FARMSTAND OPENS SPRING 2025.
Why grow my own?
- Food was so much better when I grew up.
- I like healthy, fun and tasty (including lean bacon and berries).
- I don’t like eating plastic (e.g. in mass produced food).
- Need to know what I feed my family (no chemicals).
Air. Water. Soil.
Mount Rainier provides us with
- Pristine Air
- Crystal Clear Water
- Volcanic Loess and Silt
Old Fashioned Farming
Using old-world farming traditions, we grow the food we love.
This includes gooseberries, blackcurrants, and rhubarb.
Bacon and eggs are our most cherished products.
Visit our farmstand if you are in the area.
Bacon and Ham
The best bacon and ham come from Tamworths.
Tamworths are a rare breed, almost extinct.
Tamworths are foraging pigs.
We raise them from piglets, and they roam free.
Social
Our piglets are social, and they love to play.
Until they are ready to wean, they stay in the barn.
Foragers
Tamworths originate from Irish wild boars.
The sows have wonderful mother instincts.
Tamworths maintain their ability to forage for food.
We supplement their diet with grains and Yakima apples.
Hardy
Winters are harsh in the Mount Rainier foothills.
Our pigs stay outside and play in the snow.
We believe their ham and bacon are better for it.
Lean bacon
We raise to about 280 pounds for a lean ham and bacon.
Our USDA artisanal butcher accommodates special requests.
Coyote patrol
Wild coyote regularly show up in packs, attracted to our livestock.
Grown-up Tamworths will fend for themselves.
Piglets however, and our ducks and chickens, are vulnerable.
This is where our Great Pyrenee springs to action.
A family tradition
Our farm was homesteaded in the early 1800s.
It came to fame as a horse ranch in the early 1900s.
Eggs
Our free range eggs have been featured on cooking shows, including “Iron Chef”.
We regret we do not sell our eggs in Seattle at this time.
Check our farmstand for availability.
Antioxidant berries
We have planted a great variety of healthy berries:
- Blackberries
- Blueberries
- Boysenberries
- Aroniaberries
- Blackcurrants
- Redcurrants
- Gooseberries
- Kiwiberries
We keep the berries on the bushes until completely ripe.
Our berries are available
- fresh (summertime)
- frozen (year round)
- dehydrated (year round)
- old-style jam (year round)
Jam kitchen
We use traditional European family recipes.
The jam is slowly boiled in small batches.
Harvest, sorting, washing
First, we sort, gently clean, and wash the berries in stainless steel vats.
Gentle dehydration
Slowly dehydrated berries retain their flavor and antioxidants.
The berries are exposed to cool, filtered airflow for 7-10 days.
Berrysprinkles
Once dry, we coarsely mill the berries and fill into glass containers.
“Zero plastic” cellophane refill packs are also available.