Meet Our Farmers: Edler Family Farm

Photos courtesy of Sean Edler

Welcome to the newest vendors to our farmers market family! Sean and Sheri Edler of Edler Family Farms will be at the West Seattle Farmers Market for the first time on Sunday from 10 am to 2 pm. They run a small, family-operated, sweet potato farm in Connell, Washington.  

The Edlers are third-generation farmers and their farm is on Sean’s grandfather’s farmland. Although they didn’t start their farm until last year, Sean has always worked in agriculture in some capacity. As a boy, he spent his summers working on his uncle’s and grandfather’s farms, and it was always a dream of his to have his own farm. 

Edler Family Farms grows exclusively sweet potatoes. Sean learned how to grow sweet potatoes when he was working in Arkansas and he was excited to fill the gap in Washington.  

Sean knew that there were reasons why people weren’t growing sweet potatoes in Washington, but he wasn’t afraid of the challenge. Most sweet potatoes are grown in warmer climates like California, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Alabama.  

Growing sweet potatoes also requires cuttings, which is a small part of the plant that has been cut off in order to regenerate itself, rather than seeds. Not only that, but their season is long. The Edler family started planting in mother beds in March and are starting to sell in mid-September. Sean figures they will be able to sell until December, giving them only a month or two before they have to start planting again.  

Despite these challenges, Sean was set on sweet potatoes. “It was imperative to find a crop that was unique, as a gateway to sell other crops,” Sean explained. We might see more vegetables in Edler’s future, but for now they are the place to get your sweet potatoes this fall and winter. As a very young farm, Edler Family Farm is really just getting started.  

It was the farming lifestyle that really drew Sean to start his own farm. He loves having the ability to grow, in both senses of the word. Since farming is a cyclical process, with a start and an end to every season, it is a field with lots of opportunities for improving. “Every year you get the chance to do better,” he said.