Pike Place Market

I spent some time today talking with Joshua Craft who just last week started selling produce from his farm “Nooksack Nine” in Everson. His parents, Ben Craft and Gretchen Hoyt, are our second most tenured farmers. They have owned and operated Alm Hill Gardens since Joshua was a child and he has grown up selling at the Market. He had a surplus of raspberries this year and decided to come back down to Pike Place where juicy berries fly off the farm tables.

Along with agreeing on our mutual distaste for bitter greens like dandelion and endive, I asked Joshua about the process for certifying his farm as Organic. Joshua said that he contacted the Washington State Department of Agriculture who then sent him a 40 page packet asking a variety of questions about his farm. The questions examine all aspects of the farm from what herbicides were used in the past to what is the farmer’s plan for dealing with pesticides. There is a long list of chemicals that farmers cannot use.

Once the paperwork is turned in and a $400-$2000 fee is paid, an inspector comes to the farm and interviews the farmer on the practices and then inspects the farm. In some instances, soil tests are taken, but in Joshua’s case he was given the Organic stamp of approval without them. If uncertified chemicals have been used in the past, the farm may go in to what is known as a transitional phase where the farm must follow Organic standards, but their produce won’t be classified as Organic for one to three years. After three years of compliance, they can label their produce Organic.