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CapitalPress.com
Friday, April 1, 2022
People & Places
This farm blooms year around
By JULIA HOLLISTER
For the Capital Press
Established 1928
ROYAL OAKS, Calif.
— David Medrano started on
the bottom rung of the agri-
cultural ladder, but he has
arrived at the top. He oper-
ates his own family farm.
“I landed a job washing
buckets for a flower whole-
saler,” he said. “I started at
the very bottom and gradu-
ally learned more and more
about the flower industry.”
He was eventually pro-
moted to wholesale manager.
As he learned more about
flowers and the process of
growing and cutting them
for market, he started taking
charge of the wholesaler’s
flower inventory and became
fully immersed in the flower
world.
In 2001, he began grow-
ing his own flower busi-
ness — Medrano’s Flow-
ers — with a small variety
of flowers and an extensive
knowledge of flowers he had
gathered over 15 years.
Today, his 5-acre farm
grows more than 60 varieties
of flowers year-round. His
wife, Rosa, and their daugh-
ter and two sons help.
To keep the flowers con-
tinuously fresh and bloom-
ing, Medrano covers each
flower bed with plastic sheets
and drills each sheet with
holes for weed and humidity
control.
Capital Press Managers
Joe Beach ..................... Editor & Publisher
Western
Innovator
DAVID
MEDRANO
Anne Long ................. Advertising Director
Carl Sampson .................. Managing Editor
Samantha Stinnett .....Circulation Manager
Entire contents copyright © 2022
EO Media Group
dba Capital Press
Occupation: Farmer.
Operation: Medrano’s
Flowers.
Residence: Royal Oaks,
Calif.
Family: Wife Rosa,
daughter Carla, and sons
Saul and Mauricio.
Foodwise/Mission Community Market
David Medrano sells more than 60 varieties of flowers at the Mission Community
Market in San Francisco.
It also allows him to con-
trol water usage. This keeps
most of the moisture in the
soil. Drip irrigation is used.
Timing is a key part of
his effort to sustain flower
growth and variety. Medrano
and his family plan which
flowers to grow for each sea-
son months in advance.
He readily acknowledges
that he has a favorite flower.
“Out of the large variety
of flowers that I grow, my
favorite is the Canterbury
Bells, but the most popular
flowers among my custom-
ers are dahlias and tulips,” he
said.
He also has a flower that’s
particularly hard to grow.
“The flower that I’ve had
the most difficulty to grow
would probably be Tweedia,
because it wilts too quickly,”
he said.
Pests are not a problem
because his main focus is on
maintaining a clean and orga-
nized growing area.
Farmers markets are where
most of his sales take place.
“Even though I sold flow-
ers to wholesalers, I also felt
that it was important to also
sell them at the farmers mar-
kets,” Medrano said. “It is
a small business, and it was
about keeping my family’s
wishes of staying as a family
business.”
Brie Mazurek, the com-
munications director of
Foodwise
—
formerly
CUESA — concurs. The
nonprofit operates the Mis-
sion Community Market and
the Ferry Plaza Market in
San Francisco.
“Throughout the seasons,
David and Rosa Medrano
Quotable: “I always
treat my customers as a
family,” says David. “I treat
them like family because
knowing that if I take
care of them, they’ll take
care of the farmers.”
bring a variety of beauti-
ful locally grown flowers
and fresh herbs to our Mis-
sion neighbors,” she said.
“We love seeing their stand
brimming with tulips in the
spring, dahlias in the sum-
mer, and marigolds in the fall.
The Medranos embody the
spirit of family farming and
community.”
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Western Washington
Four growers specialize in Easter lilies
By CRAIG REED
For the Capital Press
BROOKINGS, Ore. —
The Easter lily industry that
straddles the southwestern
Oregon and northwestern
California border has expe-
rienced declining production
over recent decades.
There are now only four
growers, down from 26 in the
late 1960s and 9 in 2000. Lily
bulb production by the grow-
ers peaked at 13.5 million in
the 1990s, but has gradually
declined to 6.5 million to 7
million today.
The sale of flowering Eas-
ter lilies is tied to the Chris-
tian tradition of celebrat-
ing the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. The market for the lil-
ies is across both the U.S. and
Canada.
“There are a lot of factors
(for the decline), but one of
the most significant is that the
millennial population (ages
25 to 40) is not as religious
and church going as past gen-
erations,” said Rob Miller,
co-owner of Dahlstrom and
Watt Bulb Farms. “They
don’t see the significance of
lilies and Easter Sunday. It’s
not rocket science.”
Zeke Harms, the general
manager of Hastings Bulb
Growers, said the lily mar-
ket has been declining for the
past 20 years.
“The younger generations
aren’t buying lilies,” Harms
Craig Reed/For the Capital Press
Zeke Harms, general manager of Hastings Bulb Grow-
ers, checks on the growth of lilies in the farm’s green-
houses in early March. The flowers are scheduled to be
shipped to West Coast stores around April 1 so they’re
available to customers prior to Easter on April 17.
said. “Some of the older tra-
ditional values maybe aren’t
so valued anymore by the
younger generations.
“Easter lilies are tied to a
religious holiday and conven-
tional religion doesn’t seem
to be as popular as it used
to be,” he explained. “New
contemporary churches are
less traditional in my view.
You look at the holidays we
celebrate — Thanksgiving,
Christmas, Memorial Day,
Labor Day — and Easter
seems to have become a kind
of a back burner holiday.”
The four remaining lily
growers are Hastings, Dahl-
strom and Watt, Palmer
Westbrook and Crockett
United Lilies. Hastings has
lily fields in Oregon’s Curry
County and California’s Del
Norte County. The other
three growers are in Del
Norte County.
“Basically all the flower-
ing potted Easter lilies origi-
nate from here,” said Harms,
adding that a few farms in
Europe have started growing
lilies in recent years.
The four growers all pro-
duce bulbs that are harvested
in October and sold to green-
houses throughout the U.S.
and Canada. The bulbs grow
into potted, flowering plants
and are shipped to retail
stores in late March and early
April depending on the date
of Easter.
This year, Easter is on
April 17.
Miller explained that lil-
ies are grown over a three- to
four-year period and it’s been
hard in recent years to predict
the market in advance and to
plant accordingly.
“Lilies are very expensive
to grow and maintain,” he
said. “Nobody could tell me
three years ago how many
bulbs will sell this year.”
Harms admitted that
despite cutting his produc-
tion from the previous year,
his farm over produced for
both the 2020 and 2021 Eas-
ter seasons. The COVID pan-
demic that closed churches
and limited gatherings was
also a huge factor.
“We threw a bunch (of
bulbs) away,” Harms said.
“It’s a high value, high
reward, high risk business.
Lately it’s been high risk,
lose big.”
In addition to the diffi-
culty of predicting the future
market, the lily growers have
also dealt with labor and
transportation issues. Miller
said the migrant workers that
used to work up the Califor-
nia and Oregon coasts don’t
exist anymore.
Miller’s farm finds local
residents to do the field main-
tenance and harvest work.
Harms works directly with
a source in Mexico to send
workers to his farm.
In addition to selling
bulbs, the Hastings and Dahl-
strom and Watt farms have
greenhouses and grow sev-
eral thousand plants in pots
for direct sales to West Coast
stores. The Palmer West-
brook and Crockett farms
sell only bulbs.
Because of the decline in
lily sales, the four farms have
taken some of their land out
of lily production and either
expanded their production
in hay, cattle and sheep or
diversified to other products
such as other types of nurs-
ery flowers, cranberries, qui-
noa, broccoli and hemp.
“I’ve been in the lily busi-
ness since I was 15 and now
I’m 67,” said Miller. “This
location is the best place and
only place to grow Easter lily
bulbs so I hope to be able to
maintain what I’m doing.
We’re surviving.”
Harms said he’s unsure of
the future for the lily growers.
“I think there’ll always
be a market for lily bulbs
and lily flowers, but like any
other agricultural product,
there are going to have to
be production caps to make
your equipment and labor
most efficient,” he said.
“But I still like to play in
the dirt, walk around in the
field and work outside in the
sun,” he said of continuing
to grow lilies.
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CALENDAR
Submit upcoming ag-related
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press.com.
THROUGH SUNDAY
MAY 1
2022 Wooden Shoe Tulip Fes-
tival: Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm,
33814 S. Meridian Road, Woodburn,
Ore. Experience the beauty of 40
acres of tulips and over 200 acres
of outdoor space and activities this
spring. We are again offering tick-
ets online only this year to minimize
crowds and allow for more time to
enjoy our fields. Hours: 9 a.m.-6 p.m.
Monday-Friday; 8 a.m.-7 p.m. Sat-
urday-Sunday. Website: https://bit.
ly/36o2wMD
SATURDAY
APRIL 2
Free Waste Pesticide Collec-
tion Event in Pendleton: Pendle-
ton Convention Center, 1601 West-
gate, Pendleton, Ore. The Oregon
Department of Agriculture through
the Pesticide Stewardship Partner-
ship is sponsoring a Free Waste Pes-
ticide Collection Event. This event
is an opportunity for landowners,
farmers and other commercial pes-
ticide users to rid storage facilities
of unwanted or unused pesticide
products. Registration for this event
is required by March 23. Contact:
Kathryn Rifenburg, 971-600-5073,
kathryn.rifenburg@oda.oregon.gov
Website: https://oda.direct/PSP
SATURDAY-SUNDAY
APRIL 2-3
Spring Farming Days at Pome-
roy: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Garfield County
Fairgrounds, 99 Fairgrounds Road,
Pomeroy, Wash. Horse farming and
antique equipment displays. No
entry fee. Fun for the whole family.
Contact: 509-566-7027
WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY
APRIL 6-9
2022 Idaho FFA State Conven-
tion: College of Southern Idaho,
315 Falls Ave., Twin Falls, Idaho.
More than 1,400 FFA members from
around Idaho will gather for this
year’s convention. Website: https://
bit.ly/3J2JAB1
TUESDAY
APRIL 12
Southern Idaho Livestock
Hall of Fame Induction: 6:30 p.m.
Turf Club, 734 Falls Ave. Twin Falls,
Idaho. The Southern Idaho Live-
stock Hall of Fame will honor its
newest inductees on April 12 at the
Turf Club during the organization’s
61st annual banquet. Those induct-
ees to be honored this year are: cat-
tle producers Guy and Sherry Colyer
of Bruneau, sheep producers Don
and Patricia Pickett of Oakley, for-
mer Idaho State Brand Inspector
Larry Hayhurst of Nampa and dairy-
man John Reitsma (posthumously)
of Jerome. The banquet will open
with social time at 6:30 p.m. fol-
lowed by dinner at 7 p.m. Tickets
for the prime rib dinner are $30 and
can be reserved by calling Eric Ben-
nett at (208) 320-5769.
THURSDAY-SATURDAY
APRIL 14-16
Spring Fair: Washington State
Fairgrounds, 110 9th Ave. SW, Puy-
allup,Wash. Celebrate spring at the
fair and all things agriculture. Web-
site: https://www.thefair.com
SATURDAY
APRIL 16
Oregon Women for Agricul-
ture Auction and Dinner: 5:30 p.m.
Linn County Expo Center, 3700
Knox Butte Road E, Albany, Ore.
Oregon Women for Agriculture is
excited to host our annual Auction
and Dinner returning in-person this
year! Make plans to attend for a fun-
filled evening of socializing, sharing
delicious food and bidding on an
assortment of high-quality oral and
silent auction items. Website: http://
www.owaonline.org/auction
Free Waste Pesticide Collec-
tion Event in Roseburg: Douglas
County Fairgrounds, 2110 Frear St.,
Roseburg, Ore. The Oregon Depart-
ment of Agriculture through the
Pesticide Stewardship Partnership
is sponsoring a Free Waste Pesti-
cide Collection Event. This event
is an opportunity for landowners,
issues to opinions@capitalpress.com, or
farmers and other commercial pes-
ticide users to rid storage facilities
of unwanted or unused pesticide
products. Registration for this event
is required by April 1. Contact: Kath-
ryn Rifenburg, 971-600-5073, kath-
ryn.rifenburg@oda.oregon.gov
Website: https://bit.ly/3AdxFgp
THURSDAY-SUNDAY
APRIL 21-24
Spring Fair: Washington State
Fairgrounds, 110 9th Ave. SW, Puy-
allup,Wash. Celebrate spring at the
fair and all things agriculture. Web-
site: https://www.thefair.com
SATURDAY-SUNDAY
APRIL 23-24
California Antique Equip-
ment Show: 10 a.m. International
Agri-Center, 4500 Laspina St., Tulare,
Calif. The show will showcase
antique tractors, trucks and engines
and will include vendors and activi-
ties such as a tractor pull, hay-buck-
ing contest and tractor driving.
Website: https://www.antiquefarm-
show.com
SATURDAY-SUNDAY
APRIL 23-24
Oregon Ag Fest: 8:30 a.m.
-5 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m.- 5 p.m.
Sunday. Oregon State Fairgrounds,
2330 17th St. NE, Salem, Ore. 97301.
The goal of Oregon Ag Fest is to
provide an experience for the
whole family that is educational
and fun. And, we keep it affordable!
Kids age 12 and under are free; oth-
ers are $9. Parking is free.
mail your letter to “Opinion,” c/o Capital
TUESDAY
APRIL 26
300 words. Deadline: Noon Monday.
Variable Density Thinning
Workshop: 6-8 p.m. Seaquest
State Park, 3030 Spirit Lake High-
way, Castle Rock, Wash. This prac-
tice dovetails with common small
forest landowner management
objectives like developing wild-
life habitat and enhancing recre-
ation and aesthetic value of a for-
est. It can also be a low-impact
form of harvest that landown-
ers can utilize to meet tax-based
county harvest requirements.
Website: https://forestry.wsu.edu/
sw/events/vdt2022/
THURSDAY
APRIL 28
Variable Density Thin-
ning Workshop: 6-8 p.m. Nis-
qually State Park, Mashel Prairie
Road, Eatonville, Wash. This prac-
tice dovetails with common small
forest landowner management
objectives like developing wild-
life habitat and enhancing recre-
ation and aesthetic value of a for-
est. It can also be a low-impact
form of harvest that landown-
ers can utilize to meet tax-based
county harvest requirements.
Website: https://forestry.wsu.edu/
sw/events/vdt2022/
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Index
Markets .................................................10
Opinion ...................................................6
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