I discovered something so fun recently just outside of Everett in the Snohomish Valley, that it must be shared! What is this awesome discovery, you ask. Upick!

Okay, okay it might not sound all that exciting but judging by the large crowd at Baileys Family Farm on the weekday morning I was there, it’s exciting to more than just me.

For this adventure, I coaxed my vegetarian sister along. While there are a surprising number of Upick farms in our area, we picked one where you got to pick more than just berries. We wanted to try out picking veggies and berries. And, as a bonus, they even have flowers.

On their website they share what kind of veggies and the like you can expect to find that day. Understandably, the choices vary by season and even by month and weeks in the months depending on how much sunshine and rain we’ve had.

The day we were there the most popular field, by far, was the field full of pickling size cucumbers. Does everyone do their own pickles? Is it like a TikTok or YouTube thing because clearly, I need to get with the times. People were picking those by the cart full.

For us, we were more interested in trying some of everything except for the pickling cucumbers. I got a beautiful head of bibb lettuce; cabbage; six beets; green beans and, my favorite, creamy gold potatoes. I had planned to get carrots but those were gone and the raspberries were closed for a couple days to let enough ripen for the weekend pickers.

Part of the fun was seeing all the families out picking. It was fun seeing toddlers toddling down the dirt rows, green beans in dirty hands and sporting big smiles. It was also fun hearing the different languages being spoken around us. This is an activity that I’m slow to know about but the word has clearly spread to all the different cultures our city and county increasingly includes.

I love hitting the Everett Farmers Market on Sundays, and Upick might not be a weekly kind of activity, but I think it could be a summer monthly kind of thing. The variety changes, it didn’t take long, it’s barely out of Everett and you just can’t beat the freshness. Best of all, next month, fresh corn is ripe. Gotta go back!

We live lucky my friends! — Jingle Jackson

Editor’s note: All images by Jingle Jackson. What is your favorite upick farm in the Everett area? Comment below or over on our Facebook to share the love.

Bailey Family Farm
12968 Springhetti Road
Snohomish, WA 98296

Jingle Jackson grew up in Everett, attended WSU (go Cougs!) and worked a great career at Snohomish PUD. Now, she is working on the pursuit of new adventures and fun wherever she can find it.