Co-op People

Rusty Baker’s earnest love for life and his willingness to take chances have led him along a path few others could tread. 
“Where my two feet are is the greatest place on earth,” says Baker, a Holmes-Wayne Electric Cooperative member — and it’s easy to believe he means what he says. 

According to the wall clock in the Ben’s Mustard cannery, it’s 1 p.m., but owners Bruce and Karen Neff have already put in a full day’s work.

What’s in a name? Dalton Union Winery and Brewery’s name is packed with meaning. Owners Dale and Tonya Mabry liked “Dalton” because it’s a portmanteau word, combining three letters from their first names, while “Union” alludes to their relationship and location. “The two of us are a union,” says Tonya, “and we’re in Union County.”

For years, competitive shooter and professional shotgun shooting coach Dan Bailey of Mount Vernon dreamed of building and owning his own commercial clay-target shooting range. That dream came true in the summer of 2017 when he and his wife, Peggy, opened Eagle’s Nest Sporting Grounds, an 85-acre, state-of-the-art shooting facility located near Mount Gilead in central Ohio, served by Consolidated Cooperative.

The Mohicans, located near Glenmont in the remote, rugged, wooded hills of extreme northeastern Knox County, offers no less than six treehouses available for a night’s stay. Ranging from rustic to romantic, even their various names invite a visit: Moonlight, Old Pine, White Oak, Little Red, Tin Shed, and a very unique and cozy one-room honeymoon suite: The Nest.

Velvet Eyes and Wild Horses. Strawberry Candy and Pink Bikini. Snow Prince. Moonlit Masquerade. Dreamworld. Baby’s Got Blue Eyes.

Those alluring names are just a few of the thousands — literally thousands — of varieties of daylily. So captivating are these perennial posies, in fact, that Ann Brickner readily admits she is absolutely addicted to them.

The pursuit of fortune often leads people far from home. Sometimes, however, Lady Luck shows up unannounced literally right in your own backyard.

In 1976, David and Jane Kunkler purchased 40 rural acres in Perry County at a sheriff’s sale, built a home, and moved in. “The land had been uninhabited since 1888,” David Kunkler says. “A family by the name of Elder last lived on it. The husband and wife raised 13 children here.”

Like many middle-aged married couples, Consolidated Cooperative members Bruce and Karen Beck of Mount Gilead enjoy long, leisurely bike rides together. Their rides, however, are a little longer than most — the last one covered 6,500 miles and took four months to complete. They have another such ride scheduled later this year.

Lauren Schwab Eyre has carefully and intentionally cultivated her image as a “farm girl with curls.” She not only works on her family’s pig farm near Somerville, but she’s also a well-known agricultural ambassador who uses every opportunity she can to get the message out about her career of choice.

Dan and Linda Downs had an easy time scheduling this year’s Christmas open house at Pine Acres Reindeer Farm for Dec. 22 — turns out, it’s the only Saturday before Christmas that their reindeer weren’t already booked. “We’re busy taking reindeer to events throughout Ohio from Thanksgiving through Christmas,” Dan Downs says.