Talking about our farming plan to anyone and everyone is really paying off. One of our most fruitful (pun intended) conversations led to an introduction to a friend of a friend who mentioned that we check out 21 Acres, a food and farming education center about 20 miles northeast of Seattle.

We had been unsure of how to gain some real experience farming while we are working full time jobs. And 21 Acres has had many opportunities and the people we’ve met there have continually introduced us to resources to help us on our journey.

Here’s just a sampling:

• We’ve joined work parties focused on supporting native plantings. Planting hedgerows is an important part of our vision and it’s been great to intimately learn about many of the native plants that we’d use in the hedgerows.
• Learned of the SAgE Collaborative’s farmer incubator program which we hope to join in the summer.
• Chatted with the Market Manager about what other farmers aren’t growing and where there might be opportunities.
• Connected with the Farm Manager and jumped into weekly work days with him in the fields.
• Connected with a student who is working on a no-till trial experiment as part of his WSU certificate program. He’s hoping this certificate opens up fun opportunities once he retires from his day job at the end of the year.

Whoa! It’s been a busy few months. I know that places like 21 Acres exist for the purpose of supporting small farms so it is not surprising, but constantly heartwarming and confirming to find so much encouragement there. They don’t look at us like we’re crazy when we talk about starting a small farm at all!