CHARLOTTE HENDERSON
DICKERSON, MARYLAND
Charlotte has been farming on other people’s farms for 6 years. She is in her 3rd season at the same farm in Maryland.
WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY DOING? (WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING, ETC)
I co-manage a 34-acre farm in Dickerson, Maryland, although we grow on 7 acres. We are Certified Naturally Grown (CNG), which is the standard of organic, but made for small scale farming. The certification process is peer-review, which prevents oversight and reduces cost.
The farm I manage is primarily a diversified vegetable CSA farm, with a little bit of wholesale sales, and a very cool institutional partnership with a local healthcare group – the hospital buys our produce, and the produce is given to their employees as an employee benefit. In 2020, we gave out 200 bags of vegetables per week for an 18-week program.
The partnership program with the healthcare group was a launching point for this farm. The owner and farmer of this farm was working with two other guys for about 10 years, with occasional help here and there. But with the start of this partnership, he hired me part-time to run the program. He handed over the reins and I’ve been here ever since. Three years later, I’m co-managing (with him) the farm, full-time, year-round.
The work here is a nice balance of physical labor and tractor work. We use tractors, mostly for field preparation, some cultivation, and transplanting. But we still rely on our bodies to do hand transplanting, weeding, and harvesting. Every once in a while, I inhale diesel fumes, but I am so thankful for those tractors for saving our backs and keeping us sane. We prioritize the health of our crew, so we work hard to make sure our systems are efficient.
We service the DC metro area, year-round. We are growing every day and sending out produce almost every week. Although sometimes it feels like we’re working around the clock, one of the things I’m most grateful for is how we have breaks during the year. The farm owner and I were very intentional about scheduling time into our distribution schedule for us to take a moment, catch up on things, and let us all have a moment to breathe. It’s easy to get caught up in the mentality, “Sell, sell, sell!” but we need to honor and prioritize our own health and standard of life.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN FARMING?
I’ve been farming for 6 years. This is my 3rd year at this farm.
WHAT INITIALLY BROUGHT YOU TO THE FIELDS?
When I got out of college, I worked for several nonprofits and I got pretty burnt out. It’s really demanding work, people are wearing 1,000 different hats at once with very little training all with low pay. I found myself sitting at a desk in a constant state of anxiety, desperate to move. I needed to find a job where I was still doing something meaningful, but moving my body, releasing energy. Farming had always been on my mind. I disregarded it because I thought it you couldn’t support yourself or be “successful”.
I gave myself the chance to try farming by working on a friend’s family farm for a month. I planned to work and then move on to a “real job”. But I was hooked. After 4 months on the family farm, I found a job at a local CSA and housing around the corner. Everything fell into place.
Since then, I've been in the same area for the past 6 years, working on different farms all within the same town. I find it remarkable that I’ve found employment and learning the trade all within this small area.
WHY HAVE YOU CHOSEN TO FARM FOR SOMEONE ELSE (NOW OR IN THE PAST?)
I’m not interested in owning a farm, which may seem contradictory. I’ve worked on too many farms that have gone out of business, not for lack of quality produce or effort, but because maintaining a small profitable farm while also having a life seems next to impossible. For small farm owners, there is a tremendous amount of stress and anxiety, and a lot of the work is shouldered by that singular person. I don’t want to bring that home every night. I would be totally fine having a small property and planting some flowers. If I don’t harvest some of those flowers, they can just sit there and look pretty and I wouldn’t give a care in the world, because that’s home.
I also don’t have the capital to start a farm. I wouldn’t want to start up a farm on a tiny budget. Sure, I could have a fundraiser, but unless I’m a professional documentary filmmaker with a cute dog, I probably won’t be able to raise the needed funds. You need a lot of money to create an operation that functions well and I’m a big stickler for doing it right the first time. Grants have been very helpful for farm projects, but I haven’t found a grant yet that will give me $100,000 to start up an operation from the ground up.
A major reason why I've chosen to work with someone is simply, I like my boss. We get along well and we seem to make good decisions together. There’s a lot of jokes, ridiculous humor, and sometimes we yell at each other, but we’re a team that regards each other with honesty and respect. I am greatly appreciative to him for always being there to help and back me up. Not only do I consider my boss to be my employer, but also my mentor and friend.
Here at this farm, I’m in a position where I can make business decisions without the weight of ownership. I’m boss, but not the boss. Right now, this is exactly where I want to be and I don’t anticipate moving any time soon. I’m extremely lucky to have this opportunity to learn and grow, all with my boss’ tutelage, guidance and encouragement.
The mission of this farm is to charge fair prices for local fresh vegetables grown with soil health as the priority. With fair prices, comes fair wages. And these veggies are worth it, they’re grown in an environmentally responsible and conscientious way by employees who are treated and paid well. It’s a form of health.
It feels good to have responsibility, be held accountable, and contribute to the success of a business.
WHAT ARE SOME ISSUES FOR FARMERS WORKING ON SOMEONE ELSE'S FARM - ISSUES THAT YOU'VE WITNESSED OR EXPERIENCED?
I have not experienced harassment on farms, not that I can remember. I've experienced lack of transparency. The first farm I worked on, the farmer would buy produce from an auction house and sell it at the farmers’ market as locally grown organic. In reality, it was from thousands of miles away with no certification of any kind. It was a bizarre experience to be unwrapping cauliflower from plastic and putting it in another inconspicuous bag, knowing it would be sold to innocent customers as “local” and “organic”. I confronted the farm owner about it, “Do your customers know you do this? Is everybody aware that you are buying in this produce?” His response was, “Oh yeah, everyone is totally aware... this is what you need to do to stay viable as a small farm”. I was so naive.
It took a year to untangle my moral woes from my desperation for employment, and thankfully I was able to move on to an authentic and honest farming operation. Now, along with my current boss, I prioritize honesty and transparency – our customers probably know more than they need to!
One of the biggest problems and challenges in farming is housing and health care. I’m extremely lucky to be able to work off my rent. But I have a hunch my landlords just like me and let me stay. They’re extremely generous.
It is hard for me to imagine someone in the farming world, like me, able to afford rent around here. The DMV area is very expensive.
CAN YOU TELL ME THE QUALITIES OF A DREAM FARM NOT LEADING TO OWNERSHIP - THAT YOU WOULD WANT TO WORK ON?
I feel like I am in a really good place. I’ve kind of found my spot for now. I’m not good at looking into the future.
What I enjoy so much about working here is the autonomy. I have great pride for what we create. I don’t know where that pride comes from, maybe that comes from the responsibility of presenting that product or knowing that if we don’t make a great product we won’t get members each year. There is such a delicate balance. That is something that we are always thinking of.
I’m basically an owner. It feels good to have responsibility and be held accountable and to be really responsible for contributing to the success of a business. He’s kind of just let me go and run. I’m working with him of course, but the allowance…I really appreciate that and that’s why I stay here. I’m running a business without having to own it.
“Here at this farm, I’m in a position where I can make business decisions without the weight of ownership. I’m boss, but not the boss.”
WHAT KEEPS YOU COMING BACK?
I enjoy understanding connections in the natural world and I can apply my understanding of ecology to farming. I need to be physically active and farming is 98% that. I like meeting people and growing a community, and much of farming is engaging with people through education. Additionally, farming is a damn business. It’s challenging. It’s really hard to make any money as a farm. That’s kind of become my new schtick: I want to prove to the world, or to someone, that you can make money as a farmer. Do good work and make money.
That’s the main driver for me - let’s make this farm an amazing awesome business: feed people, employ people.
The people who go into farming are very active people. It’s not just our bodies moving all the time, our brains are, too. Approaching problems, we have to be creative and inventive and quick on our feet. I really like the variety that farming lends. It’s never a boring day; each is different even during the height of July when you feel like all you're doing is picking tomatoes. When I’m 100 and about to die, I’ll look back upon this like and think, “I did good work.” Farming is good work
WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON THE DIFFERENCE (IF ANY) BETWEEN A FARMER AND A "FARM WORKER"/"FARM EMPLOYEE" BESIDES PROPRIETORSHIP?
Farm worker is like field laborer. Farm employee is like, you’re part of the team; you have responsibility; you have a role; you’re not just a cog in the wheel. Farmer is so beautiful and so romantic - in the context of organic natural growing. Farmer means ownership, the leader, the head honcho.
DO YOU CALL YOURSELF A FARMER? WHY OR WHY NOT.
I’m a farmer and I manage a farm. To me, the difference between the farmer and the farmer manager is soil. The farmer builds the farm’s foundation with healthy soil and I come in to tidy it up and make it operate smoothly.
WHAT KIND OF SUPPORT WOULD BE HELPFUL FOR PEOPLE WORKING ON FARMS NOT THEIR OWN?
It would make sense for everyone to have affordable healthcare. Usually, especially businesses like ours that are under 10 employees with seasonal work, cannot afford to provide health insurance. We all must find our own independent insurance, or none. I find it terrifying that the people doing some of the most essential work in the world, and sometimes extremely dangerous work, are not properly supported by the health care system.
Support that would be helpful for people working on other people’s farms would be county or state-run programs that provide a chunk of change to build or buy housing for farm employees. Too often people who are in this line of work are crammed together and many homes can be transitional or frantic. Having access to that basic need would be incredible, especially in expensive metropolitan areas.
ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE ABOUT YOURSELF & YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FARMING? WHAT KEEPS YOU UP AT NIGHT?
I find myself in the role of the teacher frequently. Getting people to sign onto this unique style of eating and buying produce requires quite a bit of education and guidance.
The act of eating and preparing food is a very personal thing. It’s nourishment for our bodies and can directly impact our mood, health, energy… So it’s no wonder that people, especially in a direct transaction like ours where the farmer hands over the food to the consumer, want to find meaning and understanding in this produce. People are searching for a connection and sometimes it’s hard for me to generate that connection when there’s a million things to do, or there’s COVID precautions and social distancing, or I’m just plain tired. So much of what I do is communicating clearly, educating, and engaging with people, and oftentimes, I struggle anticipating exactly what questions people need answered. The farm and the food are my world and it all makes sense to me. For someone else, it may be chaos.
WHAT IS YOUR OPINION/TAKE ON THE FARMER LUNCH? (DO YOU TAKE LUNCH, DO YOU SKIP LUNCH, DO YOU ENJOY TAKING LUNCH WITH YOUR CREW - FOR COMMUNITY BUILDING, IS THERE PRESSURE TO BE SOCIAL....)
We hired this really nice family a couple years ago and they have created this wonderful feel to our lunches. We sit around the table, talk, share stories, and have a lot of language lessons. Last year we got some grant money and added an addition to our barn, creating an office space with a small kitchen. We cook for each other and bring food for each other, showing each other how to cook based on our cultures or backgrounds. With lunch, you have to be there, otherwise it’s offensive. It’s like a little party every day.
