The Greenhorns: Young Farmers to Rule the World
If you've ever dreamed of running away and living on a farm, here's something for you: The Greenhorns, a movie (and a movement) about young people growing plants and raising animals for a living.* Its mission is to "recruit, promote and support young farmers in America" (an increasing group), and the movie will premiere in Brooklyn on July 24 (go here to buy advance $5 tickets). It's also being shown all over the country in tandem with other farmer-y events, including in your own tiny town if you'd like to request a screening. It's only about 50 minutes long and will make you want to become a farmer, date a farmer, or buy an adorable farm-themed poster from their Etsy shop. Or all that in reverse.
*Full disclosure: The woman who made the film, Severine von Tscharner Fleming, is a friend of mine. She also raises pigs, cows, chickens, vegetables, and so, so many bugs on a beautiful farm in upstate New York.
Awww, Jeez, Edith. I spend every day wanting to quit regular life and spend all day in the garden on my patio, and you just made it way worse…
This is just an extended Portlandia skit right? Eventually Fred Armisen's going to show up in a wig and adopt a Rhode Island Red and we'll all chuckle in that mild amused but still unsure of what the joke was way, right?
NO! it's real! The Greenhorns are so so rad. I was fortunate to collaborate with Severine and some others briefly and really believe in what they're doing. We are making the urban-to-rural jump this year to become greenhorns ourselves.
@undercoverhippie Get off my lawn.
@saythatscool
You forgot to say "and get a job you damn, dirty undercover hippie"
@undercoverhippie: That's the worst job of undercover I've ever come across.
@undercoverhippie Okay, this is a little (lot) nosy and possibly inappropriate, so feel free to answer only what you want, but can you please tell me more, logistically? Like, do you quit your job and just move out to a farm? How do you fund this sort of thing? Will you work part-time? What would you do for health insurance, etc.?
I am genuinely interested in leaving the cubicle life so I can actually produce something besides more paperwork, but my few years in finance have brainwashed me into thinking that I cannot live without corporate America.
@undercoverhippie my boyfriend and i are also hoping to do the same in the next five years!
i'm looking forward to reading your response to @lalaland c;
@Kneetoe: you'd definitely believe I was undercover if you saw me in my day-to-day Washington, DC big-firm lawyer life.
@undercoverhippie Amazing! Please blog your transition!
@lalaland: These are all very good questions. Ultimately, everyone has to figure out their own answers, of course, but helping people in my/your/isaidweresinking's position connecto to resources to answer those questions is part of what the Greenhorns is about. They have resources and job postings on their blog (http://thegreenhorns.wordpress.com/) and more in-depth discussion in their Guide (which I helped edit): (http://www.thegreenhorns.net/reading.html
(I swear they aren't paying me and don't even know me apart from that work.) Anyway, for us, the path has been several years of learning as much as we can about growing food, keeping animals, and the like, and paying down student loans and other debts so that we are better prepared to make this jump. We've chosen to move to an area that is not our first choice in some ways but can't be beat for cost of living/cost of property, since access to land is one of the biggest challenges for young farmers. We are going to buy a property that is under $150K so that we can have it paid off in less than 10 years, and I will continue to work full-time for the next few years. That will provide steady income and health insurance until our farm businesses get off the ground. I am lucky to have a profession where I earn enough that my husband can stay home and renovate/get the farm going/etc. Our goal at this point is really just to grow enough for ourselves and to have a variety of "farming-lite" side businesses to being in income (pumpkin patch, pick your own berries, etc).
Is this helpful at all?
@undercoverhippie: I'm sure you're disguise is perfect; just goofing!
@undercoverhippie very! thank you so much and best of luck.
The smart thing would be for me to stay away from this, so I don't do the stupid thing and quit my job. I'm already so close!
@NeenerNeener pssst…wanna move to a farm with me? it'll be awesome, I promise.
@Ophelia Don't tempt me! And I don't need reassurance on the awesomeness.
@NeenerNeener We can probably get boyofdestiny to carry the heavy stuff.
@Ophelia Ooh can I come too? I can bring a dog who could probably herd animals, and a great collection of kitsch for decorating the farmhouse.
But really, I've always wanted to be a farmer; just enough to be self-sustaining, I don't think I could really profit from it. Like a part-time farmer.
@Ophelia, It seems boyofdestiny isn't interested in that kind of hard work.
@backstagebethy, yours can herd and my giant dog can pull a plow. We're all set.
I'll let you people know when I'm ready to leave it all behind.
@Ophelia I'm dumb as an ox. Not strong as one.
@NeenerNeener Right there with you. I was already trying to figure out how to be a flight attendant today because I either need to be playing with dirt/ tied to the land or flying in the air/ tied to nothing
not sitting in a boring old office doing things that don't matter.
HELP ME SOLVE MY LIFE- LET'S FARM.
@backstagebethy Yes! and your dogs can play with my dog (which will prob distract them from pulling/herding things, but..)
@JoanTition Wait, this will solve my life?! What am I waiting for?
@Ophelia I am checking out the real estate listings now. The owners of this farm are moving to Arizona, if you guys want to relocate to the Richmond, VA area… http://www.victoryfarmsinc.com/
@backstagebethy I want to join a farm so bad! Even though I kind of hate hippies – am I allowed to hate hippies and still like playing in the dirt? I want to listen to The Stooges and grow awesome things.
Until this summer I had this bizarrely massive Brooklyn garden, and I think I'm kind of unhappy right now because, I work in "tech" and ever year before this, I'd be a city internet startup guy 9 to 5, then all summer I'd plant tomatoes and peppers and water my crops and make homemade stuff from plants I grew and have awesome dance parties by the black cherry tomatoes and people would eat Bhut Jolakia peppers and die from fire and zombie-make-out while we listened to Abba and I picked weeds and now i'm crying at my desk.
@leon.saintjean Don't hate the hippies – we're approaching commune numbers here.
@leon.saintjean Just make the hippies call you the White Panther and if things get too peace/ love you you can mumble to yourself about kicking out the jams MOTHERFUCKER.
Or maybe that's what I'LL do.
@backstagebethy I hear Richmond is beautiful….
I'll meet you there.
@leon.saintjean I'm bummed for you that you don't have that life anymore because it sounds awesome. But join our farm! Do it! Peer pressure!
@joantition I can vouch for that, I live in Richmond already
I would request that one or more of you be able to play an instrument, because in my dream life people are jamming on the front porch while I bring out a tray of sweet tea and/or whiskey.
@backstagebethy I WILL SHARE THIS DREAM WITH YOU.
I will even learn to properly play my autoharp for front porch hootenannies.
I so want this so bad so so so bad so baaaaaad it hurts. I'm also moping around work now because I JUST WANT TO LIVE IN RICHMOND ON A FARM ALREADY. Should I start saving?
@JoanTition Yes please. Let's do it. Assuming Victory Farms has new owners by then, we can start with a big backyard garden. Throw some chickens in the mix, then a goat. Make the rounds at farmers markets to build our clientele. Start a CSA. Get all toned and tan from working outside all the time. I've got it all worked out.
@NeenerNeener I think we might have the most awesome commune ever. But we are NOT going to wear those pants from Urban Outfitters, even if we're forming a kibbutz.
@Ophelia Hahaha!
@backstagebethy I learned how to play the recorder in 3rd grade…does that count?
@JoanTition I like to never use my real name on the internet, but let's just say….I have an extremely close name to the man who sang those words about jams being kicked out. So I heart that sentiment.
@backstagebethy So I should move to Richmond….. now?
And also: I don't have to continue to convince myself I want to do hot yoga- I can get muscles the good old WORKIN' way!
I NEED MY FEET IN THE GRASS RIGHT NOW.
@backstagebethy, 1. I'm going to start learning the piano, surely it can be dragged onto the porch. 2. I didn't know there was farmland in Richmond?
@Joan Tition, Still maybe try the yoga, but maybe not hot? Good ol' workin' will tense you up, the yoga will stretch you out and help prevent working injuries. (We have no workers comp!)
This might be better than Hairpin Camp.
I know how to use, sharpen, and repair a chainsaw and not kill myself. I can also use an axe. I know how to wire 120V electricity (I'll have to read up on 3-phase). I know OSHA confined-space requirements. I know how to propagate cuttings, as well as prune fruit trees and grapes. I know what comealong, plane sole, miscible oil, and tilth mean. I know why you should always wear pigskin gloves. I know… I know a lot of practical things.
I'd probably get my arm mangled in a PTO unit though
@Butterscotch Stalin You had me at chainsaw. Or at least propagate cuttings. Please join us.
@NeenerNeener If nothing else we'll put sliding doors between the front room and the porch so we can open 'er up and hear you tickling the ivories just across the threshold. And the farmland is not in the city limits, but much of Richmond is surrounded by country, especially to the southwest.
I have also decided that a gazebo and an abundance of twinkly lights will make our farm the perfect venue for outdoor weddings.
@Butterscotch Stalin Good thing I know how to do at-home amputations (in theory).
@Bakestagebethy Way to keep an eye out for unrelated business income – everyone else seems to be profiting off of weddings, we should too. Also, I lived in Charlottesville, so semi-familiar with the Virginia countryside.
I dunno. Farming seems like hard work.
@boyofdestiny Especially if you're suffering from Asperger's like these poor mopes.
NO FARMS NO FOOD
Also, no air no breathe
@Kneetoe No woman, no cry?
@Ophelia No bees, no honey.
@Ophelia: Truer words, Ophelia, truer words.
@Kneetoe see, I thought it was no farmers markets, no food.
@saythatscool no work no money
@Ophelia: GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.
@bb: Yes
@Kneetoe …sorry…it just came out…
Is this the same farm where the baby deer died?
@Tammy Pajamas Lol no. Everything stays alive on Severine's farm. Until it is killed, to be eaten!
@Edith Zimmerman That is the kind of farm I can get behind!
(Actually, I can get behind *all* farms!)
Every time I drive out of the city (which is frequent) I want to do this. But who has the money to buy a plot of land an all that? I mean. I DON'T HAVE MONEY TO BUY LAND so instead, I garden on a 200 square foot plot of land behind a high school that I rent for $20 a year from the city. But it's not the same! Why can't I be a farmer? (money duh) =(
@manshan Yeah the money thing is what kills me too. But if we pool our resources…
Precious.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Traditions-Farm/172180136140118
Shamelessly pimping out my cousin's farm as long as we're on the subject. If you live in the Chicago area and love fresh veggies and/or poultry and/or supporting awesome young people, you should check them out!