SCFB Distinguished Service Award winners, Jerry and Toni Longville
Farming was the furthest thing from this couple’s minds when they were raising their children in Akron, Ohio. His grandparents were farmers in Pennsylvania and he would spend time in the summer helping with the family farm. Her grandfather was also a farmer and she grew to love animals like he did. They always dreamed of having a farm, but that dream was not realistic while living in the city.
Nonetheless, their home always had a garden and was always one with pets.
While their children were young, he worked for various car dealerships and she was a housewife. They both have had a lifetime of doing for and serving others. He has volunteered in various capacities for over thirty years. She began to volunteer her time when the children were small.
In the 1970s, they volunteered to open their home to a musical group called Up With People. They also volunteered as sponsors for a refugee family from Laos through the International Institute. They took the family grocery shopping, helped them secure jobs, took them to appointments, and taught them the basics regarding daily life in the United States. As if that was not enough, they opened their home to three foster newborns and three high school exchange students.
In the mid 1980s, while their girls were in high school and college, she took a part-time job and began attending college too. (Much to her daughters chagrin, she was in a few classes with them. Because she was such a good student, she threw off the grading curve for the entire class!) After several years of holding a job, attending school and raising the children, she graduated with both an Associates Degree and Bachelor Degree in Social Work from The University of Akron.
His work took him to Mansfield, Ohio in the late 1980s. They moved, while the children stayed in the Akron area as they were either married or attending college. The move to Mansfield, Ohio put her closer to The Ohio State University. She continued her education there, and eventually graduated summa cum laude with a Masters Degree in Social Work. She worked as a supervisor for Children Services in Richland County. They lived in Mansfield, Ohio for a few years but with retirement approaching and grandchildren and other family members in Akron, Ohio, they decided to move closer to everyone.
Having been so busy over the years, they were not sure how they would pass the time if neither of them had a job. Since they both always dreamed of having a farm, they began to look at acreage so that they could make their dream a reality. After finding land in Norton Ohio, they began to contemplate what animals to put on the farm. After visiting a few llama farms and seeing them at county fairs, one of them said, “’why not raise llamas?” – and the farm was born.
After spending an entire summer clearing the land for animals and receiving several bouts of poison ivy, the farm was ready. They started with six llamas and two dogs. They showed the llamas at fairs and won several fiber awards at state and national levels. They also started a modest garden and sold produce at local farmers’ markets. Their grandchildren began to help with the farm and their love for animals and gardening blossomed.
They have instilled the love of farming to the next generation – just as their family did.
When they came to learn what great fertilizer llama manure was, and that it contained no e. coli, they began to market their produce to local chefs and expanded the garden each year per the chef’s requests. If you have eaten at the Galaxy in Wadsworth, under the direction of Chef John Schulze (the Plow To Chow chef), or the former VegiTerranean, under the direction of Chef Scott Jones, you have probably eaten food grown by them.
While running their farm, they volunteer their time with Happy Trails. Whenever Happy Trails contacts them to help with a rescue or a fundraiser, they drop everything to help out. They are committed to helping abused animals. Although goats were not in the plan, they took four in, after Happy Trails rescued several abused and neglected goats and had no room for them at the Happy Trails facility. They always seem to make room for one more animal.
After being on the farm for about fifteen years, they decided to add chickens to the menagerie. Instead of putting an injured chicken down, she first tries to nurse it back to health. The farm had a limping hen in residence named Ilene that required her to wrap its leg every few days. She did this for almost two years. Ilene was more like a lap-dog than a chicken and thanked her by leaving an egg almost every day!
She even has a cat, Sapphire, that requires special care twice a day. Where most owners would put the cat down, she has committed herself to Sapphire’s care. Their compassion for animals has grown since owning the farm. They receive calls from their veterinarian daughter, any time someone drops off an unwanted pet to the veterinary clinic. Needless to say, the farm has been, and still is home to many ‘no longer wanted’ pets. All of the cats and dog that have made the farm their home have been rescued or abandoned.
For several years, he was a volunteer for the Barberton Area Community Ministries that provides a food pantry for Norton and Barberton residents. He picked up food from various stores and delivered it to the food pantry for distribution.
As members of the Summit County Farm Bureau since January 2000, they have been greatly involved in the membership committee and have brought in many new members. As an example, he was able to speak to the Galaxy Restaurant in Wadsworth, writing them as a member and working with them for food items for a Farmer Care/Share Breakfast. To the best of our knowledge he has been on the Farmer Care/Share Breakfast committee for at least six years (2009-2014). Most times, he is behind the scenes working and most people don’t notice. She has also been instrumental in helping to coordinate the event with her husband, as well as being an artisan presenter (Llama wool – spinner).
They have volunteered their time to work at the Summit County Fair each year, they have donated produce and time for many of the Farm Bureau’s fundraisers, she has donated time for the scholarship committee and he has served as a Board Trustee from 2006-2010. This year at our first Summit’s Plow to Chow, they donated a lot of tomatoes, walnuts, currants, herbs; he solicited for the chickens and got the donation as well as other assorted items from Acme.
They have four daughters and four grandchildren.
Please join us in congratulating the Summit County Farm Bureau’s 2014 Distinguished Service Award Honorees – Jerry & Toni Longville!