On Clark Mills Road, in Whitesboro, in Oneida County, NY, is an organic vegetable farm called Hearts Hill Farm. It is the only certified organic vegetable farm in the county. It is owned and operated by Kent and Michelle Roberts, and has been in their family for more than 60 years. They grow and sell a wide variety of organic herbs and vegetables: corn, pumpkins, asparagus, rhubarb, dill, echinacea, radishes, carrots, garlic, shallots, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, basil, parsley, dill, thyme, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, winter squash and summer squash.
The top photo shows some of the organic sunflowers grown on the farm.
The next photo down shows a field of tomatoes.
The photo below that shows dill and echinacea, which is also known as purple coneflower. Dill is used not only as a cooking herb, but is also good for soothing upset stomachs. Echinacea can be purchased in health food stores, usually in tablet form, as a general immune system booster. At Hearts Hill Farm, however, you can buy the real deal, grown organically, which is something you just can't purchase anywhere else in Oneida County.
The bottom photo shows the Roberts' farm stand, with sunflowers, pumpkins and corn arrayed near it.
To successfully run an organic vegetable farm it's fairly obvious that you need both good soil and a good supply of clean water. You don't exactly have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out. But unless something is done to help the Roberts' out, in the near future they may lose both the good soil and clean water that they need to run their farm. This means, obviously, that they will stand a good chance of going out of business. And that's a shame, because organic vegetable farms aren't found on every street corner, unlike, for example, gas stations.
To find out why the Roberts' may soon be losing the good quality soil and water that they need to operate Hearts Hill Farm, the only certified organic vegetable farm in Oneida County, and also how you can help, please read part two.
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