Taste the sweetness and crispness of apples grown in the cool Cascadian foothills. Fruits are tree ripened for freshness and quality; these are fruits with flavor! Our boutique orchard of over 1900 trees has a selection of 130 choice apple varieties that Gil Schieber has carefully selected from around the globe. These include a menagerie of colors and flavors, heritage and modern. We pick apples from Early August to the end of November. Other tree fruits include Pear, Nashi, Sweet Cherry, Quince, Shipova, and Hawthorne
We also grow a diverse selection of berries, and nuts for all seasons, including Raspberries, Strawberries, Blueberries, Huckleberry, Marionberry, Loganberries, Tayberry, Blackberries, Table Grapes, Aronia/Chokeberry, Elderberry, Black Currant, Red Currant, Gooseberry, Jostaberry, kiwi, goumi, autumn olives, hazelnuts, chestnuts. And more! And we are proud to offer all of the above through the nursery, classes, exchanges
Though we are not certified organic, we follow current organic best practices by integrating our chickens and other animals into our agricultural systems as well as companion planting flowering diversity to reduce pest pressure instead of using even "organic" sprays. We also use mulching-enhancing the soil flora and suppressing the weed pressure
Soil and fertility management are key to not only healthy plants and environment, but healthy vibrant people. We take fertilization very seriously and carefully choose mineral sources that have least impact and the most locally sourced whenever possible. We also recycle on-farm fertility by working with animals to recapture minerals, composting and worm-wrangling, using plants that "bio-accumulate" nutrients over time, and recapturing clean bio-resources from local communities - like vegetable scraps, sawdust, and leaves.
Seeds are humanities' collective heritage bequeathed to us to steward for future generations. In the last 200 years, we have lost approximately 90% of all agricultural varieties that have ever existed. Providing a year-around diverse diet means sourcing, preserving, trialing, adapting and breeding plant varieties and species from around the world. Some of these are common fruits and vegetables, some are obscure or rare vegetables that are worthy of better recognition. Chris Homanics has active projects of adapting new varieties of perennial kales, onions of various types, and potatoes of a myriad of colors. And, that is just the beginning. He has been searching for varieties the world over, that not just grow in Pacific NW conditions, but thrive here.
We have a broad selection of plants available in our nursery well-priced for both the farmer and the backyard grower or homeowner.
Skipley Farm was founded by Gil Schieber 2008, a transplant 30 years ago from Pennsylvania where he trained in all aspects of horticulture and has since been involved in Seattle Tilth introducing many unique and special plants to the Pacific NW. Chris Homanics is an active plant preservationist and plant breeder and is self taught in many fields of horticulture.
