shop Local :: Tracy's Roadside Produce

On Highway 164, as you're approaching Enumclaw, there is a quaint roadside produce stand with offerings throughout the year.  Tracy's Roadside Produce is not just a veg stand, but has built a sweet little business with gourmet foodie items and kitschy gifts as well.

Some of their fancy offerings include things like pastas and sauces, flavoured olive oils, local honey, vintage sodas, and jams and syrups for Oregon.  They also carry practical things like hormone free milk from Smith Brother's Farms and eggs from Twisted S Ranch, a local farm down the road, which was the reason for our visit this day.

Of course, the kids will love the candy cart stocked with taffy, rock candy, and honey sticks.  Cookie Monster found these delightful Dilettante chocolate laced honey sticks.  We also found locally made tortilla chips and salsa from a company called Penny's of Auburn and toffee covered peanuts from Totem of Kent.

Predictably, their produce section shrinks in the winter time.  However i was elated to see that the family running the business denotes the place of origin on their produce--most being from the Southwestern US or Mexico.  Right now, the asparagus from the Yakima Valley is in.  Yum!!  I can hardly wait to see what this place is like in late summer when all that produce comes in.  I am hoping a little more of it will be locally grown. 

Tracy's also has a line of their own canned produce: things like peaches, pickles, etc.

It's a great little place to find gifts ranging from food to kitchenware to garden flowers.  And while mom's shop, there is a well maintained play area in the back of the store for kids to enjoy the experience too.

Hopefully as more and more sustainably grown produce becomes available, shops like these will make an even bigger killing.   But just because they don't have organics right now, doesn't mean we can't support them and encourage them to grow in a more sustainable direction.  In supporting shops like these in our area, we can only hope that more of our local produce out here in farm country stays here and instead of most of it being trucked into Seattle's farmer's markets.