By Melinda Feucht, Volunteer

Paul Schultz is a farmer whose hard work literally bears much fruit. Schultz Farm is a 40-acre orchard located in Mahtomedi, MN, between St. Paul and Stillwater. It was only after retirement that Paul Shultz became a full-time farmer. Before that, he was a colon and rectal surgeon about which he said, “I got to the bottom of everybody’s problems.” Schultz’s sense of humor and ability to enjoy life is one of the reasons he comes to the market. “ I don’t care if I make a nickel,” he said. “But it’s fun to people-watch.” He said his main goal is to just have fun.

Although going to the market to sell fresh, organic berries may sound like the perfect Saturday, growing strawberries is not that glamorous, he said. “When you have organic strawberries, you have to hand-weed. I have done it 4 times on my hands and knees this season already,” he said. That is, to say the least, a sign of a farmer dedicated to his consumers.

Schultz has always had a decent-sized garden, but when he retired he wanted to try to raise organic apples. When the bugs started to win each battle, he discovered the impossibility of raising organic apples in Minnesota, and decided to expand to strawberries, raspberries, and currents. In addition, he organically raises his horses and chickens in order to use the manure for organic fertilizer. When he doesn’t have enough, he supports local businesses by buying some of his organic fertilizer from a Minneapolis-based company, Agro-K. He said although it adds to the cost of berries, it allows him to both grow berries and follow the organic guidelines.

Although he said the strawberry crop could be better, his raspberries are doing well, and the rhubarb is top-notch. He said that Minnesota strawberries have a high-water content, and although they don’t store and ship as easily as the ever-bearing berries from California, they taste better. Schultz sells most of his berries and rhubarb either at the Mill City Farmers’ Market or to restaurants in the Twin Cities- including Café Brenda, Spoonriver, and Big Bowl.

Among many other reasons for farming, Schultz counts the opportunity to take his frustrations out on weeds rather than people, as one of his biggest. He loves the challenge of growing things and experimenting. As orchard farming is a process of trial-and-error, Schultz said the best lessons learned are from mistakes. “It’s just like life,” he said. For example, he said that while cooking rhubarb crisp he forgot to add the brown sugar to the crumble topping. So he sprinkled it on top instead, which was quite a delicious surprise. 

One of his experiments on his orchard this year is beekeeping, as a way of getting better pollination. So far the raspberries have been abuzz with bees. Another experiment of his is freezer jam, which can sit for almost a year in the freezer. It consists of strawberries, pectin, and pure cane sugar and will be available at the market this week for the first time for $6 a jar.