Donna Smith and Robyn Streeter of Your Backyard
Farmer create mini-farms for homeowners.
It's politically correct, even fashionable, to tout the pleasures and virtues of eating foods grown closer to home. But why stop with the 100-mile diet? Why not a 10-yard diet? I'm talking about growing food in your own back yard.
Of course, not everyone is a gardener, either because of lack of inclination, lack of time or a self-professed lack of gardening talent. So a whole new micro-industry seems to be brewing--backyard farmers for hire.
Rebecca Gerendasy at Cooking Up a Story, an innovative website with professional video stories about the people who embody good food and sustainable living, recently profiled two women in Portland who create small backyard mini-farms for homeowners who want the really local produce but can't or won't create their own gardens. In plots as small as 10 x 10 feet, Donna Smith and Robyn Streeter of Your Backyard Farmer plant and tend gardens while the homeowners harvest the rewards.
While avid vegetable gardeners and near-the-earth rural residents may scoff at the idea of hiring someone to grow tomatoes for your capreses salad, if it means those tomatoes weren't trucked from Mexico, why not?
"This isn’t for everyone, obviously, but there are many households that do fit the parameters of an urban agriculture makeover," said Gerendasy. "I think it is another great example of getting away from a global economy and building toward a local economy, a local food economy. There is great richness all around us, no matter where we live, and sometimes it is right there in our backyard."
You can learn more about backyard farming and other topics about sustainable living at Cooking Up a Story.
Under the umbrella of Local Food Sustainable Network, Cooking Up A Story offers three distinct shows about people, food, and sustainable living: documentary shorts; interviews and talks; and cooking.
Their purpose is to educate and inspire audiences with real life stories of diverse groups of farmers, artisan producers, and others who are involved with the sustainable food movement. Public health, social justice, climate change and environmental protection, cultural preservation, and economic survival are all interconnected issues surrounding the global food system.
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Comments
There's never any mention of the cost involved with "hiring your own backyard farmer."
Locavores are good and all that, but there's also capitalism going on here and it's never discussed. I'm sure there's some that are in this only for the money. As an avid gardener, I know the labor involved, and everything else that goes into a productive vegetable garden. I wouldn't accept anything less than $800.00 per week if I were to become someone's "backyard farmer."
Have you researched what it might cost? Am I even close with my estimate?
Thank you for this great article, Your backyard farmer is not one of those that are in it only for the money! We believe that all people should have a right to eat good local organic method foods. Bringing our food back to a urban environment provides a safe avenue for those that are interested in eating local and food security.
Our costs are comparable to the local traditional CSA's here in Portland and are way under what you would pay in our local grocers for your yearly organic method vegetables. THe cost depends upon how many people we are growing for on any one piece of land. Not close to your figure.
Cool, I wish someone would start something like this in Oklahoma.~~Dee
TC - The cost of these backyard farmers is spread over multiple families. So while they may be making money--and SHOULD be making money--the cost is obviously not their whole salary for the week. I did not provide costs because each service and market is different. People should check out their local resources.
I, for one, have no problem with people making a living, whether it is backyard farming or anything else, as long as it is legal. As you say, gardening/farming is hard work. What's wrong with someone making a living from what they love if someone is willing to pay them and also reap the benefits in the form of fresh produce right outside their door? Last time I checked, capitalism was alive and well in the US. Thank God.
Robin Wedewer
Gardening Examiner
This could be cool-
randy
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