Hayton Farms Berries Plans Carefully for a Diverse Berry Business
When Angelica Hayton was in about third grade, her family opened a farmstand at the end of their driveway on Fir Island. By the time she was in high school, she and her sisters took berries to Seattle farmers markets. During college, Angelica returned home in summers and continued selling at these markets.
“I always had a lot of fun here growing up,” she says. “I always really liked it.”
Although she studied political science and prepared for a career associated somehow with human rights, Angelica’s father, Robert Hayton, lightly suggested, “You should probably just come back here and farm.”
Naturally, she did.
A deep pull to this work exists. The Hayton family roots sink deep into Fir Island soil. Angelica’s great-great grandparents arrived in 1876 and began farming. Their grain, barged to Seattle, fed the city’s workhorses. Angelica is now the fifth generation growing food on this beautiful spot of land with views of the Olympic and Cascade Mountains.
Market table
Growing up, Angelica largely concentrated on the retail business of the farm during the summer season, but returning home after college allowed her to work beside her father and learn deeper the tasks extending beyond the summer. Soon, she was helping to plan for new seasons and crops. Then, she started her own farm business. In 2016, with the help of a Farm Service Agency loan for beginning farmers, she bought land adjacent to her family’s home place, a plot of land her family had long leased.
Now, Hayton Farms Berries grows about 100 acres of berries—many varieties of strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, loganberries, tayberries (her favorite), and even the hearty kiwi, a kind of experiment for her that has not been straightforward. “I’ve made every mistake you can make with these things,” she laughs. But Angelica is committed. A mature plant can produce up to 100 pounds of fruit that looks a bit like a grape.
Raspberries
“I like finding kind of weird, different berries that maybe people haven’t heard of. It helps set us apart,” says Angelica. “It definitely helps the sales on the table to have the variety.”
Customers can mix and match the Hayton Farms Berries’ varieties, filling up half a flat with six different flavors and colors.
The varieties can sound exotic, even confusing, yet enticing—pink lemonade blueberries—or unusual combinations that evoke curiosity—black or gold raspberries.
Tayberry
This interesting diversity is part of a deliberate plan to create a niche in the retail environment of farmers markets and a strategy to deal with one of the key constraints on farms: costs.
Berries are perishable. Many varieties need to be sold within a day or two of picking. By planting so many varieties, Angelica is sure they will ripen at different times, helping to spread out the harvest and income across the peak summer season.
Strawberries typically are first, with many ready in June. Other berries come along at various points in the summer. The hearty kiwi are last, fruiting sometimes all the way into October. A few berries, such as the yellow raspberry and some everbearing strawberries, furnish two crops a year. Angelica carefully orchestrates what is planted to spread out and balance the production so the crew can handle the harvests effectively.
These varieties also provide some built-in safety nets. Some berries are especially vulnerable to weather. The double gold raspberries, a peach-colored variety, are delicate and prone to rain damage. (The crew is working on setting up a covering system.) Rabbiteye varieties of blueberries are susceptible to freeze damage. “If something does freeze out,” Angelica says, “you’ve got a backup.”
Having comparatively small blocks of many varieties helps match market and labor needs, too. When a variety is ripe, Hayton Farms Berries wants to be sure all the berries can be sold at the farmers markets. Wholesaling berries is too risky, says Angelica.
In addition, this approach reduces the hours the crew is needed. With Washington’s new overtime regulations raising costs for producers, it is critical to minimize hours. “If I can have smaller blocks and good yield on them, hopefully my crew isn’t out here 70 hours a week,” says Angelica.
Hayton Farms Berries employs seven people year-round besides Angelica. During the peak season, that number grows to about 35 in the fields and another 30 staffing roughly 50 markets a week.
Fir Island Farm Stand
Grassfed Beef
In 2020, just in time for COVID, Angelica opened a farmstand, adding a convenient spot to purchase berries on the farm in Skagit Valley.
“What’s great about the farmstand is it’s open seven days a week, so it was almost like adding seven farmers markets,” says Angelica. And the farmstand includes no associated costs of drive time, set up or take down efforts, or market fees. She estimates the farmstand earns about 10% of her gross sales.
The farmstand is mainly berries, but the farm includes gardens and some vegetables are offered.
In addition, they run a small grassfed beef herd and a little bit of lamb, a slow-growing business that Angelica hopes will increase to about 5% of her sales in a year. This helps provide income in winter when the berries are dormant.
Any farm operation requires careful planning and close watching of weather, soil, and the bottom line.
Angelica likes retail markets because the wholesale market makes it difficult to know prices. But for retail, “There’s no middle man,” she says. “You’re dealing direct with your customers. You know what your price is. When you sell it, you’re getting your money the same day to help you cover your payroll. It’s still a risk, but there’s just more you can control.”
Angelica encourages any customers who can buy direct from farmers. “For my business, it makes all the difference in the world.”
That is true for many other Skagit farmers, too.
Look for the berries at local farmers markets or stop by the Hayton Farms Berries farmstand at 16670 Fir Island Road. It will open in June, seven days a week, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., through September.
Story and photo of Angelica Hayton by Adam Sowards: info@skagitonians.org
All other photos by Angelica Hayton