All in the family - snapshots - family haven of organic farming

Better Nutrition, Feb, 2003 by Houston Stapp

In the half-light of the Florida dawn, Lisa, Lib and Buck Lewis pick persimmons as yellow as the impending sun. Most of the fruit will be sold to various markets in nearby Orlando, but some will be held back to ripen for the family's own pleasure. Soon, the farm's guinea hens will stir and begin their chores, plucking pests from the snap peas, green beans, cucumbers and other crops the Lewises grow on their Groveland, Florida acreage.

Their 100 percent organic farm represents something of an idyll--a haven where Buck, 79, a former attorney, and wife, Lib, 77, remain vigorous in their retirement, and where daughter, Lisa, 50, has recovered her health thanks to the organic foods the family so carefully tends and eats.

In 1996, doctors told Lisa she faced extensive "do or die" surgery for health problems. She refused to accept their advice and searched for natural ways to heal her body. "I read different biographies of ailing people who began to eat organic foods, and I learned how their bodies changed within months," Lisa says. "The bottom line is that what you eat--and the quality of what you eat--definitely affects your health."

After she switched to an all-organic diet, Lisa says she began to feel better in no time. That prompted the family to convert the 45 acres they owned--which adjoined a swamp--into a pesticide-free organic farm.

Farming has knitted them together in new and wonderful ways. "It brings you into the cycles of the months and the moon and sun," Lisa says. "And it's so fulfilling to see the little seeds that you once held in your hand grow into a harvest that sustains life."

Indeed, even after ants destroyed part of their first year's crops, some good came out of it. A new bond was formed. "Each one of us saw our hard work suddenly disappear, but together we maintained hope and never gave up," Lisa says.

Those ants met their match when the guinea hens arrived. Not only are the gray-and-white-speckled birds voracious bug-eaters, their high-frequency chirping apparently stimulates plants to accept more nutrients and water--making the crops both healthier and larger. Thanks to the dedication of the fowl and the farmers, the Lewises' romaine lettuce is so large that it won't fit into grocery sacks, so vendors have asked the family to pick it before it's in full bloom.

Today, the Lewises have harvested some 400 to 500 pounds of persimmons--all of them by hand. By evening, the succulent fruit will be washed, boxed and awaiting a trip to the market. Exhausted but fulfilled, the family gathers for a meal to enjoy the literal fruits of their labors.