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  • From: Ken Hargesheimer <minifarms2@yahoo.com>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] New organic farmer
  • Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 13:51:10 -0700 (PDT)

I hope posting this is not a no-no.  I thought it is so interesting and might give hope to others who want to do it.  Ken Hargesheimer
 
For one woman, chemical-free farming is labor of love
BY HENRI BRICKEY, 

Sherry Pullen isn't your average farmer. She doesn't drive a tractor - or use any kind of machinery for that matter.
 
Instead, Pullen prefers direct contact with the vegetables she grows on her 10-acre plot of land on the west side of Lubbock. She picks all her produce herself. She's also in charge of distribution and sales.
Henri Brickey / A-J photo
Sherry Pullen digs for potatoes in her 10-acre farm on the western edge of Lubbock. Pullen, who gave up a career in restaurant management to become a farmer, is one of many locals who grow produce without the help of chemical pesticides or fertilizers.
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"I pick it, drive two miles down the road and put it in my bin," said Pullen, 44, who worked for almost 20 years as a restaurant manager before buying her plot of land two years ago. But operating a farm all on her own isn't what makes Pullen so different from other farmers.
Pullen grows her produce all natural, without the help of chemicals.
"I want to keep things simple," Pullen said recently from her farm, wearing mud-caked overalls, a straw hat and beaten up leather boots.
 
But simple isn't easy. Pullen's day starts at 5:30 a.m. and doesn't end until the sun goes down.Yanking weeds takes up a good portion of Pullen's time.
 
One of the biggest challenges is resisting the temptation to make things easier by zapping her weeds with chemicals, she said. One time, the work seemed overwhelming and Pullen used a few squirts of weed killer on a small patch of her garden.
"I felt guilty as soon as I did it," Pullen said recently from the roadside stand where she sells her produce. She has never done it again. And she's happy with that decision.
 
The fruit of Pullen's labor rests inside her roadside stand, Pullen's Produce on West 19th Street near Upland Avenue. Jalapeos, squash, potatoes, and other freshly picked vegetables lie in the cool shade. These don't look like grocery story veggies. The small, stubby knobs of home-grown garlic are still encased in the dirt they grew in. Better to lock in the taste, Pullen says.
 
The zucchini is bent and twisted into awkward looking shapes, and no two melons look quite the same. Things here look the way nature intended, Pullen says. It may not be pretty, but folks are acquiring a taste for Pullen's produce. By noon on a recent Tuesday, she's sold out of jalapeos. Still, Pullen is a long way from making it rich from her vegetables.
 
"If someone wants to get into this for the money, I suggest they do something else," Pullen said. For her, the work itself is the reward.



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  • [Livingontheland] New organic farmer, Ken Hargesheimer, 08/11/2006

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