By Remington Rice
In the middle of downtown Grand Rapids, a 100-year-old house hums with controlled chaos. Inside, Chris Huntoon grows microgreens to sell both harvested and as living plants for fresh, ready-to-eat food. Microgreens are vegetable plants that are harvested when leaves appear, about one to three weeks after planting, which is when nutrients are at an all-time high. The operation is fast-paced, highly manual and constantly changing.
“I am everything. I am the weather,” Huntoon said. “It’s a constant… everything has to be monitored 24 hours a day.”
In a system like his, small mistakes do not stay small. One missed step can ripple through the entire operation.
He shared, “I came home and my plants are all laying over dead. We cleaned the reservoir and I forgot to plug in the pump. That’s all it takes.”
On top of production demands, he manages deliveries to customers and unpredictable ordering patterns. Over time, the pressure built in ways that became difficult to ignore. He had never considered counseling before, but after learning about behavioral health support for farmers through a Michigan State University (MSU) Extension workshop, he decided to try something new.
“I decided I’d try it,” he said. "I didn’t even think of it as something I would do.”
What he found surprised him.
“It changed my life.”
For Huntoon, counseling became a place to sort through the constant demands of farming and business without judgement.
“It’s somebody to talk to,” he added. "Somebody to bounce ideas off. Things my family and friends wouldn’t really understand.”
He described it less as treatment and more as practical support.
Source : msu.edu