Posted on 06/27/2008 2:15:14 PM PDT by Gabz
Clint Brown began planting vegetables at age 4. His then babysitter, a retired gentlemen with an interest in gardening, got him started.
Now 17, Clint has his own gardening business -- a venture that began four years ago with a bumper green bean crop and success at the Le Mars farmer's market.
"He sold them so fast,"said Audrey Brown, Clint's mom. "I think that's what got him hooked."
Clint's gardens are on his parent's Audrey and Steve Brown's farm west of Merrill.
In April 2006 Clint got serious about his gardening business by building his first high tunnel structure, which is a large, hoop building covered in plastic, to plant his vegetables inside.
"If they were outside the would get blown by the wind," Clint said.
The sides of the high tunnel roll up and down, but the temperature inside is not regulated like a greenhouse.
"When it isn't sunny out there, it isn't warm in here," Audrey said.
Clint's two high tunnels, the second one being completed this year, are a total of 3,744 square feet in size. They house 400 tomato plants, 290 pepper plants, green beans, leaf lettuce and snow peas to name a few.
Having the high tunnels for protection from the wind allows Clint to extend the growing season for his vegetables.
For example, most people plant their tomatoes the third week in May and can eat them around the end of July through September.
With the wind tunnels, Clint's growing season for tomatoes begins about the third week in April. Tomatoes are ripe in June and last through mid-October.
This year's growing season has been a little different.
"This year we are behind," Audrey said. "We haven't had consistent days of sunshine."
And that phenomenon is affecting many vegetable producers around the state.
Even the more than 6-foot-tall tomato plants growing inside one of Clint's high tunnels have been slow to yield their fruit.
And the ones growing in an outside garden are about 1/3 as tall as the others. Steve wanted to see the production difference between the indoor and outdoor plants.
"We're experimenting," Audrey said. "We're seeing what wind really can do."
Even though the growing season has been stunted, Clint has had success selling other vegetables like carrots, lettuce, spinach and radishes at the farmer's market in Sioux City.
"He was selling in Sioux City the first Saturday in May," Audrey said. "Most of these crops are already gone and these are the second crops."
Clint plans to bring some items to the Le Mars farmer's market opening day this Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon at the Olson Cultural Event Center. The market will also be open from 3 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays throughout the growing season.
Audrey said most of their offerings this Saturday will be items like rhubarb and jalapeño jellies along with minimal produce.
But that will change as the summer progresses and the days warm because in addition to Clint's indoor gardens he also tends an additional about 3,700 square feet outside.
"It's amazing what can be produced in the square footage he has," Audrey said.
Audrey and Steve help, but the business is Clint's and each year his profits have exceeded his expenses.
"I am the tomato connoisseur," Audrey said. "These two don't eat tomatoes."
Throughout the years as Clint's interest in planting vegetables grew into the booming business it is today, Audrey couldn't be more proud of her son's accomplishments.
"I think it's exciting," Audrey said.
Clint will be a senior at Le Mars Community High School this fall.
He has already taken some agriculture classes and plans to take more along with business courses to learn as much as he can to help his gardens continue to grow.
Clint likes his gardening business, but he doesn't know for sure what the future holds.
"It's a hobby," Clint said. "And to make some money."
Last year was the first year I tried any kind of canning. My first garden and my first canning. I only did a couple of jars of tomatoes. The rest I roasted and then froze and used them in soups and pasta sauce.
I really loved the roasted ones. I finally decided to crack open a jar of the canned ones and my oh my, what a taste! I was skeptical of what I had done, although I followed directions to the "T". I am on a roll this season!
I’m thinking about asparagus as well.....but obviously not this year :)
sheesh! looks like mr patton’s got me beat by a long shot
on the whining. yes, he does have a few lil projects still
pending but at least enough of the yard has been reclaimed
to actually do these things.
just an average shed? i think not... ;)
Stewed tomatoes. Haven’t had them in a while! And I’m jonesing for fried green tomatoes!!!
ROFLMSS!!!! That's an understatement.
After the post right above this you have the nerve to tell your wife to stop whining?
Bite me. ;)
Why yes, why?
Impressive!
Husband is on the road for a job today and he called earlier asking me to leave ‘bug dope’ out for him. He’s going to tackle the lawn tomorrow and work on his various and sundry other projects; waterproofing the roof of the mud porch, installing new windows in there that actually OPEN, putting on the new all-glass-from-top-to-bottom storm door, and finishing up his brickwork in the basement.
And I’ll be schlepping trees and shrubs and perennials at the Garden Center. :) I’d rather be at work than at home tomorrow; I have staff to work for ME. If I’m home, I’M “The Staff,” LOL!
Uh...not at my house. I think it has to do with your own personal “chemical makeup.” Some people are affected, others are not. I am, Husband is not.
It might be early enough in the season to try a few more plants. I'm not sure, I'll have to look into it. If I can still plant some, they'll be caged over good and tight.
Being born in 33 gardening was survival for our family but excess was bartered for things we didn't grow.
“How do you do your canning?”
In fits and starts as I have time, LOL! Ask Gabz. I still have peppers left from LAST season in the freezer that are awaiting “jamming.” Those will be Christmas gifts. Pepper Jelly on top of Creamed Cheese on a Ritz or a Triscuit? Yummy!
I also have raspberry juice from last season to make into jelly. I don’t like seeds, so I juice the berries and freeze the juice in rinsed out plastic milk jugs. Works like a charm, and I can thaw it out and use it at will. How about Raspberry Pepper Jelly? It could work!
Come to think of it; I’m usually one season behind in my canning, LOL!
As for tomatoes, we eat most of the slicers fresh; we could LIVE on BLTs all summer long. The Roma-types are frozen whole on a cookie sheet, then put into ziplock bags. Thaw them out and the skins slip right off; perfect for a quick sauce or fresh-tasting salsa in the cold, dark winter months up here in The Great White North. ;)
Tomorrow, I am splitting logs and cutting down trees - in that order.
Odd, huh? But there is free wood all over town, sawed into nice 16” logs - needs to be split for winter.
Then I have to kill a trash tree that is too close to our house.
Later, I will have to bring wood to where it needs to be, but not the now.
“...but excess was bartered for things we didn’t grow.”
Fresh eggs and baked goods work for me for both winter snowplowing and seasonal car repairs. :)
I love bartering. More people should do it!
I may try the frozen romas. I have been using them to roast along with the others. We have so many tomatoes ripening at one time right now it would be hard for us to eat them all fresh. So when you can them, how do you do it?
I’ve just follow the basics in ‘The Ball Book of Canning.’ Here’s the “modern” version, LOL!
http://www.freshpreserving.com/
No thanks, just had dinner!
you know first hand what i deal with here, gabz ;)
btw, mr patton is cooking up some woodsplitting
plot w/ his cousin for this weekend. pray rains
dont put a damper on their little plans. :D
Great article. Sadly, my plants here in Texas - 30 + days of 90 + temps are almost dead already.
I may cut them all back and hope for a fall crop similar to the one we had last fall.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.