Meet the Future of Farming- Full Interview

Cy Bearer
Age: 29
Name of the farm where you work: Bearer Farms
Location of farm: Louisa, VA
Number of acres: 19

Do you own your farm?:
Yes What do you grow/raise there?: Japanese Maples, figs and honey

Do you have a CSA? (contact info for it?):
Relay Foods www.relayfoods.com/ 

What farmers markets do you attend, if any? what days?:
We do the Monument Market on Saturdays but plan on doing several markets next year. You can check our blog or twitter to see where we are. Bearerfarms.com and @bearerfarms

What’s the first thing you ever remember growing?:
My first recollection of growing something from seed was a ‘Giant” pumpkin, Dad and my holy grail. It was not giant by any means but very respectable.

How and why did you become a farmer?:
I’ve always known that being outdoors was the secret to being happy. And I’ve learned that actually producing something- and then taking it to market is an extremely rewarding way to make a living. Working on parts of things can be unfulfilling.

What do you love about being a farmer?:
Being a beekeeper forces me into a meditative state- at least once a day. And for all the hard work of operating a small farm, it makes a certain portion of my day fairly blissfull.

What’s the hardest part about it?
There is always something to do. I feel like i’m never finished. It’s a shiny problem considering I really do love what I do.

What do people say when you tell them you are a farmer?:
Mixed reactions… people are either very interested or quickly realize they don’t want to get into a conversation about chickens…

What are your goals as a farmer or for your farm?:
My farm is very young so the job of making it function as it should could easily take the next ten years. I’ll be well on my way when the farm is able to feed and support me and my family (and friends). I should say feed my friends not support them

If you weren’t a farmer what would you be?:
probably the president.

What’s your favorite vegetable and why?:
Definitely a parsnip. Something about their flavor reminds me of my childhood and It seems they are still something of a secret among root lovers.

What is your favorite season and why?:
fall has always been my favorite. I guess because it’s parsnip season.

What is your favorite time of day and why?:
I have always been a morning person. Early in the morning will always feel like ‘my time’.

What don’t people know or understand about farming that you wish they would?:
The same point I made about seeing something from beginning to end. It is very rewarding and I think a lot of people who would benefit from a greater sense of accomplishment would do themselves good to farm.

Who should consider farming as a career? And how should they start?:
Everybody should have some exposure to farming- if not as a career to help better understand how the world works. Internships and seasonal jobs are probably the best way to get your food in the dirt.

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Sarah Bernardi
Age: 38
Name of the farm where you work: The Farm at Walker Jones
Location of farm: The corner of New Jersey and K Streets NW
Number of acres: One acre

Do you own your farm?:
Our farm is owned by the Walker Jones Educational Campus, a District of Columbia Public School, Pre-K through 8th grade, and was started a little over a year ago by a few people who wanted to see the school garden program expand.

What do you grow/raise there?:
We have 5 fields of vegetable crops, berries, an extensive herb garden, 3 bee hives, and a small fig and persimmon orchard.

Do you have a CSA? (contact info for it?):
No

What farmers markets do you attend, if any? what days?
We have a farm stand on-site, open T/Th/Sun in the summer and Sunday only in the spring and fall. We also attend the NoMa Farmers’ Market on Wednesdays. My farmer’s assistant SJ (a Walker Jones student) helps us man it every week.

What’s the first thing you ever remember growing?:
A eucalyptus tree. I knew nothing about plant needs, and the leaves and branches grew so fast the root growth wasn’t  able to keep up and it would topple over every time we had a storm, but it never died.  It’s my favorite smell, eucalyptus, and I kept our house filled with the cuttings for years.

How and why did you become a farmer?:
I like to think of my farm as a giant garden, it feel a little less overwhelming that way! A few years ago I took a job teaching art at a great school in DC with a beautiful garden and found that I was constantly trying to find creative ways to bring my classes outside to get our hands in the dirt. I also wanted to find ways to help other teachers bring their kids outside to experience the benefits of garden-based education, so I co-founded a non-profit called DC Greens, whose mission is to connect people, especially kids, to their food, and to provide garden-based professional development to teachers in DC. So, once I realized that I was happier in the garden than in the classroom, it was clear to me that I needed find a career that let me do both.  Directing the Farm at Walker Jones is a perfect blend of my passions.

What do you love about being a farmer?:
I am constantly learning, every second of the day. It also allows me create spaces that are beautiful and inspiring. And being an urban farmers lets me share these things that I love with lots of different people, which is what I liked about being a teacher.

What’s the hardest part about it?
Balancing the rest of my life. The farm tends to take over…oh, and keeping my nails clean.

What do people say when you tell them you are a farmer?:
A lot of people ask me what I’ll do in the winter, to which I usually respond…rest.

What are your goals as a farmer or for your farm?:
To inspire the kids at school, their families and the people that live nearby to eat more vegetables by introducing them to new ones, teaching them how to grow them and cooking them up for them! At our farm, we want to create a space where kids not just from our school, but from schools all over the city, can come to connect to the earth, be inspired, and begin to assume some responsibility for their own health and the health of the planet, all while learning about sustainable agriculture.

If you weren’t a farmer what would you be?:
An interior designer or travel photographer.

What’s your favorite vegetable and why?:
Changes constantly. Whatever doesn’t give me trouble on the farm! To grow? Right now, french pumpkins. The colors are amazing. And to eat? Sweet potatoes. They just make me feel good!

What is your favorite season and why?:
Fall. The light is beautiful, the humidity fades and my fall crops keep themselves in line so the farm feels more manageable than the summer sprawl of squash and cucumbers. I’m a bit of a neat freak.

What is your favorite time of day and why?:
 The golden hour. The 10 minutes after the sun sets when the sky is still blue but the day has ended and the night is on its way. A moment of anticipation; one in which you can really feel the change that’s happening.

What don’t people know or understand about farming that you wish they would?:
How easy it is to learn to grow food.

Who should consider farming as a career? And how should they start?:

There is definitely a difference between the kind of farming I do and typical rural farmer whose livelihood depends on what they grow. I don’t feel that same pressure, so I can’t really advise on who might consider farming as a career.

Finish this sentence: A bad day farming is better than a good day__ (doing what?)__________:
in the classroom!

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Ethan Berry
Age: 24
Name of the farm where you work:  Belle Meade Farm
Location of farm: Sperryville, VA
Number of acres: 150

Do you own your farm?:
No, but my family and I live on a small farm that we rent.

What do you grow/raise there?:
Meat Rabbits, chickens (for meat and eggs), and produce (a little of everything)

Do you have a CSA? (contact info for it?):
No

What farmers markets do you attend, if any? what days?:
I haven’t attended any yet, but plan on it in the future.

What’s the first thing you ever remember growing?:
Growing up we always had a garden, and we depended greatly on being able to eat the fresh produce, especially growing up a vegetarian.  The first thing I can really remember growing is potatoes.  I remember going and digging them up all year round, even during winter.

How and why did you become a farmer?:
I needed to provide for my family and took a job with Belle Meade as a farm hand and then discovered a passion for farming and the life style it provides for my family.

What do you love about being a farmer?:
I love how peaceful it is (most of the time), just me and the animals or plants, and just being outside using my hands.   I love knowing that my hard work is helping people put the best quality of meat and/or produce into their bodies.

What’s the hardest part about it?
The hardest part would have to be the weather conditions, having to work though extreme heat and cold.

What do people say when you tell them you are a farmer?: 
Most people say “Wow, really? You don’t look like a farmer”.

What are your goals as a farmer or for your farm?:
To have happy and healthy animals and plants, and to establish myself as a provider in fresh wholesome produce in my community and surrounding area.

If you weren’t a farmer what would you be?:
I don’t know, I have never really thought of doing anything else.

What’s your favorite vegetable and why?:
My favorite would have to be tomatoes (even though it’s not really a vegetable) because they are delicious, easy to grow, and goes with everything. 

What is your favorite season and why?:
I like Spring the most because the weather is mild and everything beginnings to get green and luscious.

What is your favorite time of day and why?:
I don’t really have a favorite time of day, but if I would have to pick it would be lunch time because I am usually pretty hungry by then.

What don’t people know or understand about farming that you wish they would?:
It’s not a normal 9 to 5 job, that you never know when your going to start and you never know when your day is going to end. And that it’s a grueling processes from farm to plate.

Who should consider farming as a career? And how should they start?:
Farming is for anyone but not for everyone, it’s a hard job but very worth it.  If a person wanted to get into by picking something they would like to grow or raise and see how it goes.

Finish this sentence: A bad day farming is better than a good day__ (doing what?)__________:
sitting in an office.

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Lola Bloom
Age: 32

strong>Name of the farm where you work:
We actually don’t run “farms”, we call them Community Green Spaces.  These are spaces that are either privately or publicly owned, and we activate them through engaging the entire community in the design, creation,  workshops, beautification, celebration and sustainability of the space.  Although we do grow a lot of food, and in some farm-friendly ways, we feel that our spaces are not large enough to warrant the title of “farm”.

Location of farm:
We have created and maintained Community Green Spaces all over the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

Number of acres:
? not sure

Do you own your farm?:
Nope

What do you grow/raise there?:
Tons of herbs (we run an herb CSA), at least three seasons of annual vegetables, annual and perennial flowers.

Do you have a CSA? (contact info for it?): 
Yes!  This was our first year of the Youth Entrepreneur Herbal CSA.  IT was a great learning experience and we look forward to doing it again next year.  Contact info would be info@cityblossoms.org

What farmers markets do you attend, if any? what days?:
We hosted a table every month this season at the Mt. Pleasant Farmer’s Market through our partnership with Field to Fork.  Also, we have tabled at the White House Farmers market.

What’s the first thing you ever remember growing?:
The first thing I remember growing myself was some marigolds and impatiens from Home Depot into the crappy soil in Columbia Heights back in 1997.  They probably were the saddest annuals ever.

How and why did you become a farmer/grower?: 
I became a community grower because I like to make friends with all living things – and by growing green spaces I have made and facilitated tons of friendships.

What do you love about being a farmer/grower?:
I love learning things the hard way – there is no internet site that will tell you the future, and so you have to live through it patiently and figure things out (like why cucumbers kept biting the dust this summer) as you go along.

What’s the hardest part about it?
Winter!  Even though we love to plan, spring can’t come quickly enough.

What do people say when you tell them you are a farmer/grower?:
People usually want to get involved and spend time with us outside.  Or, they ask me how to take care of their houseplants, and that sucks because I don’t know anything about houseplants.

What are your goals as a farmer/grower or for your farm/green spaces?:
Our goal is that all urban citizens have access to interactive, holistically healthy green spaces.  I also have a personal goal of growing a living made of herbs.

If you weren’t a farmer/grower what would you be?:
An art teacher – that is what I was before, and I still am, to a certain extent.  Growing is an art!

What’s your favorite vegetable and why?:
I really love beets right now – they have some of the diversity of swiss chard when you use the leaves, and I like how they dye EVERYTHING either red or yellowish (the golden ones).

What is your favorite season and why?:
Summer – I enjoy the ridiculously hot D.C. summers because people slow down a bit, and the best food grows.

What is your favorite time of day and why?:
I like when I force myself to get up early and my only company is a bunch of urban birds and squirrels. It’s so quiet and the demands of email and work haven’t started yet.

What don’t people know or understand about farming/growing that you wish they would?:
I wish that they could understand that it is super complicated and can be pricier than just soil and seeds.

Who should consider farming/growing as a career? And how should they start?:
I think everyone should at least experience growing food once in their lifetime, and if you are in a rush, start with radishes.  They grow quickly, and are delicious raw, roasted, or pickled.

Finish this sentence: A bad day farming is better than a good day__ (doing what?)__________:
wearing pantyhose.

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Stacey Carlberg
Age: 31
Name of the farm where you work: Potomac Vegetable Farms (West)
Location of farm: Purcellville, VA
Number of acres: 8 acres of produce

Do you own your farm?:
No

What do you grow/raise there?:
All types of vegetables – spring, summer, fall

Do you have a CSA? (contact info for it?):
yes (see website www.potomacvegetablefarms.com)

What farmers markets do you attend, if any? what days?:
Leesburg, Wednesday & Saturdays, Arlington, Saturdays

What’s the first thing you ever remember growing?:
Tomatoes! In Seattle! A very – untomato location. I was left in charge of our house garden while a roommate traveled abroad – and I was so scared I was going to kill everything. But, before her departure she said, ” I don’t really know how to garden, I just throw some seeds in the ground and water them. You can handle it.” She was right.

How and why did you become a farmer?:
I spent my early twenties doing lots of interesting and odd jobs in Seattle – working for environmental non-profits, organizing service projects for school groups, being a barista and finally – landing a sweet job (literally) in a bakery and cafe. This was the first time in my life I really cooked things from scratch, and had the pleasure of selling these products to customers. I loved it. It was so tangible. It was so delicious. But, I wanted to know more about the process and began to wonder about the ingredients and where they were coming from. I wanted to learn about the whole cycle of ingredients-to-mouth or farm-to-fork. So, after a long shift of baking breads, I mentioned to a co-worker over beers that I wanted to work on a farm. He said, “You should move to Waterpenny Farm in Rappahannock County, Virginia.” This began my cross-country journey into farming. I have been in Virginia ever since.

What do you love about being a farmer?:
Farming combines my desire to do something worthwhile and meaningful with my body and mind, while meshing with my environmental ideals. I have a short commute to work. I get to teach other young folks (my workers) about farming everyday. I get to be physically active. I am able to work with my partner. Together, we get to problem-solve and strategize. It’s never boring. And, at the end of the week, I get to see the fruits of my labor distributed amongst hundreds of customers. It is very tangible and satisfying.

What’s the hardest part about it?
It’s never boring! Nothing is guaranteed or predictable in farming. There is always some problem with the weather (It’s too hot. It’s too wet. It’s too dry. It’s too windy. It’s too humid, etc. etc.) If it’s not weather, it’s workers. If it’s not workers, it’s equipment. There are so many variables. We constantly try to make the best decision of all possible decisions and move on. But, sometimes we are wrong. And, sometimes we are right. And, you just remind yourself not to be too hard on yourself or workers for those wrong decisions.

What do people say when you tell them you are a farmer?:
They think it’s great that I get to work outdoors all the time. (But, I think they forgot about working in blazing sun, pouring rain, frosty mornings – all the outdoor weather conditions.)

What are your goals as a farmer or for your farm?:
My goal as a farmer is to grow vegetables in a way that treats our soils, our community and our workers kindly. I want to be a farmer that can keep workers because our farm is good place to work, that provides education and meaningful work.

If you weren’t a farmer what would you be?:
Hmmm. I think about this on truly long, exhausting days and I haven’t come up with anything yet.

What’s your favorite vegetable and why?:
Carrots! They are so beautiful. They are tricky to grow, as you really need to stay on top of watering them to germinate and weeding them. But, there is nothing more glorious than pulling a long, bright orange carrot out of the ground. Wash the mud off and they really glow.

What is your favorite season and why?:
I like spring. I like to work in the greenhouse, and spring is the busiest greenhouse season. I’m still surprised when our first seeds pop out of the trays in the spring after seeding them just days earlier. And, I think “Oh yes, it’s working!”

What is your favorite time of day and why?:
My favorite time of the day is the end of the work day. (Not surprising, probably.) But, it’s a time when we all generally return from the fields, park the trucks, put away our tools and gather our belongings to go our separate ways. It’s a real feeling of winding down and mental reflection of the accomplishments of the day. There is a little discussion about what’s for dinner or what we’ll do on the farm tomorrow. Casey or I try to say a “good job” or “thank you” to the workers, because we know we wouldn’t or couldn’t do all this work without them. Then, we go home. Ah.

What don’t people know or understand about farming that you wish they would?:
We (including our workers) work very hard to bring the best vegetables we have to your table. We pay for inputs to improve our soil and raise healthy plants, we try to pay decent wages to our workers, we spend a lot of time in the fields doing tedious and physically difficult tasks. Our prices are a reflection of our costs, time and effort.

Who should consider farming as a career? And how should they start?:
I would consider farming as a career if you like to problem solve, don’t desire consistency and like to work long hours outdoors.  I would definitely start by working for someone who is doing what you’d like to be doing. You can spend a lot of money making mistakes on your own farm, or you can learn those lessons on someone else’s farm first.

Finish this sentence: A bad day farming is better than a good day__ (doing what?)__________:
sitting behind a desk all day.

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Emily Cook
Age: 36
Name of the farm where you work: The Farm at Sunnyside
Location of farm:  Washington, VA Rappahannock County
Number of acres:  40

Do you own your farm?: 
No, I am the Farm Manager

What do you grow/raise there?: 
A myriad of organic vegetables, organic apples, Asian Pears, blackberries.

Do you have a CSA?:
Yes, we have a 70 member CSA and are looking for drop off sites to expand. Call 540-675-9946 for more information.

What farmers markets do you attend, if any? what days? 
Sundays at Dupont Circle and Thursdays at Penn Quarter

What’s the first thing you ever remember growing?
I came late to the world of growing; my first, although still vivid memory of growing anything was in my intro to Botany class at Connecticut College.  We each got about two feet of space in the greenhouse to grow whatever we wanted. I grew carrots– I remember checking on them several times a day.  They only got about 3 inches long, but it was very exciting! I found myself checking on them several times a day.

How and why did you become a farmer?: 
I blame a cucumber, and my mother.  She had just moved into DC and I had just moved home from college.  My mom had a headache so sent me out to buy cucumbers for her taboulleh salad.  She said, “You can turn left and go to the Safeway, or turn right and there’s this little farmer’s market.”  I turned right and found New Morning Farm’s farmer’s market at the Sheridan School at 34th and Alton Pl., NW.  I was amazed- I had never seen anything so beautiful.  I started working at the market and later that summer moved up to the farm.   I learned how to farm at New Morning with Jim and Moie Crawford, fantastic farmers and people.  They have started countless young people on their farming careers.

It makes perfect sense now–ending up in agriculture– I had always been interested in plants and the environment, and organic agriculture seems a perfect intersection of the two.  I might have known my path led to agriculture as well when I studied abroad in Micronesia and conducted research on taro, their staple agricultural crop.

What do you love about being a farmer?:
I can say in three words what I do: I grow food.  I feel useful.  Running a farm is so interesting– It engages my mind and body on so many levels.  There is the intellectual side– the science of horticulture,  the challenge of running a business,  as well as the physical work of it– being outside,  being tired at the end of the day– really earning your shower.

What’s the hardest part about it? 
Social isolation and low pay.  Working long hours and living in a rural area makes finding a community and friends tough.  Forget dating.  After 14 years in the field of agriculture, I now make slightly more than I did as an entry level associate in my first job straight out of college.   Most farmers are struggling financially.

What do people say when you tell them you are a farmer?:
“Oh, that’s wonderful!”  This often makes me want to kick them in the shins.  Come pick tomatoes in 110 degree heat and tell me how wonderful it is. Or watch several thousands of dollars of vegetables be devoured by deer/groundhogs/stinkbugs etc.   Farming is not the romantic vision most people think it is.  Many hours are spent in sweltering heat, bent over, rooting around in the dirt.  Like all professions, there are pluses and minuses.  I have the good fortune to have found a job I am passionate about, but there are drawbacks.  I love my work, but I work all the time.

What are your goals as a farmer or for your farm?:
To be a profitable business.

If you weren’t a farmer what would you be?:
I have dreams of working in a coffee shop.  But I am probably romanticizing that job– I think I just want to sit around drinking coffee and listening to NPR. 

What’s your favorite vegetable and why?:
Carrots.  No wait, shell peas– no, kale.  Or maybe sweet corn.  No, definately carrots.  First, they are beautiful and come in fantastic, bright colors.  They are a very satisfying crop to harvest; people are crazy for them at market; and they store well.  Oh, and then there’s carrot cake.  Any vegetable that can be made into a cake is amazing.

What is your favorite season and why?: 
Fall.  It’s cooler and the end is in sight.  Fall crops are less demanding and there’s nothing like a field of brassicas on a sunny fall day- all different greens, blues and purples….

What is your favorite time of day and why?:
10:35 a.m.  I am finally fully awake– and there is still enough time to feel like I can accomplish a lot, but it’s close enough to lunch that the day is almost half over.

What don’t people know or understand about farming that you wish they would?:
I think what I’d like most for people to understand is that we need more farmers.  It is becoming more and more challenging find affordable land and have access to enough capital to start a farm.  The demand for fresh, local food is enormous, but there just aren’t enough farms to supply it.   We need to find a way to make farming an attractive, realistic career option for people from non-farm backgrounds to enter.

Who should consider farming as a career? And how should they start?:  
Anyone interested in farming should work begin by working on a farm.

Secret organic farmer food fetish:
Cheetos

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Donald Edmonds
Age: 40
Name of the farm where you work: Edmonds Farm
Location of farm: Ottoman Virginia
Number of acres: 200

Do you own your farm?:
Yes

What do you grow/raise there?:
Grass-fed, free-range, antibiotic/steroid free Bison, Hogs, Ducks, Chickens, Rhea, Goats.

Do you have a CSA? (contact info for it?):
No

What farmers markets do you attend, if any? what days?
Saturdays we can be found at South of the James in Richmond, Yorktown farmers market, Irvington farmers market, Kilmarnock farmers market, Warsaw farmers market, Tappahannock farmers market, Old Beach farmers market (Virginia Beach).

What’s the first thing you ever remember growing?
Crookneck squash, used to trade it with local restaurants in exchange for dinners.

How and why did you become a farmer?:
Started as a hobby and after 9/11 became a full time job.

What do you love about being a farmer?:
Working outdoors for myself.

What’s the hardest part about it?:
It is driven by the weather, something I can not change.

What do people say when you tell them you are a farmer?:
Those I grew up with are a little surprised at first, since I grew up outside of Chicago.

What are your goals as a farmer or for your farm?:
To raise healthy happy animals and give them as good of a life as we can for the time we have them with us, and to teach the respect for them and what they do for us to my children.

If you weren’t a farmer what would you be?:
A veterinarian, I have a background as a vet tech and would still want to be around animals.

What’s your favorite vegetable and why?:
Not a big veggie guy, more of a Bison ribeye guy.

What is your favorite season and why?:
The Fall, cooler weather. The Bison like to play tag and run more in the evenings and you can sit on the porch and feel them through the earth as they run and feel their breath in the air.

What don’t people know or understand about farming that you wish they would?:
That when you raise animals it is 7 days a week 24 hours a day, when calves need help you have to be there. When piglets drop in the rain and it is freezing out in the middle of the night you are there warming them up and making sure they are eating. It is not just a 9-5.

Who should consider farming as a career? And how should they start?:
In my line of farming you need to love animals. I started by working in animal hospitals and learning about different animals, their needs and care.

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Casey Gustowarow
Age: 30
Name of the farm where you work: Potomac Vegetable Farms (PVF West)

What do you grow/raise there?:
Veggies

Do you have a CSA? (contact info for it?):
Yes, the Purcellville branch has a 45 member CSA where all veggies come from our farm and we also supply veggies for the 500 member CSA to the Vienna branch http://www.potomacvegetablefarms.com/

What farmers markets do you attend, if any? what days?:
PVF West where I am, attends markets in Leesburg (Wednesday and Saturday) Arlington Courthouse (Saturday). PVF East attends Takoma Park on Sundays and Falls Church and Reston on Saturdays. We supply some veggies for these markets as well.

What’s the first thing you ever remember growing?:
I remember growing sugar snap peas in the garden when I was five years old with my mother. We had just a little patch on our wooded property and we had some other veggies as well but who can forget the taste of your first snap peas.

How and why did you become a farmer?:
Environmental stewardship has always been something important to me and I feel like that is what helped lead me to choosing farming as a livelihood.  After graduating college with a degree in environmental biology and doing conservation work in the Philippines as a Peace Corps Volunteer, I was not really sure what my next step was going to be. I thought about going back to school and contemplated continuing in the conservation field but was just not sure how effective and tangible such an occupation would be.  I envisioned myself eventually sitting in an office mulling over land management decisions and I just did not know if that really sounded satisfying.  I had always had farming very far in the back of my mind but no real agricultural knowledge save a few seasons of gardening on a very small space with my mother. But I enjoyed working outdoors with my hands, I loved food and I recognized the real potential for concrete environmental responsibility that farming sustainably provided.  I also realized that there was a great potential to educate others, especially with the burgeoning interest in the local food movement.

I will be honest that when I started my first internship and found myself doing the grunt labor of weeding beds of vegetables or transporting wheelbarrows of mulch for hours, I did question my decision and wondered if I was farming was really mentally stimulating enough for me or if I was really meeting my lofty goals of environmental responsibility and education.  The more I stuck around though, the more I realized how stimulating farming can be and how many decisions have to be made and how much knowledge in many disciplines it requires.  I also realized that while I may not educate people every day about the virtues of sustainable farming, I am producing food for thousands of people in an environmentally responsible way.  Good food is one of those things that people need and I am happy to be providing it for them and doing it in the best way that I know how. Now that is tangible.

What do you love about being a farmer?:
There are so many things that I love about it but the tangibility of being able to see something grow from a seed and then selling it to the people that it will nourish is really a big one for me. And knowing that this is happening on a relatively large scale: feeding thousands of people is pretty awesome.

I also love to nourish myself and those closest to me and as a lover of cooking and eating, a great part of being a farmer for me is that there are so many fresh veggies at my disposal. When I am not farming, you can usually find me in the kitchen making a meal or pickling and preserving for later on.

What’s the hardest part about it?
The way that it can take over your life and the amount of time it requires. I love the fact that my job is so important to me but sometimes I step back and realize that farming is most of what I think about even when I am not out in the field. That’s great in some respects, but sometimes, I think it could use a bit more balance.

What do people say when you tell them you are a farmer?:
There are certainly some people that have no idea why I would want to work that hard and do not really have much of an idea of what the type of farming that I do entails, but overall I feel like most people that I meet are very interested in knowing more about it and are excited. I feel like the growing local food movement has made more and more people excited about getting to know their farmers.

What are your goals as a farmer or for your farm?:
To be innovative and stick to my environmental ideals. I would like to produce great food but also make sure that I am a good steward of the land and the surrounding environment. This farm has a history of nourishing its soils with farm made compost and recently we have been planting more and more cover crops. I would like to incorporate more and more elements of integration of the agricultural landscape with the surrounding environment such as attracting native beneficial insects and predators.  I would also like incorporate more food preparation into the business and be involved in more outreach and education.

If you weren’t a farmer what would you be?:
An environmental biologist or maybe a chef.

What’s your favorite vegetable and why?:
Cauliflower. It is one of my favorite things to harvest because you get to karate chop the leaves away from the plant before you harvest. It also comes in an astonishing array of colors and shapes (orange, purple and Technicolor green spirals) and it is a great ingredient in Indian food.

What is your favorite season and why?:
Fall. The temperature is just right, the varieties and colors of roots and greens are astounding and you know that you have almost made it through another season.

What is your favorite time of day and why?:
Early morning because there is so much potential for the day and there is nothing better than a cool morning picking greens in the fall with the sun low in the sky.

What don’t people know or understand about farming that you wish they would?:
Farming and running a farming business well takes an immense amount of knowledge and skills in many different disciplines.  It can certainly be challenging to wear so many different hats but it makes the job stimulating and fun.

I also wish people really understood what it takes to produce the food that we sell and why we charge the prices that we do at market. Our veggies are not the same as the ones that you buy in the supermarket in terms of flavor, freshness, the way that they are produced and handled or the wages paid to our workers – and that is reflected in our prices.  I think people are starting to understand but there is still a long way to go for people comprehend the true cost of good food.

Who should consider farming as a career?
And how should they start?: People who enjoy the outdoors, working hard and being challenged. Work on a farm that is successful and see if it is for you. Having that hands on experience and learning from someone else is really the best way to start. ATTRA has a great listing of potential farms to get experience.

Finish this sentence: A bad day farming is better than a good day__ (doing what?)__________:
working in an office

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Holly Hammond
Age: 29
Name of the farm where you work: Whisper Hill Farm, LLC         
Location of farm: Rapidan, VA
Number of acres: 3 acres in cultivation

Do you own your farm?:
Owners of the farm business, lease the land

What do you grow/raise there?:
Vegetables, herbs, and cut flowers

Do you have a CSA? (contact info for it?):
Yes, Holly at info@whisperhillfarm.com

What farmers markets do you attend, if any? what days?:
Charlottesville City Market-Saturdays: (April-Nov)., Culpeper-Saturdays (May-Oct.), Market at Pen Park/Charlottesville-Tuesdays: (May-Sept.)

What’s the first thing you ever remember growing?
I grew up on a small “u-pick” farm in Southeast Arizona, which meant that I was transplanting and picking vegetables at a very early age.  One of the first things I remember growing successfully on my own was lettuce, in a community garden my husband and I started when we lived in Tempe, AZ.

How and why did you become a farmer?:
As I mentioned, farming was a huge part of my life.  I left our family farm to attend college at Arizona State University.  When I left, I didn’t want anything to do with it.  I wanted to get away and experience the city life and all it had to offer.  Over time, I realized I missed green spaces and going out and eating food straight from the garden.  My husband and I ended up starting a community garden in our neighborhood-where many a hot afternoon where spent working.  That experience and some serious reading of Wendell Berry inspired us to quit our jobs, sell our condo, and move to the East coast to have a go at it.  After a few false starts, a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail & a very important internship at Waterpenny Farm-we finally have settled and started a farm!

What do you love about being a farmer?:
I love that farming is such an essential job.  We have to eat!  It is very satisfying knowing we are meeting a basic need.

What’s the hardest part about it?
It’s the hardest job I have ever done.  The physical and psychological demands are very hard.  During the height of the season we work 12-14 hour days and from April-October we don’t get any days off!

What do people say when you tell them you are a farmer?:
They are surprised but usually very supportive.

What are your goals as a farmer or for your farm?:
To be overall sustainable (ecologically, financially) and to allow ourselves time to enjoy the life we have created.  At times it is hard, as the work load doesn’t allow for much free time.  We want to either get smaller/smarter about the way we grow.

If you weren’t a farmer what would you be?:
I have dreams of opening a café, using locally sourced products!

What’s your favorite vegetable and why?:
Okra-it’s flavor is unmatched and it’s quite versatile

What is your favorite season and why?:
I have enjoyed the fall because it’s the end..but also the fact that it means the start of planning for another year.  Even though it is incredibly hard work, there is something about farming that is addictive! You want to keep improving on the previous year.

What is your favorite time of day and why?: 
Evenings-the sun is down and you can’t work anymore.  It’s the natural world’s way of telling me that I can be done for the day and I gladly accept!

What don’t people know or understand about farming that you wish they would?: 
The risks involved.  There are so many factors out of our control that determine how successful a season might be. 

Who should consider farming as a career?
And how should they start?: In terms of vegetable farmers, I think anyone who has any interest in growing/cultivating plants. I think interning or working on a farm that you want to model your own farm after, is the first place someone should start.  You can learn an incredible amount that way.

Finish this sentence: A bad day farming is better than a good day__ (doing what?)__________:
in the office!

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James Hammond
Age: 34
Name of the farm where you work: Whisper Hill Farm
Location of farm: Rapidan, VA
Number of acres: 3 cultivated acres

Do you own your farm?:
We own the farm business, but lease the land.

What do you grow/raise there?:
Vegetables, herbs, cut flowers

Do you have a CSA? (contact info for it?):
Yes, info@whisperhillfarm.com

What farmers markets do you attend, if any? what days?:
Culpeper and Charlottesville City on Saturdays, and Charlottesville Pen Park on Tuesdays

What’s the first thing you ever remember growing?
My wife and I did some container gardening right after we got married.  We grew sweet peppers, tomatoes, and basil.

How and why did you become a farmer?:
My wife and I started a community garden while living in Tempe, AZ.  My day job consisted of a sales position where I sat in a cubical on the phone all day.  The garden became a source of inspiration as we fed ourselves, observed nature and physically worked.   Over time we began dreaming about gardening on a much larger scale.  Having been originally from the East Coast, we eventually decided to quit our city life in Arizona, move back East, and make a go of our own farm and a new way of life.

What do you love about being a farmer?:
I enjoy the rhythms of the seasons- the newness of spring, the hard work and bounty of the summer, the rest that is in sight with the falling of the leaves.  I also love seeing people excited about fresh vegetables at the markets.  It is a very rewarding profession.

What’s the hardest part about it?
The unknowns of the weather.

What do people say when you tell them you are a farmer?:
Most people look surprised, but usually are supportive.

What are your goals as a farmer or for your farm?:
We would like to get better at what we do and continue to diversify with fruit and maybe small animals.  We would also like to figure out a way to have a little more free time too.

If you weren’t a farmer what would you be?:
I am not sure.  I have not been content doing any other job.

What’s your favorite vegetable and why?: 
Butterbeans.  The speckled butterbean that we grow is the variety I grew up eating at my grandparents farm in southeastern North Carolina. It is delicious, filling, and brings back fond memories of them and their farm.

What is your favorite season and why?:
I enjoy each season equally as much and usually look forward to each coming season.

What is your favorite time of day and why?:
Dusk, the setting sun, and hopefully the work is done.

What don’t people know or understand about farming that you wish they would?:
The overall work involved and the true cost of food.

Who should consider farming as a career? And how should they start?:
Anyone who enjoys and appreciates nature and the way things grow.  A certain amount of physical endurance, drive and ambition is needed.  They should start by interning, and/or working on a farm that resembles the farm that they would like to have.

Finish this sentence: A bad day farming is better than a good day__ (doing what?)__________:
There is nothing worse than a bad day farming.  Thankfully they do not happen too often.

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Erica Hellen & Joel Slezak
Age: 26 & 27
Name of the farm where you work: Free Union Grass Farm
Location of farm: Free Union, VA
Number of acres: All told, 40-50.

Do you own your farm?:
Sort of – 13 acres of family land, 20 that is leased, 5 or so rented, + the remainder at a neighbor’s property and at a friend’s.  We are dabbling in the custom grazing business.

What do you grow/raise there?:
Chickens for meat and eggs, ducks for meat, and beef cattle

Do you have a CSA? (contact info for it?):
No

What farmers markets do you attend, if any? what days?
Charlottesville City Market on Saturdays

What’s the first thing you ever remember growing?:
Joel – cows
Erica – Venus fly trap in preschool

How and why did you become a farmer?:
Erica – was a wayward environmentalist at hippie school Warren Wilson College… discovered that food was the big black hole in the environmental movement and derived so much fulfillment and meaning from growing my own food.  Interned at farms in Oklahoma (her motherland), North Carolina, and at Polyface and Caromont Farm in VA, met Joel and made a go of it.
Joel – grew up milking Jersey cows on (my) family’s land in Free Union.  Wanted to take control of his food supply.  Found Pasture Poultry Profits one day and decided raising chickens was the way to start.  Met Erica in VA while delivering meat from Polyface, then kindled a farmer romance while she worked at Caromont.  Decided to jump right in!  [Also we both hate bosses.]

What do you love about being a farmer?:
The contrast between being really poor and eating extremely luxurious meals.  Being outside all the time.  Having no guilt about what I did with my day.

What’s the hardest part about it?
Long processing days, sore wrists, inconsistent paycheck, expensive startup, unpredictable/unreliable customer and restaurant base, Farm never stops…

What do people say when you tell them you are a farmer?:
Most people think it’s awesome and most people say they all want to be farmers and either plan on it someday or always dreamed of it but never followed through.  Bottom line is that it’s just too hard for most people.

What are your goals as a farmer or for your farm?:
Grow beautiful grass,  make a living doing what we love, building soil, feeding people, having an office outside.  Making this a career that we can sustain long-term, once you make the leap to full time farming it seems impossible to do anything else.

If you weren’t a farmer what would you be?:
Joel: Sailor.
Erica:  professional travel writer.

What’s your favorite vegetable and why?:
Joel:  is garlic a vegetable?
Erica:  Leeks, because they’re good in everything.

What is your favorite season and why?:
Summer because it’s hot!!!! and you can farm in a bikini.

What is your favorite time of day and why?:
Depends on the day

What don’t people know or understand about farming that you wish they would?:
Farming is expensive.  We can’t afford to buy organic feed because we don’t have a customer base to support that kind of cost.  If we could we would but no one wants to pay those prices, including the people who ask us to.  They might want to pay the $6/lb for a chicken fed organically one time, but they sure don’t want to pay that much for 20 birds once a week…which is what it takes to merit running our business that way…

Who should consider farming as a career? And how should they start?:
People who can work really hard, be their own boss, anticipate tasks.

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Rebecca Lemos
Age: 32
Name of the farm where you work: City Blossoms.  We actually run urban children’s community gardens (communal spaces that are both beautiful and grow food to share with children, their families and communities).
Location of farm: throughout Washington DC
Number of acres: n/a we support 15 sites currently

Do you own your farm?:
No, spaces are either owned by partnering organizations or by private owners who have give us long-term leases.

What do you grow/raise there?:
We do 3 seasons a year an grow a wide mix o vegetables and hers primarily with some fruit.

Do you have a CSA? (contact info for it?):
yes this year we actually started our first herb csa partially run by the kids who work at our Marion street intergenerational garden. The csa provides bimonthly herb packets. Over 52 people in the area benefit.

What farmers markets do you attend, if any? what days?:
We have a monthly stand at the Mt. Pleasant farmers market through a partnership with similar groups and the Field to Fork Network. We also annually sell added value products (soaps,etc) as part of an entrepreneurship project with a group of youth.

What’s the first thing you ever remember growing?
About ten years ago we tried  tomatoes. Tried to grow them in a pretty shaded area and one of the kids named the plant Michael Jackson. So we would go out to see what Michael Jackson had produced. He gave us a few sweet fruits.

How and why did you become a farmer?:
By accident. We lived/worked in a part of dc that at the time was practically an everything-desert. Few pretty or safe areas for kids, no good food, etc. So someone asked us to take on a small project. Having no previous experience it was a miracle nothing died. Instead we experienced just how much of a positive effect the project had on the kids and neighbors. After that we were hooked.

What do you love about being a farmer?:
creating beautiful yet functional spaces in the city that helped connect people to their food and more importantly each other.

What’s the hardest part about it?
Financing, unfortunately.

What do people say when you tell them you are a farmer?:
I tell them I’m a gardener. Most people are so separated from growing food that they aren’t quite sure what to say. But excitingly more and more people what to tell me about the food they are trying to grow

What are your goals as a farmer or for your farm?:
To expand and become a part of urban planning for our city. Providing safe spaces and food in areas that are lacking both

If you weren’t a farmer what would you be?:
Artist

What’s your favorite vegetable and why?:
arugula. Because 1. I like how unassuming it looks but it carries a punch (fun to taste right out of the ground with kids, it surprises them) 2.it’s other name is rocket, awesome 3. I met my significant other (a farmer) over a bed of arugula he was selling

What is your favorite season and why?:
Fall. Love the weather but also celebrating the harvests and food of the year.

What is your favorite time of day and why?:
Late afternoon when people. (kids and neighbors) come play and pick. Very magical

What don’t people know or understand about farming that you wish they would?:
how much work it is but also how much of an artform it can be. Sometimes it seems as though people see it as very one dimensional

Who should consider farming as a career? And how should they start?:
That’s a tough question because it can be such hard work. This is one of those careers where I think apprenticing makes a lot of sense because to have to learn not only needed information bit you also have to develop a Sense of how nature works even in a controlled setting like a farm. And the only way you can do that is by being in it.

Finish this sentence: A bad day farming is better than a good day__ (doing what?)__________:
cooking (I can grow it but I usually need guidance or help to cook it well)

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Zachary Miller
Age:  28
Name of the farm where you work:  Timbercreek Farm
Location of farm: Charlottesville
Number of acres: 300

Do you own your farm?:
No

What do you grow/raise there?:
Chicken, Eggs (though not necessarily in that order) Beef, and Pork

Do you have a CSA? (contact info for it?):
Not Yet

What farmers markets do you attend, if any? what days?:
None Yet…  Sales are conducted primarily by order with on farm pick up

What’s the first thing you ever remember growing?:
The first growing project that I remember was a for a 5th grade science project. I grew beans in my father’s closet.  I think that the project was supposed to determine under what light conditions the beans grew best but what I remember most was how tasty the beans that grew in the dark were.

How and why did you become a farmer?:
Do you have time for a treatise on the subject?  In a few words, farming is about taking care of things: the animals, the land, my family, our community.  Farming was a way that I could make a tangible impact on the health of all of those things.

What do you love about being a farmer?:
How good home grown tastes.

What’s the hardest part about it?
There are many challenges: the weather, the market, predators, lack of infrastructure, expense of services, access to services, expense of inputs.  I guess the biggest challenge is being small scale and diversified in an industry that is geared towards giant monoculture abstractions.

What do people say when you tell them you are a farmer?:
“Oh that must be hard work…” and then they tell you a story about visiting a farm and petting some animals.

What are your goals as a farmer or for your farm?:
To feed my family and our customers well and for the farm to function as a model to other farmers for how farming can be environmentally and economically sustainable while producing a truly superior food.  In short: to break the cycle of environmentally detrimental commodity food production, liberate farmers from agro-corporate tyranny, and re-instill joy in eating.

If you weren’t a farmer what would you be?:
Sad and Directionless

What’s your favorite vegetable and why?:
Beans. All types. There is a bean for every occasion.

What is your favorite season and why?:
Fall. It is the most philosophical season of the four.

What is your favorite time of day and why?:
Sunrise.  Trite as it will sound, at sunrise the day is full of possibilities.

What don’t people know or understand about farming that you wish they would?:
People have many misconceptions about farming.  First, people wrongly believe that all “local” farming is created equal.  Turns out that it isn’t.  There are a wide range of practices and approaches some better than others.  Get to know your grower or growers.  I don’t mean invite them over to dinner (although sometimes they appreciate that). I mean get to know about them.  Talk to them.  Talk to people who buy from them.  Read what they publish.  Would you enlist the services of a professional –doctor, lawyer, babysitter, architect, contractor, plumber etc.- without first learning about the quality of their work?  When it comes to what you eat there is a lot more at stake.

Second, there is notion that farmers produce in a vacuum or in response to some great mysterious marketplace.  How and what farmers produce is directly dictated by customer demand.  Every time you purchase a product you vote for how your food is produced, so consider closely the criteria that you apply when you buy food.  The example that best illustrates this issue is the one of price.  When you purchase farm produce using the criterion of price you send the farmer one message.  “Use the cheapest possible production methods to bring me the item that I want at the lowest possible price I don’t care about the collateral damage or the diminished quality.”

If you demand more from your food, farmers will deliver.  And if it costs more it’s because the real cost of quality food production is more.  Believe me, there isn’t a farmer I’ve met yet that’s making a killing being a farmer.

Who should consider farming as a career? And how should they start?:
Everyone!  Intern, read, approach a land-owner, jump-in.  Most importantly though, don’t be afraid of collaboration.  Farmers working together stand a much better chance to make a real impact.

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Maureen “Mo” Moodie
Age: 28
Name of the farm where you work: Arcadia Farm
Location of farm: Woodlawn Estate, Alexandria, VA
Number of acres: 4

Do you own your farm?:
No, we are in a partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation on the historical Woodlawn Estate.

What do you grow/raise there?:
Variety of vegetables, herbs and flowers

Do you have a CSA? (contact info for it?):
Not yet!

What farmers markets do you attend, if any? what days?:
The DC Southwest Wharf Market, June-September, Thursdays, 5-8

What’s the first thing you ever remember growing?:
I remember sprouting beans in elementary school in ziploc bags hanging in the window. I think this was the first vegetable plant I ever grew and I was mesmerized by the tiny green plant that would eventually become beans. I think this was when I realized how amazing nature can be. I also loved helping my Mom in her flower garden and I remember planting tulip bulbs every fall.

How and why did you become a farmer?:
I became a farmer to reclaim food sovereignty, to dig my hands in the dirt, grow great food for people and support a new generation of sustainable farmers. I started working in the urban farming world of Northern California and DC. Pure luck dropped Arcadia in my lap.

What do you love about being a farmer?:
I love growing food. Honestly, it’s that simple.

What’s the hardest part about it?
Letting go and realizing that some things, like the weather, are completely out of your control. And having a good sense of humor about it at the end of the day.

What do people say when you tell them you are a farmer?:
“Really?”, “That’s so cool!”

What are your goals as a farmer or for your farm?:
I want to reconnect people with where their food comes from and what food actually is. I want to encourage and contribute to a landscape that is dotted with sustainable farmers serving their local economies and supporting themselves and their families.

If you weren’t a farmer what would you be?:
I would like to say an acrobat or a famous fiber artist, but probably a professor of cultural anthropology.

What’s your favorite vegetable and why?:
Beets are my favorite vegetable to grow because you can use the whole plant and I’ve tried really hard to grow great beets. I love thinning the seedlings for microgreens and storing and pickling the roots for the winter. I also love growing and eating green beans as it feels like farmer vindication for the pain they are to harvest!

What is your favorite season and why?:
Early fall is my favorite because the farm is green again, the air is crisp and my hands are calloused and tired after a long summer. I enjoy harvesting sweet potatoes and winter squashes and getting the farm ready to sleep for the winter. The sound of geese overhead and a chilly morning is really calming and peaceful.

What is your favorite time of day and why?:
The hour after sunrise when the plants are happy, everything is waking up, and I have a cup of warm coffee in my hand.

What don’t people know or understand about farming that you wish they would?:
It’s really hard to survive as a farmer and make a living. The food system is fundamentally broken and, as necessary consumers of food, we have the power to change that.

Who should consider farming as a career? And how should they start?:
I think anyone can consider farming as a career, but you have to love getting dirty and enjoy a physically demanding job. I would suggest anyone who thinks they want to farm to start volunteering on farms, get a farm apprenticeship, join a CSA and get to know your farmer– just get your hands in the dirt and get growing! You’ll know if it’s the right job for you when you can’t imagine doing anything else!

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Rob Moutoux
Age: 31
Name of farm: Moutoux Orchard
Location of farm: Purcellville, VA

I’ve been farming on my parents land the last 10 years, and just bought a farm of my own right next to theirs.
We’re farming on ~70 acres
We’re growing fruit trees, vegetables, dairy, lambs, pigs, chickens, and small grains.
CSA- yes, details on website
I’m a third generation farmer and have always loved it since a very young age.  I like spending my days outside.

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Joneve Murphy
Age: 31
Name of the farm where you work: The Inn at Little Washington
Location of farm: Washington, VA
Number of acres: 1 quarter acre

Do you own your farm?:
No

What do you grow/raise there?:
a wide variety of vegetables and micro greens

Do you have a CSA? (contact info for it?):
No

What farmers markets do you attend, if any? what days?:
None. Vegetables are grown exclusively for the restaurant.

What’s the first thing you ever remember growing?:
My first season was on a 10-acre farm.  The joy of the first harvest of that season, which was for the most part a bumper crop of swiss chard, hooked me on growing food for life.

How and why did you become a farmer?:
I started work on a farm as a temporary summer job.  Working hard, outdoors in the sun and growing vegetables was the most fun I had ever had at work.  It felt good for my body, and I ate great food, the rest was history.

What do you love about being a farmer?:
I love playing in the dirt all day, I love being in the sun. And I really love the satisfaction of providing for the dinner table, hearing people excited about your produce, what recipes they are going to try, and the genuine enthusiasm found in the local food movement.

What’s the hardest part about it?
Long hours, and lack of social life during the growing season.  My friends have learned to accept that they won’t hear from me often from May to September.

What do people say when you tell them you are a farmer?
5 years ago people would often ask if I got into it as a family business, and when I said no, I was often asked if I went to college, as if I could be doing something better with my education.  These days that all seems to be changing, the position seems to have become much more hip.

What are your goals as a farmer or for your farm?:
My current goals revolve around the kitchen here at the Inn, meeting their needs, and growing things they can’t purchase elsewhere. In terms of my future I would like to be involved in helping people with my experience, either growing food for those in need, or helping to educate future farmers.

If you weren’t a farmer what would you be?:
An agriculture consultant in developing nations??? I know, it’s not really that different.

What’s your favorite vegetable and why?:
My favorite is any kind of cooking greens, kale, chard, spinach, etc. because they taste like they are good for you.

What is your favorite season and why?:
I love the spring, everything is so new and exciting, the pressure is on and I gain a lot of energy from that.

What is your favorite time of day and why?:
I love the early morning, before anyone else is in, those few quiet hours when I can get a lot accomplished.

What don’t people know or understand about farming that you wish they would?:
I would like for people to understand that the food in the grocery store isn’t real.  Vegetables don’t come out all the same size and color and blemish free, they are individuals, and the carrot that’s a little too short or the cucumber that curved a little while growing is just as good.

Who should consider farming as a career?
And how should they start?: I think that very few people are cut out for a farming career.  You need a strong work ethic, a strong body and a love for the job, even when it’s raining, or 100 degrees.  Anyone considering it should apprentice for several years on someone’s farm and get really involved in the process, then assistant manage for a season or two before managing a property.

Finish this sentence: A bad day farming is better than a good day__ (doing what?)__________:
stuck behind a desk, though farming does require some desk time.

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Mike Peterson
Age: 28
Name of the farm where you work: Mount Vernon Farm
Location of farm: Sperryville, VA
Number of acres:830 acres (260 in grazing pasture)

Do you own your farm?:
No

What do you grow/raise there?:
Grass-fed, Grass-finished beef & lamb. Pastured Soy Free Pork and Eggs.

Do you have a CSA? (contact info for it?):
No

What farmers markets do you attend, if any? what days?:
None-Buyers Clubs are our best sales outlet.

What’s the first thing you ever remember growing?:
I believe the first thing I ever grew was rhubarb, which makes my favorite pie in the world. I was just as excited to learn that it is a vegetable!

How and why did you become a farmer?:
I became a farmer through an internship.  I came to Mount Vernon two and a half years ago for a six month internship from cooking at The Inn at Little Washington.  I felt that it was my responsibility, as a chef, to have a deeper respect and understanding not only for the farmers that were growing the food I was using in restaurants, but also to gain an education on raising animals.  I felt, with that background, it would make me a much more educated and socially responsible chef.  My internship really accomplished this, but it also completely shifted my career and outlook on life.

What do you love about being a farmer?:
Knowing that my daily work has an impact on the lives and well-being of over 300 animals.  On top of this, we also have the responsibility of providing our products to a growing customer base.

What’s the hardest part about it?
The toughest and the most rewarding are all in the same for me.  It’s a great feeling knowing that we have provided a great life for all of the animals on the farm, but whenever the time comes for each animal, it doesn’t make it any easier.  It’s a humbling experience knowing that an animal is giving its life to feed us.

What do people say when you tell them you are a farmer?:
Some are surprised, given my background, and some are respectful.  Once they understand the food service industry, the change that I have made is not all that drastic, I’m just on a different level of food production now than I have been in the past.

What are your goals as a farmer or for your farm?: To be sustainable in all aspects of the farm.  Socially, economically, and environmentally.  We cannot just be sustainable in one or two of these categories and make a difference, we need all three.
If you weren’t a farmer what would you be?:
I was on the path to become a pilot before I went to culinary school, so I would probably be in aviation in some regard.  My Dad is a captain for United, so I may have gone into the airlines or military.

What’s your favorite vegetable and why?:
Rhubarb! A vegetable makes a great pie! My favorite meat is anything that can be cooked slowly-pork shoulder, beef chuck, beef round, lamb shoulder. It makes your house smell wonderful and you sit down for the meal at the table with those that you care about in life and actually talk to each other.

What is your favorite season and why?:
Spring and Fall.  Grasses are in flush and our cattle really thrive on these flushes of grass.  It’s great to see them thrive on grass.

What is your favorite time of day and why?:
Just before sunrise.  It’s very quiet, the cattle are usually still laying down, dew on the grass, and a full day ahead.  It’s a great way to begin every day.

What don’t people know or understand about farming that you wish they would?:
I think more people are becoming aware of it, but we still have a number of people that think we are laughing all the way to the bank because our prices are higher than conventionally produced meat.  There is a reason for the price difference.  You are paying the true cost of food with us.  We’re not subsidized or supported by other big ag chemical companies.  What you are paying for a pound of ground beef, for example, is a realistic cost on what it takes to raise, butcher, and distribute that meat from a small farm.

Who should consider farming as a career? And how should they start?:
Those that are passionate about making a difference in the current food system.  I cannot recommend internships enough.  There is little to no financial commitment on the interns part and it’s a great hands on way to experience the life of a farmer for a short period of time.  You will find out soon enough if it is for you or not.

Finish this sentence: A bad day farming is better than a good day__ (doing what?)__________:
sitting in any cubicle with a suit in front of a computer screen!

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Buddy Powers
Age: 23
Name of the farm where you work: Powers Farm LLC
Location of farm: Grey Gables Farm in Swoope, VA
Number of acres: 227

Do you own your farm?:
No we rent.

What do you grow/raise there?:
Pastured Poultry, including broilers, egg layers, and turkeys and we have a heard of Polyface Grassfed Beef

Do you have a CSA? (contact info for it?):
We are starting buying clubs in spring of 2012 in Fredricksburg, VA Beach, and Annandale, more info at Powersfarm.com or on our facebook page ‘Powers Farm LLC’

What farmers markets do you attend, if any? what days?:
We go to this small farmers market in Staunton called Home Grown, but as shoppers not sellers.

What’s the first thing you ever remember growing?:
Tomatoes I think? I can’t really remember but I know we had a garden growing up and I loved cherry tomatoes.  But seriously, who’s grown up in Virginia and not had tomatoes in their garden?

How and why did you become a farmer?:
I was always into working outdoors, then after college I got an internship at Polyface Farm, and here we are running a farm of our own! It funny how fast it all happened. Jill and I both feel called to stewardship of the land.  But mostly, we love good food!

What do you love about being a farmer?:
In farming your product is completely tangible.  Whether it’s looking out over a pasture that been perfectly grazed by the cows or the green swath of growth that trails behind the broiler shelters or the delicious pastured eggs we have for breakfast every day. It’s all literal fruits of your labor. And it’s cool, good farming is a complex web of simple daily tasks that all work together to achieve a diverse and worthy goal.  Making great food that’s more healthy for people and regenerating the landscape also means simple stuff like washing eggs every night and moving your animals to fresh pasture every day.

What’s the hardest part about it?:
The hardest part is probably the everyday aspect.  In the summer time there is no day off for us.  But the key is seasonality, we get a slow down in the fall and winters off to recharge and visit friends and family.

What do people say when you tell them you are a farmer?:
People are always surprised.  I think because Jill and I are both young, and neither of us grew up around farming.  I’m from Annandale just outside of DC and Jill’s from Fredricksburg. People always ask “oh does your family own a farm” “nope” “Oh so you studied agriculture at school” “No actually I was a philosophy major” at which point they’ll laugh and exclaim “oh well that makes sense! What else would you do!”  I laugh too and then I answer all the questions they have about the farm. It’s awesome. Almost everyone I talk to is extremely curious and excited about this growing young farmer movement.

What are your goals as a farmer or for your farm?:
Our future goals are to slowly diversify our products adding and experimenting each season with something new, pork, honey, lamb, ducks… and to get more people involved in agriculture by creating jobs on our farm.

If you weren’t a farmer what would you be?:
I’m going to go with street musician.

What’s your favorite vegetable and why?:
Swiss chard, sauteed with butter and garlic.

What is your favorite season and why?:
Tough, the best thing about the valley is we get all four seasons perfectly.  I’ll say fall.  Work slows down, football starts, what more could a man want haha.

What is your favorite time of day and why?:
I’d say dawn.  It’s a very hopeful time, the sun’s coming up, you know your morning chores back and forward, your mind is going over the days tasks, you feel the farm coming to life around you.

What don’t people know or understand about farming that you wish they would?:
I’m not sure. I’ve talked to a lot of people about farming recently, it seems like people can romanticize it too much. I mean it should be romantic, but it’s a job, its hard work.  I guess the biggest thing I wish people understood about farming is that where they get their food from is a big deal.  Farming can be done in a lot of ways and most people, as of now, are not farming sustainably or healthily.  They should know there more and more people working to raise and grow the best stuff they can, and that is where they should be getting their food from.

Who should consider farming as a career? And how should they start?:
Anyone who likes working outside, running their own business, and who has a passion for great food.  They say it all the time but its true, now is a great time for young people to get into farming, I mean the average farmer is in their late 50′s.  Land rent is cheap, and there are a lot of people out there that want better quality food than they can get through the conventional avenues.

Finish this sentence: A bad day farming is better than a good day__ (doing what?)__________:
Hmm.. commuting to DC for work haha no offense my fellow Northern Virginians.

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Jill Powers
Age: 25
Name of the farm where you work: Powers Farm (at Grey Gables Farm)
Location of farm: Swoope, VA
Number of acres: 227

Do you own your farm?:
No, we rent it

What do you grow/raise there?:
Pastured poultry including broilers, laying hens, and turkeys and we manage one of Polyface’s beef cattle herds.

Do you have a CSA?
No, we are starting buying clubs in Fredricksburg, VA Beach, and Annandale in Spring of 2012.  more info at powersfarm.com, or our facebook page Powers Farm LLC

What farmers markets do you attend, if any? what days?:
We occasionally attend the downtown Staunton farmers market on Saturday mornings, but as shoppers not sellers

What’s the first thing you ever remember growing?:
Growing up, my mom planted tomato plants on our back deck. We felt so accomplished being able to pick tomatoes that we helped grow! But honestly, give me a plant to keep alive and it’s like a scene out of “How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days” where I’ve killed the “love fern.”

How and why did you become a farmer?:
I get this question a lot! The simplest answer is that I married into it. I didn’t grow up on a farm, I have no farms in my family, and I have a degree in business marketing, not sustainable agriculture. My husband completed an internship with Polyface Farms in the summer of 2010. We got married in April of this year and started farming right when we got back from our honeymoon. Talk about culture shock–laying on a beach in Jamaica one week and literally butchering chickens the next week! It was quite an adjustment, but I survived my first season as a farmer/farmer’s wife!

What do you love about being a farmer?:
I love a lot of things about farming. The first and most obvious thing is that I have a much deeper appreciation for the food I eat and how it’s produced. I love that my husband and I can eat every meal together, which I feel is so rare in most households.  I love that I get to work outside and that I’m not stuck in an office all day!

What’s the hardest part about it?
I’d say the hardest part about farming is the fact that you never have a day off, so finding time to really  rest can be difficult.

What do people say when you tell them you are a farmer?:
I think they find it hard to believe, because not many people know couples in their 20′s that farm for a living. My friends, especially, always thought I would end up living in a big city and not on a farm in the mountains of Virginia. With strangers, it’s a great conversation starter!

What are your goals as a farmer or for your farm?:
One of the main goals for our farm is to simply provide amazing food to as many as people as possible and to educate people on the benefits of sustainable farming.

If you weren’t a farmer what would you be?:
I’d be a photographer.

What’s your favorite vegetable and why?:
This week, it’s asparagus, because it’s delicious and so simple to make. But, honestly, I get on vegetable kicks where I love one vegetable and eat it all the time.

What is your favorite season and why?:
Fall, because the weather is cool, the leaves are beautiful, and I can finally wear scarves again.

What is your favorite time of day and why?:
I love the time right before sunset because the light is “glowy” and there is nothing better than a beautiful sunset!

What don’t people know or understand about farming that you wish they would?:
It’s not “crazy” or impossible to be a farmer at a young age. I think more people need to do it especially in this generation so that we are less dependent on the flawed industrial food system.

Who should consider farming as a career? And how should they start?:
Anyone with a passion for working hard and producing great food. The best way to get started is to start. It can be small, but learn what you like to grow or raise and go from there!

Finish this sentence: A bad day farming is better than a good day__ (doing what?)__________:
in an office_ (doing what?)___faxing, emailing, and having meetings all day_______: (this may be the obvious answer, but I’ve experienced this first hand and it’s completely true!)

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Forrest Pritchard
Age: 37
Name of the farm where you work: Smith Meadows
Location of farm: Berryville, Virginia
Number of acres: 490

Do you own your farm?:
Yes

What do you grow/raise there?:
Free Range Livestock: Cattle, Sheep,  Hogs, Chickens and Turkeys

Do you have a CSA? (contact info for it?):
No

What farmers markets do you attend, if any? what days?:
Saturdays at Arlington Courthouse, Del Ray, Falls Church and Chevy Chase.  Sundays at Dupont Circle, Takoma Park and Columbia Pike in Arlington.  We also have a food truck called the “Smith Meadows Grill” in downtown Rosslyn during the weekdays.

What’s the first thing you ever remember growing?:
I raised chickens since I was a  young boy.  By age 16, I was taking about 10 dozen eggs to the Shepherdstown, WV Farmers Market.  This was in 1990.  I sold them for $2 a dozen, and it felt great to get paid for what I was raising!

How and why did you become a farmer?:
I grew up on our family farm.  I decided to become a farmer around age 19, and double majored in Geology once I made that decision.  Every time I came home from college, I saw more and more farms disappearing, being bulldozed into townhouses or strip malls.  I vowed that I wouldn’t let that happen to our farm, or at least go down trying.  Fifteen years later, I’ve never felt more optimistic about the future of farming.

What do you love about being a farmer?:
Affecting positive environmental change, creating meaningful jobs, and growing clean, nutritious food.

What’s the hardest part about it?
Disappointing my customers when I run out of food.

What do people say when you tell them you are a farmer?:
Every single time:” “Really?  Wow!  What time do you get up in the morning?!”

What are your goals as a farmer or for your farm?:
To heal our soil.  Our soil has the ability to be a self-maintaining fertility engine if we will allow it to regain its balance. For generations, tillage, erosion, logging, compaction and synthetic fertilizers and sprays have destroyed soil fertility.  The damage that these practices have caused to our present productivity really can’t be overstated.  As farmers in 2011, it is discouraging to realize that much of our fertility has been carried to the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay, or exported away in the form of grain, or over fertilized/sprayed to the point of creating dead-soil monocultures. The amazing thing is that soil fertility can recover on its own, and that farmers can help accelerate the process through good management practices.  On our farm, this means rotational grazing of perennial pastures, balanced distribution of manure, trampling of vegetation, then long rest periods before the process is repeated.  This encourages earthworm activity, healthy fungi and bacteria, helps retain critical moisture, and fosters the accumulation of topsoil.  Healthy soil will grow healthy plants, eaten by healthy animals, which are in turn eaten by conscientious people who not only care about their world, but also the farms that grow this kind of food. In short, we’ve never been more excited to be farmers.

If you weren’t a farmer what would you be?:
A stone mason.  Or maybe get the band Silver Jews back together.

What’s your favorite vegetable and why?:
Umm… lovage.  Because it sounds like Hippies made up the name J

What is your favorite season and why?:
Fall.  Don’t cool mornings suggest chopping wood?

What is your favorite time of day and why?:
Evening, because it’s almost time to eat a nice dinner and drink a beer.

What don’t people know or understand about farming that you wish they would?:
My one wish: That when people ask “Why is organic food so expensive?” that they are then obligated to first answer the question: “Why is all the other food so cheap?”  One question has no meaning without the other, yet it is this first, and more salient question, that rarely gets answered.

Who should consider farming as a career? And how should they start?:
Anyone who just knows in their heart that they’re supposed to be a farmer.  They should begin by staying out of debt at all costs, starting very small, and knowing exactly who/what their market is before they start.

Finish this sentence: A bad day farming is better than a good day__ (doing what?)__________:
doing anything else, except MAYBE getting in a time machine to fly fish with Ernest Hemingway in Spain.  And that’s still a big fat ‘maybe’.

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Nancy Polo
Age: 38
Name of the farm where you work: Smith Meadows

What do you grow/raise there?:
I run a commercial kitchen where I produce products from our farm raised meats, produce from our vegetable friends at market. I have planted a garden of herbs to supplement what I get from other farmers.

What’s the first thing you ever remember growing?:
Basil, tomatoes and lettuce in my mother’s garden. I was in charge of picking lettuce and herbs every night during growing season for our dinner. When we would return to Italy every other summer, I picked various crops with my cousins on my grandfather’s farm (tobacco, potatoes, green beans, tomatoes) and I helped my grandmother tend to various poultry. I liked cooking more than I liked farming J

How and why did you become a farmer?:
I married my college sweetheart and became a farmer’s wife and business partner.

What do you love about being a farmer?:
I love being part of a farm that is sustainable for the environment and bring real nutrition to busy families who work away from farms. I love knowing that the food I make in my kitchen makes several meals a week much easier for busy moms to put on the table.

What’s the hardest part about it?
Finding time to read books and make art (I am an painter for pleasure). The hard work is not bad and I feel much better when I am busy with food.

What do people say when you tell them you are a farmer?:
Any time I tell people what I do, they are interested. I have had the good fortune of having many friends take such an interest that they have helped me at market and in the kitchen.

What are your goals as a farmer or for your farm?:
I want to be part of a living, green space that nourishes my family and as many people as possible on all levels (not just their tummies).

If you weren’t a farmer what would you be?:
A full time artist and teacher.

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Meredith Sheperd
Age: 28
Name of the farm where you work: Love & Carrots
Location of farm: All over DC and the surrounding area
Number of acres: More and more every week!

Do you own your farm?:
No, YOU do.

What do you grow/raise there?:
All your personal favorites

Do you have a CSA? (contact info for it?):
NA

What farmers markets do you attend, if any? what days?:
Your back yard– every day.

What’s the first thing you ever remember growing?:
When I was little (growing up in Vermont), a pumpkin vine mysteriously grew out of our compost pile and produced this unexpected beast of a pumpkin that we later carved into a prize jack-o-lantern. I remember being struck by the fact that the stuff our family routinely threw away– garbage– was actually capable of producing something super cool like a giant pumpkin without any help from us. A heap of old kitchen scraps held the magical power to create something out of seemingly nothing.

How and why did you become a farmer?: Ready? This is long-winded…
I am a Naturalist- turned Environmentalist- turned Locavore- turned Urban Farmer. I grew up on a sheep farm in Vermont with ample vegetable gardens, but only viewed them through a playful and delicious lens.  However, my Vermont roots of catching bugs and frogs, camping, fishing, and hiking made me a passionate naturalist, and as a teenager I was convinced environmental issues (ie. Save The Rainforest!..I have the t-shirt) were my calling.

After college, I worked a year in the Costa Rican tropical dry forest detailing the minute aspects of fungi, which was a real adventure, but it made me realize that research and academia wasn’t for me. Switching routes, I then went to work on a farm in Hawaii and loved it.  The first farming spark!  I decided I must own a farm in Hawaii one day, but still didn’t dare dream of growing food as a career.

Flash forward to a year spent working at an NGO, The World Conservation Union in DC, where I realized was just too far removed from any on the ground conservation or actual nature to be satisfying.  Office environments for farmers-at-heart do not mix. However, it did clue me in to SO many important food issues- the second spark. After bartending for a few months I became an Environmental Scientist for a consulting firm in DC in order to be able to work outdoors. This job lasted 3 years– all the while I got deep into reading about the environmental impacts of food. Two out of the three of those years, I elected to work part time (giving up my health insurance mind you!) in order to work on small organic farms in Virginia and Maryland in the summers just because I needed to keep my hands dirty. The pay cut meant I had to pick up bartending on the side again, but the exposure to the farming world had began to clear up my blurry career path. Farming was not just enjoyable work, but important work. I started reading every organic farming book I could get my hands on, visiting and working on exemplary farms in Central America, and taking classes in permaculture and horticulture, where I learned of Cuba’s turn to Urban Agriculture as a natural answer the country’s food embargoes.  Actually, Cuba’s example was part of the inspiration and original idea behind Love & Carrots.

Choosing what to eat is the easiest way to be a proactive environmental steward. Urban Ag really just hits it home: Food produced right at the site of consumption: Its greening spaces, its educational, its zero food miles, it’s the healthy alternative…. not to mention that it allows me to live in the city I love, with the people I love, and do the type of work I love…. Urban Agricultural Has It All.

In order to focus on the smaller scale where intensive learning is possible, I worked three seasons as farm manager on two acre Chailey Farm in Purcellville, VA (which sold to DC restaurants CityZen and The Sou’Wester). In the winter, (a US low farm season), I went to Guatemala to teach agriculture and farm at an Orphanage in Las Fronteras. Upon returning home to DC, I initiated Love & Carrots. Love & Carrots was created in an attempt to help steer the nation’s capital towards transforming from a “food desert” into a food-productive space where everyone is taking part. I believe there are hundreds, maybe and hopefully thousands, of people in DC who have the space and would love to grow their own food but are intimidated, feel unprepared, or don’t have the time. There are so many houses with great yard space in this city- makes for a lot of potential and a great example for the rest of the nation!

What do you love about being a farmer?:
It’s such satisfying work with a real purpose. I get to work right with my clients and see them get excited about all the veggies they’ll get to eat. I love working in dirty jeans with my hands in the soil, and I love the problem solving challenges I come across every day!

What’s the hardest part about it?
Having to walk away from a finished garden installation is bitter sweet. I get attached to them and love to come back to photograph their progress.

What do people say when you tell them you are a farmer?:
People from DC definitely think it’s cool. People from, say the midwest or other farming areas are often a little confused.

What are your goals as a farmer or for your farm?:
I would love to start installing cold frames and other small-scale season extenders. We are now building vertical gardens for people with limited sun-lit space. I have the idea to open the option of a “reverse CSA” with all the gardens I’ve installed. We would organize a weekly collection of extra produce from willing Love & Carrots gardens to deliver to food shelters.

If you weren’t a farmer what would you be?:
I have no idea. Seriously. I’ve tried a lot of carreers and this is the one that has really stuck. Okay, maybe a DJ.

What’s your favorite vegetable and why?:
Radishes- because they are juicy and delicious with ranch dressing. They are also so easy to grow and make great companion plants for lots of other vegetables. (I have a radish tattoo on my arm)

What is your favorite season and why?:
I love fall and spring. Spring because you work and envision all the potential to come. Fall because the heat is gone and its time for a little break!

What is your favorite time of day and why?:
Early morning crisp and cool. I’m one of those people who usually plan to do three times as many things in a day than is actually possible. However, in the morning it all seems possible.

What don’t people know or understand about farming that you wish they would?:
It’s hard work! It’s sweaty and backbreaking! And there’s a lot more mental challenges to it than anyone would believe.

Who should consider farming as a career? And how should they start?:
Anyone with the interest and drive! Although you have to love being outside enough to suffer through the heat …and blood sucking bugs.

Finish this sentence: A bad day farming is better than a good day__ (doing what?)__________:
sitting in an office g-chatting

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Michael Snow
Age: 33
Name of the farm where you work: Willowsford Farm
Location of farm: Aldie, Virginia
Number of acres:2.5-250

Do you own your farm?:
No

What do you grow/raise there?:
Veggies, fruit, and in the future eggs and meat

Do you have a CSA? (contact info for it?):
Yes – www.willowsfordfarm.com

What farmers markets do you attend, if any? what days?
our on-site farm market is open Saturdays

What’s the first thing you ever remember growing?
Salad.  I learned from the best, Doug Gosling.

How and why did you become a farmer?:
Got the bug.

What do you love about being a farmer?:
All of it.  And more.

What’s the hardest part about it?
Remembering to eat, other than light grazing of the product.

What do people say when you tell them you are a farmer?:
People seem to be psyched to know a farmer.

What are your goals as a farmer or for your farm?:
To grow great tasting food, in a way that I can feel good about. And to not have to worry about money.

If you weren’t a farmer what would you be?:
Teacher, or fireman.

What’s your favorite vegetable and why?:
I do like the daikon radish…

What is your favorite season and why?:
Fall

What is your favorite time of day and why?:
Early and late, best times to be out.

What don’t people know or understand about farming that you wish they would?:
It’s not gardening.  It’s like gardening, but it’s a business.

Who should consider farming as a career? And how should they start?:
It takes all kinds. Get born into it or marry into it.  Seriously, there are many avenues – work for someone for a few years, do a training program, just start your own.  It’ll depend on who you are, what your background is, and what resources you have to bear.  But don’t wait: start by starting.  Grow some annuals, grow some perennials, take a few business classes, and most important build a grubstake.

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Kevin & Rachel Summers
Age: 37 & 30
Name of the farm where you work:Crowfoot Farm
Location of farm: Amissville, Virginia
Number of acres: 6

Do you own your farm?:
Yes

What do you grow/raise there?:
Chickens (layers and meat birds), Eggs, Heritage Turkeys, Sheep, Vegetable Garden & various and sundry critters. We have mostly rare heritage breeds of livestock and are actively engaged in the preservation of some of the breeds we raise.

Do you have a CSA? (contact info for it?):
Not currently, we have one in development

What farmers markets do you attend, if any? what days?:
No. We sell off the farm and make monthly deliveries to Manassas, VA.

What’s the first thing you ever remember growing?:
Rachel: As a child, I convinced my parents to let me have a bit of the flowerbed for growing vegetables.  I had a bumper crop of cucumbers that year, and after that was hooked on the idea of growing my own food.

How and why did you become a farmer?:
Kevin: I spent much of my boyhood in northern New Hampshire, learning to love the country from my uncles.  After years of suburban life, I was ready to embrace a simpler life.
Rachel: My parents say I was born a farmer.  I loved listening to stories my grandparents told of the farms where they grew up.  Granddad Jim (my mom’s dad) grew up on a dairy farm in Ohio and they had sheep.  He told me how it was his job to mow the little fenced yard around the house and the sheep mowed everywhere else.  Grandma Jill (my dad’s mom) also grew up on a dairy farm in upstate New York.  She raised and sold chickens to buy her first car.  She’s always said to me that she thinks a farm is the best place to raise children, although she never got the chance to do that with her own.  Although I grew up in the suburbs, I volunteered on a farm from the age of 11. After graduation, I took a staff position at that farm and worked there for 6 years.  After I left that job, I felt like I would die if I didn’t get back to farming soon.  I had a vegetable garden and chickens in our townhouse backyard, and sheared sheep for people to get my farm-fix.  We looked for almost three years and finally found our bit of heaven.

What do you love about being a farmer?:
The abundance of delicious, real food; being outdoors; being with the animals; raising our kids in the country; and seeing the night sky full of stars without even a glimmer of light pollution.  Also, the seasonality.  Life never gets boring.  It’s always time to move on to some new task.  The learning curve is steep, but the challenge is part of what makes it fun.

What’s the hardest part about it?
Kevin: Poison ivy. But in all seriousness, the hardest thing is getting a successful business going so that we can continue farming.
Rachel: Those longest days of summer, when there is so much to do and so few hours for sleep.

What do people say when you tell them you are a farmer?:
Most people are fascinated by a lifestyle so different than their own.  Out here in Rappahannock, there are many old-time farmers, and sometimes they wonder why we’re getting into what many consider to be a life of toil.  But a lot of suburbanites, sick to death of spending their lives in front of a computer or behind the wheel of their car, they seem almost longing for the simple life.  Of course, the opportunity is always there, it only takes a shifting of priorities.

What are your goals as a farmer or for your farm?:
For our family to live off the farm, for our kids to grow up appreciating real food and meaningful work; to improve the health and fertility of this little piece of land we have been blessed with the opportunity to steward; to aid in the preservation of rare breeds of livestock for future generation; and finally to provide a healthful, sustainable product for our customers.

If you weren’t a farmer what would you be?:
Kevin: a writer (which he already is), and as for Rachel, there is nothing else she could be.

What’s your favorite vegetable and why?:
Kevin: Rhubarb.  But you have to eat it with salt, not sugar.
Rachel: Okra, it’s fun to grow, it’s beautiful and delicious.  I put in 30 plants every year!

What is your favorite season and why?:
Kevin: fall, because the weather cools down, life slows down and the work of the season is most enjoyable during this time of year.
Rachel: I love all of the seasons for different reasons My favorite old folk tale is the one about the Twelve Months, in which the virtues of each season are extolled. Spring is a time of rejuvenation–a chance to forget about last year’s mistakes and start over.  Summer is bustling, fun and everything is alive and growing!  Fall offers the satisfaction of a job well done.  Winter is a chance to rest, take stock and look ahead.

What is your favorite time of day and why?:
Kevin: Evening, when all the work is done (at least in the fall and winter!) and we can spend a few hours as a family.
Rachel: early morning, as the sun is rising and the roosters are crowing.  I love working in the garden in the cool early morning hours.  The evenings are nice, too, when we just sit on the front porch and Kevin plays his guitar.

What don’t people know or understand about farming that you wish they would?:
There are several things.  Probably the biggest thing is that when comparing cheap industrially produced food to small-scale sustainably-grown food, you are not comparing apples to apples.  Thankfully, more and more people are coming to realize the implications of our industrialized food system.  However, I would like to see more people realign their priorities to match the talk.  As a small-scale food producer, we are constantly torn between the pressure to produce more food more cheaply, and our goals to keep to our standards and not outgrow our sustainability.  It is helpful when our customers recognize that and are flexible, say, when we run out of eggs in the winter, and are willing to pay more for a chicken raised on high-quality feed.

Who should consider farming as a career? And how should they start?:
If you are willing to work hard outdoors in all seasons, be flexible and willing to learn new lessons every day, then you might be right for farming.  Start small.  One thing at a time.  And keep out of debt.

Finish this sentence: A bad day farming is better than a good day__ (doing what?)__________:
in a cubicle.