Whole Story

Whole Foods Market Local Forager Denise Breyley travels around the beautiful Pacific Northwest meeting the amazing farmers, ranchers and producers who supply our tables with fresh, locally grown food.

Up here in the Pacific Northwest, our growing season can feel pretty brief. With the rain, wind and short, dark days, we’re used to saying goodbye fresh veggies in the late fall and early spring.

But we’re working to make that growing season a bit longer for one of our latest

Local Producer Loan recipients, Willie Greens Organic Farm. Based in Monroe, Washington, Willie Greens has been growing a wide variety of organically certified vegetables since 1987.

The owner, Jeff Miller, is a former chef committed to providing customers with only the freshest, organic and seasonally grown produce available.

With his loan, Jeff was able to construct greenhouses on his farm to extend the growing season later into the winter and allow him to get started earlier in the spring.

Each greenhouse is 30 feet by 240 feet, or 7200 square feet.

Construction began in October of 2011 and will culminate with five new greenhouses for a variety of produce.

I met Jeff through my work as the Local Forager for the Pacific Northwest region. In this role, I travel through Oregon, Washington and British Columbia to meet the amazing farmers, ranchers and producers who supply our tables with fresh, locally grown food and see how I can bring their products to customers in our stores.

You can read more about producers like Jeff and Willie Greens on my blog, The Local Forager.

And if you live in Washington or Oregon you can buy Willie Greens’ produce at Whole Foods Market stores in your state – even when the weather outside isn’t great for growing.