We are really excited to be joining such a great group of people.  We’re hoping that our experiences will provide as much inspiration as previous Freshman Farmers have for us!

One subject we’ve been thinking about a lot is the change in mindset it will take to transition from “avid gardeners” to farmers.  One way I’ve chosen to try to organize this in my mind is by breaking down the known challenges into categories.  I’m sure there will be surprises along the way, but these are the things we are already trying to work on:

1.  Planning –  Continuous harvest, variety of crops, rotation, and other planning in advance will be more imperative now.

2.  Record-keeping – Essential.  On a smaller scale, it’s easy to remember which type of potatoes did the best last year.  But when we’re managing lots of crops, hopefully with multiple harvests per year, we’ll need to keep accurate records.

3.  Efficiency – I admit that previously, coming home from work and puttering in the garden, pulling weeds at a leisurely pace, was almost recreational.  This winter’s garlic crop is by far the largest we’ve ever had, so now pulling weeds is much less fun!  So, finding the best, most efficient way to do things (suddenly cultivators are my best friend) will become a necessity.

Tags: efficiency, introduction, planning, record-keeping

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