Lake Clarke Shores woman checks off private farm tour from bucket list

Husband John pushes Susan into the van
for ride to Green Cay.

Susan Spencer-Wendel didn't know a private farm tour would be part of her bucket list, until Nancy Roe offered one.

Nancy, who runs Green Cay Farm west of Boynton Beach, operates the farm through the community supported agriculture program. She sells subscriptions "shares" to her farm, and in return, subscribers receive produce that she and her crew grow. 

One weekend each February, she opens Green Cay to her subscribers and their friends to see how they grow the vegetables and the innovative methods used to control pests and provide water to the crops.

Nancy graciously offered the private farm tour as an option when I asked whether the farm tour was wheelchair-accessible.



I began sharing part of my subscription with Susan and her family after I was overwhelmed last fall with salad greens, beets and corn. She thinks her husband John must have been "a rabbit in a past life" because he loves the greens so much. 

John examines, while Susan smiles.

I've known Susan for more than 20 years from working at The Palm Beach Post. She was the newspaper's courts reporter extraordinaire until the summer of 2011, a few months after she was diagnosed with ALS, or Lou G, as she calls it.

Often referred to as Lou Gehrig's Disease, for the famous baseball player whose career was shortened by it, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a progressive, fatal neuromuscular disease that slowly robs the body of its ability to walk, speak, swallow and breathe. 

Aubrey wears his red hoodie because the winds were brisk.

Susan is determined to live her days with joy and went on some bucket list trips with friends and family. Last fall, she finished her memoir, "Until I Say Goodbye," which she wrote mostly by using her right thumb on her iPhone. The book will be published in March, translation into many languages is underway and a separate company bought an option to create a movie.

She wrote about some of her bucket trips, which she calls "making memories," in The Post's Accent section. That's how Nancy knew of her and wanted to make her trip to the farm special. 

Wesley collects carrots and edible flowers in his bag.

Janet helps Wesley arrange his bag of veggies.

Last Sunday, on the coldest and brightest day of the year in South Florida, the Wendels drove down to the farm in their wheelchair-accessible van. Their sons, Aubrey and Wesley, came along, while daughter Marina, 15, stayed home to tend to their dogs, a French bulldog named Leonard that they just rescued and a pitbull-mix named Gracie that they also rescued.

I drove John's parents, Janet and Dick Wendel, who were visiting from Western Pennsylvania.

Nancy explains how to pollinate pumpkin flowers
to Janet, Susan and Dick.

As in most families, each Wendel liked a different part of the farm tour.

Sons Aubrey, 11, and Wesley, 9, enjoyed crossing the canals on rickety wooden bridges. Husband John liked seeing an osprey catch a fish in its claws and fly off. Susan's favorite part was listening to Nancy explain how they use reflective paper to surround the young tomato plant beds. That way, the aphids and other pests who navigate by the sun are tricked into thinking the beds are the sun and they fly away, allowing the plants to mature. 

Janet and Dick enjoyed seeing the variety of vegetables grown at Green Cay and comparing that to what their parents and grandparents grew.

The tour ends under the greenhouse where Nancy
 shows the microgreens grown for restaurants.
Notice the death grip John has on his bag of veggies!

On March 23, please join us for a Walk to Defeat ALS. If you sign up by Feb. 28 for the walk in Jupiter's Carlin Park, Susan will give you a SpenWen team shirt with a picture of her memoir on the front and the team name SpenWen on the back. (The walk starts at 10 a.m., but plan to get there by 9:30 a.m. for a team photo.)

If you don't live in the area or can't make the walk, please consider a donation to any of the team members. Research money is needed. After all, as Susan points out, it's been more than 70 years since Lou Gehrig died, and the cause of ALS remains a mystery. 

And now, for my numbers

I had my best walking day last week on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2013, when I walked:

Steps: 12,156

Miles: 6.1