From Hobby Farmer to Real Farmer: the Next Five Year Plan

Overnight rain has left standing water
as the sun peeps through the clouds.

Well, it's Saturday here on the farm and I am, as my grandfather used to say, "burning daylight."  He grew up on an unelectrified (pre-NRA) farm, and daylight was a precious commodity for a farmer.  So, today I would be, in his opinion, wasting time except for one tiny thing:  it's too wet to do the planned chore.  Today was supposed to be Leaf Day--the Sequel.

My father-in-law has more leaves for the garden, but it's too wet for vehicles off-driveway.  So, I'm sitting here "burning daylight" for a bit.  Except I'm not.

My mind is churning ideas, plans, discontent.  I had a five-year plan, and it has failed.  The farm was to become self-supporting in 5 years, and it has not.  And it's my fault.  I can make excuses that I was sick one summer, and my aunt was sick another summer, but those would be excuses.

Daddy left the farm and never returned
(at least to work).
Circa 1945.

I have been approaching the task like I do all others:  playing at it until I'm "good enough."  It's not working.  Certainly there have been improvements.  The garden strips improve every year with the added leaf material.  The blackberries produced well for a first year, and should be better next year.  The blueberries are stunted, though.  The tomatoes vines were better last year, but they did not produce well, and pest management was a problem.  Hot peppers produced well, but not as well as they should have.  So, I do give my self credit for some serendipitous progress.  But it's not enough.

By the time I knew him, my farmer grandfather had moved to town, but still kept a garden big enough to feed three families.  He spent his spring and summer days in the garden, and slept when the sun slept.  By autumn, he would spend his days in the garden, and his evenings shelling peas and beans for my grandmother to freeze.  Long winter evenings were spent huddled over his Bible, and seed catalogs.  I'm doing both, too, but there's something I've neglected to admit even to myself:  I'm ignorant.

I've been dabbling at this organic farming thing and it's time to take it seriously.  It's time I earned the title to which I aspire:  farmer.  Please understand that I know I will never be a farmer like my grandfather, or my cousins, or my friends and neighbors.  Compared with them, I am a dilettante, a poseur.  It's time to get real, and I have a plan:

It's time to focus on my goals!

Become a master gardener.  

Our local course registers in the summer, but teaches in the fall.  If I can learn half of what my master-gardener-friends know, I'll be better for it.

Become truly educated about organic practices.

Online

No, I'm not going back to college--I'm not sure I could bear to sit in a classroom again for any extended period of time--I am actively seeking quality online courses and tutorials.  I'm starting with The Rodale Institute's Organic Transition Course.  It's 15 hours long and, so far, very detailed.  Modules include crops, marketing, certification, but begin with, of course, soil.  A certificate of completion is available at the end.

I'll also be taking advantage of the online version of Tennessee Extension Service's Organic Crop Production Workshop Series.  I did not have the chance to attend in person, but am looking forward to the web-version.

It looks like eOrganic has a good series of webinars that I can utilize, as well as a YouTube channel.

I just found the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Courses & Curriculum.  Many look helpful!

Offline

I would love to take some field tours like UTK's.  Sadly, it's an 8-hour drive away.  Perhaps I'll find one closer.

I need to work more closely with my local extension agent and pay attention to those wonderful publications!

I need to network with local organically-inspired farms like Whitton and Shiloh Farm.

I need to keep better records.

Hands to Work, Hearts to God

And, finally, it's time to get serious and earn the honorific of farmer.  The only way to become one is to become one, or fake it 'til you make it.  I'm done with faking it.

So, in January, I'll be studying the Rodale course in earnest.  Would anyone like to join me?  Start a discussion group?  Include it in your comment, if you're interested.

In the meantime, Happy Holidays from this farm to yours!

Nancy