Always a Farmer
Farming has always been a large part of Michael 
Gehman’s life. He grew to love the farming process. That love led him to start his own business: Veggie Boy Produce. Michael takes pleasure in the farming process: planting, caring for the crops as they grow, harvesting, and selling. At farmers markets, Michael likes interacting with customers as well as other vendors. He doesn’t enjoy any one part of the process more than another. His only preference is that he doesn’t have to do any one job. He enjoys the variety of tasks farming offers. Also, Michael prefers to tend his crops from seed to sold.
As he grew up, Michael was always involved with the family farm and he learned about the growing process from his father. The Gehman family started a retail greenhouse business seventeen years ago and Michael was a landscaper for that business. Three years ago, he decided to focus on farming and started Veggie Boy Produce. Michael said, landscaping didn’t have a lot of options. However, with farming he sees potential. “There’s unlimited opportunity,” Michael said.
There are many factors responsible for the outcome of a crop. Which means there are many areas in which to experiment. “There’s different ways of growing things,” Michael said. He likes trying new techniques and crops. “A lot of it (farming techniques) comes through trial and error,” Michael said. One area for variation is building the soil. At Veggie Boy, they compost as much as they can, occasionally supplementing with commercial fertilizer. Michael sees composting as another way of improving his crops. If you let compost sit for a couple years, it will be more beneficial to the crops. At Veggie Boy, they are careful and watch what goes in their compost. They often throw in produce that didn’t sell. Their wasted produce makes the soil more beneficial for future crops.
Farmers markets are an opportunity for Michael to see what other farmers are growing. He also enjoys the atmosphere at farmers markets. Veggie Boy has a stand on their farm which sells produce six days a week. They also sell at three farmers markets in the St. Louis area. Michael’s 40-acre-farm has about 10 acres of greenhouses and buildings, 10 acres of timberland and another 5 to 10 acres of crops. Due to crop rotation, they use about 8 acres for crops in any given year.
The satisfaction of selling and fun of watching things grow will keep Michael farming for many more years.
- Article by Megan Favignano