Nov. 12, 2009 - The Naeglin family has seen vegetable farming go full circle in the last century -- from a common and predominant form of farming, to the current surge in the market for locally-grown produce.
Marvin Naeglin, 20, represents the fifth generation to farm the area around Lytle, south of San Antonio. His great-great-grandfather bought the original land and grew peanuts and watermelons there around the turn of the last century.
"He passed it on to my grandfather," Marvin said during a busy day at the Austin Farmers Market. "My grandfather was in World War II and after he gave up the war he came home and started farming. My dad and his four kids ran it, and dad has kind of passed it down to us."
Today, Naeglin Farm produces a wide variety of vegetables and fruit year-round on 1,000 acres, selling from the family's own South Texas Farmers Market seven days a week, and also at other markets like the one in Austin. The farm also sells to large retailers like HEB and Wal-Mart. For the last five years, the farm has not used pesticides as it moves closer to organic production.
For the Naeglins, growing produce for local consumption is not a trend but a way of life, and has been for more than 100 years.
The way of life suits Marvin just fine, though he has known first-hand about the physical risks involved with agriculture from a very early age. He got his fingers tangled in a conveyor belt while the family was grading okra when he was four and had to have the fingers reattached.
"They came off perfectly clean," he said. "Fortunately, they were able to sew them back on."
By the time he was 8 years old, Marvin was packing okra and doing some of the many things that need to be done within an operation like Naeglin Farms. Today, he is active in all phases of the operation and knows that farming comes with a financial risk as well as a physical one.
"There are no guarantees in farming," he said. "You win and you lose. We lost some this year because of the drought. We were out at the tank every day of the week, and we had the pump running all the time. That gets expensive, and sometimes you're working in mud up to your hips."
Now, after a series of heavy rains, Marvin spends more time hoeing weeds than worrying about getting water to the plants. Rain or no rain, there is always work to be done on the farm.
"It's time consuming," he said. "My dad (Sonny Naeglin) is what you would call a workaholic. He doesn't sit around the house or anything like that. He's always doing something. We try to get through with everything before dark when we can. Last Friday, we built fence until four, then he let us go. He knows when we've done enough, when it's time to quit."
The Naeglin Farm's properties are not all continuous, but are scattered here and there around Lytle. They run cattle and horses on some of the land and raise their own hay.
"My brothers show a lot of steers at stock shows, and they do real well with those steers," Marvin said. "We keep all the heifers, and we're hay farmers too. We can raise it cheaper than we can buy it. We use about 200 round bales in the winter.
He compares the farming operation to a plant growing in the ground.
"It's like everything in life," he said. "You start it off small but it will grow."
Pete Naeglin, Marvin's uncle and Sonny's brother, raises peaches along with plums, persimmons and pears. He also plans to plant some apple trees in January.
"The peaches are about 95 percent of my business," he said. "We have about 400 trees. It's been dry for the last two years, but we've managed."
The family takes care of most of the work that needs to be done on the farms. During watermelon and cantaloupe picking times, they employ area school kids who learn first-hand about the hard work associated with growing food.
"This kind of work keeps you busy," Marvin said. "It helps keep some of these kids who work out here from doing drugs. It's the kind of work that takes the attitude right out of you. You learn a lot doing this. You learn a lot about life."
