News
Dragoon farmer known for melons
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| Home grower: Dragoon resident Leo Dunaetz has been growing vegetables and melons for 80 years. He sells his goods at the Sierra Vista Farmers Market. He's pictured at left at a recent Vail-area farmers market. The St. David Farmers Market is held each Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Thelma Grimes/photo.) |
Seasonal produce a hit with buyers
Shar Porier/Wick communications
One Dragoon truck farmer barely has time to get his truck unloaded before people start lining up to buy his cantaloupes and watermelons.
Eighty-three-year-old Leo Dunaetz has been one of the vendors at the Sierra Vista Farmers Market for the past four years, and in that time has found a loyal following in the produce he grows without using pesticides or chemical fertilizer. He offers vine-ripened tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, purple okra (less slimy than its green counterpart), onions and other seasonal produce.
Dunaetz's father was a farmer, and he grew up in the farming country of Michigan, so he's been at this a long, long time.
"I'd think after 75 to 80 years growing things, you ought to have learned some things about growing vegetables," he said as he weighed up a 20-pound yellow watermelon.
He grows both red and yellow watermelon, but said he prefers the sweetness of the yellow rattlesnake watermelon seed he came across as a grower in California. Asked how he determines which melons are ripe to pick, he casually said, "Watch for the bees. They go to the sweetest melons." While that might help outside in your own garden, most people try the tap-method and listen for the sound. That is "unreliable," though, he said.
Another source of pride are those luscious, juicy cantaloupes. You can't take a bite without it drizzling down the front of your shirt. He often offers samples to his customers and those who are new to his location.
"If you don't like it, bring it back and I'll refund your money. I want everybody to be satisfied with their purchase," he tells a passing woman.
Lourdes Frankel from Sierra Vista waited patiently as Dunaetz unpacked more cantaloupes. "I've been coming here to Leo ever since I discovered how delicious his melons were," she said. "And he doesn't use chemicals. For me that's important due to a chemical sensitivity."
At Dunaetz's age, he needs help tending the four-and-a-half-acre natural garden. Brandon Camp, a 19-year-old who lives near Dunaetz, has learned a lot from the old farmer and likes helping him out with the planting, weeding, tying up tomato vines and picking crops as they ripen.
"It's hard work. And it gets hot, but I like it," Camp said.
Dunaetz has worked the soil at his farm in the Dragoons since he moved here four years ago to make it the sweet soil that most crops require for optimum growing. Now, the ground gets regular dressings of composted cow manure that adds organic matter to the soil and sulfur to counteract the high alkalinity content.
However, he pointed out, you do have to rotate the heavy feeders like tomatoes year to year so that the soil has time to recover.
Dunaetz also gets help from son Forrest who comes every Friday to offer assistance.
"He puts in three days in one," said Dunaetz with a smile. "I can't keep up with him."
Now that the monsoon is here, more time is spent in the garden to carefully turn the melons so that the bottom side does not rot.
"You need to use some sort of mulch to keep the melons from directly touching the ground," he said.
Over the years, he has found certain seed types that produce well in dry climates and maintain a good taste. Most of the produce he sells comes from his own personal taste preferences.
He starts planting root crops in February and keeps adding veggie varieties through April. In the early part of the growing season, weeds didn't present much of a problem. Now that the rains have come, that has changed and hours have to be spent weeding.
The tomatoes also need special attention as the vines continue to grow and have to be tied to poles that reach up seven feet.
He and his customers still talk about the two gigantic 51-pound watermelon he grew last year. No one wanted to buy the enormous melons, so he cut them in half. When that didn't entice people, he then split them into quarters. That worked.
So how does he manage to keep the voracious hornworms (caterpillars of hawk moths which also are pollinators), grasshoppers and squash bugs at bay? He gets a little family help there, too. His 4-year-old grandson enjoys eliminating the pests by stomping on them. The rest of the job is done by hand-picking, a lot of hand-picking.
When Dunaetz arrived in the morning last Thursday, he predicted he would have a slow day and wouldn't move much of his produce. By noon, his predictions were proven wrong as the market began filling up with customers.
"Looks like I'll have a good day after all," he said as he started to weigh up veggies for his waiting customers.
Shar Porier/Wick communications
One Dragoon truck farmer barely has time to get his truck unloaded before people start lining up to buy his cantaloupes and watermelons.
Eighty-three-year-old Leo Dunaetz has been one of the vendors at the Sierra Vista Farmers Market for the past four years, and in that time has found a loyal following in the produce he grows without using pesticides or chemical fertilizer. He offers vine-ripened tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, purple okra (less slimy than its green counterpart), onions and other seasonal produce.
Dunaetz's father was a farmer, and he grew up in the farming country of Michigan, so he's been at this a long, long time.
"I'd think after 75 to 80 years growing things, you ought to have learned some things about growing vegetables," he said as he weighed up a 20-pound yellow watermelon.
He grows both red and yellow watermelon, but said he prefers the sweetness of the yellow rattlesnake watermelon seed he came across as a grower in California. Asked how he determines which melons are ripe to pick, he casually said, "Watch for the bees. They go to the sweetest melons." While that might help outside in your own garden, most people try the tap-method and listen for the sound. That is "unreliable," though, he said.
Another source of pride are those luscious, juicy cantaloupes. You can't take a bite without it drizzling down the front of your shirt. He often offers samples to his customers and those who are new to his location.
"If you don't like it, bring it back and I'll refund your money. I want everybody to be satisfied with their purchase," he tells a passing woman.
Lourdes Frankel from Sierra Vista waited patiently as Dunaetz unpacked more cantaloupes. "I've been coming here to Leo ever since I discovered how delicious his melons were," she said. "And he doesn't use chemicals. For me that's important due to a chemical sensitivity."
At Dunaetz's age, he needs help tending the four-and-a-half-acre natural garden. Brandon Camp, a 19-year-old who lives near Dunaetz, has learned a lot from the old farmer and likes helping him out with the planting, weeding, tying up tomato vines and picking crops as they ripen.
"It's hard work. And it gets hot, but I like it," Camp said.
Dunaetz has worked the soil at his farm in the Dragoons since he moved here four years ago to make it the sweet soil that most crops require for optimum growing. Now, the ground gets regular dressings of composted cow manure that adds organic matter to the soil and sulfur to counteract the high alkalinity content.
However, he pointed out, you do have to rotate the heavy feeders like tomatoes year to year so that the soil has time to recover.
Dunaetz also gets help from son Forrest who comes every Friday to offer assistance.
"He puts in three days in one," said Dunaetz with a smile. "I can't keep up with him."
Now that the monsoon is here, more time is spent in the garden to carefully turn the melons so that the bottom side does not rot.
"You need to use some sort of mulch to keep the melons from directly touching the ground," he said.
Over the years, he has found certain seed types that produce well in dry climates and maintain a good taste. Most of the produce he sells comes from his own personal taste preferences.
He starts planting root crops in February and keeps adding veggie varieties through April. In the early part of the growing season, weeds didn't present much of a problem. Now that the rains have come, that has changed and hours have to be spent weeding.
The tomatoes also need special attention as the vines continue to grow and have to be tied to poles that reach up seven feet.
He and his customers still talk about the two gigantic 51-pound watermelon he grew last year. No one wanted to buy the enormous melons, so he cut them in half. When that didn't entice people, he then split them into quarters. That worked.
So how does he manage to keep the voracious hornworms (caterpillars of hawk moths which also are pollinators), grasshoppers and squash bugs at bay? He gets a little family help there, too. His 4-year-old grandson enjoys eliminating the pests by stomping on them. The rest of the job is done by hand-picking, a lot of hand-picking.
When Dunaetz arrived in the morning last Thursday, he predicted he would have a slow day and wouldn't move much of his produce. By noon, his predictions were proven wrong as the market began filling up with customers.
"Looks like I'll have a good day after all," he said as he started to weigh up veggies for his waiting customers.
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