BY CHERYL SHUMWAY

North Country This Week

LISBON -- The Kent Family Growers’ stand at the Canton Farmer’s Market was a beehive of activity as customers swarmed to get their fresh, organic produce on a recent Friday morning.

Crisp lettuce, dark green zucchini and broccoli, deep yellow squash and fresh onions were among the selections harvested at the 25-acre garden in Lisbon operated by Daniel and Megan Kent.

“I got into organic farming when I was a naive idealist and wanted to save the world (from what I can't recall now) but do it now because it feels like what I was meant to do,” said Daniel Kent.

Many of the customers were picking up their weekly Consumer Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares. About 200 customers in Canton, Potsdam and Madrid participate in the summer CSA share program.

The farm’s produce is also sold to groceries and restaurants as far away as Boston, Brooklyn and Buffalo.

With the assistance of three seasonal workers from Mexico and two part-time local workers, the Kents plant over 40 different crops.

They do multiple plantings for continued supply, including 12 plantings of corn, 14 of broccoli and 16 of lettuce.

Planting starts in March inside greenhouses. Following the harvest, many vegetables such as cabbage, potatoes, and carrots are kept in cold storage for sale through the winter. Broccoli, cauliflower, peppers and corn are frozen.

Operating the farm is rewarding, said Kent. “The seasonal cycles of work, the direct contact with our wonderful community of customers, working outdoors, the creative aspect of planning and decision making on the various enterprises that make up the farm, all make me feel lucky to have found such unique work.”

The Kents started farming in Heuvelton 17 years ago, using draft horses. They later moved to Lisbon and today use tractors, vacuum precision feeders, and a mechanical root crop harvester, as well as hoes and wheelbarrows.

The Mexicans, here on H2A visas, work on the farm from April to November. “I hire my guys because every business needs to hire the best, most professional talent that they can in order to serve customers well and be profitable,” said Kent.

“After more than a decade of trying other kinds of workers, I was so relieved to finally find such skilled hands. By being so smart, congenial and hardworking, but also by their dedication, returning year after year, they have utterly transformed how I run the farm.”

Most of the produce sold locally is through the CSA shares. The summer share program runs weekly from June through October. Cold storage organic foods from the farm, as well as cider, cranberries and blueberries from nearby farms, comprise the winter share program running November to March.

Kent Farms produce is also available at the Potsdam Food-Coop, Nature’s Storehouse in Canton, the Canton Farmers Market on Fridays, and in some menu items at Jake’s on the Water restaurant in Hannawa Falls. Selling to an Ithaca wholesaler that distributes throughout the state and beyond has allowed the farm to expand, said Kent.

As an organic farm, Kent said weeds are the biggest problem. “There is no easy solution to the problem. You have to outsmart the weeds,” explained Kent.

He said during the growing season he often works 10 hour days, six days per week, and even more at harvest time.

Back at the Canton Farmer’s Market, Ellie Schonberg of Canton and her grandmother Jeanne Terrence of New Jersey were among the many early birds selecting food for their weekly Kent Farms CSA share.

“We love supporting the local farmers,” said Schonberg. “The food is fresh. You can’t get anything else like it. And I like meeting the people at the farmer’s market.”