Why Not Lime?

Your Own Organic Farm

When I was a child, I had my own garden. It was a tiny squared-off section of my grandparents’ much larger garden where they grew everything from asparagus to yellow squash to sweet corn. They lived in the country, so there was space for an orchard with various fruit trees that grew cherries, apples, plums, and more, and bushes of raspberries and blackberries were a treacherous source of sweetness. There was an entire plot for potatoes - more than we could ever eat - and they raised chickens for the eggs.

Mint grew next to their house, and I’d chew on it because it was fascinating to me that something so weed-like could taste so good. Who knew I’d be buying it at Hy-Vee in little plastic boxes for homemade mojitos 20 years later?

My food’s path from the land to my dinner table has become wide and more complicated than my grandparents’ organic practices. It’s so much easier for the current urban dweller to pick up all of his food from the grocery store, although sometimes a farmer’s market in the summer might call his name.

I’d like you to imagine that you have just decided to move into the country to start your own 20-acre organic farm.

What would you grow? Would the physical labor of working the land, living in the dirt, buying work clothes for their durability, appeal to you?

To be an organic farmer, you would have the satisfaction of providing one of the most basic human needs. You could plant seeds and foster them into green bean plants, dig potatoes out of the soil, kneel to collect ripe red strawberries, and maybe even cook them into preserves to sell at a farmer’s market. You could gather eggs from the nests of feisty hens who have no choice but to give them up, day after day.

If the thought sounds terrifying, I understand how you feel. Most people feel the same way. I have found that these are activities that are more easily approached when you have been raised in a farming environment. But if the thought appeals to you, there are first generation farmers, and with the new demand for an organic food supply, it’s apparently becoming easier to begin your own farm.

This article from the New York Times inspired my post today. It provides a glimpse into the new organic farms, and how they are able to survive in the midst of the current corporate farm take-over. The article specifically mentions two organic farms that have been started by two sets of partners - both a male-female partnership, neither of them are couples - who are first generation farmers. The links throughout are awesome, and the multi-media interactive feature gives some sound clips from the actual farmers.

Even if you don’t feel ready to start your own farm, maybe you’d feel comfortable starting your own garden. Whether you’re growing fresh basil in your apartment windowsill or working a 10×10 foot plot in your backyard, it would at least give you the opportunity to know the exact origins of your food. You could even start a garden for therapeutic reasons, like as a really productive hobby.

Do you like to garden? Would you garden if you had the space and the time? What do you think of being a first generation farmer?

Do tell.

Posted under: Local Support, Organic Shopping, Why Go Green, Getting Started Green