By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent POWELL, Ohio — When their five-year-old son, Max, died in 2004, Eric and Stephanie Niemeyer wanted to do something in rememberance of Max. A five-acre crop of pumpkins on their six-acre rural lot in Delaware County was just the thing.
Max was born in 1999 and within hours of his birth doctors noticed Max had seizures and suspected something was wrong. After a spinal tap and a CT scan doctors diagnosed Max as having a rare brain disorder called lissencelpaly. The structure of the brain was not properly formed.
“At an age when most babies are beaming ear to ear, Max was hidden behind a face of seizures,” Stephanie said. “We spoke with many specialists and none of them knew what his future held.”
In an ideal world such things aren’t supposed to happen to a couple’s first-born. According to this couple, faith, the power of prayer and a loving community got them through this horrific ordeal. Max died in September 2004.
“That winter my wife and I wanted to do something to memoralize Max, and to give back to the community, which was so supportive of us,” Eric said. “We decided to make the fall harvest time a time to remember Max since he was born and died in the month of September, so we started with five acres of pumpkins on our six-acre lot. At first I was scared, because I couldn’t even grow grass. I was not raised in a farming family and didn’t do any type of farming.”
There was no charge for the pumpkins they grew. They were given to all visitors who visited the pumpkin patch.
“By doing this we could see kids enjoy the patch, help educate them on what it’s like to grow things and it would remind us of Max,” Eric said. “Plus, I always dreamed of living on a farm and being a farmer. This allowed me to fulfill that dream.”
Though the pumpkins were free, any money donations went directly to the Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus or other children’s charities across the world. In 2007, their contributions through their church led to the creation of aids clinics in Ghana and Honduras, clinics that were named in Max’s honor.
“It wasn’t our doing, they just named the clinics in honor of Max,” Eric said. “We feel God has used Max in a lot of places and Max has affected a lot of lives. This has all been a great blessing to us all.”
In 2008, the couple purchased a 145-acre farm and still continue to donate pumpkins to the community from a five-acre pumpkin patch. They open their pumpkin patch with a Harvest Celebration, held the last Saturday in September. The annual event also includes a hog roast with a live band and clowns.
“Everyone is welcome,” Eric added.
Today, the family tends to 400 acres named MadMax Farms, five of those still in pumpkins. The bulk of the property contains field corn, sweet corn and soybeans. Not bad coming from a man specializing in energy risk management and one who knew nothing about farming five years ago.
“I had no farm equipment to start with,” Eric said, “now I own a full line of equipment I acquired through auctions. And I’ve been lucky. My first year, I averaged 55 bushel to the acre in soybeans and 208 bushel to the acre in corn. God’s hand has been in there all the time.”
The Niemeyers are always on the lookout for more acreage. Even so, they’ll always set aside five acres for pumpkins in remembrance of Max.
“I’m passionate about farming,” Eric said. “If I can get to where I can farm 800 acres, I’d do this full-time.” |
