About Us
It all started with a name E.Z. Orchards which comes from our founder Ed Zielinski.
Ed was born on February 14th, 1905. It would be an hour long bumpy ride into the Salem hospital by wagon, so like his 11 brothers and sisters before him, Ed was born in the family home on Hazel Green Road. The farm they lived on grew almost everything they needed: They had their own cows, hogs, chickens, orchards, vegetables, and grain. Surplus beyond what they needed was sold and bartered for the things that they did not grow.
In his late teens and early 20's, Ed worked on a bridge construction crew for Marion County. There are not many of those bridges left, but his grandchildren remember when Ed would point with pride to bridges that he had helped build. He also cut wood for homes in town and dug basements for homes when hired. He was also an Ice Man for the City Ice Works Company on Trade Street. While working there he witnessed his older brother lose his thumb in an ice elevator accident. One job that he and his future family continue to be proud of is his work at the Elsinore Theater in Salem, he worked carrying hod (mortar) during the construction of the Elsinore Theater.
Ed married Anne McIntyre on October 29th 1931. Her father Fred had been a master carpenter and built prune driers and several homes here in Salem, several are still standing on south Commercial Street. Being one of the youngest children in such a large family there was no land in the immediate Hazel Green area for Ed to purchase and farm. His first farm was in Sheridan Oregon where he grew wheat, prunes, apples, loganberries, and strawberries. It was over 90 years ago that Ed bought the Sheridan farm and the company name of E.Z. Orchards was registered and fruit was first sold under that label. Below is a photo of the Original E.Z. Orchards Label that was put on wood boxes.
In 1945, the opportunity to purchase property from Ed's widowed sister in-law allowed him to move back to the Hazel Green area. Like many people of his generation he was cautious in his farming practices having experienced the near loss of his farm during the Great Depression, he was always leery of "getting more than you can do yourself". Ed drilled one of the first irrigation wells in the Hazel Green area in the late 1940's. His son Stephen was often busy selling and delivering the apples, pears, and peaches from the farm. Ed taught his grandchildren how things grow and how to work hard, he did not tolerate any slackers.
He had worked hard all his life and expected the same from anyone who worked on the farm. Ed continued to work on the farm into his mid seventies even though he sold it to his eldest son Stephen in 1969. Ed would work in his overalls, a Pendleton shirt, an old fedora hat and often had a pipe full of tobacco. Ed had a very large garden and was fastidious in the care of his rose garden, and kept his yard well manicured.
In 1985, Anne, Ed's wife, went to live in a care facility. For many months, Ed went to visit, but he did not want to leave the farm and his home. He had always said that they would take him out of his home in a pine box. Eventually, he did move to the care facility to be with Anne, but he only lasted a month before he died while pushing Anne's wheelchair to the dinning room.
E.Z. Orchards continues on using some of the same farming practices that Ed himself used, and always striving for a strong work ethic. With the dream of continuing to farm and be a family owned and operated business passing on his vision to the next generation. We celebrate the memory of the tenacious man who founded it, Edward Valentine Zielinski.
Stephen & Eileen Zielinski
Stephen Zielinski was born on October 12th, 1932 he was born at a midwife’s house on the corner of Capital, the first son of Ed and Anne. Stephen has one younger brother, who chose a career in accounting. Stephen went to Sacred Heart and Salem High School which is where he first met his future wife Eileen June Susbauer. While Stephen started working on the Farm Eileen attended her first year of higher education at Willamette University and then transferred for a year at Oregon State. She began work as a legal secretary in the state judicial system. On November 24, 1956, Stephen and Eileen were married and began a new life together focused on Family, Faith, Farming, Business, and Community.
From a young age Stephen has always had a fascination for anything with an Engine. Stephen collected Model Trains in youth and into adulthood, and he was also a car enthusiast. Especially for anything from Mercedes-Benz, Stephen and Eileen were apart of the Mercedes-Benz club for decades, they got to travel and make great friends through the club. Stephen truly was impassioned by vehicles could spend all day reading and talking about cars!
Stephen and Eileen loved to travel the world together, and one trip that they remembered with pride was a trip to Poland. They went to Poland, the Zielinski heritage country, to help give Apple Farmers there an insight as to how Orchards are grown and maintained in America. They cared a great deal about the Agriculture community.
Stephen and Eileen had 5 children together Mary, Mark, Kevin, Theresa, John. They cared greatly for the up bringing and education of their children. They had 12 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren! Christmas gatherings were always a favorite for everyone in the family, and through the years has continued to grow. Three of their sons returned to the Family Farm taking on different roles and working together to continue the E.Z. Orchards legacy.
E.Z. Orchards Farm Market
Direct sales to the public started with peaches being sold from a card table at the end of Ed and Anne’s driveway in the 1950’s. Eventually there were two garage doors that opened on the side of our barn where we sold Peaches, Pears and Apples to the public. As the opportunity came available to purchase property at the corner of Cordon and Hazel Green Roads we thought that there was potential to offer more local produce to the growing community. On October 12th 1992 E.Z. Orchards Farm Market opened it’s doors. John Zielinski managed the new enterprise seeing the potential and benefits of a year round Farm Market that was not previously available in the community. The Farm Market quickly grew with a strong community of customers and dedicated employees who helped promote and make the destination that it has become.
In 1996 the first E.Z. Orchards Donuts came rolling hot out of an antiquated used Donut Machine. John had seen how popular Apple Cider Donuts were on a trip to visit farm markets in New England. Since then the reputation of E.Z. Orchards Donuts has grown, and we now have seasonal flavors to showcase what goes on in agriculture in the different seasons of the year.
We opened our Strawberry Shortcake Stand, with a perfected recipe we started offering Fresh Local Strawberry and Peach Shortcakes and milkshakes at our Shortcake Stand in 1995.
In the fall of 1994 we had our our first HarvestFest. It was just a single weekend, over the years it has grown to our annual event which brings thousands of visitor to our farm. We have always been a Family Friendly HarvestFest focused on education about the State of Oregon and local Agriculture.
With all this growing we started to run out of room inside the Market, we expanded the market in 2005. Adding on the the North side of the Market which meant the Shortcake Stand, had to move. The Shortcake Stand moved to the South side of the building where it still sits today! In a park like setting amongst trees and lavender bushes.
E.Z. Orchards Farm Market is rooted in our community. We have a mission like our forefathers to be involved in our community and do what we can to give back. We offer educational tours in the month of October, donate weekly to the local food bank, and are involved in a number of ag related organizations such as the Oregon Farm Loop and Oregon Farm Bureau.
(The Art work above and below are original artworks of John’s daughter Sofia Zielinski. You can find more of her art on Instagram @sofiaz.art)
E.Z. Orchards Cidre
In 2008 Kevin Zielinski started his first batch of Cidre taking inspiration from a natural French Style of Cidre in 2009 he produced the first batch of E.Z. Orchards Hard Cidre, our Dry Cidre. Since then he has produced five different kind of Cidre and one Apple Dessert Wine. For descriptions on Cidre notes and processes check out our Cidre by clicking the button below.