Annette’s Story: My name is Annette and I, as my husband so eloquently states, love dirt. The past 17 years have been occupied homeschooling our daughter and son full time. June 2011 means a changing of the seasons, the last graduation, potential empty nest and time! Time to turn my gardening passion into a full time farm operation. As a youngster I experienced two extremes in agriculture. My father was the type of person who had a toxic chemical answer to any problem that would arise and second the neighbors who exercised what I later in life learned was sustainable organic practices. One only had to grab a handful of soil for comparison or witness the exquisite bounty produced by sustainable methods to know what was right. The later made a lasting impression on me.

Plan for 2011: This year I will offer a 5 share CSA program. A monthly “Dinner at the Farm” that will showcase the days harvest, some of our other locally available goods and some good old home grown live music. I hope to build a few small hoop houses to help jump start the seasons and extend them as well. Some drip irrigation is in the works also. With those things completed I feel confident that I am launching whole heartedly into my life long dream of being a farmer no matter how small the plot of ground. My location though in the county is very much city and limited in space.  My long term goal is to raise up other “city farmers” to grow and sell organic. As time progresses I want to offer a host of free interactive educational projects for young and old alike! Topics such as composting, edible landscaping, canning, seed starting, winter harvests, propagation, children’s gardens, and raising small livestock just to list a few. The last and probably most difficult of my goals and the one that weighs on me with the greatest conviction is “How do I get healthy organic food into the hands of my low income neighbors”, those who can’t afford CSA’s or market prices. How this will develop only time and determination will tell.