Farm consulting works

My friend/mentor/occasional employer Richard has been farming vegetables organically for 20+ years. He runs a very successful farm, and is pretty well known nationally for his ideas about how to manage a successful farm business.

He has recently received some sort of grant (I suspect through NOFA) to basically offer consulting services to new farmers. After market today, he came over and we spent 2+ hours discussing how we could implement a real irrigation system at our farm, and discussing how we could increase our labor efficiency through mechanization.

I cannot tell you how helpful his input was. I have very little experience with irrigation systems and larger scale mechanization, and there is only so much you can learn from a book. Having someone help walk me through how certain ideas could be put into action on our actual farm was invaluable.

Plus, he said our veggies (in the field) looked good, and he oooh'ed and ahhh'ed a little over the hoophouse I built. It made me realize how fortunate we were to find a place with such good soil, and how crazy and exciting it is that we are actually starting a farm. And it was very encouraging to have someone with so much more experience say it looked like we were on the right track. Today was one of those days (that are increasing in number) when I felt less like a lawyer and more like a farmer.

Thanks Richard! Thanks NOFA!