Harvest Schedule

My main harvest days are currently Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The transplant crew works on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so we focus on getting plants in the ground on those days. Harvest days will increase as produce does. I hope you got to enjoy the cauliflower! It was late this year, but worth the wait! Below is a picture of the lettuce being soaked before it gets transplanted out into the field.

2023 Farm Experiments

Every season, we try new things in hopes of increasing efficiency and becoming better farmers. Some ideas stick, some are quickly forgotten and some we still laugh about. This season, I am most excited to try living pathways! We spend way to much time and energy trying (and usually failing) to maintain pathways. This past winter, I read an article by a farmer who mows their paths with a battery operated lawn mower! In addition to being easier than the long list of things we have tried, leaving roots in the soil increases soil health and reduces erosion. We are also trying wider beds, which means less pathways.

Ongoing Farm Improvements

I am continuing my transition to a reduced tillage farm and incorporating more regenerative farming practices. You may have seen me using a walk behind tractor in the fields. This is used to flail mow old crops and cover crops (chops them into tiny pieces, so they decompose quickly in the field) and power harrow which makes a nice seeds bed without tilling.

Where else you can find my produce?

Stocking my farm stand is my number one priority, but you can find my produce in a few other places. I will be a vendor at the Stanwood Farmer’s Market on Fridays starting in July. The Skagit Table cooks up grab and go meals at a brand new location in Mount Vernon. They used my cauliflower and will be using other produce as I have more to offer. Scratch Cooking is a prepared meal delivery service to Camano Island and parts of Stanwood. Chef Paul has been using my produce in many of his meals. I encourage you to check out both of these great chefs and it’s a great way to eat my produce without having to prepare the meal yourself!

Farm to Table Event on June 15th

Chef Courtney of The Skagit Table (formerly of Rainbow Eats) will create another of her incredible farm to table events. Her June 15th dinner will be hosted here on the farm. Chef Courtney creates a one of a kind eating experience and sources all produce and protein for the meal from local farmers. A farm tour is included! For more information and to purchase tickets, click here for her website. 

Thank you!

I greatly appreciate all of you for your support and for shopping at my farm stand!! The local food system is more important than ever right now. I would not be here without you! Farming on Camano brings me joy and keeps my life very interesting!

-Farmer Rachel

Happy 2023! My 9th season farming on Camano Island and 10 years since I started farming!! Here’s a quick farm update:

It’s still pretty cold, but the days are getting longer, so I am confident spring is nearly here! The first harvest of 2023 will be Sunday, March 5th!! There will be a few harvests during the early spring, then will become more regular as the season gets going and we will be harvesting daily by June. Click here for a link to my website where I update what’s in the farm stand every day. Early spring crops include spinach, cabbage, kale and leeks. Later in the spring, I anticipate arugula, cauliflower, purple broccoli and more!

Vegetable Starts for your Garden

I will be growing starts to sell again this season! Lettuce, kale, peas, and rainbow chard will be available in April. Tomatoes, zucchini, winter squash, cucumbers and pumpkins will be available by May. No need to special order, I will have plenty, but if you are looking for something not on this list, let me know and I might have some extras I can pot up for you. Starts will be available in the farm stand until early June. 

Spring Happenings:

Brrr…it keeps snowing! Thankful for my greenhouses and hardy overwinter crops!

Onions and shallots were seeded a couple weeks ago and lettuce and other greens are gaining size.

Here I am happy to be done getting the pea trelis up and seeds in the ground!!

Thank you!!

I greatly appreciate all of you for your support and for shopping at my farm stand!! The local food system is more important than ever right now. I would not be here without you! Farming on Camano brings me joy and keeps my life very interesting!

Farmer Rachel

Harvest Update

Summer has finally arrived!! Personally, I much prefer the cooler weather, but my crops have been enjoying the sunny, warmer weather. We are starting to harvest tomatoes and cucumbers, they always start slowly, but hopefully we will be getting more quantity soon! The green beans are getting very close (I ate a small one yesterday), so watch for those to start showing up in the farm stand in the next week or so. The zucchini is still mad about the cold spring. The plants are not recovering well, so cross your fingers they will start to produce soon! I do update my website daily, so click here to see what produce is available.

We are busy turning over beds and transplanting fall and overwinter crops. It often feels that life on the farm is living a season ahead. My goal is to keep the farm stand open until Thanksgiving. I am really hoping for good growing weather through the fall to make up for the challenges of this past spring. Every year is different and there is never a shortage of lessons learned in farming!!

Farm To Table Dinners

Chef Courtney of Rainbow Eats does a truly amazing job creating these events from all locally produced goods including all the meal ingredients, the flowers and all of the table decorations. These events are a great way to meet new people, eat good food and support many locally owned small businesses. The last dinner included ingredients, flowers and other goods from 16 local businesses! 

We have two more dinners scheduled this year on August 13th and October 8th. On Friday, September 29th, there will be a happy hour on the farm featuring heavy appetizers. For more information and to purchase tickets, click here for Rainbow Eats website. If you cannot make these dates, Chef Courtney has additional dates at other farms on her website. I highly recommend anything Courtney is involved in!! 

Thank you!!! I greatly appreciate all of you for your support and for shopping at my farm stand!! The local food system is more important than ever right now. I would not be here without you! Farming on Camano brings me joy and keeps my life very interesting!

If you want more about what we are up to here on the farm, find me on Facebook and/or Instagram under Island Harvest Farm.

Stay Safe and Healthy out there!!
Rachel

-Harvest Schedule Update

-2022 Farm To Table Dinners

Harvest Schedule Update

As I am sure you have noticed, it has been colder and wetter than usual!! My overwintered crops survived and kept the farm stand stocked February through April and we have been waiting (sorta) patiently for the new spring crops. The rainbow chard is loving this weather, the lettuce mix is back and peas are starting to ripen! Slowly, but surely the stand will be more stocked in the coming weeks. I do update my website daily, so click here to see what produce is available.

Thank you for your patience and for supporting local farmers through this challenging spring!!

Farm To Table Dinners

Farm to Table Dinners are back! Chef Courtney of Rainbow Eats does a truly amazing job creating these events from all locally produced goods including all the meal ingredients, the flowers and all of the table decorations. These events are a great way to meet new people, eat good food and support many locally owned small businesses. 

The first dinner is in two weeks on June 25th! Click here for more information and to purchase tickets. 

More dates will be announced soon!

Thank you!!!

I greatly appreciate all of you for your support and for shopping at my farm stand!! The local food system is more important than ever right now. I would not be here without you! Farming on Camano brings me joy and keeps my life very interesting! 

Current Harvest Schedule The farm stand is still open 7 days a week, but I am mainly harvesting on Mondays and Thursdays. Click here for a link to my website where I update what’s in the farm stand every day. The farm stand will remain open until at least Thanksgiving and will re-open in 2022 as soon as I have produce to sell, usually this is sometime around late February/early March, but it has been different every year so far… Overwintering Brassicas (cauliflower cabbage, kale, purple broccoli) Overwintering spinach has germinated inside a greenhouse What’s in the Farm Stand? Right now there is still lots of Romanesco! Such a gorgeous vegetable and great flavor too (similar to cauliflower, but with a slight nuttiness to it). I either steam it or roast it. Dry beans are still available, mostly the Rockwell variety. Rockwell beans were brought to Coupeville over on Whidbey in the 1800s and are known to be a great baking bean with a creamy texture. I still have plenty of delicata squash, shallots and yellow onions! You might also find: cabbage, kale, turnips, leeks, spaghetti squash, acorn squash, kohlrabi and maybe a few others things…  Romanesco Delicious Delicata Need Recipe Ideas? Dishing up the Dirt is a GREAT website for recipes and is organized by vegetable! So if you are looking for a new way to eat your delicata besides just cutting into half moon shapes and roasting it, click here for winter squash recipes. The other website that I have been using a lot lately is the Minimalist Baker. Many of the recipes here are one pot, easy and packed with flavor! Need Gift Ideas? The holidays are heading our way and there are always birthdays, anniversaries and other reasons to give gifts! Did you know you can purchase farm stand credit to give as a gift?! Contact me at 360-618-2813 or islandharvestfarm@gmail.com and we can set it up. I can take credit cards over the phone and also venmo and paypal. The dry beans are also a great gift! Rockwell Beans Comments/Suggestions/Questions? This is the time of year I try to learn how to be a better farmer and plan for next season. Feel free to send an email to islandharvestfarm@gmail.com with suggestions of things to grow or any other suggestions and comments or questions about the farm.  Thank You!!! I was deeply honored to recently be nominated for 2021 Business Woman of the year. I love being a farmer and providing seasonal, healthy options for your meals and snacks. Thank you so much for all your support and for shopping at my farm stand!! I would not be here without all of you! Farming on Camano brings me joy and keeps my life very interesting! If you are interested in more frequent updates on what we are up to here on the farm, find me on Facebook and/or Instagram under Island Harvest Farm! I attempt to keep an updated list of what is available in the farm stand on my website: https://camanoislandharvest.com/farm-stand/ Stay Safe and Healthy out there!! Rachel Farm Stand address: 825 Arrowhead Road, Camano Island

Spring is Around the Corner!

My life is closely tied to the seasons, so the darkness of winter is when I get a chance to slow down and rejuvenate mentally and physically from the bright and energetic days of summer. There is still plenty of weeding to be done, winter projects to complete and farm planning to fill the short daylight hours, but over the past couple months I have also done lots of yoga, watched lots of football and read lots of books (some for fun and some to learn from). Now I am super excited that spring is around the corner!

Upcoming Harvest Update

I do need to turn over beds in my new greenhouse, which means I will be harvesting for the farm stand on February 3rd! The stand will be stocked mid-afternoon this Wednesday with mustard greens, bok choy, beets, and a few other things. My overwinter crops include cauliflower, purple broccoli, cabbage, leeks and spinach. The spinach will be ready later in February and the rest will be available later in the spring. 

I am not yet on a harvest schedule, but hope to soon be harvesting a couple days a week and eventually will be harvesting 7 days a week through the main part of the season.  I update availability on my website each day. I will also post on Instagram and Facebook on larger harvest days throughout the spring. 

Conatctless Payment Options

I am adding contactless payment options to make sure you all feel safe in the farm stand and to make paying easier. If you like the cash or check system, do not worry, I still happily accept cash and check! Here are the three contactless payment options I have for this season:

PayPal – I now have PayPal with a QR code. There is a sticker on the pay box with the QR code. Through the PayPal App, you scan the code, enter your payment amount and then send payment. You can also find my profile on PayPal by searching my phone number 360-618-2813 or my email islandharvestfarm@gmail.com

Zelle – Same as last year, you can pay me through the Zelle app and find me with my email address: islandharvestfarm@gmail.com

Venmo – I also accept Venmo. My user name is: @Rachel-Pigott-2

Farm Stand Credit Notebook

The farm stand credit notebook has become cumbersome. The binder is not going away, so if that system is working for you, then keep using it as you always have in the past!

In addition to adding contactless payment options that do not require you to always have exact change, I am also offering to set up a Google Sheet for you to use, meaning you can skip the binder all together! Please contact me if you would like to try out this option. I will set up a google sheet for you that only you and I will have access to. If you get the Google Sheets App, then you can access it directly from your phone while you are in the farm stand. I am not the most tech savvy person, so let me know if you have questions or trouble using these new options and we can work through it together!

New Greenhouse!!

My newest greenhouse, meant for shoulder season production, was constructed last October! This greenhouse is 30′ x 75′, so it provides quite a bit of space to extend my growing season. On Monday, I will be seeding my first round of flats to be transplanted into this greenhouse! My hope is that I will now have lettuce and a few other crops earlier than in past seasons!!

Inside the new greenhouse, there are currently two beds of mustard greens that will be harvested next week for the farm stand. A bed of spinach that will be harvested throughout the spring and 3 beds that have already been turned over with compost added to them!  

Vegetable Starts for your Garden

I will be growing starts to sell again this year! No need to special order them, I will have plenty. If you would like to receive an email when the starts are available in the farm stand, let me know by replying to this email. Lettuce, Kale, and Swiss Chard will be available late April. Tomatoes, zucchini, winter squash, cucumbers and pumpkins will be available early May. Starts will be available in the farm stand until early June. 

Thank you!!!I greatly appreciate all of you for your support and for shopping at my farm stand!! The local food system is more important than ever right now. I would not be here without you! Farming on Camano brings me joy and keeps my life very interesting! 

This week, I wrote a guest blog post for the NW Healthy Mama website. Since, I am thinking about my fall/winter harvests, that is what I wrote about! In the interest of time efficiency, instead of writing a separate blog for my website, I am just adding the link here to to that post. It is a fun website to explore!!

http://nwhealthymama.com/2015/07/saturday-garden-tour-welcome-to-island-harvest-farm/

Happy Fresh Veggie Time!!

Never a dull day on the farm!

The greens and radishes are done in the hoop house. Today, dad and I started clearing and preparing the beds to get ready for…TOMATOES!! The tomatoes are ready for more space and a new home! We hope to have them transplanted into the hoop house by the end of the week!

Thanks to a grant from the HumanLinks Foundation, I now have an automated irrigation system! No more watering entire fields like this…

The system was delivered in a bunch of boxes

Little by little, those boxes of parts disappeared!

    

Many wonderful people have helped with farm projects in May! If you are interested in volunteering, please contact me!

My brother and my 3 year old nephew helped make the parking lot!

My mom, grandma and great aunt helped seed flats!

The RISE Now Seattle Chapter spent a day building beds, transplanted some lettuce and then we had the first BBQ of the year!

Ben Laine fills in from time to time as the Island Harvest Weekend Farm Manager, allowing me to leave the farm without having to worry about my baby plants drying out in the propagation greenhouse!

My dad works on the farm everyday! I am so thankful for his unwavering support, his expertise and the chance to spend my days with him creating this farm!

The farm stand is Open! It is starting slowly, but will fill up as the weather warms up! Watch the signs by the road for an idea of what is in the farm stand!

Last, but not least, it turns out that I now have a gorgeous clematis!