An upcoming event at a Woodland tulip farm asks attendees to stop and smell the flowers — and to try the food and wine, too.
The Field to Vase Dinner Tour, promoting local food, drinks and flowers, will be Nov. 6 at Holland America Flower Gardens, at 1066 S. Pekin Road. People in attendance will get to meet the craftsmen and women whose up-and-coming wines, cheese and colorful flowers will deck the dinner tables for the evening.
Residents and passers-by may recognize the farm by the colorful expanse of flowers that bloom in the spring.
“It’s the flower farm experience. I don’t think people really know how flowers are grown, but when you get to the farm and you see this facility, you’re kind of in awe,” said Russell Brent of Holland America Flower Gardens.
The farm is owned by Benno Dobbe, who immigrated to the United States from Holland in the 1980s. He runs the Woodland field and another farm in Arroyo Grande, Calif. The family-run fields employ about 125 people, Dobbe said, cultivating flowers to be sold to florists and wholesalers.
“It’s just out-of-control to know he’s moving so many flowers through Woodland,” Brent said.
But chief among the event’s goals is to show off a whole bouquet of local goods. Brewers, florists, chefs and even cheese-makers are featured at the dinner, organized by American Grown Flowers, to greet people and potential customers. Other Field to Vase dinners have been held this year already in California, Pennsylvania, Texas and Colorado.
Attendees will learn that a winemaker at Ridgefield’s Confluence Winery has a chemistry background, lending a meticulousness to his craft, Brent said.
“In winemaking, the chemistry is critical, there’s no question,” he said. “It’s difficult to make a good wine even when you start with great grapes.”
Attendees of the Woodland event also will eat a locally sourced, multi-course meal from the chefs of Mill Creek Pub in Battle Ground, and taste dairy products from Ridgefield’s Cloud Nine Farm. Pandora Milligan, who founded the diary farm with her husband, Mark Milligan, eight years ago, said the dinner was not only a promotional opportunity for the company but a chance for locals to connect with local goods.
“The thought is that flowers should be locally sourced like, hopefully, your food is. Food is community,” she said. “Any time that we can be involved with people getting in touch with where their food is produced, we want to be a part.”
After the meal, Dobbe said, each guest will leave with their own flower bouquet.
