Tilth Alliance has been happily coordinating with local growers for many years to grow and supply edible plants for both of our annual Edible Plant Sales. We purchase from farmers and growers who use certified organic or regenerative and sustainable methods. Over the last few years, we have added more small farms to the mix – get to know the growers for this year’s May Edible Plant Sale!
Rents Due Ranch
Mike Shriver of Rents Due Ranch has been the main grower for our Edible Plant Sales for many years. He grows starts for many nurseries, as well as field-grown produce for PCC Community Markets and other local grocers, at his farm in Stanwood, WA. Even without an online presence, he is a well-known producer throughout Western Washington.
This year we expect to see plants from Rents Due Ranch in every plant group we sell: veggies, edible flowers, herbs and pollinator plants. Rents Due Ranch alone will provide nearly 50 different varieties of tomatoes, 25 varieties of pumpkins and summer and winter squash, and 21 varieties of hot and sweet peppers! Some new varieties coming from Rents Due Ranch this May include ‘Paloma’ eggplant, ‘Speeder’ chicory, and ‘Harvest Moon’ and ‘Tiren’ tomatoes.
Rents Due Ranch plants are the mainstay of many Pacific Northwest gardeners each summer and we are happy to continue our relationship with Mike and the farm.
Sunseed Farm
Up in Acme, WA, on the south fork of the Nooksack River, Nick Guilford and Margaret Gerard of Sunseed Farm grow an assortment of plant starts for us each year. A few truckloads of 9,000 plus vibrant and healthy plants arrive in spring and summer.
This May we will be receiving a variety of edible flowers including nasturtiums, marigolds, sunflowers, calendula and alyssum, as well as a large quantity of herbs. When the racks come off the truck with the herbs, we are intoxicated by the sweet and spicy aromas of 6 different varieties and colors of basil, and 50 flats of cilantro, dill, and parsley. Nick is also our ‘Sungold’ tomato supplier – this year we are expecting 936 of them to sell over the weekend! You will also find trusted heirlooms like ‘Brandywine’ and ‘San Marzano’ tomato plants as well as newer favorites like ‘Pink Bumble Bee’ and the tried and true ‘Early Girl’. Nick also brings us ground cherry and tomatillo plants.
Nick drives the truck down himself, so we are charmed to meet and accept the plants from one of the growers each year!
Cascade Cuts
Cascade Cuts, a wholesale nursery in Bellingham, WA, focuses on flowers, herbs, bulbs and succulents and sells to PCC Community Markets and many local nurseries. We purchase some of our most beloved perennial herbs from them, as well as specialty flowers like scented geraniums, cosmos, and snapdragons. They have been growing beautiful things since 1980, starting out as a cut flower grower. Cascade Cuts is now owned and operated by Bizu Getachew, an Ethiopian immigrant who came to Washington State as a refugee and began her businesses providing home health care with adult homes.
This year we are also expecting to see a wonderful variety of mint, thyme, lavender, rosemary, and sage, with 11 varieties of mint, 6 varieties of sage, 8 varieties of thyme, and 7 varieties of lavender. Look for some fun varieties like ‘Kentucky Colonel’ and ‘Ginger’ mint, ‘Platinum Blonde’ and Royal Velvet’ lavender, and ‘Severn Sea’ and ‘Barbecue’ rosemary.
Oxbow Farm and Conservation Center
We generally source our native pollinator plants from Oxbow Farm and Conservation Center, located in Carnation, WA. In addition to being a working farm, Oxbow is a research and teaching space focused on sustainable, regenerative agriculture in the Northwest.
This year, due to the devastating floods that caused widespread damage across Western Washington this winter, we will have no plants sourced from Oxbow for the 2026 sale. This has been a huge tragedy for their site, which lost their native plant nursery plant stock. They are rebuilding and appreciate volunteer support as they get the production up and running again.
For 2026, Peak Moon Nursery is pitching in to help grow a few of the items we would have expected from Oxbow for our May sale.
Peak Moon Nursery
If you take a short ferry ride across the water from West Seattle to Vashon Island you will find Peak Moon Nursery, run by our friend and former Tilth Alliance staff member Selena Ligrano with her husband Keaton Freeman and their adorable son Kash and energetic pup Kota. Peak Moon’s plants can be found at Little Bird Gardens at the Country Store Site and at their own farm stand, both located along Vashon Highway. Selena, who was instrumental in establishing our Culturally Relevant Organic Plant Starts program at Tilth Alliance, will be bringing us some of the crops that are difficult to find in a local nursery this year.
Look for uncommon but rewarding plants like okra, epazote, winter melon, bitter melon, hibiscus, ashwaganda, and delectable small ‘White Egg’ eggplant. Peak moon will also be bringing us interesting greens like Lagos spinach (Celosia), Malabar spinach, and molokhia (Egyptian spinach). Find peppers like ‘Binquinho Red’, ‘Lipstick’, and ‘Padron’ as well as some new picks of ‘Hong Gochu’ and ‘Corbaci’.
We will also receive some great native plants in the pollinator plant section, to help cover the tragic loss of Oxbow Farm and Conservation Center’s nursery stock. Expect to see red columbine, bigleaf lupine, Oregon checkermallow, Virginia strawberry, blanket flower and more in the pollinator tables at the May sale. We can attest to the wonderful plants Selena grows, having grown alongside her for many years!
Dirty Knees Nursery
We are thrilled to welcome back Cheri Nunamaker from Dirty Knees Nursery, located in Bellingham, WA! Cheri has been growing her vibrant herbs since 1996 for the wholesale market and we are lucky to have her product on our tables.
This winter, Dirty Knees Nursery survived the flooding but instead suffered a loss of greenhouses and equipment from a fire that ravaged their growing site. To support their recovery, we helped them team up with Hop Frog Farm who will be sharing the growing order for the May sale.
Dirty Knees herbs are a feast for the eyes when we unload them each year. This year they will be focused on their lush perennial herbs including favorites like lavender, lemon grass, ‘Cuban’ and ‘Puerto Rican’ oregano, tarragon, curry plant, and lemon verbena. We also get robust Echinacea plants from them each May, and this year they will bring favorite annual herbs like ‘African Blue’ basil and ‘Hercules’ dill.
Hop Frog Farm
Growing for the first time for us this year, Jordan Cohen and Sarah Schubert stepped up at just the right time to help us cover plants that Dirty Knees Nursery are unable to provide for the May sale due to the fires they suffered this winter. They contacted us to see if we had gaps in our plant lists for our sales and expressed interest in growing. The timing could not have been more opportune. The two growers connected and came up with an arrangement for this year to cover both the perennial and annual herbs and flowers Dirty Knees was set to grow for us this year.
This year Hop Frog Farm will be growing a selection of plants including ‘Lime’ basil, green and red shiso, chamomile, and lovage. We are excited to welcome their plants for the sale and to share them with all of you.
Rainier Beach Youth Stewards
At our own farm at the Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands, the youth in the Rainier Beach Youth Stewards program grow tomatoes for our May sale each year. This youth employment program engages youth from 14 – 18 years old to learn farming activities, farm stand management, and wetland restoration, offering a holistic experience while producing crops for the community.
Look for their peppers and tomatoes in the vegetable field at the May sale. They will provide ‘Bulgarian Carrot Chile’, ‘Hinkelhatz’, and ‘Poblano Ancho’ hot peppers and the delightful drying sweet pepper ‘Alma Paprika’. Their main crop is tomato plants, including the delightful cherry tomato ‘Dancing with Smurfs’, sauce tomato ‘Amish Paste’, reliable red tomato ‘Momotaro’, and a dwarf colorful slicing tomato ‘Dwarf Confetti’. The Rainier Beach Youth Stewards will be on hand to share their tips on growing the 15 different varieties of tomatoes they will be selling. All proceeds from the sale of the plants they grow directly benefit their programming.
