Organic berries in Sequim

Dear Sequim and berry lovers,

As I love any kind of berries and Sequim is berry country, this post has been on my to-do list for a long time. So, let's forget for a moment our recent 'Sequim Real Estate Update August 2009'.

In summer 2006, we experienced the abundance of berries in Sequim and surroundings the first time. I don't mean the berries in the stores but I refer to fresh berries on the bushes. We discovered strawberries + raspberries at U-Pick Graysmarsh Berry Farm in June + July and blueberries in August + September. I felt in Berry Paradise but then I remembered that I had read many times that strawberries and raspberries are more prone to picking up any bad stuff from pesticides or herbicides.

After we had sold our house in Sun Meadows with our own blueberry and raspberry bushes, I went to Henery's Nursery and picked up a number of raspberry bushes for putting in at our new house. We were surprised to see all kinds of different raspberries ripening on our bushes last year, even sweet yellow raspberries. However, we faced a problem with the deer. All our houses on Oak Hill are former deer country. The deer don't know that we live now here and still roam around at night - motion lights don't disturb them at all - and even at bright daylight.

Keoki built a fishing line protection around our raspberry bushes this year and the deer really stayed away from 'frequently 'pruning' our raspberries by munching on the fresh sprouts. The deer don't like to bump their noses into the fishing line. Our neighbor told us that trick, and it works! We have now a steady supply of fresh organic raspberries.

Coming back to our post title 'Organic berries in Sequim'. We were pleasantly surprised when Graysmarsh this spring announced that they grow now organic strawberries on separate fields. I paid a bit more more money and the plants and fruits were not as big as the non-organic, but the fruits were really tasty.

However, something interesting happened when the blueberries got ripe at Graysmarsh Farm. Newspaper ads said 'Organic Blueberries' for $2 U-Pick. As this was on the high end of U-Pick berries in Sequim, I decided to check it out and asked for the organic blueberry fields but there were none. It was the same old bushes where I had picked before. When asking about this at Graysmarsh, I was told that the raspberries + blueberries had ALWAYS been organic. They just had not said so, and they are not certified organic. The blueberries just got magically 'upgraded' to organic because people like to hear 'organic'. If only somebody could keep an eye on that name game with the word organic!

To cut a long story short. We pick our organic U-Pick blueberries for $1.50/pound at a small farm, which we know for certain that they does not use any chemical sprays or animal fertilizers. And best of all, everybody can pick organic blackberries in Sequim, just make sure not to pick along walkways where Sequim town might have sprayed to keep the weeds from growing. Sequim's blackberries are juice and sweet as ever!
p.s.
I almost forgot to update our Sequim vacation rental features. We have now for our guests a washer and dryer in the garage available. Cassie from CA will be the first one to try it out on her September stay. She is looking for a nice Sequim house to rent for herself for moving to Sequim for good. If you have a nice 2Bd/2Ba Sequim house for rent, please, email us.

Tags: organic berries in sequim, sequim home for rent, sequim vacation