Becoming Even Pull Farm

Transcription

1 Becoming Even Pull Farm

2 Hi! I m Beth, farmer-owner with Even Pull Farm est was our second full season growing & marketing. We grow produce & cut flowers. I farm full time, and my partner Erik works a full time offfarm job plus at the farm. We sell everything within Yamhill County, OR. Farming is crazy but I love it!

3 How I got started farming In 2013 I was hired at Yamhill River Farm. I worked for them for 2 seasons. In my second season at YRF, I managed their CSA and did the crop planning, greenhouse seeding, harvest, and marketing at the farmers market. It was great practice & I got paid to do it! In 2013, I met Jess & Brian at Working Hands Farm. They became our best buds and farming mentors. Summer 2014 we were offered a hoop house to salvage. We jumped at it and put it in storage, without any plans for starting our own thing. Baby plants in our prop house, At my first season at Farmers Market in Planting onions with Jess & Brian at Working Hands Farm.

4 Fate intervenes In the summer of 2014, friends and rad lady-farmers Kara & Elaine at Vibrant Valley Farm let me know they were leaving their spot in Yamhill County. They introduced us to their landlord. We signed the lease on our land in late November 2014, and immediately planted garlic. We decided to go hard and see what we could create with the farm, committing to it fully in terms of money, time & effort. I continued working part time off-farm until June Erik was & still works full time off-farm. Clockwise from top left: Salvaging our first hoophouse in YRF Market display in Planting our first garlic crop in December Pulling plastic with one of my best college friends in spring 2015.

5 Why Even Pull? When connected to a yoke, two animals that pull with the same strength are well suited to the slow, earnest work of creating a new landscape. An even effort uncovers a shared vision and drive for progress. The yoke, sometimes thought of as a tool of toil, becomes a beautiful instrument of the freedom to build a better life.

6 Even Pull Farm We are a small (3 acre) vegetable & cut flower farm. We rent the land, and do not live on the property. We grow using organic practices, but are not pursuing certification at the moment. Left: an aerial shot of our rented land in March 2015 (the barn, the only existing structure when we arrived is at the top along with our prop house which we built in January & February of 2015). Right: a Google Map image of our farm in ~late August 2016 (the barn is at the bottom here, and it shows the three hoop houses we have built since moving onto the ground, plus our field blocks and pathways). We sell vegetables year-round through our CSA Program (main & winter seasons), at the McMinnville Farmers Market (May-Oct), and to restaurants in Yamhill County (52 weeks a year). We primarily sell our flowers through our CSA Program and at the farmers market.

7 Working together Even Pull Farm is definitely OUR farm. Often people assume one of us in charge, but it is a team effort. We each have our own unique strengths & weaknesses. Thankfully they are mostly complimentary! We are still working on our roles, and slowly learning where the divisions of labor fall. Working with your partner is extremely challenging and extremely rewarding. Prioritizing your relationship and learning & practicing good communication is key! Me and Erik at our 2 nd annual Thanksgiving Pop Up market just a couple of weeks ago.

8 Lady farmers slay Everywhere I look I see amazing lady farmers! I m extremely grateful for the connections I ve made with fellow female farmers, online and in real life. Farming can be lonely, and being a lady in a sea of dudes can feel lonely too. My advice? Find your girls and support each other! I think women make amazing farmers. Don t let anyone get you down, especially yourself (I think it happens to all of us). You are strong, powerful, and passionate. You can t lose! Me and my best lady farmer bud, Jess, in our prop house this spring.

9 Thanks! Even Pull Farm

10 Women in Sustainable Agriculture HERStory Elizabeth Miller Minto Island Growers

11 About MIG

12 Produce outlets CSA- Community Supported Agriculture (weekly produce box) Salem Saturday Market, Portland State Farmers Market Farm Stand, summer Food Cart, strawberry and blueberry U-pick Local grocers and buying clubs

13 Community Supported Agriculture Since 2008 (20 shares) to 2016 (260 shares) Winter Season November-February, 135 shares

14 Tea Project

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16 Cecily!

17 Women in Sustainable AgricultureHERStory Elizabeth Miller Minto Island Growers