Good Advice “Do you kids have any idea...?”
T
o us city folks, newly arrived in the valley, he looked like your typical
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farmer. Sort of like the one in the egg marketing board ads—only not nearly as friendly. Grumpy expression, furrowed face from years sitting atop a tractor in the sun. Cat Diesel Power ballcap, lumberjack jacket, grubby jeans. Just the kind of guy you’d expect to have a word or two of advice for these city people who come out to the country to try their hand at farming. “Do you kids have any idea...?” Our heads dropped perceptively—we knew what was coming. We had already heard various versions of it many times before we moved out here. Do you have any
idea what you’re doing? Do you have any idea how difficult farming is? Do you know what farmers earn?
to a great arborist--was our introduction to the spirit of community that lives at the Duncan Farmer’s Market.
We were at the DFM adjudication meeting and had introduced ourselves and the farm we had just bought: a beautiful sloping eight and a half acres with a pond, a huge rhubarb patch, a massive grape vine pulling down the fence by the house and an orchard of ancient trees, ten years neglected. Apple, plum and pear. We were in love with the new adventure we were on! Now this old timer was going to take us down a notch.
Eleven years on, our stall has been there just about every Saturday from April to Christmas. The vendors are like a big family (including that old guy!). I know that when I arrive for our first market of the season on April 2nd my friend Kathy in the next stall will give me a big hug and declare, like she does every spring, “The band’s back together!” Anybody who comes regularly is part of that family too, celebrating weekly the joy of community surroundedby good art, good music and good food.
“Do you have any idea... how much fruit you can get from those old apple trees? With a good pruning they can be brought back into prime production you know!” That advice—plus a referral
Cam, Ol’ MacDonald Farm, Duncan Farmer’s Market macdonaldcam@ gmail.com
