Friday, April 9, 2021
CapitalPress.com
Burnt Ridge Nursery and Orchards: Diversifi cation pays off
S236130-1
ONALASKA,
Wash.
— Diversifi cation has car-
ried Burnt Ridge Nursery and
Orchards, including the past
year during the pandemic.
The 21-acre operation on
logged forestland in the foot-
hills of the Cascade Mountains
in Lewis County, Wash., grows
chestnuts, mulberries, kiwi ber-
ries, fi gs, elderberries, apples,
Asian pears and blueberries.
“With nearly 1,000 diff er-
ent named varieties of fruits and
nuts, we distribute plants, as
well as seeds, scion wood and
cuttings to interested growers,”
said owner Michael Dolan.
The pandemic has meant
busier times at the farm, Dolan
said.
“Many people have more
time on their hands at home and
are concerned with food secu-
rity, resulting in a doubling of
demand for food-producing
woody plants that we sell,” he
said.
Dolan said the initial focus
of the farm, founded in 1980,
was to grow nut trees commer-
cially and a variety of fruits for
personal use.
“Many of the fruit and nut
trees were not commercially
available at the time, so learning
plant propagation was a neces-
sity,” he said. “Surplus nurs-
ery stock became a cash crop
before the orchards came into
production.”
Dolan married his wife, Car-
olyn, in 1989, and her mana-
gerial and offi ce skills allowed
the nursery to expand into a
mail-order business that prints
50,000 catalogs a year and ships
plants throughout the U.S.
Carolyn supervises a staff of
14 and leads the wholesale sales
of the certifi ed organic fruit and
nuts.
Michael writes the catalog,
heads up the research and plant
propagation, answers custom-
ers’ questions about the plants
and leads retail sales.
Plants are sold primarily
by mail, although customers
can pick them up at the nurs-
ery if they are pre-ordered or
Burnt Ridge Nursery and Orchards
Michael and Carolyn Dolan supply fresh fruit and nuts
to two food co-ops in Olympia, Wash., as well as three
wholesale buyers. They are shown here during last
year’s apple harvest.
by appointment.
Burnt Ridge supplies fresh
fruit and nuts to two food
co-ops in Olympia and three
wholesale buyers. It also sells
its products at farmers mar-
kets in Chehalis, Toledo and
Olympia.
“We have sold at the Olym-
pia Farmers Market from April
to December for 36 years,”
Michael said.
The business also has a com-
mercial kitchen, where jams,
jellies, sauces, wine and hard
cider are made from certifi ed
organic fruits produced on the
farm.
Many of the fruit and nut
varieties grown at Burnt Ridge
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are experimental to explore
what potential they have in
western Washington.
“With chestnuts, the liter-
ature suggested planting Chi-
nese chestnuts so we did,”
Michael said. “Ten years later,
we removed them due to their
inability to crop well here in our
relatively cool maritime moun-
tain location.
“Observing
massive
100-year-old chestnut trees on
old homesteads still produc-
ing huge crops annually despite
neglect suggested that worked
well in the Eastern U.S., but it
wasn’t the right species for the
Northwest.”
However, success with
chestnuts came when varieties
from Italy, France and Japan
were introduced, Michael said.
“Trialing more than 100
varieties, over the course of 30
years, we have identifi ed the
most desirable and consistent
producers for our bioregion,”
he said. “Demand is good, yet
most domestic consumption of
chestnuts is still being met by
imports.”
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Burnt Ridge sells its chest-
nuts as seed nut for planting, as
well as in shell for eating.
“Some regional growers are
further processing and selling
their nuts as peeled and ready to
eat; others have dried their crop,
grinding it into a gluten-free
fl our for baking,” Michael said.
“For us, it has become a
fall and winter staple, fi nding
its way into our mouths on a
nearly daily basis, either freshly
roasted as is, or into the soup
pot, stuffi ng, casserole or mixed
with vegetables,” Michael said.
Other crops Burnt Ridge has
helped introduce into commer-
cial production include kiwi
berries, mulberries and a unique
apple variety.
“The Monty’s Surprise is by
far the most nutritious apple on
earth,” Michael said. “Orig-
inating in New Zealand, we
initiated the process of import-
ing it as a stick of scion wood
more than 10 years ago. It is
still in quarantine until next
winter, when we can make the
trees available to the general
public.”
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By BRIAN WALKER
For the Capital Press
15