I have spent my entire life growing up on this farm. I can still remember my childhood. I would show up at the farmhouse in the early morning with my work boots, my John Deere t shirt, and a pair of hot pink gym shorts; that was this farm kids uniform (not much has changed in 25 years). I would usually arrive at the farm right before dawn; in my hand I would have Uncle Tasso’s small, hot coffee, regular with a glazed donut for him and one for me. I would wait for him to make his way out of the farmhouse door with his corn knife, and his blue baseball cap. We would walk down toward the farm stand and start up the old Ford 8N tractor. He would drive and I would hop on the back of the trailer holding his coffee and our bag of donuts. His cat, Blackie, would usually be there waiting for us; he would ride down to the field with us almost every morning.
By the time we got to the field, there was enough light to sit and eat breakfast before we would go on to pick corn. Route 119 was not that busy then so you could sit, relax and just listen. When Uncle Tas finished his coffee, it was time to get to work.
Tasso would pick corn into a hand basket and by the time he filled one, I was there holding the empty one to replace it. I would bring the basket up to the tractor and carefully place each ear into a corn basket, counted to 62 ears (that is a real bushel of corn). I would never be down there too long, just enough time to get him started before I would find myself side tracked. Running through the cornfield, digging up some bugs to go feed my chickens, or seeing what was in the irrigation pond for frogs. Being a kid on farm was the best childhood one could ask for.
Today, that would probably be the most insufficient way to harvest corn.
I walked into my greenhouse today for the first time since late fall. We have several out back now but the big “New England style” greenhouse that you can see from Route 119 is the most important. It is where we seed almost all the crops that we grow. Today, I spent a majority of the day cleaning and organizing. I made sure the heat was running properly, checked the ventilation vents, double checked the amount of dirt that got delivered, threw away some old pots and swept some old potting dirt away from my dirt bench.
As I was standing at the dirt bench I quickly found myself thinking back to when I was a kid. Uncle Tasso, and my mom, Paula usually worked the greenhouse. Well, they got to do the fun, “real” work of seeding and I had to sit at this dirt bench for hours on end making our own dirt. I would have buckets of composted lamb manure, a few different types of potting soil and a sifter. And I would sit there on my milk crates, making dirt. It is rather funny, because that old sifter with chicken wire and two mismatched handles still sits under that old dirt bench.
Today, we use a custom made growing mix; blended to our desire.
As I got older, I started paying more attention to the farmers around me. The little farms were struggling to hold on and development was creeping in closer and closer. At that point in my life, I knew I wanted to farm but I was unsure what was in store for this little piece of ground. As much as my family loved what they did, they always told me, "you do not want to farm. There is no future here."
They were wrong because this farm is farming strong.
If we were still picking three bushel of corn a day, sitting on a milk crate for hours on end making dirt, direct seeding corn into the fields by hand, or sitting on the old orange chair out at the farm stand, praying a customer would eventually swing in; this farm would not still be here.
All farmers want to farm. And everybody wants to eat. How you vote with your food dollars is the deciding factor on what farms stay alive.
I am thankful for the local food movement. Thankful for my customers and the community that supports what we do here. I am so happy that folks want to be more in touch with the food on their plates and grateful they have chosen my farm as their food source.
This season, we will be growing more food than we have in the past! We are excited about the increased demand for the crops that come out of those fields and hope to offer you an abundant food supply with a lot of variety no matter what Mother Nature throws our way. But I promise we will hold true to those old roots that have made us your farm of choice, as we transition this farm well into the future.
Looking forward to the season,
Jamie