MERRILL, IOWA | Clint Brown, 25, is a stickler when it comes to tomatoes.
He carefully inspects the Heirlooms for cleanliness and color before packing them into a van heading for Sioux City's Farmers Market.
"Appearance and proper refrigeration are very important," Brown insisted. "I want my produce to look good and taste good. I take a lot of pride in what I do."
Indeed, he has been growing vegetables from his parent's farm since he turned 14.
"When Clint started using his birthday money for equipment, I knew he was getting serious," mom Audrey Brown allowed.
At first, Brown started small.
"I began by selling homegrown green beans at the Le Mars Farmers Market in 2004," he remembered. "A few years after that, I started selling more kinds of vegetables at the Sioux City Farmers Market."
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Over time, C. Brown Gardens became known for its tomatoes, peppers, carrots, asparagus, cucumbers and eggplants.
In total, Brown sells more than 30 different kinds of veggies from 8 a.m. - 1 p.m., Wednesdays and Saturdays at Sioux City Farmers Market.
While his son is content to sell pesticide-free veggies, dad Steve Brown sells naturally aged Angus beef that was raised on the family's farm while Audrey sells her homemade jelly and jams, including a pepper jam utilizing her son's juicy peppers.
"When I started as a kid, I wasn't thinking of (farming) as a career," Brown said. "Now I do."
That's because he's able to grow crops well beyond the gardening season through high tunnel farming.
Similar to a greenhouse, a high tunnel is made with a frame covered piping and UV-resistant greenhouse plastic.
This protects early season crops from the threat of cold weather but Brown also uses the high tunnel for other vegetables like peppers and his prized Heirloom tomatoes.
"Clint spoke to Iowa State University's (horticulturist) Eldon Everhart, who thought (Northwest Iowa) may be too humid for high tunnel Heirlooms," Audrey Brown said. "But our tomatoes always turn out fine."
This process also allows Brown to have plenty of fresh produce to harvest every Thursday.
"I never thought I'd have employees helping me get things ready for the Farmers Market," he said with a smile. "I had to learn how to make payroll and really run things as a business."
Still, Brown inspects every vegetable before it goes to market and makes sure it is washed before sold.
"I like knowing that my produce can leave my stand and be ready for somebody's table," he said.
Walking through his high tunnel of tomatoes, Brown can't help but feel proud.
"There's something special to see your crops grow," he noted. "You plant it and care for it and take care of it."
As he looks on his rows and rows of Heirlooms, Brown smiled to himself.
"Yeah, that's a very good feeling," he said.
