A day on the bluff:
Tourism brochures tout Spokane both as a city ‘near nature, near perfect’ and one blessed with ‘four distinct seasons.’ Basically, all that is true [though I personally think winter here is top-heavy, and summer could go a bit longer …] If you’d like to combine these two concepts, spend some time on Green Bluff. It will be a day unlike any other – picking fruits, berries, and vegetables; sampling beer, wine, and mead; choosing a pumpkin, a Christmas tree, or a homemade pie; rummaging through country stores while breathing in good country air – and it’s all within a half-hour drive of most anywhere in Spokane.
A bit of history:
The front end of the bluff overlooks wheat fields and distant hills. Then the roads follow a couple of general loops around some 12 square miles of farmland. The bluff is a year-round community of over 30 farms, numerous farmhouses, a local grange, and a community church. It dates back to the 1800s. In 1902, growers formed an association, primarily to protect those growing strawberries from outside competition. Today, the association’s main mission is to promote agricultural tourism.
Custom-made visits:
My fruit picking has been very limited, done once during the month of July to collect raspberries and cherries with a visiting daughter. We stopped at Beck’s Harvest House, where we were given small boxes and directed to two long rows of red raspberries in a gently sloping ravine. Pick and plop; pick, pick, pick, and plop. The sun shone down on the surrounding field and orchards, the work was easy, and we carried on a lively conversation. Pick, pick, and plop. Before long, we had collected enough berries to eat for a week and freeze for future use. [I did this by placing the berries in a single layer, without touching, on a baking sheet, freezing them overnight, then storing them in a zip-lock freezer bag.] We brought the boxes to the store to be weighed, paid for, and put in the trunk of the car. Collecting additional boxes, we went on to the cherry orchard. Here we climbed ladders and filled one box with Bing cherries, the other with Raniers. Did the fruit picked by us taste better? Hard to say, but we had fun.
August is peach month (as well as apricots and plums). Peaches are the favorite fruit in our house, but since I’ve never found someone to pick with me, I opt for the easy way out, which is to let someone else do the picking and buy a box-load of peaches. Some hail from farms in the Tri-Cities area to supplement the Green Bluff supply, but all are juicy and delicious. Just about everything grown here can be purchased already picked. That includes huckleberries, but since they need to be carefully handpicked in the wild, they are expensive.
When at Green Bluff, I almost always buy a few seasonal fruits or vegetables—strawberries, squash, carrots, potatoes, and several varieties of apples—but that isn’t necessarily my main reason for going. At High Country Orchards, for example, I’ve looked for unique gifts for Christmas and birthdays and met friends for lunch at the café. It offers both indoor and outdoor seating and serves a variety of sandwiches, paninis, and salads. Another one of my favorite purchases are Green Bluff fruit pies—I usually buy at Harvest House or Walter’s Fruit Ranch. When I’ve visited with a younger generation, I’ve sampled mead at the Hierophant Meadery and beer at Bodacious Berries, Fruits & Brews. Last year I drove to Harvest House’s pumpkin patch to choose a carving pumpkin for Halloween; we haven’t yet cut our own Christmas tree on the bluff.
Exploring made fun and easy:
The number of Green Bluff operations and the open countryside could be daunting to the first-time visitor, but the association makes it easy with the Green Bluff Growers website and a brochure that has a map providing the locations and information about each operation as well as special events and useful tips.
Why do I keep returning to Green Bluff when I can buy fruits and vegetables at the supermarket and enjoy rural scenery in dozens of places around Spokane? I think in large part it is because of the people who man the operations. They are friendly and helpful, and many offer samples of the different varieties of the season’s most popular fruits. If they aren’t too busy, they’ll stop and chat for a while. That’s why.
