UPDATE people helping people grow
MARCH 2014
Old Armory, Fourth & Lyon, Albany, Oregon 97321, Phone 541-967-3871
VOL. XXXIV No. 3
Young Professionals Put Down Farming Roots Growing Farms course taught them how
FORMER SALEM COUPLE GROWS THEIR DREAM BY MARY STEWART
eff Bramlett, 42, was a special education elementary school teacher in Salem; Carri Heisler, 34, was a GIS analyst for a computer software company. Both were successful young professionals in their vocations, yet they shared a dream of working together in a very different kind of field. Jeff and Carri wanted to farm, and they found the land, the training and the mentors to make their dream a reality. They now own and operate Pitchfork & Crow, a thriving 15-acre farm and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) operation along Santiam Highway just north of Lebanon.
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Transition to farming
PHOTOS
BY
MEAGHIN KENNEDY
Carri Heisler and Jeff Bramlett, have transitioned from their jobs in Salem as GIS Analyst for a computer software company and special education teacher, respectively, to farmers producing fruit and vegetables for their Community Supported Agriculture customers.
“Becoming a farmer has been good,” says Carri. “It is hard, but it is so much better than what I was doing because I feel I have really done something by the end of the day,” she explains. According to Jeff, the couple’s first step was to find some land to work, so in 2009 they rented an acre of ground in Stayton and worked on the small farm after their day jobs. They produced a small harvest of vegetables and sold
their goods from a table and canopy in a South Salem parking lot. To increase their profit in 2010, they leased additional land on Grand Island and in Lebanon and began to sell produce at the Salem Saturday Market. At the market, they built their base of loyal customers until they had enough business to begin a CSA. While the income was modest, their confidence grew and they began to envision a more permanent transition into full time farming. When the farmland they had been leasing in Lebanon went up for sale, the couple made the investment in the land and at the same time, made the lifestyle commitment to farming as their vocation.
To figure out the business plan and vision for their farm, Jeff and Carri enrolled in the Oregon State University Extension Service’s 2009 Growing Farms program, which is a series of workshops designed to provide beginning farmers with the tools and knowledge needed to manage the biological and financial risks of farming. “The Growing Farms class was the catalyst for us starting our farm,” says Carri. “The Growing Farms course is intended for people in their first five years of farming, people seriously considering starting a farm business, and people considering major changes to their farm,” says Melissa Fery, an OSU Extension faculty member who co-manages the Small Farms program. “The Growing Farms program showed us it wasn’t crazy to want to be farmers,” says Carri. “There were others taking the course with similar dreams.” Over the seven-part series, Carri and Jeff received practical ideas from the OSU Extension faculty and from experienced, successful farmers. They learned about the business aspect of farming, including budgeting and having employees. “Growing Farms showed us that if we were going to do it right, we needed to consider our farm a business — it isn’t just gardening,” says Jeff. See FARMING ROOTS on Page 2