HANCOCK COUNTY – Plantings swayed gently in the cool breeze as Gary Mithoefer took a break from tending to his garden.
“You can be back here and you don’t hear much,” he said. “Sometimes it’s very quiet, peaceful.”
He’s part of the fourth generation of his family to know that feeling, after his great-grandfather started a farm on the property over 150 years ago.
The state recently recognized that longevity with a Hoosier Homestead Award. His family was one of two in Hancock County to receive the accolade this month.
Deerburg farm
Mithoefer’s family farm is on 85 acres north of U.S. 40 between Mt. Comfort Road and CR 700W. His great-grandfather, Henry Deerburg, originally settled there in 1869 after immigrating from Germany with wooden trunks that remain in the family.
After Deerburg passed away, his land was split among his three sons, one of whom was Mithoefer’s grandfather, and that portion remains in the family.
Mithoefer remembers when his grandparents ran the farm, they grew corn, oats, wheat, hay and possibly some soybeans. They also raised cattle, hogs, sheep and chickens, and had an egg route in Irvington. His grandfather stopped farming in the late 1940s/1950s and rented out the cropland but kept up with the livestock before that eventually dwindled as well.
Mithoefer’s grandparents also gardened vegetables and fruit trees on the property, an activity his late father continued and now he does with his nephew, John Snedeker. There’s about a half-acre across several patches producing an array of fruits and vegetables, which they sell at farmers markets in Cumberland and New Palestine.
While Mithoefer’s mother was raised on the farm, he grew up in Indianapolis but visited regularly. He has fond memories of coming out with his parents and sister to take care of chickens and other chores while his grandparents were away on vacation. He’d also stay there in the summers to attend a nearby vacation Bible school.
Mithoefer has been interested in gardening since he was a young boy, when he sold vegetables door to door near his home, where his family also had a garden. He earned a degree in agriculture from Purdue University, but after receiving training in the U.S. Army for testing soils, aggregates, concrete and asphalt, he went on to a career in the transportation sector.
But he never lost the joy of being outside and watching things grow.
“I always liked farming, kind of wanted to be a farmer, but it just never worked out to be able to farm, so this kind of takes the place of farming,” said Mithoefer, who’s also a master gardener and a graduate of the Indiana Agricultural Leadership Development Program.
He said he and his nephew enjoy going to the farmers markets and interacting with customers as well.
“It’s amazing the connections of different people that you talk to from the years past,” he said.
Mithoefer is proud of the Sesquicentennial Hoosier Homestead Award and the 150 years it represents. As he reflected on that history, he said he’s not yet sure what the farm’s future holds.
“In this area, we’ve been fortunate,” he said, noting it hasn’t developed as quickly as north of Interstate 70 or other counties surrounding Marion County. “It just depends on what takes place. It’s hard to predict the future. You never know. So we just kind of keep operating as we have for a number of years.”
Storm-Spencer farm
David Spencer, a lifelong Greenfield resident, is part of a family that recently received Centennial and Sesquicentennial Hoosier Homestead Awards for a farm that started in 1845 in Jefferson County.
“My mom had said that the farm had been in the family forever, and I finally thought – well, what does forever mean?” he said.
They found the abstract for the farm and brought it to a lawyer, who researched it back to 1845.
“It was like this ancient scroll,” Spencer said.
Spencer’s mother, Thelma “Tink” Spencer, has owned the farm for 62 years. Her late first husband’s family started the farm.
“My mom was really excited about going down to the state fair last week, and I think it brought back a lot of memories of my brother and her first husband,” he said. “She was very proud and excited.”
Spencer said over the 177 years the farm has raised cattle, corn, wheat, soybeans, timber and — until the mid-1980s — tobacco.
“I remember as a kid spending quite a bit of time down there with my older brother and we would camp and target shoot, different things like that,” he said. “I can remember, when you go down there – even to this day – there’s so little man-made light that you can really see every star in the sky. It’s a great place to unplug and get away.”
He noted a lot has happened in the U.S. throughout the time the farm has existed, including a civil war, world wars and pandemics.
“It’s pretty interesting when you think about your past and your ancestors and the people that came before you,” he said. “…A lot of people have come and gone, and to be able to keep it in the family that long, and to keep it being a productive, contributing farm that helps feed America is pretty cool.”
Indiana State Department of Agriculture Director Bruce Kettler, left, stands with Greenfield resident David Spencer; Spencer’s mother, Thelma “Tink” Spencer; Spencer’s daughter, Avery Spencer; and Indiana Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch at the Indiana State Fair on Aug. 17. The family received Centennial and Sesquicentennial Hoosier Homestead Awards for a farm established in 1845 in Jefferson County.
Submitted photo
