It was mid-February, 2019 and, here at Azure, we were in the early stages of growing Ellie’s Eden plant starts for your gardens. Our greenhouse operation was ready to move into high gear. This was the first year under the new name of “Ellie’s Eden,” and CEO David Stelzer’s daughter, Rachel, would now be spearheading the whole project. Trouble was, we needed more help to get the job accomplished than the Stelzer Family alone could do. So, David did the logical thing—he reached out to the wider Azure Family (all of our customers!) and asked if perhaps you or someone you knew would like to come work alongside the family for a few months and learn the ins-and-outs of growing seedlings organically in a greenhouse. Maybe you remember that email?
The response was way more than we expected! Besides receiving lovely words of encouragement and wish-I-could-be-there messages, we also received hundreds of serious applications. It was amazing how many qualified and passionate people applied. David and Rachel found it incredibly difficult to narrow it down to only a handful for final consideration. But, after reading the responses, and having several interviews with the most likely candidates, Ariel Nelson was offered the position and accepted it.
Ariel says she received the email about David’s need for a greenhouse apprentice from three different people before she responded—each one encouraging her to apply. One of those encouragers was Nick Gall, her sister’s husband. He has worked for Azure for about 20 years and told her Azure Farm would be a great place to live and work for the 3-month-long job. “I had dreamed of working in a greenhouse since I was in high school and while in college, so this sounded like a lot of fun!” Ariel remembers.
Ariel (left) helps Rachel (right) with Ellie’s Eden starts.
She arrived at Azure and we found her to be a very diligent worker who always wants to be busy. That’s the way the Stelzer Family lives their lives, so she immediately fit right in. As she describes it now, everyone at Azure was super-friendly. “All the people here really treated me like family. I felt very loved and accepted,” she recalls. “I really liked the greenhouse environment with all the children and family around.” It became a good learning experience for her too. She tells a lot of people now, that even though she had just graduated from college with a degree in agriculture, she learned more about farming and ag in her first year working in the greenhouse than she did in all four years of college.
One day, she met Michelle Stelzer, David Stelzer’s sister-in-law. Rachel happened to mention that Michelle and her husband, Nathan, have several sons that help with the farming. Hmmmm... Interesting.
Later, a young man showed up at the greenhouses, and Ariel noticed he looked a lot like Michelle… he must be one of her sons! Yes, it was Isaiah Stelzer, the third-oldest in the family. Ariel thought he seemed very nice. Because they found so much to talk about, they talked for over an hour! Then, he invited her to join him and his brothers at a church youth group meeting in nearby The Dalles, Oregon the following weekend. “They were going to play volleyball and I’m not one for team sports much, but I really had a good time!” Ariel says. In the weeks after that, Isaiah would stop by the greenhouses and talk with her while she watered the plants. It became a little bit of a joke around the farm… Isaiah never helped in the starts greenhouses in previous years… he must have another reason for being there this year!
Isaiah Stelzer with Ariel Nelson in 2019.
Isaiah works on the farming side of Azure’s operation, growing the wheat and other grains, beans and peas, and hay for the cattle etc.—farm products that we sell under the Azure Market, Azure Husbandry, and Azure Farm brand names. He does everything from drive tractors to fix them, moves sprinkler pipes and bales hay, does forest management and cuts the wood for lumber. He began carefully scheduling his days to get up early to get the farm chores done and move the sprinklers twice a day, all while making sure he had plenty of time to “help” Ariel in the greenhouse. A friendship grew.
By the time Ellie’s Eden was winding down in May of 2019, our big project of growing industrial hemp starts in our other greenhouses was just ramping up. Ariel asked David if she could stay on through the summer and help with not only the seedlings, but also the planting and harvesting of the hemp crop for CBD. David knew her to be a valuable and industrious worker, so he agreed. She was happy about this of course! This gave her more time to get to know Isaiah.
When the hemp harvest was finished in the fall, she and Rachel went to work at the Azure Mill (where all of the Azure Market products are packaged) and stayed busy there through the winter. Now, as greenhouse operations for Ellie’s Eden starts are once again in full swing, Ariel and Rachel are busy once again in the greenhouses. But, this year has been different…
Isaiah proposed to Ariel in mid-February 2020 and she said, “Yes!” They plan to have a small wedding in Oma and Opa’s orchard on June 6. When I reminded her that no wedding in the Stelzer Family can be called “small” simply because the family is so big, she giggled and said, “I don’t want it to be a big deal, I’m just so happy to be marrying Isaiah.” And Isaiah points out that they have seen God’s hand working in their lives to bring them together and have really enjoyed seeing what good things can happen when they placed their trust in Him.
This year, instead of Isaiah coming to the greenhouses to talk with Ariel while she waters the plants, he’s been helping her water, so they can get the work done twice as fast! Ariel says, “It’s been such a good experience working here at Azure, not just because I met Isaiah, but because it’s such a nice environment with everyone so supportive. If there is another opportunity for an apprentice to come to Azure, I would recommend it. It’s really nice here.”