Gettin’ A Gator

Michigan vegetable and fruit grower Mike Rasch may have won a John Deere Gator at the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable & Farm Market Expo in December, but he took the real prize home after the show. Read on to find out what the “grand prize” was.

When Rasch received the phone call letting him know the card with his name had been pulled for the Gator Giveaway (which was sponsored by Wilbur-Ellis Co.) his initial reaction was a bit unusual.

“I thought it was a different Mike Rasch! There are two of us in town, and people get us mixed up all the time,” he says. “Plus, up until this point I had never won anything in my life, so I thought it couldn’t possibly be me.”

Rasch was both surprised and excited to find out he was in fact the Mike Rasch who had won the Gator. His wife, Lisa, shared his excitement along with his daughters, seven year-old Kylee and two year-old Kaycee.

Future Uses

Rasch has many plans to put the Gator to good use. He oversees a bustling cherry U-Pick and roadside market at Westridge Orchards, the farm he has owned and operated in Conklin, MI, since 1984. Rasch will be able to quickly cover the distance between the shop and orchards with the help of the new Gator.

The ATV will also come in handy when he is scouting his 10 acres of pumpkins and 3 acres of tomatoes. Adding to that list is Rasch’s 25 acres of sweet and tart cherries, 100 acres of apples, and his single acre of apricots.

So with the many benefits owning the Gator will afford Rasch, what could possibly top winning the ATV? Just one event, and that would be the birth of Rasch’s third daughter, Kami, on Dec. 12 — one day after the Gator Giveaway took place.