Gizdich Ranch
Vincent John Gizdich came out of Croatia and bought five acres of apples on Peckham Road in 1937. In 1950 he and his son leased more ground to trial the Olallie berry, a logan crossed with a black young berry out of Corvallis, and the pie shop has been baking it since 1980.
Why go
The berry is the reason. Olallieberries are a Pacific Northwest cross that never went industrial, and this family put twenty acres into them before most people had eaten one. The rest of the ranch grew around that decision: Vince Jr took over in 1959, the Pik-Yor-Self opened in 1965 and sold apples on the ranch for the first time, the Red Barn went up in 1974, and Nita Gizdich turned the old packing shed into an antique shop and then put up a new building in 1980 for the Eata Nita Pie Shop. The family's own account says it started with apple and berry pies only and runs to sixteen varieties now, including a no-sugar-added apple, plus puff pastries and dumplings with a house sauce.
Order this / avoid
- Order: olallieberry pie. It is the thing the farm exists to grow and the shop exists to bake.1
- Avoid: driving down to pick berries this year. Strawberries, olallieberries and boysenberries are all marked closed for 2026, and apples do not open until September.2
What locals & experts say
- Nita Gizdich, on the u-pick:
One of the best memories you can make is walking through an orchard or field and picking some ripe delicious fruit.
2 - The record is thin here. No bylined review of the pie shop was read this pass, and the history above is the family's own telling of it.
Good to know
- Season: call before you drive. Weather moves the dates, and the u-pick crops are shut for 2026.
- Payment: the u-pick sites take card or debit only, no cash.
- Holiday pies: the shop asks you to call ahead, Thanksgiving especially.
- The website: it is
gizdich-ranch.com, with the hyphen. The unhyphenated version is a parked for-sale domain that describes a different place entirely.
Verdict
should-visit — A fourth-generation apple and berry farm on Peckham Road that trialed the olallieberry here in 1950, a logan crossed with a black young berry out of Corvallis, and has been selling pie made from it since 1980. Vincent John Gizdich bought five acres of apples in 1937 and the Pik-Yor-Self has been running since 1965. Sixteen pie varieties come out of the Eata Nita shop, including a no-sugar apple. Check the season before driving: three of the four u-pick crops are closed for 2026 and apples do not open until September.