Goals Week - Recrossing the Fine Line

Yesterday, I wrote about the fine line between enjoying something you do and losing that enjoyment.  One of our goals for 2021 is to regain our enjoyment of growing.   

I believe we have good reason to be optimistic because we have some things working in our favor.  First, we have experience as growers, so it is not like we are endeavoring in an entirely new activity.  We have some idea of what we like and don't like.  We are aware of some things that might work and others that probably won't.  This is not just Farmer Delusional Syndrome at work here.  We have some real ideas as to how we might recross the fine line and find more pleasure in our work for the coming growing season.

Concentrate on the High Tunnels

Our high tunnels, Valhalla and Eden, have been a bright spot for us more often than not since Eden went up in 2010 and Valhalla in 2015.  But, there is a limit to how much we can manage to do on this farm.  In the last few years we have failed to take full advantage of our high tunnels in part because we were trying to do too much EVERYWHERE on the farm.  

It is no secret to everyone that we are ambitious and we set high goals for ourselves.  It should also not be a surprise that with the absence of paid workers in 2020 (and in 2021) and our desire to not spend every living hour as a working hour, we have to change our priorities and our boundaries.

The best thing about the high tunnels is that we can work around inclement weather much more easily.  With both of us having off-farm jobs, we can't always say when we will have time to work in the fields.  However, we can go into Valhalla and plant things even when it is raining.  The exception, of course, is during the heat of the day when the sun is strongest.  But, we can deal with that.

This year, two of our favorite crops to grow, tomatoes and peppers, will be entirely within the high tunnels to avoid possible dicamba damage.  We won't be growing more of these plants in the high tunnels, but we won't be putting any outside of them either.

In the case of other crops, we will back off of full rows of some crops and run a diversity in row of things we want a little bit of.  For example, we have full rows of carrots and beets in the picture above.  We won't be needing that, so we won't plant that way in that bed.  We won't grow a full row of Minnesota Midget melons, but we will grow a wide variety of melons we enjoy in that same row.  Maybe we'll throw in a cucumber or three too.

The ultimate goal here is to make both of our high tunnels into "fields we like being in."  Those will be successful fields.

Reduce Harvest Windows

One of the difficult things about our CSA and fresh to consumer model was the fact that we were harvesting, cleaning, packing, distributing and then cleaning up 32 to 38 weeks of the year - usually more than one time per week.  One work evaluation I made in 2016 showed that we spent 47 labor hours preparing for, executing and cleaning up from our deliveries during a random week in June.

That does not include planting, cultivating, weeding, poultry chores, record keeping, marketing tasks, equipment maintenance and a myriad other things we must do in a typical June week.  If I (Rob) work full time and we hire in two to three people, that's one thing.  But, what happens when I have another job and we add no workers?

Now, before you think I am incredibly down on our previous model, let me assure you that it worked for us for a time.  It was the right thing to do up to a certain point and now it is no longer the right thing for us to be doing.

So, we are working to remove the stresses and demands that model put on us.  If we no longer feel a need to fill vegetable shares a couple of times every week, things suddenly feel a good bit more doable.  Instead of trying to plant green beans so we are harvesting them almost continuously, we can target a few 'high times' for harvest and maybe bring in helpers for each peak harvest.  

Limit the Critical and Identify Gravy

One of the issues with trying to fill diverse shares of produce on a weekly basis or filling a farmers market table two to three times a week is that you increase the number of crops that are "critical" for your success.  Think about it.  If I tell you that you will get a nice, diverse box of produce every week, you have to know that I'll do my level best to do that well - and that requires LOTS of crops to be successful enough to fill your box and everyone else's.  If my farmers' market table doesn't have an attractive set of produce, I won't get any sales.

Once we remove the pressure of continuous production, we can select a subset of crops as our 'critical' crops.  The rest of the crops?  Well, if they succeed, they are "gravy!"  If they fail, we can be quicker to terminate them and move on because we did not need them to define the success of our season and satisfy our customers.

As you know, we value diversity on our farm.  That will remain true even with our new model.  In fact, I wonder if we might actually have a healthier diversity on our farm when the pressure to continuously produce food is lifted.

This year, we will grow out three crops for seed (Seed Savers).  We will grow out two crops for the Food Bank specifically and we will have a couple more for an institutional account.  The rest?  Gravy!

Giving Our Likes More Weight

And finally, the icing on the cake.  We are allowing ourselves the opportunity to give more weight to growing some things the two of us really, really like.

I actually enjoy growing broccoli.  My mood noticeably lifts each season when the broccoli harvest starts coming in.  Yes, I like eating broccoli, but it is nowhere near my favorite veggie.  It's the process of successfully growing broccoli and sharing it that I thoroughly enjoy.  And, guess what?  We'll be growing a nice, big batch of broccoli for the Food Bank.  How cool is that?

We love eating fresh green beans.  In fact, beans ARE my favorite veggie!  So, we will grow a couple of healthy rows to be sure we have plenty for us and plenty to freeze.  In the process, there will be more than we need - and that is fine!  But, we don't have to worry about getting everyone in a 100 member CSA a pound of beans every other week.  We won't be trying to break our 1000 pounds of green beans in a single season record - that is for certain.  We get them, when we get them.  We eat a bunch, we freeze a bunch and we sell a bunch - then we move on.  It's all good.

I want to eat a Hearts of Gold melon.  So, we'll plant five to ten plants instead of the 70 to 100 we've put in some years.  If we get one - we'll eat and enjoy it.  If we get 20, we'll eat 19 and give one to someone else....  Ok.  That might be too much melon for us to eat in one sitting.  We'll give two away.

I don't mind growing a few carrots.  But, we don't have to grow a 200 foot long, five foot wide bed of them.  In fact, if we don't want to grow them, we know someone else who likely will and we can trade.  

Here's to a growing season that gets our juices flowing again and sets us up for future successes.