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  • From: Richard Moyer <ramoyer AT gmail.com>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Vacation Weekend Question (long)
  • Date: Fri, 27 May 2011 17:25:01 -0400

More of you please share what has and hasn't worked for you, and perhaps why.

Here's some of my experience, trying not to step on toes. I'm taking
a minivacation to read this listserv and respond, when I could (or
should?) be out planting! While agreed there's potential value in
being away from the farm, am wary of modern forces that foster
discontent, in order to market goods and services. Writers including
Gene Logsdon ask about those market forces that teach us that 'fun' is
what happens while spending money away from home. Some of these
choices don't nourish and replenish our minds or souls.

My parents both grew up on farms, moved to city for work, retained
their love of growing through gardening and vacationing where we
gathered local foods, thereby passing love of whole foods to next
generation. My wife and I did the grad school thing, did sabbaticals
(an ancient, biblical idea to rest the land and the farmer), bought a
2 acre suburban lot, let our six kids grow plants and animals there,
interned 14 months on a farm, then bought this farm. So a love of
growing, preserving food, and sharing it with others strong on both
sides of our family. Talked with my mother last night, who at 75,
already has a 'freezer full' of veggies for her grandchildren. A
legacy for my children to grow for their grandchildren.

I used to teach an agrarian class, requiring students serve local food
to the class each week, and explain why their food had meaning and was
worthy of sharing. Often this would be family foods, often that the
student had picked and preserved alongside their grandparent or other
relative. Students journaling on the experience noted more than once,
that this allowed greater appreciation and respect of the values and
skills of their grandparents, respect seldom reinforced in our current
education system. Gene Lodsdon (Farming at Nature's Pace, etc) and
Wendell Berry (in works such as 'Hannah Coulter') explore the
disservice much modern education has done in shaping attitudes toward
farming, including time spent helping others on a farm. Read a piece
last night on "The Greatest Generation", on how farming life during
the depression had shaped them into the successes of WWII and beyond.
Berry, as a realist, includes characters in his works who farm poorly
and/or abuse children around them, causing flight at any opportunity.
And of a few, with various paths back home. In transitioning from the
suburbs to our own farm, we spent 14 months interning at a grass-based
farm, where the older owner taught us well enough over 7 months that
we spent the next 5 caring for his animals all winter (hundreds of
poultry, hogs and cattle) while he was at his other farm in south
Florida. He expected my kids to learn to do most anything he did, by
showing then watching them do it, then talk about it. Then in FL he
talked them through difficult births and minor surgeries over the
phone. Neighbors came over to help in his absence, and taught us some
of their skills. My older children know how to milk, work a beehive
or a cow, till and plant a field, bleed and butcher a steer or hog,
harvest crops for market, and sell them at our stand. Older
generations are coming out of the woodwork to teach us skills such as
the above, maple sugaring and molasses, equipment repair, soap,
cheese, etc. These choices may not be available to many, but the
community support to teach our children how to farm has been
remarkable. Upshot? We now can fill in for one another in our
various farm enterprises, with varying degrees of success. We still
have gaps in our knowledge and practice, my bad habits being passed
on.

We don't vacation all 8 of us at once, but go in subsets. We know
folks who do seasonal dairying, to travel as a family during winter.

At times my parents would let part or all of our garden die during
summer heat, then replant for off season production. Or entrust
neighbors to care for it, with varying results. Recall my father
describing one caretaker as though elephants had trouped through his
raised beds. Learned also from him to accept the damage and forgive
the caretakers, quite difficult for him.

As for summer income stream, and how to rely less on that, when I
checked monthly sales last April-Dec, was surprised that our 3 lowest
months were June, July and August. Now with our own hoophouse (thanks
Wiedigers for the training) for more extended season production, they
can be even more pronounced. So, we are not going to most Saturday
markets during the summer vegetable glut, focusing instead on some
time away, on growing crops to sell as seed, and on growing fall and
winter crops. We are not calving, kidding or coddling turkey poults
then.
David Stern and Alex Hitt are two market growers who opened my eyes to
the possibility of growing for the off-season, 'guerilla growing' to
David. Hearing them meant traveling to conferences, for several days,
usually in winter. These growers gave permission and ideas for how
time off could work for me. My wife is still asking that we do fewer
things, to do those better, something I need to heed.

We let our children know we'd be honored if one or more of them choose
a life of farming. Will never forget a student from rural west TN,
who through tears asked "If my parents and community love me so much,
why do they want me to go away to college, work in the city, and see
them only on holidays? Again, see Berry and Logsdon on these themes.
Couple of books with these themes of transitioning the farm to others:
Salatin's 'You Can Farm' and Richard Wiswall's 'Organic Farmer's
Business Handbook'. Salatin gives ideas on how to treat the next
generation well enough that they might even be able to work with you,
and Wiswall lays out a case for earning enough money to afford
structured time off, even retirement. Other book and website ideas
most helpful.
Alison, a fellow market grower advertises at SSAWG for energetic young
folks to live and work with them, teaching them organic vegetable
production, thereby giving them some time off. Success with this is
uneven, as you know, but occasionally (as this year), they find a
great fit, with intuition for the myriad tasks of a diversified farm.
So there's our evolving answer to structuring time off. This morning
while picking peas and lettuce we were talking about scheduling time
with grandparents in GA, and what point this summer we could afford to
have the most people away, with survivable workload for those who
stay.
Richard Moyer
SW VA

> 1. Re: vacation weekend question (somersfarm AT dishmail.net)
> 2. Re: vacation weekend question (Sue Wells)
> 3. Re: vacation weekend question (Wiediger, Alison)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 09:23:41 -0400
> From: <somersfarm AT dishmail.net>
> Subject: Re: [Market-farming] vacation weekend question
> To: "'Market Farming'" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Message-ID: <B33CA9310A9C44C1AA71DDDA0B48B25F@Office>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Would love to have some time off the farm, but it is nearly impossible. We
> have a dairy business as well as a garden/farmstand business. Who do you
> find qualified to milk and care for cows, multiple greenhouses, gardens,
> tend to the farm stand and make last min. decisions about a lot of different
> issues that arise during just one day's work? Our girls are away at
> college, (1 works with us in the summer) There is no time for a vacation
> and to train someone to do all aspects of our job for even a day or two is
> really very unrealistic. On the flip side, we love what we do.because
> otherwise we would go crazy with the work we have to do each day. This year
> has been particularly difficult. We lost two high tunnels this winter (all
> within 5 min. of each other) , we have had endless rain, but thankfully we
> are blessed with no flooding where we are! Incredibly blessed!!!
>
> My husbands dad, a life time dairy farmer always said that the definition of
> "Vacation" is "Doing something different" . Not really today's definition.
>
>
> I feel in all honesty that my husband and I made the decision for this
> lifestyle. We are not in a position to have a vacation. Others perhaps can
> and it is advisable to do so.perhaps not in the middle of the summer when
> there is so much going on. It is good to get away and rest!
>
> We were part of a Farm Viability Program and this was one of the big issues
> that came up? Who can do our work in the case of severe injury or illness?
> Not just who can fill in for a vacation. It is a topic that does demand
> some thought and a plan.
>
>
>
> Kathy Somers
>
> Somers Family Farm
>
> Barnet, VT 05821
>
> visit us on www.facebook.com/somersfamilyfarmstand
>
>
>
> _____
>
> From: market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
> [mailto:market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of
> KAKerby AT aol.com
> Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 1:48 AM
> To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: [Market-farming] vacation weekend question
>
>
>
> Here we are on the eve of Memorial Day weekend (and a big thank you to all
> you veterans out there!), and I have a question for the group. How many of
> you are willing, able, and maybe actually insist upon, taking vacation time
> during the year? Maybe not Memorial Day Monday, July 4th or or a trip to
> Disneyland per se. But the topic has come up a few times amongst local
> growers here, in terms of whether "real farmers" ever take time off. I've
> known members of both camps ("heck yes we demand our vacation" versus "heck
> no farmers don't get time off"). I'm not firmly in either camp so far. I
> do enjoy some downtime once in awhile. But that downtime may simply be a
> few hours spent with a good book rather than a dedicated "vacation" spent
> traveling to some distant place. I've even seen this topic linked to such
> far reaching subjects as bringing new farmers into the profession after
> experiencing non-farming employment benefits, protecting existing farmers
> from burnout (ie, quality of life issues), the values of getting off the
> home place and getting to conferences and symposiums to share new ideas,
> etc. Those desirables are compared to the burdens of finding qualified
> personnel to care for livestock, greenhouses and field crops during our
> absence, and how to handle family emergencies that take us away from the
> farm for more than a few hours. I've already had far too much experience
> with that last topic and I still haven't resolved that issue yet. I'd be
> curious what the members of this group think about time off and/or time away
> from the farm, planned or otherwise. Comments?
>
> Kathryn Kerby
>
> frogchorusfarm.com
>
> Snohomish, WA
>
> Ruminations - essays on the farming life at frogchorusfarm.com/weblog.html
>
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> Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 09:40:07 -0400
> From: "Sue Wells" <farmersue AT myfairpoint.net>
> Subject: Re: [Market-farming] vacation weekend question
> To: "'Market Farming'" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Message-ID: <2467935E11174EDBB5DAA02073F8AF56@FarmerSuePC>
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>
> I have never taken anytime off during the growing season, and very little
> time in the winter. This year, we are going to my son's wedding, in Arkansas
> and will be gone almost 2 weeks. My son that helps me on the farm will be
> here to take care of everything, but it is going to be a little too much for
> him, even though he does this everyday, but without my help it will be hard.
> I can't miss my other son's wedding. Things will be behind on the farm, and
> I have to miss my markets, but after all these years, I think it will be
> great to have a break. I have been doing Winter Farmers Markets for several
> years. I hope to visit several farms while we are on the road.
>
> Sue
>
> Vermont
>
>
>
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> Message: 3
> Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 13:52:30 +0000
> From: "Wiediger, Alison" <alison.wiediger AT hart.kyschools.us>
> Subject: Re: [Market-farming] vacation weekend question
> To: 'Market Farming' <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Message-ID:
>
> <449DF86212A59C419B124E034282895F1CFB062F AT SN1PRD0202MB023.namprd02.prod.outlook.com>
>
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>
> It is a great question. Especially for those of us who have been doing it a
> long time, and even more especially, for those of us who grow year-round
> using whatever technology. We are at the point where we would like to have
> some breaks - at least a few days. Except for a conference or two, we just
> don't have that option. And, even for conferences, it can be problematic
> depending on the time of year and number of days. If we could hire someone,
> we would be willing to, but to get someone qualified to fill in for us for
> more than 2-3 days is impossible. And, to train someone would take weeks.
> We have a friend we can trust to feed/water for a couple of days, but only
> in the winter when we only have layers. And, he is in his 70's, so we know
> it could cease at any time if his health is lessened. We have utilized
> interns in the past, but again, only when we have a small amount of farm
> work going on, and sometimes there isn't one left close to us after the main
> growing season
> is over.
>
> We would love to take a full week, or maybe two, in the summer, to actually
> travel and see some of this gorgeous country beyond a half-day drive, but it
> just isn't practical. Maybe there is an employment opportunity here for farm
> sitters - like there used to be for dairy relief milkers in large dairy
> areas - but only in areas with a significant number of market growers in a
> geographical area, and here, we are few and far between.
>
> I'm watching this thread for ideas!
>
> Alison Wiediger, Au Naturel Farm
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