By Joan Hetzler
Correspondent
On Kensington Road, a little-traveled side road in Walker County, hand painted wooden signs announce “Kensington Farm Fresh — Now Open.”
Other signs tell more of the story. “Corn today!” “Squash, and cukes.”
Like many rural residents with available land, Tony Rush has developed what he calls a “hobby farm.” On about one acre, he grows mostly vegetables such as peppers, cabbage, okra and squash. He also has nine varieties of tomatoes, cantaloupes and, later in the season, fresh-cut flowers.
“I’ve been doing this for three or four years,” he said. “It’s rewarding, but it gets overwhelming, too, when everything is coming in at once. I enjoy growing it a lot better than I do picking it.”
This year has been difficult for growers, he said.
“It’s kind of rough on account of the frequent rains. It doesn’t let everything dry out, and you’ve got to be fighting fungi this time of year.”
Mr. Rush uses grocery store prices to set his own, but he has the advantage of being able to get his produce out more quickly than big-box groceries.
“We’ll pick it one day, and it will be at the market the next day or maybe the same day,” he said. “There’s nothing over two days old. We always think, you know, we’ve got a better product than what they’ve got anyway.”
Mr. Rush and his wife, Judy, also sell their produce at the Battlefield Farmers Market in Walker County on Wednesday afternoons and Saturday mornings. He says sales are about “50/50” between both locations.
IF YOU GO* What: Kensington Farm Fresh* Where: 4274 Kensington Road, Chickamauga, Ga.* Hours: Open every day except Sunday* More information: 706-539-2545.
Karen Bradley, manager of the Battlefield Farmers Market, recalled one elderly farmer who said he would try selling his produce at the market for one season, then was surprised at how much money he made. He returned again the next season, took classes in canning and became certified so he
could turn fresh produce that did not sell into canned items for sale, she said.
Would-be farmers need to ask themselves several questions, she said.
“Farming’s a hard life,” she said. “You’ve got to figure in your labor. You’ve got to figure how far you’re having to drive, what you’re wanting to sell, what you’re wanting to grow, if your product is something someone would want. Do you know how to grow it? Do you know how to tell somebody who doesn’t know how to prepare it how to fix it?”
Mr. Rush says anyone wanting to get into the farming business, even on a small scale, should be prepared for lots of work.
“I’d say they’d have to work for minimum wage and long hours,” he said. “I started at 6 o’clock (in the morning) and just got in. That’s 6 to 9 o’clock — a 15-hour day.”
Contact Joan Hetzler at jhwrites@gmail.com.
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