March 11, 2016
CapitalPress.com
9
CSA, co-op, farmers’ market keep farm busy
By BRENNA WIEGAND
For the Capital Press
MOUNT ANGEL, Ore. —
Running a farm is a risky busi-
ness. Bill and Janice Scheidler
have found ways to reduce that
risk.
They not only diversify
what they grow, they diversify
how they sell it. They have a
CSA, supply a food co-op and
are a cornerstone at a popular
farmers’ market.
Community
Supported
Agriculture — known by the
initials CSA — has become a
popular way for customers to
buy local, seasonal food direct-
ly from the farmer. Subscribers
to CSAs typically sign up and
pay for their annual member-
ship in the spring.
This reduces a farm’s risk
by offsetting the startup cost
every year and making it easi-
er to predict the coming year’s
income. In return, subscribers
receive a weekly share of the
farm’s bounty throughout the
growing season.
Schiedler, whose farm is
called GardenRipe near Mount
Angel, Ore., employs a life-
time of experience in extend-
From PJ Great Northern, Iron
Panther, M.H. EBY, Banens,
Pace, and Look
Diamond
ing his harvest season to nearly
eight months with a CSA lasting
through the prime harvest sea-
son and beyond.
He and his wife, Janice, own
and operate the family farm
originally purchased by Joseph
and Kathrina Schiedler in 1874.
About 18 years ago,
Schiedler quit his “day job” as
manager of a grass seed pro-
cessing plant and began farm-
ing in earnest, starting the CSA
soon after.
Local CSA customers pick
up their produce at the farm,
and GardenRipe delivers to
those in the Keizer and West
Salem areas every week. That
day comes around quickly for
both producer and consumer.
“The quantity of produce
you receive may seem to be a
tremendous amount, and it is,”
Schiedler said. “If you’re not
prepared to deal with excess
produce or are a picky eater, a
CSA might not be right for you.”
Schiedler is preparing the
ground, setting up this year’s
infrastructure and has seeds
starting in the greenhouse. The
planting, growing, harvesting
and weeding will continue into
fall as hundreds of boxes are
Brenna Wiegand/For the Capital Press
Bill Schiedler picks Brussels sprouts that overwintered at Gard-
enRipe Farm and CSA near Mount Angel, Ore. Schiedler and his
wife, Janice, run the farm that has been in the family since 1874.
illed and delivered.
Schiedler has changed his
business model this year, scal-
ing down the number of CSA
members to 32 — about a ifth
the average of previous years
— and has begun selling pro-
duce to the Willamette Valley
Co-op in Salem. GardenRipe
also remains an anchor at near-
by Silverton’s Saturday Farm-
ers’ Market.
“When you’re selling at
market it takes a whole day out
of farming and there are costs
for employees, booth fees and
a lot of supplies,” Schiedler
said. “With the co-op’s bulk
situation, it’s a trip to Salem
and doesn’t require much be-
sides a few twist ties.”
In the beginning, their three
kids and Bill’s mother helped
work on the farm. Mom retired,
the kids grew up and for many
years Bill and Janice hosted
interns who found the farm
through ATTRA — Appropriate
Technology Transfer for Rural
Areas — as well as “WWOOF-
ers.” World Wide Opportunities
on Organic Farms, known com-
monly as Willing Workers on
Organic Farms, affords young
people the opportunity to learn
and live on organic farms in ex-
change for half a day’s work.
They still use some
WWOOFers but decided to
curtail the internships for the
time being.
“It has to do with depend-
ability as far as their produc-
tivity, and it can be stressful
when you need to get something
done,” Schiedler said. Many in-
terns have never before farmed.
He’s working on about 3
acres now and the ground will
soon start illing with a wide
variety of vegetables. Keep-
ing up with so many differ-
ent crops is a challenge, but
Schiedler prefers it to growing
a single type of crop.
“I’d better enjoy doing it —
I don’t think I’ll be joining the
Fortune 500 anytime soon,”
he said. “It is hard to make a
living farming. What a lot of it
boils down to is that it is like
my hobby as well so I don’t
have other things that I spend a
lot of time or money on.”
Schiedler grows several un-
usual vegetables such as okra,
melons and celery, but the big-
gest demand is for traditional
offerings: tomatoes, onions,
corn and zucchini.
“People make fun of zuc-
chini but we sell a lot of it,”
Schiedler said.
The earliest crops Schiedler
produces include lettuce, greens
and snap peas. These keep com-
ing, while broccoli, cabbage and
caulilower come on. On their
heels are beans, cucumbers, car-
rots, corn and tomatoes. He sup-
plements his boxes with local
berries a couple times a season.
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