This Green Bluff Real Estate Newsletter Fall 2018 highlights featured farmer Paul Eichin and his farm The Promised Land Hazelnut Orchard.
Interested in keeping up with Green Bluff farming and events? Check out the Green Bluff Growers here: Green Bluff Growers
Green Bluff Newsletter Fall 2018 – Farmer Feature
Go Nuts at ‘The Promised Land Farm’
Background
Paul Eichin didn’t always live in the nut house, and although he’s there now, maybe even for life, he’s still quite sane. About the time that folks are going crazy for apples and pumpkins during the October Green Bluff Harvest Festival, many are shelling out cash for another treasure that’s sure to make you go nuts too!
Paul owns and lives on the Promised Land Hazelnut Orchard & Farm in Green Bluff. This peaceful property wasn’t always home to hazelnuts though. Before arriving to the site or even to Spokane, Paul’s journey to the Promised Land began back east in Rhode Island.
There he obtained a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Rhode Island in 1961. Reading about the work on the Grand Coulee Dam in a National Geographic made him feel charged about moving west. After seeing an engineering recruitment ad by the Bonneville Power Administration in Portland, Oregon, to help develop the Columbia River Power System, Paul applied and got hired.
Starting to go nuts!
What does electrical engineering have to do with hazelnuts, you may ask? Well, there’s even a bit of chocolate in the mix too. You see, Paul’s interest in hazelnuts was sparked by two events while living and working in Oregon: meeting a hazelnut farmer, and tasting his first chocolate covered hazelnut. But it would still be a while before it all came together.
A promotion with the BPA in 1981 brought him to Spokane, and his first home here was a cramped apartment in the 5 Mile area. Cycling trips in Green Bluff became his “promised land” because it rescued him from the urban busyness. Green Bluff was his respite, but unbeknownst to him, a property there on Sands Rd. with an antique
store would have special meaning someday. After 14 years with the BPA in Spokane, Paul decided to capitalize on a monetary incentive to leave the BPA with a full retirement package and start his new life in the Spokane area on his own property. Where did his search for a new home end?
Finding the perfect spot in Green Bluff
At the former antique store property. He then began his vision for the property he calls his earthly Promised Land. Because he missed the deciduous trees from his Rhode Island roots, he planted many oak, maple, fruit and
other trees, including a 65-tree hazelnut orchard, which is unique to this area.
Since buying that property, The Promised Land Hazelnut Orchard & Farm has become Paul’s beautiful home and a “growing” business. Just off the main Green Bluff loop, you can visit with Paul, and enjoy some tasty hazelnuts, whole, candied, or shell them yourself. Paul encourages people to stay a while. “This place isn’t just for hazelnuts,” he stated, “I also named it the Promised Land because I want people to experience God’s presence and let the beauty of creation help them feel restored.” Indeed, my time there left me with a profound sense of appreciation and peace! If you’ve never met Paul or visited the Promised Land Hazelnut Orchard & Farm, stop by, make a new friend, and support a local farm that’s nuts!
Visit The Promised Land Hazelnut Orchard in Green Bluff
17827 N. Sands Road
Mead, WA 99021
509-238-2300
Check out the map of Green Bluff Farms.
Spokane & Green Bluff Market Information
Interested in keeping up with other details of Spokane real estate? Check out the Spokane Association of Realtors.
Want the latest market information? Sign up for Market Reports.
Interested in new listings that hit the market? Sign up for New Listings.
Search for Green Bluff Homes for Sale.