SEQUIM — It’s a multi-course feast befitting the fall harvest.
The 19th annual Clallam County Farm Tour will feature doe-eyed Jersey cows, fresh apple cider, U-pick pumpkins and country blues today (Saturday).
“We like to open the farm to people who’ve never been,” said Ann Johnson, co-owner with her husband, Steve, of the Lazy J Tree Farm, the westernmost stop on the tour.
Despite the name, Lazy J is a bustling spot.
Today, hay wagons will ferry people across the fields, the North Olympic Peninsula Beekeepers’ Association will demonstrate honey-harvesting and chef Steve McCabe will make lunch from the farm’s produce, which ranges from apples and Asian pears to potatoes, leeks and garlic.
And as always, there will be a giant sand pile dotted with toy trucks and shovels for younger visitors.
Seven stops on tour
Lazy J is one of seven locations open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for this year’s self-guided circuit.
People pay one price per carload at any participating farm and then proceed at their own pace to as many stops as they like.
The price: $10, like last year, no matter how many are in your vehicle.
“We’ve had people come in 15-person vans, packed to the gills,” said Clea Rome, director of Washington State University’s Clallam County Extension, a co-host of the tour.
Those vanloads are fine with her, as are flocks of children headed for the kids activities.
Rome also encourages bicyclists; they get in free to all stops.
WSU Extension Clallam County sponsors the tour with the North Olympic Land Trust, which has worked with four locations — Lazy J, Nash’s Organic Produce, the Dungeness Valley Creamery and Freedom Farm — to preserve working farmland in perpetuity.
“Each farm has its own distinct flavor,” Rome said, be it Jardin du Soleil, a tranquil spread, or Nash’s, which has a community barn dance tonight for an additional $10 fee.
Here’s the tour lineup.
■ Lazy J Tree Farm, 225 Gehrke Road in Agnew, will offer hayrides, live music, children’s activities, newly pressed apple cider and other fresh produce, and, new this year, a photo booth in front of the barn.
■ Agnew Farm Store, a new tour stop at 2863 Old Olympic Highway, Agnew, will have a U-pick pumpkin patch, live music, Johnston Farms fresh produce stand, a small petting zoo, big antique tractors on display and sandwiches for purchase from Olympic Bagel Co.
■ Freedom Farm, 493 Spring Road, Agnew, houses a natural-horsemanship school where today’s activities will include horse skits, demonstrations, horse-tail decorating and pony rides.
■ Dungeness Valley Creamery, 1915 Towne Road, Sequim, is home to a herd of 60 jersey cows. Hayrides, a petting zoo, milking parlor tours, butter-making and yogurt-making classes, and food for purchase from Curbside Bistro and Viking Ice Cream await.
■ Nash’s Organic Produce, 4681 Sequim-Dungeness Way, Sequim, will offer packing-shed, greenhouse and field tours during the day.
Then comes the community potluck with gypsy swing music by Eric Bogart, open to all at 6 p.m., followed by the barn dance with country-blues band Blue Rooster at 7:30 p.m.
Adults will pay $10 admission at the dance, where the North Olympic Land Trust will sell beer and wine. Children younger than 16 will be admitted free.
All net proceeds from the dance will go to the Seattle Neighborhood Farmers Market “Good Farmer Fund,” an emergency relief fund that benefits small farms suffering the effects of drought and fires in the state in 2015.
For more information, phone Patty McManus at 360-681-6274, email patty@nashsorganicproduce.com or visit www.nashsorganicproduce.com.
■ Five Acre School, 515 Lotzgesell Road, Sequim, invites farm tour-goers to see its natural playground and preserved wetland, take part in arts and crafts, shop the community bake sale and take the short walk to the nearby Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge.
■ Jardin Du Soleil lavender farm, 3932 Sequim-Dungeness Way, Sequim, is a 10-acre organic field of lavender, fruit trees, ponds and Victorian gardens.
It will have lavender demonstrations, a maze and hidden treasure for kids, bouquets from Annie’s Flower Farm, a seed-saving display and the Clallam Master Gardeners’ and Master Composters’ resource booths.
Pacific Pantry will sell soups and sausages made with local ingredients.
More information and a map of the tour can be found at http://clallam.wsu.edu or by calling 360-417-2279.
________
Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
