farming decisions
I decided that I cannot take on getting my own market garden going this year. After this past winter I've just had too difficult of a time focusing on what I would need to do in order to have a successful season. So instead I am just going to work for another farm or farms in the area and when I am not working concentrate on projects around the little bit of land I own and fixing up my house.
This was a definite departure from what I originally pictured, even knowing that I was walking into a situation in which the ground I own is not good for growing stuff yet. But I feel like it is the right decision based on my current emotional energy level and given the fact that I am totally questioning in which direction I want to focus my long term agricultural energies.
Over the past four years of managing a five acre vegetable farm, I've seen that the logical end of the direction I was headed was to become more and more mechanized. I am beginning to realize that this is OK and necessary if you are supporting a family purely by a farming income, especially for certain types of farming. But I still want to explore on a small scale what exactly you can do without heavy mechanization. I'm afraid if I don't do it now I'll get swept up into the pattern I've seen so many other small, idealistic farmers follow, which is to just keep getting bigger and bigger with larger and larger machines.
In addition, there are other hobbies I want to pursue. I took a writing class over the winter and have several projects started I'd like to finish. I'm continuing to take welding classes. I want to get better at building and repairing practical things which require good technique and a high knowledge base so I don't endanger people. For instance, at the farm I'm currently working at I fabricated a new trailer tongue because the old one rusted off. If I didn't do that well structurally someone could potentially get hurt. I'm also interested into delving into ornamental stuff. The only inspired thing I've done so far is the alter for my outside wedding, which was made out of old tractor and farm equipment, essentially a plow coulter lain flat on top of old tiller tines planted into the ground on a single pole overwhich we hung a small cloth on which we put candles. It looked a little like a flower when finished.
This was a definite departure from what I originally pictured, even knowing that I was walking into a situation in which the ground I own is not good for growing stuff yet. But I feel like it is the right decision based on my current emotional energy level and given the fact that I am totally questioning in which direction I want to focus my long term agricultural energies.
Over the past four years of managing a five acre vegetable farm, I've seen that the logical end of the direction I was headed was to become more and more mechanized. I am beginning to realize that this is OK and necessary if you are supporting a family purely by a farming income, especially for certain types of farming. But I still want to explore on a small scale what exactly you can do without heavy mechanization. I'm afraid if I don't do it now I'll get swept up into the pattern I've seen so many other small, idealistic farmers follow, which is to just keep getting bigger and bigger with larger and larger machines.
In addition, there are other hobbies I want to pursue. I took a writing class over the winter and have several projects started I'd like to finish. I'm continuing to take welding classes. I want to get better at building and repairing practical things which require good technique and a high knowledge base so I don't endanger people. For instance, at the farm I'm currently working at I fabricated a new trailer tongue because the old one rusted off. If I didn't do that well structurally someone could potentially get hurt. I'm also interested into delving into ornamental stuff. The only inspired thing I've done so far is the alter for my outside wedding, which was made out of old tractor and farm equipment, essentially a plow coulter lain flat on top of old tiller tines planted into the ground on a single pole overwhich we hung a small cloth on which we put candles. It looked a little like a flower when finished.