It’s finally farmer’s market season [# ^[1]] and we’re starting a little series I’m calling ‘Meet Your Farmer’s Market Vendors’. Each week I’ll bring you one or two interviews with a local vendor from one of the farmer’s markets in and around Seattle.

At the University District market ^[2]this morning, I interviewed Charlie from Sea Breeze Farms ^[3]. More after the jump.

Here’s what Charlie had to say about Sea Breeze Farms.

Products: Raw milk, cream, ricotta, chicken, lamb, cheese, chicken and duck eggs, chicken and lamb stock, and red wine vinegar.

Length of time at the market: Sea Breeze Farms has been at the University District market since late fall/early winter. They have been at the Ballard farmers market since February and at Vashon Island farmers market for years.

Favorite product: After much deliberation, Charlie chose Sea Breeze’s milk.

On Raw Milk: I asked Charlie what he told people when they expressed hesitation about buying raw milk. He provided me with an amazing amount of information on the history of milk production. Back in the late 1800’s, property values started rising and so the amount of land for dairies started to decrease. The animals were forced into smaller areas with poorer care. Distilleries were also growing in popularity. One of the by-products of the distillation process was an acidic slop. This slop was fed to the cows to stimulate milk production. In fact, it was quite common to see a dairy and a distillery built right next to each other. The poorer conditions and acidic slop feed caused a rise in illnesses and parasites in the cows. Pasteurization became common and eventually, raw milk was illegalized.

Sea Breeze Farms

Are You Organic? This is a common question and Charlie’s answer is that they are so beyond organic. They practice an intensive pasture rotation system. For example, the cows will graze on a field for a set amount of time. Then they will move to another field and the sheep will move in. The sheep clean up the field from the cows. Next, the poultry move in. They clean up the field from the sheep. This allows Sea Breeze to avoid commercial fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics or other artificial inputs.

Wine: As I was talking to Charlie, several shoppers came by with an eye on their wine. They passed by because Sea Breeze can’t allow tasting at the market. Well, I can speak from experience – their wine is excellent. Their winery, Sweetbread Cellars, practices sustainable, traditional methods of wine making. All of their grapes are stomped by foot. This allows them to leave the stems on the grapes. In a machine crush, the stems produce too high of a level of tannins. At Sweetbread Cellars, the stems provide a small amount of natural tannins while also giving the wine a bit of the local Vashon Island flavor. The do not use any commercial yeast, preferring to use only local yeast. This produces wine that has a sense of its own local place. They have several varieties including Syrah, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and two red blends.

Sea Breeze Farms is at the University District ^[2], Ballard ^[4], Columbia City ^[5], West Seattle ^[6], and Vashon ^[7] Farmer’s Markets.