EMMETT, IDAHO — Emmett farmer Ted Kovarik raises fruits, veggies, and animals to serve his neighbors and townspeople the freshest produce possible.
- Sonshine Acres has been running since 2016.
- Ted Kovarik found his passion for farming and agriculture during his deployments to Somalia.
- To contact the farmer and start a subscription click here.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
You can walk into any grocery store and find produce. But, one farmer in Emmett is giving locals the opportunity to have the freshest fruits and vegetables straight from their fields. I'm your Emmett neighborhood reporter Alexander Huddleston and I visited Sonshine Acres for this week's Made in Idaho
"Farming is kind of a long process for me, some of these crops we started months and months ago to get something like this giant zucchini and be able to have something thats over 14 pounds."
Kovarik has been advancing his garden since 2016, learning the ways of agriculture.
Kovarik continued,
"I grew up in Chicago, an urban environment and stuff. One of my last deployments was out in Somalia, and just the sight of those Somalian famine victims really did something to me. that was in my mind for decades. Like how can I grow things and how can I do it better."
The man from the Windy City says that he found his passion for farming through his experience in the Air Force.
Kovarik says it inspired him to go on trips to several countries and help show people how to successfully farm.
"A lot of it had to do with small-scale farming. Micro-farming operations where you could get at least one household to be able to grow food for themselves and raise a couple of animals for themselves."
So in 2016 Kovarik and his family bought the seven-acre property and started Sonshine Acres.
Kovarik continued,
"So that not only could we provide for our own household needs, but so we could provide some of the freshest produce for our community."
Kovarik raises fruits, vegetables, and animals on what is called a homestead-style farm.
"We are the second farm in the state of Idaho to be dual-certified by Homegrown by Heroes, and the other part of the certification is Idaho Preferred."
The farmer is very proud of these certifications, but Kovarik says nothing makes him feel better than being able to provide his neighbors with healthy fresh produce.
But, Kovarik says he knows that some produce may go unsold, so to control the waste, he takes orders.
"At the front of our farm, we do have a small farm stand, where on Fridays, we have Farm Stand Fridays, and people can come by and we have a nice harvest available. They get it the freshest. They may get stuff the day of or the day after it's harvested. What we've done is created a season membership, where people can pay for the whole season, then every week they are getting a produce pack, and when people tell us it was even better than the things they grow, that's what kind of encourages us and pushes us further.
