Showing posts with label Why I Farm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Why I Farm. Show all posts

Friday, February 6, 2015

Why I Farm: Tim Grow of Grow Fruit Farm, a Welch's Concord Grape Farm

Tim showing us the grapes!
Last fall I was invited to Washington state to meet Tim Grow's (can you believe that is really his name?) and to tour his Concord grape vineyard. I was with a group of Registered Dietitians and got to learn all about Concord Grapes. What a treat! Tim also agreed to be featured in my Why I Farm blog. The pictures are mine from when I visited. Thanks, Tim!

What is the name of your farm? Does that have any special significance?
My farm name is: Grow Fruit, when we originally purchased our farm it had a few apples and cherries along with the grapes. Many farmers use a portion of their name as part of the business name. My Father already was using Grow Farms.

Where is your farm? What do you grow or produce?
My farm is located in SE Washington state, the lower Yakima Valley. I currently farm only Concord Grapes for Welch’s. Concord grapes are mainly grown here in Washington, as well as in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and in select locations within Canada. This is due to the unique soil and climate needed for the Concord grape to thrive. The conditions need to be just right to create the perfect Concord grape, which is a unique and hardy grape with seeds and a thick, dark purple skin.



Tell me about your farm.
My farm is about 250 acres of Concord Grapes which I grow for Welch’s. In fact, I’m one of Welch’s family-farmer owners. Many people don’t know this, but Welch’s isn’t a big corporation, but a cooperative of about 1,000 family farmers, many of whom have been working land that’s been in their families for generations. I currently farm approximately 110 acres of my Father’s farm which I lease and the remaining 140 acres I own.

Do you produce food year round?
We work on the farm year around, but the harvest season for Concord grapes is fairly short - just a few weeks in the fall. Our growing season starts in late March usually and the vineyard is ready for harvest by late September through October.

Have you always been a farmer?
My fondest childhood memories were helping my Grandparents on their farm after school. Spending time with them working in the vineyard never really seemed like work. Since they lived just down the street I was able to spend hours with them. They were Welch's growers as well. I had the opportunity to go to college and obtain a degree but I guess I have always been a farmer at heart. There is great satisfaction in owning a business: making decisions, solving problems and enjoying the cycle of the growing season. It seems to me there is great value in seeing the fruits of one’s labor. I purchased my  first farm in the early 1980’s.

What do you wish more folks knew about farming in general?
I would dare not speak about farming in general because such a topic is so broad. I can talk about Concord grapes and the farmers which grow those grapes for Welch’s. I think your readers would be interested to know that Welch growers are family farmers, not corporations. They farm Concord and Niagara grapes that have been in their families for generations, in some cases. Welch growers I know are wonderful stewards of the land and value sustainable farming practices to maintain the land for future generations. Welch farmers understand and value quality; they realize they are sharing part of themselves in each grape they grow and sell. This is why we pick and deliver our grapes to the processing plant within an eight hour timeframe to help preserve the grape’s flavor and nutrition. Your readers might also be interested to know that Welch’s 100% Grape Juice is made with no added sugar and is a great way to add more fruit to the diet. More than 40 Concord grapes go into each cup of Welch’s 100% Grape Juice.

What do you wish more people know about your farm, specifically?
My farm is special to me because it is where I have invested my life’s work, raised my family, Welch’s and my farm are a tie to my Grandparents and parents life work: it is my heritage.

What are your future plans for your farm?
My plans are to continue working on the farm as long as I am physically able. I plan to continue on growing my farm as opportunities present themselves with the hopes that one day my children will have the  opportunity to farm for Welch’s and have a heritage of their own to treasure.

Where can people buy your products?
The Concord grape is a regional and seasonal berry. So the best way to find my Concord grapes all year is by looking for Welch’s jams, jellies and juices in a store near you.

Tim, thank you so much for the tour and the interview - I learned so much! As an added bonus, on the way home from this trip I had a very important question asked of me....I said yes :)


Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Why I Farm: Downing Fuit Farm



What is the name of your farm? Does that have any special significance?
Downing Fruit Farm and has been since it opened 176 years ago 

Where is your farm?
New Madison, Ohio

Tell me about your farm.
Downing Fruit Farm has been open and running for the past 176 years. The father and daughters that I spoke to are the 7th and 8th generations of the farm and want to pass on the tradition/family business for years to come.

What do you grow or produce?
Apples, Apple Cider, Apple Butter, Honey, Green Beans, Peppers, Tomatoes, Squash, and other produce items.

Do you produce food year round?
Yes, but the majority of business is done between Labor Day and Halloween with the apple sales and production. 

Have you always been a farmer?
Yes

What do you wish more folks knew about farming in general?
How labor intensive the business actually is, especially for fruit farmers. Contrary to grain farming, the fruit farm business is time sensitive and the product must be harvested and sold right away, because it is perishable. This means that the sales need to take place quickly, and be profitable enough to last throughout the year. 

What do you wish more people know about your farm, specifically?
We grow over 75 varieties of apples, and all of the fruits and vegetables are hand picked. This is very labor intensive.

What are your future plans for your farm?
In the future, Downing Fruit Farm is getting many new trees. The new trees are shorter and wider, making it easier to harvest the fruit more quickly.

Where can people buy your products?
Oxford Farmer’s Market
Miami University
Moon Co-Op
Local Grocery Stores

Please connect with the Downing Fruit Farm on Facebook!

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Why I Farm: Back Acres Farm

What is the significance of your farm’s name—Back Acres Farm in Brown County/Georgetown?
We live in an original log cabin that settlers lived in at the end of a very long lane which is 2/10th of a mile long. We make wine for ourselves and we needed to have a name to print on the labels.
Back Acre Farms was selected due to this long lane but it is also playful because it represents our back aches from farming. In fact, our mailbox has a hunched over farmer with a pitchfork in his hand. We’ve been farming since 1979; my husband always wanted to farm since he came from a family of farmers.

What do you grow on your farm?
We grow a wide range of produce including tomatoes, zucchini, squash, beans, cucumbers, asparagus, sweet corn, peppers and strawberries. We do a fair amount of canning and sell those products too. We also make pickles and relishes and goetta, yogurt, granola, cottage cheese, and sweet Italian meatballs. We have 30-35 cows of all ages and upwards of 300 chickens---although we’ve lost some to the hawks who have gotten into the pens. We pay a USDA facility to “harvest” (or slaughter) our animals. We purchase our chickens from a special supplier in Pennsylvania so they are not de-beaked which is important to deter cannibalism. Our eggs are pasteurized and chickens are not fed antibiotics.

What do you wish people knew about farming?
We wish people understood how much work was involved and also the expense. We bought our job for $200k in the 70s. Tractors are expensive--$12k used up to $75k for a new piece of equipment. We just bought a potato planter and we really questioned whether we would reap the benefit when selling potatoes but we’re getting older and we can’t do without it. The cost to pay someone to grind our feed is high. We need to make a living and it has to be profitable for us. We do Home Delivery in Anderson, Pleasant Ridge and Northern Kentucky. We go to the Farmer’s Market in Northside on Wednesday and College Hill on Thursday.

For us: Life is work. Work is life. We never get away from our work. It is always there. Yes, there are days when I hate it and would like to go to work in air conditioning and leave my work behind. Last night I got up at 3 a.m. to finish yogurt and switch laundry. Food preparation takes a lot of time.
It takes dedication and effort to grow without pesticides or chemicals. We could grow soybeans or GMO corn but we prefer grass-based farming. Grass-fed meat is healthier for you. It is higher in omega-3 which is good for you. We are not conventional farmers; we don’t use sprays. We even quit going to local farmers’ meetings because our approach is different. We take a lot of time to really nourish the soil itself. Healthy soil = healthy animal = healthy people. Feeding the soil so it has nutrients is really important for keeping fields in good shape. We actually put mineral salt from the South in the ground and drinking water for healthy animals. Our chickens and hogs are fed organic vegetables and raw milk and grass. Jim grinds the feed fresh weekly. We purchased Herd Shares so it is legal to drink milk from our own farm.
 
What are your future plans?
We will keep doing what we are doing as long as we can. We will try to expand the business slightly, but we continue to offer Meat, Eggs, and Produce. Word-of-mouth is our best advertising. 

What social media do you have?
My son created Back Acres Facebookpage. 



Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Why I Farm: Reserve Run Farm




What is the name of your farm? Does that have any special significance?
My farm’s name is Reserve Run Family Farm.  The name does carry some significance.  Reserve Run is the name of a small stream to the west of our farm.  I thought it was fitting to connect our farm name with the water that runs near our farm.  Everything we do on our farm is connected with the soil and the water.  I

The family farm portion of the name also carries significance for obvious reasons.  I am the third generation currently working on my family’s farm, along with my sister.  We both spend a good deal of our time at the farm, we always have.  Now we are lucky enough to be raising our children on the farm.  There are plenty of challenges with that, but there are also far more positives.   

I am very happy to have the opportunity to teach my daughter (soon to be daughters) the value of hard work and the accolades of success that only come from within.  In my generation those values have declined significantly, from what I have witnessed in my thirty years.  I believe that if I can get my children to subscribe to those values, their lives will be rewarding and they will have a skill set that will carry them far beyond their peers.  We work exceptionally hard to produce the best tasting meats that people will eat, but our farm’s most valuable products are the people we send out into the world.

Where is your farm?
Our farm is on Stillwell Rd. near the small town of Reily, OH.  

Tell me about your farm.
We are a small family farm that specializes in the production of all natural beef and pasture raised poultry.  Our farm is 164 acres.  It was purchased by my grandparents, Wayne and Eileen Johnson in 1943. We didn’t start raising pastured poultry until three years ago.  

I started to learn about the chicken we were purchasing and feeding ourselves from the grocery store and that was enough for me.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but when I was in college I was a chef at a couple of different restaurants.  There was one place in particular where we would get bags of fresh chicken breasts a couple of times a week.  The chicken came from a large distributor, who in turn got their chicken from a large commercial producer and processor.  I remember every time I would open the bags of chicken breasts we would open the bags, dump them in a strainer quickly and walk away for a little bit.  The bags the breasts were packaged in had some sort of a preservative gas in them that smelled absolutely terrible.  For some reason it would turn a small percentage of the chicken breasts green, which we discard.  It wasn’t until years later, after I learned about how the large producers and processors did their work that I connected how terrible that stuff was that I was cooking and serving to the customers at the restaurants where I worked. 
I decided to put my money where my beliefs were.  I researched heavily, read a lot of books written by Joel Salatin as well as university research and I jumped in.  My father thought I was a fool, probably still does, but we all can’t believe how well it has been received.  I know that all of the research and studying only taught me about half of what I know now.  The learning curve was tremendously steep.  

What do you grow or produce?
The products that we sell are all natural beef and pasture raised poultry.  All of our animals are hormone and antibiotic free.  We raise everything our cattle eat on our farm, and about half of what our chickens eat.  Our cattle eat all the hay they desire, corn silage and about 10% grain. That gives our cattle a 90% forage based diet.   We raise cattle our cattle for flavor and consistency.  It’s an added benefit that they are also very healthy.  Our goal is for our beef to have a memorable effect on your meals. 

Our pasture raised chicken is a product we are very proud of as well.  The current “standards” for free range chicken are a joke.  To be considered free range the chickens need access to the outdoors.  That sounds great.  Unfortunately, what isn’t said is that the most common breed of meat bird, the Cornish Cross, is the laziest chicken ever created.  If there is food and water in front of them, they will never move, even if they have the choice to do so.  That wasn’t good enough for us.  We modeled our program around a program designed by farmer/author Joel Salatin and we tweaked it to fit our farm.  When our chickens are old enough to get their feathers, we take them to mobile outdoor pens that we built which are out in our hay fields.  We keep them in high quality hay fields that have high blends of clover, alfalfa, timothy and orchard grass.  It’s like a hay buffet for the chickens.  We give them a blend of grains and vitamins to meet their growth needs, but not enough to make them complacent.  From there, they will eat the grass/legume blends to round off their meals for the day.  They typically eat about 30% of their diet in fresh grasses and legumes.  That combination along with the grains and vitamins gives them an amazingly healthy diet.  I jokingly tell people that eating our chicken is like eating a multi-vitamin.

I mentioned earlier that we grow all the food for our beef and about half for our chickens.  That requires us to grow approximately 100 acres of corn and roughly 50 acres of hay annually.  That takes a lot of time and certainly a lot of labor.  My newest area of intrigue is in cover crops.  They are blends of crops that are grown in off season times of the year.  Each variety of crop you plant in the blend has a purpose and a specific benefit for the soil and or the following crop planted.  This past fall we planted a blend of oats and tillage radishes in a 20 acre field that we harvested corn silage off of.  The oats were planted so their roots would hold the soil in place to reduce erosion and so the above ground part of the plant would act as ground cover or mulch for the following crop.  The tillage radishes were grown to scavenge any excess fertilizer that wasn’t used with the last crop and hold it in the plant until this spring when it will break down with the dead plant and act as a slow release fertilizer.  The tillage radishes also have a very strong taproot which will create a tunnel for the next crop’s roots to utilize.  They also loosen the soil as well as the tuber decomposes over the winter and the ground expands and contracts with freezing and thawing.  I think cover crops are going to be the next big thing in farming.  I am trying to find ways to utilize this new method in farming on our farm.

Do you produce food year round?
Our beef is produced year round.  Our pasture raised chickens can only be produced approximately 7 months out of the year.

Have you always been a farmer?
I have always been a farmer.  That hasn’t been the only work I’ve done though.  I worked in restaurants throughout high school and college.  When I graduated from Miami University I traveled around the company working in the Indy Racing League on an Indy car racing team. 

I started selling farm equipment in 2010.  That is what I currently do as my full time job.  I hadn’t ever sold anything per se up until then, but I love farming and I love to talk about farming.  It seemed like a logical fit. After some learning bumps and bruises, I would say that at this point in time I’m pretty good at what I do.
When I found out the traveling job in the Indy Racing League was over at the end of 2009, I decided to find a way to bring more value to the products we produced on our family farm.  I created the business Reserve Run Family Farm LLC. and started selling our products at two local farmers markets and local restaurants.  It’s been growing ever since.  My goal is to eventually make farming my full time job.  

What do you wish more folks knew about farming in general?
As a blanket statement, I wish more people knew how hard it is to be a farmer.   Typically the profit margins are exceptionally slim.  There is incredible financial risk by simply planting an acre of crop.  Our inputs for one acre of corn last year was right around $450.  Based on our prior three years of corn harvests, that number was crazy to pay out because the chance of losing money was greater than the chance to make any.  Because farming is essentially gambling, we played the game anyway.  Luckily, our harvest was good and we can keep farming for another year.  

One of my best friends and I were making a spreadsheet on my computer one night to calculate profit margins based on different scenarios.  I wanted my friends input on the spreadsheet because he doesn’t have an agricultural background and I was hoping he would see things that I would overlook or take for granted in our calculations.  By the time we got the project finished, he looked at me and said, “Why the hell do you this?”  The margins were scary.  They rarely penciled out to where it looked attractive. 
I guess to summarize what I wish more people knew about farming, the people who farm, independent business owners, put their personal assets on the line every year to get a crop out and try and turn a profit.  It’s not like showing up to work, punching in, punching out and going home.  Farmer’s are true entrepreneurs.  They assume all risks in order to keep a job that allows them personal freedom and subtle pleasures.

What do you wish more people know about your farm, specifically?
I wish people knew how hard we work.  From April through late November I average about 80 hrs/ week.  Typically I work 50 hrs/week at my full time job.  I’m at the farm before work feeding, after work feeding and then doing everything else required around the farm at all other hours.  Farming and family are what I have built my life around.  When I get really busy my wife and Daughter will ride in the tractor or combine with me.  Other times we just go without spending time with each other until I can catch a break. 
My father is the same.  He works full time in Oxford and comes home to feed the cows and farm as well.  My sister is a special education teacher during the week.  She helps on the weekends and some during the week.  We cram as much work as we can into the weekends so that we can have some sort of “normal” family life during the week. My Aunt Bev was a big help around the farm.  Recently she has fallen ill.  We have had to do things differently since she hasn’t been able to help.

The job I have created requires me to always be sharp physically and mentally.  I am always multi-tasking.  The gears in my head are always turning, even when I’m carrying buckets of feed or water.  I’m always working through ways to make by business better, my farm more profitable while being an outstanding steward to the land and a better father at the same time.  Usually by the time I’m done at the end of the day, I’m whipped.  I never have trouble sleeping.

What are your future plans for your farm?
I plan on being a full time farmer within the next ten years.  My plan is to grow the meat production side of the business enough so that our products can be consistently delivered to customers large and small.  Consistent and reliable income from wholesale customers allows us stability to venture out and try new and untested ways to get our products into individual families houses.  Our business got started because our product was in the houses of individuals. We grew when we partnered with the right restaurants and the right businesses.  My goal is to remain a company that is accessible to wholesale and retail customers.  
We loved the time we spent at the Oxford Farmer’s MarketUptown.  The interaction with people who trusted us to feed their family was unbelievably rewarding.  The problem with the farmers market is the variability from week to week with total sales, mainly because of weather.  If we can get to a place financially to try some different avenues, we certainly will.  Right now we are trying to keep our heads above water.   We are trying to grow at a pace where we keep our current customers happy and where we can take on new customers while not missing a beat. 

Where can people buy your products?
You can find our all natural beef and pasture raised poultry uncooked at the Moon Co-op on Locust St. in Oxford and at Market Street Station on Miami University’s main campus.  If you would like someone else to cook it for you, Quarter Barrel and Konarestaurants uptown Oxford would be happy to do that for you, or if you are on Miami’s main campus, Encounter at Maple Street Station features our hamburger for all of their burgers.

Please check out the reserve run website and like their facebook page! 

Thank you, Drew!

Monday, March 17, 2014

Why I Farm: Diane Kowallek of Adopt-A-Plant Greenhouse


What is the name of your farm? Does that have any special significance?
Adopt-a-Plant Greenhouses and Garden Center  is surrounded by Maimi white water park  close to the small little town of New Haven .  I am fortunate to be in an area surrounded by a lot of history.  We not only have the park  but we also have the only Shaker community that still has  many historical buildings,  with the Friends of Shaker to open the meeting house to the public in the Fall of 2015. 

Where is your farm?  
10856 Oxford Rd in Crosby Township in Southwestern Ohio.

Tell me about your farm.   
We grow a variety of annuals& perennials to sell at our place in the spring  and large variety of herbs through out  the year.  In the summer we grow a variety of cut flowers that we sell at the Oxford and Northside farmers market.  Fall through Spring, we grow mixed greens and Hydroponic lettuce

What do you grow or produce?    
Annuals, Perennials. Herbs. Vegetable Plants.   Mixed greens of Kale , spinach arugula, leaf lettuce,   Hydroponic Bibb lettuce  and mixed greens.  Cut flowers


Do you produce food year round?   
Summer I have a vegetable garden mostly for my own use. Fall - Spring  the mixed greens


Have you always been a farmer?      
I have worked in the greenhouse all my life. I grew up in the same place I live today.  We grew lettuce and cucumbers when I was a growing up

What do you wish more folks knew about farming in general?    
If you are doing truck farmering it is a lot of hard work you are up early in the morning and working longs days. The weather can be your friend or enemy.


What do you wish more people know about your farm, specifically?  
I grow as sustainably as possible. Our retail garden center tries to use as many recycled item  for our displays as possible.  Our garden center and greenhouses is a peaceful quiet place to come to buy your plants or to just enjoy the flowers and herbs we grow

What are your future plans for your farm?    
Maybe cut down more on the amount of annuals we are growing and grow more of my hydroponic lettuce and mixed gourmet salad mix

Where can people buy your products?     
  • Northside Market 
  • Oxford Market 
  • Moon coop in Oxford
  • And here at the greenhouses
Thank you for visiting our website, following us on facebook and checking out our pins on pinterest!

Cheers. 

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