The Herbfarm Restaurant in Woodinville, WA, is world-renowned. Among the many awards and accolades from publications like Gourmet and Bon Appetit, National Geographic named it NUMBER ONE destination restaurant in the world in its book The 10 Best of Everything, an Ultimate Guide for Travelers.
The restaurant has its own farm, so that it has a consistent supply of fresh herbs and veggies. But founders Carrie Van Dyck and Ron Zimmerman also like to keep their staff attuned to the best ingredients from their region, so they take them on annual three-day retreats to visit agricultural areas in the Pacific Northwest, visiting local restaurants and farms. Last weekend, they took in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley.
They visited local producers, including the Dungeness Valley Creamery, Lazy J Tree Farm, Johnston Farms, and River Run Farm (where your lettuce comes from). They dined at the Alder Wood Bistro, Nourish and Pacific Pantry, all restaurants that patronize local farms. And they got a tour of Nash’s farm.
We showed them the Delta Farm, which is so critical to our grain, seed and livestock operations; the packing shed; our milling operation; and the Farm Store. They were quite excited about the fresh-milled flours, because small farms usually don’t have the infrastructure required for grains. They also were interested in our eventual pressing of camelina seed for oil, and the importance of producing locally-adapted organic seed for many of the signature vegetables of our region.
In photo above, Nash chats with the Staff of the Herbfarm Restaurant. Co-founder Carrie Van Dyck is at right.