Friday, December 5, 2008

How We Came To Be

The little plot came about during January of 2006. Every year that I gardened in my 15x 15 backyard I desperately tried to plant way more than there was space available. This resulted in lots of frustration, as I always wanted to farm. When a farmer from church asked me what seeds I was ordering I replied " lots of stuff I don't have room for". He laughed and joked that they had a corner of a field I could use. Two weeks later I called him and asked how much did he want for rent. So we agreed on a quarter acre, that had been in sod for twenty years. The farmer agreed to chisel plow and disk the 100x100 plot.

I was very happy. So much space!!! Thankfully I had no clue what I done. During March I stumbled upon PCO, Pennsylvania Certified Organic, a certifying agency for organic growers. Since the plot had been in sod I could become certified without the three year "transition" required of conventional growers. The learning curve was very steep that first season. Tremendous weed pressure, no equipment, no water, no electric, no shed, no truck, and no commercial growing experience made that first year quite an initiation. The fact that I had to drive one hour to get there also created headaches. The children were still in school, so I was tied to their schedule. Thus my time available for farming was a tiny fraction of what it should have been.

The grand venture into the world of selling produce commenced in June. The Food Trust took a chance and gave me my first market stand. To say I was terrified and a ball of knots is no expansion of the truth.
To Be Continued................................

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