By ELAINE WATKINS/YachatsNews.com
Will Susich and Laura Perazzoli were living in the Willamette Valley when they fell in love with Yachats and the Oregon Coast.
Brian Hoberg, Daniel Cooper, and Thomas Arndt were working in Newport when an opportunity in Yachats opened up.
Heather Hoen was born and raised here. But it took awhile living in Portland before she rediscovered her roots.
All six are in their 30s. All six are trying to make a life in Yachats.
The small village at the base of Cape Perpetua has long been known as a great place for tourists and retirees. But what does it take to be young in Yachats?
Decisions ranging from housing to schooling to creating a social life test the resolve of millennials who want to call Yachats home. Despite these challenges, there is a small but thriving community of young residents, entrepreneurs and workers in Yachats.
Will Susich and Laura Perazzoli are two of Yachats’ newest business owners. Together they grow pasture-raised pigs on their 20-acre Yachats Forest Farm. Of the nine farms on this summer’s Yachats Farm Tour, theirs was the only one that hadn’t been in operation for decades.
Susich has a degree in economics and previously worked on blueberry and hazelnut farms. Perazzoli’s parents farmed in Virginia, she has a master’s in environmental studies, authored hiking books and worked in development and communications. After spending time in Corvallis, they fell in love with the coast and bought a neglected piece of land on the south fork of the Yachats River.
Their plans didn’t initially include using their savings to become boutique-scale pig farmers. Although it’s been a lot of hard work this first year, they’ve found it fulfilling. They want to improve the world, so try to do this by raising pigs humanely, in ways that will improve the local ecosystem.
After clearing a field of blackberries and building a predator-safe enclosure, they bought piglets and set up movable electric fencing. Throughout the late spring and summer, the animals roamed from place to place, foraging and feeding on blackberry root balls, among other things.
The couple believes they have an economic model that works. Pigs are a low infrastructure commodity and should be contributing cash flow in the farm’s second year.
Susich and Perazzoli have two main goals. First, they want to make a living selling pig shares and are building a customer base around Yachats and in Portland and Seattle. Pig shares for 2019 sold out, and they’re taking 2020 orders on their website. Second, they’ll take their profits and improve the quality of the land through reforestation and species diversification. That means they’ll likely take winters off after harvesting the pigs in October, and buy a fresh batch of piglets each spring.
“Pigs are a bit of a wrecking ball,” Susich says. “We don’t want to have them demolishing things in the wet season. We need to understand their impact before keeping some year-round.”
The couple will spend the winter traveling and visiting family and friends. They’re also aware that being able to work remotely and have other sources of income might be part of the winter plan.
According to the Oregon Department of Agriculture, the average annual salary for small farmers in Oregon is $26,000 a year for those with less than five years of experience. Approximately 80 percent of Oregon farms have sales less than $50,000 a year. Most farm families have a second source of income.
For two people who had successful careers before moving to the woods, numbers like that have to be part of the equation. But Susich and Perazzoli see themselves staying in Yachats for the long haul.
“Lots of our friends want to live this lifestyle, but it’s hard to figure out how to get here,” Perazzoli said. “This place sells itself.”
Betting on food and location
The owners of the Beach Street Kitchen, which opened in late spring, would agree with that.
Brian Hoberg, Daniel Cooper, and Thomas Arndt are affectionately called the “Beach Street Boys” by a lot of local ladies. Hoberg jokes that it’s a “boy band” name, which is fine with them because they’re all musicians.
The restaurant’s location in the closed Heidi’s restaurant on Beach Street “fell into their lap,” according to Cooper. They were checking out a place in Newport for a small restaurant start-up when their real estate agent alerted them about a ready-to-go location in Yachats with great views.
Even better, the startup costs were a fraction of what it would have been in Newport.
All three had saved money and gotten serious about opening their own place a little over a year ago, practicing how to live lean during the time the business would take to grow. In the end, with some family help, a small inheritance, and a loan from Hoberg’s wife — a teacher — they were able to swing it. They spent the winter remodeling and preparing for a spring opening. Partway through the summer, they started paying themselves a small salary, which felt like a big victory.
At the moment they’re open for breakfast and lunch five days a week, Thursday through Monday. They’re now planning for the off season and what it will take to stay alive.
“Locals are the key,” says Hoberg. “We’re hoping to do locals’ dinners and have live music.”
They know the restaurant business comes with risks. CNBC reports that 60 percent of restaurants fail in the first year, and 80 percent are gone within five years. The two main factors? Poor location and bad reviews.
Fortunately, the Beach Street Kitchen is beating the odds on both fronts. While sitting at their windows watching whales spouting in the surf, the trio can bask in their nearly 5-star ratings on Yelp, Google, and TripAdvisor.
The three also constantly plan for growth, including outdoor seating, possible block parties with other local merchants, and menu updates. They carry notebooks and keep a running to-do list on a whiteboard in the storage room.
As popular as the restaurant has proven to be, the transition hasn’t been easy. None of them has found a suitable place to live in Yachats, so they commute from Newport. And there’s virtually no free time for a social life, with 10- to 12-hour workdays.
“We’re trying to find a work-life balance and not come in on days when we’re closed,” says Cooper. “It’s hard.”
He relaxes by surfing in the late afternoons, after the lunch cleanup and the next day’s breakfast is prepped.
They also agree it’s been a challenge to shift from being simply friends to being business partners.
“We had to learn how to be honest without hurting each others’ feelings,” Hoberg explains. “We needed to accept each other’s ideas.”
“There’s a lot of self-reflection going on,” said Arndt.
Arndt handles the cooking and gets kudos from his partners for setting up an efficient kitchen that Hoberg is now being trained how to run, in case he needs to step in.
They’re all committed to Yachats and the Oregon coast.
“I can’t even go back to Colorado anymore for more than a week or two without shriveling up,” Arndt says, remembering the state he and Cooper left seven years ago.
Yachats born and raised
For young people who have lived in Yachats their entire lives, there’s a different set of challenges. Heather Hoen, a married mother of two and facilities manager for the city of Yachats, knows this well.
“When I was younger, it felt like everyone was related. I was actually scared to date,” Hoen laughs. “Then I met Mark [Smith, her husband] when he was in town from Portland doing a job. It felt like I could escape, but we decided after living elsewhere that we had the best of it right here.”
From a demographics viewpoint, Hoen’s concerns might have been justified.
Census figures shows 19.8 percent of Yachats residents were under the age of 34 in 2000, dropping to 13.4 percent in 2010 but rebounding to 19.2 percent in 2017.
First, the recession of 2008 took its toll on good jobs throughout Lincoln County. Then came the subsequent recovery and rising housing prices. Now it’s hard for young families to both work and live in Yachats.
To be able to stay in Yachats, Hoen learned you have to be willing to do just about anything to make a living, and you have to rely on family. That’s typical of a rural community. She’s held many different jobs and tried her hand at selling crafts. When the position of facilities manager came up in 2017, she considered it a long shot. But she applied, was hired and has grown into the many responsibilities of the job.
Hoen was homeschooled, which is how she and her husband are raising their children.
“I do some things online with them, but I like real books and paper,” she says. “Without them, penmanship can be lost.”
Homeschooling is almost a necessity in Yachats for families that want to avoid busing young children to Crestview Heights School in Waldport, the nearest school.
Hoen and Smith’s social life revolves primarily around family and church. There are few other families with young children, so she appreciates the children’s programs at The Commons in the winters. There, children under five can play, and parents can meet and give each other support.
Hoen considers herself fortunate to feel so socially connected in a place she’s always called home. And as local baby boomers begin to sell their farms and businesses, perhaps other young people will find a way to make a living — and a life — in Yachats.