By RICHARD R. SITLER
Indiana Correspondent

FARMERBURG, Ind. — After 38 years, Karol Martingdale learned to truly appreciate Farmersburg, a community of about 1,200 located in Sullivan County of western Indiana.

Farmersburg is situated just south of the Vigo County line, and Martingdale and her husband, Bruce, own and operate a greenhouse business on the northern end of town.

Their business actually straddles the county line, hence the name County Line Flowers and Greenhouse. According to Martingdale, they have to pay taxes in both counties - a situation she does not recommend.

In many ways Farmersburg is typical of a rural, Indiana farming community. Its roads are a grid of tree-lined streets, framed with nicely kept homes. There is an elementary and a junior high school where the high school originally stood. The local high school now is south of town - the consolidated North Central High School.

Downtown Farmersburg, the old business district, is a skeleton of its former self. It is split by railroad tracks. On the east side of the tracks, there is a saloon called Mickey’s. Across from the saloon is a packaged liquor store. On the west side of the tracks are other businesses, including Jewett Printing, an insurance agency, a coin-operated laundry and the post office.

To the east, a sign commemorates the George Heap Memorial Park, which was established in 2003. The park includes picnic facilities, a playground and baseball diamonds. The town also features several Protestant churches.
Katie Keys, a high school senior from Brazil, Ind., boards horses at the Vire farm located on the east end of Main Street. The Vire farm boards several horses including Keys’ Quarter Horse, Thunder, and a Haflinger named Willy. The Vire also raises chickens for eggs and offers hay for sale, too. The farm is one of several around Farmersburg. Although most of the area is farmland, Peabody Midwest Mining is rapidly acquiring land to expand its Farmersburg mine.
Most of Farmersburg’s businesses have moved to U.S. 41 to take advantage of the extra traffic. The businesses include an antique store, a Dairy Queen, a Dollar General, a bank and Martingdale’s business.

Fondness for Farmersburg

Martingdale said she has a soft spot in her heart for Farmersburg. She came to town after marrying Bruce, who is the son of a Sullivan County farmer, Wade Martingdale. Wade was once an Indiana state farmer of the year.
The year before the Martingdales wed, Bruce acquired the greenhouse. He had recently returned from serving in Vietnam. It was not an easy start for the couple.

Shortly before they married the business burned down. Martingdale convinced her husband to rebuild, but to do so he needed a loan. He could not get a conventional business loan because most banks didn’t understand how a greenhouse would turn a profit. Wade co-signed the loan for them.
The couple didn’t have experience running a greenhouse. Fortunately, Martingdale had a godmother who had a greenhouse business in Pennsylvania. This godmother came out every spring when they were getting started and helped.

“We were self-taught until we got smart enough to go to Ohio State,” she said.
The couple studied horticulture - their son, Brock, did the same - at Ohio State, and they learned to make a niche for their business.

“No one here knew what an herb was,” Martingdale said.

She added that she had to convince customers that what they bought in a jar could be bought as a plant. They became known in the area as the “herb people.”

After convincing customers to buy herbs they added perennials. Always trying to stay innovative, they now offer water gardens, which was more of a hobby before becoming part of the business. The water garden business is taking off.
The couple built their business, and Bruce even ran a store in Terre Haute. At this time, Martingdale got to know the people of her adopted hometown by selling plants and flowers occasions such as weddings and funerals.
The Martingdales eventually closed the store in Terre Haute, and Bruce came back to work in Farmersburg.

She said Bruce was surprised by the rapport Martingdale had with her customers. He would joke that customers in Terre Haute didn’t want a hug after making a purchase.

A catastrophic event

However, a catastrophic event truly helped Martingdale appreciate her town.
Eight years ago, Bruce suffered a massive heart attack. It happened after a hot night when Bruce and Brock had been sleeping outside because of the heat. Brock found his father collapsed in the driveway. The paramedics were called, and it took a long time to revive Bruce. He was taken to the hospital in Sullivan, then transferred to Terre Haute. Bruce recovered, but because of the amount of time his heart had been stopped, he suffered irreversible damage and now has no memory.

About the time of Bruce’s heart attack, Brock tore a ligament in his knee. It was during the business’ busy season, and Martingdale was left to run it herself while trying to figure out how to pay the medical bills. She faced losing everything.

Through it all Martingdale discovered that “this little town was on our side.”
“To think that I moved here and didn’t have a friend in the world,” she said.
Martingdale found out that she had many friends. Customers, Farmersburg citizens and church members came together and helped the couple with the medical bills and to keep the business going. A Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser was organized, and was successful.

Members of a gardening club came to help. Martingdale, who by this time had lost most of her family from her native Pittsburgh, Penn., realized that, “I’m not alone.” Besides the gardening club, there were also friends from church who came to the greenhouse to volunteer. She said they had a good time; they would throw worms at each other. She said, even if they didn’t learn anything about horticulture, Martingdale learned that people need each other.

A new family

Working in a flower shop she had grown accustom to having empathy for those who would come in for funeral flowers and say things like, “I lost my last sister.”

She, too, was afraid of losing Bruce.

“You lose people as you go through life,” Martingdale explained. “You then hand-pick your new family with qualities that mesh with your values.”
Her new family was the people of Farmersburg. Many of Karol’s customers are farmers, and she calls them “the salt of the earth.” She said one farmer gave her cash and told her that he trusted her to use it for her husband’s health care and any necessities. Then, he gave her an extra $50 and told her to specifically spend that money on herself. When she protested, he explained to her that she was his mission, and he wanted to help. He gave explicit instructions for her to spend $50 on something of her own enjoyment.