By Elaine Stock, CCFB, Special Feature Writer
 

Many of the flower displays that generate eye appeal for the community of Steger originated from Ray’s Quality Greenhouse. Ray is pictured “weeding” the display he and his wife, Edna, sponsor.

Ray Nykaza’s first recollection of Farm Bureau was attending an annual meeting with his mother in the mid 1960s. His mother loved to attend those meetings, Nykaza recalled. The Steger farmer’s mother wasn’t the only person in the Nykaza family who had a strong attraction to the general farm organization.

About ten years after attending his first annual meeting, Nykaza was approached with the invitation to join the Cook County Farm Bureau Board. He accepted and has faithfully been attending board meetings and other Farm Bureau functions for the past thirty years.

Farm Bureau has been an integral part of Nykaza’s life and he lists it as one of the three main components that mean the most to him. "My first love is God, then my family, and then Farm Bureau," he humbly said. "I wouldn’t have it any other way."

Nykaza was one of eleven children who were part of a family making its living on a farm in the Will County area of Crete. His parents relocated from Europe to the United States. "They were proud to become U.S. citizens," Nykaza related. "Where else could my parents go but to the farm? That was the place where there was room for all of us."

The farm provided plenty of chores for young Ray and his siblings. Nykaza stayed close to the industry which bonded his family. He has farmed on his own for 53 years – 52 of which involved his wife, Edna. In the early years of his own farming career, Nykaza grew corn, soybean, and wheat in addition to the hundred acres of produce. He had a limited amount of equipment with which to work.

The Steger farmer prided himself on the quality and variety of his produce. Sweet corn was by far his major produce crop. He also grew a variety of other vegetables, including plum tomatoes, peppers, carrots and beans. The Nykazas opened a roadside stand as a means of marketing their produce. "It was a two-wheeled cart with a top on it," the produce farmer vividly recalled.

The two-wheeled cart soon expanded into a larger roadside stand and the number of locations where customers could buy some of Nykaza’s produce increased as well. In addition to the stand at his farm, Nykaza opened a second location near South Chicago Heights and a third on Joe Orr Road. Four days a week he would also take his goods to the market in Chicago.

"That required a lot of preparation," Nykaza said of his participation in farmer’s markets. The years of growing a crop and preparing it for market took its toll on Nykaza’s health. In the early 1990s, Nykaza had triple-by-pass heart surgery and that signaled an end to farming as Nykaza had always known it.

It would have been easy to move on from agriculture. Nykaza knew he would have to pay much closer attention to his heart from a health standpoint, and from an emotional standpoint, he was listening to it. The Steger farmer knew that agriculture was all he had known, so he transformed his operation into one that he could still manage.

That led to Nykaza’s current farm operation – that of growing flowers in greenhouses. The Nykaza’s specialize in offering geraniums and hanging baskets. Edna and the couple’s daughter, Donna, are in charge of designing the baskets. This year the Nykazas were the designers of the hanging baskets dressing up the downtown area of Steger. Perennials are offered in 4-, 6-, and 8-inch pots and customers can also find herbs and vegetable plants.
 

Even during the “off” months, when flowers aren’t in the greenhouse and pumpkins aren’t surrounding the farm, work is still quite plentiful and demanding.

"We start in mid-February," Nykaza explained. "We get the plug trays from Michigan and plant them in our own soil mixture. Our selling season starts the end of April and finishes the end of June." Pumpkins are still raised and offered for sale in the fall, along with other items used for fall decorating.

"I had to cut back after the health problems I encountered," Nykaza said. "This set up is much better. The weather is controlled in the greenhouses and we can walk in the greenhouses and work regardless of the weather," he continued.

Nykaza has been drawn to agriculture because of the opportunity to be his own boss and make his own decisions regarding the future of his operation. The southern Cook County farmer has learned that life sometimes has tough choices, but one does what they feel is right and hopefully will make the right one. He and five of his brothers chose to serve their country in the military.

"Four of those were in wartime conditions, and my brother, John, gave his life for his country," Nykaza said. "He is our family hero." The former military man takes a lot of pride in having served his country and takes great pride in his family. While in the Army, Nykaza had the opportunity to play organized sports, something his parents hadn’t allowed, due to the work commitments on the farm. Nonetheless, Nykaza relished his time playing baseball and football. He still loves to play sports, and he still loves his connection to agriculture.

Nykaza got introduced to Farm Bureau through his association with the Quality Vegetable Growers. He has been an active participant on the local level, having served on the USDA Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS) County Committee for 21 years, and was a member of the Health Improvement Association. Some of his fondest memories of work in agricultural organizations has been created through his participation in activities with the Cook County Farm Bureau.

He is a firm believer in the Agriculture in the Classroom education efforts and the Food for Thought program, which targets the non-farm audience. "We need to do what we can to get the message out into the urban areas," Nykaza commented.

In addition to Donna, his daughter who helps with the greenhouse operation, Nykaza and Edna have three other children: Steve, John, and Sharon, all grown and living in the area. The farm couple also has three grandchildren. All of the children earned money to finance their college educations by working in the vegetable stands, Nykaza said. All four children are Farm Bureau members. "The fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree," Nykaza quipped.

The Nykazas are active members of St. Agnes Catholic Church in Chicago Heights. The Steger farmer has always felt a certain luxury of being from a large family. He recalls his weekends of playing baseball in the cow pasture, and he continues to speak fondly of the good customers relationships he developed by selling produce.

Nykaza has now changed his operation to do what he can to remain in agriculture. The 77-year-old has reached many milestones in his career, and he will continue to reach for more.

Pride in family and country run deep in Nykaza. Ray and his 5 brothers proudly served in the Armed Forces. Ray remembers fondly, his brother Johnny, 2 years his senior, who lost his life serving the country while fighting the Japanese.