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PHOTO BY GINGER PRZYBYS
Everything at our weekly farmers market was grown, harvested or made within 100 miles of Sun City Texas, allowing you
to enjoy the freshest goods available while also supporting the local economy.
Continued from the previous page able to provide communities with the best ous nutritional studies have found that
product possible at affordable prices while eating pecans daily may protect against
since passed, when immigrants new to the doing their part protecting the planet. age-related motor neuron degeneration
U.S. sold home-grown vegetables and eggs As one farmer shared, “I’ll never get rich and can reduce your risk of heart disease.
fresh from the backyard on street stands doing this, but I love what I do and that’s
or wooden carts. enough payment for me.” Bost Bees maintains 25 bee hives at their
Georgetown apiary with another three
Making a living off the land can be chal- Farmers market vendors range in age and hives located in the Horticultural Club
lenging, especially for a small farmer. experience. Herb Greene is new to our gardens, where they aid in pollination.
Not everything that is planted will grow. neighborhood. The owner of Green Acres Mary Bost, owner of the bee farm, is a
Weather can be a friend or foe. Managing in Belfalls, Texas, Herb grows bright red, 94-year-old retired school teacher. Bee-
insects, diseases and mold organically is juicy tomatoes on ¼ acre. To keep toma- keeper Jimmie Oakley protects the honey
an unrelenting – sometimes, daunting toes insect free without using harmful bees from diseases, which could swiftly
- task. Equipment expenses and mainte- pesticides, he utilizes very small – and ex- kill an entire colony. The bees provide
nance costs, fluctuating gas prices, plas- pensive - ladybird beetles called Delphas- him with their nutritious golden nectar
tic bags for customers’ purchases, seeds, tus pusillus from Australia which preys which is turned into honey for us.
fertilizers, membership fees, permits and on all species and stages of the whitefly.
every other little line item comes out of the Bonnet Farms is owned and managed by
sale of their product. It is often a farmer’s Texas pecans, some say, are the best in Monica Eckert. She has three acres near
hope that, at the end of the day, they can the country. Schwegmann Orchard, lo- Walburg on which she grows tomatoes,
at least break even. cated in Georgetown, has been selling cabbage, potatoes, cauliflower and a nice
pecans to Sun City Texas since 1998. The assortment of greens. Monica has been
Local farmers and merchants are passion- orchard contains 1,000 pecan trees. Un- selling her produce in Sun City Texas for
ate about what they do. Their faces and like supermarket pecans, which can sit on four years. It is her dream to set up her
hands may be weathered and hardened by shelves for days or weeks, Schwegmann’s farm as a pick-your-own produce opera-
the elements, long hours and hard work, nuts are kept in cold storage after picking, tion, offering an enhanced consumer ex-
but their smiles are broad, their hearts are where temperature and humidity controls perience and insight to the life of a farmer.
big and the sparkle in their eyes says it prevent rancidity and spoilage. Numer-
all. There is so much pride in their being 6J Ranch is a third generation family-
40 | SUNRAYS AUGUST 2016 ONLINE: SCTEXAS.ORG
