Lourence Dormaier: Ephrata farmer finds purpose in working the soil

A local man found his purpose in farming and has turned it into a thriving business.

The year was 2006 and Lourence Dormaier had just been discharged from the Army. Unsure of what to do next, after spending almost three years dedicated to the armed forces, Dormaier said he decided to return home to Ephrata, where his family had farmed for generations.

Realizing he was looking for his next mission, Dormaier said, he turned to farming, just like the five generations before him had done. In 2018, after raising cattle for several years and wanting a change of pace, he decided to grow produce. This is when Next Mission Farms was born.

As he navigated the transition and the challenge of starting a business, Dormaier realized that there were many veterans just like himself who were looking for their next mission after military service. As he discovered that there are programs and organizations dedicated to supporting veterans who chose to go into the farming sector, Dormaier found himself becoming involved in helping other veterans take advantage of those opportunities and find their own mission in farming, he said.

One of those organizations is Farmer Veteran Coalition; Dormaier serves as a board member for the Washington chapter. Dormaier said it is through that organization that he is able to connect with veteran farmers around the Basin and the state to take advantage of the resources available to them.

“We believe that veterans possess the unique skills and character needed to strengthen rural communities and create sustainable food systems,” the FVC website states.

Dormaier said Next Mission Farms has not only become his purpose, but also a family business. His five children have each found their own way to support or help the farm. Quintin, 24, is in the Army Reserves and helps out as much as he can when he comes home to visit. Dormaier’s next oldest children, Vaden and Jared, 17 and 15, while busy with high school life, enjoy growing the produce and running the stand at the different farmers markets they attend during the summer. Cyrus and Kenzie, the youngest of the bunch at 8 and 7, just love to be around the farm and help sell the vegetables at the markets.

While Dormaier only sells in the summer, farming is nearly a year-round obligation. Every year he has to order seeds for the following year, plant the seeds to start indoors, till the ground, move the starts outdoors, harvest their production, clear out the dead plants at the end of the year and start all over again.

“So with all of these plants in here, I started in January,” Dormaier said, pointing to the plants he had already planted in the large greenhouse. “I have about 1,000 plants and then I did another 1,000 on another planting.”

When asked if he would be planting more this year than he had the year before, Dormaier responded: “A lot more.”

He attends many different markets around the Basin but mostly sticks to the Ephrata and Quincy farmers markets.

Dormaier has worked with many different local businesses to bring farm to table food. A couple of those businesses over the last couple of years include the Blue Bell Cafe in Quincy and Pita Pit in Ephrata.

He also has set up direct community-supported agriculture sales in the summer to put together produce boxes for customers. Unlike most CSA sales, there is no prepay obligation. Dormaier said this allows for more flexibility for him and his customers so he can stand behind what he is providing to people. Each week customers can decide what they want in their box based on what is available that week and they can meet a set location each week. In some cases he will even deliver to their door.

He’s formed coops with neighbors and other veterans in the area to provide produce he does not grow himself. One of those is with Chris Dzubay, a Moses Lake Marine veteran who grows mushrooms, among other produce.

His business has been so well received that he has been able to quit his corporate job and make farming his full-time job. While he stays busy with farming and being a father, Dormaier said, he also finds the time in the fall to be a line coach for the Ephrata High School football team.

Dormaier grows peppers, zucchini, squash, cucumber, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, herbs, potatoes and an innumerable number of different tomato varieties, among other things.

Fresh produce is not the only thing he sells at markets.

“We canned cowboy candy jalapeños last year and sold those very successfully,” said Dormaier. “I’ve got to do more, I’m out."