For a farm, offering a u-pick option has many benefits. First, it reduces labor, cost, and overhead for the farmers. Second, it eliminates the need for storing and transporting produce to be sold at a market or grocery store, while also providing it in its freshest form to customers. Finally, it allows farmers to set harvest hours and u-pick appointments that are most beneficial to growing things and to the business side of the operation.

For you, the customer, making a trip to a u-pick farm can save you money per pound, keep your dollars in your community, afford you a look at how a farmer operates, and give you and your family the opportunity to handle your food for part of its journey from the farm to your table.

Green Bluff in Spokane County, one of the most well-known u-pick spots in the Inland Northwest, is prolific with growers that offer everything from vegetables to apples to pumpkins.

However, there are plenty of other opportunities to pick your own food. Utecht Produce in Spokane Valley allows customers to come and pick okra, tomatoes, green beans, and more, by appointment only.

Carver Farms in Newman Lake, Wash., provides a u-pick harvest schedule and prices on their website. Riley Creek Blueberry Farm in Laclede, Idaho, is well known for their blueberry fields, but they also grow blackberries and raspberries.

Red Canoe Blueberry Farm in Hauser, Idaho, also has a u-pick field and lets you pick Washington cherries in season.

Whichever you choose, your u-pick day will be an adventure to savor.

Originally published in the July 2019 issue.

Visit the OTO archives for more stories about farmers’ markets.

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Fall is the perfect time to take part in local harvests. First, it’s cooler. Second, farms often have seasonal activities to accompany the end of the growing year, such as corn mazes, fall foods, harvest festivals, apple pressing, and pumpkin carving. If you’re just out to pick, here’s what you’ll find: apples, pears, squash, pumpkins, potatoes, and some vegetables. Imagine transforming a boxful of apples that you picked into luscious applesauce for the winter.

The most concentrated place to find u-pick opportunities is at Green Bluff in Spokane County. With 30 farms, two breweries, a meadery, a cidery, two wineries, petting zoos, corn mazes, and some of the best pumpkin donuts you’ll ever taste (at Beck’s Harvest House), there is no shortage of things to do for the whole family. The Green Bluff Grange, Community United Methodist Church, and Trading Post also host their own harvest festivals on October weekends.

Other fall u-pick spots include Carver Farms in Newman Lake, Prairie Home Farm in Coeur d’Alene, and Promised Land Family Farm, also in Coeur d’Alene. Experience further aspects of the harvest season at the Kootenai County Farmers’ Market Harvest Festival Downtown on Oct. 28 or enter Pilgrim’s Market’s Pumpkin Carving Contest, Oct. 29-30, to win a $50 gift card. The Spokane Farmers’ Market is also open on Wednesdays and Saturdays through October.

Don’t hibernate too early. Get out there this fall and bring home something delicious.

Visit the OTO archives for more stories about farmers’ markets.

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