You Can Find Summer's Tastes At U-Pick Farms

City dwellers with a taste for farm-fresh produce can still find it, if they're willing to drive a little and don't mind working up a sweat.

Local U-pick berry and vegetable stands, as well as farm outlets, represent what remains of this area's dwindling truck-farming industry and still do a lively business each summer. Despite encroaching urban growth and flooding, they've found a niche catering to a suburban population whose tastes lure them out of the supermarkets and into the fields.

At local farm stands, hard-to-find specialty foods are common. Herb Gaines, owner of the Cider Press fruit and vegetable store in Puyallup, said customers come for a rare thick molasses syrup called sorghum, a southern delicacy, as well as for the antiques he sells on the side.

Carpinito Brothers Farm Stand in Kent offers a wide variety of garden shrubs and statues, as well as fresh produce. And many other farm outlets make their own preserves and specialty honeys to cater to the curious.

Here's a list of fresh produce U-pick farms and farm stands in South King County:

-- Kennydale Blueberry Farm - 1733 N.E. 20th St., Renton. 228-9623. Hours: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, mid-July through September. U-pick blueberries.

-- Cruz-Johnson Farms - 22243 Frager Road, Kent. 872-8017. Hours: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, May through October. U-pick rhubarb, pole beans, peas, strawberries, raspberries, beets, carrots. Pre-picked rhubarb, green beans, broccoli, white and yellow corn.

-- Carpinito Bros. Farm Stand - 1148 N. Central Ave., Kent. 854-5692. Hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Pre-picked fruits and vegetables.

-- T & M Berry Farm - 242-3370. Go south from Kent on South Third Avenue about 1 1/2 miles and look for signs; or, from South 277th Street, go north on 78th Avenue South and look for signs. Hours: 8 a.m. to dusk daily, depending on availability of ripe berries. Please call ahead. U-pick raspberries.

-- Hamakami Strawberry Farm - 14733 S.E. Green Valley Road, Auburn. 833-2081 evening phone. Hours: Call ahead for availability, June and July. U-pick or pre-picked strawberries.

-- MacDonald Farms - Off Highway 169 on Bass Lake. Access road south of Franklin Road. 825-7653. Hours: open weekends and during the week by appointment, mid-July through August. U-pick blueberries.

-- Susie's Produce - On Highway 164 at 196th Avenue Southeast. 825-7429. Hours: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m daily, through October. U-pick and fresh-picked fruits and vegetables.

-- Johnson Farms - 2003 136th Ave. E., Sumner. 863-4020, 863-7223. Hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, June through September. U-pick raspberries and blueberries. Pre-picked raspberries, blueberries, marionberries, Kotata blackberries, rhubarb, corn and other vegetables.

-- Foster's Riverbend Farm - 7619 Highway 162 E., Sumner. 863-4816. Hours: call ahead for availability, July and August. U-pick and pre-picked raspberries and various other berries.

-- Allen's Acres - From Puyallup, head east on Pioneer Way East to Highway 162 and turn right. Continue 1 mile; the farm is on the left past 96th Street East. 848-7604. Hours: call for availability, June and July. U-pick raspberries, strawberries.

-- Latham Farms - 13514 McCutcheon Road, Orting, 1 mile from McMillen store. 848-1010. Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, through October. U-pick and pre-picked vegetables and fruits. Bedding plants, vegetable starts, flowers, grasses and seed pots.

-- Y & Y Farms - 2316 54th Ave. E., Tacoma. 922-7577. Hours: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, through October. U-pick raspberries. Pre-picked vegetables, fruits.

-- Terry's Berries - 4520 River Road, Tacoma. 922-1604. Hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, mid-June through October. Pre-picked raspberries, Kotata blackberries, blueberries, strawberries. Call about U-pick raspberries.

-- Love's Puyallup Raspberry Resort - Call for locations and availability June through October. 845-3125. U-pick raspberries. Pre-picked blueberries, boysenberries, marionberries, strawberries, vegetables and gift baskets.

-- Corwin Apple Orchard - 7523 Fruitland Ave., Puyallup. 845-1982 or 747-3324. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, August through October. Pre-picked gravensteins and other local apples, honey, prunes, quince.

-- Spooner's U-Pick - 1725 E. Main St. and 9622 Highway 162, Puyallup. 841-2876. Hours: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, June and July. U-pick and pre-picked raspberries and strawberries.

-- The Cider Press - 14308 Merdian St. S., Puyallup. 848-5157. Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., daily in summer. 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily in winter. Complete line of fruits and vegetables by box or by pound. Nursery stock, flowers, herbs, honey.

-- Scholz Farms, Pumpkin Palace - On Highway 162 past 128th Street East, Puyallup. Use Allen's Acres directions. 848-5955. Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, June through August. U-pick strawberries, Finnish potatoes, corn.

List courtesy of the Puget Sound Farm Markets Association.