Apple business is better with family
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 8 years, 5 months AGO
Cheryl Schweizer/Columbia Basin Herald Abraham Salgado Jr. dumps Granny Smith apples into a bin at Salgado Orchards near Ephrata.
Cheryl Schweizer/Columbia Basin Herald Granny Smith apples fill a bin at Salgado Orchards near Ephrata.
Cheryl Schweizer/Columbia Basin Herald A worker fills a picking bag with Granny Smith apples at Salgado Orchards near Ephrata.
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | October 9, 2017 3:00 AM
EPHRATA — The Salgado brothers got into the apple and cherry business the way a lot of kids do – their dad took them along when he went to work.
Abraham Salgado Sr. started out working for others, picking, pruning and thinning in orchards around north central Washington. A 30-year veteran of the tree fruit business, he worked hard enough to buy his own properties and work for himself.
Sons Abraham Jr. and Victor often tagged along. “We grew in up in the orchard, all our lives,” Victor said. Running around, taking a nap in the car, occasionally sneaking an apple – all a lot of fun until Dad noticed they were pretty good at picking fruit.
“He tricked us into picking,” Abraham Jr. said.
Salgado Orchards is about 40 acres, Abraham Jr. said, apples and cherries, spread between Wenatchee, Palisades and Ephrata; the brothers, who live in Wenatchee, were picking the Ephrata orchard Friday morning. They didn’t necessarily plan to get into the business, Victor said, but Dad needed some help.
“We try to do most of it when we can,” Victor said.
It’s not bad work, outdoors on a nice fall day. Most days outside in the orchard are good, some are not so good – but hey, not every day can be good, Abraham Jr. said.
The tree fruit business is always evolving, and for young guys working a family orchard there’s always a lot to think about. How to improve fruit quality, how to make it easier to pick and prune. Keep the cherries? Cherries “are a gamble sometimes,” Abraham Jr. said, but when they’re profitable they’re pretty profitable. Replant some of the orchards? But an orchard takes a few years to produce a crop.
Those are questions to be answered after harvest. Harvest is six to nine weeks, depending on the varieties planted, and harvest waits for no one. It’s a lot of work. But “there’s nothing wrong with a little hard work,” Victor said.
And it’s fun to work in a family business. “Nothing better than working for your family,” Abraham Jr. said. Hey, it’s OK to take a day off every once in a while, be late every once in a while, “and we get coffee and donuts now and then.”
Family just makes it easier. “You fight and then you’re friends again the next day,” Abraham Jr. said.
“You have to be,” Victor said. “You have to get back to work. Back to business.”
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].
ARTICLES BY CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Road closures, roundabout, mean construction season underway
EPHRATA — The grass is starting to turn green, the trees are starting to leaf out, construction crews are starting to build roundabouts – hey, it’s spring. At least one roundabout project is in its final phase, held over from fall 2025. The intersection of State Route 282 and Nat Washington Way will be closed the week of April 6 to allow crews to install permanent lights. “This really is the final (closure),” wrote Grant County Administrator Tom Gaines in a media release. “The roundabout will close at 6 a.m. Monday, and we plan to reopen by Friday, possibly sooner if the work finishes early.”
Ybarra announces run for Washington Senate
QUINCY — State Representative Alex Ybarra, R-Quincy, has announced his candidacy for the Washington Senate. If he’s elected, he would replace Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, who announced her retirement in March.
Othello Community Museum to open April 25
OTHELLO — With a couple of new exhibits, a new heating-cooling system, rearranged displays and a thorough cleaning, the Othello Community Museum will open for the summer April 25. The goal, said Molly Popchock, museum board secretary, is to operate for a full season.