Taking the street much less traveled could also be Chuck Mohler’s specialty. The dairy farm boy envisioned his future not elevating cows, however rising greens. He’s one in all northern Indiana’s most well-known candy corn growers and a fan favourite of locals searching for high-quality greens.
Chuck and his spouse, Tami, began their vegetable manufacturing enterprise, Candy Corn Charlie’s, in 1986 in Millersburg, Ind. They weren’t all the time a big operation with reputation and earnings. In truth, they inform folks they began as “beggars” for the primary decade after they bought Candy Corn Charlie’s on its ft. However they noticed the farm as a possibility to boost their kids and even make a distinction educating others about meals.
“Typically I see that the general public has a disconnect with agriculture,” Chuck says. “They don’t understand how susceptible our meals system is. We’ve got droughts, extreme storms and ailments that devastate us.”
Reminiscing about his childhood, Chuck recollects that his household would rotate crops to construct up nitrogen within the soil. He and Tami now plant cowl crops for a similar motive. They imagine soil nitrogen results in better-tasting greens.
Many individuals assume farming ends as soon as it will get colder every fall. For Candy Corn Charlie’s, the winter simply brings one other cowl crop.
Indiana’s 4 seasons go away a small window for growers, which is why greens aren’t broadly grown all through the Hoosier state. Nonetheless, Chuck and Tami have their very own system.
Doing it their method
“I lived in Israel for six months,” Chuck says. “That’s the place the thought of excessive tunnels and low tunnels got here alongside, in order that I might get greens to market sooner than everybody else.”
Low tunnels include masking crops with plastic and tucking within the edges. Plastic protects crops from wind and frost. Transplanting takes place in excessive tunnels. Like a greenhouse, excessive tunnels are 14 to 30 ft extensive.
The Mohlers develop quite a few greens, from peppers to cucumbers to tomatoes. Beginning crops in tunnels permits for a two-month benefit in early manufacturing.
Whereas the tunnels make Candy Corn Charlie’s stand out, their relationship with prospects is their defining function. Chuck and Tami say folks like having a relationship with their meals. The Mohlers prioritize transparency on their farm to assist the general public find out about agriculture.
The couple is aware of how briskly different vegetable manufacturing farms are dying out. They’ve buddies going out of enterprise. They concern native produce will vanish. However the Mohlers proceed to undertake revolutionary practices and construct relationships with surrounding communities.
“If we did issues the identical previous method, there wouldn’t be any room for us,” Tami says. “So, we knew we needed to do one thing completely different. We’re simply hoping Candy Corn Charlie’s continues to outlive.”
You’ll find their produce tents in Millersburg the place their farm is positioned annually. They’re additionally in Granger, Warsaw, Syracuse, Dunlap, Middlebury, Goshen and North Webster from June to September. Discover extra data at their web site, sweetcorncharlie.com.
McCoy is a senior in agricultural communications at Purdue College.