Calls to Farmer Mark and Lessons from a First-Year Grower

Hi friends,

I’ve called Farmer Mark of Waller Family Farm every week with some crisis or pressing question. It starts with me texting him, “Hey Mark. Got a minute to chat? I’ve got a question about…”. 5, 10, 15 minutes later my phone will ring. It’s Mark. No matter how I’m feeling when I answer the phone. It’s like a burst of sunshine and rainbows on the other end of the line when I hear Mark’s voice. As a first year strawberry grower I feel like I’m on a roller coaster. I’ve never grown a crop with so many ups and downs, highs and lows. I mean lowest of low.

Lessons learned in farming are hard. I’ve invested a lot of time and money, heart and soul into caring for this crop of strawberries. I’ve made and continue to make mistakes. And then there’s the weather. The rain started on Sunday and it continued all week. Sometimes mist, sometimes a deluge, sometimes fog. Wet, moist, humid, damp. Want to know how this story ends? I pulled overripe rain damaged berries out of the beds all week, but today was the big sweep. We did all but 5 rows. I guess the deer will be fat and happy.

We’ll be open Saturday May 17 at 8am. We’ll be open till all the berries are picked. As always, “Call before you come”. 919-627-2946

Your Farmer,

David Heeks 

P.S. We will have bunches of kale (green curly and dino), sugar snap peas, basil plants and our first bunches of basil for sale at the farm tomorrow.