Sangha’s work across 40 years is base for son Paul to build on

By Cal Bratt

For the

Tribune

WHATCOM — Farming is still the heart of what they do, with commercial ventures secondary, says a family with a hand in both.

At Hinote’s Corner, another building is taking shape in the commercial plaza on the northeast side. It is the effort of Paul Sangha, who says this last building will be the anchor of the site, although he can’t exactly disclose yet who the tenants will be.

But it’s down Hannegan Road a bit south that Paul and his father, Mohinder “Mo” Sangha, really have their base of operations, and their livelihood, on a property for growing and processing blueberries.

“Our bread and butter of what we do here is farming,” Paul Sangha said.

The farming trait runs deep in their heritage, they say, back to the small village of DaroliBhai, near the city of Moga, in the Punjab state of northwest

India. The original Sangha home is there, to which Mo, 71, and other relatives return each year for a visit.

The senior Sangha came to Whatcom

County in 1983 — after stints also in British Columbia and California — and began berry farming along Halverstick Road. Mo believes he was just the second man of Punjabi Sikh origins to be here, along with Jatinder Ghuman.

Early on, Mo met a neighbor and farmer north of Lynden who was also to become a good friend and eventually a real estate adviser. Mo gives high credit to Marv Van Mersbergen for helping the Sangha family achieve what they have, including connecting them to the Hinote’s Corner area and property possibilities there.

In 1997, the Sanghas bought this former farm of Gilbert Huizenga and then Myron Lancaster. The land below is rich soil that would eventually be planted into blueberries. Incidentally, across Hannegan Road are more acres of blueberries owned by two more relatives, Amarjit and Mehar Brar.

Mo Sangha had a hand in starting the receiving station, just around the corner on East Pole Road, that is now the Northwest Berry Co-op for local raspberry growers.

The next step, or two, was to begin to convert the former dairy farm into their own blueberry receiving and packing operation, and for Paul especially to work