Taking things in stride

Eddie Bethke, 18, likes the idea of being a farmer for the rest of his life. He says he loves to watch and think about the way things grow.

 

No one has had more opportunity than Eddie, who lives with his father Ed southeast of Waseca. Ed worked for decades as a mechanic for Bird’s Eye foods, then started a greenhouse business  after retiring more than 10 years ago.

 

Eddie, a 2025 Waseca graduate, has helped with all phases of production not only for the greenhouse which sells potted plants in spring, but also for the produce business which grows more than an acre of popular vegetables for sale.

 

Ed, Eddie and other family workers appear at the Waseca farmers’ market most Saturdays–this past week their hot sellers seemed to be watermelon, cantaloupe and sweet corn.

 

Eddie also staffs sales out of a pickup truck which is parked along State Street North near Tasty House restaurant most days of the week.

 

He summarizes that, in order to have the stand up and running by its usual start time around noon, hours of work must be accomplished in advance. He mentions picking the sweet corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, and other plants in season.

 

To have fresh sweet corn over an extended time, he continues, plantings of sweet corn had to go in the ground each week for six or more weeks.

 

“It takes some work,” he says laconically.

 

Of Eddie, Ed observes, “Some people have to be told to keep working and some people are go-getters.

 

“Eddie is a go-getter.”

 

When it comes to sales, Eddie says his favorite part is visiting with customers and hearing what they have to say about the various products, including what they like about them and how they plan to use them. He also enjoys chatting with people about how their lives are going in general.

 

That conversation is one of his favorite elements of salesmanship may seem surprising since Eddie has a tracheostomy, a device implanted in his neck to create a more open airway.

 

He says it doesn’t interfere when he is talking with others. He seems inordinately good at taking things in stride. 

 

He explains he has an inoperable tumor located on his brain stem. It was discovered during testing that took place when he was 5 years old. “They found it because I fell off a lawnmower,” he says in his understated way. The details are that he was being given a ride on the mower and simply lost his balance, falling for no apparent reason, leading to the tests.

 

Once the tumor was discovered, he recalls going for chemotherapy treatments twice a week at a hospital. After a while it became once a week. These days he takes oral chemotherapy at home and goes for an MRI about every three months. Of the results, he says “sometimes [the tumor] grows, sometimes it shrinks.”

 

Because of the pressure on his brain stem, he says his right side is somewhat weaker than his left, and “sometimes when I’m asleep, my brain forgets to tell my body to breathe.” To compensate, he sleeps with a positive airway pressure machine.

 

Though it creates physical complications for him, he suggests having cancer may have caused him to become a bit more mature than others of the same age. He is glad to be able to say it does not keep him from making contributions to Ed’s greenhouse and produce business. Besides that, he describes having begun growing about 16 acres of corn or soybeans each year as a learning exercise toward his someday goal of becoming a farmer.

 

Asked how he keeps going he responds simply, “I just do it.”