A Woman and her Farmer

Ayako Gordon met Katsumi Taki at the University District Farmers Market in Seattle in 2008, both Japanese immigrants who shared a love for conscientiously farmed produce and cooking that could also reflect their heritage. Steamed sunshine kabocha, chiso and vinegar pickled apricots, the distinctly sweet Japanese cucumbers sliced and ready for sampling - the produce that nourished this friendship was fueled by nostalgia. Ayako & Family emerged in the summer of 2009, since then partnering exclusively with Mair Farm-Taki in Yakima, Washington to introduce both heritage and heirloom plum varieties to our signature hexagonal jar of preserves.

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"If I ever have a question about the produce, I always go to Taki San first. And when he gives me an answer, I just follow that. Because I never doubt what he does. I can just trust him one hundred percent and that's a beautiful thing." - Ayako Gordon, Founder

Mair Farm-Taki


Mair Farm-Taki is a Japanese-owned and operated regenerative orchard and vegetable farm in Wapato, Washington in the Yakima region. Century-old orchards, walnut trees, over a dozen varieties of wild, heritage and heirloom plums make the farm. As an ex-biologist and agriculturalist, Taki is dedicated to growing both unique and memory rich produce, such as the Water Balloon Plum, named after its plumpness, and the Italian Plum, which grows in the backyards of Pacific Northwest City Dwellers. Each year, Taki introduces new plum varieties to the farm through cuttings of wild plums in his region grafted with those on the farm. We are honored to share these hybrid varieties through our Farm Exclusive collection.

A New Generation  






From our ingredient sourcing to preserving processes, Ayako & Family continues to produce with the fruit as the core expression of each product. Alessandra Gordon, Ayako's daughter, brings Ayako & Family it's second generation of jam makers to the table and produces the jam herself with the recipes her mother created nearly a decade ago.


With each spoonful of jam there is recalled, like a memory, a certain time of year, the gentle care of each hand that picks the fruit. We preserve this story, the one of the farmer and his harvest, and in turn share with you so that if it should land on your own kitchen table, it may evoke the fondness of your own food making memories. We hope to continue to share our own kind of tradition of Pacific Northwest Japanese farm-to-table food.



Images Courtesy of Aran Goyoaga, Sonja Lyon, and Nathan Kane.