By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

ATHENS, Ohio — After graduating from Ohio University, Chris Chmiel was looking for a way to make a living while staying true to his values and interest in sustainable organic food production. He and his wife, Michelle Gorman, purchased 18 acres in rural Athens County.

Here is where Chmiel started noticing the native tree Asimina triloba – better known as the pawpaw tree. After watching pounds of the tree’s fruit rotting on the ground, he decided to investigate further the potential uses for this native treasure, discovering that native cultures and frontiersmen alike had relied heavily on pawpaws for sustenance.

He was also pleasantly surprised to meet a whole movement of chefs, farmers, scientists and other pawpaw enthusiasts interested in returning the pawpaw into the diets of modern people.

Theirs is a true agriculture success story.

Chmiel’s and Gorman’s farm are just one of 42 stops during The Ohio State University extension’s Summer Farm Tour and Workshop Series. These free on-farm visits and learning workshops focus on sustainable agricultural and gardening enterprises and farming skills. The tours are throughout Ohio and will include such topics as organic and pasture-based dairy, berry production, direct marketing, cut flowers, rotational grazing, bioshelters, organic pork, composting, school gardens – and yes, even pawpaws.

“Getting pawpaws to the people, that’s what we’ve been doing since 1996,” said Chmiel, co-owner of Integration Acres Ltd.  “That year we first commercially offered freshly picked pawpaws. We then followed with our seedless frozen pawpaw pulp in 1998, followed by a line of jarred products in 2000.”

Integration Acres now helps local growers and gatherers in the region make money from a natural resource while preserving pawpaws from destruction.
“We harvest pawpaws and other products like spice bush berries, mushrooms, ramps and other forest-farmed crops, using agricultural techniques in harmony with nature,” Chmiel said. “We strive to use less fossil fuel energy to produce higher-quality fruit without the use of chemical herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers. And yes, we milk goats and make cheese, too.

“Over a decade ago we bought our first Nubian goats (Tiptoe and Tulip) to manage our mostly wooded acreage, devouring overgrown multiflora rose and Japanese honeysuckle. Now, the ever-growing herd has moved closer to our family farm where they graze and roam the premise.”

In the summer of 2007 the farm became an Ohio-licensed farmstead cheese operation and made its first batch of chevre. Two years later it added a modest aging room.

Chmiel, with the help of two trustworthy employees, oversees the herd and milking operation. Gorman is the primary cheese-maker. In the past few years the herd has grown to 50 milking does and the farm has expanded its cheese inventory.

Each farmer or researcher in this 42-stop tour is prepared to share their extensive experience with anyone interested in learning more. The tours are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted. The event is a collaborative effort between extension and the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Assoc., Innovative Farmers of Ohio and the Ohio Organic Crop Improvement Assoc. Chapter 1.

For a complete list of all tours in the series, go to www.go.osu.edu/DR3