Sunday, Jul. 12, 2009

A growing field: Fourth-generation farmer branches out in Mascoutah

Rachael Mueth is the fourth generation of Mascoutah-area farmers in the family, but she is doing it in a different way.

While the family has long been growing corn, soybeans and wheat on farms east of Mascoutah, she is harvesting produce for sale at local markets. It is an ambitious project, and one she said her mom, Mary, and dad, Eric, encouraged her to do.

"Dad was the one suggesting it," she said. "He's always been interested in it."

So the 21-year-old plunged in headlong after earning her associate's degree in horticulture from Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville. Calling her venture Heritage Covered Gardens, she has nearly an acre of ground just east of Mascoutah planted with a lot of different vegetables, including tomatoes, melons, peppers and 1,100 asparagus plants that probably won't be ready for harvest until 2011.

She also works part time at Eckert's Orchards Inc. when she isn't busy planting, weeding, picking or selling produce. She currently sells on Saturdays at the Mascoutah Farmers Market at Silver Creek Mill in Mascoutah.

Her produce isn't officially certified as organic but will be as close as she can get without the designation.

"It's normally pesticide-free, grown using healthy methods," Mueth said.

Organic certification involves growing on ground that has been free of chemicals for seven years and a lot of other regulations.

"I'm going along with some of the principles of that," she said. "I won't use pesticides unless it is absolutely necessary to save a crop, when the option is not having a crop."

She also hasn't gotten the covered part going yet. She plans to use high tunnels, covered frameworks 96 feet high by 26 feet wide. The plastic on the ends of the tunnels can be rolled up to create natural breezes while still retaining solar heat. That way she can grow some vegetables and other produce out of season or early and late in season.

In her first year, she and her family are planting a lot of different varieties of items, looking for what works best and what they and customers like best. They are learning marketing, where to sell, how to price and what to sell.

"This year we're experimenting," Mueth said. She planted 11 varieties of tomatoes. Five are heirloom, and the others are hybrids.

The work is labor-intensive, and growing seasons are affected greatly by the weather. In this wet year, sweet corn has been behind what it normally is.

The family has always had a garden, but this is on a much greater scale. And so is -- like any other farming -- the potential for boom or bust.

As they learn the ropes, the family is looking around to see what outlets there are, whether farmers markets, retail outlets, restaurants or roadside stands.

"There are a lot of decisions to be made," Mueth said. "A lot of pests and diseases to watch for. I have all these ideas I want to try. What I need is the time."