Our mission at Purple Sage Farms is to connect our community to the healthiest, freshest, and most flavorful food.

Organic Herbs and Specialty Produce

For more than 30 years, Purple Sage Farms has specialized in growing a wide range of organic herbs, greens, and vegetables. Today, that has expanded to over 250 varieties of crops ranging from the familiar and traditional to the obscure and exotic, whether they are culinary, medicinal, or both. Purple Sage Farms greens and salad mixes change with the seasons and include a wide variety of colors, flavors, and shapes. Among all of the crops, nutrients are high and flavors are prominent. Our artisan products are crafted to perfection at the on-farm commercial kitchen. Purple Sage Farms herbs, spices, greens, and vegetables are thoughtfully grown and proudly certified organic on our family farm in Middleton, Idaho.

Farming Practices

Organic practices guide how we care for our crops, from diverse crop rotation practices to how we harvest the freshest herbs and greens. Purple Sage Farms is an ecosystem and each part plays a role. 

Our farming practices start with promoting diversity and abundance of microbes in the soil. We raise livestock for meat and the animal manure is composted to make fertilizer for plants. We build soil structure and microbe communities by tilling the soil as little as possible. Plant beds get a rest with restorative cover crops.

Certified Organic
Since 1989

The organic seal shows we uphold federal standards for promoting biodiversity, creating pollinator and beneficial insect habitat, good soil health, sustainable pest and disease management, a lower carbon footprint than conventional agriculture, that our produce is free of genetically modified organisms, synthetic chemicals and fertilizers.

ReAL Organic
Since 2019

The Real Organic Project was started by farmers to protect the meaning of organic. We grow food in the soil, not hydroponically. We raise livestock on pasture, not in confinement. In this time of concern about the erosion of integrity in the USDA, Real Organic remains exactly what organic was always intended to be.

Four Seasons of Flavor

Our first season starts in early January, inside our germination room, with trays of seedlings waiting for a warmer date to place inside our greenhouses or outside under protective covers. By March, perennials and overwintered greens are waking up from winter dormancy and seedlings are growing fast. As summer approaches, a shift occurs to heat-loving plants that thrive in the outdoor sunshine or greenhouse humidity. Cool-season crops are planted in August to be harvested September through December. Then a fourth season becomes important when fermented and dried crops that were harvested the rest of the year are made in our on-farm commercial kitchen. This completes the year, with local food available in every month.

Family Owned and Operated

Father and son team, Tim and Mike Sommer, are fourth and fifth generation Idaho farmers that work in the field and the farm's commercial kitchen. Building healthy soil and growing high quality food are their passions. Talk to Jackie Sommer, Mike's wife, to hear what's new at the farm. Our seasonal product list changes by the day so she keeps restaurants and grocers up to date on what's ready for your plate.

Each member of the Sommer family helps to support the farm, from marketing, to IT support, to doctoring lambs, or repairing a farm truck. A full day of harvesting basil, hoeing weeds in the arugula and seeding a cover crop of buckwheat isn’t over until they’ve cooked and eaten a pesto-crusted leg of lamb, roasted rosemary potatoes and a fresh spicy mustard greens salad. We work in the community to promote organic agriculture by mentoring new farmers, speaking at organic farming conferences, and serving on the board of directors for our local farmers market and producer cooperative. Purple Sage Farms is an award winning family farm, recognized for persistent and long-term advocacy for Idaho’s locally and organically grown food system.