PANA - Following her grandfather around the farm west of Pana at the age of 8 or 9, Deonne Orvis remembers patches of green when the drought was causing patches of brown on the farms all around.

"He mulched; that's what I remember," she said.

Orvis fell in love. She promised the land then that someday she'd return to care for it. And that she did 35 years ago. Today, walking the land that she loves, she's proud to say that no chemical pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers have been put into that soil since she took over.

Now, Orvis has entered the land into another chapter. In its second year is a Community Supported Agriculture venture with Garrick Veenstra of Taylorville to provide organic vegetables for those who buy shares in the organization.

"I farm because it is a commitment to myself," said Veenstra. If you want to be involved in environmental activism, you have to do something yourself, he believes.

Veenstra said he first apprenticed on an organic vegetable farm near Peoria before entering into White Oak Farm/Veenstra's Vegetables CSA. He now oversees about four acres of Orvis' land dedicated to the organic vegetable operation.

"We talk in row feet," he explained, pointing out the 1,400 feet to be planted just in peas with such varieties as snow and snap.

Among other offerings are 12 varieties of lettuce, which will be repeated in plantings every two weeks throughout the season. There are 23 varieties of tomatoes, 13 choices of garlic. There also are edamame (edible soybeans), okra, leeks and kohlrabi. While not all of the vegetables fall into the heirloom category, he does use the vintage ones when he can.

"We have 40 different kinds of vegetables, more than 200 varieties," he said, plus some varieties of watermelon and cantaloupe.

About 100 feet long, the vegetable rows are slightly raised and heavily mulched between them. That conserves the water when it rains - the gardens are only hand-watered when seedlings get their initial heavy dose. The mulch also cuts down on weeds. They count on birds to help in curbing the insect population.

Rows are planted exactly far enough apart to allow Veenstra to maneuver the stirrup hoe around and between plants when he's not weeding by hand. He gets weeding help from his mother Jeanne Veenstra of Springfield and garden help from Tom Wise, a cousin of Orvis'.

The land devoted to the vegetables has a cover of rye or hairy vetch over the winter months which helps return nutrients to the soil. Before the rye goes to seed, it's tilled into the soil for the added organic matter to become the garden base.

The acreage devoted to gardens doesn't include the green house where seeds get their start in a soil mixture Veenstra prepares. In another labor-intensive operation, seeds are planted in soil cubes of less than an inch. When the seed has sprouted, those tiny soil cubes are inserted into a larger cube of the same mixture until the seedling reaches maturity for planting.

"We try to keep as much on the farm as we can," said Orvis.

That means using their own hay for mulching and creating and maintaining, then using a compost pile that's about 75 feet long.

The farm is not solely devoted to vegetables. Orvis has about 30 head of cattle with five new calves this spring. Aracuna poultry roam freely around the farm and Choco, a chocolate Labrador mix dog rescued from the pound, keeps guard on the vegetables at night. Choco's presence helps keep the deer from having their own nightly harvest, said Veenstra.

Arlene Mannlein can be reached at amannlein@herald-review.com or by calling 421-6976.