The Chelsea Standard
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Farewell to Huehl Acres, but not to Adopt-A-Farm
PUBLISHED: May 29, 2008
The intent of the Chelsea Standard's participation in the Adopt-A-Farm program is to make the public more aware of the challenges faced by family farms.
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Looking back over the past 12 months of stories about Huehl Acres, I realize just how much I've learned about farm life, and hopefully readers have, too.
Jerry and Denny Huehl have been extraordinarily gracious hosts, inviting this city kid onto their farm or into their homes every month for some pretty close scrutiny and the occasional dumb question.
I've learned some valuable lessons, such as to always keep an eye on where I'm walking, and, related to that, always carry boots in my truck.
If not for these stories I never would have ridden in and taken photos from a 30-foot-wide John Deere combine, or watch a cow have its hooves trimmed, or get sneezed on by a calf with a respiratory ailment.
And I'm happy to report, due to a very positive response from farmers and non-farmers alike, I have agreed to continue this monthly series of stories.
I'll be reporting on a different local farm, with a different kind of operation. There is always more to learn in this business.
I am sincerely thankful for the kind and patient assistance shown me by the Huehl brothers and their wives, Carol and Sue; to farm assistants Nelson Bollinger and Rachel Girbach; and to Kathy Siler, Communications Committee chair for the Washtenaw County Farm Bureau, who came to us with the idea a year ago.
We started in June, with the corn and soybeans already in the ground and the brothers bringing in the first cutting of alfalfa.
This month we've come full circle, with planting the beans and corn.
This has been a very eye-opening experience for me, an opportunity I'm truly grateful to have been offered.
I hope I've been able to convey to our readers at least some sense of the challenges facing local farmers.
Hopefully, now we all have a better appreciation of where our food comes from — not just from some corporate conglomerate out in Kansas or California or even China, but from our neighbors.
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