Where local love is always in season
Puyallup’s Jake Sterino is proof that doing the right thing pays off. A fourth-generation farmer with his hands in the dirt and his eyes on the future, Jake is always eager to try something new.
Sterino Farms, founded in the 1920s, thrives today thanks to Jake’s farming expertise and entrepreneurial eye. He’s constantly experimenting – testing different crop varieties, learning, adjusting, and diversifying, just like his dad and grandpa taught him.
As longtime Town & Country Market guests know, community is at the heart of what we do. And when we say “local” we mean LOCAL. Thanks to our partnership with Sterino Farms the products you enjoy spend mere hours on a truck getting to our shelves, instead of days.
And Jake is always on the lookout for something new. Just like when a neighboring flower farm was for sale, Jake bought it, adding more diversity to Sterino Farms’ offering.
A farm for all seasons
Oh and that flower farm? Turns out it was the perfect match. Those stunning hanging baskets you see outside T&C markets around Mother’s Day come directly from that flower farm.
Spring also brings out Sterino’s Northwest Hothouse prized rhubarb that gets shipped to high-end restaurants in New York and Los Angeles. And here’s the best part: you don’t have to travel far to taste it. Jake sends T&C part of his crop so you, too, can enjoy the vibrant fruit’s deep flavor at its just-picked freshness.
Next up is berry season, when Jake’s fields burst with red raspberries, tangy tayberries, juicy blackberries, and more, in all the colors. You get fresh-from-the-field berries absolutely bursting with flavor. The berries also inspire our culinary team to develop (and taste, taste, and re-taste) so many fresh summer berry recipes.
And when late-summer rolls around, we can’t wait until you get your hands on an ear of Sterino’s sweet “Krispy King”, Jake calls it. We just call it the best corn we’ve ever tasted. Sterino brings us those tender, sweet, super-flavorful Krispy Kings with such surprising speed – often on the very same day they’re picked. “Jake grows this variety just for us, and they’re out there at night picking it so we can have it in the morning,” says our Produce Specialist Jim Foley, who is not one to hype any type of produce that isn’t top notch. “For me, this is simply what fresh tastes like. We think it’s the best corn around.”
As sunny days give way to sweater weather, Jake keeps growing, bringing us the best pumpkins and ornamental gourds out there, and he delivers. In fact, he delivers five semi trucks full of them initially, turning our markets into the annual explosion of color that announces fall’s arrival every year. With pumpkins and gourds in all shapes and colors—from White Ghost to Black Kat, Pink Doll and Blue Doll, green and yellow striped American Tondo, nubbly skinned Warty Goblin to the classic storybook style Cinderellas and Fairy Tale varieties—you’re going to find the one that makes you smile.
Something special for you
Jake is always looking ahead, experimenting, growing, and finding unexpected ways to bring something truly special to T&C customers. That’s why our partnership with Sterino Farms means more than just fresh produce. It means the first pick for you of the best of what’s growing, from a farmer who cares deeply about his crop. “We’re partners, and we’re invested in the relationship,” says Jim, “and we believe Jake’s produce provides our guests with the best quality at a fair price.”