Becoming a Farmer: On Point Story Tells Familiar Tale

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Last week on the NPR Program On Point, host Tom Ashbrook looked at the process of becoming a new farmer. As the show points out: “everybody wants to shop at the farmers market these days and a whole lot of people seem to be dreaming of farming themselves — getting back to the land, anyway”.

The On Point story features a farmer who was successful “almost by accident”. Tom’s program tells the story of Kurt Timmermeister, who bought four acres of land on Vashon Island near Seattle, then bought more land and tried all kinds of farming from growing produce, to goats, cows, and bees.

The story describes that all too familiar “big, long learning curve”, and the difficulty of starting a small farm without an agriculture background, as well as the rewards that come with it. Kurt went on to publish the book Growing a Farmer: How I Learned to Live Off the Land. You can check out his website and Journal at: https://www.kurtwoodfarms.com/kurtwoodfarms/Journal/Journal.html

It really is a great story, well produced, and worth a listen. You can hear the story and learn more at: https://onpoint.wbur.org/2011/04/08/back-to-the-farmland