Seasonal Cycles
Although family farms of Knox County have their
daily routines, there are definite seasonal cycles which affect life
on the family farm. From the spring to the
summer to the fall to the
winter, farmers in Knox County adjust many of their
daily routines. But, as Ron Elliott, a dairy farmer from Gambier,
expressed, all of the seasons are interconnected. "After we've taken the blunt
and the blow of the winter and all, why it's a time of creation and a time
of regeneration. I think we couldn't go from the spring to fall without
the summer because the summer is the heat and the timely rains and all. That's
what makes the crop and gets you all ready for storing things up for a long,
hard winter."
Increasingly, though, the seasonal cycles are being overcome
by many Knox County farmers. Controlled environments for both livestock
and crops, including temperature control and the introduction of predator-type
combatants, have allowed farmers to move from seasonal to year round production.
Don and Janet Hawk of Danville have been able to do this in their
turkey and hydroponic
tomato operation.
Both the turkeys and the tomatoes are raised in indoor, controlled environments
which allow for year round or extended production. The tomatoes are available
thirty-five weeks out of the year, extended from just sixteen, whereas the turkeys are available year round.
Don Hawk states, "At the beginning, when we first started, we were strictly
seasonal producers- we didn't have turkeys inside, for instance. Everything
was grown out. And so by Thanksgiving time you were all done with your turkeys,
you might as well say. And we'd start back up, to be ready to go, by the first
of May. Since about 1971 we went into a year round production and we've been
[that way] ever since."
Even within these controlled environments, Mother Nature continues to have
ultimate control. As Don Hawk explains, "sometimes they'll be challenges
just like a weather
change right now. It will cause a stress challenge. So, the tempurature
hasn't
changed a lot in the building but the birds sense when there's big climatic
changes coming." Janet Hawk goes on to state that her hydroponic tomatoes,
which grow within a greenhouse, are also
very dependent on the natural environment, primarily sunlight and natural heat,
and without the natural resources the tomatoes
would suffer. It is for these reasons that seasonal cycles are such a constant
and important part of family farming.
The Hawk's hydroponic tomatoes
photo credit: Don Hawk
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