Organic gardener Darren Crabb prepares for farmer's market

Darren R. Crabb wants you to be healthy.

"My goal is to grow healthy food to make people healthy," said Crabb Thursday while he showed off his organic garden plots located at 1046 state Route 34 just inside Pope County. His business is named Earth Safe Produce and he sells his produce at the Harrisburg Farmer's Market. The Market is held on Saturdays from June 8 to Oct. 12 at Harrisburg's Memorial Park. The hours are 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Crabb has done all his early planting and is ready to continue planting later crops.

He uses a tiller and shovels to form up his beds of produce. No chemicals of any kind are used on his plants. He fertilizes the soil with rotted sawdust, rotted horse manure and compost.

"I am just experimenting. This is my second year," he said.

Among his early plantings are onions, lettuce, garlic, spinach and broccoli. These plants like cool weather. He also has planted tomatoes, kale and brussel sprouts.

He plans to plant green beans, pole beans and bush beans. He will also plant squash, potatoes and cucumbers.

"Organic gardeners like to make the world a better place by helping people get healthy," he said.

"By the end of the day an organic gardener should smell like the soil. Gardening gets your feet on the ground. It makes you deal with reality," Crabb said.