A note:
Just in case you're wondering, this is not the official website for Green Being Farm. This is just my blog from the summer I spent at the farm.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

An introduction.


I've been holding off starting this blog because I had an elaborate idea of how I wanted to introduce the farm but it seems that's not going to happen because at the end of the day I don't seem to have enough energy to pull it all together.

Regardless, I'd like to start of with a little introduction to this blog.

So, I'm spending the next couple of months here at Green Being Farm. Two of my friends, Nathan and Tarrah, bought this property last autumn and moved up here over the winter. The aerial photo above shows the property -- click the image to explore the area. It's about 50 acres in total, with about 30 acres of workable land: the balance is in various structures, gardens, lawn, and plenty of wetland.

Anyhow, Nathan and Tarrah are both working full-time from home this year. Their plan is by next year to have a small vegetable market-garden for a CSA, and raise chickens, turkeys, pigs, sheep, and eventually cattle. All of which, Tarrah, and maybe another person, will work on full-time. But, as I say, this season they are working full-time from home.

I'm spending the summer here getting their farm and some of the land ready for next year, and taking advantage of Tarrah's farming know-how to learn a bit more about growing vegetables and such. I'll be keeping a small vegetable garden -- growing enough to feed us all for the year, plus a bit extra for family and a few friends (and maaaybe also nearby farmer's market); growing potatoes for Rachel and Carolyn at BeetStreet CSA and Angie at Fertile Ground CSA; and experimenting with growing a quarter acre each of wheat and oats just for kicks. Also, Tarrah is raising a few chickens, turkeys, and pigs this year, which I'm certain I'll be helping out with.

Here's what I'd like to get out of this season. I'd like to get a more complete sense of what is involved with running and starting a farm and farm business. Last year, and in previous years volunteering on farms, I've learned heaps about the basic theory, skills and practice of organic market gardening but I've only every really done the grunt work. This season I'll be doing lots of that too, but I have more responsibility here. At the end of the season I'd like to be able to have learnt enough and feel confident enough that I could start my own operation -- and more importantly, to know whether this is something I'd actually want to do.

I'm also keen to help Tarrah and Nathan get the momentum going for their operation. There's plenty of experimenting to do (as we're doing by having various garden plots), infrastructure to build (recently, a sunroom for seedlings), and systems to sort out (e.g. how to use the walk-behind tractor to make beds).

Finally, this season is also a chance for me to step back from my studies. I've completed the first half of a masters in computer science at U of T, but I'm not sure how to continue exactly. Over this summer I'll give that some thought, which you can read about here.

As for this blog, I'd like this to be a place to record day-to-day happenings, pictures, and my reflections on the season.

That's all.

Oh yeah, if you'd like to know more about Nathan and Tarrah and the farm, the CBC did a documentary on new farmers a few weeks ago which featured them. Listen to it here.

1 comment:

SuzannaWright said...

It was so dead in the museum the past couple of days that I read your entire 2007 blog. I really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to this year's!!