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INfortwayne.com
Serving Northwest Fort Wayne & Allen County
December 11, 2015
A year at Atom Acres
Plants and family prosper on Bass Road hilltop The Times followed a Fort Wayne family through four seasons of planting, picking and change. The Merritts shared their stories, their plans and their hopes. By Garth Snow gsnow@kpcmedia.com
When 2-year-old Bea pulled a beet from the warm soil of an Atom Acres greenhouse, her parents turned the impromptu harvest into a celebration. When 4-year-old Trace plucked a 1-inch plant from the turnip bed, his dad calmly shared a lesson on thinning plants evenly. When 6-year-old Oliver guided a visitor through the cabbage, he shared a lesson on the family’s approach to farming. “We don’t put anything on the plants,” said the home-schooled farmer. Ann and Matt Merritt
have raised a little of everything on their 6-acre Bass Road farm over the past three years. They have watched their roadside garden burgeon with tomatoes, squash and more. They have watched their hoop houses produce kale, leeks, chard, fennel, celery and more. They have raised chickens, harbored bees, split firewood and cultured mushrooms. While they count on the income, they have a parallel priority. They are sharing their love of nature with Oliver, Trace, Bea and now 3-month-old Benjamin. “We’re getting rich as a family,” Ann said. “It’s the experience that we’re really getting rich from.” They have met challenges. Passers-by helped themselves to the firewood beneath the roadside honor box. Something carried off every last chicken. Rabbits wiped out a hoop house full of winter greens.
The Merritts then stacked their firewood on top of the hill, behind the house. They built a fence so their dog, Lilly, can mark the whole property to discourage predators. They bought a cat that loves rabbits. The white, wooden farmhouse overlooking the southeast corner of Bass and Thomas roads is the family home. The Merritts each moved a few times before they chose that property. Ann’s journey began in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State. “It was all just people who chose to live at this ranch for troubled boys,” she said. “Each family had to raise its own support. Eighteen families all lived collectively together.” She finished school in Florida. “I had a friend from a previous school that had ended up in Hawaii, and she kept telling me that I should come visit,”
FWCS honors advocate of 2012 facilities outline By Garth Snow gsnow@kpcmedia.com
PHOTO BY GARTH SNOW
Mary Ann Parker thanks school officials for honoring her late husband with a tree and marker near the entrance to Snider High School. She is flanked by School Board member Becky Hill, left, and former Snider Principal Deborah Watson. Steve Parker was the facilities director for Fort Wayne Community Schools.
ters went to school here, and I appreciate all of you,” she said. “We’re certainly very honored that they would remember all the time and dedication and passion that he had for the project and
for the students,” she said later. “That really was his main focus — a safe and healthy environment for the students to be able to learn.” See FWCS, Page A14
3306 Independence Drive, Fort Wayne, IN 46808
Times Community Publications
Family and former co-workers gathered Nov. 16 to remember Steve Parker’s contributions as Fort Wayne Community Schools facilities director. A stone marker at the entrance to Snider High School now honors Parker’s service. A crab apple tree now grows in that same soil. Parker died shortly after the passage of a 2012 referendum that funded improvements throughout the district. School leaders planted the tree as they work to gather support for the next phase of the longrange facilities plan. Mary Ann Parker said she and her daughters are pleased with the remembrance of her husband. “I think it’s a perfect honor for him and I appreciate the project because my daugh-
PHOTO BY GARTH SNOW
The hoop house known as Big Momma shelters the Merritt family for a Nov. 16 photo at their home at Atom Acres, on Bass Road. Ann holds newborn Benjamin, as 6-year-old Oliver stands between his mother and his father, Matt. Trace, 4, lower left, and Bea, 2, lower right, complete the family.
she said. “I was in extreme sports and I had done a lot of surfing. So I agreed to come for a while, and find a job.” Matt was born in Denver, Colo., and lived in the Rocky Mountains of Summit County. The family moved to Fort
Wayne because of a job. Matt lived about four blocks south of Bishop Luers High School until he was 18. He served in Americorps for a year, then worked in Chicago for three years, and was introduced to farming in Michigan. “I traveled
out West and visited my biological father who was in California and my truck ended up breaking down there,” he said. “It was either Chicago or Hawaii, and I decided Hawaii.” That’s where Ann met Matt. They set a date. See ATOM, Page A8