Faith in Farming

To Our Readers: This is the first in a series of articles on the Montgomery Village Farmers Market, which opened earlier this month to much-awaited fanfare. From time to time this summer, Patch will take a closer look at each of the market’s vendors—who they are, what inspires them—to trace the path from their hard work to your shopping bag. (The market is open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday through Oct. 29 at Christ the Servant Lutheran Church, 9801 Centerway Road.)

Article by Meghan Tierney; photos by Kim Grimes

Dan Berbert faced a leap of faith three years ago.

A veterinarian for nearly a quarter-century, he bought 18 bucolic acres in Damascus in the hopes of taking his gardening hobby to a higher level. Under his fastidious hand, the land—which he christened Abundant Grace Farm—has flourished.

"It was a little intimidating at first. I had never even driven a tractor," Berbert, 52, of Montgomery Village said Friday afternoon as he knelt next to a row of raspberry bushes to pluck a harvest. "I rely a lot on God and hoping he would show me the way to go."

Berbert, one of 11 vendors at the new Montgomery Village farmers market, grows his crops without chemical pesticides, using homemade compost and other techniques of sustainable agriculture, such as crop rotation and "floating row covers" that keep out hungry bugs but let in sunlight.

The three acres he has in cultivation right now boast a veritable cornucopia of produce: eggplant, lettuce, kale, turnips, cauliflower, chives, parsley, cilantro, rosemary, celery, tomatillo, basil, snow peas, kiwi, artichoke, cucumbers, strawberries, garlic, onion, asparagus and several varieties of winter and summer squash, watermelon, okra, tomatoes, peppers and potatoes to name only a few.

"I really like the berries a lot," Berbert said. "When I’m picking them it’s hard not to eat the profits."

He sells the fruits of his labor at a pair of farmers markets: Saturdays at Christ the Servant Lutheran Church for the Village farmers market; on Sundays, you’ll find him at Clarksburg Town Center.

Berbert grew up in Silver Spring and studied chemistry and animal sciences at the University of Maryland-College Park before getting his degree in veterinary medicine from Ohio State University. He began working at the Gaithersburg Animal Hospital in 1984, where he is co-owner.

"Both are science-related, which I think is cool," Berbert said of his dual callings. "Both are related to living things. I’ve always enjoyed the life sciences. Farming is going to be a continual learning thing, just like veterinary medicine."

Abundant Grace has yet to turn a profit, but Berbert said his reward is the peace that comes from working the farm. He donates 10 percent of each year’s harvest to the Manna Food Center, the Gaithersburg-based food pantry. He and his family are also involved with the Church of the Redeemer in Gaithersburg and sponsor 21 children through Compassion International and World Vision.

"I’m hoping at some point when I get a little older and retire that this will be my fun thing to do," said Berbert, who hopes to one day build a house on the property. "… It’s nice and peaceful out here and it’s pretty. I like coming out here to work."

In the hospital’s examination room hangs a photo of a 13-pound sweet potato that he grew. He heads to his farm to harvest, plant and weed several times a week during the growing season. On Friday, one of his receptionists tagged along to help with the raspberry harvest.

"I’m just interested in growing stuff naturally," Berbert said. "…I’m trying to do what I can to have sustainable agriculture and I think that’s the way nature intended it."

Berbert pulls weeds by hand and cultivates pest-resistant plant varieties so as to avoid the need for chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Only two products are applied to the fields—PyGanic, an organically approved insecticide derived from chrysanthemums that is safe enough to use the same day the crops are harvested, and Roundup, an herbicide that Berbert spot-sprays on stubborn thistle roots and becomes inactive when it enters the soil.

He avoids chemical fertilizers because they are laden with excess nutrients that wash into nearby waterways, fueling runaway algae growth and other environmental problems, he said.

Because the fields aren’t irrigated—there’s no well or other water-source—Berbert conserves water by trapping moisture with natural mulch that he composts using leaves and horse manure from nearby farms.

Berbert hasn’t taken the extra step of getting the farm certified as organic but may do so in the future as the project grows. But on Friday, he found one small proof that his labors in tune with the ecosystem’s natural rhythms: a small nest filled with four speckled eggs tucked away in one of his raspberry bushes.