I wish I could adequately describe the scent rising up from our seed/grow room. This time of year is full of dehydrators whirring away. The delicious smell is tickling my nose with its complex perfume of sweet and tangy plums and peaches, laying in gorgeous layers, gently drying in anticipation of our future need for a taste of the summer sun, come mid-winter.

Here’s the latest news for August: The summer has sped along like the newly proposed bullet train from Vancouver to Portland. Our OCPA crew worked hard and with a lot of kindness in the high heat of the late afternoon, weeding, watering, and harvesting the goodness in Westfield. The bounty is mighty this year and a lot of wonderful produce, fruit, and flowers are ready or ripening. The farmstand will be full of goodness this afternoon!

The Wednesday and Friday weekly vendors markets are going really well. We truly appreciate the local support! We are seeing a lot of our island friends, new islanders, and more visitors than we have in the past. We think it's due to having joined the Orcas Chamber of Commerce and the San Juan Island Visitors Bureau this year.

The sheep are happy in the field, we had two of our duck hens go broody and have hatched some adorable ducklings. We are hoping that our egg production will get back into normal range soon. We have pork and lamb available. Great news, we have been made provisional members of IGFC (Island Grown Farmers Cooperative), so we can count on select slaughter dates for our livestock. Next year we plan on having pigs again. If you are interested in a larger meat order, please let us know so we can accommodate your needs.

We just hosted a regenerative agriculture farm tour for the San Juan Ag Guild. It was small but wonderful. We are super excited about gearing up the upcoming big Orcas Farm Tour for three days September 29, 30 & October 1st. We will have a big harvest celebration with apple and pear pressing demonstrations, market garden tours, PLUS our wonderful vendors, artists, makers, a Fall plant pop-up, and a Maker’s Guild event on Saturday. It’s going to be a blast!

We have new larger items available in our Summerhouse, lovely antique shaker furniture, some wonderful design items, handmade quilts, antique dolls from a client's collections, a child's ice cream table and chairs, and a carousel horse. Plus new treasures in Barn Swallow Vintage. Our consignment partnerships are a wonderful addition. If you have items you want to sell through us, please reach out!

The event area has grown! Joel and I got some used culvert from our friends at Island Excavation and filled in the trench between the meadow and the south greenhouse. It’s so exciting to see the change. We will now be able to host larger events. We are also in the process of smoothing out the space in front of The Summerhouse and Hearth area to plant grasses and beds this fall. By next Spring we will be ready to host weddings, life events, classes and music.

We know it’s WAY early, but we are already in the planning stages of our second annual Winter Faire pop-up. We will hold it November 30th - December 3rd. If you want to join us as a maker, artist, or food vendor, please get in touch with Annie. The theme this year is a Vintage Village Winter Celebration.

It feels awkward to ask, but here we go! We are looking for some help in a few areas: We started a new fridge and freezer campaign last month for a glass-fronted refrigerator and freezer for the farmstand. We’ve had one super generous donation (thank you!!!), but require more donations to meet our goal. Our poor farm freezer froze its little door shut today. The sweet old thing is ready to retire. If you have $5 to spare or $500, we’d appreciate your help to get an efficient set that you’ll be able to see into, before you choose delectable delights from our farm. You can help HERE:

We also need help with website and marketing upgrades. We need to add Ecommerce to our site be able to sell all year long, and interface with Squarespace and Square. We need to add a bookable calendar for events and classes, plus add custom signs to The Summerhouse, and driveway. I’ve reached out to a few local companies and have not heard back . Who do you know that can assist us?

Thanks for reading this far! We so appreciate you and your support of Warm Valley Farm,

All the best to you and yours,

Annie & Joel