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Tradition continues on Shine family farm

posted 9.07.08 on The Mountain Mail online

By Merrell Bergin-special to the Mountain Mail

Colorado Farm To Table continues the Salida association with the Shine family farm.

For 90 years the Shine family has owned the land near CR 150 and Colo. 291. Frank Shine, an immigrant from Austria and his wife, Frances, raised six children there. In 1936 they deeded the 25 acres to their son John Shine, Sr. and his wife, Doris, who at 90 years old, still lives there.

Several years ago, Colorado Farm To Table, a local non-profit organization,

Courtesy photo Rich Shine and his mother Doris stand in a corn field at the Colorado Farm to Table operation near Colo. 291. The Shine family owns the property and have donated use of the land to the organization which raises food for those who need it most. The farm has been lush with vegetables during the past four seasons.

lost use of land at the Vandaveer Ranch and was seeking to expand its mission of providing fresh produce, free, to food banks and charities throughout Colorado.

At the same time, Doris and son Rich Shine, were facing challenges with their farm land. A series of tenants who grazed cattle left and there was no one else to work the land. They sought a way to keep their farm productive in good hands.

In early 2005, Doris and Rich were introduced by a neighbor, Mike Goodwin, to Tony Madone, project manager for Colorado Farm To Table.

After several meetings, a unique agreement was reached. The Shines would donate use of their land to Colorado Farm To Table to raise food for those who need it most.

For four seasons, the farm has been lush with a variety of vegetables tended and harvested by local volunteers. This summer, the land grows tall rows of corn and numerous kinds of squash.

A recent interview with Doris and Rich Shine coincided with the visit of more than a dozen children and staff members from Presbyterian Church in Denver, Chaffee County 4-H and Chaffee County Montessori School.

Madone explained, "We wanted to give the children an opportunity to tour the farm, see our vintage equipment in action, meet Doris and Rich, and learn that together we can fight hunger by keeping this land productive as it has been for generations."

Rich Shine added, "I have been involved in a helping profession for years (speech and language pathology), working with children who stutter and those who have articulation/phonology impairments.

"It's great to see these young people on our land learning about the Salida farming heritage and how they can help lessen hunger in our state.

"Coming here today brings back many memories of growing up on this farm and how far my journey has taken me."

Although the economy is hard on families, Salida farm life in the mid-1930s posed challenges hard to imagine in this digital age. The original Shine home had two rooms and no indoor plumbing.

John Sr. was mechanically inclined. He worked for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad and many years for the county road and bridge department.

When a grandmother, blind from cataracts, came to stay in 1941, more room was needed so a log cabin was built for Rich and his older brother John, Jr. (Sonny). Two rooms and a wash room were added to the house.

The boys carried water from the spring and pulled a hand cultivator behind them in the vegetable garden. Classes for grades 1-8 were in the two-room Smeltertown Elementary School.

Doris Shine remembers not having a car and pushing a buggy all the way to town with the boys inside, and a box on the back to tote groceries home.

As the children grew, they learned to help with everything on the farm - tending cattle and hogs and raising rabbits they sold to Vaughn's Market on G Street for meat. The family smoked meats, made kielbasa and blood sausage and made soap from lye, letting no scrap of an animal go to waste.

Through the years, the farm produced corn, potatoes, peas, radishes, string beans and carrots in addition to alfalfa, barley, wheat and oats. And there were always apples, rhubarb, peaches and other vegetables canned and put up for the winter. A considerable bounty and reward, but earned the hard way, with long days and nights, 365 days a year.

At 15 years old, Rich and Sonny planted, grew and harvested the wheat crop receiving $300 each when the wheat sold at market.

The boys each used half their earnings to buy a 1937 Plymouth from their parents - fondly remembered as The Bumblebee, after being jazzed up with a black and yellow paint job and dual exhausts.

In addition to farm chores, Rich learned to play several musical instruments.

"I learned accordion by ear," he said, "and entertained for pay with the 'Melody Makers,' a local dance band."

He admitted to being too involved the "rock-'n-roll" of the 1950s and not applying himself "too much" in his early school days.

He graduated from Salida High School in 1955 and earned his first degree in speech and hearing sciences at Colorado State College (now University of Northern Colorado).

Inspired by pioneering professor Verne Ahlberg at UNC, Rich learned radically new ideas about how to help young children who stuttered - lessons he would apply through the rest of his career.

Many years and several degrees later, Dr. Shine is retired as professor emeritus from East Carolina University.

It's a long way from farm life in Salida to Greenville, N.C., where Rich and his wife, Lynn, raised their two children, Eric and Andrea and live today.

"Looking back, what I remember is our hard work paid off. I worked my way through college and owe a lot to teachers and coaches who believed in me.

"The lessons we learned on the farm about self-reliance and helping our friends and neighbors were important - then and now. We've been fortunate enough to travel to Europe - imagine my mom in Italy and Monaco - quite different from her childhood home in tiny Almena, Kan."

The Shine's cheery home has been modernized through the years, but still features a coal stove in the living room for heating and a combination wood and electric stove in the kitchen

Doris Shine stacks the wood as Rich cuts it during his summer "vacation." Doris still puts in a good morning of work around the house and grounds every day.

Meanwhile, back on the farm, another "teacher" was completing a hands-on explanation in the field.

Visiting children heard about the micro-climate of Salida and what makes the Shine farm unique.

Tony Madone told the group, "Our planting, cultivating and fertilizing equipment is adapted specifically to this piece of land and our short growing season.

"Farms not 50 miles away (in Cañon City) have very different needs, and of course, how we manage our water is critical to the harvest.

"I hope after today you all understand more about how our food gets to the table and all the good these vegetables will do helping feed people in need across Colorado."

Based upon the challenging questions from children, they soaked up a lot about farming and how much work it takes to grow food.

They were impressed Colorado Farm To Table gives it away, helping neighbors and strangers alike. And for the youths, lessons learned from the visit will stay with them long after they return home.

Rich Shine said, "It's an honor and a blessing for us to be able to help the work of Colorado Farm to Table by allowing them to farm our land.

"At the start, we had no idea how it would turn out, but Tony and the volunteers have made us very proud of our land and what it can do for others.

"These folks care so much about what they are doing - they track every ear of corn as if it were a personal gift."

For thousands of needy people who may never meet Doris and Rich, the generosity of the Shine family is a key ingredient in the mission of Colorado Farm to Table year after year.

From all of us, thank you!

Merrell Bergin is a Salida resident and volunteer for Colorado Farm to Table.