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  • From: "Kathryn Kerby" <kakerby AT aol.com>
  • To: "'Market Farming'" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] the perennial question: when does it make sense to hire employees?
  • Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2016 06:29:01 -0700

Good morning all.  This year we’ve been wrestling (again) with the question of whether to hire on some help.  There are certainly days and tasks where I could sure use it, no doubt there.  We have some logistical issues which would make interns and so-called WOOFERs difficult to provide for housing-wise.  I’ve been mulling the idea of hiring some high-school kids for the summer just to help me out part-time, but that invariably leads me to questions about pay, training, liability, reliability, etc.  Bottom line, I’m wondering if the hassle factor is going to outweigh any benefits.

 

For those of you who ride that edge between no employees and 1-2 seasonal employees, how do you make the call on if/when it’s really warranted?

For those of you who have decided that you don’t want employees, I’d be curious to know how big an operation you have, ie how much planted ground and/or how much livestock (if that’s not too nosey), and how you’ve found ways to get your to-do list done without the help. 

 

So far I’ve been focusing a lot on efficiency and tools/equipment/methods which minimize the hands-on time for any given task.  We’re also trying to change our farm layout so that I’m not walking as much to/from just to get repetitive things done.  Frankly we’re considering scaling back rather than hiring on.  But I wanted to consider all the options.  Thanks all.

Kathryn Kerby

Frogchorusfarm.com

Snohomish, WA



  • [Market-farming] the perennial question: when does it make sense to hire employees?, Kathryn Kerby, 07/05/2016

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