Basin Bites: Quincy stand offers more than produce

There are many produce stands in Grant and Adams counties, but one in particular will close for the season on Tuesday and celebrated its 20th anniversary in July.

White Trail Produce at 10024 Road U NW in Quincy offers a plethora of goods, including milkshakes, lotions, socks, canned items and, of course, local produce, which I discovered on a recent trip.

It also provides produce from its neighboring family farm, T&T Orchards, including peaches, raspberries, blueberries, apples, and cherries, as well as surrounding farms, with plums, melons and much more.

But one of its top sellers is milkshakes, said owner Alejandra Toevs.

“We use fresh fruit in our milkshakes,” she said. “We cut up peaches (grown at the family farm) in the morning. In the fall, we have pumpkin milkshakes.”

Speaking of fall, the stand offers about 15 varieties of apples, and yes, many of those are from the family farm, too, Toevs said. And they’re all organic. The produce sold depends on what’s in season, she added.

If the produce isn’t from the family’s farm, it’s from nearby farms, such as in springtime, when the asparagus comes from a Quincy farm, she said. The onions are from Walla Walla.

The farm has been around about 40 years, she said, and is in its third generation. Toevs said she co-owns it with her father-in-law and is in her sixth season.

“It’s exciting,” Toevs said. “I love picking the produce and bringing in new product. I meet a lot of people driving through and a lot of people come just for the milkshakes.”

Besides the produce and milkshakes, the store offers lots of other products. Toevs said she gets approached by vendors or goes to wholesale shows in Seattle or Las Vegas to see what else she can stock on the shelves.

One of the products are pickled foods, which are labeled for White Trail Produce, but grown and produced in Texas, she said. There also is ice cream and coffee and other food.

A taste of one of the dill pickle spear varieties recently didn’t disappoint — crisp, dill-y and delightfully tangy. The Papa Dill Pickles were packed tightly with onions and peppers — not too spicy. They were packed so tightly even bits of spears were stuck in-between the spears to not leave any space.

Anyone looking for a gift also could get lucky there. Varieties of lotions, socks, candles and more line the shelves.

A purchase of Montana-produced Windrift Hill goat milk lotion, called Lively Apricot, was a great find, as it was luxuriously creamy, with a fruity scent.

Whatever people are looking for they may just find it at White Trail Produce, but it closes for the season soon, so hurry. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

It will reopen in the spring, usually sometime in April when the asparagus is ready to sell, Toevs said.

For more information: white-trail-produce.business.site or 509-787-1543.

Emily Thornton can be reached via email at ethornton@columbiabasinherald.com.