On the outskirts of Sunnyside, Washington, it’s pepper harvest time.
From August to September, tens of thousands of peppers will be hand-picked, sorted, dried and ground into powder for spice production. Running a farm is hard work, but help makes it possible.
Overlooking the beautiful Yakima Valley, the sprawling farm is run by Lino Guerra and his family. The farm has been passed down through generations and supports a flourishing seasoning business. However, Guerra’s Gourmet Seasonings, a natural spice line made with farm-grown peppers, is only one part of their story.
A Seed in the Ground
The Guerra family farm dates back to the 1970s, started by the father-son duo, Antonio and Lionel Guerra. At the same time, Lionel’s brother, Lino, was studying engineering at the University of Washington.
“My dad was a manager for a farmer here in the Yakima Valley,” Lino says. “And on his side business, he started doing a little bit of farm produce.”
With a 5-acre plot and the motivation to succeed, Antonio and Lionel began growing produce—tomatoes and peppers at first, then gradually expanding their offerings. They established Guerra’s Produce in 1978.
“We started mainly growing quite a bit of jalapenos, serranos, New Mexico chiles,” Lino says. “We had close to over 20 different varieties of chiles here, grown here in the Yakima Valley.”
Working as an engineer in lab research and development, Lino married his wife, Hilda, in 1982. He eventually joined his family on the farm to help with production. By 1986, he had taken over the family business, inspired by the love of cooking with seasoning. With Hilda and two sons, Aaron and Chris, Lino began his life on the farm, slowly expanding the property into a 30-acre operation.
“I knew I had something here that nobody had in the Yakima Valley,” he says.
A Budding Family and Farm
By the 1990s, anyone in the vicinity could see that production was booming on the Guerra farm. Each acre produced between 7,000 and 10,000 pounds of peppers. After directing their focus on growing a wide variety of peppers, the Guerras began to strike deals with companies in Tacoma, selling the peppers picked and canned.
“And we had an abundance of peppers,” Lino says. “It was like, ‘What am I going to do with all this?’”
With a surplus of produce, Lino created a testing area on his farm to experiment with new recipes and uses for peppers.
“I started drying New Mexico chiles and a variety of different chiles—everything from Anaheim to Sandia peppers,” Lino says. “From there, we did a lot of dehydrating with the peppers, and I grinded the chiles up and blended the chiles with other spices and herbs to develop a nice seasoning. And that’s how everything started, right there.”
Their first recipe was Guerra’s Signature Seasoning. With a new product to share with the community, Lino decided to host a chile pepper festival on the farm. The event was an enormous success, featuring cooking and salsa demonstrations, children’s activities, tours of the farm and a celebration of Mexican culture, music and dancing.
“I noticed that everybody had an urge for seasoning,” Lino says. “There was no sugar, no MSG, gluten-free … it just exploded.”
The Guerras ran the festival for another 13 years, eventually slowing down to prioritize family.
“We had to stop because my wife was involved in an accident, and at that same time, my dad got sick,” Lino says. “I had to slow down and sit back and start rethinking everything. My biggest thing is taking care of the family, and that’s what we did.”
With two more sons, Geraldo and Fabian, the Guerras had more than a full heart and home on the farm. They continued to broaden their business opportunities, trying their hand at running a cafe and a catering business while selling their seasoning at farmers markets throughout Washington.
A Flowering Business
By the time 2020 came around, the Guerras’ catering and seasoning businesses were flourishing.
“That’s when everything changed on us,” Lino says. “We just got into doing more producing for the seasonings and came out with a new variety of the habanero seasoning and the rice seasoning. And that’s when we decided, ‘Hey listen, let’s start packaging this and getting it out to the public,’ and then we came out with the extra hot. Oh gosh, people were just loving it!”
Powering through the pandemic, the Guerras worked tirelessly to promote their seasoning line across the Pacific Northwest. As Lino’s sons pursued other careers, they found ways to support the family business wherever they were.
The Guerras partnered with other farms and businesses to develop new products, such as Fuego Cheese, a collaboration with Daniel’s Artisan, a Washington-based, small-batch cheese company.
According to Lino, farmers in the Yakima Valley support one another. And while the pandemic certainly posed its challenges, the Guerras were able to regroup and forge a new path that would propel their business into the future.
The Fruits of Labor
Today, Chris and Geraldo spend most of their time running the family business, while Aaron and Fabian help from Seattle when they can.
“We don’t do what my parents or my grandpa used to do anymore,” Chris says. “But we try to better what they started. We’re just trying to continue that tradition, work with people locally and continue to produce a more localized product.”
The work doesn’t come without its fair share of challenges. Ecological factors cause setbacks every season.
“This last year, we tried to plant 30,000 plants, but the grasshoppers ate all of our seed. We lost a lot,” Chris says. “There’s always something that comes up that makes it really hard.”
There’s also a fine balance between running the farm and attending farmers markets.
“It is a lot, but somehow we make it work,” Chris says. “At the same time, we’re visiting all these farmers markets, we’re also in the field pulling weeds, or we’re picking peppers and then we go into cooking for people sometimes. So, it’s a lot of stuff. It’s really hard, but I think that’s also the fun of it.”
Scaling back their pepper production and catering businesses has given them more breathing room. The brothers have focused on creating seasonings and recipes to accompany their products sold at farmers markets and regional retailers.
“Now that we’re not catering as much, we do get to spend more time together, which is definitely more enjoyable,” Chris says. “In the end, this is all better for us because we get to spend more time focusing on our product, and that is sustainable for all of us.”
Being able to spend more quality time together as a family has eased the changes and hardships over the years.
“As my dad would say, ‘You got to protect the root system and the base of the plant,’ just like us as a family,” Lino says. “You protect the people that are around you and help them out.”
You can find Guerra’s Gourmet products year-round at the Ballard Farmers Market, Pybus Public Market and Hood River Farmers Market. A full list of retailers can be found online at guerras-gourmet.square.site.
Guerra’s Fresh Harvest Salsa Recipe
Medium Hot
1 small onion, diced
1/2 bunch cilantro, finely chopped
2 large limes
1 tablespoon Guerra’s Natural Seasoning
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 jalapeno*
1 serrano pepper*
1 Portugal pepper (remove seeds)
1 ancho pepper (remove seeds)
1 Anaheim pepper (remove seeds)
4 ripe tomatoes
In a medium-sized bowl, add the onion and cilantro. Squeeze the juice from both limes into the bowl and discard the fruit. Add the seasoning and salt. Finely chop the remaining ingredients and add to the bowl. Stir all ingredients until well-mixed. Wait 10 minutes before serving. Serve with your favorite corn chips.
*Harvest Tip: Use all green peppers. As they ripen on the plant, you can also use the red ones.