The Quincy Valley and upper Columbia Basin are rich agricultural areas, with vast acres of orchards and produce. Most of the fruits and vegetables are grown commercially for large packing sheds and food-processing plants. But smaller family farms, which may go back generations, may offer seasonal produce and fruit directly to the consumer (you!).
Some farm stands are just a table or truck at the corner of the farm, while others are charming stores offering a variety of produce, eggs, cheeses, baked goods, wines, ice cream, and gifts. Each farm stand has its own personality, based on the owners themselves. Most owners are happy to chat with you, talk about their crops, and may even offer samples or a recipe.
Farm stands are seasonal, operating during the spring, summer, and fall. The fruits and vegetables will vary depending what's being harvested when you visit.
Near this cache, you can see a garden that grows many types of produce, including beets, carrots, cucumbers, peppers, pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, and zucchini, but no potatoes.
The cache: This cache is another clever Mr. Gadget #2 construction - you can see it, but accessing the logbook is the trick. It's accessible 24 hours a day and is away from the buildings. There's no need to enter the nearby orchards, so please stay away from them, and don't go near the buildings at night. The cache was placed with the express permission of the business owner, who chose the hide location.
To determine the four-number combination ABCD to unlock this cache, look at the produce list above or on the cache, and answer the following (assume "vegetables" includes fruits):
- How many different vegetables are grown in this garden?
- How many of the vegetable names have double consonants?
- How many letters are in the name of the vegetable that starts with the 19th letter of the alphabet?
- How many of the listed vegetables have two or more multiple letters within their names? (Example: Arugula has two multiple letters, a and u.)
We hope you enjoy your visit to Central Washington's farmlands!
This cache was originally part of the 2016-18 Cascade Farmlands GeoRomp, a 12-cache series that showcased the agriculture, recreation, and scenery of north-central Washington, with pathtag prizes for finishers. Each cache had a different theme and highlighted a different community: Leavenworth, Plain, Peshastin, Cashmere, Wenatchee, East Wenatchee, Entiat, Chelan, Manson, Orondo, Waterville, and Quincy.