SUSAN CLOKE
Columnist, Santa Monica Mirror
Hens were pecking at the grass in the yard. In the screened in room there were
piles of beets and sweet corn, greens of all sorts, cucumbers, tomatoes,
potatoes, eggs, homemade berry pies and jars of homemade pickles and relishes.
Driving by this farmstand, looking in, but seeing no one, I
kept on driving through the green farm and horse country of Strafford. Then, one day, someone was there and I
went in. “I’m so glad you’re
open,” I said to the woman who was there.
She was Rose, and she and her husband, Earl, own the farm and the
farmstand.
“Open?” Rose asked quizzically. “We’re always open.”
It was then that I learned that Rose’s Farmstand, like many others in
Vermont, operated on the honor system.
The screen door was always unlatched and there was a tin box on the
counter to put money in to pay for what you were taking home.
The farm had been in Earl’s family. He was brought home to this farmhouse
right after he was born. Now, all
these years later, he was out back, on the tractor, and Rose and I sat in the
farmhouse kitchen. The farmhouse
was built in 1875, the floors are the original wood planks of varying widths,
painted green, heat comes from two wood stoves and Rose said they “keep the
house toasty.” The wood comes from
the trees on the farm. Kitchen
implements and books were everywhere.
We sat at the kitchen table, listened to the sounds of the farm and we
talked.
Rose had been the clerk at Colburn’s General Store and when
she retired she started a kitchen garden of potatoes and cabbage, tomatoes,
beets, onions, herbs. The garden
did so well that she put a picnic table, made by Earl, out by the street and
her dog, Cracker, would sit by the table and alert her when people came. The picnic table veggies sold so well
that Earl had the idea to farm more of their land and to have a farmstand and
I, for one, am glad.
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| Rose Silloway showing corn "in silk". Strafford VT |
“The farm makes enough produce to feed us, give produce to
our grown kids, and to make enough to pay expenses and the taxes on the
land. Farmer’s in Vermont have a
special tax rate, so taxes aren’t too high for us.”
When asked how she learned to farm Rose said, “I’m a
flatlander (a Vermont term for people not born in Vermont). I grew up in Massachusetts, just
outside Boston. I learned to farm
as a kid and you learn to love what you do when you are picking tomatoes beside
your father.
“But people think I’m a Vermonter now because I fit right in
with the Vermont way of thinking. “We’re independent and self-sufficient. But if someone in Strafford has an
accident or gets ill, magically their garden is weeded if it’s summer or the
snow is shoveled if it’s winter.
It’s an easy-going life style.
Most generally people are accepted for what they are. We make decisions at Town Meeting. You are heard, tell what your feelings
are and are part of everything.”
The Crossroad Farmstand, in Post Mills, is an open air, roofed
in stand on the 60-acre Crossroad Farm, started
in 1980 by Tim and Janet Taylor.
They currently have about 35 acres in cultivation. The farmstand is open from June through
October and they get 100’s of customers everyday so their farmstand is staffed,
as they need to keep replenishing their produce stock. The most popular crops are sweet corn,
melons, strawberries and greens like kale, spinach, chard, and a variety of
lettuces.
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| Crossroad Farm Stand Post Mills Vermont |
According to Philip Mason, 26, the farm manager, the farm
season starts in February when they start the first greenhouse tomatoes and
leeks and onions and bedding plants and goes through November. Philip started at the farm as a
summer worker throughout high school and college. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree and then came to
work full time on the farm.
“The farm philosophy is one of sustainability,” says Philip. “We decided not to go for certification as it would raise
the price we would have to charge for our crops. But for the past 30 years we’ve been using IPM (Integrated
Pest Management) strategies. That
means that we build better soil and practice crop rotation. For example, if brassicas (broccoli,
brussel sprouts and more) are in the same plot of land every year a particular
worm will build up, but if you move them, the worm doesn’t get a good chance to
get started. If we do spray we use
some organic and some non-organic sprays.
Mostly we don’t spray at all.
Also, it’s a misconception to think there’s no spraying on organic
farms, what’s important is not the spraying as much as the toxicity rating.
“We hire locally and we sell locally. Right now we have 18 people working on
the farm. We also hire through the
Minnesota Agricultural School program, which is a work exchange program for
student interns.
“The farm is profitable, with farm workers paid from
$9.50/hour up to $20/hour, depending on their level of experience and
responsibility. Currently we have
3 crew leaders and 15 farm hands.
As the manager I oversee general operations and all wholesale accounts
with local stores and restaurants.
The crew leaders execute daily farm tasks and direct farm hands.
“The best thing about being a farmer is working outside, the
tasks are diversified and you need to be skilled at many trades. The worst is that your success can be
determined by the weather, that your livelihood can be out of your own
control.”
Philip goes off to harvest melons, Halona and Athena
cantaloupes. “Thanks for thinking of us,” he says to me.
Andrew Herrick, 27, is a Crew Manager. He works with a crew of 3 or 4. They start the day at about 6 am,
picking lettuces and then working their way through the day’s tasks. The order of picking is determined by
what is good for the vegetables, lettuces first, melons last today.
Andrew holds a BS in Ecological Agriculture from the
University of Vermont. “They teach
with a focus on small scale and organic farming. He points out that larger, industrial scale Ag is dependent
on fossil fuels as they ship their produce across the country. “It doesn’t make sense. Sustainability includes creating your
own fuel. We farm 35 acres, but we
have many more acres of forest that provide shelter and habitat and are used
for fuel. This farm is a great
model. We hire locally, we only
provide produce for local markets, restaurants and camps. 50% of our crops are sold at wholesale
prices to local stores, 25% go to the farmstand and 25% to local restaurants
and camps.
Thinking about the future of small farms, Andrew said,
“Young people in Vermont are going back to farming. The culture in Vermont supports self-sufficiency. The State supports local, small-scale
farmers. Growing food is rewarding
work.”
David and Sara Pierson own the Pierson Farm and Farmstand,
in Bradford.
David, a third generation farmer, said, “The people here want to know where their food comes
from. We get lots of support from
the community and from younger farmers and from the State. It’s not hard to be a small farmer in
Vermont.
“We are also supported by CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Belonging to CAS is a simple as joining
CSA and paying for a share. That
gives us up front money for the work of the farm. When the produce comes in CSA members buy what they need at
reduced prices or, in some cases, pay enough in shares so that they are
entitled to a certain amount of produce, essentially they pre-pay. There are many different ways to
organize a CSA group, depending on the needs of the members.
“My grandfather had 200+ acres up in the hills which he sold
when he was in his early 60’s. He then bought this place as a ‘retirement
farm.’ It’s about 13 acres. I’ve lived here all my life, except
when I went to college. Sara was
born in New York City and moved to Hanover when her dad got a job at
Dartmouth. They were artsy people
and I was a farm boy, but it’s worked out,” he said, smiling at Sara.
“We have 3+ acres in strawberries and about 10 in sweet corn
and we rent some nearby land we also farm. We get about 125 bushels/acre/year in sweet corn and about
10,00 lbs/acre/year in strawberries.
And we also grow some lettuce, eggplant, and green house tomatoes.
“It’s fun. It
can be stressful, but it’s a great life.
You enjoy what you’re doing and you’re doing a good thing and you’re
part of the community. People like
to know the people who are growing what they’re eating.”
Sara appreciates the “closeness with the community, being in
a small town and knowing everyone.
It makes people trusting and you see the good in people. Trust builds trust.”
