Carnation Valley Farms

The author(s) of this article recommend buying your food from local producers to encourage their food production efforts. We agree! Buy from local farms and farmers markets.

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What have you planted in your gardens so far this planting season?

Felt good to get some things in the ground yesterday! Now we just need that sun to come back! 🌱 ☀️ 🤞

It was kind of a shock to learn a few months ago that Woodinville's Molbak's was closing. But wait...something is brewing beyond beer, wine and whiskey in Woodinville. But what the heck is it? Read on...

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I love it when the mist hangs low to the valley floor like this. We are very fortunate that Carnation Farm has been saved from development and kept that way by the Stuart family and others. That they be allowed to have concerts there, while controversial, is a small price to pay in our opinion. What do you think? We would love to hear your comments and thoughts.

Carnation Farms Sunrise - 07/29/21

📸 Last Lite Photography

Golden hour in the espelier orchard. 💫 are you joining us for May Day? Save the date for Saturday, May 4 and come enjoy springtime magic on the farm.

We used to see Norman Brook Farm milk in markets in North Seattle in the 1960s.

Norman Brook Farm was established in 1903 on Henry Norman’s homestead at the base of Mt. Si. The original herd of cows was walked from the family’s farm in Ballard. There were milk sheds built over the creek to keep the milk cold until the farm had electricity and refrigeration. Henry’s sons Dean and Willis Norman eventually took over the farm around 1931 as it was becoming more established. The milk shed in the photograph was built from gathered rocks that had tumbled off the mountain. By 1945 the third generation of Norman children were active in the family farm. Around this time Bill Venn had started a dairy farm in Fall City with 40 cows and the nearby Swensons (above old mill site) had a well known dairy as well. In 1948 the Normans established a second location further down North Fork Road (now 428th) after the barn burned down on the original farm. In 1956 George Swenson and partner Walter Kantola rented the Norman Brook dairy farm, cows, and milk bottling from the Normans for a few years until their partnership dissolved. In 1965 Bill Venn (Fall City) joined Richard Norman at Norman Brook Farm which was now well established solely at the second property on the sharp North Fork corner. In 1974 Bill Venn took over full ownership and ran the dairy farm until 1995 when he retired after 45 years in the dairy business. His daughter Susan Venn and husband Tim Berndt took over the farm around 1995 until it shut down permanently in 2003 after 100 years. Norman Brook Farm was the last milk producing farm in the upper Snoqualmie Valley.

Please share your memories of Norman Brook in the comments!

An interesting way to grow potatoes! Far easier than the traditional trench method. Be sure to follow their recommendation to use only certified seed potatoes to start. Diseased seed potatoes are out there being offered on-line!

How to Build a Potato Tower: A Step-by-Step Guide to Efficient Gardening 🥔💬👇

It's that time of year and right here in the Carnation area!

Farmer David is so excited for spring! We helped out our neighbors First Light Farm by harvesting a bunch of daffodils to share with the community this morning!

Dairy farming, once a mainstay of the Snoqualmie Valley with literally dozens of dairy farms in and around Carnation Valley Farms not least of which was E. A. Stuart's Carnation Farm itself! A few dairy farms are still in operation, however. Including this one on the West Snoqualmie Valley Road. Let's all give a little cheer for those dairy farms that are carrying on the tradition in our beautiful valley despite the many challenges. I took these pix a few years ago.

Time to get planning your gardens and farm fields! Starting seed inside for transplanting to cold frames or greenhouses.

This map might be helpful to determine our climate zone in the Snoqualmie Valley too. As we have experienced recently and over the last few years, there can be outlier events of unusually hot and cold periods. So be prepared. Starting some seed indoors and having some kind of shelter for at least part of your growing can really help put the odds of a good harvest in your favor!

Having just been through a winter cold period of historic, below freezing temps (11-12 degrees or so) the question might be raised: What is the climate zone for planting in the Lower Snoqualmie Valley? What can we expect going forward for the growing season? The US Dept of Agriculture, Washington State University and many others keep track of such things and publish their findings. Here is one such publication from the USDA using data provided by Oregon State University (Go Beavers!). What climate zone do you think this shows our greater Snoqualmie Valley and surrounding hills are in?

An early sign of Spring!

In the Midwest, not Snoqualmie Valley. Cold and wintery but pretty at the same time! Hope your houses and barns are warm and your pipes didn't freeze.

We know how that goes!

Happy New Year! Time to eat more vegetables!
Our winter CSA still has room and doesn’t start till February 14th so you’ve got plenty of time to ease into those New Year’s resolutions! But don’t wait, sign up now to commit to a wonderful Winter of delicious veggies!
Head to our website to sign up now!

This year we are hoping to help out our local food banks even more than ever before, check out our Healthy Food Community Fund options on our website and more info in stories!

Hoping for the best for all the people and creatures living in the Norther tier states including Montana, Idaho, Dakotas and Wyoming. This is some kind of extreme cold air mass moving down from Canada!

Welcome the return of light! Happy winter solstice, everyone! 💚🌱

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Oh no! For more apartment buildings? Molbak's employs over 100 people. The destination in Woodinville. Many nurseries in the area have closed over recent years. Property taxes and operating expenses have gone up to where they can't make them pay.

Molbak's Garden + Home in Woodinville to close after 67 years | KOMO Molbak's Garden + Home announced it had begun a transition plan to close down operations in Woodinville. The family business had been open for 67 years.

We are looking forward to the Holidays and being with family but aren't these flowers a beautiful sight after all the gray skies and flooding? It's almost time to begin planning your Spring garden. We have already purchased some of our seed for next year. Some of them we will start indoors under lights in February or so.

We have a new addition to our Queen zinnia series—Lemon Peach! Same great productivity of long-lasting blooms, now in soft yellow and pastel apricot. 💚🌱

No filter here! It’s a BEAUTIFUL day on the farm and the pumpkins are a-plenty!

• Fall City Ponies are here for pony rides
• We’ve got and for lunch!

• with granola and baked goods.
• The return of our FAVORITE kettle corn maker!
• with homemade jams with local fruits
• gourmet cookies and other treats
• and stunning jewelry and handmade items from and

We are open till 5pm! Hope to see you soon!!!

U-Pick is open! We’re excited to be starting with mouthwatering sugar snap peas and vibrant sweet pea flowers. Join us during farm stand hours, bring your own container, and soak up the sunshine while picking the freshest goodies. Stop in at the farm stand on your way out to weigh your bounty and check out all the other partner products, plant starts, fresh produce, and native plants!

Keep a close watch on our website and social media for updates on upcoming crops opening for u-pick like herbs, plums, apples, raspberries, and more! Get a taste of the season, it’s all just around the corner!
See you at the farm?

Very near geographically and fun to visit but the ferry crossing is expensive. But the Anacortes ferry should be a lot less than the more lengthy destinations line Nanaimo and north. Still worth going for fun and adventure in an English speaking country so nearby.

Warmest May on record leaves strawberries ripe for the picking Strawberry season has officially arrived, thanks to warm, dry conditions in May.

U Pick raspberries! Not much better than that.

Just so we know. Still open but under construction. So nice to see Hwy 18 improved!

IMPORTANT REMINDER:
🚧SR 18 long-term lane closures start Wednesday, June 7, near Snoqualmie for highway widening. WSDOT recommends adding time to your trips that take you near the 90 /18 interchange.
There will also be daytime directional lane shifts on SR 18 for work. During nighttime hours - 8pm to 5am, Mon.-Thurs. - workers may reduce sections of SR 18 to one lane.

For more info on the I-90/SR 18 Improvements Project --> https://wsdot.wa.gov/construction-planning/search-projects/i-90-sr-18-interchange-improvements

Lots to see and do at Oxbow Farm just North of Carnation on Hwy 203.