Three Springs Farm

Oakley, E. 2006. “Winter Travel to Farms Exposes Growers to Wealth of Ideas That Can Be Used At Home”. Growing for Market, Vol. 15, No. 10.

The middle of the summer always seems to bring us to our breaking point. Somewhere between the triple digit heat and the 16-hour workdays, we find ourselves longing for a change of pace, and place. Last July, while sorting through box upon box of heirloom tomatoes, we decided that we needed a vacation! The idea of winding up the season in the fall and hitting the road made the rest of the summer fly by.

In trying to figure out where to go, we had several inspirations that made the trip financially feasible. We wanted to make the journey a marriage of pleasure and learning. A friend working for the United Nations in Rome and a grandmother staying with her sister in Israel made a visit to the Middle East by way of Italy seem a likely choice. Eventually, we settled on stopping in Lebanon first, followed by Syria, Jordon, Israel, and Italy.

We have been farming for three seasons, but our backgrounds are in international agricultural development. We used our experiences interning with small-scale farm institutes to help us locate like-minded individuals and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that we could call on. The internet was a terrific resource. Searching for organizations with an emphasis on sustainable agriculture, we discovered that it was easy to locate contact information and to make preparations for a visit. We arranged to meet with farmers and community groups in each country before leaving. Scheduling our plans in advance took an upfront investment of time and energy during our busy part of the year, but is also guaranteed us an appointment with the places we most wished to visit.

With summer coming to a close, we began to look forward to our trip with great anticipation. As growers, we are generally focused on the local nature of our day-to-day operations. It can be easy to forget that we all belong to an international community of farmers. Visiting with farmers in other parts of the world reminds us that despite cultural and geographic distances, we share common challenges and rewards. Although our climatic, cropping, and marketing conditions may vary, there are universal ties that connected us as market growers. We learned this lesson in each place we visited, as we exchanged farming tips, variety preferences, and marketing strategies. The emotional satisfaction we gained was equally matched by the pragmatic tools and techniques we acquired.

Our first stop was Lebanon. There we met with an organization called MECTAT, Middle East Center for the Transfer of Appropriate Technology, and took a field trip to several rural villages in the southern part of the country to observe home garden demonstrations of grey-water harvesting. MECTAT employs community leaders to design and implement irrigation systems using recycled kitchen and laundry waste water for home garden tree crops. In this dryland region, water conservation takes on a special significance during the summer months when rainfall is scarce or non-existent. The project was geared towards women since they are typically in charge of home garden production. It taught them how to safely utilize their waste water to increase fruit and nut yields by turning a liability into an asset.

Simple technology is used to deliver the irrigation water from the home to the fields. Water flows from pipes in the kitchen sink outside to a series of three plastic holding tanks. Here suspended particles settle and are digested. The water passes through a filter before being discharged into the t-tape. Households must be careful about the types of cleaning solutions they use to avoid salt build-up in the soil. The women with whom we spoke were all satisfied with the yield increases they observed in their peaches, figs, apples, almonds, persimmons, grapes, and other fruit crops. Even though we have considered experimenting with gray water harvesting ourselves, seeing it action gave us the inspiration we needed to jumpstart our own design. Variations on this system have great potential for waste water from the packing shed and post-harvest cleaning.

Our next visit was to a watermelon/cucumber farm outside of Aleppo, Syria. Here we met Mahmoud whose father manages their farm for supplemental income. As we were taking a tour of the fields and sharing ideas on production methods, we noticed that they use t-tape for their irrigation system. They explained that rapidly sinking water tables due to unsustainable water harvesting for crops like cotton have heightened the need for more moderate water consumption. We asked them where they purchase their hose each season, curious about the businesses serving small-scale producers in his area. Mahmoud told us that they save it from one year to the next, and then showed us how they store it using a locally-produced t-tape winder. A center roll hangs between two wheels, upon which is attached a hand crank. The end of the t-tape is inserted into a notch in the roll and is quickly wound up. The tool is mounted on a small hand truck, allowing for easy movement between rows and fields.

We had long wondered how to improve our own t-tape recycling system, and this technique motivated us to make some key changes. Upon returned home, we screwed on a makeshift hand crank to the recycled electric wire spools we use to store our tape. In the past, we turned the wheel with our hands, relying on muscle power. Now we use the strategically placed hand crank to spin the spool, making for a faster and less strenuous task. Where we once suspended the spool on a pole held up between two saw horses, we now attach the spools to a pole mounted on the three-point hitch of the tractor. Like the winder in Syria, this makes it easy to move the spool from one bed to the next. We went to the farm expecting a standard appointment and left with a practical innovation that we successfully applied to our own operation.

In Israel, we stopped by a biodynamic kibbutz (a communal farm) to meet about their value-added marketing efforts. The kibbutz runs a therapeutic center for mentally challenged children. As part of their treatment, the children participate in the kibbutz’s organic vegetable and herb farm. Products from the garden are sold at a market stand on the kibbutz. Leftovers are dehydrated into a soup mix which helps diversity the farm’s business and finds a lucrative use for otherwise perishable commodities. We saw this product at several natural food stores throughout the country. Though not many small farms can afford value-added equipment, it suggests partnership opportunities with local universities, food banks, and community centers where farmers can borrow the facilities to make their own locally-grown, locally-produced food items.

After the kibbutz, we traveled to the Israeli Palestinian village of Sakhnin where a local university student has formed a community organization to preserve traditional farming methods. Laithi Gnaim of Arassid showed us around the organization’s experimental field plots and nursery. We even had the opportunity to help his family with their annual olive harvest—not a crop we see a lot of in Oklahoma. He is researching drought tolerant field crops with a strong marketing potential that he can trial and introduce to village farmers. The town has no access to irrigation water, and many of the young people are abandoning farming. Laithi hopes to find a way to encourage new farmers by making agriculture profitable. A major obstacle has been locating unique, climatically-appropriate crops to test. Upon returning home, we contacted Native Seeds/SEARCH in Arizona, a non-profit specializing in protecting Native American crops of the desert Southwest. Although Israel and Arizona might seem an unlikely combination, they actually share numerous agroecological variables. Native Seeds/SEARCH generously agreed to send Arassid a sampling of varieties, which Laithi eagerly planted this summer. We look forward to reading his progress report this winter.

Our most intensive and intimate farm stay was in Italy. After several days of sight seeing with our friend in Rome, we headed off to bucolic Tuscany to work with an organic farm family. Back in late summer we became members of Willing Workers On Organic Farms (WWOOF) Italy in hopes of finding a farmer with whom we could organize a farmer-to-farmer exchange. By joining WWOOF we received a listing of hundreds of farms across the country that swap seasonal farm help for room and board. Most WWOOF volunteers are not farmers; however, we wrote to farmers that expressed an interest in mutually beneficial learning experiences, optimistic that we would find someone who wanted more than just an extra pair of hands.

WWOOF provides detailed descriptions of the farms, and this made sorting through the directory straightforward. We identified the farm in Tuscany, contacted the farmer, and were delighted to receive his hearty welcome. He was interested in precisely the sort of exchange we sought. We traveled from Rome to his hamlet, Vicchio, where his wife picked us up and drove us up the mountains to their farm. There Saverio and Rosella cultivate, vegetables, herbs, fruit, olives, chestnuts, and firewood, living in the restored stone farmhouse that has been their home for the past thirty years.

Saverio and Rosella own a certified organic farm, and they sell their products at an all local, all organic farmers’ market in nearby Florence. At this special market, a majority of the ingredients in all processed food items must be made with food grown and refined by the vendor. The spelt pasta I bought was made with grain grown and ground by the farmer/vendor. At this market, prepared foods are seen as a way for the farmer to capture more of the customer’s dollar and to increase his/her sales. Selling value-added products can give the farmers income in the winter months and extend the shelf life of perishable items (for example, by turning tomatoes in to pasta sauce or strawberries into juice). Lessons learned from Florence have been instructive in evaluating the potential for more local ingredients at our own farmers’ market.

Our friendship with Saverio and Rosella continues to flourish. Our customers enjoyed eating the broccoli rabe seed we learned to grow from Saverio. We regularly exchange thoughts on organic certification rules, inspection prices for small-scale growers, recipes, and unique crop varieties. This relationship has blossomed far beyond our expectations and now epitomizes on-going farmer-to-farmer exchange.

As wonderful as most of the visits were, not all of them worked out as we had hoped. Good planning cannot always prevent mistakes or undesirable outcomes. We went to a WWOOF farm in Sicily that proved to be a complete disaster. The farmers had not paid their workers in three months, people were poised to resign, and there was precious little time left to deal with us. While this certainly was not what we anticipated, we simply altered our plans and headed back to Rome early. We used the bonus time to visit a local farm cooperative, several farmers’ markets, and various natural food stores. In the end, we realized the importance of maintaining back-up arrangements and a flexible attitude.

If you can afford the time and extra cash, visiting an international agricultural project is a valuable education in global farm networking. Linking with organizations such as WWOOF and traveling in the tourist off-season can make your trip more affordable.

Sharing your trip with farmers’ market customers and CSA members through articles, photos, and brochures of the places you have visited extends the reach and impact of your experiences. In talking with other farmers, you are each the “experts”; you will find you have something to learn and to teach. Cultural exchange through travel unites us with the movement for sustainable agriculture beyond our home communities, and shows us the broader meaning of what we do.

© 2006 Emily Oakley 2006

1 bunch turnip flowers

½ cup finely grated Gruyere cheese

½ cup olive oil

½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

2 cloves garlic

salt and pepper to taste

finely grated romano cheese

1# penne pasta

Remove the bottom 4 inches of leaves and stems from the turnip flower bunch, and chop the stems up to the florettes. Boil water for the pasta with ½ tsp. of salt. Add the pasta and cook for 2 minutes, then add the turnip flowers. Stir periodically, and boil until the pasta is al dente. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil, pepper, and garlic over medium heat in a small skillet, sautéing until the garlic is golden. When the pasta is tender, drain it and the turnip flowers. Stir in the garlic olive oil, sprinkle with the grated romano, and serve immediately.

1# okra, cut into 1/4# thick slices
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup golden raisins
1 jalapeno, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. cumin powder
1 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/8 tsp. dried mustard
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. honey
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. water

Heat 3 Tbs. oil in a cooking pan over medium heat. When hot add in the okra, onion, raisins, jalapeno, and garlic, and stir for 1 minute. Meanwhile, combine the last 9 ingredients together to form a paste. Spread this evenly over the okra mixture. Stir well, and fry to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn the heat down to medium-low, and continue frying for another 5 minutes more, or until the okra is crisp. Serve alone or over rice.

2 -3 large cucumbers, peeled and seeded

3 cups natural yogurt

1 1/2 cups milk

3 large cloves garlic, minced

1-2 Tbs. fresh mint, finely chopped

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 -2 Tbs. fresh dill, finely chopped

1 Tbs. fresh lime juice or 1-2 Tbs. white vinegar

salt and ground pepper

Grate the cucumbers in a food processor.  Add the yogurt, herbs, olive oil and lime juice.  Add the milk. Adjust taste.  Serve chilled.

1 cup firmly packed fresh basil
1/2 packed cup grated Parmesan or Roman cheese
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts, walnuts, or almonds
3 cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp. lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a food processor.  Cover and blend until a smooth paste forms, stopping the machine several times to scrape the sides.  Add water to make the pesto creamy, if needed.  Serve over pasta or use as a dip.  Pesto can be stored in an airtight container in the frig for up to a week or in the freezer for several months.

2 medium to large eggplants, sliced into 1/8” thick rounds
3 large tomatoes, sliced into 1/4” thick rounds
3 leeks, chopped
15-20 basil leaves, whole
1/2 cup fresh mozzarella, grated
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 F.  Arrange the eggplant, tomatoes, basil, and leeks in layers in a medium sized baking dish (with a lid).  On top of each layer, sprinkle a dash of salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese.  When you have used all of the ingredients, cover the top with the mozzarella.  Cover the baking dish with a lid as this keeps the moisture in the pan while it’s in the oven.  Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until the eggplant is very tender.  This is a delicious celebration of summer’s flavors!

1 bunch mizuna
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup French green lentils, washed
4 cups vegetable stock
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. tumeric
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 bay leaf
salt to taste

Put lentils in a medium sized pot with the vegetable stock and bay leaf.  Bring to a boil for 10 minutes, then reduce to a simmer, cover with a lid, and cook for another 20 minutes.  Add the garlic, onions, oregano, pepper, and tumeric and simmer for another 5 minutes, or until the lentils are tender.  Once tender, add salt to flavor.  Cut the mizuna bunch just above the rubber band and leave the leaves whole  Turn off the heat, stir in  the mizuna leaves, cover, and let the soup stand for 10 minutes to wilt the mizuna and to absorb the seasonings.

Appel, M. and E. Oakley.  2005.  From interns to farmers: taking the plunge from dream to reality.  Small Farmer’s Journal.  Vol. 29, No. 3.

Most children growing up in suburbia dream of becoming doctors and lawyers, teachers and policemen.  Not many kids in America’s cities decide they want to be farmers when they grow up.  However, there are an increasing number of young people exploring small-scale sustainable agriculture through farm internships and apprenticeships.  More and more of them are discovering their passion for farming along the way, and taking the plunge towards owning and operating their own farms.  That is exactly what happened to us.  This article is about the steps we took to start our small farm, how we applied what we already knew, and what we learned through the process.

Like others, we were drawn to sustainable agriculture because it weaves together beliefs about the environment, social justice, education, healthy food, and community building.  Unlike many of our childhood friends who struggle to find meaning in an office cubicle, we feel fortunate to have a profession that is both a livelihood and a way of living.

How did we learn to become farmers if we did not grow up on farms?  Although we studied sustainable agriculture in college, it was not until we were farm interns and received hands-on, practical experience that we really learned what farming truly entailed.  Translating that knowledge to our own operation has been a fascinating and exciting challenge. Yet even the most comprehensive internship cannot teach everything.  We hope that through our mishaps and adventures this article can shed some light on what is necessary to start a farm from scratch for budding farmers and their mentors.

The Big Challenge: Finding Land

In the fall of 2003, after finishing four combined years of internships and jobs on two successful organic farms in California, we moved to Emily’s hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Our dream was to have a farm that was big enough to support us financially, but small enough to operate without hiring employees.

Many people have asked us why we chose Oklahoma.  First, it really helped that Emily had an existing network of support from family and friends here.  Second, land is relatively affordable.  And third, through preliminary research, we believed there was a high demand for local organic vegetables with vast opportunity for more suppliers.

Since we did not inherit property and we had no independent source of monies finding land was, and still is, our biggest challenge.  We thought we could move to Oklahoma in the fall, buy land shortly thereafter, till it up, and plant a crop in the spring.  We did plant a crop that spring, but not as we originally planned.

Neither of us had experience with real estate, and we had to start at ground zero.  We wanted a farm within an hour’s driving distance to Tulsa.  This meant looking at a grand total of 15 surrounding counties!  We had no idea how to find an agent for rural property spread out over such a large area.  After numerous phone calls and visits to several real estate offices, we finally found a realtor willing to work with us who was familiar with our needs.

Although our idea seemed simple enough at first, we soon discovered that productive farmland is hard to come by in northeastern Oklahoma.  We looked at countless properties in four months.  We joked that if farming did not work out, we could always go into the rural real estate business.  The fall quickly became winter and there were no properties that met our criteria of fertile soil, access to water, within our price range, and with at least ten acres of tillable land.  There is some excellent soil right on the edge of Tulsa, but the majority is being paved over for housing developments, which keeps the prices far beyond our reach.

By the end of January 2004 we were starting to think that maybe it was time to pull out the classifieds and forget farming for the year when we found land to lease.  Through a series of contacts we were put in touch with a family who owned acreage just on the periphery of Tulsa.  They generously offered us use of two acres of horse pasture.  To make the whole situation even more remarkable, they also had a 60 horsepower tractor, a harrow, and a roterra which they were also happy to let us use.  All they wanted in return was vegetables!  Our dream was saved at the eleventh hour.

While it may seem like our experience is completely random, we think it is actually very transferable.  There are people around the country who are willing to provide access to land, and even equipment, to beginning farmers.  The tricky part can be finding them.  It is very important to tell anyone and everyone that you are trying to start a farm – you never know who will be able to help you.  We found our land through a labyrinth of people: the state organic inspector put us in contact with a woman in Tulsa working on local foods issues who put us in touch with her friends who own the land we now lease.  It is a wonderful example of the importance of networking and leaving no stone unturned.

In retrospect, we believe that leasing was infinitely better than buying our own land during our first season.  There are enough stresses and learning curves during the first year of growing without the added pressure of a mortgage.  Yes, we will have to start over again when it comes to building up the soil and getting the weeds under control when we eventually buy our own land, but the benefits far out weigh the negatives.  The biggest and single most important advantage was not going in debt while we were still learning about growing on our own in a climate different from our previous experience.

Even though we were originally against leasing, we now encourage all prospective farmers to consider renting during the first couple of years.  At the end of that time, you will have a better idea of the local geography.  Also, a more complete understanding of how your system operates and what your needs are in a property will benefit your business.  Additionally, several successful years of growing are essential in applying for a loan.

On the Paper Trail: Research and Development

Finding land was just one aspect among the many facets of starting our own farm.  As apprentices, farming felt like a state of being.  In fact, it is as much a business as any other self-employed venture.  Learning to think in business terms was one of the most crucial aspects of our transition into farmers.  It was on this paper trail that we become aware of what we did not learn as interns.

We jumped into the administrative details through a series of research and development tasks.  This was critical since it got us thinking about what we needed to do to get our farm venture initiated.

We started by writing a business plan.  We read about business plans and began putting our thoughts on paper.  This plan was not meant for a loan, like most business plans are, but for our own organizational purposes.  Our first steps were based on researching marketing outlets, meeting our “cooperatition” (to borrow a great term we learned in California which refers to other farms who are your competition, but with whom you also cooperate in terms of sharing equipment and ideas), budgeting, and becoming familiar with local resources.

Many farmers have told us that the easy part is growing the food; the hard part is selling it.  Our primary goal was to decide how we were going to market our produce.  We wanted to replicate the model we learned in California.  It entails a three pronged approach – farmers’ market, CSAs, and wholesale.  Of course we would be operating on a smaller scale, but we wanted as many different venues as possible to spread our risk.

The farmers’ market was straightforward.  Tulsa has one main market that has become very popular in the last couple of years.  We sent out postcards to anyone we could think of announcing the farmers’ market dates to solicit customers.  Almost all of these people came to the market at some time during the season.  For our CSA we decided to keep the membership to ten of our family friends.  The wholesale world was more difficult.  In the fall, we called restaurants that we thought might be interested in local foods to see what we could grow that they would want to buy.  Many restaurants were not accustomed to buying locally; nevertheless, a few did express an interest and we contacted them again once the season was underway.

We also wanted to get a sense of the state of organic vegetable farming in Oklahoma.  It is important to know how many other people in your area are doing what you are doing.  These farmers are an instant source of support, resources, and community.  We made appointments with all of the nearby organic vegetable farms or those offering CSAs.  Meeting with these growers was extremely helpful as they shared their experience about weather, customer demands, variety selection, pricing, and other locally-specific information.

The hardest part of writing our business plan was the budget.  It was hard to anticipate all of our costs and project our income.  We began by making a list of everything we remembered using in our internships.  It is amazing how many materials are needed to plant vegetables on a couple of acres.  The budget helped streamline the items we absolutely had to purchase the first year and to negotiate for the rest.

Other items we explored for our business plan were record-keeping systems, business structure and legal organization, and insurance.  We also examined our target sales, developed a planting calendar and a harvest schedule, and explored government and private organizations working on sustainable agriculture. Ultimately, we were able to use our business plan format to successfully apply for a grant from the Oklahoma State Department of Agriculture.

By joining local sustainability advocacy groups, we tapped into a captive audience and benefited from a free source of advertising.  We took every opportunity to list our farm on relevant websites.  Although this is a strategy not likely to yield immediate results, it eventually led to customers, contacts, and even media publicity.

We touched base with our county cooperative extension agent, attended local farm shows, and began subscribing to trade journals.

The realization that we are not only a farm but also a business led us down a bureaucratic road.  There were government agencies we needed to register with, fees to be paid, and forms to be filled out.  We attended workshops offered by the IRS and the Oklahoma Tax Commission which helped us navigate the process.  We attended classes presented at our local library on topics such as the difference between employees and independent contractors, applying for a sales tax permit, and setting up a small business accounting program.  It was discovering the finer points of being a self-employed business owner, like registering for our Federal Employee Identification Number (FEIN), that finally helped us convert the dream of farming to actually becoming farmers.

Challenges Along the Way

Along the line of finances, we needed a sizable nest egg to live off of during our start-up months.  We saved money from our internships and previous jobs, but we also benefited from having a cheap place to stay during our R & D phase.  Getting the farm operational was a full-time job, but without any income.  Anyone planning on starting their own farm should think through their financial needs (car payments, health insurance, student loans), and make sure to have an adequate amount saved to pay bills while still having enough for working capital.

Oklahoma is not vegetable farming country.  This made finding equipment and supplies suitable for our projects somewhat difficult.  We bought as much as we could from local hardware stores, building shops, irrigation stores, and used equipment dealers, but we also had to supplement by mail ordering from companies that specialize in small vegetable farm supplies.  Finding a high-quality supply of compost for example, took weeks and was a source of major frustration.  This is where we experienced the downside of a small farming community—there were not many people to turn to for help with resources.

Another challenge was the lack of access to credit for beginning farmers.  We spent several months investigating loan options for working capital and farm real estate.  Unfortunately, there are just a few.  The Farm Service Agency operated by the USDA does give loans to beginning farmers at low interest rates.  However, the loans take many months to process.  Unless you are buying land from someone who can wait months to get paid, this is not a viable option.  Banks and other credit institutions will not even entertain the idea of financing a farm operation until you have demonstrated two successful years of operation.  Our only viable source of capital would have been asking one of our parents to cosign a loan with us.  Ultimately, we used our own small savings to buy what we needed to get started.

Taking the Plunge

With business plan in hand and land under our feet we were finally ready to start putting our money where our dreams were.  Our first purchase was a six hundred dollar seed order.  We now knew that we were jumping in full force and that there was no turning back.

Ordering seeds was surprisingly laborious.  We needed to figure what and how we were going to plant.  We stuck with varieties we were familiar with and ones that do well in the hot, humid climate of Oklahoma (which we learned from our cooperative extension service).  We took educated guesses on how much we would need.  We had to accept that we were going to make mistakes, and we did.  We over planted lettuce and broccoli – but in the process we learned which varieties do well and which do not.

In Oklahoma, spring arrives quickly.  At end of January when we secured our land, we immediately started considering field preparation and greenhouse work.

With the help of a local farm couple, we constructed a small, economical 10 x 20 greenhouse.  We bent EMT conduit (electrical tubing) to make the bows and used rebar and T-posts as anchors.  We are proud to say it survived an Oklahoma spring which is no small feat (think “Tornado Alley”).  To maximize the amount of space in our humble greenhouse, we used 200 cell plug flats.  Even through our greenhouse may sound small, we can grow over 20,000 plants in there at one time!

While our plants were starting to grow in their propane heated home, we began the process of turning a horse pasture into a vegetable farm.  As interns, the farms we worked on had their usual share of weed problems, but we could not help but look back and wonder how they ever turned their grassy fields into rows of beautiful crops.  We made several passes with the roterra and harrow, and then hand raked out the Bermuda grass (this is a noxious pasture grass that is a hardy perennial - it is nearly impossible to get rid of as it spreads through underground runners).  This tillage method worked well by bringing the Bermuda up to the surface of the soil.  The harrowing reduced the amount of soil still attached to the roots.  Although hauling out all of that material took time, it was well worth it as it saved us hours of futile weeding during the summer.

Our next step was assessing our soil situation.  An afternoon of digging with a soil probe showed us that our soil varies greatly throughout the field, from a clay loam to a sandy loam.  A soil test indicated we were low in NPK.  We bought 25 tons of mushroom compost from a local mushroom farm and started spreading it, along with some soft rock phosphate and granite dust, with a wheel barrow and shovel.  We applied it directly in the bed furrows in order to maximize the amount of nutrients close to the plant roots.  The plants responded well to this method, but our backs definitely did not.  This was a lesson in the benefits of borrowing a manure spreader.  Throughout the growing season we side-dressed with an organic granular fertilizer and foliar fed with fish emulsion.

Using a modified cultivator we made 30” raised beds.  This system evolved from the equipment we already had on hand.  Raised beds are critical in Oklahoma as it is not uncommon for storms to produce four or more inches of rain in less than an hour.  The 30” beds worked well, but we decided later in the season we could plant more efficiently on the 60” beds we had learned to use in our internships.

By the end of February we were planting spinach and carrots with our Earthway seeder.  We found the Earthway to be ineffective with most seeds.  Towards the middle of the season we borrowed a Planet Jr. from the local land grant university’s research farm which worked infinitely better.  Planting is still a tricky task for us as we have not mastered seed depth or the optimal number of seeds per foot.  On our internships we took for granted the farmers’ ability to remember the spacing and depth requirements of each individual seed.

As the season progressed we realized why there is such a dearth of vegetable farms in northeastern Oklahoma – the weather and the bugs.  Oklahoma has a reputation for producing tornados, but the real weather trouble is from intense thunderstorms that produce hail, wind gusts, and heavy rains.  Luckily for us we only received hail once and it was very early in the season.  On the other hand, we received several heavy rain storms that ripped holes in on our lettuce and actually killed tomatoes plants from water-logged soil.

We were also unprepared to deal with the pest pressure.  Every week we seemed to notice a new insect that was wreaking havoc on our crops.   Fortunately for us we have a fantastic cooperative extension agent who helped us identify our wide range of bugs.  We learned to accept loosing some crops to diseases and insects.  Our internships taught us the value of growing a diversity of crops and the lesson served us well.

A huge difference between established farms like the ones we worked on in California, and a new farm is the weeds.  The weeds were overwhelming us.  With a two person operation there is only so much time that can be dedicated to weeding.  We wanted impeccably clean rows of crops, but eventually we learned to think of weed control as an on-going process.  Towards the end of the season we rigged up an old C-shank cultivator to help weed one and two-row crops.  Although it was not a perfect solution, it saved us our most valuable resource: time.

As interns we did not fully appreciate the maneuvering and juggling required to harvest in time for market, CSA, and wholesale orders.  With several interns, farmers, and employees, picking and packing gets spread over many hands.  When you are getting started, you have only yourself to rely on to get the work done.  There were some harvest days when the strain of being a two person operation was pretty intense.  If we did not get the produce picked ourselves, no one else was going to do it for us.  We wanted to harvest crops the day before the market so they would be as fresh as possible.  Harvest days were grueling, but also incredibly rewarding.  Our “cooler” is an example of a satisfying innovation we devised.  It is an insulated room in a barn with a window AC unit.  We were able to keep the temperatures near 50 degrees even in the heat of summer.  Learning to creatively solve our obstacles has been an enjoyable experience.

We tried to keep as many records as possible.  Some examples of the records we kept are: daily field logs, planting calendars, harvest records, market journals of what we sold and at what price, and pest control and fertility applications.  These records were extremely helpful preparing for the next year.  We were able to determine which crops made the most money, which varieties did well, and how much time we spent on particular tasks.  And though at the time we thought we were being too obsessive, there were still some details we missed.  Looking up a reference guide on records for small farms is an excellent way to find out what you should be keeping track of.

In order to give aspiring farmers an idea of our costs, we have broken down some “typical” expenses a beginning farmer would incur on a similar acreage.  This was one obstacle that we had a hard time anticipating before getting started, but is it key to deciding if you are going to have enough start-up capital.

• Seeds - $725
• Fertilizers and compost - $650
• Pest control - $125
• Greenhouse construction - $450
• Greenhouse supplies - $550
• Field tools and supplies - $1900
• T tape irrigation supplies - $900
• Harvesting and washing supplies - $500
• Cooler - $350
• Market supplies  - $850
• Fuel - $150
• Hardware tools - $120
• Office supplies - $350
• Utilities - $500

Altogether we spent over $17,500.  That number includes a tractor for $5500 and a pick up truck for $3200.  The lower you can keep your costs of course, the higher your profit.  But many of these items are one-time expenses.  Keeping track of your annual expenses is the best way to budget how much you can afford to spend on new equipment each year.

Lessons Learned

Our first year far exceeded our expectations in terms of sales.  We were able to pay ourselves back the money we invested in the farm (this money will be needed for a down payment for property) and make a few major purchases, like our John Deere 820 tractor.  In the coming years we want to focus on labor and back-saving equipment.

Without our prior farming experience and the guidance of the farmers we worked for, we would not have been able to begin our farm.  Our internships gave us an automatic production framework which made it possible for us to move to a new location and fruitfully produce a crop our first year.  Not every technique was transferable, but the basic skills and understandings were.  We adapted what we already knew to meet the current situation.

Before we started, thinking of starting our own farm was an overwhelming prospect.  There are many avenues to consider: record-keeping, tillage, post harvest handling, pest control, irrigation, marketing, greenhouse work, harvesting, and unanticipated circumstances.  We tackled each situation as it arose, and tried not to get bogged down with the constant list of chores and work.  The important fact to remember is that you only have one first year.

We hope prospective farmers have gained new insight into questions to ask their farmer-mentors.  If you are really serious about becoming a farmer, try to get as much as exposure to each phase of the operation as possible.  When you have your own operation, the work will not be all planting, weeding, and harvesting.

Likewise, we hope this article helps farmers teach their interns how to bridge the gap between the idea farming and the reality of farming.  Farming is so labor-intense that it can be easy to focus on getting the work done.  But if you are truly trying to grow farmers as well as crops, remember your own first year and what lesson you wish someone had shared with you.

The most important lesson we learned last year was how much we love farming.  We would not trade a day in the sunshine transplanting, hearing words of encouragement from our customers, or spotting the first tomato of the season for any other profession.

Emily and Mike can be contacted at farmers@threespringsfarm.com for more information or support on getting started.

© Mike Appel and Emily Oakley 2005

Oakley, E. and M. Appel.  2006.  Growing a CSA from scratch: creating community and improving your farm’s bottom line.  Acres USA, Vol. 36, No. 4.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs enable many small-scale growers throughout the country to maintain economic viability, develop strong relationships with their customers, and provide an alternative marketing outlet to corporate food systems.  CSA farmers commit to producing food, and community members pledge to buy it, throughout a growing season.  Each party shares in the risks and rewards of farming.  Members pay an up-front fee to supply the farmer with much-needed capital at the beginning of the season, guaranteeing an outlet for his or her products.  In exchange, members get fresh, local produce picked just for them, and an intimate connection to the people growing their food.  This article explores the steps necessary to start a CSA program on your farm.

Why Start a CSA?

The greatest benefit to CSA farmers is capital received at a time of year when expenses are high and cash-flow is low.  This upfront money makes it possible to avoid borrowing for seasonal start-up costs, such as seeds and compost.  CSAs are a consistent income that takes some of the gambling out of farming.  When farmers’ markets are rainy and sales are slow, a CSA can help stabilize your monthly earnings.  In addition, by selling directly to the consumer farmers’ gain a price advantage over wholesale.  CSAs are also a great avenue for distributing bountiful harvests.

A CSA is not only good for you; it is also good for customers.  Besides forming a connection with the farm, they experience the joys of eating fresh, healthy food.  Along with the produce, most CSAs give members a newsletter containing recipes, photos, and stories from the field.  For many customers, a CSA is a convenient way to get produce and encourages them to try new foods.  Each week brings new food surprises, creating awareness about eating with the seasons.

The Mechanics of Getting Started

Growing for a CSA

The most important aspect of CSA success is a knowledgeable and experienced farmer.  A CSA requires the ability to plan and project estimated harvest yields.  You need an accurate idea of how much of each item must be grown, when you can expect to begin harvesting, and for how long it will produce.

CSAs generally deliver produce on a weekly basis.  First, you must define the length of your season.  We suggest giving yourself enough flex room on either end of the season so that your fields are well into production by the time the CSA starts and harvests are still abundant by the time it ends.  Next, you must determine how much food you aim to deliver each week based on the length of the CSA season and the number of customers.  This will help you decide how much of each item you should grow and when.  Succession planting helps maintain a prolonged harvest of staple crops.

Diversity is essential!  Few people want to eat cabbage for ten weeks in a row, so growing a wide a variety of crops is important in retaining customers from one year to the next.  Plan to grow spring, summer, and fall crops.  Stretching the seasons can be a good way of maximizing selections.  Always give yourself plenty of wiggle room in the numbers and types of crops you have growing at any given time so that you have enough “inventory” to work with in determining weekly offerings.  This will help avoid repetition and keep customer’s interest.

Where to Find Customers

A great place to start looking for customers is with a previously established consumer base, such as farmers’ market clients.  These people already know what you grow, how your operation works, and what to expect.  A CSA can make a good customer even better by giving them the chance to make a bigger, more regular commitment, helping you generate new revenue.

Drawing in new customers is best done through big venues, particularly those whose members are likely to be interested in your product.  Local civic groups, churches, and businesses can be good places to reach out to large numbers of people at one time.  Host informal meetings to discuss your CSA, answer questions, and sign up members.  Passing out an informational brochure gives potential members a quick run-down of what the CSA program has to offer and how they can join.

Advertising Your Product

The key to attracting customers is educating them about the benefits of what you are selling.  In this case, it is both a tangible product and an idea.  Most people who join CSAs care about how their food is being grown and by whom.  Customers generally want fresh, high quality, and organic or sustainably produced food from someone they know and trust.  These are the three things they cannot buy at the grocery store.  Do not be shy about highlighting those unique benefits when promoting your CSA program.

Determining Basket Contents

Keep track of what is put in each basket from week to week with a spreadsheet system.  This will allow you to both review and project basket contents.  When deciding what to put in the baskets, find a balance between delivering enough produce for the share price, but not so much as to overwhelm customers with more food than they can use in a week.  Remember, this is their primary or sole source of vegetables each week, so plan basket contents by intentionally thinking through how they can use it each item.  Aim for seven to nine items per week for a family of two.

A typical basket might include:

Spring…                                  Summer…

* bunch of beets                       * 1# tomatoes

* bunch of greens                     * bunch of basil

* bunch of carrots                     * 1/2# sweet peppers

* 1# broccoli                            * 1 melon

* 1# cabbage                           * 1# summer squash

* bunch of parsley                    * 1# green beans

* head of lettuce                       * 1# eggplant

* 1# new potatoes                    * 1 slicing cucumber

Delivering the Weekly Basket

CSAs often encourage members to pick up their produce at the farm in order to help community members gain a closer understanding of how the farm functions.  However, most farms are not within quick driving distance of urban centers.  In these instances, it makes more sense for the farmer to deliver the produce to several centralized locations in town for customer pick up.

Produce can be delivered in grocery bags, boxes, or baskets.  In choosing a method, think about protecting the produce during packaging and transportation.  Once arranged into individual containers, it helps to display each item in an attractive manner.  If you use something permanent such as baskets, be sure to have two for each member so that one can be taken home and one can be packed into for the next week.

Creating a flexible pick up schedule is an important part of meeting customers’ needs.  Offer at least two different days of the week, and two or three pick up locations.  In arranging locations, be attentive to plentiful parking, easy access, and familiarity.  But also keep your needs in mind.  Do not overextend yourself by providing more flexibility than is necessary.  A successful routine for our farm has been coordinating the CSA pick up with our two weekly farmers’ markets.  One is on a Wednesday afternoon while the other is on a Saturday morning.  This gives people a range of options and also helps keep our trips to town to a minimum.  We package everything for the CSA at the farm, and then transport the CSA items in separate containers to the market.  We assemble the CSA baskets while setting up our market display.

Packing and Post-Harvest Handling

It goes without saying that you must always provide healthy, fresh, and clean produce.  Unlike farmers’ market customers, CSA members do not get to select their own produce.  They are relying on you to give them the highest quality possible.  We like to grade for the CSA first.  Keep produce cool in a cooler until just before delivery.  Wrap perishable items in plastic bags to preserve freshness, and protect fragile vegetables and fruits in paper bags.  Customers do not always know which items should be refrigerated, left on the counter, or need to be put into bags so giving them tips about storage helps them preserve freshness.

Pricing

Originally, CSAs were priced by dividing up the entire farm’s expenses by the number of customers the farm could support to arrive at a distribution of the costs.  This works only when the farm sells exclusively through the CSA.  Now, most CSAs project a figure based on the amount of produce they anticipate delivering over the course of the season to each member.  Pricing is generally based on local farmers’ market prices, while giving some discount as thanks for the commitment to your farm.  We like to give a 10% bonus over the course of the season.  In a sense, the discount reflects “interest” on their initial investment.

One way of creating an annual membership price is to decide upon an amount of produce you would like to deliver each week multiplied by the number of weeks of delivery.  For example, on our farm, the share fee is based on a weekly basket of produce worth $15.00.  The $15.00 dollars is multiplied by 20 weeks of delivery for an annual share price of $300.

Payment

Typically, CSA members make an annual payment at the beginning of the season.  Some CSAs allow for quarterly or monthly payments.  Although this may seem like a good way of being sensitive towards tight finances, you can end up with customers who pay late or cancel their membership mid-season.  Limit the number of installment payments you allow so as to ensure you have enough winter income.  You can also invite more fortunate customers to contribute towards a financial aid account.  Many CSAs offer “work-shares” in which members trade labor for some or all of the cost of a share.

Make the up front payment easier on customers by sending them reminders in early winter so that they can begin saving for the share price.  This does double-duty as a method of keeping in touch with them over the long off-season.

Communicating With Customers

Newsletters keep customers informed about what is going on at the farm.  They are also ideal for educating them about the trials and joys of farming, the significance of supporting local agriculture, and what it means to be environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable.  Newsletters should also include recipes that call for the items in their basket.  Recipes are particularly useful for unique crops that people might not be familiar with.  They also inspire new uses for old stand-bys.  Photos are a wonderful means of sharing the weekly activities of farm life.

Surveys of customer likes and dislikes are indispensable for refining your program.  Ask questions about variety preferences, pick-up schedules, pricing, produce quality, and ways of improving the program.  Offer farm tours so members can see you and their food in action.  Finally, provide customers with a member handbook to answer frequently asked questions.  Content can include: a definition of CSAs, customer and farmer benefits, pick-up instructions, tips for using veggies, what to do when a customer goes is on vacation, and a sample harvest calendar.

Beginning Your First Season

Keep the membership size to a manageable number the first year.  Think about the number of acres available, labor (especially on harvest days), and how much diversity you can comfortably predict.  Will you have new operating costs?  How much income do you anticipate generating?  Will you earn enough revenue to justify the effort?  Do you have the right equipment?  Be certain to have these questions answered as you want to ensure a personally and financially rewarding experience and avoid burn-out.

Take time to meet with local CSA farmers, interview them about their methods, and visit them on a CSA delivery day if you can.  Seeing another CSA in action will help you in designing your own system.

CSAs offer the chance to secure income, connect with customers, serve as an educator and leader, and share the passion of farming.  They tap into the increasing consumer demand for real food experiences, and are a great way to expand a business.

Emily and Mike own Three Springs Farm in Tulsa, OK, and are in their third year of production.  They have a 36 member CSA on their two and a half acre operation.

Resources

ATTRA.  Community Supported Agriculture-Current Topic.  Katherine L. Adam.  February 2002.  www.attra.org.

Henderson, Elizabeth with Robyn Van En.  Sharing the Harvest: A Guide to Community Supported Agriculture.  Chelsea Green Publishing Company; White River Junction, Vermont.  1999.

Van En CSA Center.  Website: www.csacenter.org.

© Emily Oakley and Mike Appel 2006

1 bunch swiss chard, cut into thin strips

2 stalks green garlic, chopped

2 Tbs. olive oil

2 Tbs. red wine vinegar

juice of half of a lemon

1/2 tsp. finely chopped lemon rind

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/4 tsp. dried oregano

salt to taste

Place chard in a colander in the sink and pour a kettle of boiling water over the leaves to blanch.  Meanwhile, sauté the garlic in the olive oil for 3 minutes over medium-low heat.  Turn down heat to low, and toss in the rest of the ingredients.  Lightly sauté for another 2 minutes.  Remove from the heat and serve over rice.

© Emily Oakley 2005