Meet Dave Hedlin

Welcome to Hedlin Family Farms

Hedlin Farms is situated on the outskirts of La Conner, just before the highway separates and bends to head north to Anacortes. Many a motorist has learned to stop at the Hedlin’s farmstand to pick up some of the State’s best tasting tomatoes.

The Hedlin family has farmed this land for over 100 years.  The historic family farm is dissected by Sullivan Slough, a waterway teeming with bird and fish life. Today, the Food Alliance Certified operation consists of 40 acres of organically grown row crops, more than 300 acres of seed crops (primarily spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli), and about 2 acres of hothouses where fabulous heirloom tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, and heirloom peppers are grown.

Products Available

Heirloom tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, heirloom peppers, spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and strawberries

Growing Philosophy

"We have a whole package of practices to preserve our land. One of the most important is to just leave things alone. Beyond this, we soil test every parcel every year. We use biological and cultural controls for pests. We haven’t used pesticides or herbicides in our greenhouses for years."

-- Dave Hedlin

Soil and Water Quality

Hedlin Farms cover crops all their cropland in winter. They leave grass headlands in front of drainage areas and canals and test annually for soil nutrients and micro-nutrients. The proper application of manure and crop diversity also helps with managing water quality. Because their operation is sub-tidal, sitting about six feet below sea level, there is little need for irrigation.  Nevertheless, they do conservatively drip-tape some areas of their row crops, conserving what water they do use.

Soil erosion is not much of a concern as flooding brings in new topsoil to many of the low-lying parts of the farm. "We actually get about ¼" to 1" of new topsoil each year in a number of spots," reports Hedlin. The farm composts all green matter and uses an alder-bedding in the horse farm, with the alder and horse manure combination producing great compost. Fir Island and the Skagit Valley is dairy country so there’s plenty of cow manure available. All parcels that receive manure have grass headland, all manure is composted correctly, and all parcels are soil-tested annually.

Pest Management

Biological and cultural controls are the farm’s first tools. For the conventional/commercial operations, the Hedin’s like to go as soft as possible and work with consultants to find the most earth-easy solutions. As a result, use of hazardous materials has dropped substantially over the past decade. This evolution has led the Hedlin’s to transition more and more of their crops into organic growing methods.

Teeming with Wildlife

Sullivan Slough, which divides the family farm, is a fabulous resource that the Hedlin’s and local residents have enjoyed for years. Dave doesn’t think of this habitat in terms of enhancement, rather he believes in simply leaving it as it is. "The slough has been a rearing area for native Chinook Salmon since ancient times. If you look at the Washington State Department Fish and Wildlife’s poster for animal inhabitants of wetlands, virtually every animal, bird, and fish on that poster lives on our farm."