Hurry up and wait

This week's search for a land, machinery, and a barn has finally come to a close. After meeting many people in this aggressively slow process, we have found five beautiful acres on a rich sandy-loam peninsula just outside of Duvall. Jubilee Farm's owner, Erick Haakenson, has again provided us with the resources needed to move our farm business forward. Allyn and I would certainly still be pouring over Craig's List and outdated Farmlink postings grasping for anything that came along while King county's land owners are scrambling to maintain their property-tax exemptions for agriculture. We suspect that the county is searching for lost tax revenue, and idle land may benefit both land owners and newer farmers trying to establish themselves. Having said this, we have felt a huge wave of relief and our focus has now turned to building our customer base and infrastructure.


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2011 Summer Session CSA Flier

Ninety-nine bottles of tomato sauce on the wall, take one down....

As I progress into this new season my mind constantly churns on how I can make ends meet as a new farmer. Unfortunately this led to a true moment of clarity around 3:45 A.M. last night. It all started after Allyn and I pulled the last can of tomatoes out of the pantry yesterday, so as of now, we have to wait until next August or September to eat home-grown tomato sauce. Now most normal people would think, "okay, I'll just look forward to next season," but when you are faced with an entire night to contemplate your entire future and new career, things can get drawn out a bit.

If I were to live until the age 74 (which is the average life expectancy of an American male), and I was able to preserve 15 jars of home grown tomatoes each year, I theoretically only have 555 jars left to simmer down and enjoy. Now that doesn't seem like nearly enough considering we really only started canning twelve to fifteen jars annually a few seasons ago. So the question remains, should I start the Final Countdown, or just grow more?

(74 - your age) (X jars per season) = Your Grip Reaper time

Planting the seed

I remember when my wife Allyn first started gardening in 2003. I was convinced that it was as easy as sticking some seeds in the ground, watering, and harvesting. We have both learned that those are all critical elements of growing food, but these do not include the minutiae of details one has to manage to make the magic happen. Apparently this also applies to starting a business that tries to grow food for money- the farm.

Last year we rented land from the Jubilee Farm, who graciously hosted us, and I thought that after having one year under my belt that finding more land would be easier. My first attempts to locate more soil have been through Farm Link, and I am finding that most of the Carnation area land-sharing opportunities are dated and no longer available. Having said this, I am seeing the first time the importance of being active within a farming community rather that commuting to forty miles to Fall City and extracting what I need for business. If I do find land, it will only be through forging more friendships and becoming a member of Snoqualmie Valley Tilth because nothing happens in a vacuum.

I sincerely hope that I figure this out within the next few weeks as I need to get fliers for our fledgling CSA on the streets, seed ordered, and a farmer's market stand built if I am going to be successful this year. How does one measure agricultural success? I'll be successful if I build one or two more meaningful friendships as I did this year. ...and break even.