Puheks’ green eggs a big hit

Paul and Susan Puhek have gardened together for all of their 24 years of marriage.

When their kids were young, they found growing their own food was a way to stretch the budget. As their children began to leave the nest, the couple began to wonder what to do with all the leftover vegetables growing in their gardens.

This summer, the Puheks are relishing their third year selling at the Liberty Lake Farmers’ Market.

“It’s been a very big blessing for us,” Susan said. “You feel like you actually belong to the community and the community recognizes you and you have this connection.”

It helps to have a niche. For the Puheks, it’s green eggs.

Customers know the Puheks as the green egg people. One breed of hen on the Puhek’s “Double P Ranch” in Otis Orchards lays eggs with green-tinted shells.

“We call them our Easter chickens,” Paul said. Customers like Betty Twining request the eggs.

“He’s even nice enough to give me all green ones,” she said at one of the season’s first market days.

The Puheks started selling eggs at the market last year.

“We kind of did it part time last year to see whether it would go over, and it went over so well,” Susan said.

Now, she said, people are calling them for advice on raising chickens. They’ve built a “real nice hen house,” expanded the birds’ run space and created a special area in the barn to raise baby chicks, Susan said.

But they’re not just about eggs. They grow and sell herbs, radishes, green onions, beets and lettuce. Green beans, corn and zucchini are among their biggest sellers.

Though not certified organic growers, Susan said they try to use organic products and they don’t use chemical pesticides, “not unless we absolutely have to, for example if we got an infestation or something like that.”

Unlike many vendors, the Puheks don’t have to worry about a long drive to the market each week. They live just four miles from the Liberty Lake market. “It’s nice. It takes us 10 minutes to get here,” Paul said.

Susan said both she and her husband came from farming families so selling at the market “was natural for us.”

But she said they have been very surprised by the positive feedback they’ve received. It’s encouraging enough that they are looking at expanding.

A relative has offered five more acres and they have a little more room to expand their original garden, Susan said, adding that she’d like to start growing blueberries and to try to grow some unique berry varieties from Russia. They’re talking about building a greenhouse.

“Paul’s like a Jack of all trades and I’m a Jane of all trades,” Susan said. “We make do with what we have.”