[Market-farming] Got Hope??
WENDY & RANDY GRAY
hoemangray at embarqmail.com
Fri Jan 25 18:20:03 EST 2008
Regards to the list.
This is a great discussion, even if a bit sad, but one worth having. I work full time and am still attempting to develop my cutflower farm into a profitable venture (hard to do when I have to hire people to do what I would be doing if I wasn't working fulltime. But, I'm also been the main wage earner for our family, which makes it hard to leave). I'm trying to focus on my business plan and make it a viable endeavor - if not, may have a tough choice to make. We also have two children...one who likes to help, and one who doesn't!
My husband and his brother (former orchardists), decided 4 years ago to quit being farmers...for many of the reasons mentioned so far. Fortunately we still have the land, but haven't had the energy/money to do much with it. We decided to lease out part of it this year to another orchardist with similar values. But struggled with whether this was the best use for the land, and the fact that our children would not be able to farm it until the lease expires in 27 years (should they choose to). We kept some land that I hope to be able to expand my flower farm to (presently is at our property which is 12 miles away).
I am hopeful that as the move towards "local" everything increases, we will all have a better opportunity for farming and marketing our products in our regions. Growing For Market features that topic this month...and it is encouraging. I also think that a move towards eliminating some of the assistance for non-specialty crops and helping the smaller farmer who provides local food and jobs is necessary. i.e. pears/apples/cutflowers for instance are a specialty crop that don't receive a lot of assistance and are on very uneven fields with imports - I'm not an expert here, but it concerns me a lot.
I also think that helping non-farmers understand the realities of farming and the potential impacts of having no farms is critical to our longterm viability.
Ironically, I found a newsbite about Bill Gates supporting farmers in other countries...maybe he needs to join our listserve! Farmers here could also use support! http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/01/25/davos.main/index.html
Ok, enought rambling, thanks for listening! Take care everyone!! Your skills and knowledge are things that many people don't want to learn...so they are marketable...and valuable!
Wendy in OR z6ish (14 this morning)....
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lynn Wigglesworth" <lynnw1366 at hotmail.com>
To: "Market Farming" <market-farming at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, January 25, 2008 12:02:41 PM (GMT-0800) America/Los_Angeles
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Got Hope??
However, this winter I seem to be in a
> real lull about farming. Partly it's to do with being kicked around for
the
> past 2 years with the stress of the whole RCD fraud case. However, I'm
also
> feeling a bit concerned about the stress of farming in general. We as
> farmers put ourselves in the storm of so much risk every year.
Ploughshare; I sympathize! I've been feeling the same way for the last
year or so. I'm a single mother trying to run a farm by myself. My kids
(12 and 14) aren't interested and it's often more work than it's worth to
get them to help; like their father, they hate farming. I'm 52 now and
don't have the energy I used to. For the last couple of years, I worked
hard, but the farm makes so little money (had to buy out my ex's share of
the farm, so I have a BIG mortgage). I have to get a full-time job just to
pay the bills, but then when will I find the time and energy to farm?
I'm about ready to give up and have a 'normal' life....no more tending the
stove in the greenhouse at 3am on a cold morning, or dragging hoses to
water the cows because the barn water froze (again), no more dealing with
customers who expect watermelons in May. Imagine...just go to work at
someone ELSE'S business, leave the problems at work when I come home, get
a regular paycheck...enough to actually pay the bills. Wow; what a
concept.
Lynn Wigglesworth
Peasant Farmer
Tioga County, PA
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