Friday, July 2, 2021
CapitalPress.com 3
Flor Maldonado: Taking family
business to ‘the next level’
By DAVE LEDER
For the Capital Press
TONASKET, Wash. —
Ever since orchardist Flor Mal-
donado was young, she knew
she wanted to be involved in the
family business.
The 28-year-old co-owner
of Maldonado Orchards near
Tonasket remembers playing
inside apple bins while her par-
ents, Aristeo and Evelia, worked
their 45 acres near the Canada
border. It feels like only yester-
day that she was riding on the
back of a four-wheeler with her
mom during the day and going
to industry meetings with her
dad at night.
“Going out to the orchard
was like a reward for me,” she
recalls. “I would always get my
homework done quickly so I
could go outside and help my
parents.”
Maldonado
gravitated
toward agricultural science
in high school, and in 2016,
she earned dual degrees from
Washington State University in
organic ag systems and ag food
security. Today, she’s playing
a key role in the success of her
family’s organic apple, pear and
Courtesy photo
Flor Maldonado of Tonasket, Wash., is just 28 years
old, but she already has big plans for the future of her
family business, Maldonado Orchards.
cherry orchards along the Okan-
ogan River.
“I knew I could help our
farm be more sustainable if I
went into the science side, but
my experience at WSU really
opened my eyes to how much
potential there is with organics,”
said Maldonado, who moved
back to Tonasket in 2020 after
working in food safety for three
years at Kershaw Companies in
Yakima.
Maldonado’s
long-term
vision for the business is to
establish a packing line in
Tonasket so local growers don’t
have to pay to ship fruit to the
Wenatchee area for packing and
distribution. She and her broth-
ers, Hector and Victor, also plan
to modernize the orchards to
maximize density.
“I want to take our farm
to the next level, and I think I
know how to make it happen,”
she said. “I’m pretty young, so I
can keep doing this for a while.”
Maldonado admitted that it
took her time to develop the con-
fi dence she would need to gain
respect from the male-dom-
inated workforce. But work-
ing alongside mentors such as
Kriss Zerr at Kershaw helped
her establish an air of authority
with the laborers.
“Kriss showed me how to
command respect,” Maldonado
said. “Being a female in ag can
be very diff erent, especially on
the farm side, so you always
have to speak up. She taught me
that my voice is important, and
that I have to use it.”
Maldonado’s experience at
Kershaw helped her develop
a rapport with her employees,
and that has carried over to Mal-
donado Orchards, where she is
known for being friendly, trust-
worthy and hard-working.
“I think my personality
has helped me become a good
leader, but most of all, I try to
lead by example,” she said. “I
like to get my hands dirty and
do the same physically demand-
ing jobs as the guys.”
Charlene Henrikson: Promoting
ranching for next generation
By CRAIG REED
For the Capital Press
LOOKINGGLASS, Ore. — Char-
lene Henrikson has several reasons for
being a business woman who is pas-
sionate about her involvement with
cattle, sheep, pigs, a dairy cow, hay,
chickens and a large vegetable garden.
She and her husband, Kyle Hen-
rikson, have three young children and
Charlene wants to raise them in an
agricultural setting just like she and
Kyle experienced in their younger
years.
Charlene was raised on a multi-gen-
erational cattle ranch, the Bunch Fam-
ily Ranch, near Durkee, Ore. She
earned a college degree in education
and taught a few years at the grade
school and middle school levels, but
then decided to turn her focus to agri-
Craig Reed/For the Capital Press
Charlene Henrikson is involved in
several agricultural ventures, rang-
ing from stocker cattle to chickens
and eggs to a vegetable garden.
cultural ventures to give her children
the experiences that come with raising
livestock and produce.
The Henrikson children are Rio, 6,
Cash, 5, and Sage, 2.
The kids help gather chicken eggs
and when it’s time to feed hay to the
cattle in the pasture, Rio and Cash
climb the ladder to the hay loft and roll
bales out the upper door to the pickup
bed below. In the fi eld, the two boys
fl ake hay off the tailgate while Sage
rides in the cab, wanting to help, but
having to wait a couple more years.
“I want my kids to learn the value
of hard work, I want my kids to see
something larger and more import-
ant than themselves,” Charlene said.
“I want them to lay down at night
bone tired, I want them to come in
at night fi lthy dirty from helping out.
It’s important for them to learn how
to take care of themselves and how
to take care of something other than
themselves.”
By HEATHER SMITH THOMAS
For the Capital Press
Linda Weatherly ranches in
partnership with her brother,
Tom, in the corner of eastern
Washington near the Idaho and
Oregon borders.
Their brand was registered
in 1888 in Garfi eld County by
the Corum family.
“My great-grandfather and
his brother married Corum
sisters and my great-grandfa-
ther homesteaded near Peola,”
Linda said. Her grandfather
and his brothers homesteaded
nearby, west of Asotin.
She grew up riding horses,
taking care of cattle.
“We had cabins in the Blue
Mountains and stayed there
while gathering cattle. Our
family has had a permit from
the Forest Service since 1909.
My fi rst time helping gather
cattle was when I was 9,” Linda
said.
“My dad, his brother and
my grandparents (Gill Weath-
erly and Sons Ranch) were Cat-
tlemen of the Year for Asotin
County in 1957. At one point
we had more than 300 cows,”
she said.
“Now my brother and I are
down to 30. He does most of
the haying; I do little bales and
he does big round bales,” she
said. “We are both in our 70s
but very healthy.”
Linda loves to ride, and
she’d rather be out riding and
working cows than anything
else. She was Cattlewoman of
the Year in 2017 for the state of
Washington.
She feeds cows during the
winter and checks on them at
least twice a week after they go
to mountain pastures in June.
She checks cattle on horse-
back, and sometimes on a
4-wheeler. She had a wreck on
her 4-wheeler in mid-April and
was pinned under it for several
hours.
“I was looking for a heifer
that was about to calve. I could
see her down a draw, so I
went around the draw to drive
closer.”
The grass was mashed fl at
where snow had been on it, and
she didn’t realize it was cover-
ing a drop-off . When she drove
over that spot, the 4-wheeler
fl ipped over and landed on
her.
She was stuck under it,
and when she tried to use her
cell phone to call for help, she
had no cell service.
“I was able to dig under-
neath myself and slide to the
side and get out from under
the 4-wheeler. I walked about
20 feet and had cell service.
My brother and a friend
loaded up another 4-wheeler
and came to get me,” she said.
“Everybody worries about
me because I’m out here
alone, but I was OK. No bro-
ken bones or bruises, just
very sore,” Linda said.
Chase, 4, and the Duncans have a son, 6-month-
old Cameron.
“Ken and I had sheep for 33 years so it
CANYONVILLE, Ore. — For many years, seemed like I had the experience to keep
Ken and Laura French worked together with going,” Laura French, now 62, said. “I had
their fl ock of sheep.
learned all the things Ken had learned deal-
But they both also had full-time jobs off ing with the sheep business, the contracts for
their family ranch. Ken was an invasive weed selling sheep, pasture management, forages,
materials.
specialist for the Oregon Department
“I know Ken would be thrilled that
of Agriculture and Laura was a nurse.
we have continued on, that the girls
When together on the ranch with
have come back,” she added, explain-
the sheep, Ken took the lead and Laura
ing that one daughter and her family
helped and learned.
lives in a house on the ranch property
So in 2011 when Ken died after
and the other daughter and her fam-
battling cancer for several years, Laura
ily lives on a nearby property. “I know
decided she had the energy and knowl-
Laura
the girls would have loved for Ken to
edge to continue with the sheep opera-
French
show his grandsons the ropes on the
tion. She had retired from nursing and
ranch.”
had the time to focus on the sheep.
More recently, Jim Lynn, Laura’s com-
She also had help from the couple’s twin
daughters, Emily and Amy, now 36. They had panion, has helped on the ranch on a full-time
grown up around the sheep. Their husbands, basis.
“She knows the sheep business,” Lynn said
Ryan Savage and Roby Duncan, respectively,
of French. “She has a great depth of knowl-
have also helped.
Just like their parents in the past, Emily and edge about the sheep. She works me into the
Amy, and their husbands, have full-time jobs ground most days.”
While French has the sheep, pasture and
off the ranch. And just like in their own youth,
the girls’ own children are getting early experi- hay knowledge, Lynn is good with equipment
and keeping it running. They describe them-
ences with the sheep operation.
The Savages have two boys, Bryson, 7, and selves as a good combination.
By CRAIG REED
For the Capital Press
Holcomb sisters: Ranching a part of life
ELKTON, Ore. — The
Holcomb sisters — Michelle,
Laura and Angela — spent
much of their childhoods out
in the pastures and barn of
the family ranch.
The three are now older,
they’ve earned degrees at
Oregon State University and
they have full-time jobs. But
when they can, they return
home to help their parents,
Richard and Debbie Hol-
comb, with the ranch work,
especially during lambing
season.
The outdoors lifestyle has
stuck with Michelle, now 27,
Laura, 25, and Angela, 22.
Through their youthful years,
they shared their ranching
experiences in positive ways
and are continuing to be
advocates of agriculture.
“It’s fun to tell people
about what we’ve done and
what we’ve been able to
experience,” Michelle said.
“Often times they are inter-
ested, but ranching is a for-
eign world to them. It’s not
their fault, they just grew up
Linda Weatherly:
Ranching runs
in her family
Laura French: Takes the lead in sheep operation
Craig Reed/For the Capital Press
Richard Holcomb con-
tinues to get help from
his daughters — Angela,
left, Laura and Michelle
— during lambing sea-
son on the family’s ranch
in the Elkton, Ore., area.
By CRAIG REED
For the Capital Press
Courtesy of Linda Weatherly
Linda Weatherly with a calf on her ranch.
in a diff erent setting.”
“People are in awe of
where we live, the setting,”
Laura added. “We kind of get
used to it, but when we show
people around and we get to
see ranch life through their
eyes, it reminds us of how
blessed we are.”
The Umpqua River fl ows
near green pastures where
sheep, lambs, cows and
calves graze. Steep slopes
covered by Douglas fi r trees
border the valley pastures.
Each of the sisters expe-
rienced this setting at an
early age, joining Rich-
ard and Debbie when they
checked on the livestock. As
they grew older, they helped
during lambing season, tak-
ing responsibility for bottle
feeding bummer lambs. They
also gave vaccination shots
to lambs and docked their
tails.
“We tried to introduce
them to the lifestyle in a posi-
tive way, a fun way,” Richard
said. “They look at a lamb
without a mother as a posi-
tive thing because they then
get to (bottle) feed it.”
The sisters have seen
lambs born and they’ve
helped cold lambs get up on
their feet to get their fi rst
drink of milk from their
mothers. They’ve worked in
the wet and cold to care for
the fl ock.
“If you don’t ever get
cold, you’ll never know the
joy of getting warm,” Laura
said with a laugh.
The girls have also expe-
rienced the loss of lambs due
to cold rain and snow, and
to predators such as coyotes
and cougars. Michelle has
set up trail cameras that let
the Holcombs know if pred-
ators are in the area so the
livestock can be managed
accordingly.
Teri McKenzie
Licensed Real Estate Broker in Oregon
Email: terimckenzie@4msllc.com
https://www.terimckenzierealestate.com
Cell:
503-302-9901
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