While apples were certainly the focus of the Onalaska Apple Harvest Festival last weekend — with fresh cider pressing, apple pie contests, a parade and more — the festival’s Farm and Homestead Tour on Sunday showcased the diversity of options Lewis County farmers have when it comes to utilizing their land.
From responsible conservation-oriented farming practices producing a wide variety of fruits and vegetables to fresh raw milk from a family-run small-scale ranch, six local farms opened up to the public for tours on Sunday, Oct. 5.
Being the Apple Harvest Festival, though, apples were present too. But, they weren’t your run-of-the-mill red delicious apples.
Sunday’s farm tour ended with a Farm-To-Table dinner featuring the cooking of Once Upon A Thyme chef Joy Templeton.
Regeneration Acres
Owned by Hanna and Chris Volmert, Regeneration Acres is a relatively new farm as the newlyweds, who tied the knot earlier this year, originally purchased their Gore Road farm back in 2022.
On their land, they focus on conservation-oriented agriculture, focusing on planting trees, along with raising a wide variety of animals including chickens, turkeys, sheep, pigs and cattle. The business is also veteran owned, as Chris is a U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq.
The Volmerts have been farming in Washington for years, going back to 2017 in Grays Harbor. Hanna also works at the nearby Burnt Ridge Nursery & Orchards in Onalaska, which is also where they’ve sourced a lot of the trees they’ve planted on their farm.
“Almost all of our nursery stock that we’ve planted has come from Burnt Ridge,” Chris said. “We have funding to do another four-and-a-half acres of planting out in that field, to do more chestnuts, mulberries and oaks. We’re focused really heavily on agro-forestry principles, trying to incorporate trees into a pasture … This is a hay field and has been for a lot of years. We’re trying to turn it into something more than just a hay field.”
Along with fruit- and nut-bearing trees, the Volmerts also have a sizable pumpkin patch. The majority of what they produce on the farm goes to be sold at the Packwood Saturday Markets, but they do sell some items straight from their farm, like eggs.
“Starting in December, we’ll have pork available by the cut to sell. It will be processed, USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture),” Chris said. “And then starting in January, we’ll have lamb available by the cut that’s been processed under a USDA label.”
Prior to this year, both Chris and Hanna had been working other jobs full time, but now are focused on growing their farm business with plans to set up a USDA-approved poultry processing area too.
Regeneration Acres is located at 177 Gore Road in Onalaska. To learn more, or contact Chris and Hanna about purchasing meat or other farm products from them, contact them on their Facebook at https://tinyurl.com/mthe6bph or on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/regenacres/.
Olde Archers Farm, LLC
Another veteran-owned farm, Olde Archers Farm, LLC, is owned by a pair of retired U.S. Air Force veterans, Marie and Brett Shankle.
“Brett and I were stationed here in McChord in the early 80s,” Marie said.
After getting married early on in their Air Force careers, then divorced and remarried to other partners, both Brett and Marie found themselves divorced a second time.
“We found out through the grapevine that we were both coming off 20-year marriages, decided to hang out, and this time we’ve been married 11 years now,” Marie said.
The Shankles have actually been farming in Lewis County since 2012, selling what they grew mainly at local farmers markets.
Last year, Marie decided to leave all that traveling and setting up stands behind, as the couple purchased a plot of land near Onalaska on U.S. Highway 12 — where they now operate the Olde Archers Farm stand selling fruits and vegetables to customers directly from their farm. The farm itself is about four miles east of their stand just off U.S. Highway 12.
“We grow completely organically, don’t allow any chemicals on the place. We get enough chemicals other ways,” Marie said.
They also accept EBT and SNAP benefit payments. Their farm stand offers fruit and vegetables from other local farmers as well, and while Marie and Brett are running the stand out of a tent right now, Marie has big plans to construct a retail building and a commercial kitchen for farmers to use to process and package what they grow.
“This is what we do, promoting local farms,” Marie added.
Along with promoting local farms, she also wants to help preserve local farming history, and has additional plans to convert the old house on their farm stand property into a Lewis County agriculture museum along with office space.
The house was originally constructed in 1917, according to Marie, and has been boarded up for nearly three decades now. But despite the neglect, the foundations are still solid.
“I want to get some history from Lewis County here,” said Marie.
She invited other local farmers interested in getting items stored in the museum to reach out to her on the farm’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/OldeAchers, call 360-985-0662 or email at oldeachersfarm@tds.net.
The Olde Archers Farm stand is located at 1404 U.S. Highway 12 in Ethel. Winter hours are noon to 5 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, with plans to be open seven days a week starting sometime next spring.
Cowlitz Hill Guernseys
Located on Fuller Road on the way down to the Cowlitz River, Cowlitz Hill Guernseys is a small, family-run farm owned by Bill Morris, who is also the pastor of the Jackson Prairie Church. Being that The Chronicle visited the farm on Sunday morning, Morris was busy preaching, but his daughter Karsen Wilson, who helps run the place, gave the tour.
Originally the family started out farming in Winlock with only four Guernsey cows, selling raw milk and other dairy products, but the operation quickly grew with them now tending to 50 head of cattle.
“We have almost all breeds here now too actually,” Wilson said. “The only breed we don’t have now is a brown Swiss.”
Recently, raw milk has been gaining popularity over pasteurized or homogenized, as advocates claim it’s more nutritious, easier to digest and better tasting without added chemicals or hormones.
Wilson explained some cows produce milks with different kinds of proteins, and they have both, meaning someone who might be allergic to one protein can still drink another.
Drinking raw milk does have risks as the possibility exists dangerous bacteria normally killed during the pasteurization process may still be present, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
But this risk isn’t slowing down orders, as many locally are still lining up to buy it from Morris’ farm. So much so, that there’s currently a waitlist of 40 people.
“We just cleared it not that long ago, and we’re back to 40,” Wilson said.
Cowlitz Hill Guernseys is located at 208 Fuller Road in Salkum. For more information or to inquire about getting on the raw milk wait-list, message the farm on its Facebook at https://tinyurl.com/mr2d3z3z.
Rabbit Ridge Nursery
Focusing on sales of flowers, herbs, vegetables and tree saplings, Kelly Verd runs the Rabbit Ridge Nursery. Originally, Verd was a wholesale supplier for the old DeGoede Bulb Farm in Mossyrock, but with DeGoede closing in 2023, she decided to begin selling to customers directly herself both seasonally and by appointment.
Rabbit Ridge was featured during last year’s farm and homestead tour as well, and Verd sells a wide variety of Japanese maple trees along with other flowers and both fruit- and nut-producing plants.
Additionally, the rare Ben Franklin tree, extinct in the wild, is producing saplings which she sells.
Originally introduced to Europe from North America in the mid-1700s by botanist John Bartram, he named the trees after his family friend and U.S. founding father Benjamin Franklin after discovering them along river banks in Georgia.
“It’s got these white flowers here. They’re only in people’s gardens now. It’s not very commons, and the leaves turn really red,” Verd said.
All surviving Ben Franklin trees today are descended from the seeds Bartram and his son, William Bartram, collected and distributed.
Verd also raises and sells German shorthair pointers, Flemish giant rabbits and Shetland geese.
For more information about the animals Verd breeds or to contact her about purchasing saplings or other plants, visit Rabbit Ridge Nursery’s website at https://rabbitridgenursery.net/contact-us or message Verd on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/ciderslegacy/.
3 Dog Cider & Brewstillery
Named after three of his dogs — Rizzo, Beamer and Wolfie — Joshua Hail is now six years into running his apple orchard and cider business, 3 Dog Cider & Brewstillery. While Rizzo and Beamer have sadly passed away, Wolfie still helps on the farm along with Douglas, Hail's other new dog.
3 Dog Cider & Brewstillery has also been featured in the two previous farm and homestead tours. Originally from Lewis County, Hail spent some time working on the East Coast where he discovered his love of both apples and cider.
“I thought to myself, ‘Man we’ve got tons of apples back home. If I ever go home, I’m doing this,’” Hail said. “I came home in 2019, and I did it. That, and I lived in Texas for nine months too long. I paid like a cent on the dollar for alcohol. And then I moved back home and saw our bottle tax and said, ‘Like hell, I’m doing this myself. I’m not paying that tax anymore.’”
Hail’s orchard, only two acres large, is located in Silver Creek, features dozens of rare apple varieties including the Esopus Spitzenburg apple, which was known as Thomas Jefferson’s favorite apple.
It’s not the only apple a Founding Father favored Hail grows now, as his orchard also now has Yellow Newtown Pippin apples — which are said to be a favorite of George Washington.
Hail also shared tips for growing apples without having to use pesticides.
“You gotta get the fruit up off the ground and out of your orchard. The lifecycle (of bugs), they lay eggs in fruit which falls to the ground. It over-winters in the ground, and come spring time, they crawl back up the tree and get in the apples again,” Hail said. “So if you keep the apples off the ground, you don’t have to be as intensive with your spraying.”
Hail runs his brewstillery’s tasting room out of an old heritage barn too, once owned by the Hadaller family.
The tasting room for 3 Dog Cider & Brewstillery is located at 2040 U.S. Highway 12 in Ethel and is open from 2 to 6 p.m. Thursday, noon to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.
For more information, follow the business on its Facebook page at https://tinyurl.com/ydvyz4nk.
