Produce season is kicking in to high gear and local vegetable gardens are enjoying all the sunshine just as are the local gardeners!

There is no better place to find our summer’s bounty than at the Sequim Farmers Market. If you haven’t visited its new setup this year – on the corner of Sequim Avenue and Washington Street, spilling over to a large empty lot just a hop down Washington Street – we encourage you to do so. A feast in the making awaits you!

Some of that feast is sure to be provided by one of the market’s newest produce vendors: Farmlife, aka Cody and Whitney Bower. Perhaps you have seen their booth – this year they are located right up front next to the Pane d’Amore bakery building. They are there every Saturday with a wide variety of organically grown vegetables and fruit, herbs and plant starts for the fall garden.

Cody and Whitney are the fourth generation – their two boys make the fifth – to live on their family property, where their boys provided the initial inspiration for Farmlife. In addition to learning about gardening, their goal for their sons was to spark an interest in what they were eating. Now that they are growing food for others as well, their goal has broadened: They want to re-introduce people to good, fresh, real food.

One way Farmlife does this is by maintaining a focus on heirloom vegetables. Heirlooms are non-commercially grown varieties of vegetables and fruit. The seeds often have been handed-down from generation to generation or from grower to grower.

Heirloom seeds always are open-pollinated, meaning you can save the seeds and grow the exact same plant the following season. (Contrast this to a patented, genetically modified seed which only can be purchased, or a hybridized seed which will not grow true to type in following years.)

Cody and Whitney are proponents of heirloom fruits and veggies for numerous reasons. First and foremost, the taste! This season they are particularly excited about their Black Russian tomatoes, which are dark burgundy, beautiful and delicious. Black Russian tomatoes feature a complex flavor with just the right balance of acid and sweet.

These farmers also plan to save their own seeds so that they may one day pass their favorite and unusual heirlooms varieties down to future generations as the seeds have been passed down to them.

Planting and cultivating heirloom varieties also promotes genetic diversity. Cody and Whitney are not supportive of genetically modifying seeds or plants and by introducing their customers to heirloom varieties, feel they are actively educating people.

Five hives of honeybees help to pollinate their crops. Last year they produced four gallons of honey, all of which is sold directly to the consumer at the Sequim Farmers Market. Cody and Whitney tell us that many of their customers choose their honey to help combat allergies because their bees pollinate a wide variety of plants throughout the season.

Farmlife also has sponsored a youth baseball team and looks to become even more involved in the fabric of Sequim as time goes on and its business grows. What a fabulous addition to the Sequim Farmers Market and to our community!

We hope you take time on a Saturday to visit Cody and Whitney at their market booth. With a salad made of fresh greens, a pesto created with sweet basil or a nip of raw local honey in your tea, you are sure to eat well and be well.

Thank you Farmlife!

Mark Ozias and Lisa Boulware are owners of The Red Rooster Grocery. Reach them at columnists@sequimgazette.com.