By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

DAYTON, Ohio — For the past 17 years, Nick Monnin has worked third shift in a factory and toiled on his 45-acre fruit farm during the daylight hours.

Just recently Nick said goodbye to the pay and benefits of the factory to spend time with his family and their fruit farm.

Monnin’s Fruit Farm got its start in 1962 by Nick’s grandfather, Homer. Nick’s father raised seven children on the farm located about 10 miles northwest of Dayton. To this day four of those children are employed full-time at the farm.

“We’ve always had about 45 acres on this farm, though there was a time dad had to sell a few acres here and there to make ends meet,” Nick said. “I’m glad he’s kept it in the family because this is what I’ve done my entire life.”

Sharing responsibility for tending to this popular fruit farm on Frederick Road is Nick’s wife, Rita, brother Glenn, and sisters Kathy and Debby. Nick’s mother, Phyllis, also has a hand in the daily operation.

There a few other well-known farm markets in the Dayton area, but none quite as popular as Monnin’s.

“People come here from all over because we grow a lot of fruit and vegetables on this fertile soil,” Nick said. “We grow peas, strawberries, grapes, cherries, peaches, apples, cucumbers, green beans, squash, canteloupe, tomatoes and cabbage. Many of our cabbage heads weigh up to 28 pounds.”

Fresh corn at Monnin’s is trucked in by friends who live in Ross and Springfield. In exchange Nick sends these people fruit and veggies that come from his farm.

The Monnins credit the success of growing 1,000 apple trees, 450 peach trees and six acres of raspberries to the help they’ve received from experts at Ohio State University.

“The folk at OSU have had the answers to all our growing concerns,” Nick said. “We had trouble with the strawberry root weevil until they helped us with that problem. Last year we were carrying water to our strawberries to keep the cold frost from ruining our strawberries. Experts at OSU advised us to utilize plastic tarps that would protect them and keep the berries moist. This past spring the temperature got down to 19 degrees with full blooms and we didn’t lose a berry.”

And like many growers the Monnins take this niche a little further with offerings in the fall.

“We allow the visitors to visit our fields, pick pumpkins and have picnics on the grounds, but we don’t have the manpower to give rides to the fields. We do allow them to drive their cars out into those fields, though, and have a picnic.”

This farm news was published in the July 11, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.