Winter/Spring – 2017 (Article #2)
Though it may not be on the way from point A to B, finding Hidden Acres farm is a matter of seeking, just as the saying goes, “Seek and you shall find.” Meet the Simchuks – Nick, Caitlin, and their daughter Ariana. Nick is a 3rd generation Green Bluff farmer, and his family works hard to provide the community with quality food based upon their farm ethic to “give people the best quality fruit, nutrient dense fruit.” Actually, after getting to know him a bit better, I discovered that his farm ethic is really quite dirty. You see, his goal is to care for the soil, which in turn improves overall plant health. He’s using techniques like mulching below the trees with his tree prunings to help with water retention and inoculating with beneficial mycorrhizal fungi that help make nutrients available to trees and store more water. By starting dirty, he finishes with cleaner, fresher fruit.
Nick is passionate about his profession; he believes Green Bluff is special and believes the fruit is better here. Because he’s able to have super-small batches of multiple varieties of fruit, he’s able to harvest ON-TIME when fruit is fresh in season. Seasonal eating is less common now, but Nick wants to reconnect us with our ancestral traditions. He encourages families to come to the farm and discover what is seasonally available by offering U-Pick opportunities. Spring into the upcoming bounty with products like asparagus, morel mushrooms, and rhubarb. As the season continues, you can find berries, squash, peaches, plums, pears, apples and even fruit jams. Nick and his family want to get to know you, and he stated that “if we return to the model of families buying their fruit locally, a farm can be a community event center.”
Come out and support Hidden Acres – Nick, Caitlin, and Ariana. Let’s preserve the fruitfulness of Green Bluff farms by returning to the things that matter – finding the seasons in our lives to ripen relationships that make a difference. Instead of the big box store, take a little time to get your fruit from a small farm this year. Your dollars support farm families like the Simchuks as Nick so profoundly said to me, “It may just be pennies to the big stores, but I’m feeding my family with those pennies.” You can find Hidden Acres this year by visiting the farm website at www.hiddenacreswa.com. Or, better yet, go visit the farm at 16802 N. Applewood Lane in Green Bluff. I didn’t give Nick a penny for his thoughts that day, but his two cents made perfect sense.
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