Disclaimer: This is a repost. It didn't get a lot of exposure the first time, and it's pretty important to me.
"That oil is our hope," Jim Crosby said Wednesday. "In each bottle is all my hope, my dreams and my prayers."
The Crosby Mint Farm is the oldest mint farm in the country, located in St. John's, MI. Founded in 1912 by Jim and Linette Crosby's great-grandfather. The 140 acre farm is in danger of being taken by the bank.
Crosby still circa 1925
They have only until Saturday, November 1, 2008, to sell 70,000 62,000 bottles of peppermint and spearmint oil to make up the $348,000 they need to keep the lender from confiscating their equipment and inventory.
The representative of Greenstone Farm Credit Services stated that even if they didn't have the money on November 1, it would take a few days to get things started on a takeover anyway, so I think we should ignore the deadline and do what we can.
From their original plea in August
East Lansing-based Greenstone Farm Credit Services, the only bidder, purchased the 140-acre farm for $300,000 during the auction at the Clinton County Courthouse. Now, Linette Crosby and Jim Crosby have 12 months to eliminate their $635,000 debt. Linette Crosby said the time will be used to revamp the farm and its grass, a source of bio fuel, with the aid of Craig Limpach, a biologist and landscape architect for Genius Loci Inc., an Elyria, Ohio-based land restoration company. Limpach already has drafted blueprints for the possible alterations, Linette Crosby said.
The history of the farm has deep local roots. In 1912, J.E. Crosby Sr. founded the farm on 2 acres, and it has become one of the oldest continuously operating mint farms in the country. By selling an array of goods besides peppermint and spearmint oil, the owners said they are widening their consumer base and diversifying. Jim Crosby said one of his main goals is to sell products that showcase mint's various medical and therapeutic properties. "I've been trying to help people be more sustainable through using our product," he said. With nearly 100 years of family history surrounding the farm, Crosby said a piece of him is sold with each bottle. "Every bottle we ship out has my hopes, dreams and prayers," he said. "This is not just a farm; this place has the ability to heal hearts and minds."
According to today's article in the Lansing State Journal, they had 77,000 bottles of oil, and have sold 7000 15,000 in the last few days, mostly due to bloggers spreading their story.
Jim Crosby said that his financial troubles began in 2005 when his father died. A few months later, Jim Crosby's uncle, who farmed an adjacent parcel of 140 acres, suffered a stroke while harvesting.
Jim Crosby, 42, was left alone to run his farm and his uncle's.
"The business part fell apart," he said. His sister, 48, moved back to the family home to help.
Now the pair are doing everything they can to save the farm that their great-grandfather founded in 1912. They still have some fields planted 80 years ago by their grandfather.
The Crosby Mint Still has been the subject of a documentary, confirming it as the oldest mint still in the country. This family also intends to help the environment by producing bio fuels once they get themselves out of this mess.
Democratic Candidate Bob Alexander MI-08, has also vowed to step up and help save the mint still back in August, when it went on the auction block.
Due to the traffic, the website is running terribly slow, but anyone who would like to chip in, a dram of oil, either peppermint or spearmint, is $5 plus S&H. There is other stuff to buy, too, but I wonder if they just want to concentrate on selling off their mint oil which is probably prepped and ready to go.
I personally, am in for one of each.
If you do decide to go to the website and buy, please, be patient, the website is really really slow. Please let your friends and family know. This is not charity they're looking for, just unprecedented sales in order to save their farm.
[Update]: I have never asked to have a diary rec'd, and I doubt I ever will again. But PLEASE rec this diary up. The more eyeballs on it, the more likely these folks can get their goal met.
I'd like to say, I don't know these people at all, I'm just doing this because I read about it, and I know how many family farms are being shut down either due to corporate farms, or foreclosures, and I want to do my part. I know we have thousands of people who could potentially see this in just a short time, and my hope is this will help them.