“Our names are Ty & Trenda Regehr. We have been raising fresh produce on our farm and running our store, BlueRock Farm Market, since 2015.
We are passionate about providing the community with an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, meats, dairy products, baked goods and more - all produced locally on our farm and by many other businesses throughout Idaho and the northwest.
Visit BlueRock Farm Market, in Twin Falls, and enjoy the flavors of fresh foods, from your local farmers…”
— BlueRock Farm Market, Twin Falls, ID website
It isn’t spring — and the end of scary cold/flu season — until BlueRock Farm Market opens in Twin Falls, ID mid-April.
I’ve been coming to this local farm market since first visiting from Renton, WA back in October 2020, to scout locations for a new, Wolverton home build. In fact, we live just down the street, past fields of corn and potatoes, pasturing cows and horses, in a new development that is still growing around the Snake River Canyon. (Yep, the same one Evel Knievel jumped in 1974.)
One of the first things I picked up were locally grown green grapes and blueberries from Oregon, because they traveled well the nine+ hours back to WA.
Once I moved to Idaho for good four months later, I began my discovery: Ballard white cheddar, Hillside Grain flours, Magic Valley Lilac Soap, Roots kettle jalapeno and purple potato chips, chorizo and pork loin, ethically sourced Riverence smoked trout, Hummuna Hummus, Ashlyn Weeks Pottery (I have two of her coffee mugs), morel mushrooms, kohlrabi, cherry tomatoes, fingerling potatoes, purple cauliflower, Hagerman watermelon, sweet, sweet cantaloupe, three or four types of peaches for pie-making, snacking, and canning…and so much more.
I found out how much I love kohlrabi, raw. I learned to love broccoli sprouts in my sandwiches and dip slices of lemon cucumber in the best (vegan, gluten-free) hummus I ever tasted, better than Sabra. I ate crates and crates of blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries until I thought I would piss red, white, and blue. I continued my fall tradition of roasting and freezing and baking with turban Cinderella pumpkins for my famous Macrina Bakery Squash Harvest Loaves.
At first, I found the staff — in their Little House on the Prairie dresses — a little standoffish and church-ey. I worried I may have been underdressed and low-key judged, even in the hot June-Aug. months, in my holey-t-shirts and sweats.
But eventually, some of the staff behind the counter thawed, as they had to have noticed me coming in a lot, three-four times a week, every week. Late last summer, one of them actually smiled at my blue Trade Joe’s cooler bag, and commented on how nice it looked.
Hey, I’ll take that.
BlueRock Farm Market opened this morning. I was one of the first ones there, like clockwork.
Their hours, at least last year, were 10 a.m.-5 p.m. As spring turns to summer, the farm market hosts food trucks on the weekends. Last year, they even had lobster rolls.
Usually, in the early spring months, produce tends to be in short supply. Usually, asparagus, lettuces, sprouts, and potatoes, always cage-free, farm-fresh eggs in the pink cartons, with the bulk of the rest coming from California, Chile, and Mexico. But that’s okay.
Wait a month or so longer, and you’ll soon see the aforementioned seasonal berries, donut peaches, gigantic bok choy, a rainbow of tomatoes, blink-and-you-may-miss-‘em beets, onions, and all kinds of peppers.
Most families who visit also grab Cloverleaf ice cream cones, cotton candy, scones, caramel apples, and pies.
Even though we’re growing our own fruits, vegetables, and herbs now, as well as benefitting from our neighbor’s generous harvest, I still have use for BlueRock to fill in missing ingredients for a bake or a barbecue, or when I’m craving peach jam on my toast.
Besides, have you ever seen kohlrabi or lemon cucumber at Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods?
Funny…I spent most of my life in Washington state — land of the local, sustainable, seasonal artisan farmer — and yet, I’ve gone to BlueRock more. I couldn’t even go near any Seattle farmer’s markets because of the traffic and limited parking, save a handful of times.
Toward the end of my nearly three-decades stay, that’s when I started going more, to places like Everett and Edmonds.
Unlike those places, and despite the frosty reception initially, I’ve always felt more at home at BlueRock, free to forage at my leisure and embrace Idaho-real for my very own.
That’s kind of the difference between Idaho and Washington: one doesn’t make a big deal of what it’s got, while the other can’t stop tooting its own horn…making you feel like you’re missing out.
If you’re in town, come by and see what the fuss is about. You’re bound to fall in love with something here.