Season I Episode I
June in our first season on the farm
Dear Reader,
It’s been twelve months since Do-Hee and I moved to Athens, eleven since we broke ground on the garden, four since we planted our first seed that would become food for someone else, and six weeks since we opened our farmstand. June is apparently all-of-the-above season on the farm, meaning that we are preparing new plots, setting up irrigation, starting seeds inside, planting outside, weeding, fertilizing, trellising and pruning, harvesting, washing, selling and marketing, all with as much urgency as we can manage.
The directive for this year has been to grow as much food as we can, of as many different sorts, spread out over the season, limited only by how hard I can work on it, and the fact that we moved to Athens to start a farm with no experience in agriculture, knowing nobody in the area, with no equipment, building a farm on a residential lot that hadn’t been used agriculturally in many decades. But, we were ready to learn fast, and after a year we have a somewhat productive ¼ acre garden, a bunch of farmer friends, rough hands, and a few more vegetables than we know what to do with.
In this inaugural newsletter, I want to make sure to share a bit of the basics of what kind of farm we’re building and what it looks like right now.
Our farm comes out of the Market Gardener tradition, meaning we grow vegetables and fruits for local markets and the local community, trying to grow a broad variety of produce for as much of the season as possible. Market gardeners use some techniques and tools that resemble those of home gardeners, some that borrow from commercial farmers, and some that are distinct and specific to market gardening.
We’re focusing on vegetables. We don’t have animals right now and aren’t planning on producing animal products for sale.
We are a hand-scale farm, meaning we don’t use a tractor for tilling, planting, cultivation, or harvesting. We do use hand held power tools and other equipment to build and maintain the garden more efficiently.
We are growing in permanent raised beds. Our beds are about four inches above the surface of the ground, with pathways in between. The design of the garden seeks a balance between growing as much as possible in a small area and being accessible so it’s possible to move around and do the tasks we need to do.
The farm is a business and it is my full time job–although it’s small this year, the goal is to build something that is profitable and a good source of income over the long term.
The growing space of the farm is a fenced-in garden that is 60 feet by 135 feet, plus some space outside the fence where we’ll soon be putting in winter squash, corn, and sweet potatoes. Inside the fence there are 38 beds, each with one crop growing, or a few that grow well together.
We also have a 10 ft x 12 ft unheated propagation house for our seedlings, and make use of areas in and around our house for seed starting, washing and packing vegetables, and storing materials like mulch and compost. Tools and supplies are kept in our (enormous and unnecessary) barn.
In upcoming newsletters, I’ll share more about what we’re growing, what it’s been like building the farm, how it’s going and where we’re going next. Thanks for reading to the end!
Cheers,
Joshua Bary
Farmer etc.
Vernon Street Farm
Find us
At our Athens Farmstand
93 N Vernon Street, Athens, NY
Thursday 4PM – 6PM
Saturday 9AM – Noon
At the Catskill Farmers Market
145 Water Street, Catskill, NY
Sunday 10AM – 2PM