08/25/2026
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THE KITSAP COUNTY YOU NEVER KNEW...
A brief history of the farms, food and people who shaped this place.
Before farmers markets, farm tours, CSA boxes and roadside farm stands, Kitsap County was already a place shaped by food, land and agriculture.
But the story of farming here goes back much further than the arrival of European settlers.
Before farms: Coast Salish foodways
For generations, Coast Salish peoples, including the Suquamish, lived throughout the Kitsap Peninsula and built food systems around the incredible abundance of the region.
Salmon, shellfish, berries, camas and other native foods provided sustenance, while practices such as tending camas prairies and using controlled burns helped manage and care for the landscape.
Agriculture in Kitsap didn't begin with plows and fences. The relationship between people, food and this land goes back thousands of years.
The farming boom
When settlers arrived in the mid-1800s, timber was initially the driving force. But logging eventually opened thousands of acres of land, and homesteaders discovered something valuable beneath the stumps: rich glacial soils and a climate well suited to growing food.
By the early 1900s, Kitsap was known for apples, pears, plums, cherries, berries and especially strawberries. The county was even famous for shipping some of the first strawberries of the season to Seattle.
There were also dairy farms, poultry and egg operations, grain fields, beef cattle and even Angora goats.
Silverdale: The “Egg Capital of the World”
Here’s a piece of Kitsap agricultural history that might surprise you: in the early 1900s, Silverdale was known as the “Egg Capital of the World.”
Central Kitsap was dotted with poultry farms, and chickens were particularly well suited to the logged-over land where tree stumps made traditional farming difficult. Local farmers organized cooperatively, gathering and packing eggs near the Silverdale waterfront before sending them to Seattle and, from there, as far away as Chicago. One 1920s farm scrapbook even describes farmers hatching thousands of chicks to keep up with the growing demand.
The poultry industry became a major part of Silverdale’s identity and economy — a history that’s easy to miss beneath the roads, businesses and development we see today.
Kitsap agriculture was a big part of the local economy... Then things changed
During the 20th century, Kitsap's population and economy were transformed by military activity and rapid development, particularly around Bremerton and Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
The large commercial farm economy gradually faded. Food that once left Kitsap by the boatload largely disappeared, while smaller farms and rural landholdings became more common.
By 2007, Kitsap had hundreds of farms, but roughly 9 out of 10 were less than 50 acres.
Kitsap agriculture today
Today's agricultural landscape looks very different from the orchards and dairy farms of a century ago.
Kitsap is home to small, diversified farms growing vegetables, berries, flowers, nursery products, Christmas trees and forage, along with livestock, vineyards, forestry and aquaculture.
And instead of primarily producing food for distant markets, much of today's agriculture is connected directly to our local community.
Farmers markets. Farm stands. Kitsap Fresh. Restaurants sourcing from local growers. Community-supported agriculture. The annual Kitsap Farm Tour.
It's a smaller agricultural economy, but it's one that's deeply connected to the people who live here.
And that's an important part of Kitsap's agricultural story: the farms have changed, but the relationship between this community and the land that feeds it continues.
If you've lived here for a while, we'd love to hear your stories...
Did your family farm here? Do you remember an orchard, dairy, berry field or farm that used to be part of your community?
Share what you remember in the comments. Those stories are part of our agricultural history, too.
