Access has been a pillar of Bow Hill Blueberries’ history, and Audrey Matheson and her brother, Ezra Ranz, committed to maintaining access when they took over the farm in 2020. To the siblings, access means access to education about organic agriculture, and access to the berries on the farm itself. To make it accessible, they invite people to their farm for You-Pick berries, and farm tours with different focuses, catering to visitors interests.  

Educating people about agriculture is important to Audrey and Ezra because of how important education was in their journey to becoming farmers. After graduating college and working with nonprofits in the sustainable-agriculture sphere, Audrey invited Ezra to take an agroecology course with her at UCSC. Ezra, who had just gotten back from completing an alternative energy/biogas project on farmland in the West Bank, agreed, and the seed was planted.  

Their hypothetical dream about owning a farm together became reality in November of 2020, when the Bow Hill Blueberry farm was up for sale. The pandemic had given them time to reflect on their goals, and shown them how unpredictable life can be, so they decided to take a leap of faith and bought the farm.  

Bow Hill Blueberries has succeeded on generations of leaps of faith. The farm itself has been around since 1947. It is one of the oldest historic blueberry farms in the Skagit Valley. The story goes that a traveling salesman came into town with blueberry plants, and the original owners took a leap of faith and started growing them. Now, over seven decades later, those same heirloom blueberries are the ones growing on the farm today.  

The peak blueberry season is the busiest time of year for Audrey, Ezra, and their partners, Andrew and Emma. Between harvesting fresh blueberries, selling at farmers markets, hosting farm tours, and You-Pick guests, it is all-hands-on-deck during peak season. But they stay busy during the off-season too. Even during the winter months, you can find Bow Hill at the farmers markets with an impressive variety of shelf-stable products, like Organic Heirloom Blueberry juice, powder, and confiture. Audrey says that the products all have minimal added ingredients, “to keep it simple and focus on the blueberries.” 

In addition to the regular maintenance of a blueberry farm, the Bow Hill team has some other major projects on their plate. As they rebuild the farm store that they lost in a fire, they are using the tragic event as an opportunity for good. They are currently working on restoring the riparian area and adding native hedgerows around the farm with the help of the Salal Native Plant Society and other organizations.  

Audrey has other big dreams for the farm, including creating a non-profit sister organization to Bow Hill Blueberries with an environmental center for all ages. The team has lots of work on the farm to stay busy in the meantime, but the future is bright for Bow Hill. Stay tuned to see what comes next for them by following their social channels, and checking them out at the University District Farmers Market.