LAKE STEVENS — Penryn Farm is a peaceful place backed up against Stitch Lake and dotted with blueberry plants in uneven rows, branches sagging this time of year under the weight of ripe berries.
Bob Fink and Patty Watson bought the property and home there eight years ago. They inherited the 3-acre blueberry patch that has been a favorite picking spot in the neighborhood for nearly four decades.
Now, the couple is trying to find a way to keep Penryn Farm U-Pick Blueberries open for neighbors, friends and longtime pickers without losing their homeowners insurance. State Farm Insurance has said their policy will be canceled in September if they don’t close their blueberry business, Fink said.
Except Penryn Farm was never meant to be a business, he and Watson said Tuesday as they walked through rows of plants and snapped off dead twigs to make room for new growth. They don’t make enough money from the patch to pay for its upkeep and they’re not trying to turn a profit.
Fink, 66, is a psychiatrist and also has produced several films. He and Watson, 69, married about seven years ago. The blueberry patch, like the rest of their carefully kept-up property, is a hobby. There are several hundred bushes and the couple needs help eating all those berries, so they’ve kept it open for folks to pick in the summer.
“This is a community service to me,” Watson said. “We do all the maintenance and everything, and it’s been here 35, 40 years. People brought their kids and now they’re bringing their grandkids.”
Visitors park in a grassy area and follow an arrow to the “Office,” a canopy with a table under it where they can snag a bucket for picking, bag their berries after and leave a donation in a locked black box with a hole for cash and coins. All donations go toward maintaining the blueberry farm, Fink said. There’s a sign-in sheet on the table where people can scrawl their names, how much they picked, how much they donated and an email address.
Last year, Fink and Watson collected $4,000 from the box over the two-month berry season. The one yard service they hire is lawn mowing for $450 a month, nine months of the year. That’s the entirety of their proceeds from the berry patch, Fink said, and it doesn’t account for mulch, water, pruning and weeding supplies or the couple’s labor.
“I have to admit, it’s a lot of work,” he said
When they bought the property, the blueberry patch was as much weeds as bushes. Even then, neighbors came to pick.
Fink and Watson beat back the weeds, pruned the bushes and cleared walkways. They’ve battled mummy berries, cold snaps and wet ground that swallowed boots and tires.
A few years ago, State Farm informed them that having people on the property to pick berries could be a liability, so they agreed to put up a sign telling people to pick at their own risk and sign in. The insurance agency agreed to the compromise, Fink said.
“Then without warning, I get this phone call from my agent telling me to expect a letter canceling my policy as of September (2015),” Fink said. “We’ve had no claims, no nothing.”
State Farm employees declined to comment on Penryn Farm specifically, citing the company’s privacy policies.
In general, State Farm insurance specialists look at a number of factors to determine a policy holder’s liabilities, spokesman Sevag Sarkissian said in an email.
“When a new risk associated with an insurance policy becomes evident, we have to re-evaluate the customer’s specific circumstances,” he said.
Homeowner policies generally do not cover business operations, Sarkissian said. Sometimes, policy holders can stop a cancellation by meeting specific criteria, such as closing an uninsured business.
“A decision to non-renew a customer’s insurance policy is never made lightly because we absolutely value the relationships we have with our policyholders,” Sarkissian said.
The letter from State Farm didn’t give Fink an option to upgrade his policy but offered to direct him to other insurers that handle farm insurance, he said. He doesn’t want to switch and pay higher rates, but he’ll do so if it’s the only option, he said.
For now, Fink hopes keeping Penryn a small operation will meet insurance requirements. He sent a letter to State Farm on June 10 saying he was closing the blueberry farm to the public.
“My interpretation — and it’s self-serving, I know — is that I can still invite my friends,” Fink said.
The couple doesn’t advertise Penryn Farm beyond a sign at the top of their driveway. They opened the farm last week for friends, neighbors and people on their email list from past visits.
Fink admits he’s in a gray area, but he and Watson don’t want to turn the patch into a business. They have way more blueberries than they need and like feeding the neighborhood with their farm.
“It’s been here forever,” Fink said. “It should continue to be here, whether we do it or someone else. It’s a community treasure, in a way.”
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com
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