H E A LT H & W E L L N E S S
Facts from the Farm By Ron Eichner Hi Folks! As a fourth-generation farmer, 2020 has been a year racked with challenges. It began with plenty of greenhouse work to do, and my farm team melting away with the COVID-19 in play, fearing that they could contract the virus. April and early May’s cold weather kept the soil temperatures below average. Soil temperatures are important to monitor because if it’s too cold, it can affect seed germination and plants trying to grow. Toss in a couple of frosts, and now our spring was complete. Late spring and early summer brought a couple droughts and the third drought was the charm, and we are in the fourth drought of the season. With weeks without measurable rain, our first three strips of sweet corn didn’t have the energy to develop proper sweet corn ears. The multiple days in the 90s and afternoon winds acted like a vegetative blow torch to rob any moisture that was left in the soil. So, you can end up with stunted plants. A farmer only has a few wishes, and one is for an inch of rain each week through the growing season for the benefits to the crops. Farm to table has been a buzz word of a two-step process of fresh farm items from a local farm to your table. The retail stores have tried to encroach on the farm-to-table model, but all they are missing is the farm fields and the sweat and effort and long hours
14
SEPTEMBER 2020 | www.northernconnectionmag.com
most farmers put in. A great narrative by Paul Harvey is, “God made a farmer” and it is one to share with your family and friends. The last few sentences are what can make farmers succeed. Fresh, local farm fruits and vegetables have an average of twelve weeks of harvest, unlike how most stores have produce year-round due to shipping. So, the most important choice to make for local farmers to succeed is to seek out and support the local farms in your community. Local stores, for the last handful of years, have put a lot of fruits and vegetables on sale in order to get customers in the stores, which most of their regular store items you never find in a farm market. Farming isn’t like walking through the Garden of Eden. There is tremendous work in sowing, planting and nurturing the fields and harvesting. Half of the game is what you harvest. The second half is what you can sell. So, take time and enjoy local farm harvests and get out to our area farm markets and take part in the farm-to-table concept, which supports area farm families in these troubled times. For those who want added nutrition in what they eat, it all starts with the fertility of the farms soils, aka U.S. Senate document #264, and when farms use the synthetic fertilizer practices promoted by our local schools, it feeds nutritional and mineral absence. By God’s design when people and livestock lack minerals from their diets, they can’t utilize the vitamins in what they consume, hence this is what fuels disease. With that in mind, feel free to stop by Eichner’s Whole Farm and Greenhouses and experience Farm Fresh at 285 Richard Road in Wexford and get the “rest of the story.” n
