1889 August | September 2018

DIGGING DEEP WITH LOCAL FARMERS
FROM TOP Planting time at Helsing
Junction Farms. Tonnemaker Farms
works with Urbane in Seattle. Mussels
are a Washington specialty.
ANNA SALAFSKY & SUSAN UJCIC
HELSING JUNCTION FARMS
Anna Salafsky and Susan Ujcic,
who began Helsing Junction Farms
in 1992, remain deeply committed
to organic farming and their community.
Located 20 miles south
of Olympia in Rochester, on the
Chehalis River, the farm sells most
of its produce through a Community
Supported Agriculture
(CSA) program, but it also hosts
weddings, an annual music festival
and farm-to-table experiences in a
lovely event space.
The farm grows more than 150
varieties of organic vegetables,
fruit, flowers and herbs. “We’ve
been farming together for over
twenty-five years,” Ujcic said, “so
we bring a lot of experience to the
table, but we also love trying new
things. We focus on the health of
our soil, so everything we grow
tastes and looks its best.”
Both have strong design
backgrounds and a deep love of
food—once they began farming,
they were hooked. “Working with
the earth and feeding people is
deeply rewarding; we really enjoy
sharing the farm with our community,”
Ujcic said.
TODD VAN MERSBERGEN
HMV BERRIES
Todd Van Mersbergen’s family
farms 200 acres north of
Lynden, about 1 mile south of the
Canadian border, where they’ve
been working since the early
1900s. “You could say I was born
to farm,” Van Mersbergen, who
has been directly involved for the
last twenty years, said. “ I am the
fourth generation to farm here
in Lynden, and many generations
before that were involved in
agriculture in Holland. We started
as dairy farmers and diversified
into raspberries in 1995 and into
blueberries in 2006. It’s great to
be your own boss and really see
the rewards from your planning
and labor during harvest.”
Today the Van Mersbergens
farm about 100 acres each of red
raspberries and blueberries. “The
cool maritime climate and long
days during the growing season
make Whatcom County an ideal
place to grow blueberries,” Van
Mersbergen said. “Couple that
with rich, well-drained soil, and it’s
no wonder we can get the most
tonnage per acre and highest
sugar content in our berries.”
“The best part about farming
is taking my wife and kids out to
the field and driving down the
rows, being able to be outside
with them and watch the plants
go through their phases,” he said.
“The farm is a great place to learn
about life. That’s the other part
I love—the seasonal nature of
farming, and getting to work with
the environment and the weather.
No two days are ever the same.”
GARY LARSEN
LARSEN FARMS, INC.
Located just north of Pasco,
this family farm has fantastic
views of Juniper Dunes. The Larsens
have been here since the early
’60s, when they broke the ground
out of sagebrush and bunchgrass,
and the only roads were two-track
trails used by sheepherders.
Larsen’s family is one of the
seventy remaining asparagus
farmers in the state. “In ’85
when we started with asparagus,
there were 32,000 acres of it
in the state, and now there are
4,400 acres,” he said. He credits
an abundance of good quality
water, rich soils and changing
seasons for making Washington
“the premier state for growing
asparagus.” He praises the region’s
rich volcanic soils and the fact
that asparagus here go dormant
in the winter, allowing nutrients
and carbohydrates to move to the
crowns (roots) for sweet crops
the following year.
The most rewarding part of
his job? “Seeing the success and
breaking some of the traditional
ways of growing asparagus,”
Larsen said. “Also, seeing people
come back year after year to buy
our crops and saying, ‘We have
tried other asparagus and none
compare to the sweetness and
quality of yours.’”
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2018 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE 55