Albany farm offers chemical-free produce

ALBANY — Saturday was the first day of the season during which Healthy Living Farms on Gillionville Road sold its chemical-free produce direct to the public, and the line of customers taking advantage was thin but steady.

According to Ann Milton, sole employee of the farm, the 16.5-acre operation was purchased in 2011 by Trumpet of God Ministries and is worked almost entirely by volunteers.

“We brought together a group of educators, health industry professionals and local families and asked them, ‘How can we make this work for the community?’” Milton said.

According to Milton, a large portion of the produce available at the farm is grown on the premises, with the remainder coming from other area farms that also grow chemical-free.

The colorful produce on display Saturday included yellow and zucchini squash, cucumbers, okra, plums, watermelon and more. Visitors were offered free samples of zucchini nut bread in both standard and lemon versions. Also available at Healthy Living Farms will be bell peppers, broccoli, cabbage, kale, leeks, southern peas, sweet potatoes and more.

“You might pay a little more for chemical-free,” Milton said, “but if you don’t pay at the front end you could end up paying later on. So why don’t we just preserve our bodies up front and stop putting all the chemicals, pesticides and hormones in them? Here, you know who’s growing your food. You get to meet your farmer.”

Every farm operation faces similar challenges in bringing in a crop, two of the most obvious of which are weed and insect management. Milton explained that chemical-free farms seek “creative” means of eradicating the problems without resorting to unnatural methods. One way HLF skirts the chemical solution is through the use of “solarization” to eliminate invasive weeds and insects. The process includes the laying on of clear plastic sheeting to greatly magnify heat from the summer sun.

“The solarization kills the weeds, insects, nematodes and everything bad in the soil,” Milton said.

Tomatoes are on the rise in Southwest Georgia, and in the spirit of chemical-free farming, the staff at HLF have applied a natural and creative solution: bamboo staking.

“A lot of the wood you buy is treated with chemicals,” Milton said. “So it can contaminate the soil. We just harvested this natural bamboo, and in a couple of weeks we’ll have chemical-free tomatoes right here on-site.”

In addition, Milton expects blueberries and persimmons soon to be available — at first from nearby chemical-free farms, and soon thereafter to be grown on-site.

Milton warns consumers to beware of “good-looking” produce at many supermarkets. Their beauty often originates with chemical treatment.

“You have to realize that supermarkets want food that looks perfect,” Milton said. “The color has to be just right, so sometimes they spray (the produce) with dyes, which then go into our bodies. Here, what you see is what you get. It might have a little dent in it, but you know the dent came from nature. What you really want is good nutrition.”