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July 10, 2007

He's Haverhill's final farmer

By Mike LaBella, Staff Writer

HAVERHILL | Call him the Lone Ranger of Haverhill farmers.

Wally Lesiczka was the only farmer at the city's farmers market when it began in 1978. Today, he's alone again | sometimes joined by a local fruit farmer but the only remaining vegetable farmer selling cucumbers, squash, cabbage and other locally grown produce at the annual summertime market at the edge of downtown.

During several of the years between 1978 and now, other farmers joined him at the market. But as Haverhill changed from a city of farms to a city of new homes that ate up farmland, Lesiczka lost his partners.

Lesiczka, you might say, is the last man standing.

"My father's big saying was to hang on and that someday there won't be any farms left and I'll be rich," Lesiczka said. "He was right about not having any farms left, but wrong about my becoming rich."

Located on Bailey Boulevard next to GAR Park, the farmers market has been popular among many inner city residents eager to purchase freshly picked and locally grown vegetables.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, more than a dozen local farmers were selling their crops at the market. Even in the 1990s, several farmers peddled their produce there.

But now it's only Lesiczka, along with a local apple and peach farmer.

Lesiczka and his wife, Stephanie, will open their stand on Saturday for the first time this year. They expect in late August to be joined by the owners of Fay's Farm, an apple and peach farm on Amesbury Line Road in Merrimac.

"I was the first, and it looks like I'm the last," Lesiczka said. "Other farmers sold their land, some passed away, some retired and some downsized. Then there are the problems of operating a farm, which include the high cost of labor, increased prices of diesel fuel, fertilizer and pesticides."

Farmers like Lesiczka also must contend with foes provided by Mother Nature, including insects, which have been eating more and more of his crop each year. Then there are the raccoons with their desire for sweet corn, and wild deer, which nibble on young pumpkins. Deer destroyed about one-third of Lesiczka's pumpkin crop last year.

"The coyotes used to keep the raccoon population down, but now they're eating my corn," Lesiczka said. "We lost about one-third of our corn crop to coyotes."

The farmers market began on Bailey Boulevard, then moved to the parking lot of Friend's Landing lounge where it operated for several years before returning to the boulevard two years ago.

Lesiczka's first offerings of the season will include peas, pickling cucumbers, cucumbers, cabbage, carrots, beets, red skin potatoes, summer squash, zucchini squash and possibly string beans.

"We're about a week or so away from an early variety of butter and sugar corn," he said.

In a few weeks, patrons of the farmers market can expect to see the stand bursting with tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and other warm-season crops. Locally grown apples and peaches, provided by James and Diane Fay, will be available starting in mid- to late August.

Haverhill's farms and farmers have disappeared for a variety of reasons, Lesiczka said. Some farm owners have died, others have downsized their operations, while some have outright sold their land to developers.

"Some farmers realized they could sell their land and live easy the rest of their lives," Lesiczka said. "It's hard to make a living in farming. I have to supplement my income by driving a school bus and a tour bus."

One local farmer, George Allison, used to sell corn, squash, tomatoes and other summer vegetables at the farmers market. Allison turned his attention to growing blueberries about five years ago and now caters to that market exclusively.

"Business changed, and we decided just to grow blueberries and sell them wholesale," Allison said.

The farmers market can be a convenient place for inner city residents to shop for fresh farm products they would otherwise have to drive miles to obtain.

Some farmers market customers in Haverhill participate in a federal nutrition program that provides them with coupons that they use to buy fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs from farmers, farmers markets or roadside stands that have been approved by the state agency to accept the coupons.

"A lot of people who get these coupons turn them in at our farmers market," Lesiczka said. "And because of our downtown location, a lot of people who can't get out come to us."

---

Haverhill's annual farmers market

Where: Bailey Boulevard next to GAR Park

When: Every Saturday, starting this Saturday, through the fall

Hours: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Local vendors: Wally and Stephanie Lesiczka, James and Diane Fay in August



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