Waitsburg’s Decades-Old Produce Stand

WAITSBURG - One of Waits- burg's best-kept secrets is on Arnold Lane, tucked back behind sweet, country houses.

For the past four years, those who have driven down Arnold Lane have noticed or even stopped at the produce stand run by Ed and Cathy Lambert. And the Lambert's, though unseen from the street, have six gardens full of ripening produce fresh for the picking and selling every summer.

Ed's family has lived in the house on Arnold his whole life. He and his wife Cathy raised their four chil- dren there, Kelly, Scott, Casey and Chad. Now all of the children are in their late twenties to mid-30s. And when the daughters were younger, they had horses on their large property of 4 acres. Fields that were once alfalfa to feed the horses have since been turned into massive gardens with every fruit and vegetable one could imagine. They have garlic, strawberries blueberries, peaches, pears, apples, onions, carrots, spinach, celery, broccoli, lettuce, peppers, jalapenos, pumpkins, gourds, corn, green beans, turnips, dill, cilantro, chives, pota- toes, parsley, sage, tomatoes and more.

"We're always garden- ing," Cathy said with a laugh.

For the few moments when they aren't pulling weeds and planting, Cathy is babysitting her grandson and Ed is the transportation manager for the Dayton School District.

The duo began planting large gardens and selling produce at farmers markets in Dayton and Walla Walla to help offset their high prop- erty taxes, Ed said. For three years, they transported their produce to the different mar- kets but found it exhausting. Now for four years they have been selling produce out of their garage for prices much lower than what is sold at the large supermarkets. Four ears of corn are just $1.

And the reason the couple has so many different types of fruits and veggies is simple:

"We just plant what we like," Cathy said.

But, the farmers markets were not the first time the Lamberts sold their produce. In the early 1990s, the family had smaller gardens and they would bag up produce and send it off with the kids and a lawn mower and trailer to haul it all. The Lambert chil- dren would sell the produce door-to-door in Waitsburg as far as the highway. The kids loved making some money, Cathy said, and that money went to school clothes and supplies. Plus, the community loved having fresh produce arrive at their front doors.

"People expected it every year," Cathy said.

The produce stand this year will open in about a week or so - about two weeks later than normal, Ed said, because of the wet, cool weather this spring. He said he has already had longtime customers drive by the house to see if their famous corn is ready yet.

"We're known for our corn," Ed said with pride. "People want to know where we buy our seed but we don't give that out."

But, the Lamberts do say that they believe the reason their produce grows so well is because of all of the nitrogen left in the soil from when those gardens were alfalfa fields. They don't use any chemicals on their produce and sometimes they share their plants with the bugs, Ed said.

When the corn is ready for sale, Cathy and Ed can average about 25 to 30 customers per day coming by their produce stand, so they're doing a pretty solid business. And some of those customers buy their produce from the Lamberts and hang out and visit in the garage for a bit.

Some customers can't physically make it to the produce stand, so the Lamberts will take the produce to the customers, just like their kids used to do. There are a few senior citizens in town whom they deliver to and when the Lamberts have a lot of produce left over they give it to the Waitsburg Re- source Center or the Senior Roundtable lunch group. Ed said the seniors are just crazy for the fresh produce when they bring it by.

And this operation they started just to pay their property taxes has allowed them to cover some other expens- es such as new carpeting, a lawnmower and a trip to Alaska.

And they'll keep spend- ing the hours weeding, wa- tering and planting because they love it.

"We love digging in the dirt," Cathy said.

Ed says he goes to work and has to listen to other people all day. He loves that he can go home, put on his gardening clothes and pull weeds in the silence.

"I love to come home and be out here where it's quiet," he said.