The Old Schmidt Greenhouse

    The other day I was searching through some of my old slides looking for some photos of my grandmother’s homestead, when I came across one of my favorite shots of my younger brothers.  The two smiling urchins you see standing in front of the greenhouse shed are Rob and Roy, identical twins, if you haven’t figured that out from the photo.  

    When this photo was taken, the twins were following in their big brother’s footsteps, by picking tomatoes and doing other jobs working in the Schmidt Greenhouse.  The old geezer sitting behind them polishing tomatoes is Sylvester Mohr, was also the long-employed farmhand that I also worked with a decade earlier when I was picking tomatoes.

    The Schmidt Greenhouse was a bit of an institution on the rural north side of Evansville, Indiana, for those people who loved big lush tasty tomatoes.  They sold to people who stopped in, but most of the tomatoes where boxed and sold to Evansville grocery stores. Hot House tomatoes, then later in the summer field tomatoes were grown.  During the late winter and early spring lettuce was grown in the greenhouse.  

    Working in the greenhouse was one of the first paying jobs I had in my youth.  I have vivid memories of fighting my way down the long, tall,  jungly, rows of tomato plants, lugging a half-bushel basket along with me, as I picked the tomatoes that were starting to redden.  I had to get to the greenhouse very early because we had to pick before the greenhouse got too hot and miserable.  I distinctly remember the dismay I felt with sweat running down my face and being slapped by a big tomato leaf as I pushed my way down the row of tomato plants.  

    I have fond memories of working along side Sylvester, who would continually tell me tall tales about how strong he was, and I often had to hide behind the tomato plants as he told them, because I didn’t want him to see skepticism on my face.  Although the work was often hot and sweaty and my hands always smelled like tomato plants, it was a wonderful environment for a kid to grow up in.

    Below is an airplane’s view of the Schmidt Greenhouse.

You can view my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca