Roughly one year after her start at Carnation Farms, chef Kristen Schumacher has realized a big dream of hers: a beautiful dining space, sitting high above the Snoqualmie Valley, where the community can educate, advocate and — most importantly — eat.

Carnation Farms staff, along with friends and family, gathered Aug. 14 for a soft opening of the remodeled dining center, now called Farmview Kitchen. Renovations began in the spring, and things moved quickly, Schumacher said. Now, the 3,500-square-foot space will be used for seated farm dinners, cooking classes and workshops, and it will still be available to rent for weddings and events.

Paul Shoemaker, Carnation Farms executive director, said the project cost a “couple hundred thousand” dollars, and that it was an investment, not an expense. Along with a design refresh, he said the renovation included a new audiovisual system that will be a good addition to meetings. Ideally, the space would be booked for weddings most weekends and corporate events during the week, he said.

Ashley Stiles, founder of House of Stiles in Sammamish, did the interior design of the space, while Corry Morris of Bellingham’s Morris Originals designed the architecture aspect. She said she and Morris are a “dream team” who have worked together before.

Stiles said it was important to find a balance between modernizing the outdated dining center while also honoring the property’s legacy. A dark green paint color helps draw the expansive valley views in through the glass French doors. The room is wrapped in a dark wood trim, reclaimed from a historic barn on the property and tediously cleaned up. In the foyer is one of Stiles’s favorite details: a cow motif made of black and white Penny tile, based on the cow statue that sits at the front of the farm.

“Some want to move it completely modern; I really wanted to bring it back,” she said. “The cow is so important for their history, and it’s touching and it’s thoughtful.”

Stiles and her team collected historical photos of the property to hang in Farmview Kitchen with the help of Elbridge Stuart, the founder and president of the Carnation Farms nonprofit and the great grandson of the farm’s original owner. He maintains and gives tours of the farm’s collection of historical photos and artifacts, which is vast, according to Jessi Thorp, House of Stiles creative partner.

“There’s lots of sweat equity here,” she said. “We spent a lot of time going through and looking through the pictures and the archives for special pieces.”

The dining room is also lined with glass windows that peer into the kitchen, allowing the space and its activity to be unrestricted.

“Food is fun. I’s creative and it shouldn’t be a secret,” Thorp said. “Let’s let it be a part of the experience when you come here. Let’s show everybody how we’re cleaning the food that’s coming from the farm. There’s no shame in that.”

The first class to be held in the new space, a preservation and canning workshop on Sept. 13, is already sold out. But it will be followed by an outdoor woodfired cooking class and a forequarter beef fabrication class in October, as well as a pie boot camp the week of Thanksgiving.

“This is such a jewel for what we can present facing outwards toward our community,” said Olivia Longstaff, education and engagement coordinator. “We’re going to be able to hold workshops in here … We can have in guest chefs who have, say, a cookbook … We can also have summits with local farmers and have a professional space to sit and discuss local issues.”

The future of the Carnation Farms Thursday night dinner club is currently unknown, Schumacher said, as her team begins to plan 2025 in-person dinners at Farmview Kitchen. There’s a chance that a takeout option will accompany the in-person meals, but Schumacher hasn’t yet decided.

In the meantime, Schumacher and her staff continue to increase their production of items for sale at the farmstand, like frozen entrees, refrigerated dishes and lots of fresh-baked goodies.

Down the road, the farmstand might get the House of Stiles touch, too. Stiles, who is a close friend of Schumacher’s, presented an overall design for the whole property. But it’s important for the team not to rush into anything.

“There’s a lot of psychology with design, and you have to take care of people and hold them and make sure they feel safe,” Stiles said. “It’s bigger than just making something beautiful. … It has to be a thoughtful process.”

The view of the Snoqualmie Valley from the patio of the Carnation Farms Farmview Kitchen Aug. 14, 2024. Photos by Grace Gorenflo/For the Valley Record

A tile motif of the Carnation Farms cow statue greets guests in the foyer of the Farmview Kitchen Aug. 14, 2024. Photos by Grace Gorenflo/For the Valley Record

A dining table is decorated with herbs and lamps at the soft opening of Carnation Farms’s Farmview Kitchen Aug. 14, 2024. Photos by Grace Gorenflo/For the Valley Record