Our Farm — New Owners, Same Style

First, let us make sure you're saying our town and businesses name correctly (English, people, what is it's deal?!). Bow in our context is pronounced \ˈbō \. Think "bow and arrow", not the "bow of a boat".

Moving on...

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Established in 1947, Bow Hill Blueberries is the site of the oldest family-run blueberry farm in Skagit Valley. When the Soltes family took this project on in 2011, they focused on rejuvenating the soil and transitioned these historic fields to Certified Organic. This farm specializes in heirloom berries and has over 4,500 bushes that are a combination of Rubel, Stanley, Jersey, and Bluecrop. 

The farm store is open year-round. In small batches, usually once weekly, the excellent kitchen team farm-crafts certified organic Pickled Heirloom Blueberries (two-time Good Food Award-winning), Blueberry Confiture (a low-sugar and versatile French-style preserve), Blueberry Marinade & Salad Dressing, and two, pure, 100%, nothing added products — the Heirloom Blueberry Juice and Heirloom Blueberry Powder. The new owners are planning on creating a few more products in the coming years and are very excited to launch those and share them with the community. Bow Hill's neighbors at Lopez Island Creamery make the beloved recipe for blueberry ice cream that the Soltes family helped create. The Ranz & Matheson families continue to sell the curated gift boxes and have created some new ones with the help of their team! They still continue to send staff to multiple regional farmers markets, and work with local bars and restaurants to get our products and berries to you. 

During the harvest, they plan to offer grazing passes (fingers crossed for a 2021 you-pick season) so that you and yours can wander the fields and experience eating the absolute freshest, most nutritious blueberries right off the bush without feeling at-all guilty about it. 

Siblings standing in blueberry field with pitchfork and champagne

One set of siblings, Ezra (pictured right) and Audrey (pictured left), along with their respective spouses, Emma and Andrew (E&E, A&A), banded together and purchased Bow Hill in November of 2020. Ezra is the overseer of all things farm & field and will work out in the fields with Pablo most days. Emma is in charge of finances and operations, Audrey works on marketing and product development, and Andrew will be in charge of photography, website UX/UI, events, and tours. The sheepadoodle, Saoirse, will be a good-ole-farm dog and Vera and Soren will run around the blueberry lanes. They will continue to use the branding and packaging that the Soltes’ daughter, Amelia, designed. All year round, Bow Hill employs ten-or-so people full and part-time to help in the fields, create products, work in the store, market, pack and ship products nationwide, and pitch in with art projects and ideas. During the harvest, as many as twenty-five adults (and sometimes kids!) hand-harvest and pack 60,000 pounds of berries. The Ranz & Matheson families plan to keep the excellent team that Harley & Susan hired and know they'll have a lot to learn a lot from them, plus they'll hire more staff as needed.

Many locals have come in and told or written tales about their fond memories picking blueberries in our fields as far back as the 1940s. Turns out, for many, picking here was their first job, often to buy new clothes for the upcoming school year. The Ranz & Matheson's goal is to continue creating harvest memories and connections to farm fresh food. They're exited and humbled to take on this project and carry on what the past two families before us have created.

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Kids with chickens

Audrey and Ezra grew up on a similar sized farm down near Lake Tahoe and it has been a life-long dream to live and work on one of their own. That dream is finally realized and they take it on with humility. They and their spouses know that they have have much to learn from the community, the partnership's that've been created, and the employees.

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Bow Hill Blueberries is located in the agriculturally rich Skagit Valley in the northwest corner of Washington state.

Washington state solid with Bow Hill logo in top left corner

 

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