06/9/11

Showing Up: A story by Jim Pfitzer

Showing Up

The flowers in the whiskey barrels are watered, the farm stand is loaded with freshly harvested veggies, and a new bulletin board hangs by the door to the barn. All this is the work of Ron Bohrer, and he does it all with a smile.

For the past five years, Ron has been working at Crabtree doing a little bit of everything from cleaning and maintenance, to helping in the greenhouse to his regular Thursday gig of running the farm stand.

According to Joel Houser, “Ron just showed up one day and adopted us. Since then he has looked for any opportunity to make our lives easier. And he has found lots of them.”

Indeed, a couple weeks ago Ron showed up with a new park bench for the farm stand area. Last year he bought the farm a new barbecue grill and the year before that, it was a lawnmower.

But it isn’t the things Ron buys that most impresses Joel. He says that Ron’s biggest contribution is his attitude. “He always shows up and always has a smile on his face,” Joel says with a smile.

While Ron might have “just (shown) up,” there was a reason for his initial visit. In need of hours for the master gardener program, Crabtree seemed like a good place to volunteer. And volunteer, has he ever! Just recently, Ron received his One Hundred Hour Pin from the statewide Master Gardener Program.

And Ron seems to inspire others to help out as well. With the recent storm damage, he is raising money to replace the destroyed high tunnel and build a new much-needed greenhouse. Already up to $2000, Ron says they still need about $5000. When asked how he manages to raise that kind of money, Ron chuckles and says “calling friends.” When I suggested that he must have a lot of very good friends, his eyes lit up. “I got $1000 from my friend Shirley in Cincinnati!” he said.

When he isn’t at Crabtree, Ron spends a lot of time working in the flowerbeds of his own meticulously kept yard. He also crochets and knits (socks primarily) – something he has been up to for fifteen years. Even in his hobbies, Ron is always thinking of the farm. Recently he made and sold pot scrubbers, and often knits dishrags to sell-all of the proceeds going to Crabtree.

Watching Ron water flowers, one would never guess that he spent forty years teaching Latin and medical terminology at UTC and has a PhD in classics with a focus on ancient Greek homicide law. “I’m just fascinated by it,” he says of his doctoral topic. “Anything that’s unusual I like.”

Ron has traveled all over the world with Larry, his partner of 32 years-Europe, western Asia, North Africa, Alaska, and later this summer he will traveling to Sri Lanka with an old college buddy. I asked why he wasn’t taking Larry with him on this trip. “Too rustic,” he replied. “Larry’s idea of roughing it is going to the Holiday Inn because the Hiatt is full” he said with a hearty laugh.

Fortunately for us, no matter how far he roams, Ron always comes back home to Crabtree, and always in the gentle spirit of ahimsa, or non-violence to all living things-a philosophy represented by a tattoo on his calf, just above his argyle NBA socks, and clearly embraced by the man who when asked what he wanted folks to know about him smiled, laughed, and said, “I’m old.”

To learn about how YOU can volunteer at Crabtree Farms, click here.