My one piece of advice to aspiring farmers
By John Wepking | Get to know the older farmers in your community, and start channeling your inner sponge. What we need first is not our own patch of dirt, but an ability to learn the trade from an experienced operator.
Make hay while the sun shines (market grain while the toddler sleeps)
By Halee Wepking | Even with all of the small mills, bakeries, and distilleries that are popping up, and with the growing demand for organic food-grade small grains in general, there is a hole in the supply chain.
Organic farming is freedom
By John Wepking | This spring has been marked by extremes: long periods of frequent rain and then weeks without a drop. Without cover cropping and crop rotation we’d certainly be losing this battle.
Heart and Grain: When oak leaves are the size of squirrels’ ears
By John Wepking | For my parents’ generation of farmers, repairing a punctured tire or slaughtering and butchering a steer was fairly common knowledge, passed down to them from their parents. When there are so few young farmers, what happens to all this knowledge?
Heart and Grain: A not-so-restful winter
By John Wepking | As anyone who has had a garden can attest, buying seed is one of the most exciting activities of the farming year. Seed-buying is always full of hope and promise—nothing has had the opportunity to go wrong… yet.
Heart and Grain: Meet John and Halee
By John Wepking | In late January, a surprise calf was born on our farm. We had been looking forward to our first calving, but we weren’t expecting any births until late April, when the weather would be warmer and the cows would all be on good green grass.