SEEKING GREEN PASTURES

Old and new residents say Green Township offers life out of the ordinary.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CROSS ROLLER ROAD in Green Township from the Ed Kurtz farm, broken stalks and stubble from a long-ago harvested corn crop still stand in a 40-acre field.
The cornfield Kurtz has farmed for years sold at an auction last April for $426,000.
Kurtz, who has lived on the Green Township farm just off Washingtonville Road since his father bought it in 1937, always wanted to buy that 40 acres across the road. He bowed out of the auction, however, when the selling price topped $400,000.
"Too rich for my blood," Kurtz said.
Sitting at his kitchen table, the 40-acre missed opportunity is visible out a window, but Kurtz shrugged off the experience. He knows the value of building a dream in Green Township is priceless.
Green Township is primarily rolling farmland dotted with greenhouses and fruit farms, homestead farm houses, newer homes and a few recently completed homes, in southern Mahoning County.
What attracts residents
Although it's not far from the bumper-to-bumper traffic of U.S. Route 224, perhaps the county's busiest highway, residents old and new say they staked their claims here because Green Township offers life out of the ordinary.
They say Green Township is a place where people with traditional values and new-world ideas live together in storybook harmony.
Township officials say although people want the convenience of suburban living -- close to supermarkets, movie theaters and shopping malls -- they also want a quality of life that includes a clean, safe environment with churches and good schools.
Trent Shirey, township zoning officer, said most of the development in Green took place in the 1990s, so although people are standing in line to move here, there's not much land left for development.
Township records show 184 building permits for new homes were issued from 1990 to 1999, including 25 in 1998 and 34 in 1999.
"Developments went in quickly, and filled up just as quickly," Shirey said. "Most of the frontage is gone now and the people that have land want to hang onto it."
Farming costs rising
Although he's downsized his farm operation considerably over the years, planting nearly 500 acres at one point, Ed Kurtz continues to farm -- planting 270 acres in hay, soybeans and corn -- and watches as cropland around him disappears.
"There's at least 12 farms around here we used to plant corn and soybeans on, but now they have houses planted on them," Kurtz said.
Costs continue to rise while prices paid for crops don't, he said.
"I think this year is going to be the toughest year yet," he said. "If you're a farmer, you live on hope."
Corn prices paid to farmers are at $2.07 per bushel today, compared with $2 per bushel in 1950, he said. A decade ago, diesel fuel needed to operate tractors and other farm machinery cost 87 cents per gallon. Today it costs $2.30.
"It used to be if you wanted to try to increase profit, you planted more acres," Kurtz said. "Now that's not possible because you just can't find land around here anymore."
Rooted
Kurtz farms the 270 acres with occasional help from his son and a son-in-law. He owns 132 acres and rents the rest.
Kurtz and his wife of 51 years, Lola Ann, grew up in the area and both graduated from the former Greenford School. They love to travel, but don't plan to ever make a permanent home anyplace else.
Kurtz is happy his new across-the-road neighbors will be a young couple who plan to build just one house and farm the rest of the land. The 40 acres could have gone to a developer who planned to put a half-dozen houses on it.
"A lot of people from the northern part of the county want to move here," Trustee George Toy said. "They want this lifestyle for their kids, especially."
Dale and Suzie Libb, who built a home on about four acres along Middletown Road eight years ago, moved from Boardman when their younger child was 1. Dale works for Dickey Electric in North Lima, and Suzie is a fifth-grade teacher in Columbiana Schools.
They said they went to numerous land auctions for a year before buying their property. Each time, they lost out to developers who gobbled up large chunks of land.
Good place to rear kids
They found the township attractive for its convenient, yet rural setting, and they wanted their children, Katie and Dan, to attend South Range Schools.
Besides their classroom work, which Dale and Suzie say is top priority, Katie, 12, and Dan, 9, are active in many school and community sports teams.
The Libbs love to travel, and family vacations are usually to historical sites. Dale said when Katie was studying Ohio history for proficiency tests, they traveled 1,500 miles and never left the Buckeye State.
Dale said the best part of vacations is coming back home and appreciating what they have in their own back yard.
Both Katie and Dan enjoy working with the hackney ponies Suzie's family raises nearby. Dan participated in pony shows last summer at the Ohio State fairgrounds.
Katie is on two different community softball teams and wants to play volleyball next year. Dan enjoys baseball and basketball, and wants to play football.
The family calendar is crammed with activities color-coded with a different highlighter color for each family member.
"This is our crazy life, but we love it," Suzie said, turning the calendar pages.
Feeling of safety
"We just love this area," said Dale, who grew up on one of the last dairy farms on South Avenue.
"There is no other place that's like this," he said. "People are friendly and helpful. We have privacy, and elbow room. The kids love to play outside, and we feel safe. Goshen Township police do a good job out here."
Green Township contracts with Goshen Police District for police protection.
"We see officers on our road all the time," Dale said. "When we're in the yard, they drive by and wave. They even come around and check the house when we're out of town."
"The neighbors are wonderful," Suzie said. "Where else would you have a neighbor help mow your lawn?"
"They do that," Dale said. "If it's going to rain and we're trying to finish, or we've been busy, they come over and help.
Dale said Suzie has family in Richmond, Va., and soon after they married, the family kept coaxing the newlyweds to move to the South.
"We said no way," Dale said. "We didn't go, and we're glad. I met Suzie after I got out of the Marine Corps. I was all over the world in the Marines, but I like it right here. This is the place for us."
Would never leave
As the Libbs and other young couples of Green Township make their dreams come true, Ed and Lola Ann Kurtz continue to farm, and reflect on the life they've built. They have three children and seven grandchildren.
"This is home," Ed Kurtz said. "The people are just amazing. When I had open-heart surgery, I was expecting a truck of grain and didn't know how I was going to unload it. Well, down the road came the grain truck, and right behind it came my neighbors to unload it.
"One of our neighbors has a key to our house and checks it when we're in Florida," Kurtz said. "I don't know many places people even know their neighbors, let alone trust them with a key."
"We're very blessed to have all we do," Lola Ann said. "We put a lot of work in here, and our kids worked hard, too. Growing up here helped them learn the value of work.
"We like to travel in our motor home," she said. "We love Florida, but we'd never think of moving there, or anyplace else. There's no place better than right here."
tullis@vindy.com