community
september
2009
A Tale of Two Farms:
By Scott Laird
Small family farms are again be-
coming popular as a place to buy fresh, lo-
cally grown produce. And Vernonia is no
exception, with two new farms expanding
their operations this past summer, and of-
fering delicious, homegrown produce direct
from the farm and at local farmers markets.
Both of these two new operations have been
selling their produce at the Vernonia Open
Air Market on Friday evenings from 5-7:30
PM. Here are their stories.
Small Local Farms Are Becoming Popular Again
years.
The Wycoffs have been in the office
furniture business, which has struggled dur-
Dairy Creek Farm, just north of
Highway 26 on Highway 47, is offering a
wide range of you-pick fresh produce for
purchase. Debbie and David Wycoff are
growing their vegetables naturally, with
no pesticides or herbicides, although they
can’t claim to be certified organic until they
jump through all the required hoops. David
has installed a drip irrigation system called
“plasticulture,” which wraps the soil rows in
plastic, and keeps the soil moist and uses less
water.
The Wycoffs purchased the eigh-
teen-acre property four years ago from the
Allen Family, who wanted the farm to go to a
family that would farm it. The Allen family
had been on that piece of land for forty-eight
13
ing the economic slowdown. So the family,
which includes sons Devon, 14, and Dawson,
10, have decided to give vegetable farming a
try. They have a stand where vegetables can
be purchased by passers-by. They also allow
shoppers to you-pick, and Debbie said she
would gladly trade some help with weeding
in exchange for vegetables. A greenhouse
was installed in June which will allow them
to start seeds earlier next year. They are also
raising turkeys and chickens. They have
been attending three weekly farmers mar-
kets-- in Banks, Forest Grove and Vernonia.
They are also considering a Community
Supported Agriculture (CSA) system, where
customers buy a seasonal membership and
receive a weekly produce box of whatever is
fresh.
Dairy Creek Farm is growing toma-
toes, beans, five different peppers, six differ-
ent cucumbers, cabbages, melons, zucchini
and other squashes, and lots of pumpkins.
Ancient Earth Farms, on Keasey
Road in Vernonia, was started this past year
by Brenda Skeels and Earling Yontz. The
pair have taken a somewhat different ap-
proach to family farming and are raising all
their vegetables in pots. They are developing
Congratulations!
Vernonia Sentry Market would like to
congratulate Dana Roach and Black
Bear Coffee on the opening of
their historic saloon,
The Bear Creek Pub & Bar.
natural and organic soil mixtures and fertil-
izers, and spent this past season experiment-
ing with mixtures to see which seeds would
grow best in the Vernonia climate with the
best mixture of soils and fertilizers.
“Some plants are doing awfully
well, and some plants are struggling,” said
Earling.
The farm idea started out as a hob-
by in January as a project for Brenda, who
is suffering from fibromyalgia, and recently
had to leave her job with the State Correc-
tions system. “What started out as a small
greenhouse project has just exploded,” said
Earling. “We just kept meeting people and
making contacts that have got us where we
needed to go.”
Ancient Earth Farms is using sus-
tainable farming practices-- all organic soils
and no spraying. They intend to get Tilth
Organic Certified, but didn’t do that this past
year.
Yontz and Skeels have installed
two twenty-by-fifty foot greenhouses, and
plan to erect two additional thirty-by-one-
hundred footers. This past year, they planted
only heirloom seeds, and hope to be able to
continue with those. With the heated green-
houses, they intend to grow vegetables year
round.
The experiments with soils have led
to an additional opportunity-- marketing of
soil mixtures. Yontz, who has a background
in sales, has been out to visit some large
area distributors, and may be able to sell the
mixtures that they have proven to work at
Ancient Earth Farms. The soil mixes they
are creating are coming from local sources.
Skeels works with the plants and Yontz has
been working
the street, find-
ing customers.
Ancient
Earth Farms is
doing contract
growing
for
local outlets
which include
the
Cedar
Ridge Camp
and The Blue
House Cafe,
both in Vernonia, so local produce is being
used in local businesses, and they hope to
expand on this market as well.
Skeels and Yontz, with their chil-
dren, Zach, 8, Rachel, 11, and Ashton, 18,
have been on their four-acre farm for four
years. They produce farm fresh eggs, and
raise pigs and cattle. They are growing let-
tuces and spinachs, cucumbers, peppers,
eggplants, onions, carrots, cabbage, melons,
tomatoes and squashes, and herbs, and see
this past year as an opportunity to learn about
farming in Vernonia. “Knowledge is every-
thing and we’ve learned a lot this year,” said
Yontz. “And I think we’ll do real well next
year.”
They hope to open a small road-
side stand right at the farm where people can
stop and shop and they have been attending
local farmers markets. “We get a lot of input
from people at the markets, finding out what
kinds of things people want,” said Skeels.
Two local farms, two similar, yet
different stories. All I know is there is noth-
ing quite like a sliced tomato or a cantaloupe
straight from the garden. And now both are
available locally.