We have been farming on the Enumclaw Platuea since 1982. Rockridge Farms was started in 1991 we are a small farm employing family, friends, and neighbors. Our philosophy has always been life, food, and farming should never be boring.
We have over 148 different crops and specialize in "exotic edibles" from all over the world such as Bamboo shoots, Heirloom Tomatoes, Cukes, Pears, Apples, and Raspberries, Tuni, Fuki, Wasabe, Yuzu, Sansho, Hardy Ginger and Bananas to just name a few.
Our Moto is "To Die For" flavor. If it's just "OK", we don't grow it. We are constantly trying new plants for flavor and variety.
We continue to expand our varieties of exotic, heritage and heirloom fruits and vegtables, seeking out the very best flavors from every corner of the world. 2006 additions include some truly unusual herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, fruits and greens from China, Japan, Italy, France, South America and Russia.
Our Asian Pear Orchards: Our front orchard was planted in 1991. Hillside orchard was planted in 1995. Lower orchard planted in 1997. Total of a little over 3,000 trees consisting of 17 varieties from throughout the South Pacific.
Our Apple orchards: Sweet apples in 1992, hillside and lower orchards were planted in 1997 & 2000. We also have 2,000 Cider apples planted on our north farm in 2004.
Bamboo Grove was planted in 1996. We have over 107 varieties-mostly timber bamboo, and sell bamboo to nursery stock in the spring and the fall. We produce a little over 5,000 pounds of fresh bamboo shoots in the early spring for local restaurants.
FIGS
> Figs at Rockridge? You bet we've got figs. Some varieties of figs do very well in Western Washington and most years produce two harvests of these delightful fruit. We have approx 400 trees, 9 varieties planted, in a 3rd year trial planting. A couple of the varieties are doing exceptionally well - top of the list is "Desert King" with a heavy crop in early July and a second lighter crop in September. This will mature as a pretty big tree (30 feet) but seems to have a better tolerance to climate challenges (summer drought, really wet spring and cold). Fresh the fruit is exactly what you'd expect from a fresh fig - Mmmmm! Only drawback is Desert King's fruit (skin and flesh) are green, rather than the rich gold, black or red of some of the other varieties. All figs tend to want to be more of a bush than a tree, so some maintenance pruning is required. They're a pretty tree and suitable for anyone who has a yard and is looking for a really great fruit/shade tree. A little to big for a plant pot. The leaves are edible and a delight too. Think of them as a sweet replacement for grape leaves.
If someone is looking for a source of the trees, I highly recommend "One Green World" in Oregon. They have healthy stock and ship all over the country. If they're looking for a source of the fruit, I'm afraid I've usually got them sold before I've even got them picked and don't foresee that changing in the near future.
We bring the leaves to farmer's markets all over the area during the summer and usually sell out on them too.
We welcome customer suggestions. 13 new crops are currently in experimental plantings and under review. Sugar Maple syrup should be available in 2007. As well as Perry Pears (hard cider pears from England) should be in the winery by 2008 and Shitake Mushroom production is slated for fall of 2008.
Our North farms hillside vinyard was planted in 2004 and should provide limited wine bottling in 2007.
Our Winery offers unique hard ciders and wines.
We have been a member Of Puget Sound Farm Fresh since 1996 and enjoy attending local Farmers markets around our community.
You can find us at:
Columbia City Farmer's Market on Wednesdays
Bellevue's Farmer's Market on Thursdays
Federal Way and University District Farmers Market on Saturday
West Seattle and Ballard Farmer's Markets on Sunday
And other assorted places listed:
http://www.rockridgeorchards/farmersmarkets.aspx
If you need directions, start and close times for these markets or want to find a market in your area you can visit
www.farmers-market.org
We are proud members of Puget sound Fresh and encourage you to check out the other farms that we are linked to in so many ways!http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wlr/farms/farm_profile.asp?farmID=87
Rockridge Orchards, Bamboo Groves, Winery and Cidery.
Our owner Wade Bennett has been an active board member of the Washington Farm Bureau since 1992.
http://www.kingpiercecofb.org/officers.htm
We are friends of Cascade Harvest Coalition:
http://www.cascadeharvest.org/MembersandFriends.htm
He has also been a keynote speaker at small farm expos such as the one at the King County Fairgrounds in March of 2006 where he spoke about "Making the most of what you've got: tools for success with small acreage"
Here is another time Wade Bennett was a speaker this time on "Crop and Season Diversity"
http://www.co.snohomish.wa.us/documents/County_Services/FocusOnFarming/workshops.pdf
Rockridge Orchards is not your average farm we have had dozens of articles written about us and our owner Wade Bennett in several well known and obscure perioticles.
There have also been case studies on us. Such as" Profitable Niche Marketing on Rockridge Farms" by Rural Roots and University of Idaho research team. September 2005
