Posts Tagged ‘service’

Sunday Morning On The Farm

Sunday Morning at the farm.  I’m sure it’s pretty glorious.  I live a little bit away from the farm (20-25 minutes), so I am rarely there on Sunday morn.  It’s my morning off.  I am going there later to water the onion flats and switch some watering in the main field.

Next year it looks like I’ll be farming on a 10 acre piece of land right down the road from where I live.  I will continue to farm at Wildgrace (Glenn and Muffy’s) next year as well.  I want to put in about 50 peach trees there as a test - I’ll see how well they do during a long, hot, dry season (it has been in the 90’s since May).  I’m planting all the garlic, shallots and onions and leeks there this fall, and hope to do early peas, tomatoes and squash there in the Spring.

So, my farm career is evolving.  This year has been encouraging and lets me know that farming can be an economically viable labor.  Small  Farming makes me heavily dependent on top production, diversification, and marketing - especially direct marketing through the CSA and farmers’ markets.  That is the difference between solvency and sunk - direct marketing.  Wholesale means no money for me.  I would need another job to augment farming - unless it were done on vast acreage, probably mono-cropping - but that isn’t the same thing anymore and not what I want to do.

I started farming because I had a thirst for it.  I couldn’t imagine another job for me.  I still feel that way, however I have switched my focus to a service-orientation as well.  I want to provide good, fresh, clean veggies for my community members, friends.  I guess that’s what I’ll have to do to enjoy this job to the fullest.

Why I Farm