A Legacy of Love
Steve and Susan Schuh wanted to share their farm with the community. Sixty years later, Schuh Farms has taken on a life of its own.
IN 1963, WHEN NEWLYWEDS STEVE AND SUSAN SCHUH purchased an 80-acre farm and began growing peas, they couldn’t have imagined that the family farm nestled in the Skagit Valley would become the bustling community hub it is today.
“I guess we started by getting married — I married a farmer,” Susan said, smiling at her husband. She embraced farming life right away. She baked the first pies and started the u-pick operations with her children. Schuh Farms kept expanding. Steve and Susan eventually purchased more land, began selling their produce at farmers markets and added more crops.
Sixty years later, the 275-acre farm in Mount Vernon grows all sorts of produce — including apples, lettuce, corn, potatoes, zucchini, cucumbers and rutabaga — along with gorgeous flower bouquets and baskets, all available for purchase at the farm stand and also at farmers markets. A u-pick operation allows visitors to pick berries in the summer and pumpkins in the fall, and in the morning, the smell of freshly baked pies, made from the farm’s own crops, wafts from the industrial kitchen. A play area includes the original pickup truck with a slide installed along the side.
When the Washington Grown crew visited the farm during season 6, Steve and Susan sat on a bench in front of the farm store, with hanging flower baskets behind them and a breeze rustling the plants. Visitors milled about in the shop and the fields.
“On a day like today, when it’s such a gorgeous day, we have people who will come out here, and they might spend four or five hours out here, just to have an outing,” said Steve.
The farm offers something year-round for visitors. In the spring, vegetable, flower, and herb starts are available to purchase. In the summer, there are picnics on the lawn and berries for picking. In the fall, visitors can enjoy hayrides, u-pick pumpkins, a corn maze, and a bounce house, plus hot apple cider and roasted corn. In the winter, the farm sells wreaths and Christmas trees, along with other holiday decorations.
Earlier this year — 60 years after Susan and Steve got married and bought the farm — Schuh Farms announced that Susan had passed away.
A photo of Susan, smiling and wind-blown, on the farm’s social media read, “She was Schuh Farms’ idea fairy, the original pie baker ... always encouraging everyone to do their best. We will miss her terribly, but we will continue to do our best.”
Hundreds of comments poured in, with people reminiscing about Susan’s kindness, delicious pies, and hardworking nature. “A beautiful and wonderful lady in soooooo many ways ... I will miss seeing her smiling face at the farm,” said one commenter. Another wrote, “Her beautiful heart lives on through all you create.”
And it is true. With every pie baked, flower cut, and berry picked, Susan Schuh’s legacy lives on.
