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  • From: "John D'hondt" <dhondt@eircom.net>
  • To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] farmer?
  • Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2011 18:52:31 -0000


And there was I just about to say I understood Timmermeister. Long ago we tried to make a living from selling vegetables too and it was a failure. And not because we did not grow very good vegetables. There are many factors that you don't have in hand.
One thing is that there are probably 190 or more certified organic growers in West Cork. Just two of those are native Irish the last time I looked. All the rest are ff'ing foreigners and so you should never expect to seel to the real Irish locally. I have heard potential customers ask whether the vegetables were well sprayed with pesticides so as not to have any chance of finding some wild life in them. One organic farmer was unlucky that he sold a broccoli head that had a caterpillar in it and it cost him 14 grand in compensation money.
Most of the customers for organic produce are of German extraction and they want to be served in German.

And I can also fully understand Timmermeister's experience with trying to sell raw milk... if government inspections and rule books are anywhere what we have over here...you would need to be a masochist to keep walking that road and a masochist with very large capital at that. Ceiling in the stable is 2'' to low you will have to replace it before we rnew your licence. Cheese should be kept at 4 C at all times and it is close to 16 degrees here. Shelves have to painted in anti bacterial paint or we will close you down. Everything else should be stainless steel before you even think of selling another pint. You will need to dig a new well 300 feet deeper than the one you have now. Your paper work for 12/2/10 is not in order for it does not specify how much exactly the cows were fed. An endless list. The last time I looked here the rules and regulations book was a few hundred pages long and there were inspections every month or more. And every time the inspectors come in with dirty feet and want a few gallons of milk and maybe 5 kilos of cheese as samples for research for free of course.

I know a lot of organic farmers here and quite a few "do" farmers markets. The financially succesful ones cut huge corners for efficiency.
john


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
*

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