Well hello everyone!! My name is Nina and I have had the pleasure of working on the Dover team for almost 4 years. My first memory of farming was when I was about 15 doing volunteer work for the Gracious Greens for the Needy team. There I met Elizabeth Ann Dover where I later landed a job as a farmer! I had always loved working and being outdoors so for her to have asked me to join her, was truly an honor. I have learned so much through working on the farm, it really is amazing to be able to say I love my job! The long hours we as a team put in day out and day in throughout our busiest season is amazing and goes to show how hard everyone works to make sure you get the vegetables you ordered and even though there is a range in age, we all come together as one and I can say that I am apart of a wonderful team that remind me why I love working on the farm. I am so excited to be able to share a few things with you all for this upcoming season!
Since the weather has been so lovely lately, the Dover crew has been getting a head start on planting our Spring crop! So far we have planted three different types of peas which include; sugar snap peas, snow peas, and shell peas. Along with the peas, we have many different varieties of lettuce heads, carrots, onions, and Jerusalem Artichokes which is a new crop for us this year! Jerusalem Artichokes have a sweet, nutty flavor to them which is great for roasting with other yummy vegetables! We are very excited to welcome Spring and start yet another year of growing fresh vegetables for our local customers and restaurants. Another little project we have been working on is the chicken run. We are ready to have chickens back on our farm so we can supply their fresh brown eggs to everyone who loves the taste of farm-fresh eggs! The best part about having the chickens back is being able to hand pick their eggs from the chickens' laying area and hangout with four rambunctious goats, because not too many people get to say they hung-out with animals at work. Well with that being said, I hope everyone has a great rest of their week and we hope to see you at one of our two locations or our markets on the weekend!
Monday, February 27, 2017
Thursday, February 16, 2017
We're NOT expanding! and I'm ecstatic!
 |
| pruning grapevines |
Friends and Customers, every year, since we planted the vineyard in 2009, we have expanded our operation. I am happy to say that this year, we are not taking any more acres into production! I am grateful for the rapid (in farming terms) expansion, but the learning curves each year have pushed me to my limits. It's time for a break and just fine tune our operation at our current size, approx. 13 acres. I first wrote the business plan for this project back during the financial crisis in 2009 at Appalachian State. If you had told me that in 2017 I'd be running a 13 acre farm and attending up to 7 farmers markets, I would have told you that you were flat out wrong. At that point, I had only worked and studied on smaller scale farms: 1-2 acres. We started out that size, but I soon saw that that scale of farming was not going to produce what we needed, and what the Charlotte area demanded.
As we have grown, each year, I have found myself developing a new skill set. During the first few years, I learned what I needed in order to be able to work long hours in the field and go home and follow up with office work. Then I had to learn how to manage the farm as I took on another job at Raylen. Next, I had to learn all about the whole Farmers Market scene and how to move the majority of our sales to a Saturday-based business model. Then, and most recently, I have had to learn how to mechanize (tractorize) as much as possible and how to delegate and manage staff. We now offer food from up to 10 local farmers at our Farm Stand, so I'm getting lots of on the job experience with inventory control and purchasing! I still get out in the field, but gladly, we are past the days when I would have to put in extra hours before and after the employees were at the farm.
Nevertheless, we are not successful quite yet. I still anticipate about two more years until profitability, but it's so nice to finally see the hard work paying off. I cannot tell you how many gallons of sweat or tears of frustration I have shed to get us to the point where we, at Dover Vineyards, are working humane hours.
We are trying some new things this coming year at Dover Vineyards: ginger, turmeric, and sunchokes/Jerusalem artichokes. We are also going to try our hand at doing our own eggs and will start using fertigation. But none of these new undertakings involve installing new farm-wide infrastructure, clearing of land, establishing new markets, or massive plantings. We will keep you up to date with our successes and failures as we try these new things.
This past December, thanks to a very successful holiday sales season and the Christmas Village at Romare Bearden Park, we sold more wine that I could have imagined. We have found ourselves in a strange position. We will need to supplement our harvest this year with grapes from other local vineyards. I know some people will think this is heretical. How could we ever dare to produce non-estate grown wine? Well, honestly, quite easily. My favorite human, Pancho, happens to work for about 3 NC vineyards. He has access to and knowledge of the best grapes in the state and is helping me find what we need to grow the Dover Vineyards brand. We will be working closely with the people who will be growing our grapes and will always stay transparent about who is growing what and what is going in every bottle of our beloved wine.
We thank you so much, customers and friends, for your patience as we get our business off the ground. Yes, we started 8 years ago, however, in farm years, we haven't even gotten through the first three months of a normal business. We still plan on doing a tasting room on our property (and are seeking investors), however, we will have to replenish our inventory of wine first, and that will be at least another year. Hope to see you this coming season at the Farm Stand, Plaza Midwood, or at an area wine tasting.
Monday, February 6, 2017
From Kokoro Shears to Fiskars Pruners: My First Six Months on the Farm
If you had asked me twelve years ago what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would have had an exact answer for you. Marine Biologist. But, that was a pipe dream. Short-lived to say the least. After graduating High School, I (like most), had a much tougher time answering that same question.
What did I want be when I grew up? I was a good student. I didn't try bringing much attention to myself. I made good grades, and stayed out of trouble. However, it was difficult for me to put myself into a four year university state-of-mind. I enjoy change. I like being creative. I love learning. But something about those four walls, for four years, scared the daylights out of me.
So I worked. I worked hard. Two jobs, Seven days a week, 75 hours a week. I wanted to prove to myself that I could support myself on my own. In turn, bettering my skills in the customer service line of work. While working for a restaurant, I met a woman who's hair was as flawless as her personality. She, after one conversation, convinced me that cosmetology may be the path for me. I had never considered the option, but why not? I'm creative, I like being hands-on, and I'm a good people person.
So I did it. 1500 hours of cosmetology school over a series of 14 months. It was the most exhausting, yet liberating experiences of my life. I learned so much about myself and who I "thought" I wanted to become. I really found a home with hair care.
About five years had passed. I still enjoyed my choice in career. I'm being creative. I'm taking on responsibility in the work environment. I'm actually doing something hands-on, that I truly feel may be changing someone's life. And then it hit me...
.. What about me? Can I do this for the rest of my life? And, am I truly, happy?
Happy. That's a word we take for granted nowadays. I realized I was doing so much for everybody else at work, at home, in public, that I forgot about... me. What did I really want?
So I sat down. I thought really hard. It was at this point that I thought back to my garden that I had planted the previous Summer. It was my first attempt at an above-ground plot. I didn't know the rules, but I gave it my best shot and learned as I progressed. I thought about the feeling I had going out everyday pruning my tomatoes, and picking my squash. The heart-break of a dry week, and the elation of a hearty yield.
There it was. There was my happy. Dirt, seeds, vegetables; getting sweaty and sore, but feeling so accomplished. That's where my happy was and that's where I needed to be.
Lucky me, Charlotte/Concord is a smaller world than I imagined. You rub enough elbows, you find your connections, and networking blossoms! I met Elizabeth Anne Dover through my best friend. They had gone to school together and she knew I had the farming-bug buzzing in my ear. We connected and set up an interview.
First impressions are important to me. It doesn't matter whether your interviewing for the position of CEO or cashier at your local grocery store, you need to convey who you are; and I think dressing professionally speaks volumes. So I came in what I wore best. Black slacks, white button up shirt, and my emerald green cardigan. Needless to Elizabeth Anne was taken aback. No one expects to see a farm hand dressed in their Sunday best. What was I doing? "She's not going to take me seriously," I thought to myself. In fact, it was just the opposite. She welcomed me with open arms, rather relieved that I hadn't picked up a new pair of Carhartt's the day before to "look the part". She hired me on the spot, and I began my transition into the agricultural world two weeks later.
February 2017:
I have been working for Elizabeth Anne, Dover Vineyards, for about six months now. I can honestly say, without any hesitation, that I am happy. More than happy, even. This job has done more for me than I can explain. I wake up every morning happy to start the day and I go home every night, worn out with satisfaction of a hard day's work. And although it may not be in a classroom, I am learning so much and so many life skills, that I don't feel that I have missed any opportunities taking the path I did.
When people hear farm they automatically think of cows, goats, chickens, vast cornfields, overalls, and tractors. Little do they know it's precise calculations, trial-and-error, understanding your land and taking those risks to see if what you had planned can become a reality. Farming is much more than laying seeds, watering occasionally, and fertilizing. Some days we walk through the vineyards collecting clippings from every individual plant in hopes of germinating a new vine. Other days we hand shovel compost into the back of a Ram 1500 and hand spread across two of our acres to enrich the soil before tilling for the next crop. Farming is planting 600 feet of collards and Kale, hoping you won't lose your crop to snow
. Farming is camping in the middle of your vineyard with controlled fires, at midnight, when it's under 10 degrees to make sure your vines are sterilized, but not killed off. Farming is a loving, frustrating, hard-work inducing industry, and is not for the faint of heart. And I love every minute of it.
We are small little work family with a lot of gumption. From all walks of life, we have come together and have found who we are. I still have a lot to learn, a lot. However, everyday is something new. Everyday I learn new skills, new techniques. I am becoming more rounded. Which ultimately is helping me find my center. I may not know what I want to be when I grow up, but I know one thing...
I'm happy.
What did I want be when I grew up? I was a good student. I didn't try bringing much attention to myself. I made good grades, and stayed out of trouble. However, it was difficult for me to put myself into a four year university state-of-mind. I enjoy change. I like being creative. I love learning. But something about those four walls, for four years, scared the daylights out of me.
So I worked. I worked hard. Two jobs, Seven days a week, 75 hours a week. I wanted to prove to myself that I could support myself on my own. In turn, bettering my skills in the customer service line of work. While working for a restaurant, I met a woman who's hair was as flawless as her personality. She, after one conversation, convinced me that cosmetology may be the path for me. I had never considered the option, but why not? I'm creative, I like being hands-on, and I'm a good people person.
So I did it. 1500 hours of cosmetology school over a series of 14 months. It was the most exhausting, yet liberating experiences of my life. I learned so much about myself and who I "thought" I wanted to become. I really found a home with hair care.
About five years had passed. I still enjoyed my choice in career. I'm being creative. I'm taking on responsibility in the work environment. I'm actually doing something hands-on, that I truly feel may be changing someone's life. And then it hit me...
.. What about me? Can I do this for the rest of my life? And, am I truly, happy?
Happy. That's a word we take for granted nowadays. I realized I was doing so much for everybody else at work, at home, in public, that I forgot about... me. What did I really want?
So I sat down. I thought really hard. It was at this point that I thought back to my garden that I had planted the previous Summer. It was my first attempt at an above-ground plot. I didn't know the rules, but I gave it my best shot and learned as I progressed. I thought about the feeling I had going out everyday pruning my tomatoes, and picking my squash. The heart-break of a dry week, and the elation of a hearty yield.
There it was. There was my happy. Dirt, seeds, vegetables; getting sweaty and sore, but feeling so accomplished. That's where my happy was and that's where I needed to be.
Lucky me, Charlotte/Concord is a smaller world than I imagined. You rub enough elbows, you find your connections, and networking blossoms! I met Elizabeth Anne Dover through my best friend. They had gone to school together and she knew I had the farming-bug buzzing in my ear. We connected and set up an interview.
First impressions are important to me. It doesn't matter whether your interviewing for the position of CEO or cashier at your local grocery store, you need to convey who you are; and I think dressing professionally speaks volumes. So I came in what I wore best. Black slacks, white button up shirt, and my emerald green cardigan. Needless to Elizabeth Anne was taken aback. No one expects to see a farm hand dressed in their Sunday best. What was I doing? "She's not going to take me seriously," I thought to myself. In fact, it was just the opposite. She welcomed me with open arms, rather relieved that I hadn't picked up a new pair of Carhartt's the day before to "look the part". She hired me on the spot, and I began my transition into the agricultural world two weeks later.
February 2017:
I have been working for Elizabeth Anne, Dover Vineyards, for about six months now. I can honestly say, without any hesitation, that I am happy. More than happy, even. This job has done more for me than I can explain. I wake up every morning happy to start the day and I go home every night, worn out with satisfaction of a hard day's work. And although it may not be in a classroom, I am learning so much and so many life skills, that I don't feel that I have missed any opportunities taking the path I did.
When people hear farm they automatically think of cows, goats, chickens, vast cornfields, overalls, and tractors. Little do they know it's precise calculations, trial-and-error, understanding your land and taking those risks to see if what you had planned can become a reality. Farming is much more than laying seeds, watering occasionally, and fertilizing. Some days we walk through the vineyards collecting clippings from every individual plant in hopes of germinating a new vine. Other days we hand shovel compost into the back of a Ram 1500 and hand spread across two of our acres to enrich the soil before tilling for the next crop. Farming is planting 600 feet of collards and Kale, hoping you won't lose your crop to snow
. Farming is camping in the middle of your vineyard with controlled fires, at midnight, when it's under 10 degrees to make sure your vines are sterilized, but not killed off. Farming is a loving, frustrating, hard-work inducing industry, and is not for the faint of heart. And I love every minute of it.
We are small little work family with a lot of gumption. From all walks of life, we have come together and have found who we are. I still have a lot to learn, a lot. However, everyday is something new. Everyday I learn new skills, new techniques. I am becoming more rounded. Which ultimately is helping me find my center. I may not know what I want to be when I grow up, but I know one thing...
I'm happy.
Monday, May 2, 2016
IndieGoGo Campaign update!
I'll be honest- the
IndieGoGo campaign is not going as well as I had hoped. We are still
going to be planting the vineyard. In fact, we have already started!
We have purchased the vines, worked up the soil, dug the holes, and
are now putting the vines in the ground. But the most expensive part
is still ahead- getting the support for the vines, the rebar, and
then the landscaping fabric and the staples to hold it down.
We decided not to
move the pole in the middle of the field, since that would have cost
$5,000. Instead, we just planted around it, and stayed away 20 ft.
Preparing the soil
has been the biggest challenge so far. We had the property surveyed
and staked off by Concord Engineering and Surveying. Then we measured
out the rows. We tied a string between poles at either end of each
row, spray painted the line, and then Dad mowed the future row. Then,
he got his tiller out and went over each row 6 times. Then, he mowed
the inter-row spaces so we could work in the vineyard.
Then, because the
tiller only had us going down about 4 inches of workable soil, we
used a plow to work up the soil. We plowed in two directions, each
time, piling the soil to the middle. The after that, we disked the
soil to break up the clods. Finally, we used our new tool, the middle
buster to dig a trench down the middle of the row.
That got us down
about 8 inches and working with gorgeous fluffy soil. You couldn't
ask for better working conditions. We finally are digging holes in
the trench, about 2-4 more inches down, and are putting mulch in the
bottom of each hole. The we put the plant in, and cover it up.
This is so much
easier than the first vineyard we planted! We are able to plant about
100 vines per hour (after the holes are dug!). The condition of the
soil is what is really making this a speedy endeavor. It's so
delightful to work with compared to the rings of clay and rocks that
were in the first vineyard. It's amazing to see how the soil changes
in just a quarter of a mile! It goes from rocky clay to a soil filled
with awesome organic matter! It will be interesting to see how the
wines turn out.
So, again, I ask for
your help in making this a possibility. We have had some unexpected
bills in the past few months and your financial contribution means
more than you could imagine! https://igg.me/at/letsplantavineyard/x
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Our New Vineyard
We are so excited to be started on our next two vineyards! We have two in the plans for this coming season: one located by the current vineyard and one located in Mount Pleasant on an hillside acre owned by another farmer. We will be planting Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot on our own property and more Villard blanc on the other property.
In order to fund this, we will be doing a crowd-funding campaign, so if you have a few spare dollars, please consider helping to fund our project. Every dollar counts. Every dollar goes towards buying another vine, another piece of rebar, another bag of fertilizer.
We are going to plant the vineyard a little bit differently this time. We learned a lot in our first planting, and hope we have made some improvements and realized a few ways to save money in the process. Since it takes approximately 3 years to get our first crop, we are going to establish the vineyard over the course of a few years instead of in one go, like we did last time. This year, we are going to plant the vines, put down the landscape fabric, and stick a piece of rebar beside the vines. Last time, we used bamboo stakes to hold the vines up. That was a nightmare. We spent countless hours picking up the vines as they would blow over and break the bamboo. Last time, we also constructed the trellis in the first year. The plants didn't really need it until the end of the second year. We are going to try putting the trellis in in the fall of 2017 in preparation of the first crop in 2018. That should help spread out the cost of establishment.
So why are we planting another vineyard? Besides the fact that wine sales are going well and continue to improve, we are striving to improve our economies of scale. From what we have seen, we will have to increase our input very little if we add on three more acres. I'm not saying that it won't be more work, but having a 4 acre vineyard is a bit cumbersome. We can't really afford full time vineyard staff or marketing staff for so few bottles of wine. However, if we put in three more acres, we will be able to operate more efficiently, and probably be able to afford a tasting room with a full-time staff person! This, however, might be a few years in the future. Remember, if we are planting the grapes in 2016, we won't have wine for sale off of those grapes until 2019. That's a long way off! A lot can happen in three years!
That's why we are counting on community support to put this new vineyard in the ground. We are using Indiegogo to help us out. We have three perks: bottles of wine, cases of wine, and gift certificates for vegetables. Please check out our campaign below. We are very excited to begin this new venture and all the fun wine-making things it will let us do! We will be able to add a barrel or two of Cabernet Franc to the Chambourcin to make it more complex! We will be able to add a barrel or two of Chambourcin in the Cabernet Franc to naturally increase the acidity and deepen the color! After three years of making Petit Verdot at Raylen, I can guarantee that it is the best varietal of grapes that we can grow right now in North Carolina. It makes a deep, rich, complex wine that can compete with any wine in California, especially when aged in some new oak barrels.
So please! Help us get the word out! Let's get the community involved! And come out to help plant. We will probably be doing this the week of April 11-15. Thanks for your support and we will see you out there.
In order to fund this, we will be doing a crowd-funding campaign, so if you have a few spare dollars, please consider helping to fund our project. Every dollar counts. Every dollar goes towards buying another vine, another piece of rebar, another bag of fertilizer.
We are going to plant the vineyard a little bit differently this time. We learned a lot in our first planting, and hope we have made some improvements and realized a few ways to save money in the process. Since it takes approximately 3 years to get our first crop, we are going to establish the vineyard over the course of a few years instead of in one go, like we did last time. This year, we are going to plant the vines, put down the landscape fabric, and stick a piece of rebar beside the vines. Last time, we used bamboo stakes to hold the vines up. That was a nightmare. We spent countless hours picking up the vines as they would blow over and break the bamboo. Last time, we also constructed the trellis in the first year. The plants didn't really need it until the end of the second year. We are going to try putting the trellis in in the fall of 2017 in preparation of the first crop in 2018. That should help spread out the cost of establishment.
So why are we planting another vineyard? Besides the fact that wine sales are going well and continue to improve, we are striving to improve our economies of scale. From what we have seen, we will have to increase our input very little if we add on three more acres. I'm not saying that it won't be more work, but having a 4 acre vineyard is a bit cumbersome. We can't really afford full time vineyard staff or marketing staff for so few bottles of wine. However, if we put in three more acres, we will be able to operate more efficiently, and probably be able to afford a tasting room with a full-time staff person! This, however, might be a few years in the future. Remember, if we are planting the grapes in 2016, we won't have wine for sale off of those grapes until 2019. That's a long way off! A lot can happen in three years!
That's why we are counting on community support to put this new vineyard in the ground. We are using Indiegogo to help us out. We have three perks: bottles of wine, cases of wine, and gift certificates for vegetables. Please check out our campaign below. We are very excited to begin this new venture and all the fun wine-making things it will let us do! We will be able to add a barrel or two of Cabernet Franc to the Chambourcin to make it more complex! We will be able to add a barrel or two of Chambourcin in the Cabernet Franc to naturally increase the acidity and deepen the color! After three years of making Petit Verdot at Raylen, I can guarantee that it is the best varietal of grapes that we can grow right now in North Carolina. It makes a deep, rich, complex wine that can compete with any wine in California, especially when aged in some new oak barrels.
So please! Help us get the word out! Let's get the community involved! And come out to help plant. We will probably be doing this the week of April 11-15. Thanks for your support and we will see you out there.
Monday, November 16, 2015
going from 3 acres to 6 acres of vegetables
For the past few years, we have had trouble keeping up with demand. We have struggled to get plants or seeds in on time due to the fact that there was still something growing in the desired planting area and it hadn't finished producing yet. So what do you do? Pull it out early? or get your new crop in late? I usually made the wrong decision, regardless of whichever decision I made.
I knew we needed to expand, but I just didn't know if I was emotionally up to bringing another field into production, setting up a new irrigation system, having all my crops spread out, picking up rocks for days on end and building up the soil for another few years? Could I handle managing 6 acres? 3 was about to do me in. Would it alleviate stress or add to it?
The previous season, I had spoken with my agricultural extension agent about our weed problem. Being as close to organic as possible, spraying was not an option. He suggested letting a field lay fallow for a season, tilling it under every so often, allowing weed seeds to sprout, and then tilling it up again to allow more weeds to germinate. This would rid us of some of the seed bank that had built up over the years, and hopefully allow us to spend less time hoeing, our most expensive task.
If we were going to allow half of our farm to go un-used for a season, I knew we had to expand. We had one un-used field on the corner of Pitts School Rd and Hwy 29 that was going to be perfect. I had hoped to get started on tilling it up last winter, however, my dad had a heart attack or two and we got distracted.
I was nervous to think about the amount of rocks we would have to pick up in the new field. We had been picking up rocks in an adjacent field now for almost 5 years and the problem didn't seem any better. Would this field be the same? As I got on the tractor and started to till up the new rows, I reached down to feel the soil. NO ROCKS! It was gorgeous, fluffy, organic-matter-filled soil. Had my great grandparents already picked all the rocks out of this field for me back in the 1930s? Or was this field simply devoid of the rocks that plague our volcanic-based soils around Concord?
Well, regardless, planting in the new field was awesome. It was easy and pretty painless compared to the first time we planted in our other two fields. The crops turned out great as well. I was expecting to have to build up the soil for a few years, and in turn, not receive much monetary compensation from our plantings, but it was exactly the opposite! The field (called the BP field because it surrounds the BP station) became our most productive!
And thus we had space to rotate. After having left the vineyard garden (1.7 acres behind the vineyard) fallow for two seasons, we planted it in the fall. The productivity (although un measured because we don't pick fall vegetables unless we have them sold) has skyrocketed. The Gracious Greens program that we do with First Presbyterian Church has had record yields- producing more in this garden than in the previous three combined.
We are going to have to till all the fallow/weeded areas up one more time before officially allowing it to rest for the winter. I think it might be dry enough this Wednesday. However, it gets notoriously wet in the winter and might not dry up again until the Spring.
Having 6 acres has been an awesome experience. We have been more productive this year than ever before and planted all our transplants on time instead of waiting for previous plantings to finish producing before planting directly on top. However, there is going to be one big change to how we farm. Hoeing everything is no longer an option. When we had 3 acres, we had enough people to hoe. Now, with 6 acres, we can't find the people (or pay them enough) to keep all the crops adequately weed-free. We are going to have to switch to using plastic mulch for things like our greens, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, pumpkins, basically anything that we are transplanting into the field and not planting in a trenched- fashion. This will hopefully allow us to grow melons better as well. Normally the melons rot in the field before we can harvest them due to the wet, humid summers we have, and the slow draining red clay soil in which the melons grown. Maybe with black plastic, we will be able to solve some of the rotting issues.
I am currently looking into getting bio-degradable plastic so we won't be contributing to the land fill by growing 6 acres of vegetables. I've heard great things about it, so I'm pretty sure that we are going to go this route. I hope I'm up for the switch to another growing system. Every time you try something new in farming, you do your homework. However, there are always more problems than you could ever imagine or predict. Bracing myself again for the frustration that is growing pains. I'm sure to let you know how it goes.
I knew we needed to expand, but I just didn't know if I was emotionally up to bringing another field into production, setting up a new irrigation system, having all my crops spread out, picking up rocks for days on end and building up the soil for another few years? Could I handle managing 6 acres? 3 was about to do me in. Would it alleviate stress or add to it?
The previous season, I had spoken with my agricultural extension agent about our weed problem. Being as close to organic as possible, spraying was not an option. He suggested letting a field lay fallow for a season, tilling it under every so often, allowing weed seeds to sprout, and then tilling it up again to allow more weeds to germinate. This would rid us of some of the seed bank that had built up over the years, and hopefully allow us to spend less time hoeing, our most expensive task.
If we were going to allow half of our farm to go un-used for a season, I knew we had to expand. We had one un-used field on the corner of Pitts School Rd and Hwy 29 that was going to be perfect. I had hoped to get started on tilling it up last winter, however, my dad had a heart attack or two and we got distracted.
I was nervous to think about the amount of rocks we would have to pick up in the new field. We had been picking up rocks in an adjacent field now for almost 5 years and the problem didn't seem any better. Would this field be the same? As I got on the tractor and started to till up the new rows, I reached down to feel the soil. NO ROCKS! It was gorgeous, fluffy, organic-matter-filled soil. Had my great grandparents already picked all the rocks out of this field for me back in the 1930s? Or was this field simply devoid of the rocks that plague our volcanic-based soils around Concord?
Well, regardless, planting in the new field was awesome. It was easy and pretty painless compared to the first time we planted in our other two fields. The crops turned out great as well. I was expecting to have to build up the soil for a few years, and in turn, not receive much monetary compensation from our plantings, but it was exactly the opposite! The field (called the BP field because it surrounds the BP station) became our most productive!
And thus we had space to rotate. After having left the vineyard garden (1.7 acres behind the vineyard) fallow for two seasons, we planted it in the fall. The productivity (although un measured because we don't pick fall vegetables unless we have them sold) has skyrocketed. The Gracious Greens program that we do with First Presbyterian Church has had record yields- producing more in this garden than in the previous three combined.
We are going to have to till all the fallow/weeded areas up one more time before officially allowing it to rest for the winter. I think it might be dry enough this Wednesday. However, it gets notoriously wet in the winter and might not dry up again until the Spring.
Having 6 acres has been an awesome experience. We have been more productive this year than ever before and planted all our transplants on time instead of waiting for previous plantings to finish producing before planting directly on top. However, there is going to be one big change to how we farm. Hoeing everything is no longer an option. When we had 3 acres, we had enough people to hoe. Now, with 6 acres, we can't find the people (or pay them enough) to keep all the crops adequately weed-free. We are going to have to switch to using plastic mulch for things like our greens, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, pumpkins, basically anything that we are transplanting into the field and not planting in a trenched- fashion. This will hopefully allow us to grow melons better as well. Normally the melons rot in the field before we can harvest them due to the wet, humid summers we have, and the slow draining red clay soil in which the melons grown. Maybe with black plastic, we will be able to solve some of the rotting issues.
I am currently looking into getting bio-degradable plastic so we won't be contributing to the land fill by growing 6 acres of vegetables. I've heard great things about it, so I'm pretty sure that we are going to go this route. I hope I'm up for the switch to another growing system. Every time you try something new in farming, you do your homework. However, there are always more problems than you could ever imagine or predict. Bracing myself again for the frustration that is growing pains. I'm sure to let you know how it goes.
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
My lifeless blog and (hopefully) its resurrection
Well, it's been over a year since I've blogged about the farm. But believe me- I have been thinking about it. There have been lots of things I've though about writing, however, I haven't had time, energy, or even a computer to write on. Ever since my computer was stolen from the repair shop almost 4 years ago, I've been going over to my parents' house to use their computer, or going over to my dad's office. Neither of these locations was conducive to blogging. I would get there with my to do list, make a dent in it, and be called back to the field or farm stand before I got to do the last thing on the list: Blog.
Then I got a letter in the mail the other day from a marketing company. They had driven by my business on the highway and wanted to know more. They had then looked up my blog and found it to be very out of date. They said unused blogs were devastating to small businesses. They were offering their services to my business. I looked at the letter and got very very angry.
And then I knew it was time to start blogging again, and I knew what I would be writing about in this first blog on my new computer: Why I have not been able to blog for a year, and why there is no way on earth I could afford to pay someone to market my farm for me (at least not right now, at its current size and form).
Before I start this rant, it should be known that I love farming, will continue to do it, and that we are doing very well financially for a small farm that is only 6 years old.
Now back to the explanation.
Over the past year, I have increasingly become very frustrated with people who don't understand farming (despite the fact that everyone needs to eat). Granted, that's a lot of people. But it only shows up every so often when people give me unsolicited advice based on their knowledge of small businesses. I know I should be graceful and accept it, but by golly, sometimes I struggle to see Jesus in those who think they could do a better job that I do at running my farm.
I do not live in a farming community and the majority of my friends do not farm. The majority of people in my town are not farmers, although their grandparents might have been.
Here are a few things that truly make farming different to all other industries, and which make meshing it with the modern world a bona fide challenge.
1) Farming is based on the weather.
I cannot schedule my life and I cannot tell you what we will be doing from day to day, week to week, hour to hour. I can tell with some certainty about what we will be doing in each month, and if we will be doing a delivery on this day or that, but if you want to schedule a meeting with me, please know, that something may pop up and I might not be able to be there. I cannot just close the computer and walk away, or let the next shift deal with it. There is no next shift. This, for me as a person who likes to plan and has friends who are mostly high-achieving type a sorts, has been a big challenge. But it's something that I wish more people experienced in their day to day existence. Living with uncertainty is great! My schedule is never truly crowded. My job won't let me schedule my life away, and for that I am grateful. I truly have to live in the moment because that moment is what dictates my actions. Not the yoga class which starts in 15 minutes or the church meeting during lunch.
2) Farming has extremely low margins on its goods and is based on having a supply of low-paid workers.
When I first started out farming, I looked at a lot of budgets, made business plans, and talked to other farmers about the business aspect of farming. I'm absolutely sure none of them meant to steer me in the wrong direction, however, I have found out that almost all of them got it wrong. Each farm is different and the lessons learned from other farms were never ever directly applicable to my family farm in suburban North Carolina.
Every day, I compete with hobby farmers who sell on the side of the road and don't need to make a living off their crops. In a different way, I compete with huge farms in California who employ migrant workers and have economies of scale I can't fathom. If you say that I need to charge what I need to charge for my products, then you have never had to walk into a restaurant and compete with Sysco or had a customer walk up to you and tell you that they can get their product more cheaply at the Walmart. I'm not saying that we base our prices off of those companies, but the larger food industry does have a huge sway on what we, as small, local, sustainable farmers can charge for our products. If I had to actually charge the customer with how hard we worked to get those tomatoes to the market, yall would be paying around $6/lb. Am I going to be selling tomatoes in Charlotte (or even Concord) for that? Hell no. I just can't do that. So I'll take losses here and there and make up for it on higher margin crops like the wine, or strawberries.
But the fact of the matter is, because our crops have such low margins, I cannot employ someone to do my job. I cannot employ someone to help me out here and there and still make a profit. I can't hire someone to run to Charlotte and do the deliveries. Paying $10/hr for someone to deliver the vegetables or go to market means that I just lost all of the profit I would have made. I can't take an hour off here or take a Saturday off there. It costs me too much money.
3) Farming requires long-term commitment to a very difficult job for which most people are very ungrateful.
You cannot go to school to learn to farm (even if you go to NCSU like I did!! Go Pack.). The learning curve on farming is VERY slow. Every year, I learn more and more about timing, varieties, and managing employees, but the fact of the matter is, that every year is different. I can't use a lot of the wisdom I gained in 2013 (that summer where it rained almost every day for 2 months) to the problems we are having in 2015 (it hasn't rained hardly since May). I've heard that it takes a lifetime of learning to become a farmer, and that's one of the great rewards of the occupation. But in a world where people get certifications and degrees every little whipstitch, dedicating yourself to a lifetime of understanding how to grow food is a foreign experience. I make more mistakes than anyone I know. Except for other farmers. Other farmers make just as many mistakes as I do. And I love being in their company. They are the only ones who can make me feel better. How was I to know that it was going to be super hot and all my lettuce was going to bold really early before we got a chance to sell it all? Or how was I to know that a variety of grape that I planted was just going to die in two years? Farmers make a lot of mistakes, and there's not a large safety net there for you when you fall. But again, this is a blessing in disguise. Learning to forgive yourself and keep going to the next season is essential. Even if you do have to wait another 9 months to try something out again. Our modern existence has almost destroyed our ability to fail. We are not used to needing this sort of radical patience and forgiveness that forces us to embrace.
4) Farming the land yields a certain amount each season. You can not make it yield more or order more from China.
Some seasons are better for some things than others. This year, our grapes didn't produce very much at all. It was hot and dry and our irrigation system was broken for a large portion of the critical time when we needed to be getting water to our vines. We will be purchasing grapes from RayLen this year. But still, we had to take care of those vines just as if they had 10 tons of fruit on them. We got insurance, but it's not going to make up the profit we could have had if our grapes (and consequently wine) had done well this year. So even if we marketed our products more, we would not be able to sell more. We currently sell out of the majority of our produce and compost very little compared to a traditional farm. In order to increase our profits, we can't just "sell more." There is nothing more to sell. We can't do a new marketing campaign and somehow make more money. There just aren't that infinite vegetables and bottles of wine to sell. If we want to make more money, we will have to bring more acres into production, be smarter about our labor costs, and operate more efficiently. We can raise prices, but as we all know, people expect cheap food.
5) Unskilled labor is not unskilled.
Some people can do manual labor. Some can't. Some people have, what I call, vegetable sense. Others don't. Whenever someone says that farming is "unskilled labor" I wish I could invite that person out to the farm for a day. Some people can't even do it for a few hours. They get so red in the face that I worry for their health, or they get bored with the monotonous task or hoeing or weed eating. It only takes a few minutes for unskilled labor to destroy a few months worth of work. I have seen unskilled labor weed eat crops and destroy irrigation, pick a crop of spaghetti squash before it's ready, sell lettuce once its bolted, break expensive equipment, and mess up deliveries so bad that I was ashamed to even contact the restaurants afterwards. Farming requires skill. Manual labor requires skill. And frankly, very few people anymore have the skills, physical fitness, and fiscal discipline to work in "unskilled labor."
So to the person who offered to help me with marketing, do you work for $8/hr? Cause that is what I would have to pay you to keep any of the money I made yesterday. Do you understand that even if you do a great job, it will be another year before I can expand my operation to do business with any of the customers that your campaign just got me? Do you understand that I just now was able to afford a computer after being without one for 4 years? Now I'll be able to keep up with my blog. Do it on my own time, after work, on the weekends, whenever I need to vent or be creative. I know I won't do as good a job as you would do, but for now, it will have to do.
All that being said, we are making huge strides to becoming profitable and more efficient. Every year, we learn from the mistakes we make and even if we have to wait a few years before we are put in similar situations, our knowledge of farming in suburban North Carolina is growing by leaps and bounds. But in a world that is so fast paced, goal oriented, and wants it now now now for nothing, farming is a hard way of life that makes little sense. Nevertheless, in more ways that one, it truly is the key to maintaining our humanity.
Then I got a letter in the mail the other day from a marketing company. They had driven by my business on the highway and wanted to know more. They had then looked up my blog and found it to be very out of date. They said unused blogs were devastating to small businesses. They were offering their services to my business. I looked at the letter and got very very angry.
And then I knew it was time to start blogging again, and I knew what I would be writing about in this first blog on my new computer: Why I have not been able to blog for a year, and why there is no way on earth I could afford to pay someone to market my farm for me (at least not right now, at its current size and form).
Before I start this rant, it should be known that I love farming, will continue to do it, and that we are doing very well financially for a small farm that is only 6 years old.
Now back to the explanation.
Over the past year, I have increasingly become very frustrated with people who don't understand farming (despite the fact that everyone needs to eat). Granted, that's a lot of people. But it only shows up every so often when people give me unsolicited advice based on their knowledge of small businesses. I know I should be graceful and accept it, but by golly, sometimes I struggle to see Jesus in those who think they could do a better job that I do at running my farm.
I do not live in a farming community and the majority of my friends do not farm. The majority of people in my town are not farmers, although their grandparents might have been.
Here are a few things that truly make farming different to all other industries, and which make meshing it with the modern world a bona fide challenge.
1) Farming is based on the weather.
I cannot schedule my life and I cannot tell you what we will be doing from day to day, week to week, hour to hour. I can tell with some certainty about what we will be doing in each month, and if we will be doing a delivery on this day or that, but if you want to schedule a meeting with me, please know, that something may pop up and I might not be able to be there. I cannot just close the computer and walk away, or let the next shift deal with it. There is no next shift. This, for me as a person who likes to plan and has friends who are mostly high-achieving type a sorts, has been a big challenge. But it's something that I wish more people experienced in their day to day existence. Living with uncertainty is great! My schedule is never truly crowded. My job won't let me schedule my life away, and for that I am grateful. I truly have to live in the moment because that moment is what dictates my actions. Not the yoga class which starts in 15 minutes or the church meeting during lunch.
2) Farming has extremely low margins on its goods and is based on having a supply of low-paid workers.
When I first started out farming, I looked at a lot of budgets, made business plans, and talked to other farmers about the business aspect of farming. I'm absolutely sure none of them meant to steer me in the wrong direction, however, I have found out that almost all of them got it wrong. Each farm is different and the lessons learned from other farms were never ever directly applicable to my family farm in suburban North Carolina.
Every day, I compete with hobby farmers who sell on the side of the road and don't need to make a living off their crops. In a different way, I compete with huge farms in California who employ migrant workers and have economies of scale I can't fathom. If you say that I need to charge what I need to charge for my products, then you have never had to walk into a restaurant and compete with Sysco or had a customer walk up to you and tell you that they can get their product more cheaply at the Walmart. I'm not saying that we base our prices off of those companies, but the larger food industry does have a huge sway on what we, as small, local, sustainable farmers can charge for our products. If I had to actually charge the customer with how hard we worked to get those tomatoes to the market, yall would be paying around $6/lb. Am I going to be selling tomatoes in Charlotte (or even Concord) for that? Hell no. I just can't do that. So I'll take losses here and there and make up for it on higher margin crops like the wine, or strawberries.
But the fact of the matter is, because our crops have such low margins, I cannot employ someone to do my job. I cannot employ someone to help me out here and there and still make a profit. I can't hire someone to run to Charlotte and do the deliveries. Paying $10/hr for someone to deliver the vegetables or go to market means that I just lost all of the profit I would have made. I can't take an hour off here or take a Saturday off there. It costs me too much money.
3) Farming requires long-term commitment to a very difficult job for which most people are very ungrateful.
You cannot go to school to learn to farm (even if you go to NCSU like I did!! Go Pack.). The learning curve on farming is VERY slow. Every year, I learn more and more about timing, varieties, and managing employees, but the fact of the matter is, that every year is different. I can't use a lot of the wisdom I gained in 2013 (that summer where it rained almost every day for 2 months) to the problems we are having in 2015 (it hasn't rained hardly since May). I've heard that it takes a lifetime of learning to become a farmer, and that's one of the great rewards of the occupation. But in a world where people get certifications and degrees every little whipstitch, dedicating yourself to a lifetime of understanding how to grow food is a foreign experience. I make more mistakes than anyone I know. Except for other farmers. Other farmers make just as many mistakes as I do. And I love being in their company. They are the only ones who can make me feel better. How was I to know that it was going to be super hot and all my lettuce was going to bold really early before we got a chance to sell it all? Or how was I to know that a variety of grape that I planted was just going to die in two years? Farmers make a lot of mistakes, and there's not a large safety net there for you when you fall. But again, this is a blessing in disguise. Learning to forgive yourself and keep going to the next season is essential. Even if you do have to wait another 9 months to try something out again. Our modern existence has almost destroyed our ability to fail. We are not used to needing this sort of radical patience and forgiveness that forces us to embrace.
4) Farming the land yields a certain amount each season. You can not make it yield more or order more from China.
Some seasons are better for some things than others. This year, our grapes didn't produce very much at all. It was hot and dry and our irrigation system was broken for a large portion of the critical time when we needed to be getting water to our vines. We will be purchasing grapes from RayLen this year. But still, we had to take care of those vines just as if they had 10 tons of fruit on them. We got insurance, but it's not going to make up the profit we could have had if our grapes (and consequently wine) had done well this year. So even if we marketed our products more, we would not be able to sell more. We currently sell out of the majority of our produce and compost very little compared to a traditional farm. In order to increase our profits, we can't just "sell more." There is nothing more to sell. We can't do a new marketing campaign and somehow make more money. There just aren't that infinite vegetables and bottles of wine to sell. If we want to make more money, we will have to bring more acres into production, be smarter about our labor costs, and operate more efficiently. We can raise prices, but as we all know, people expect cheap food.
5) Unskilled labor is not unskilled.
Some people can do manual labor. Some can't. Some people have, what I call, vegetable sense. Others don't. Whenever someone says that farming is "unskilled labor" I wish I could invite that person out to the farm for a day. Some people can't even do it for a few hours. They get so red in the face that I worry for their health, or they get bored with the monotonous task or hoeing or weed eating. It only takes a few minutes for unskilled labor to destroy a few months worth of work. I have seen unskilled labor weed eat crops and destroy irrigation, pick a crop of spaghetti squash before it's ready, sell lettuce once its bolted, break expensive equipment, and mess up deliveries so bad that I was ashamed to even contact the restaurants afterwards. Farming requires skill. Manual labor requires skill. And frankly, very few people anymore have the skills, physical fitness, and fiscal discipline to work in "unskilled labor."
So to the person who offered to help me with marketing, do you work for $8/hr? Cause that is what I would have to pay you to keep any of the money I made yesterday. Do you understand that even if you do a great job, it will be another year before I can expand my operation to do business with any of the customers that your campaign just got me? Do you understand that I just now was able to afford a computer after being without one for 4 years? Now I'll be able to keep up with my blog. Do it on my own time, after work, on the weekends, whenever I need to vent or be creative. I know I won't do as good a job as you would do, but for now, it will have to do.
All that being said, we are making huge strides to becoming profitable and more efficient. Every year, we learn from the mistakes we make and even if we have to wait a few years before we are put in similar situations, our knowledge of farming in suburban North Carolina is growing by leaps and bounds. But in a world that is so fast paced, goal oriented, and wants it now now now for nothing, farming is a hard way of life that makes little sense. Nevertheless, in more ways that one, it truly is the key to maintaining our humanity.
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