SEQUIM — In celebration of the local harvest that’s filling Thanksgiving tables across the North Olympic Peninsula, Nash’s Farm Store has a brightly colored display highlighting relationships among the people who grow, make and bake local foods.
The display, an expression of gratitude for the growers, is at Nash’s, 1873 E. Anderson Road, through early December.
It’s designed to show visitors who local farmers are and to share their stories, said Patty McManus-Huber, co-owner of Nash’s Organic Produce, the Dungeness farming operation that runs the store.
The handmade exhibit by Doug and Beverly Goldie of Blyn and Margie Diffner of Sequim features a map of the bio-region, with photos of and interviews with its small-scale food producers.
This network of growers stretches across the Olympic Peninsula and extends throughout the Northwest, McManus-Huber added.
“Local Sequim-based businesses are at the heart of it all, including Barbolian Fields, Bell Street Bakery, Botanical Touch, Burkhardt’s Herb Garden, Charlie Marr, Fairaview Farm, Green Weave Farm, Kol Simcha Farm, Miss Bee Haven, Practical Plants and Sailing ‘S’ Orchards,” she said.
Those farms produce an array of popular foods, from lamb and eggs to garlic and honey.
Locally roasted coffee, apples, potatoes and other vegetables come to the farm store from Port Angeles producers, including Johnston Farms, Lazy J Tree Farm and Princess Valiant Coffee.
Port Townsend and Chimacum are represented, too, with Bob’s Bagels, Mount Townsend Creamery, Pane d’Amore and Wildwood Farms offering their fresh goods at the store.
Hot-weather vegetables and fruits, such as nectarines, eggplants and melons, come in from organic farms on the other side of the Cascades.
This east-side network includes family farms such as Alvarez Farms in Mabton, Anderson Farm in Othello, Brownfield Orchard, Jerzy Boyz Farm and PDQ Farms of Chelan, and Inaba Farms and Sunnyslope Ranch of Wapato.
“We are so grateful for this amazing community of people,” said Cheryl Sarno, manager of the farm store.
“We support each other and work toward being sustainable while we put healthy food onto people’s tables.
“That’s the important part.”
The products from farms across the Peninsula and state share space at the store with more than 100 varieties of veggies, fruit and grains grown by Nash’s Organic Produce.
Founder Nash Huber and his staff work some 400 acres, much of it leased from other landowners, across the Dungeness Valley.
“The farm works because of customers. They’re No. 1,” Huber said.
His operation is thriving after some 30 years, he added, “all because people believe in us and trust us to grow food for them.
“We’re grateful for that trust.”
Nash’s Farm Store is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.
The store can be reached at 360-683-4642.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
