I’m sitting down to write this year’s introduction and it just occurred to me this will be the 29th introduction I have done for the catalog. Wow!!! Time really does fly, I am remembering all the personal and world events I have covered in this short little letter over the years. There are many positive events we have covered and a few challenging ones. We have survived illnesses individually, a global pandemic, record weather events across the country, the passing of many friends and family (family includes our companions in the animal world), as well as many changes to our operation and business. Many of you have been with us the whole way. We sincerely appreciate all of your loyalty and support through the good times and the bad over these past three decades.

It’s time for the annual “what’s the gang been up to this year”. Roger recently got back from a trip to New York. He had a great time and saw 4 plays in 5 nights! He saw Parade, Sweeney Todd, Good Night Oscar, and Camelot. It was all going great until he tried to come home, he got caught in the 4th of July weather and United Airlines meltdown. So, to get him home we found a nice hostel for the first night, then a midnight Greyhound bus through Pittsburg and Toledo to Chicago. Then, a hotel by the airport and an Alaska Airlines ride back to Eugene. So 72 hours of fun and excitement touring the upper Midwest! There are two things, if you know Roger, that you would never expect to have in a story about him. One is him staying in a hostel hotel and the other one is a 21 hour Greyhound ride. He took it all in stride and gained several funny stories along the way.

Dawn just mailed in her official retirement papers this week. This is a scary and exciting time for us. She intends to work for the rest of this school year and one more taking advantage of the shortage of Speech and Language Pathologist. She has had a very frustrating year for her horses. We lost Major at the end of April to colic. He was 27 years old and had a great life up to the very last day. Her other two horses have both been battling injuries for the last several months. So, 2023 has not been the greatest year for her horse addiction.

Pierce and Mia have moved back in with us temporarily. This has been an adjustment as we thought we had achieved empty nest status and then they are back. We are going to build an apartment where we have been doing the air bnb for the last year and a half. We are planning on starting the first of October and hopefully have them in not too long after the first of the year. Pierce has picked up golfing this summer and it has been great to play with him. One of the things I still miss is the many, many rounds of golf I played with Marj over the years. She was always ready to go hit the ball and really loved the sport.

This year has been filled with work on the Hazelnut project and attempting to keep up with everything else along the way for me. We planted another 10 acres last winter, bringing our total to just under 50 acres! Little did I know when we started this the monster I was creating. If you are out there reading this, please eat hazelnuts in everything. Last year’s harvest was around 14,000 pounds and this year we are hoping for 27-30,000 pounds. Eventually we will be producing somewhere around 160,000 pounds of nuts a year. One of the questions I get most is where do we sell them? We sell to a family operation called Denfeld Packing. They process and turn the in-shell nuts to finished product under the name Laurel Foods, so if you’re interested you can Google Laurel Foods and see what they do. I just got back from another Alaska fishing trip. Every year I go up there, it is a little different between the weather and the fish, as each year is a learning experience. I brought home about 175 pounds of Halibut fillets this year, that is always one of my main goals. This year we had some of the closest Humpback whale encounters ever. They were so close you could make eye contact and get sprayed when they breathed.

The nursery has had a good season so far, we are flush with new plants and are looking forward to getting them to you for your gardens. For the first time in many years, we are offering a large number of new magnolias. We are listing over a hundred varieties this year. We are excited to have these new specimens available and ready to get them to the public. One of the most exciting things for this year is the expansion of the Hellebore’s we will have available. Northwest Garden Nursery has done some of the best hybridizing anywhere in the world. We now have several thousand growing and these will be ready for you this winter. Northwest Garden Nursery and us have had joint open houses each winter for the Hellebores. This year they will not be selling Hellebore’s and we will be the only place to purchase their introductions during those open weekends. Please remember we will have these all fall and winter, so you don’t need to wait till the open houses to come and purchase them or order them any time.

Roger is getting ready to lead a tour group this September to the Northeast. There are going to be about 10 people and the tour is sponsored by the Willamette Valley Hardy Plant Group. Roger loves doing these trips because sharing the gardens and museums with people is one of his favorite things. One of the things with Roger traveling and us running the entire operation with just Roger, Eric and our one employee Wayne, is be patient with getting ahold of us, we do the best be can to respond in a timely fashion but sometime that can be difficult. For example, this September while Roger is hosting the tour on the East Coast, I will be in the middle of hazelnut harvest. If you try to reach us and we don’t get right back please try another way or call us so we can take care of you (Rogers cell number is available when you leave a message so feel free to use that if necessary). We are not ignoring you and we want your business and want to answer your questions, so please be patient with us.

We would like to thank all of those who make our life here at the farm possible. As always, we will start with Wayne Headlee. Wayne has worked here for on and off 30 years, he knows the plants and most importantly he can put up with us! Lisa Seibright helps with the inventory and she helps put this catalog into a usable format. Dianna Learner helps go over the catalog each year pointing out most of our mistakes. There are many others who are always ready to jump in and help. This winter during the orchard planting project we had 9 friends and family out there for 2 days helping plant 1080 trees. Your help and friendship is greatly appreciated.

Thanks to all of you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Eric Gossler Roger Gossler