Monday, November 22, 2010

Open for Business


When I first moved to Vashon, I lived in a small apartment on the West side of the island. It was surrounded by ponds, frequented by Kingfishers and Herons, and the Bullfrogs filled the night air with their amorous croaking. The foraging opportunities amongst the hedgerows and woodlands seemed to be limitless, so I was quite content. 

When we eventually got round to buying our own place, we moved to the North end of the Island, a much more built up area, and I can remember my first night struggling to get to sleep without my Bullfrog chorus.
As we got to know our new neighborhood, we found lots of similar places to walk, including down to a sandy beach studded with Moon Snail shells, so our initial worries faded with every new place to explore. At the end of our street, there is an old farm. It had been neglected in recent years on account of the farmer getting too old to manage the upkeep. He did have a spectacular orchard though, and we'd picnic under the apple and pear blossoms in the spring, and pick the fruit in the fall to go with our cheese. The snow capped Olympic mountains rose up from the shimmering water of the Puget Sound making this little picnic site one of the most spectacular on the Island.

You can imagine our dismay when we saw a "for sale" sign go up on the entrance to the farm. It didn't take long before the new owners started to fence off the property, and close off the path through the long grass that the farmer used to keep cut for us all to enjoy. It was too painful to go down that way, so we avoided it for a couple of months and sulked at our loss. 
When we did take a walk past the farm to get to the beach a few months later, we noticed that the farm  house had been painted, the barns fixed, the fences mended, and the fields were filled with cattle, sheep, pigs and chickens. By this time, legend Jnr. was about 1 year old, so I'd take him down to see the animals. The new owner invited us in to feed the chickens and to help with milking the cows. 

There's a lesson here somewhere, but I'll let you figure it out yourselves.

I mention this, as it was the 2nd anniversary of their farm shop and restaurant in Vashon town center, where they hosted a party last night. Spit roasted pork, smoked chicken, Lamb Koftas, and all sorts of pates and cheeses, washed down with copious amounts of their own Meritage wine. 
I propped up the makeshift bar and indulged in savoury meat pies, a rarity in these parts, while legend Jnr. and Adella, the owners lovely daughter, played hide and seek amongst the legs of the very happy crowd.

They supply many of the restaurants and farmers' markets around the Seattle area, and of course, sell their produce at their successful little Boucherie, which is now, and I hope always," Open for business".

1 comment:

  1. Dear Legend, what a shame you lost your picnic spot! The farm owners sound like they have it sorted and the food sounds wonderful.

    Hope all's good with you and your roof is coming along. Thank you for your delightful comments, you're very kind xx

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