Katie Hassemer, owner of Moon Chaser Acres in Beechwood, Wisconsin, takes full advantage of all the resources now available to new farmers. It has to have potential from the start to lead to success and long-term sustainability. She also warns that you don’t want to spend 20 years building up your soil. But being near others increases the opportunity for community. Don’t buy land that isn’t good land.” She adds that finding quality, affordable land near people is getting more difficult due to the cost. Newcomb says that when it comes to those ready to make an investment in land “don’t be isolated, if possible. These always led to conversation and learning from each other. Over the years, the Newcombs have hosted potlucks, farm games and talent nights. “It’s more fun when you have someone to commiserate with, to ask, to share,” she says. Newcomb also notes the importance of creating a community of other farmers near you. But by collaborating with other farmers and working with interns and students eager to learn, you can find ways to get the help you need early on. They couldn’t afford to buy land at first and hiring help was challenging. She admits that their biggest challenge was money. ![]() You can burn out pretty fast doing all the farm work yourself or with partner.” Her top advice for others follows a similar message. “Our job is to be mentors for the younger people,” Hiu Newcomb says. Soon they became the kind of resource to others that they lacked when they were starting out. And as it did, the Newcombs found the help they needed in their community. ![]() The farm grew with trial, error and the occasional success. This mission led to the current-day Potomac Vegetable Farms, which sell vegetables from two farmsteads, through a CSA and at local farmers markets. “In the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, there were no sustainable agriculture programs.” “, there are so many more resources around for new farmers,” says Hiu Newcomb, who-with her husband, Tony-began farming part-time on rented land in 1960 in Fairfax County, Virginia. While the stumbling blocks aren’t likely to go away-as more people follow their passions to produce food-facing the unexpected now seems a little less impossible and a lot more manageable thanks to those who have paved the trail ahead of us. These challenges create barriers when you’re just starting out and still manage to throw you off course after you think you have it all figured out. While 20 presented their own set of unique obstacles, navigating unexpected challenges is not new to small farmers.
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