Simply Farming with Brandon Chonko: advice from a farmer on growing food

Simply Farming with Brandon Chonko advice from a farmer on growing food by Brandon Chonko

Here’s the thing. I honestly don’t have many regrets when it comes to making the decision to farm for money. Sure. It’s taxing. Exhausting even. An occupation full of dizzying highs and terrifying lows. A real rush.

I enjoy getting my hands dirty and growing food for profit. But, if I’m being completely honest, I’d have to say that growing food for cold, hard, cash definitely comes with a sacrifice. The business of staying in business, of constantly trying to turn a profit, saps a lot of the magical moments right out of farming. It doesn’t leave much, if any, time to sit back and smell the proverbial roses. To enjoy the literal fruits of your labor.

If I had but one piece of advice to the budding food grower, I’d offer this: enjoy the ride.

Maybe think twice before putting much financial strain on yourself and your garden or farm. Grow some things just for yourself and your friends and family. Your coworkers at the office will probably erect a statue of you next to the water cooler as a homage to all the backyard honey or okra or tomatoes that you brought in for everyone to enjoy.

Take a garden for example. In the south you can pretty much garden year round. Sure we always get romantic notions of summer tomatoes and watermelon but honestly the best, most rewarding gardening can be done in the cooler months. Autumn brings a respite from the heat, insects, and rain that so often conspire to thwart even the most stalwart of summer gardening ambitions.

Keep it simple. Keep it fun.

Till a plot and plant some greens. Maybe some salad mix. Enjoy it over the next few months. It’ll be way easier to keep weed free than any summer garden. Then, when spring rolls around you’ll hit the ground running with the usual veggie suspects. Your garden will be better for it. Weed pressure will be reduced and you’ll begin to notice a cycle within the seasons.

The key to a garden is activity.

Being present and doing things in the dirt. Whether weeding, planting, harvesting, or just piddling. Don’t overthink it. Dirt plus sun, plus water, plus some sort of fertilizer will produce a bounty. And at those rare times throughout the year when Mother Nature retakes her lot and the garden becomes too much to contend with, just let her have it and start anew.

Another option to consider is adding some protein into your mix. Yes, that’s right. Add some animals. Chickens are a fantastic “gateway” farm animal. Even in a neighborhood backyard you could pretty easily grow enough birds to keep you in meat and eggs year round. Plus they produce wonderful manure and if you play your cards right they can help keep that garden humming like a song.

In those times where the maintenance of the garden is simply too much and weeds threaten to overtake the whole thing, turn those birds loose in there. They’ll love the bugs and their foot traffic and scratching will knock the weeds down and all the while they’ll be injecting organic nutrients right back into the soil.

Bees are another option to produce food in an enjoyable way. A few hives will produce more honey than you can eat and the best part is the bees do most of the work. They’ll also benefit the garden. Which will benefit the birds. Which will benefit you.

See where I’m going here?

Think circular. Everything benefits everything.

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Gosh, thinking about it now that sounds downright peaceful. You can while away your afternoons lounging in the nurturing bosom of tranquility and be well fed to boot. Heck in no time you’ll be producing so much that you’ll be struck with the brilliant idea that you could sell this stuff.

Resist this thought like a whack-a-mole game at the county fair! Push that thought down! At least for a while.

Keep it enjoyable. You might even find some time to sit back and admire it all. No rushing from restaurant to restaurant delivering food. No time spent away from your family toiling at a farmers market. No pressure to produce. Just simple and honest food.

Have fun.

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