Hello and welcome to our farm – Desert Ridge Produce! My name is John Hyer and I work on the farm with my brother, Chris. I will give you one hint as to the climate in which we grow our crops: It is very hot and dry! If you guessed the desert then you are correct! We are located in the dry desert central region of Washington State in the Pacific Northwest. One of the reasons I love to grow food organically is that not only is it healthier for the soil, but the methods and chemicals we use are also safe for our employees and our consumers who buy our products at the grocery store.

At Desert Ridge we grow potatoes, carrots, onions, sweet corn and peas. Our potato plant grows in rows on top of the ground and is similar in appearance to a tomato plant. Carrots grow in the ground and onions grow right at the surface. Our corn grows in the ground and gets really big! Sweet corn grows to about 6 feet and grain corn grows about 9 feet before they are harvested. Sweet corn is my favorite vegetable so I spend a lot of time in those corn fields! Speaking of harvesting, with the variety of crops we produce, our harvesting season runs from June through November, keeping us very busy!

That is one of the great things about farming – we are challenged by the weather, growing seasons, weeds, and producing high quality vegetables. We started growing organically in 1997 and will never go back to traditional farming because I find great joy in producing wholesome food.