Some of you already know that last year's growing season was no easy feat here on the Farm. Actually, I'll just flat out say that it was a REALLY tough year. The weather was all over the place, the farm was going through changes in its markets, and there seemed to be a revolving door on staffing. Amazingly though, the garden still grew beautifully, and I was quite pleased with what we were harvesting and bringing to market!
What was a key learning point was this: the success of our growing season lies in how well our staff, our team, our crew, our friends work together and get the job done. No matter how enthusiastic a farmer you are, you can't get away from the simple fact that you only have so much time and energy. You can't do it all alone! Well, that's actually not entirely true... you CAN farm on your own, but then you literally have to do EVERYTHING yourself AND you are stuck on the farm with no one to give you a break. That honestly doesn't sound like much fun to me and not why I decided to farm.
I farm for mainly two reasons - for the love of community and delicious food! I do love the challenge of growing food, but I mostly love sharing this experience with my community. A good balance between working hard in the field, all while being silly and having a good time! I also love sharing the field's bounty (the reward of our hard work) with my community. Whether it's taking the time to cook and eat lunches with the crew or seeing members excited about their CSA basket! I love it all!
But that all becomes a hard, long chore when the farm crew doesn't gel quite right and isn't able to get the work done. Managing becomes a logistic nightmare and you start questioning everything - like, why am I farming again???
To say that I was a little nervous starting this season is kind of an understatement. I was anxiously hoping, wishing, praying that this year would be different from the last. And OH MY, IS IT EVER! I think it's quite possible that I might have found the DREAM TEAM! This is most certainly going to be a great year, full of delicious foods AND laughter!
Now to figure out how to keep them forever...