Best Places To Pick Summer Fruit In Seattle

Nothing says summer quite like berry-stained hands and faces, dirt-covered feet and the mouth-watering aroma of sun-ripened, farm-fresh fruit. With its temperate climate, rich soil and abundant rainfall, the hillsides and valleys of the greater Seattle area are freckled with farms featuring you-pick produce that will delight even the most discriminating fruit connoisseur. From longtime favorite Larsen Lake Blueberry Farm in Bellevue to picturesque Graysmarsh Farms in Sequim, there's a farm for berry pickers of all ages – and opportunities to meet farm animals, enjoy historical sites and even visit a children's amusement park. Whether you're craving blueberries, strawberries, raspberries or tayberries – or you're looking to adorn your home with the aroma of fresh lavender – there's a you-pick farm for city slickers and country lovers alike.

What began as a small family farm in rural Carnation, Washington has since grown into a not-to-miss Pacific Northwest destination that has helped put this tiny town on the map. Remlinger Farms' 200 acres are filled with you-pick strawberries, blueberries and raspberries; a market with fresh-farm produce; a petting zoo; and an amusement park for children. Remlinger Farms provides containers for berry pickers at its fields and berries are weighed when you're done picking and then sold by the pound. The farm only uses natural fertilizers and also provides recipe packets and canning supplies to help berry pickers enjoy the fruit year-round.

Larsen Lake Blueberry Farm and nearby Mercer Slough Blueberry Farm are located conveniently in Bellevue, Washington and they have been operated by the Bellevue Parks Department for more than seven decades. The farm sits near the confluence of several freeways, but it's a quiet piece of country amid the nearby whir of city life. And once you're in the fields, you'll never realize just how close you are to the city. The Lake Hills Farm Fresh Produce Stand provides picking buckets and fruit pickers can enjoy a piece of history too – the trails winding through the Lake Hills Greenbelt have an historic log cabin and historical markers dotted throughout the farm. After you've picked your fill of blueberries, the Lake Hills Fresh Farm Produce Stand features other farm-fresh produce.

Take the entire family on a trolley ride down a long, winding dirt road that opens into lush fields with 20 acres of strawberries – and meet some friendly farm animals, too! Biringer Farm has provided juicy, farm-fresh strawberries to Washington State for more than 60 years. Visitors can pick strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and tayberries and pick up ready-to-eat slicers – containers of sugared, sliced strawberries – for immediate use or freezing. Biringer Farms is now affiliated with the Red Rooster Route, an association of Arlington-area agriculturalists that provides fresh produce and heritage activities.

Bybee Farms, established in 1946, comprises 42 acres in the foothills of Mt. Si approximately two miles from North Bend, Washington. The farm has six varieties of you-pick blueberries, including Jersey, Dixi, Pemberton and Stanley, all first planted in 1946; and Blue Crop and Blue Ray, first planted in 1983. Each variety features its own distinct flavor profile, color hue and aroma, from the high-flavored Blue Rays and Stanleys to the dessert-quality Blue Crop and Dixi. Get closer to nature as you enrich your dinner table: there's abundant wildlife nearby and you might even have a mountain goat sighting as you pick your fruits and vegetables. The farm provides both picking buckets and take-home flats to fill to your heart's – and stomach's – desire.

You'll first be met by the intoxicating aroma of lavender, and then you'll see field upon field of the lush plant, in varying hues of purples and blues. At Graysmarch Farm, which is located near the water in picturesque Sequim, you can pick strawberries, loganberries, raspberries, boysenberries, blackberries, blueberries and even luscious lavender. Graysmarch grows lavender in several varieties, including Grosso (French and deep purple in color), Otto Quast (Spanish), Provence, Royal Purple, Royal Velvet, White Spike and Hidcote. Visitors can also pick up jars of Graysmarsh Berry Preserves, which are available in lavender-flavored raspberry, raspberry, wild blackberry, loganberry and strawberry.