By Grace Lemley

We are Grace and Griffin of Dear Table Farm! Our mission is to cultivate excitement around food. Whether it be our epic farmers market setups or our incredible variety—we go for an “ooh-ahh” reaction from folks who buy from us.

We started our farm after participating in the Viva Farms Practicum program five years ago, and have grown from 1.25 acres in our first year to now six acres in our fourth year in business. We farm 4.5 acres at Viva Farms and another 1.5 offsite nearby.

It’s been an incredible five years. We quit our very steady techy sales jobs in the winter of 2021 and never looked back. We decided we would try full-time farming for a year to see if we could make it work. With a lot of hard work and long days, we grew so much food in our first season! Looking back on that first year, I can’t believe we did all that. I always say, “We were crazy!” But we’re certainly glad we did it, and have steadily grown our business over the last four years.

It’s such a delight to be able to do this with the love of my life. To start a business with your partner is not an easy feat—but what an incredible gift it is. We work really well together. He’s like the calm, cool, collected one who helps support my wild and crazy ideas. Griffin also never fails to feed me—like, decadent meals—which is crazy because I’m so exhausted after a day, and there he is at 9:30 pm whipping me up something amazing. Griffin calls me “Sparkplug.” He says, “She just never gives up, she could go and go and go. Many days I have to pull her out of the field, like how does she not get tired?”

Dear Table Farm is certainly a family affair, and it’s a big part of our success. My mom essentially manages and runs an entire ½ acre herself—mostly flowers, but also peas, cherry tomatoes, loofah sponges, and ginger! I think that’s the truly beautiful part of the farm. I joke that my dad, Jim, is our “infrastructure specialist.” He helps with putting things together or fixing things, helping maintain some of our infrastructure, like tunnels and coolers. We feel so lucky to have both of them so invested in our business.

Across the slough, just a two-minute jaunt, is our “main plot” where most of the veggie production side of things happens. I love walking back to our veg ground from the flowers. It makes me feel so proud to see all the food we’re growing.

Along with some family help, we have two full-time and one part-time crew. It’s the first year we’ve really hired, and it’s certainly a big step. I look around and am like, “Wow—six more pairs of hands can really get a lot more done!” Hiring the right people for the job has been an interesting experience for us. Of course, no one is going to care about this thing like we do, but I hope we can establish in our crew the inspiration we have for growing such incredible food and relay our why.

One reason finding the right crew is so challenging is because our variety is so wide. We grow about 56 different vegetables, and within those, about 150 different varieties. Because we are growing year-round, we select varieties that grow better during certain windows of the year. Last year was our first year growing year-round, and it certainly adds value to our business. Having year-round income and fresh vegetables to sell and eat in January and February felt really rewarding. This year, we definitely plan to up our storage crop volume and have added another tunnel in our lineup, so we can have a bigger volume of fresh greens and lettuce.

Overall, our temperate climate means growing year-round can make a lot of sense. The big challenge is fighting the wetness. Hence, why we continue to add tunnels to our operation. They provide a place to help protect crops from harsh weather—and too much rain. When we move onto our “forever farm” we’ll have electricity, so we can get fans in our tunnels. Griffin says, “Then we’ll really be grooving!”

There’s truly never a day we wake up and go, “Ugh, I don’t want to go to the farm.” The only thing that would make this whole thing better is if we were able to live and farm on the same land. I think it’s the biggest challenge for farmers: not living where you work, when the work is so full-on, so consuming. Commuting to the farm every day is hard for us, and then of course so is investing in infrastructure and all when it’s not “forever ground.” We are actively looking and hope to find our spot very soon.

We did start selling as our own business to Skagit Valley Food Co-op this season and have been doing twice weekly deliveries with radish, scallions, big beautiful gem and head lettuces, rainbow chard, collard greens, and green curly kale. Griffin says he attended the farmer meeting the Co-op held early in the year, and as a “newbie” farmer in the group, took whatever anyone else didn’t want. Scallions and radish were the two. We planned out to grow these two crops for the Co-op but have been pleasantly surprised to get orders for a lot of other things, too.

It feels so good to be growing for the best grocery store in the state. World, maybe? I grew up shopping at the Co-op with my mom—they’ve been members for as long as she can remember. It’s sort of a goosebumpy feeling to walk through the produce department and see “Dear Table Farm” on a sign. It makes me feel incredibly proud of what we’ve built. One of our goals this year was to engage more of our hyper local community, as much of our business has been geared towards Seattle markets. Working with the Co-op has really helped us start to reach that goal. Knowing that our community could be buying our food from the Co-op and taking it home to their families is a good feeling.

Along with sales to the Food Co-op, we sell year-round on Sundays at the Ballard Farmers Market, seasonally on Wednesdays in Wallingford, and are also available through the Puget Sound Food Hub. We also have a CSA program this season and are still taking prorated signups if folks are interested! Our market displays are what we’re “known” for—getting to the market hours before it starts, carefully curating our vegetables, constantly moving things around, restocking when it gets low. Appearance is everything at a farmers market with lots of other farms and vendors. We try to stand out as best we can, so we can capture the “eye” that says, “ooh-—I want to buy from them!” Vegetables are inherently so beautiful, it really doesn’t feel too hard, and we both really enjoy that part. We work so hard all week, and then go to market and just get to basically put it all on display and make art! We joke around that it’s our “day off.”

Many people ask us about our name: Dear Table Farm. It came out of gratitude for the table and how important the table is. It’s a place to enjoy a good meal with family, friends, and community. It’s a space to nourish your bodies with slow eating, enjoyment. I love writing, and so our name encapsulates an “ode to the table.” At our farm, we have this picnic table, and it’s just the hub. Everyone wants to be around the table, and it ends up being the place where people feel at ease. Our hope is that people feel that when they eat our food.

Nourished. Inspired. Grateful.

Local Farm Feature: Dear Table Farm