bringing the people behind our food to
life asparagus is crisp to where it
breaks wherever it breaks there below
its dental floss so you want to throw
that away and if you put it in water
it’ll soak up water and it will gain
more weight than you buy a lot of people
would like to be a small farmer but the
reason I’m able to do it is a good
foundation laid by my father agriculture
being in the veins and then unknowing
what can be done the biggest experience
that I have is I’ve done large-scale
agriculture and I can know how to cut
corners and make a small piece of ground
work and get it done efficiently and
economically the different hats you have
to wear as a small farmer you start out
today and every day is different you
look at the weather you decide what
needs to be done next like this morning
we looked and it was it was light rain
instead of a heavy rain and we decided
that we could get ready for planting
pull beans
if it would have been too much rain I
would have had to switch gears and the
decide well we need to start harvesting
for market radishes French breakfast
cheriya ping-pong amethyst some of them
are hotter some of them are sweeter and
crisper and then we need to wash up for
market one of the chef’s called and then
his order comes in so now you got to
decide you to get the order ready we
have to order the seed and then we plant
the seed and then we transplant the seed
and you’re always looking three to four
weeks in the future with the roots being
nice and white like that this is ready
for immediate planting when they need to
be transplanted they need to go and you
have to think of a greenhouse that’s
going to be open because you can’t
depend on the weather here this is
Cascadia sugar pod peas they’re
developed at Oregon State what’s the
temperature in here now probably sixty
sixty-five what do you think is it
outside 4550 what keeps me farming is
the challenge of growing something in a
season that it’s not really conducive to
doing but it can be done with a little
bit of trickery and and making things go
we’re inside of a greenhouse here this
is a greenhouse has got apricots and
cherries and plums behind me they’re in
bloom it’s the middle of March there’s
snow on the outside to the greenhouse
here
the bees are working we saw a few bees
and a few hummingbirds work in the
blooms and this allows those crops to be
harvested six weeks ahead of anything
else in the valley here because we’re
generally above freezing and the
greenhouse adds 10 to 15 degrees during
the day it takes the wind out of the
equation and it takes uh some of the
insects and some of the birds that can
be a problem and gives you an early
harvest that’s the biggest reason that I
went to greenhouses is because I could
schedule what I was doing more so than
if you’re a whim of the weather you
might never be planting until June come
here’s a sim you won’t have anything for
all those hungry customers out there
this is something you won’t get at the
grocery store will be the purple
Brussels sprout will be bunching that
and bringing that down to the market you
kind of get a real reward from selling
those crops as people Co are excited and
thrilled to have stuff out of season and
early and oh there’s times when the the
winds the blowin and your guts to turn
in because the plastics flapping them
and ripping off the greenhouses but then
when you go looking at one of these
houses and you look at our everything
just comes out looking really pretty and
perfect and you’re going wow I did that
you know keeping family farms going into
the next generation is going to take all
of us buying what they’re growing and
really understanding and supporting what
it is they’re doing