Wine grapes, Arabian horses, wool-spinning, apples, goats, dahlias: The Jefferson County Farm Tour has them all ready to see this Saturday and Sunday.
The circuit will have eight farms open for in-person visits and seven more featured in an online presentation, said Megan Claflin, the nonprofit Production Alliance’s farm tour coordinator.
Admission is a suggested donation of $10 per carload at any participating farm. More information is available at Farm Tour Central outside the Chimacum Corner Farmstand, 9122 Rhody Drive in Chimacum.
“This is a really beautiful time of year. The leaves are just starting to turn yellow, and the grapes are purple-black,” said Kit Africa, co-owner of Sailor Vineyard, one of the event’s Port Townsend locations.
He and his wife Claire will give guided tours of their organic operation.
“We only make one variety,” he said, and “we take the good stuff off the top.”
Sailor grows a cold-hardy French hybrid grape, the Marechal Foch, and adds no sulfites to the wines.
At Wilderbee Farm, also in Port Townsend, visitors can cut flower bouquets and stroll on the expanded nature trails, said co-owner Eric Reeter.
“We’ll have demonstrations of raw wool spinning,” he said, “and we have a new commercial essential oil still this year,” so people can see how Wilderbee lavender is distilled into oil.
“White Lotus Farm and Space Twins Provisions are new this year,” Claflin added.
“Definitely get out there and see them. They’ve done a lot of work on their property,” off Beaver Valley Road in Port Ludlow.
“I do encourage folks to get on down to Quilcene, and maybe start your day there,” she said, since the Quilcene Fair takes place at and around Quilcene School, 294715 U.S. Highway 101 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
Jacobs’ Fleece and Ananda Hill Farm & Fiber will have activities at their place on Quilcene’s Leland Valley Road, Claflin said.
She also emphasized two rules: At the farms, all visitors must wear face masks, and dogs should stay home.
The following locations open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, unless otherwise noted:
• Wilderbee Farm, 223 Cook Ave., Port Townsend, a family-run organic farm and meadery with you-pick flowers, British Soay sheep, mead tastings, live music and nature trails.
• Eaglemount Wine & Cider, 1893 S. Jacob Miller Road, Port Townsend, on the 1883 homestead farm and 130-year-old heirloom apple orchard.
• Sailor Vineyard, 1673 Woodland Drive, Port Townsend, a 3-acre spread with French hybrid grapes and sulfite-free, unfiltered wines.
• Red Hen Food Bank Garden at RainCoast Farm, 12224 Airport Cutoff Road, Port Townsend, a volunteer-run garden, 900-square-foot greenhouse, orchid house and composting center.
• Sunfield Biodynamic Farm, 111 Sunfield Lane, Port Hadlock, with guided walking tours at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. both days and self-guided tours all day.
• Finnriver Farm & Cidery, 124 Center Road, Chimacum, open from noon to 9 p.m. both days with cider tastings, farm tours, local food carts, live music and partners’ booths including the Organic Seed Alliance, North Olympic Salmon Coalition and Jefferson Land Trust.
• White Lotus Farm and Space Twin Provisions, 3723 Beaver Valley Road, Port Ludlow, where vegetables, flowers, sourdough bread, heritage chickens, Romney sheep, pigs and goats await visitors.
• Jacobs’ Fleece and Ananda Hill Farm & Fiber, 3940 Leland Valley Road West, Quilcene, has Shetland sheep, a fiber marketplace, and spinning and knitting demonstrations.
In addition, a free virtual farm tour awaits visitors at GetontheFarm.org. Participating farms include:
• Arabians at Egg & I, a horse farm with purebred mares and foals in Chimacum;
• Compass Rose Farms & the Dirt Rich School, a 40-acre biodiverse operation and permaculture school in Port Townsend;
• Hopscotch Farm and Cannery, a 1/3-acre microfarm and pantry in Port Townsend;
• Kodama Farm & Food Forest, a regenerative farm with a geodesic dome greenhouse in Chimacum;
• Natembea Farm Cooperative, a 97-acre spread on the edge of Port Townsend;
• One Straw Ranch, a family-run operation in Nordland;
• Sweet Seed Flower Farm, a chemical-free farm in Port Townsend.
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Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladailynews.com.
