Swamp Creek Produce

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Well, we threw up our hands in disgust and went canoeing, only to encounter the first rain we'd seen in six weeks. On our return we found the plants soaking up water and all the vegetables ripening like crazy. We held "clearance sales" at the stand, called every market we could think of, sold everywhere and to everyone we could. Even when we'd taken loads to the cannery and offered produce to orphanages, we still had plenty left over. Meanwhile not surprisingly the weeds grew best of all, until they'd completely devoured the cucumbers, one section of tomatoes, and half the cantaloupes. We concentrated on picking in central areas to save what we could why, I don't really know.

The final blow was a killing frost that hit us a month early. Luckily, we had one day's warning and threw every available person into the. harvest even Marsha's mother, who was vacationing with us at the time. We hauled a ton and a half of tomatoes to the cannery, gave a lot away, and then took time out to mourn the premature death of our buckwheat.

Obviously, it was time to sit down and think seriously about what was going on. We'd given the produce business thousands of man hours, over $2,000, and every ounce of ingenuity at our disposal, and we hadn't even recovered our investment. The only logical alternative was to quit growing vegetables commercially and perhaps try another type of farming. Once we'd reached that momentous decision, we no longer felt so defeated.

The sense that a great burden had been taken from us made the next steps easy. We decided to plant our organic fields to small grains and beans (for drying). Accordingly, we traded the little tractor and cultivator for a larger machine and bought a combine. The buckwheat finally did get harvested, and although it made only half a crop it improved the tilth of the soil quite a bit. We planted winter barley, wheat, and rye, and made plans to get the oats and mung beans in come spring. We're really looking forward to working with field crops and involving ourselves more with animal husbandry. The change has been a tremendous relief. We have time to tend our own garden, to put up the barn, to do some woodworking, to go camping and bicycling to do all the things we couldn't do when we were growing vegetables commercially. Time, unfortunately, is one commodity the truck farmer never has enough of. Crops have to be planted on time, cultivated on time, irrigated at just the right time and produce is so perishable that there's not an hour to lose between picking and delivery. The whole experience was just too frantic from beginning to end and we're all glad it's over.

We still feel, however, that organic vegetables can be gown successfully on a commercial basis. One possibility would be to contract with a natural foods processor (although they're hard to find). Another would be to deal directly with the public, either through a roadside stand or on a "pick yet own" basis but be warned that location is important and that you'll probably need time to become established. Although it's possible to sell vegetables to health food stores, it's not very profitable because such outlets handle a limited volume and delivery is costly and time consuming. If you plan to enter the produce business, we hope our experiences can help you avoid some of the hassles we encountered. Anyhow, happy picking!

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