PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson County Farm Tour is back for its 14th year to celebrate the county’s many farms with a self-guided tour and plenty of events.
“Every year, we bring thousands of people to Jefferson County to experience a working farm,” said Aba Kiser, the event coordinator for farm tour.
Connect with food
“We really want to connect people with where their food comes from and strengthen bonds between local farms and the local community.”
The festivities kick off tonight with a Honky Tonk and Pie Party starting at 6 and running until 10 at the Chimacum Grange at 9572 Rhody Drive.
The event is free and all ages are invited to come enjoy live music played by the Three Chords and the Truth band.
Slices, whole pies
There will be slices and whole pies for sale from such local vendors as Farm’s Reach Cafe, Crust Pies and Pane d’Amore.
Attendees can also win pies in a pie walk, which takes place throughout the evening, and pie-eating contests will be offered.
Also planned are activities for youngsters as well as a beer garden for the 21-and-older crowd with beer, wine and cider from Port Townsend Brewing Co., Finnriver and Marrowstone Vineyards, among others.
The tour itself will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Visitors can tour 13 working farms, taste what those farms produce and enjoy live music and education activities.
Tickets for the farm tour are available at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-jeffcofarmtour. However, the tour is open to the public with a suggested donation of $10 per car.
All donations go toward the Small Farms Program at Washington State University’s Jefferson County Extension.
Now a combined event with the Fiber Tour, this year’s farm tour will highlight fiber, cider and oysters, which are just a few of the many products that come out of Jefferson County’s farms.
On the tour for this year is Wilderbee Farms, Rosebud Ranch and Fiber Studio, Onatrue Farm, Alpenfire Cider, One Straw Ranch, WSU Twin Vista Ranch with Organic Seed Alliance, Marrowstone Vineyards, Sunfield Farms and Waldorf School, SpringRain Farm, Finnriver Orchard and Cider Garden and Chimacum FARM Collaborative, Short’s Family Farm, Compass Rose Farms and The Dirt Rich School and Taylored Fibers.
You can learn more about each farm and what they produce by heading to the farm tour website.
Some of the farms will also be providing kids activities, goods for sale and food to eat in addition to their tours.
The full list of farms, what they will be hosting and when they will be open can be found at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-jeffcofarmtour.
“It’s going to be a great event,” Kiser said. “There’s a little rain forecasted for the weekend, but you can only plan so much, so maybe we’ll just get lucky.”
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 5550, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
