Living Off The Land

Excerpt from article by Tony Di Domizio via The Reporter

Thaddeus Jett worked in the corporate world as a maintenance supervisor for 26 years when one day he decided he had enough.

"My blood pressure was sky high because I had so much stress," he said. "I took a step back and now I'm really enjoying life. Just to wake up with the sun and see it set, and you enjoy the rain and snow a little bit more now than you do at a factory."

Yet for the past four years, Jett has had a full-time job.

He grows his own chemical-free produce on an acre next to his Salford Township [PA] property off Ridge Road as Jett's Produce.

Jett reaps everything from beans to zucchini in plastic hoop houses called tunnels. He sells produce out of his stand on his property and also at the Lansdale Farmers Market.

"I started it mainly to grow and sell," he said. "To feed my family, that's the bonus."

Jett finds living off a few acres to be peaceful.

"It's no hustle and bustle as far as the corporate world was," he said. "You worked and worked and worked. For the amount of money I was getting doing that, I decided to make a living farming."

Jett has learned that growing your own food is very labor intensive.

"It was a rough year last year with all the rain," he said. "If it wasn't for the inside tunnels, I would have starved."

The rain wiped out almost every farmer in the Salford and Tylersport area, he said.

He said his vegetable sales this year have been good, but flower sales could be better.

He usually can yield 10 to 15 pounds of cold crops each season, he said. If he plants 100 cucumber plants, he can pick more than 1,500 cucumbers.

While Jett doesn't raise any animals, he does have another farmer growing grass-fed beef for him.

Living on a few acres, he said, makes you appreciate the little things.

"It brings you back to the earth," he said. "You don't have big-screen TVs, but all the needs are met."