I’m an intrapreneur instead of an entrepreneur. I work for other people’s operations.
Sarah Ann has worked on farms not their own for 9 seasons.
February is her “farmervesary”.
I actually grew up on a cattle farm in small town Georgia. My family weren’t profession farmers, that’s not how we made our money, but we did live on a farm so I had to watch animals give birth and die.
I started working on production farms when I was 18, organic vegetable farms in rural Georgia. I went to college in Atlanta and that is where I got into urban farming and job training.
I’ve traveled throughout southeast and worked on organic farms.
I really just loved it – farming opposed a lot of rhetoric that I was raised around:
- hyper conservatism, post 911 Bush era
- pushing women into more traditional roles.
- women only valuable for how they looked. I had a debutante ball.
With farming, I felt valuable for what i could do, not what i looked like. I really enjoyed that challenge. It Gave me a space to be myself – i enjoyed it and ran with that.
I loved it so much that i would figure it out. And success has looked different at different times.
i’m definitely not opposed to starting my own farm. I’m 27. My parents own property back in georgia. Access to land is such a blessing: The number 1 hindrance to being a successful farm in any manner is just being able to afford land to grow food.
I really want to be ready for that but that means i need a lot of practice. Taking the opportunities without the risk.
when i work on farms that are Typically not the way i would maybe farm, i have to learn about different stuff… farming in urban environments, how to zone for ag and work with the city, what types of permits you would need to handle certain chemicals.
I Learn to problem solve, which has been fun. i get to Look at all the new types of farming.
how to farm successfully looks really different.
there is no right way to farm, though there are a lot of wrong ways.
In the country you have a hard time finding people who are engaged and want to be there. My dad grew up on a farm – he made smart decisions, but watched some of his friends get into financial trouble. He was mad that i went into agriculture work. He said he sent me to college to get away from farming.
Not Our Farm 