By Jackson, Jordan & Avery Rolett; thinklittlecsa@gmail.com
Saturday, January 24th, 2015 9:00 AM CST
Over the Winter, especially after the cold has taken most everything in the field, life seems to slow down for farmers, even a little for year-round growers. With the little bit of extra time, we were able to catch up with some fellow new parent beginning farmers: Hannah, Jesse, & Further (4 weeks) from Roughdraft Farmstead and Carolyn, Jacob, & Finn (16 months) from Sweetgrass (who will be the guest vendor at CFM in the morning).
Carolyn also directs the Beginning Farmer Initiative of CFA. She knows more than most about the difficulties of starting a first generation farm business, particularly as a young person. Though the average age of the farmer is still rising, it’s refreshing to see our young families farming and coming together to not only share ideas, but be in the good company of each other. Unfortunately, one of the things less talked about in beginning farming is a good farm support network, and not just technical, but emotional as well. There is no way we could have gotten to this point without the emotional support of those who are there, have been there, and believe in what we do.
We have followed the work of Roughdraft since their crowd-funding campaign to build their on-farm cabin a few years ago. We were fortunate enough to welcome them to CFM, later became members of their CSA, and now consider them close farming friends. They will be back at CFM soon for the CSA Fair, so if your family or friends are looking into supporting a small farm family with a small CSA, let them know about Roughdraft (we couldn’t recommend it enough). Jesse also recently wrote, among other things, a beautiful blog post on how farming has prepared him for parenthood.
We’re blessed-not a word I use often-to have these families in our lives (the Howells most definitely included). Farming can be, and at times is, an isolating experience, but it doesn’t have to be. We’re grateful for the support of these and other farm families as well as our CSA members.. and that Avery has a bunch of farm kids to grow up around.
The share this week will be: collard greens, red kale, a salad mix (lettuce/baby greens), white turnips, spaghetti squash, onions, and garlic.
Take Care,
Jackson, Jordan, & Avery Rolett
Please check out the Think Little CSA facebook page for more information! For those wanting to join their CSA email them at thinklittlecsa@gmail.com.
