March 2, 2023 we took a field trip to Miller Farms in Lake Placid, Florida. We were joined by 8 of our friends. The video below begins with a view of a burning sugar cane field. Sugar cane is not a crop grown by Miller Farms. It is a crop grown in south Florida and is included in the video because we saw it while in the area of Okechobee, Florida. I am told burning the leaves and tops off the sugar cane stalk makes it easier to harvest and slightly increases sugar content.
Miller Farms grows 700 acres of vegetables near Lake Placid, Florida. They raise about 20 different vegetables across the 700 acres. There are approximately 100 workers employed to plant and harvest the crop during the 7 or 8 month season. The video includes views of harvesting radishes and parsley as well as a look at the packing facility.
During my whole life I have been familiar with vegetable production in Hartville, Ohio which has been done for several generations. Some of the Hartville growers would go south to Lake Placid to grow crops during the northern winter months. Jim Miller’s family was one of those growers. 30 years ago Jim and Louise began growing only in Florida. My connection with them goes back to the 1970s when Jim, his brother Jerry, and his father Bill would come into the tractor dealership where I was a parts man to buy parts for their tractors and equipment. Louise’s family lived on a farm near ours a short distance from Hartville. She was one of the younger of the seven Whitmer siblings in her family. I was the oldest of the seven Wolf siblings. During the 1950s through the 1970s all rode the same bus to school during our various school years. Louise and my sister Diane were best friends during their school years.
Our tour guide was Marv Troyer, a brother-in-law of Louise, married to her sister Naomi. Thank you to Jim, Louise, and Marv for their kindness and generosity of their time…and some very fresh produce.
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