and the farmers' market and the P-patch are just two of those features.

I'll be at this meeting with two of my market friends. I hope to see you there.

Farm to Church Connections

This photo was part of a slide show in my presentation at this amazing workshop at St. John's Episcopal Church in Snohomish. Because people are so visual and they connect to presenters in different ways, I prepared a slide show for my part in the workshop, but the thing is I'd actually never actually presented a slide show. So I went to the Mac store where a nice techie showed me how to do one. It looked so easy, I created the show and was lulled into thinking it would be a snap. What could go wrong? But once we got my MacBook connected to the projector, we all stared at a blank screen. Fifty-five people and we all waited until this young techie (about 17) arrived, and everyone breathed a collective sign of relief as he saved my show.

A number of people who attended this event recieve weekly CSA boxes from Erick Fritch of Chinook Farms during harvest season. Eric had a beaufiful table near the back of the room, with one of his unique wooden CSA boxes and great photos of his farm. Eric was born and raised in Snohomish and sells his produce primarily through his CSA, but he's also planning on selling at the Edmonds Farmers' Market this coming summer. CSA members come out to his farm to pick up their weekly boxes and sometimes these folks get harvest their own vegetables. "It's fun to watch kids pull a potato from the ground and see where their food really comes from," Eric told me.

Talking with Eric made me recall an interview I did with Jabrila Via of Winter Green Farm in Noti, Oregon when I was writing their farm's profile for The Northwest Vegetarian Cookbook. Jabrila had told me about a program in Eugene, Oregon called "That's My Farmer," a unique program that connects faith communities to farmers.

I wanted to share just a few of the many slides that I presented for this workshop. The picture at the top is Michael and Liz of Grouse Mountain Farm in Chelan and both it and the one below were taken at the U-District Market in Seattle.

This is Marilyn Lynn of Rama Farm at the U-District market this past fall. Why not slip some images of my farmers in first? I get Rama Farm's unique tree fruit CSA every year and I've already paid for this season, so I'm ready for Rama Farm peaches when the season arrives in August.

I also couldn't miss the opportunity to tell Nash Huber's story, just in case some people didn't know Nash instigated PCC Farmland Trust when Nash's neighbor's farm was slated for development. He's the only farmer from the Northwest and the only vegetable farmer to recieve the Land Steward of the Year award from American Farmland Trust. I also talked about why Nash's farm crew now also grows seed crops and grains. A local farm hero in Washington, Nash Huber also grows big sweet carrots that have become legendary.

I included photos of Oregon farms and I really like this picture taken Whistling Duck Farm in Grants Pass, Oregon. It really makes the word "hand-harvested" come alive. Many people forget a lot of work goes into bringing this vibrant fresh food to market.

It was my first slide show and I wasn't mortified, but some photos don't work at all on the big screen. I'll weed out the too dark photos for the next event. For comic relief and a few ahhhhh and wake-up moments I tossed in a few photos of my Cooking Assistant. He's a great prop with food because stares at everything like a wind up model.

I leave you with this one of Finn and my bottle of Dunbar Farms Red, produced by David Mostue of Dunbar Farms in Medford, Oregon, because after all, red wine has some health benefits and you can find so many standout varieites produced right here in the Northwest.
I was so inspired and enthused about this event, it was all I could talk about the rest of the day.

I hope other faith centers and churches pick up farm to community trend and help spread the word about locally grown produce from sustainable farms.

The Flavors of Winter from Ayers Creek Farm

Corn from Ayers Creek Farm has been on my mind since I visited the farm in the fall. I'd written about this farm in my book, and when saw all the winter beans, corn, and peppers drying. I knew I wanted to get some of these specialty foods at the winter Hillsdale market. I'd meant to go last year, but the season had slipped by and I didn't want to miss it this year..

So I drove to the market last Sunday. On the drive I couldn't help thinking I can't believe I'm driving to a Portland farmers' market. Is it too over-the-edge for good food? I met this blogger while waiting in line and she totally got it. Still, practical me felt a bit guilty. I rationalized that it was my holiday gift to myself, and boy did I treat myself right this year. Once I got there, I went a little crazy filling my bags with just about everything on their tables. But honestly, the Boutard's produce table offers some of the best market finds of the season.
When Anthony cut this unique sweet heirloom pumpkin into thick slices, I couldn't resist. At home I roasted and pureed it. I used part to make a rich-tasting soup, flavored with Holmquist hazelnut butter, Mama Lil's Peppers, garlic, and roasted tomato sea salt.
I also picked up some celeriac. I'd looked at it at the U-District and the price was high and the bulbs were small. "It was a hard year for celeriac," Carol Boutard told me. That damp cool spring again. . . What crop didn't it affect? She also mentioned that both celery and celeriac were heavy feeders, meaning they require lots of nutrients. It give me more appreciation for this homely bulb. I love to mash it with potatoes and add it to soups. Some people prefer grating it raw into salads. It has a mild celery like flavor and is simply heavenly.
Once I got home, my Cooking Assistant was ready to snap some photos. Clearly he's not overwhelmed with chickpeas, posole, black Basque beans, two varieties of polenta and Red Currant fruit spread. Not much of a scent with storables for the pantry, so I got out the fresh stuff for the boy.
Cooking Assistant quickly pointed out his favorite, and of course, there was one with his name on it. Check out the horseradish, sweet potatoes, and the giant sweet red cabbage. All these things made my trip a huge success. I brought home a goldmine of awesome vegetables.

Why not let yourself go this holiday season and indulge in the food of your dreams.

Growing Green Awards, My Nomination

Why not do something nice for a farmer you admire this season?

After seeing this display of freshly ground local flour at the Medford Farmers' Market last summer, I visited Dunbar Farms. I spent a morning talking to David Mostue on his 101 year-old family farm. I was so impressed with his approach to farming and his farm plan for the future, I decided to write an article about the farm, Mostue's link to the urban community and plans for his farm.

One thing after another came up and when I don't have an absolute deadline, these projects can get put off. Come on I'd tell myself, all I have to do is organize my notes, send off a few queries. But it all takes time, and time slipped by.

Perusing my email last month, I read about the NRDC Growing Green Awards, so I went to the Website, read the requirements for the nominees and thought about David Mostue, wondering if he'd fit the requirements. I'd have to sort through all my notes.

So that's what I did. I came away thinking, Mostue's farm plan could be a great model for a farm of the future. Mostue called it "beyond organic," and it's very green.

When I told David I wanted to nominate him, he said, "I'm too young and there are so many more deserving farmers." At 26, David is young for a farmer, but he's doing many innovative things on his farm and it's easy to see he's thought out his plans into the future.

The key was to do it in 250 words. Here are a few things I mentioned:

• Saves and grows his own seed, and uses less inputs because he grows only what his land supports--hay, vegetables, whole grains, beans and wine grapes. These are wheat berries set out on black plastic in the sun to dry. The wheat is then cleaned and sold as berries or ground into flour.

• Uses dry-land farm techniques to conserve water. Never used a pesticide or chemical fertilizer and is closing the loop using only on-farm generated inputs.

• Crop diversification is such that pests "can't generate enough steam to become a problem. In fact his crops are so diverse, David hopes to be a full service farm to a limited number of people instead of growing random crops for thousands of nameless customers. He'll have storables of plant-based proteins (beans) and carbohydrates (grains), as well as spring through fall vegetables and wine grapes. He has also added chickens (eggs) and goats (milk). Meat is also on the schedule for the future.

• Saves seed--Mostue has been reseeding grains and beans on larger scales and he'll eventually have enough to sell in his own community.

• Has plans to teach what he knows to gardeners and other farmers and also plans to offer his vintage Alli Chalmers combine as a farm service to other farms. Mostue spends hundreds of hours restoring vintage farm equipment for his farm and says there is lots of farm equipment rusting away in fields that can be restored by farmers. He uses draft horses for farm labor.

• Participates in the Rogue Valley farm to school program and also has a farm camp where urban children learn to grow, harvest, and cook food. He also participates in Farm to Fork dinners where community members attend dinners featuring all the food from his farm. Pasta made with durham wheat was on the menu last fall.

I forgot to mention this very cool passive solar house David is building, using many recycled materials.

I think I'm over my word count this time around and okay maybe there are farmers more deserving, and I'm not sure about my bullet outline for the nomination, but the whole thing was worth a shot. Besides, the real pay off for nominating someone for the Growing Green Awards is a great feeling.

Do something nice for someone today and discover the real gifts of the holiday season.

Getting Ready for Winter at Ayers Creek Farm

This past weekend was hectic but I'd been looking forward to stopping at Ayers Creek Farm where Tito rules the fields.

Two days before I visited Ayers Creek Farm, I drove to Portland and had lunch with my publishers, and after an overnight stay at a cheap motel, I had a cooking demo Saturday morning at the Portland farmers' market. Okay, I went obsessively early and shopped for myself briefly. I couldn't pass up the hearty guavas, figs. or the artichokes but as I went from booth to booth, I quickly discovered the abundant garlic at Seattle markets was non-existent in Portland and I needed it for one of the recipes I wanted to cook. Where were the garlic braids of fall? Are we that far apart in growing seasons? I found one farmer selling garlic at the market, so it was perfect for the Garlicky Greens. I'd actually picked the recipe because it called for lots of garlic, sauteed until it caramelized and turned sweet. Caramelized garlic tames bitter greens.

Anyway a fun cooking assistant, Allison Jones showed up to help with the demo and she was funny, energetic, bubbly, and totally self-confident. I got Allison's blog before I left. It just seems to be the first thing you ask anyone these days. With so many bloggers, it's hard to keep up with them all, but check out her blog and discover what drives this Portland foodie.

In Corvallis that afternoon, I did a meet and greet at the GrassRoots book store, then an evening of catching up with my amazing editor Lorraine Anderson, who graciously cooked a black bean and corn pizza from my book for me. I fell asleep early and like my Cooking Assistant might say, I slept like a puppy. The next morning I headed for Ayers Creek Farm in Gaston, Oregon.
I hadn't visited Ayers' Creek Farm since I interviewed Anthony and Carol for my book, in the summer of 2008. This time I'd get to see how Anthony and Carol prepare for the winter Hillsdale farmers' market. They're scheduled to sell there from December through February and corn or polenta is one of the products they bring. It's made from flint corn (above). Anthony takes it off the cob and grinds it. The polenta is mostly yellow with little flecks of red from the flint corn. (Freshly ground polenta. How cool is that? I'm dreaming about the sweet flavor already.)

Anthony is also busy drying beans. Most dried beans are machine harvested but the Boutards let the beans dry in pods on the plant for as long as possible, then the beans are all hand-harvested and laid on screens before they're separated from the pods. The beans and grains are placed on screens in a room with fans and a dehumidifier to keep them dry. Carol told me they're prone to mold if you just spread either beans or grains on plastic. "You could easily lose all the grains or beans if you don't have air circulation." she'd said.

Look close and you can see some of the black beans separate from the pods, here.


'Can you stay for lunch?" Carol asked. She didn't have to ask twice. I love their over-sized kitchen and the colorful shredded carrots and beets looked perfect. Carol stirred, a creamy cauliflower soup and when she brought out a loaf of crusty artisan bread, I was in heaven. The lightly curried creamy soup was perfect on such a beautiful sunny autumn day.

I spotted these hot peppers drying in the sun and I had to snap a quick photo. These will also be sold at the winter market.
We sat down to eat and in our conversation I discovered Anthony just wrote a book about corn--all phases of corn from baby corn to polenta. The book will be printed by Timber Press and it sounds like it will be available next spring. I'm putting Anthony's book on my wish list now, and I'll preorder a copy, that's how much I'd like to read a book by Anthony Boutard.
I couldn't stay long because it's a long drive from Gaston, Oregon to Edmonds and Anthony and Carol had to get back to autumn farm chores. I felt like I'd interrupted enough already. Carol had to wash pumpkins and Anthony had to get the wheat crop planted.

"Would you like a few tomatoes, before you go?" Carol asked. She told me the tomatoes would be great roasted and made into sauce for winter. I couldn't believe this generous offer. Our own tomato crop got blight and we lost every tomato plant. Tomatoes grown by the Boutards were a lovely gift. We rode out to the rows of tomatoes with Tito, who loves all aspects of farm life.
I was tired, so I confess that I listened to The Girl Who Played With Fire on the way home and I got sucked into the story and almost wanted to keep driving just find out what happened to Lizbeth Salander.

My Cooking Assistant was so impressed with the box of tomatoes and peppers from one of my favorite farms. People who live in Portland--you are so lucky to have such great farmers like the Boutards!

A Sad Farewell to Many Hands Blueberries

I miss "Many Hands Blueberries," grown at Cascadian Farm near Rockport, Washington for so many years and sold to PCC Natural Markets. This blueberry eulogy is for those delictable gems we may never see in PCC Natural Markets again.

This excerpt comes from PCC Natural Markets' Sound Consumer in 2005:

I can’t imagine one summer going by without enjoying an abundance of sweet, delectable blueberries. One seductive berry after another on a sunny August afternoon, and before you know it, the entire pint is gone. This is heaven.

And the best thing for me about PCC in the middle of summer is the luscious showcase of fresh, organic blueberries in the produce aisle. When you purchase these juicy local treasures with the label “Many Hands,” you’re doing more than indulging in a dose of healthy antioxidants. Money spent on the berries circulates throughout our local economy, helping sustain the farm, the farmworkers and the environment in the most delicious way.

These incredible blue delights are farmed by Jim Meyer and his wife Harlyn, who is in charge of marketing, sales and special projects. To get to the farm, follow Highway 20 east as it twists along the scenic Skagit River through evergreen trees and luxurious greenery. Just about three miles past Rockport the vista opens to a breathtaking view.

Okay, I get excited about these berries in the summer and a month ago, I walked into PCC Natural Markets in Edmonds looking for these berries. When I didn't see them I was told Cascadian Farm was only selling their berries for juice. The farm is owned by Cascadian Farm and the Meyer's farmed managed it for the company. The farm had been doing fine a few years ago, and I just wanted to know what happened.

I wrote to the editor of Sound Consumer and never got an answer. It all made me more curious. What happened to Cascadian Home Farm?

I phoned the farm but couldn't reach farmer Jim Meyer for comment. A farmworker told me, Jim wasn't supposed to speak to anyone and that they sold fresh berries only at the farm stand. She said the decision to sell excess berries for juice was dictated by the parent company--Cascadian Farm, which is owned by General Mills. The world's sixth largest food company isn't without it's own problems.

The farmworker told me it was the last weekend to pick or purchase fresh berries from the farm stand, so that's where we went on Sunday.

The drive was worth it because these blueberries sing in your mouth. Just squeeze a mouthful of berries and let the juice spurt--they're perfectly sweet with an amazing blueberry flavor. Close your eyes and eat one at a time, and it's blueberry heaven. I was dreaming about them on the drive.

It's a long drive to Rockport, and I convinced myself that I was entitled when I ordered blueberry shortcake. I asked the young farmstand worker about the blueberries at PCC Natural Markets and asked what happened to "Many Hands." She shook her head, moving from foot to foot,looking uncomfortable, so I dropped it and she said, "I don't know anything about that."

If I hadn't noticed a farm box with the name "Many Hands" written on the outside above the blueberries with half a flat, I might have questioned my own sanity. It was as if the "Many Hands" brand disappeared and no one admitted remembering it.

I wonder how PCC could let a good thing die and not acknowledge it? PCC had stocked blueberries from Wilt Farms in Corvallis 275 miles away. I just didn't get it.

Left to draw my own conclusions, I realized PCC Natural Markets also stocks plenty of Cascadian Farm and other General Mills products. General Mills bought big in the organic sector. Have some Muir Glen tomatoes with your pasta, then turn over a can of frozen juice and see which country it comes from. Examine the bag of frozen fruit and see if you find a country of origin. Some might call it a conflict of interests. I get it, but why would General Mills decide to sell the berries for juice?

At the market last Saturday, I posed the question to Wade Bennett of Rockridge Orchards who stared at me and then said, "The cost of farm labor makes it cheaper to sell berries for juice."

People are willing to pay for labor but companies are still seeking profits, and machine harvest costs less than picking by hand for the fresh market. Maybe I just have to vent sometimes but I miss Many Hands Blueberries in local stores.