Farms & Vineyards in Washington

Washington farms two different states. West of the Cascades, rain keeps the Puget Sound lowlands and the Skagit Valley green most of the year: berry country, tulip country, dairy country. East of the mountains, the sun does the work: vineyards climbing the Columbia's river valleys, orchards around Chelan, wheat rolling across the Palouse. A visitor can pick berries near Bellingham one weekend and taste wine over sagebrush the next, and the two trips will barely resemble each other. Artisan cheesemakers on the Olympic Peninsula round out a state where almost every landscape grows something worth stopping for.

Wine anchors the eastern half. The Columbia Valley and Walla Walla hold hundreds of wineries, many pouring in tasting rooms that sit directly on working vineyards, where the tour covers the rows before it reaches the glass. The Yakima Valley grows the hops, and breweries on working hop farms there pour beer within sight of the bines that flavored it. These places run farm-to-table dinners, harvest events, and educational tours, as much a part of the region's calendar as the crush itself.

For a longer stay, the state's farms open their doors overnight: rustic cabins on active livestock operations in the Methow Valley, barns above the lavender fields of Whidbey Island fitted out for weddings. Workshops, seasonal festivals, and farmers' markets keep the producer and the customer face to face. Watch the morning chores, help with a harvest, or just sit still on a porch with the fields in front of you, the immersion is the product.