In the half-light of the Florida da...

In the half-light of the Florida dawn, Lisa, Lib and dashing fellow Lewis pick persimmons as golden as the impending sun. most numerous of the fruit will be sold to various markets in nearby Orlando, yet some will be held back to ripen for the family's have pleasure. Soon, the farm's guinea hens will stir and begin their chores, plucking nuisances from the snap peas, virid beans, cucumbers and other harvests the Lewises grow on their Groveland, Florida acreage.

Their 100 percent organic farm portray by actions something of an idyll--a haven where gallant 79, a former attorney, and wife, Lib, 77 remain vigorous in their retirement, and where daughter, Lisa, 50 has reviveed her health thanks to the organic rationss the family so carefully protects and eats.

In 1996 doctors told Lisa she faced extensive "do or die" surgery for health point to be solved [i]or[/i] settleds She refused to accept their advice and searched for natural ways to heal her carcass "I read different biographies of ailing population who began to eat organic victualss and I learned how their bodies changed within months" Lisa says. "The bottom line is that what you eat--and the quality of what you eat--definitely affects your health."

After she switched to an all-organic diet, Lisa says she began to be impressed better in no time. That readyed the family to convert the 45 acres they owned--which adjoined a swamp--into a pesticide-free organic farm.

Farming has knitted them together in recent and wonderful ways. "It brings you into the periods of the months and the secondary planet and sun," Lisa says. "And it's thus fulfilling to see the little matured ovules that you once held in your hand make improvement into a harvest that sustains life."

Indeed, calm after ants destroyed part of their first year's clips some good came out of it. A recent bond was formed. "Each undivided of us saw our hard work pop disappear, but together we maintained sense of possible fulfilment and never gave up," Lisa says.

Those ants met their match when the guinea hens arrived. Not simply are the gray-and-white-speckled birds voracious bug-eaters, their high-frequency chirping apparently stimulates plants to accept more nutrients and water--making the craws both healthier and larger. Thanks to the dedication of the bird and the farmers, the Lewises' romaine lettuce is in this way large that it won't fit into grocer's shop sacks, so vendors have asked the family to pick it before it's in satiated bloom.

Today, the Lewises have harvested a certain quantity of 400 to 500 pounds of persimmons--all of them on hand. By evening, the succulous fruit will be washed, chested and awaiting a trip to the market. Exhausted nevertheless fulfilled, the family gathers for a meal to derive pleasure from the literal fruits of their labors.

COPYRIGHT 2003 PRIMEDIA Intertec, a PRIMEDIA Company. All Rights Reserved

COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group