Farming family packs it in

By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LEETONIA -- The sign at the entrance to High Hope Farms states simply, "Thanks." and "Sorry, no potatoes." Those four words speak volumes as the Garwoods end a 46-year agriculture venture.
When Carl Garwood, sons Bob and John and their families assessed the family potato-packing business in December, they decided 2003 would be a good time to quit. With the family partnership of High Hope Potato Packers dissolved, an auction of the partnership assets is planned for 9:30 a.m. Saturday.
"We're quitting farming, but the agriculture community will still be a big part of our lives," John said. "This is a good life, and we have done well. It's important to us that everyone knows this is not a forced sale."
John said the families are selling the equipment related to the potato packing business, and will lease the fields on their properties to other farmers. They are not selling their homes or other buildings.
The farm is at 41872 state Route 558 in Fairfield Township, about 2 miles east of state Route 164. Carl and Joann live there; John, Linda and daughter Leah, 11, live nearby on Crestview Road.
Bob, his wife, Maggie, and their children, Justin Garwood, 23, Jessica Mellinger, 22, Brandon Garwood, 20, and twins Megan and Erin Mellinger, 19, live on Middleton Road near Columbiana.
The potato packing ended three weeks ago. Now the activity is centered on preparing for auction: Carl and John showing scrubbed and polished equipment to prospective buyers; Linda sketching a map to show where each item to be auctioned will be placed; Leah painting a High Hope sign on construction paper.
Struggles
There have been lots of struggles at High Hope Farms over the years: finishing planting ahead of a storm, fending off drought with around-the-clock irrigating. John and Linda led a 5-year effort to keep a natural gas pipeline from being built in Columbiana County -- and won.
Carl said farming is frustrating because it is becoming more and more difficult for farmers to balance the bottom line. While the prices paid to farmers have mostly stayed the same, operating costs continue to climb, he explained.
Farmers receive about as much for their produce, milk, eggs and livestock as they did years ago when a tractor cost $10,000. The same tractor today sells for $50,000, he said.
"We've never shied away from hard work here, but when you are seeing little return for all that hard work, it's time to quit," Carl said.
What's next
Bob, who grew the potatoes and in recent years switched to growing and selling sweet corn, pumpkins and other vegetables, is already busy with a new job, operating a trucking company.
Carl is a Fairfield Township trustee and the Garwoods have been involved in the county farm bureau. Maggie teaches at Crestview Elementary School and Linda is active with Buckeye Dairy Boosters.
John, who managed the packing and shipping of High Hope's potatoes, is still weighing options, but said he's had a lot of offers since word spread that High Hope Potato Packers would cease operations. "I've been doing this for 26 years. I could've kept doing it in half a dozen states if we moved, but there's a lot of sweat and tears and blood invested here. Our roots are pretty deep, and that's tough to leave."
Deep roots
The family found out just how deep those roots go in recent months. Family, friends and community surrounded them with love and support as John and Linda's 12-year-old son, Zach, fought a 20-month battle with cancer. He died in December, just a month shy of his 13th birthday.
When Zach spent 37 straight days at Akron Children's Hospital, Carl arrived at John and Linda's house one afternoon to find friends and neighbors mowing grass, trimming weeds and planting flowers. They told Carl it was a labor of love.
Zach's friends were always around, and in between surgeries and chemotherapy treatments, there were soccer games and bike rides and sleep-overs and home-from-the-hospital parties. One teacher noted during Zach's illness that, "It seems Zach's mission in life is to make sure that everyone around him is happy."
Knowing how much Zach loved Christmas, the seventh- and eighth-grade classes planted a donated blue spruce in Zach's memory in front of the junior high entrance on the last day of school. They plan to decorate the tree each Christmas.
"We can't even begin to say thanks for all the support we've had through Zach's illness -- through everything. It's just unbelievable. There's no place like Columbiana County."