Tim Ward here reporting that Boont Berry Community Farm
still exists and, in fact, is doing quite well.
So how has it gone?
How did we get this far?
Who is we?
It is hard to begin writing a blog entry about this farm project after so much time having passed. That is, what should I say about the whole 2012 farming season to date?
How did I bait Alice, the livestock manager, who is a
strong, competent and independent farmer?
Not with a huge salary… Instead
she needed to see a position where there was a real potential to become an owner/operator. Fortunately this is exactly what I was
seeking to fill.
How did I bait Renee, our vegetable produce manager? With love.
Renee and I started dating in August 2011 and it took until April 2012,
but her vision to connect with a farm matched right up with our need for an
amazing, organized, detail oriented farm worker. She and I are living together and working
hard day after day and loving it.
How about Geoff who has volunteer work traded for 6
months? Or Tamekia or 4 months? Or Yariv for 2 months? Or Dominic for 6 weeks? Or Sam, Kirsty, Ben, Chris, Justin, Will…
Dumb luck… divine intervention… either way I’m grateful.
And what about the farming business?
Another point of faith that I began this operation with,
despite many warnings from area locals, was that if we created a community farm
on a membership model that the members would arrive. “CSA doesn’t work up here,” they told
me. I knew that no one else was selling
shares in diverse local food production.
I knew that this farm has a magnetic attraction and that people would
want to be a part of it…
Fortunately I was right.
We found people who wanted to buy a share of our local pasture-raised
chickens, and lamb, and pork, and eggs.
We found local people willing to pay up front for these things that
would be produced in the future. Since
May all of the vegetables we have produced have been consumed by our farm
members and our farm crew. No waste, no delivery,
no sales.
I can’t say that we are making enough money yet. I can’t say that anyone in our business is
getting paid. I can’t say that we are on
top of our loan payments or our rent.
But somehow our staff, our lenders, and our landowner are all very happy
that we’re doing this. So what else
could I ask for?
Well now that we are in August and all of the vegetables
have come ready, it is time to plant all the fall crops, time to plan for next
year, and time to celebrate the fact that we are still in this! Even though the growing season is winding
down, on a diverse farm like ours, there is no end to the farming. Ahead we still have pumpkins, and lambs, and
goat kids, and holiday turkeys…
Stay posted for updates in the future where I get some of
our other amazing crew to write their own posts because clearly I’m a slacker!
