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From wineries to galleries, farmers’ markets to farm tours and harvest dinners to cozy lodgings, the San Juan Islands set the table for

a delectable, month-long feast.

Sample the bounty of the San Juan Islands~ in october ~

Orcas Island • Lopez Island • San Juan Island / Friday Harbor

Find all events at VisitSanJuans.com/Savor

This Special Section is a supplement of the Journal of theSan Juan Islands, Islands' Sounder and Islands' Weekly

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3136 Roche Harbor Rd., Friday Harbor, WA 98250 | 360-378-9463 | www.sanjuanvineyards.com

11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Wine TastingOpen Thursday – Monday

Wine TastingOpen Thursday – Monday

11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Wine Tasting11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

San Juan Vineyards is locally owned and operated by Yvonne Swanberg. In 1996 the

property was purchased, the vineyard planted with Madeleine Angevine and Siegerrebe. At the same

time the old school house (ca 1895) was renovated for the tasting room and the winery building itself was constructed. It has since become a destination winery, producing wines from the vines grown in the vineyard and grapes brought from the Yakima

Valley and Horse Heaven Hills Appellations of Eastern Washington. Our Estate grapes

usually provide us with 20 to 30% of our total annual production. Since 2006, no herbicides or

insecticides have been used in the estate vineyard.

Savor the San Juans andSavor the San Juans and Share the Massage Experience!

Savor Special! $10 off a Duet Massage!Two Therapists, two tables and the two of you create a healing memory!

Friends and family, enjoy an eclectic array of therapeutic fusions:Aromatherapy, Warm Stones, Foot Re� exology, Swedish & Deep Tissue

360.376.8006 • On the water in Eastsound344 Main, Suite 103 / SeaStar Lofts / Main St. Station Building

orcasmassage.com • Like us on Facebook at “A Massage By The Sea”

Sept. 29 - Oct.13Up! Up! Farm Film Festival – The Future of Farming, Friday Harbor/San Juan IslandOct. 3Friday Harbor Fall Farm Parade, Friday Harbor/San Juan IslandOct. 3Island Harvest Chili Cook-off, Friday Harbor/San Juan IslandOct. 3Seed Program, Friday Harbor/San Juan IslandOct. 3, 10, 17, 24 & 31Farmers’ Markets, Orcas Island and Friday Harbor, SaturdaysOct. 4Orcas Island Farm Tour, Orcas IslandOct. 8Savor an Evening Meal at School, Lopez IslandOct. 9-11Orcas Island Film Festival, Orcas IslandOct. 10Lopez Island Fall Farm Tours - Day 1, Lopez Island

Oct. 10Fall Gardening Workshop, Friday Harbor/San Juan IslandOct. 10Historic Friday Harbor Guided Walking Tour, Friday Harbor/San Juan IslandOct. 11Lopez Island Fall Farm Tours - Day 2, Lopez IslandOct. 11San Juan Island Three Farms Walking Tour, San Juan IslandOct. 11Camp Orkila’s Fall Festival & Haunted Hay Ride, Orcas IslandOct. 17Roche Harbor Pioneer Cemetery Tour, Friday Harbor/San Juan IslandOct. 25The Bite of San Juan Islands, San Juan Island Cheese & Island Grown, Friday Harbor/San Juan IslandOct. 31Friday Harbor Ghost Walk, Friday Harbor/San Juan Island

There is so much to do during the entire month of October when the 8th annual “Savor the San Juans – A Month-long Medley of Food, Farms & Art” takes place. This movable feast for the senses pulls together all of the elements of a memorable post-summer vacation getaway, including wine tastings, harvest fes-tivals, farm tours and events, plus specials at some of the finest lodgings and restaurants in the “gourmet archipelago.” For more information about food and

lodging specials and the following events, visit www.visitsanjuans.com/savor-san-juans.

Savor the San Juanscalendar of events

Discover deliciousness in the San Juan Islands

All three islandswill hold special all-

day Farm Tours

Bigger and better, the 8th Annual Savor the San Juans: a month-long

medley of food, farms and artThere is no better way to feel the pulse of island culture than to experience its food, and throughout October, the “gourmet archi-pelago” sets the table to experience the bounty of the islands at its peak. A farm-to-table tasting at historic Brickworks in Friday Harbor, farm tours on Lopez, Orcas and San Juan Islands, farm dinners, a his-toric Roche Harbor cemetery tour, a Friday Harbor Ghost Walk, and more. These are just a few of the signature events unfolding this October during "Savor the San Juans: a month-long medley of food, farms and art."The San Juan Island Farmers

Market, Farm Parade and Harvest Chili Cook-off will keep the streets of Friday Harbor and the new historic Brickworks community cen-ter buzzing on Saturday, Oct. 3. All three islands will hold special all-day Farm Tours

– Lopez Island Farm Tour (Oct. 10 – 11), Orcas Island Farm Tour and Soiree (Oct. 4) and San Juan Island Three Farms Walking Tour (Oct. 11). The tours will include activities such sheep shearing demonstrations, a fermenta-tion workshop, a sheep dog demonstration, a cider press-ing and great snacks such as fruit and cheese sampling

and goodies from an outdoor wood-fired baking house. There will also be a special Farm-to-Table Dinner at The Edenwild Boutique Inn on October 11. On Oct. 25, the Bite of the San Juan Islands will bring farmers and chefs

from all three islands for a tast-ing to showcase the amazing qual-ity of island-grown, organic fruits and vegetables, GMO-free meats, seafood,

cheeses, baked goods, wine, cider, beer and spirits.Grab your spirit of adventure and discover a month-long movable feast for the senses. Savor the San Juans pulls together all the elements of a memorable post-summer vacation getaway, including harvest festivals, art festival, music events and lodging spe-cials at the island’s inns.

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For three days in October, more than two dozen farms and farm-related businesses on Lopez, Orcas and San

Juan Island will be open to the public, with demonstrations on everything from apple cider pressings to sheep shearing.LOPEZ ISLAND

The Lopez tours span two days. On Oct. 10, the smell of fresh baked scones from a woodfired oven will greet you at Barn Owl Bakery on Midnight’s Farm, where you can tour a department of ecology-approved com-post facility, and look through the micro-scope into the world of microbiology. At Wet Wool Farm and Island Fibers, watch a sheep dog demonstration, learn about the breeds of sheep on the farm, their fleeces, and meat qualities, followed by a tour of Island Fibers.

At the 55-acre biodynamic S&S Homestead Farm, learn how the farm inte-grates plant and animal production, visit the gardens, dairy and cheese facility, followed by a wood-fired pizza lunch. At Sweet Grass Farm, learn how to make a durable and flexible raised bed for gardening; fill it with a compost mix for growing your crops or flowers, all without tilling. Sunnyfield Farm is the islands’ newest licensed Grade A Raw Milk Goat Dairy, certified since November of 2014. You can tour the goat dairy and taste the fresh cheese with apples from the farm’s trees.

On Oct. 11, some of the earlier tours and workshops will repeat, with additional options. Join the bakers at Barn Owl Bakery and follow the path from grain to pizza. Another workshop includes pasta making at Edenwild Boutique Inn’s kitchen, and a fermentation workshop at Vortex Café.

The culmination of both days of tours will be dinner. The first night, the Grange will host a barbecue with Helen’s Farm burg-ers or sausage with Sunnyfield chevre on Barn Owl buns with fresh green salad from Lopez Harvest. Wines from Lopez Island Vineyards will be served, and you can enter a homemade fresh pie in the pie contest. Slices of pie will be sold with funds going to the LIFEschool farm to cafeteria program. The second night, a 5-course farm-to-table dinner at Edenwild Boutique Inn will feature Lopez Island farms and wines.

Each tour or workshop is prices separately. Tickets are available for cash purchase at each stop, or at www.eventbrite.com. Kids under

12 are free.SAN JUAN ISLAND

At the north end of San Juan, three histor-ic farms share borders, and history. All three farms were homesteaded to grow fruit, from apples and pears to plums and now kiwi and Asian pears. On this tour, you can walk between the farms, talk to the farmers and purchase fruit and press cider to take home.

On Oct. 11 from noon to 4 p.m., you can tour the 20-acre Sweet Earth Farm, with farmers Elaine Kendall and Amanda Zee, and see the diverse fruit orchard, abundant market garden and livestock. Just through across the field and through the trees, is Mitchell Bay Farm, established in 1900. The farmers Colleen Howe and Bruce Gregory will discuss the commercial kiwi and Asian pear orchard, sheep and holistic manage-ment practices. Enjoy fresh brewed teas and home-baked cookies.

A short walk takes you to nearby Lacrover Farm, once part of a large family home-stead from the late 1900s, and protected by a conservation easement through the San Juan Preservation Trust. It is now owned by Paul Lacrampe, Katie Hover and their son, Quinn.

A ticket price of $25 pp (children under 12 half-price) provides free farm tours plus San Juan Island Cheese Ploughman’s Lunchbox.

Visit Westcott Bay Cider and San Juan Island Distillery, located a short distance to the north, to tour the cider orchard and

distillery. “Taste the spirits of the San Juan Islands” at the distillery from 1 to 4 p.m. ORCAS ISLAND

Last year, four Orcas farms welcomed more than 125 people to their barns and fields. Organizers Charles Dalton and Kathy Morris were excited by the interest.

This year, more than a dozen farms and farm-related businesses have jumped on the

hay cart, with demonstrations that include sheep shearing, wool spinning, seed saving, and seeing worms at work in a worm bin building demo. This free, self-guided tour is on Sunday, Oct. 4 and starts with a brunch available at The Kitchen in Eastsound, where

FARM TOURS THIS OCTOBER

Contributed photos / John Sinclair (left) & Barbara Marrett (right)At left: The Barn Owl Bakery on Lopez Island. Above: A San Juan Island farm. For a full schedule of farm tour events and a map, see the last two pages of this section.

Continued on page 5

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7 Spring St. | (360) 378-22457 Spring St. | (360) 378-2245

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Happy HourHappy HourHappy HourHappy HourHappy HourHappy HourHappy HourHappy HourHappy HourHappy HourDaily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.Daily 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.

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Lopez Island· Farm-to-Table Dinner at The Edenwild - October 11, after the Lopez Island Farm Tour, enjoy a farm-to-table dinner with wine pairing from Lopez Island Vineyards· Lopez Islander Resort Restaurant - Savor Early Bird Dinners

Orcas Island· The Kitchen – October 4, Enjoy brunch prior to the Orcas Island Farm Tours

San Juan Island· Coho Restaurant – October 2 Oktoberfest Dinner Special· Coho Restaurant - October 16 Barrister Winemaker’s Dinner

· Coho Restaurant – Chef’s Tasting Special, 5:00-5:45 p.m. each evening - Three course dinners for 2 for $70

· Duck Soup Inn – Autumn Harvest Family Dinner, Rustic dining in the woods featuring island-grown ingredients

· San Juan Island Food Co-op - Savor Local Specials each week in October

· San Juan Vineyards - Savor the San Juans Special for the Month of October

· The Bluff Restaurant Bar Terrace - Savor our 3 for $30 Menu

· The San Juan Islands Farmers Market - Saturday Savor Specials

Savor these restaurant & local food offerings

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Welcome to our RestaurauntVinny’s Ristorante is a casual, elegant restaurant offering gourmet Paci� c Northwest seafood and steak along

with Italian specialties. All of our food is prepared with only freshest ingredients by our chefs. Our menu features crisp salads, fresh seafood, tender lamb, steak, chicken and so much more. We have the right wine or

cocktail to make your meal unforgettable. Come visit our Restaurant today for a savory dining experience.Please note that our menu changes monthly. Check back regularly to see what seasonal items we are featuring!

165 West St. • Friday Harbor, WA • 98250 • (360)378-1934

Summer Hours (June - October)Monday - Friday, 3 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Small plates and happy hour available Monday - Friday, 3 p.m. - 5 p.m.Saturday - Sunday, 4 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Weekly Savor Specials on Local Products through the month October

Stop by and see us at 775 Mullis St. | (360) 370-5170M-F 9 AM - 6 PM. Sat & Sun 10 AM - 5 PM.

Seed equals foodby Cathleen McCluskeyOrganic Seed Alliance

Did you know not all spinach is the same? Spinach, like other

vegetables and grains, comes in many different varieties – each one with different traits and best suited for cer-tain geographical locations. Organic vegetable varieties are developed through clas-sical plant breeding tech-niques, where plant breed-ers and farmers carefully select seed from plants that perform best. This is done over the course of several years and eventually we have new varieties like ‘Abundant Bloomsdale’ spinach or ‘Who Gets Kissed?’ sweet corn. Heirloom seed variet-ies we plant in our yards were created by plant breed-ers and farmers before us who practiced these clas-sical plant breeding tech-niques. Last week farmers, seed growers, plant breed-ers, chefs, and food retailers throughout the islands gath-ered on Orcas to learn about organic seed production

and developing new organic varieties that will thrive in the San Juans. Organic Seed Alliance (OSA), Washington State University, Greenbank Farm, Orcas Food Co-op, and Hogstone’s Wood Oven hosted the daylong organic seed training and tasting social.

The day started with a farmer training on how to conduct on-farm variety trials presented by OSA’s executive director Micaela Colley. Farmers learned how

to identify the best perform-ing organic varieties avail-able for their local growing conditions and toured an organic spinach trial being conducted by local farmers with support from OSA.

Later in the evening, participants gathered at Hogstone’s Wood Oven where they taste tested pepper and colored carrot varieties from the Northern Organic Vegetable Collaborative (NOVIC) and Carrot Improvement

for Organic Agriculture (CIOA) projects aimed at breeding new vegetable vari-eties for organic farmers.

Chef Jay Blackinton also prepared pizzas topped with a newly released organic ‘Who Gets Kissed?’ sweet corn grown at the OSA research farm in Chimacum, Washington.

Learn more about OSA and how to get involved at www.seedalliance.org.

Organic Seed Alliance/Contributed photoCarrot varieties from the Northern Organic Vegetable

Collaborative and Carrot Improvement for Organic Agriculture.

Barbara Marrett/Contributed photoPlowing the fields on a San Juan Island farm.

you can pick up maps (or clip them out of the island newspapers) to follow the route to the farms, which will have colorful flags flying to mark the stops.

Farms along the way – starting out by the ferry landing and moving towards town and out beyond Doe Bay – include Morningstar Farm, Warm Valley Farm will show how to spin wool from the sheep they raise. At Red Rabbit Farm, Christina Orchid will show her cookhouse kitchen and offer tastes of her perserves and sauces. If you are looking for cute farm animals, the residents of Orcas Moon Alpacas are the stop for you; farmers Amy Lumm and Jennifer Pietsch will also offer a chicken slaughter demonstration, where $50 gives you a bird to take home as well. Historic Coffelt Farm will give tours. At Kai Dawg Farm, Caitlin Herlihy will talk about their new project Orcas Community Participatory Agriculture. See a sheep shear-

ing demonstration at West Beach Farm.In town, Smith and Speed Mercantile will

be open to share and discuss their hand-forged farming tools. Audra Lawlor of Girl Meets Dirt will offer tastes of preserves made from fruit gleaned from historic island orchards in her new tasting room.

The tour then winds out to Buck Bay Shellfish Farm, where Toni Hermanson will talk about the process of growing and har-vesting oysters and clams. Tours at Doe Bay Garden and Taproot Farm will then lead you to Orcas Farm, where George Orser will host a farmers’ potluck soiree. There will be Hogstone’s Wood Oven pizzas, a Lion’s Club/Island Hoppin’ Brewery beer garden and fun music to cap off this big day behind the scenes at the farms.

The San Juan Shuttle will be available for $8 for the day, and will loop around to the farms. Car-pooling or shuttle use is encour-aged. The Orcas Senior Center will also be offering a shuttle for seniors interested in attending the tour.

FARM TOURSFROM PAGE 3

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by Rhys HansenProduce & Marketing Manager for Orcas Food Co-op

On Orcas Island, local agriculture is getting a boost. In June of 2014 Orcas Food Cooperative opened its doors. At the heart of their mission: supporting and developing a robust, sustainable local food system. What has that looked like so far?

Since their opening, Orcas Food Coop has worked with over 25 different San Juan County farms. These producers have supplied the Co-op Members with meat, seafood, cheese, berries, vegetables and a variety of apples, plums and other tree fruit. Combined, this has resulted in more than $135,000 going into the local agricultural businesses. For several of these farmers,

their sale to the Co-op was their first foray into growing crops for market. Beyond the numbers, the convenience of a central location has demonstrated the increasing

consumer demand for locally-grown and made products. In the last 12 months, over 25% of all produce sold at the Co-op was grown in the county- but the demand has continued to outstrip the supply from area farms. Many favorites like broccoli and lettuce are only available sporadi-cally, and must be regularly sourced from the mainland.

The main two challenges? Coordinating crops to ensure a steady supply of staples and storage of harvested product. In order to keep meeting the demand, farmers and food businesses will have to coordinate to develop increased infrastructure for transportation and storage; a goal that was outlined in the San Juan County Strategic Plan for Economic Development. Currently the Co-op is collaborating with local organizations to develop and implement plans for a possible San Juan County Food Hub, a project that is just beginning to be explored.

The second major challenge has been the impact of our on-going drought. Those who have followed the news even casually will be aware of the California drought, but may be less aware of the impact changing weather patterns have had in our own state. The entire state of Washington has experienced a shortage in rainfall, and San Juan County has been no exception. Currently the county is classified as experiencing a D2 Severe Drought. According the mostly recently released data from the U.S. Drought monitor, that still puts San Juan County in a better posi-tion than the majority of the state which is marked as undergoing a D3 Extreme Drought.

What has that meant for local farmers? A great deal of uncertainty. Crops that have been reliable in the past were stunted by early heat, and it was challenging to keep water-hungry plants satisfied with less and less groundwater. More concretely, normally reliable products like kale, spinach, salad mix and other greens were available at only limited quantities, or not at all. Heat-loving crops such as melons, tomatoes and peppers arrived in bumper quantities, ripening in great waves that left several farmers challenged in finding outlets for their sudden overabundance.

How can you best support our farmers in these challenging times? Buy local and buy sea-sonal. Bumper crops can mean great deals for households on a budget- use your deep freezer or dehydrator to store some of this fall bounty. Currently apples, pears and squash are at peak season- with heretofore-unknown varieties being showcased at the Co-op and farm stands around the island. These are great storage crops- buy in bulk and eat great local food all winter when your garden has run fallow.

San Juan Islands Agriculture:A Snapshot from Orcas Island

Contributed photoA delivery from Maple Rock Farm to the Orcas Island Food Co-op.

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Refer to the map on page 8 of this section

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