Farm 12 lives up to its motto with every meal that features Northwest cuisine and supports a family-oriented nonprofit called Step by Step. Image by Tom Adkinson

PUYALLUP, Wash. – Enjoying a meal at Farm 12 outside Tacoma is more than just having a nice dining experience in a semi-rural setting. It’s a culinary tour through much of the Pacific Northwest, it’s a lesson in agricultural history, and it’s a way to help young moms in need.

That’s a big assignment for any restaurant, but Farm 12 delivers on all three fronts. Its location is in bottomland near the Puyallup River, just 12 miles from where the river empties into Puget Sound in downtown Tacoma.

Farm 12 takes advantage of warm, clear days – which are common in some months – with tables on an open-air patio. Image by Tom Adkinson

The location still feels a bit rural, but the area around Farm 12 is in transition. Farmland is giving way to commercial and residential development, but Farm 12 exists as a bridge between the area’s agricultural past and its modern developed reality.

Indeed, Farm 12 was a real farm. As its website explains, its roots are the Van Lierop Bulb Farm #12. Through five generations, the family of Dutch heritage cultivated a business of growing more than 150 varieties of crocuses, daffodils, irises, tulips and hyacinths. Bulbs, bulbs everywhere.

Farm 12’s culinary staff can make every order – even one as simple as a turkey sandwich and sweet potato fries – pretty. Image by Tom Adkinson

The location still feels a bit rural, but the area around Farm 12 is in transition. Farmland is giving way to commercial and residential development, but Farm 12 exists as a bridge between the area’s agricultural past and its modern developed reality.

Indeed, Farm 12 was a real farm. As its website explains, its roots are the Van Lierop Bulb Farm #12. Through five generations, the family of Dutch heritage cultivated a business of growing more than 150 varieties of crocuses, daffodils, irises, tulips and hyacinths. Bulbs, bulbs everywhere.

Fike, located adjacent to the main dining space at Farm 12, offers a tempting variety of artfully presented pastries. Image by Tom Adkinson

Today’s Farm 12 grows a new crop – hospitality and tourism, plus a sense of societal involvement and benevolence.

Many of Farm 12’s tables are in the open air, making the regional menu items taste all the better. Almost a dozen area farms and businesses give Farm 12’s chefs a plentiful supply of ingredients that change with the seasons.

A garden area provides a place to stroll while waiting for a Farm 12 table – or stretching after enjoying a Farm 12 meal. Image by Tom Adkinson

Without leaving your table, you can travel to Bonney Lake, Wash., for lamb from Bowed G Farm; to Graham, Wash., for delicate greens from McGhee Micros; to a spot just down the road from Farm 12 for blueberries from Four Elements Farms; or even over the Cascade Mountains to Pendleton, Ore., for a steak from Pendleton Beef. If you leave room, you can crown a baked dessert with a scoop of heaven from Snoqualmie Ice Cream in the mountain town of Snoqualmie, Wash.

Farm 12 is a brunch, lunch and dinner destination, but it offers a morning side, too, with a space called Fika (pronounced fee-ka). Fika serves coffee, pastries and fresh breads – as well as lunch-to-go items ready for those heading out to explore the countryside.

Drinks from the bar are just as colorful and appealing as artfully presented food plates at Farm 12. Image by Tom Adkinson

Farm 12’s operating motto is “Eat Well. Do Good.” The “Do Good” part of the motto shines in the business’s support of Step by Step, a service organization that helps pregnant women, mothers and families in six Washington counties. It provides maternity support, infant case management, job training and early childhood education.

It’s not a stretch to order that dessert you said you didn’t really need when you know that part of your meal expenditure is going to a good cause.

Trip-planning resources: Farm12.org and VisitPierceCounty.com

(Travel writer Tom Adkinson’s book, 100 Things To Do in Nashville Before You Die, is available at Amazon.com.