Get BIG or get out

A recent story in the neighborhood concerns a farmer who bought farms and more farms, cows and more cows, and then had a bad fall off (I hear) his tractor. He seemed to be following the dictum (who said it originally, back in the Eisenhower days, not sure?) about the wisdom of volume or else. Another local farmer increased his milking herd to the point that he not only had to go with Spanish speaking help, but to run into problems with his manure lagoon and (perhaps) poison the waters around him, including ours.

We moved and downscaled drastically, in part because of my age ... and in part because of the water situation. I'm glad we did, although it was hard. We lost some money and lost seven or eight years of hard work and planning. Now my wife, Joni, has to go to school and take on debt to get a nursing degree. This version of "Small is Beautiful" is just a part of the huge trend of working off the farm because of farm size, in part, but also because of the so-called "economy" (?). This is not a new trend, it has been going on for sometime, and is much more complex than I can describe.

Small is beautiful, and we are looking for ways to make it work; for ourselves, our neighbors and supporters. Cooperation with other small farms is critical, and difficult. Farm people tend to be loners, individualists, and some of the people who have been hired to try and make "local" growing, marketing, selling and delivering are learning as they go, as they try and learn to help us. It will be necessary to get on the phone again, try for meetings this winter and spring before the next "season" consumes us again.
Vamos a ver.