Jose Bautista is a busy man. He’s up every day at 4 o’clock in the morning and works until 10 or 11 at night. The days when he drives three and a half hours to work markets on the weekends are the days he finds relaxing. This is the life of the man behind Bautista Farms. Jose farms 24 acres of vegetables in Sunnyside, Washington and has a 35-acre orchard nearby. The Bautista Farms crew tends to the land by hand and grows everything without using pesticides.
Jose started Bautista Farms in 2002. At that time he was growing asparagus, sweet Walla Walla onions, and lettuce. Today, he dedicates ten acres solely to asparagus and brings a slew of produce options to the Carnation Farmers Market on Tuesdays. You’ll find acorn squash, summer squash, garlic, corn, carrots, green beans, yellow green beans, green onions, cucumbers, potatoes, peppers, zucchini, eggplant, sugar snap peas, English peas, beets, golden beets, watermelon, radishes, white radishes, and more. Bautista Farms also grows a wide variety of tomatoes, including beefsteak, Brandywine, Carolina Gold, heirloom, Roma, yellow cherry, Early Girl, Pink, and yellow varieties. From the Bautista orchard, apricots, Asian pears, Bartlett pears, Bing and Rainer cherries, nectarines, peaches, Honeycrisp apples, Fuji apples, Gala apples, and Pink Lady apples find their way to Carnation.
If you don’t believe that they can grow all this on one farm, Jose invites skeptics to come out and see for themselves. Just try to pick a day when temperatures are below 100 degrees Fahrenheit. In the meantime, stop by the Bautista Farms booth to pick up produce fresh from Sunnyside.