> To bad Malabar isn't being managed like Bromfield really planned it. �He
> was a conservationsist way ahead of his time.
> He wanted what he raised �to marketed through the live stock and
> strongly believed �in making efficient use of grass, both
> as feed and a way to protect the soil. �They need someone that knows
> livestock and agriculture to manage the farm, not the
> tree huggers with Parks and Recreation. �I'm sadden more each time I
> stop...
I feel the same way. It's just another state park. I'm embarassed that we
stood by and let it happen. It's all messed up from what should have been.
I suppose the part I feel the worst about is the feeble parody of the old main
barn that burned.
By the way, a couple weeks ago, my daughter and I attended an auctioneers
meeting in the new Louis Bromfield Building at the Ohio Dept of Agriculture
site in Reynoldsburg, OH.
The building is a tribute to the "Boss". There is also a fine, larger than
life size, bronze stature of Bromfield in the lobby.
-----
We, American agriculture, sorely need another Malabar and another Louis
Bromfield.
It's impossible to overestimate the importance and influence of Louis
Bromfield.
Louie was the confidant of Governors, Presidents, Kings, and movie stars.
They gravitated to him. They came to his farm in droves, where he treated
them like farm hands. The worse he treated them, the better they like him.
He had them mowing hay and washing produce. Any weekend in summer, you could
buy tomatoes from an Academy award winning actress at Bromfield's wonderful
cast concrete produce stand.
On the other hand, common ordinary farmers also came, on Sundays, in droves to
Malabar, where Louis treated farmers like kings and presidents.
At the end of the day, Louie would load everybody up on hay wagons and haul
them up on top of Mount Jeez. From the pasture up there, you could look down
over the best known farm in the world (and six counties too).
The name, Mount Jeez, came from the only possible verbal response to looking
down off Mt Jeez. It was astounding.
Up there on Mount Jeez, Bromfield would proceed to tell the farmers (and
celebrities, industrialists, and politicials) that farming was the most
important, vital thing a person could do with his life. And he said in a way
that made it stick for a lifetime.
Many a man, including me, has looked back on a career in agriculture and hoped
that Louis Bromfield would have approved.
This message was coming from a man who was everywhere in American life.
He wasn't just a minor novelist, he was mainstream America.
Bromfield wrote the best selling books, he wrote the Academy award movies of
the time, he was the most sought after speaker in America, and most
importantly, he had the most popular radio show in the world, "The View From
the Farm". Bromfield was MAINSTREAM America.
Never before or since has there been a man that promoted agriculture to the
popular culture like Bromfield.
---
And there was ANOTHER. Bromfield wasn't the only great man at Malabar.
Max Drake was there too.
Max Drake was county 4-H agent here in Medina County where 55 years later some
older residents honestly believe Max was the greatest man they ever
encountered.
He engendered loyalty to a greater extent than any man I ever met. And Max
Drake was the Farm Manager at Malabar in the glory years.
Later he almost single handedly created the AI (artifical insemination)
industry. The same group of people followed Max Drake from 4-H in Medina
County, to Malabar, and on through his long career in AI.
Max Drake could have been President, or started his own religion, if he was so
inclined. People would have followed him. Or, if Bromfield would have
wanted to be President, Max Drake could have made that happen too.
And maybe they would have, if Bromfield had lived. He died decades before he
should have gone.
Malabar was the Camelot of America.
--
Kindest regards,
=======================
F. W. Owen
Owenlea Holsteins
9430 Spencer Road
Homerville, Ohio 44235
e-mail fwo@bright.net
home page http://www.bright.net/~fwo
voice & fax 330.625.2369
cell 330.635.2287
=======================
