Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

Anybody writing in Wall Street Journal is guaranteed to be clueless about 
farming, going about it all wrong, and generally full of himself, and WSJ 
will be glad to ridicule living off the land and find someone to do it. The 
fact he kept the job in Seattle (too good to get his hands dirty) tells me he 
always paid someone else to do the real work, so surprise - his expenses made 
it unprofitable. His wife probably sang "I get allergic smelling hay..."

You're right; his biggest problem was attitude, ridiculing customers, in fact 
ridiculing the whole idea because he didn't know a shovel from a pitchfork. 
Nope, tried it and it doesn't work! When in the real world it takes longer 
than a 4-year degree to learn how to grow and market.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 1/30/2011 at 1:15 AM Simply nonna wrote:

>(This is his own bio page)
>http://www.kurtwoodfarms.com/kurtwoodfarms/About.html
>"Kurt Timmermeister was born in 1962 in the heart of Seattle, no where near
>farm country.  Anticipating working in foreign service, he graduated from
>the American College in Paris with a degree in International Affairs.
>While
>in Paris he realized his love of food and restaurants far surpassed his
>affinity for government work and he returned to Seattle to begin a career
>in
>food service."
>
>===========
>
>Let's see-he "bought" 12 acres on an island apparently never having
>"farmed"
>before ($$$), and I somehow doubt there are any "farmers" in his family.
>Yeah,you'll get far in farming with a degree in International Affairs from
>the American College in Paris. Sounds like his folks had money.He must
>really be a "foodie" with an underground cheese cave. Another good PR piece
>for publicity....
>I've heard this before ("how hard can growing be-I dun went to college)
>First he tried to sell "vegetables" and discovered u actually need to find
>a
>"niche" and maybe even actually know your product. What KIND of tomato is
>this?
>Of course,good thing he didn't give up his day job as a "cook "(or
>dishwasher) and that first foray showed him he needed a "hook" .Doesn't
>exactly seem like he's another Mario Batalli.(from Seattle too).
>"Early tomatoes cost a lot of $$$$ to grow "(well are u growing them 2B
>early or for taste?) If you don't have a good product (or know how to grow)
>people will buy once and never come back. The key is in relationships and
>how you treat people.
>Was the land even suitable for growing anything or did it have a nice
>view?"The farm began as four acres of overgrown blackberry brambles with
>rusted out cars and cast off junk hidden beneath the canopy of weeds."
>Apparently he complains how "chummy" customers want to be??Excuse me,
>that's
>called people skills and that negative attitude seems to show his disdain
>for the customer-what did u expect that people are going to hand over money
>2U because you're a nice guy or your daddy is "somebody"?There are those
>who
>only seem to respect abuse or grew up that way.
>He then quit dairy because of " the attention I gave to both the state and
>to my customers"'(Notice a pattern here?) Maybe an attitude problem?Sounds
>like a spoiled rich kid, ya think?
>Then he left his city job as a "chef" and started teaching "foodies" yet he
>has "has little patience for overly precious foodies"Meanwhile he acts like
>the very foodies he reviles by claiming " The American love of olive oil,
>he
>theorizes, boils down to culture envy."? Envy-sounds like he may be a
>little
>bitter since he can't grow it and capitalize on the craze. Meanwhile he
>ignores all the health benefits of olive oil. Or maybe he doesn't
>know:?Sour
>grapes...He did live in Paris for many years though.
>Serving only "local" is another hook. No man is an island-altho he may live
>on one. This person seems completely absurd. All down through time (when
>people had a lot more local availability) they still stocked spices and
>other items which were necessary, but weren't locally available.
>Sugar,salt,tea,etc became important trading commodities. That doesn't mean
>they did without, and they couldn't go to their local WallyWorld ChinaMart.
>I'm sure he's sitting back having a banana and a Starbucks trenta latte
>,and
>abusing those who put up with him,while patting himself on the back for
>being so "local". Or maybe it was a hatchet job by WSJ? I'd much rather
>hear
>him talk about bloat, since he seems to have vast experience in "bloat". Or
>is it gloat? I get rather tired of these publicity pieces that have an
>agenda. Kinda like I'm getting tired of all the CSA hype around (since it's
>sign up time).Follow the money.
>Thanks for sharing it Ken. A real eye-opener.
>
>nonna
>
>On Sat, Jan 29, 2011 at 8:21 AM, Ken Hargesheimer
><minifarms2@yahoo.com>wrote:
>
>>  The Dismaying Facts of a Farmer's Market
>> *