Farm Stories

If you haven’t had the opportunity to listen to Five Farms: Stories from Americal Farm Families, it is well worth the time.

‘Produced by Wesley Horner Productions and the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, and distributed by Public Radio International™’, the audio stories originally aired on public radio stations, but can be found in their entirety, along with great photopraphs from the project at http://cds.aas.duke.edu/fivefarms/

An excerpt from the site: “When we slice a tomato, open a box of frozen spinach, peel an orange at breakfast, order a BLT from the lunch counter around the corner, or select a turkey for a holiday dinner, our lives become linked to farming families who may live in the next town or thousands of miles away. By exploring this website, you can learn about the lives of five families who work to provide the food we all depend on.”

Each of the five stories is inspiring in their own way, especially when you consider how few people farm today and the hard work it takes to get food from farm to table. The series is also extremely well produced, and if you have a love of farming you will find things to enjoy about these stories.

Farming is hard work, but sometimes just getting the opportunity to farm is something people have to fight for. The series highlights that well with the story of Eddie Wise in North Carolina. Eddie is a former Green Beret, who dreamed his whole life of owning his own farm. It took him awhile, but he eventually got there.

The series takes you through the challenges he faced in obtaining a loan to start his dream farm, and how he eventually suceeded through determination. Along the way, he also found the love of his life who shared his dream of farming. Their first date was picking blueberries together.

Not everyone with the dream to farm has the unrelenting drive of a Special Forces soldier. However, Eddie Wise obviously knows how to overcome or simply go around any obstacle that stands in the way of his objective, no matter how many times it takes. Those who attempted to create obstacles for Eddie certainly underestimated him. His story of personal triumph is an inspiration to anyone who has ever dreamed of owning their own farm.

Divided into sections of Planting, Nurturing, Stewardship, Harvest, and Succession, Five Farms examines common aspects shared by all farms, regardless of the type of operation. Recognition of that commonality and a love of farming in general is what prompted the launch of the site you are now on.

No matter which type of farm story happens to be your favorite, we hope you will take the time to share them here on Farm Stories. You can do that in a variety of ways. You can sign up for your own free blog here on Farm Stories and write about your farm, or you can even interview farmers in your area and tell their stories. You can create regional sites like yourarea.farmstories.org and enlist multiple authors to write about the farms near you (a great project for FFA chapters for their counties, or for farmers market managers to promote their market and their farmers’ stories).

You can become part of the conversation by submitting your comments. You can email your stories, or even send requests to be interviewed to mike at farmstories dot org. You can send text, audio, or video clips and we will try to incorporate them into Farm Stories. If you are embarking on an eat local challenge, enjoy agritourism, or are just trying to connect with more farmers in your area, you can use a blog on Farm Stories to chronicle your efforts and adventures. We look forward to you joining the conversation and sharing your stories.

Continue the conversation. Start a discussion group on FarmConnect.net, Social Networking for farms and communities and remember to Thank a Farmer!

U.S. State Department Video on Food Security. These are the folks with their finger on the pulse of conditions worldwide to assess threats to political stability. A quote from the video highlights an interesting assessment of part of what is required;

“By working together with small scale farmers around the world, we can succeed.”

Among other things, the video goes on to talk about the increase in yields in wheat and rice in the last several decades. Depending on your personal take on farming, you may interpret the video differently. Proponents of small scale farms will find comfort in the acknowledgement made in the video that such farms are an important part of the solution to food security in an uncertain future. Proponents of industrial agriculture will no doubt want technology to get due credit for the increase in yields that have come about recently, and the video mentions. The truth is, many types of farms are going to be important for food security as we move into the future.

Whether you believe that organic agriculture is the future, you happen to believe that biotechnology will feed the world, or you feel that diversity of farming operations holds the key to our future food security, you must acknowledge population growth will have a major impact on the future of farming. Farming operations of all types will only continue to face challenging issues related to remaining both economicaly and environmentally sustainable.

Someday, as world population continues to increase and cheap fuel for transportation decreases, it may be that rooftop farms such as this one and other forms of urban agriculture will be be increasingly important for feeding urban population centers. As we move towards a more sustainable agriculture that can meet the demands of the world’s growing population, sharing stories about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to both economic and environmental sustainability will also be increasingly important. If you have a story to share, no matter what type of farming practice it relates to, you can do it here on Farm Stories.

Continue the conversation. Start a discussion group on FarmConnect.net, Social Networking for farms and communities and remember to Thank a Farmer!

I recently came across a blog for a farm that will be opening in 2010 that I wanted to feature on Farm Stories. The name of the farm is Langwater Farm, in Easton, MA. The name of their business entity, however, was what was most intriguing. Stone Soup, LLC was the name that caught my eye. Their story speaks to several issues facing those who want to begin farming: namely, the high cost of acquiring land for those with farming dreams, and the legal and liability aspects of farm related businesses that most people don’t really consider.

It seems these determined farmers will be opening their farm on land leased from another family, and have gotten together to cooperate to make their dreams come true. Joel Salatin is fond of saying, “If you want to begin farming, you don’t need to own land to do it, you just need to get started.” As you read their blog, the Langwater Farm story seems to be full of examples making that statement true. Sometimes farmers work for years for others increasing their skills before they are able to have their own farm. Being willing to get started, seeking information and knowledge from as many sources as possible, and being practical about the business aspects involved are all good lessons any would be farmers should take from the Langwater Farm story.

One post on Langwater Farm blog speaks about the need to form an LLC, and the search for a name for that LLC. An Excerpt;

“We are working on forming an LLC, a Limited Liability Company. This will protect us personally from any legal liability that might come out of the business. Although the farm property itself will be called Langwater Farm, we need to pick a different name for our business entity (I know, it’s a little confusing). Currently naming the LLC is our biggest hurdle… any suggestions?? ”

Stone Soup, LLC was a great name to settle on, if you can call it settling. Many of us remember one version or another of the Stone Soup Story from gradeschool. The Langwater Farm blog explains their choice of business entity name by saying, “Our business name is “Stone Soup, LLC.” This is partly because the farm is so darned rocky, and partly because of the fantastic fable, Stone Soup, in which a delicious meal is made due to everyone bringing a little of what they have to the table.”

It is unfortunate that we live in a litigous society, but it is a fact of life today. Imagine you work towards your dream of owning a farm your whole life, and you are finally able to purchase your own land. Imagine now you are driving in town and you run into some unexpected ice, slide through a stop sign and cause a car accident. If someone is injured, it is very possible you could be sued for anything you own, including your farm.

An LLC as a business entity for your farm could possibly provide some extra peace of mind and protection from such liability if you don’t have enough assets to cover writing a huge settlement check without having your dreams shattered. Ask an attorney you trust for guidance if you have any such concerns.

Sone Soup, LLC as a name is a paradox. We do live in an age where Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farming is increasing all over the country as people want to know where their food comes from as they support their local farmers. The very way that CSA’s operate show an increased willingness of people to support each other, even financially, so that they can achieve mutual goals. This coincides with our increased awareness that we need to protect ourselves from those out there that would be all too happy to sue us if they thought they could take something from us.

It is a paradox that is mirrored in farming in general. Farming is about growing things and working with nature and providing people with sustenance. Farming is also a business. As in any business, we need to protect ourselves, sometimes even from those who enjoy the fruits of our labor.

The moral of the Stone Soup story “that by working together, with everyone contributing what they can, a greater good is achieved” is a metaphor for not only the way the farmers behind Langwater Farm came together to achieve their dreams, but a metaphor for the entire CSA phenomenon.

If you want to farm, there are plenty of customers out there who want to support you in your goal. Just don’t forget to do your business planning along the way.

Continue the conversation. Start a discussion group on FarmConnect.net, Social Networking for farms and communities and Thank a Farmer!

Farm Stories is the brainchild of Michigan grass farmer, Mike Murphy, and began as an idea over 6 years ago when he realized from telling his own farm story that millions of people were hungry. Not just for the food that farmers produce, but for their stories. Farm Stories was founded to help satisfy that hunger. Sign up and start your blog today!

Evidence of this hunger for ‘farm’ related stories is found in many places today. It accounts for part of the phenomenal growth of farmers markets, CSA programs, the Eat Local, Organic, and Grass Fed movements in agriculture in the very recent past. People are hungry not just for good food, but for food with a story because they realize more than ever today they play a very important part part in that story. The surge in direct farm to consumer relationships recently helps people feel that they are part of the story in a way they can feel good about.  

That hunger to make a connection with farming is also found in the increasing popularity of agritourism. More and more people are willing to spend their time and money to visit farms. It gives them a chance to experience some of the powerful cultural memories we share. It is not surprising that even people who have never stepped foot on a farm often dream about ‘life on the farm’. The connection to agriculture common to every person on the planet. We all eat, after all.

100 years ago, most people in this country had connections to family members living and working on farms. Today, only one percent of Americans make their living on a farm. With most people living in the city and no family members on the farm anymore, why is the need to connect with farms in some way still such a natural impulse for so many? One reason is there are powerful things inside most people that draw us to the what we associate with life on a farm. Some of that is due to our cultural memories – passed down to us in the stories and images we have collected over the years to create the farms in our minds. A part of that comes directly from advertising, which is storytelling also. From exposure to the farm toys and songs still popular with children today to the image of the pastoral farm with the red barn advertisers use to sell food products, many of us have formed strong associations with the idea of farms.  

Another reason for this connection may be that farming is actually ‘inside us’ in more ways than we realize. To get to where we are today as a species, most of our ancestors had to be farmers. At certain points in history, most people’s survival depended on the ability to be successful in some sort of agricultural activity. Those that were not successful in agricultural endeavors perished, with the exception of a few small hunter / gatherer societies still in existence. If we recognize that, we can also recognize that at some point in the world’s history, most of the individuals that were able to survive long enough to pass on their genetic makeup that we eventually inherited were farmers. Those farmers may have passed on some of what made them successful to us. For some of us at least, farming could be in the very DNA of every cell in our bodies.  

As Mike Murphy began his book series titled, “Farm Stories”, to publish as many people’s stories that connected them to the world of farming as possible, he decided that the project could be the perfect marriage of his passions. Technology, writing, and all things farm related could come together to create a collaborative online publication of the same title. Farm Stories, the Website, began as a seed planted in his mind to provide a platform to publish for anyone and everyone who had a story related to farms, whether they had the ability to make connections in the publishing world or not. The technology today makes it easy to do, and what better name to do it under than Farm Stories?  

Whether you are a grandmother who remembers growing up on the farm, a city dweller who enjoys farmers markets, a wheat farmer in Kansas, raise hogs in North Carolina, run a CSA in Michigan, homestead in Illinois, or have a garden in the suburbs, you can all participate in Farm Stories. Everyone is welcome, regardless of background or farming practices used. By being inclusive as opposed to being selective, Mike Murphy’s vision for Farm Stories is to invite and gather the greatest number of participants in the conversation about farming so that we have the greatest amount of information to draw truth from moving towards a more sustainable agriculture. Farm Stories was created in the true spirit of collaboration, as opposed to exclusion. It will allow the creation of thousands of digital campfires all over the country where anyone is welcome to stop by as we gather and share the stories we are all hungry for.  

Many people have written about the important need to romance and inspire the next generation of farmers. It is important to ensure we have enough people interested in taking up farming as an occupation to sustain our future food needs. If the saying “No farms, No food” is true, imagine what would happen if there were no new farmers. Farm Stories pledges to contribute to the work of inspiring the next generation of farmers by showing them what is possible in as many ways as farming stories can be told. Years ago, farms had only the information and social connections they had immediate access to in their communities. Today with the Internet and the World Wide Web, farmers can access information and share stories of how they do things with other farmers all over the world, even if they would have never met otherwise. The benefit of this increase in communication is just beginning, but it is exploding at an exponential rate. The goal of Farm Stories is to aggregate more of these examples and to facilitate more of this communication than has ever been possible in one place in history. It will take a while, but with a name like Farm Stories, the right leadership and technology, and the collaboration of people who share the vision, we will get there.  

By continuing to operate in the true spirit of collaboration, Farm Stories will also help make connections directly between farmers and consumers. If you are a farmer, you can use Farm Stories to share your story with the world and help market your farm products. If you are one of the many people hungry for farm stories, you can find them here, and in our book series titled, “Farm Stories”. If you are already a writer, you can use Farm Stories to publish and promote your work related to food and farming. Participation in Farm Stories is free at the basic level, with a “supporter” revenue model planned. Eventually, supporters will get more features on Farm Stories and this will give us the ability to keep advertising from the pages of Farm Stories in return for a small supporter membership fee. No one will ever be required to become a member, and access to readers and contributors at the basic level will always be free.

If you have a story you would like to contribute to our book series titled, “Farm Stories”, your contributions may be included as well, and your individual copyrights will be maintained. You will never be asked to relinquish your intellectual property by any member of the Farm Stories team, all of whom are hand selected by Mike Murphy for their demonstrated commitment to sharing his original vision for Farm Stories. Farmers are used to people showing up at the farm gate with some scheme or another who are looking to make money from them. These people don’t always have farmers’ best interests at heart. After awhile, they get easy to spot. Whether you have an idea for a future story, or have been working on your project for over 6 years, as was the case with Farm Stories, you will never get that type of treatment here. You can be confident that your contributions will be appreciated while your intellectual property rights are respected.

Continue the conversation. Start a discussion group on FarmConnect.net, Social Networking for farms and communities and remember to Thank a Farmer!