Moscow Food Co-op Producer Profile

Therese Harris and Frank O’Connell

by Jen Stevens, from the October 2003 newsletter

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to become a producer for the Co-op? I recently found out first hand from Therese Harris and Frank O’Connell. They become Co-op producers last year when they realized their garden’s ability to produce had outstripped their family’s ability to consume. This year, you can find their cherry tomatoes in both the Co-op produce section and in Co-op Deli dishes. They’ve also supplied sweet corn to the produce section. Next year, they hope to provide plums and miniature pumpkins as well.

Harris and O’Connell chose to supply cherry tomatoes in particular for a couple of reasons. First, the cherry tomatoes were consistent crops that had come through for them year after year without a lot of special treatment. Second, cherry tomatoes were a niche item that they could produce without competing with other existing Co-op producers. Harris and O’Connell advise anyone else interested in becoming a Co-op producer to look to their strengths, local gardening conditions, and available market niches.

I visited Harris and O’Connell at their “very large garden” in early September, as the last bits of summer were ebbing away. Harris and O’Connell live in Johnson, a small community near Pullman that hosts an annual parade every Fourth of July. Situated on a half acre of land, their 1918 house is surrounded by trees. When Harris and O’Connell moved out to Johnson some nine years ago, there were about thirty trees on the property. Although they removed a few that were interfering with power lines, they also planted new fruit trees, leaving them with “more trees than your average square foot in the Palouse.” Although Harris and O’Connell enjoy their trees, the shade from them presents a sizable gardening challenge.

Another challenge is nearby pheasants. The pheasants enjoy coming out to roll in the garden soil and then take pecks of cherry tomato on their way out. One way to discourage the pheasants is to use ground cover to reduce the square footage of temptation. Time is another challenge. Both Harris and O’Connell work full time jobs in addition to tending their crops. Harris also volunteers as an editor for the Co-op newsletter every other month. As Harris noted, they “do not suffer from lack of things to do.”

Like other growers on the Palouse, Harris and O’Connell must also work with an uncertain growing season. They generally start their garden after June 1, the usual date of the last spring frost, and continue until the first killing winter frost. That generally comes in September, but can come as early as August. Covering plants at night can extend the season, but will only delay the inevitable. There may be other weather challenges as well; in fact, heavy rains had pelted their cherry tomato plants the week before I visited, which in turn affected the yield of the plants. Harris and O’Connell deal with all of these assorted challenges with grace and humor.

My visit ended in the Harris/O’Connell kitchen where Harris showed me how she sorts the cherry tomatoes. Feeling that Co-op members should get the best of her crop, Harris sorts out all but the most perfect, beautiful tomatoes before delivering them to the Co-op. I was entranced by the glowing yellow fruit. I was even more so after eating the tomato that Harris offered me. Its sweet, yet tangy flavor lingered with me all the way home.

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