The Melcher Family Farm is home to Ken and June’s Hazelnuts. Dennis and Sylvia Melcher are second generation filbert (hazelnut) farmers. Dennis’ parents, Ken and June, started farming filberts in 1957 in St. Paul, Oregon, a small community in Marion County.
Today, the Melchers cultivate 400 acres of filberts and grow, clean, and dry the nuts on their farm. They sell their hazelnuts to packers throughout the world and started selling their products at farmers’ markets because they wanted to get their hazelnuts out locally.
The Melchers sell packages of dry roasted, raw, and roasted and salted hazelnuts at the Hollywood Farmers’ Market. They also offer candies including white chocolate, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate coated hazelnuts at their booth. They maintain a list of hazelnut recipes on their website kjhazelnuts.com. Although there are many ways hazelnuts can be used, Dennis Melcher prefers them fresh from the oven.
The Melcher Family Farm is different from other hazelnut farms because they limit the amount of pesticides and fungicides they use. The Melchers only use one type of pesticide which is a spray for the filbert worm. They do not use any other pesticides or fungicides. In addition to reducing their use of chemicals, they use foliar nutrients to feed the trees and keep them as healthy as possible.
The Melchers are proud to be able to continue what their parents started in 1957 and to have introduced a product line named after their parents, Ken and June. Be sure to visit Ken and June’s booth to discover the wonderful hazelnuts on display at the market!
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