A few lessons...

A few weeks ago I was honored to be involved in putting on a food and farming conference in Grass Valley, with keynote speaker Joel Salatin. That name alone drew quite a few people, farmers and eater alike, and overall the day was a great success.

There were a couple things that have really struck me from  that day, and I thought I’d share them with you here. The first take away idea of the day for me was the concept of farming infrastructure that is multiple-use—that is not investing a lot of capital in equipment or systems that are only good for one enterprise and one application, but rather thinking about creating systems or finding tools that can be applied to multiple operations. The second point that really stuck out to me was in the same vein as the first, farm infrastructure should be scalable in both directions. We were pushed to think about infrastructure that can flex and change as the demands of your operation change, as you make decisions to expand, or the even more challenging decision sometimes to scale something back. Of course there will always be some necessary investments that break these rules, but these ideas have urged me to think about infrastructure investments in a different way than I had before.

The third point, similar to the first two, was not really a new idea, just something that stuck this time and has resonated ever since.  In his final talk of the event, Salatin referred to one of the greatest strengths of successful small farmers, like any other entrepreneur, is being able to identify our weakness and then gather people around us that are able to support us where we are lacking. Joel gave the example from his farm of other members of the family take over where his skills wane, particularly with the accounting, and credited that teamwork is freeing him to do what he excels at and ultimately makes their farm a success. I've found that asking for help can go against our nature sometimes and I've seen how relational dynamics on small farms are quite often strained, but I have also found that it is usually these relationships that make it worth while.

We need to remember this concept as a community as well—as we all work separately on our own operations—we need to remember that we will all be more successful if we are willing to both offer and accept a helping hand.

“A proper community, we should remember also, is a commonwealth: a place, a resource, an economy. It answers the needs, practical as well as social and spiritual, of its members - among them the need to need one another.” –Wendell Berry