Talk with farmers, gardeners on 2-day tour

Grow a garden. Ferment vegetables. Get married.

Nancy Chase can tend to whatever is on your plate.

Her 10-acre Camano Island farm has pastures for produce, events and an edible nursery.

“We tell people how to turn their lawns into food,” said Chase, owner of Shambala Permaculture Farm &Edible Perennial Nursery.

There’s also a garden for matrimony. “I do the flowers and the nuptials,” added the horticulturist-turned-officiant.

Weddings aren’t on the agenda for this weekend, though. Visitors can explore her multipurpose farm and several others on Port Susan Spring Jubilee Farm Tour on May 11 and 12.

The annual two-day self-guided event is a chance for the public to talk shop with farmers and gardeners in Stanwood and on Camano Island.

Empty the car and fill up the tank.

There are people to meet, plants to buy and udders to squeeze.

First, stop by the hospitality station in Stanwood to milk Squirty Gerty, the artificial dairy cow. You can also pick up a tour map there.

At Shambala, Chase will pluck leafy things from the ground for visitors to taste.

“We show people the weeds they can eat,” she said. “There are a lot of things you have in your yard that you can chop and eat in your salad.”

Other goodies come from the oven. Her muffins are “gluten-free, nut-free, non-GMO, ancient grain, high in fiber.”

Chase and her husband share the acreage with a turkey, goats, horses, ducks, cattle, chickens and human students of permaculture.

“It’s a place for immersions. We have interns and associates,” she said.

There are landscape classes, art workshops, potlucks, music jams and weddings.

The forested compound is a long way from Chase’s roots. “I got my hankering for farming and left Mountlake Terrace 15 years ago,” Chase said.

Hankerings vary at the stops on this tour.

Across the bridge in the river bottoms in Stanwood, former Boeing worker Scott Brandis found a new calling seven years ago at Soggy Bottom Plants &Gifts.

“I make birdhouses and planters,” Brandis said. “My wife makes basil jelly and pepper jelly.”

Soggy Bottom also sells beer steins, jewelry, greeting cards, apple butter, trees and shrubs in addition to meat and vegetables. “We raise and sell grass-fed beef,” he said.

Trust the “Beware of Cat” sign: Chances are a gray cat with big jowls will make an appearance to show who’s boss.

The cat’s a draw, for sure. But so are the goods.

“A lot of people tell me my prices are good,” Brandis said. “And they like coming down here because they get one-on-one consultation.”

From him, and the cat.

Andrea Brown; 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com.

Take the tour

Port Susan Spring Jubilee Farm Tour is a two-day, self-guided event.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 11 and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 12.

Free tour maps are available at Skagit Farmers Supply, 8815 272nd St. NW, Standwood. For more information, go to www.portsusan.org.

Farms on the tour

Shambala Permaculture Farm &Edible Perennial Nursery, 395 E. North Camano Drive, Camano Island; 360-387-4110

Out on a Limb Orchids, 353 E. North Camano Drive; Camano Island; 360-387-2341

Soggy Bottom Plants &Gifts, 23421 Marine Drive NW, Stanwood; 360-652-9157

Valhalla Farm, 2631 324th St. NW; Stanwood; 425-308-2379

Jordan Nursery, 30407 68th Ave. NW; Stanwood; 360-629-4827

Keeping It Green Nursery, 19401 96th Ave. NW; Stanwood; 360-652-1779

Mossyback Farms, 29203 Old Highway 99 N.; Stanwood; 360-629-2782

Orchard’s Nursery, 10521 Highway 532; Stanwood; 360-629-3586

Schuh Farms, 9828 Highway 532; Stanwood; 360-629-6455

Del Fox Meats, 7229 300th St. NW; Stanwood; 360-629-3723

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Life

Brandon Hailey of Cytrus, center, plays the saxophone during a headlining show at Madam Lou’s on Friday, Dec. 29, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lynnwood-based funk octet Cytrus has the juice

Resilience and brotherhood take center stage with ‘friends-first’ band.

FILE - In this April 11, 2014 file photo, Neko Case performs at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. Fire investigators are looking for the cause of a fire on Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, that heavily damaged Case’s 225-year-old Vermont home. There were no injuries, though a barn was destroyed. It took firefighters two hours to extinguish the blaze. (Photo by Scott Roth/Invision/AP, File)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Singer-songwriter Neko Case, an indie music icon from Tacoma, performs Sunday in Edmonds.

Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli
Tangier’s market boasts piles of fruits, veggies, and olives, countless varieties of bread, and nonperishables, like clothing and electronics.
Rick Steves on the cultural kaleidoscope of Tangier in Morocco

Walking through the city, I think to myself, “How could anyone be in southern Spain — so close — and not hop over to experience this wonderland?”

chris elliott.
Vrbo promised to cover her rental bill in Hawaii, so why won’t it?

When Cheryl Mander’s Vrbo rental in Hawaii is uninhabitable, the rental platform agrees to cover her new accommodations. But then it backs out. What happened?

The Moonlight Swing Orchestra will play classic sounds of the Big Band Era on April 21 in Everett. (submitted photo)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Relive the Big Band Era at the Port Gardner Music Society’s final concert of the season in Everett.

2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport AWD (Honda)
2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport AWD

Honda cedes big boy pickup trucks to the likes of Ford, Dodge… Continue reading

Would you want to give something as elaborate as this a name as mundane as “bread box”? A French Provincial piece practically demands the French name panetiere.
A panetiere isn’t your modern bread box. It’s a treasure of French culture

This elaborately carved French antique may be old, but it’s still capable of keeping its leavened contents perfectly fresh.

(Judy Newton / Great Plant Picks)
Great Plant Pick: Mouse plant

What: Arisarum proboscideum, also known as mouse plant, is an herbaceous woodland… Continue reading

Bright green Japanese maple leaves are illuminated by spring sunlight. (Getty Images)
Confessions of a ‘plantophile’: I’m a bit of a junky for Japanese maples

In fact, my addiction to these glorious, all-season specimens seems to be contagious. Fortunately, there’s no known cure.

2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited (Hyundai)
2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited

The 2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited is a sporty, all-electric, all-wheel drive sedan that will quickly win your heart.

The 2024 Dodge Hornet R/T hybrid’s face has the twin red lines signifying the brand’s focus on performance. (Dodge)
2024 Hornet R/T is first electrified performance vehicle from Dodge

The all-new compact SUV travels 32 miles on pure electric power, and up to 360 miles in hybrid mode.

Don’t blow a bundle on glass supposedly made by the Henry William Stiegel

Why? Faked signatures, reused molds and imitated styles can make it unclear who actually made any given piece of glass.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.