Inch by Inch, Row by Row

There's been a constant little cloud over my head of late - the worry over seeds. They are such tiny little things, it's hard to maintain faith that they will ever come up at all. And sometimes they don't; the earlier drama of the beet seeds is being repeated with other seeds sown of late, even radishes, typically an easy germinater. Not all seeds grow, as was once pointed out to me by the 9-year old daughter of the farmer I worked for in Texas. So true. Some seeds don't grow just because they don't, but other seeds don't grow because some condition isn't quite right.

What's going on?! Well, there's lots of things, but most importantly, and really the only thing that matters, is organic matter. The soil at the upper end of the field where I'm working is fairly heavy, with a high percentage of clay. With the fluctuation in weather from wet to dry it has formed a significant crust on the top of the soil, prohibiting seeds from popping through. This crust also keeps moisture and oxygen from seeping in. In the long term the only thing that can be done is to add more organic matter to the soil which helps it maintain good structure, rather than melting into a crust when it rains. For the immediate needs of the seeds in the ground though I've tried raking at this crust, and irrigating to soften it. This seems to be helping, but I think these efforts came too late.

At this point I've decided it's time to let the majority of those seeds go, and re-seed. It's disappointing, as this means some crops will be later to mature than I'd like, but not putting more seeds in the ground is a dumb reason not to have a good harvest, so I will just carry on and do better with each round of seeds. After talking this issue through with several farmer friends and my housemates, I've come to a better method utilizing extra greenhouse plastic as a cover for the newly seeded beds.

The plastic will help maintain warm, humid conditions until the seeds germinate, at which point I'll remove it and lay it on the next round of seeds. I only have about 90 feet worth of plastic, so I have to stagger my plantings, moving the plastic row by row as I go. I used the plastic last week with some radishes and beets and had excellent results. The radishes are up in a lovely little green line and even the beets have popped up in just six days! Amazing what a little water and warmth can do.

This morning I set to the task of carrots, my favorite, which are especially finicky. They like to be evenly and consistently moist, in a loose, deeply prepared soil. I dug up about 40 feet, mulched it, ran over it with the tiller to make a finer seed bed, raked it into a raised bed, made 3 furrows, sprinkled in the carrot seeds, laid down irrigation lines and then covered it all with a sheet of greenhouse plastic (all the while under the watchful eye of the utility workers fixing the electrical lines at the edge of my field).

The day ended with the realization that the tractor I had borrowed had been stolen! After talking with Jack my neighbor (whose favorite topic is lamenting over stolen things and how the neighborhood has gone downhill) and the sheriff, I called the owner of the tractor to find out exactly the model of the tractor....only to find out that he had come to get it just this morning. Thank goodness. Why I didn't think to call him first I don't know. Had to call the sheriff back, "Hello this is the lady that called a few minutes ago reporting a stolen tractor. Just wanted to let you know everything's fine, it wasn't stolen." A heart-racing but comical experience all in all.

How many good ol' boys does it take to change a light bulb?

Today was a tractor day. Casey kindly loaned me the tractor from the Buncombe Community School again, and so I took the opportunity to till the unplanted part of the field where the grass had begun to take hold again.

Louise came by when she saw me out on the tractor, she said she'd never seen a girl drive a tractor before. "That's my kind of youngun," she said.

After driving the first pass with the tiller I spread lime with the help of my mom and my friend Sarah. We filled the tractor's loader bucket with lime, I then drove the tractor back and forth across the field while my mom and Sarah raked the lime out of the bucket.

Just as Sarah and I were finishing the final pass, Duley drove up on his Massey Ferguson tractor, dwarfing me on the little BCS tractor. My neighbor Jack walked up - he had seen me struggle with the tractor over the past two days so when he ran into Duley at the bar last night he had asked him to come by and help me. Thank you?

Certainly I was struggling, and others could do it faster, but I was honestly enjoying the struggle. I had learned how to get rocks out of the tiller tines, how to take tiller tines apart, and how to reprime the fuel lines after running out of gas (there's a lot you can learn on YouTube).

But there in the field, with Jack so well-meaning/persistent and Duley already there on his tractor I agreed that Duley should do the final pass with the tiller to incorporate the lime. I was honestly glad to get off the tractor as I'd been there most of the day, but at the same time felt a little defeated.

So I went in the house with Sarah to get a drink of water. I came back out to find Duley and Jack hunched under the tiller (a position I found myself in often over the last two days) pulling at a garden hose that Duley had just run over. A Miller Light was balanced on the tiller. And then suddenly it was as if someone had called a Good Ol' Boy Convention in my field - out of nowhere appears a man with a large white beard named Dean, a neighbor from up the road. Then a small man called 'Freckles' comes over, beer in hand, complaining how his " missus" had thrown him out of the house.

All proceeded to push, pull, and poke at the garden hose. Jack went back to his house to get a giant set of bolt cutters. Eventually the tiller was freed, the hose now in many pieces. The spray nozzle was thankfully spared. Duley finished up the tilling and now I'm out 60 bucks for tractor work I didn't really need.

So how many good ol' boys does it take? Well, I'd say at least four. The real question is, who's going to bring the beer?

It Takes a Village

The start-up stories of farms are of extreme interest to me right now. And I think should be of interest to the larger public as well - if we're really interested in buying locally then we need a lot more farms. I'm interested in the specifics - exactly which tool did you use? who did you sell to? how did you find land? how did you get your farming education? how did you structure your business? and where did the money come from?

Maybe one day I will write a book compiling farm start-up stories. But until then, here's a glimpse into the specifics of mine...

Land:
I am renting my land (with house) from a family friend, an opportunity which was brought to my attention by my mother while I was living down in Texas. The property is about 2 acres total, with about a half acre of cultivatable land. It's been farmed on and off for the past 70 years (at least) and has a small stream and great soil.

Money:
To pay my regular bills I have housemates and I have a part-time job; I work for the Town of Black Mountain as School Garden Educator 15-20 hours a week. Thus the farm can operate as a separate entity entirely and is not expected to support me...yet.

To finance initial startup I am offering a farm share program for the season - members pay $375 up front for 15 weeks of vegetables this summer. I currently have 5 members signed up and will accept 5 more. This money, together with $1,125 from personal savings and family support, will get me through initial startup costs to the start of the market season.

Marketing:
The farm share program is my main marketing outlet, in addition to that I am a member of Foothills Family Farms, a cooperative of small family farms and will sell at tailgate markets through them. I will also be selling to the Blue Ridge Food Ventures winter CSA.

Equipment:
It's a tight budget, and thus I live somewhat of a scavenger lifestyle. Craigslist is my best friend. Last night I rushed in to town to pick up a bathtub off the side of the road (when cleaned up it will make an excellent wash tub!). My farm van (a purple plymouth grand voyager - her name is Jean, short for Aubergine, the fastest little eggplant in the west!) is on extended loan from my aunt and uncle and is missing the driver side window (which is fine, unless it's a rainy day and I need to make a left turn). I have a walk behind tiller and various hand tools that are all second-hand aquisitions as well. I have a wheel plow on loan from my neighbor Sherman. I have a refrigerator that I got off craigslist for 25 bucks which is a story in itself. I traded future vegetables for a deep freezer. And that's pretty much it for equipment. To do large tractor work I either borrow the tractor from the Buncombe Community School (where I also rent greenhouse space) or contract with Mr. Wilson.

Labor:
Me. Friends. Family. Housemates. Neighbors. Enthusiastic Farm Share members. This summer I hope to hire someone part-time, but until then I am relying on the enthusiasm and muscle of volunteers (send me an email if you want to help out!).

Education:
Most recently and most importantly I interned for 8 months on a 20 acre organic CSA farm in Austin, Texas - Johnson's Backyard Garden. Before that I had worked on farms only recreationally, and had gardened on my own and in community gardens. I studied Environmental Studies in college, which gave me a general understanding of sustainable agriculture but did not teach me specifics and techniques, that has come through hands-on experience.

I take advantage of every conference or workshop that I can - the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group conference, the Organic Growers School, the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project's marketing conference for farmers. I've joined the CRAFT Farmer Training Initiative program which will feature monthly on-farm workshops for farmers. And being a member of Foothills Family Farms has introduced me to a whole new group of mentors. I visit as many farms as I possibly can and ask lots of questions, in the field and in the office. Really this farming venture is all about education - I see this as my graduate education, my field is my thesis.

Community:
Hands-down the most important piece of my business plan is the community that I live in. Having grown up in this area I benefit from a multitude of relationships which form a web of community support for my farm. It's difficult too though, accepting things from people - even necessary items that are given in love - brings with it a feeling of indebtedness and dependency. Soon I will at least have veggies to send home with volunteers, a little something to give back!

So, there's more than you ever wanted to know about my farm (can you tell it's still raining outside?).

Some recent photos...



That's the BCS tractor - I was incorporating soil ammendments. What fun! Made me feel like a *real* farmer, if only for just a moment.


Snow on Red Russian Kale




Snowy Day in the field