challenging work that it takes to own and run an organic farm and to offer a way of seeing ourselves in the future that allows us to discover our authenticity and become more resilient as we move forward into the next generation of farming community so case it isn't obvious eliot coleman my father some of you might be wondering what it was like to feel a common starter so i will share a little story with you spinach lay under the protection of quick hoops and remain it was nearing nearing dinner time my boys were hungry and my father and i ventured out to the beds armed with sharp knives and bins to harvest the spinach salad for s as we began picking leaf by leaf across the bed from one another and engage in lighthearted conversation about best spinach when or for ideas to grow harvest techniques i began to notice him inching ahead of me so i quick in my pace a little to keep up then he quickened heads before i knew it we were racing each other rapidly filling our bends and completing the entire row in record time just as we technique for the last forty years he loves me of course and we've always had this playful competitive dynamic between us but i'll let you in on a little secret never let me win so they entered the farming world five years ago and found myself at organic conferences whether he was there or not he always felt like he was not the elephant so i also think back to the tender moments as a child when we would spend afternoons together in the potting greenhouse at the mound school and version of him on there he would patiently teach me how to press foil blocks seed each depression by hand pot on delicate eggplant seedlings tell the difference between newly germinated tomato or pepper seedling and even humor me as i sculpted magical fairy castles in the moist bin of potting soil when i would become bored with the work many times i would notice his enormous rubber boots in the corner and i would eagerly place my little feet side with the top swallowing my thighs and i would begin laughing stumbling between the plant benches and giggling look at me papa i'm a farmer so fast forward thirty years later and of quite a few non farming detours in between here i find myself in front of all of you the early pioneers and the new generation and having recently discovered that i spent the last five years in colorado stumbling along bravely and not so effortlessly and those still enormously large recruits and with that realisation my journey as a farmer has taken me and a new direction as i follow my own path discover my authentic voice and learn what it means to me to be a real farmer in the twenty first century so what does it mean to be a real farmer that is the question i want to talk about this morning and in particular i want to talk about what i've come to understand or how i've come to understand that farmers can only benefit and grow from sharing their stories from caring for the land supporting themselves and each other educating and serving their communities try to farmers can only benefit and grow from sharing their stories from caring for the land supporting themselves and each other educating and serving their communities trusting in nature and in human nature and ultimately owning their own foo my father's philosophy a real farming real food has been a constant in my life never more so than when i started my farm in colorado this idea of the word real in relation to farming is what spoke to me if we were to strip food in farming down to the interpreted from to form the basis of our farming philosophy varies from farm to farm farmer to farmer real farming for instance from my father is the opposite of hubris to farming which seeks to replace the natural world with artificial inputs real farming acknowledges nature's impeccable design and seeks to nurture the soil and work within the snuffle system this is the framework and that the pioneers of the early generation and of my father center each and sought to establish in the public eye thanks to their tireless efforts to really learn and refine the technical expertise of how to grow and raise food stamp lee our movement now has the credibility media exposure general public awareness and forward momentum to effect a considerable positive change in agriculture both on and in the ground as well as in the whole of the government but as we race to solve problems innovate new ideas hone our technical proficiency i believe we also need to intentionally cultivate and nurture our emotional intelligence as farmers in their book emotional intelligence to point out dr travis bradbury engine jean grae described their subject as interpersonal relationships those we have with other people and entrust personal relationships the one that we have with ourselves as the single biggest predictor of performance in the workplace and the strongest driver of leadership and personal excellence it is also the foundation of critical work skills such as stress tolerance decisionmaking countability time management flexibility customer service teamwork empathy and communication through their studies and surveys over five hundred thousand people bribery and briefs concluded that emotional intelligence predicts two thirds of job performance but only a third of people are actually aware of their emotions when they happen that sounds familiar what i found so interesting about this research is that it was centered around employees of fortune five hundred companies who mainly work in relatively controlled indoor air conditioned office environment not exactly the setting for the everyday farmer but before i continue why would we even need emotional intelligence where farmers are not soft or independent or outliers we work incredibly long our hours exhausted to the bone and we get things done whether we feel like it or not well all that may be true but in his wife's book the dirty life mark campbell of essex farm sums it up quite nicely when he says danica farms typically do not fail from bankruptcy but from burnout and divorce farming is an incredibly challenging and all consuming profession in its own right but for many of us it is also a lifestyle and the boundaries between our professional and personal lives especially when we are physically and mentally drained are often difficult to distinguish  can sometimes lead to on pleasant and an anticipated result having experienced my own burnout farming i can attest to how the best laid plans are easily overturned during the process of envisioning and creating my farm i was armed with a warrior like attitude plenty of determination more energy than the energizer bunny all combined with considerable farming comp and competence he had learned through us most as a child and an extensive wealth of knowledge only a phone call away but i also was a new mother with two young boys and i was in the middle of a shaky relationship nonetheless i harken back to my father's indomitable spirit and forged ahead to create divide park located in the rocky mountains of colorado at sixty two hundred feet the farm comprise a total of two hundred acres mostly flood irrigated pastor which was paid annually and supported a small herd of black angus cattle with a twenty five kilowatt grid tied solar system the farm was considered carbon neutral for up to five adults i carved out about a two acre piece of flat land for growing mix vegetable crops using three rolling thunder movable tunnels and a plant serving i focus on producing high quality four seasons vegetables using minimal inputs and mostly supported by hand labor two to three in turns each season and often the help of family and friends since the farm was located far from the nearest town i was committed to relationship marketing and direct consumer sales at a local summer and winter farmer's market i quickly developed a successful horses and farm model and a loyal following because i could be consistent with high quality produce often available weeks ahead of other farmers and in the spring and also throughout the winter months through the protection of high season as in season season six extension technique one of my proudest moment was the development of the green stream in one nine hundred sixty seven airstream caravel retrofitted as a walk in cooler and charge off the solar system before being loaded with produce driven to market and displayed as a self sufficient and sustainable market food but for all the creativity the success and the innovation developed at my farm i was completely drained and frustrated and quite often felt as if i was being pulled in different directions or having to choose either the farm or being a mother or a partner or friend my experience felt powerful and had all the drive the experience the know how and the resources of some of somehow that all didn't quite up what was i missing this introspection was an important turning point when i realized the value of applying the idea of emotional intelligence to help mediate the uncertainties and unpredictability of the farming lifestyle now that i've had time to reflect and gain perspective and learn from sharing stories with many other farmers i can more fully appreciate the need to cultivate emotional intelligence just as much as our technical ability and drive my sister likes to say that i've done a ton of internal composting over the last year turning and adding and turning some more and accumulated mass of jumbled thoughts feelings and other best broken down and recycle into a wealth of emotional black hole fertile beginnings for new growth and exploration and a beautiful and timely flower purpose to share with the farming community one of this one result of this composting is an idea i have been developing in hopes of giving myself and other farmers simple and clear framework for cultivating emotional intelligence as well as a reminder of what it means to be a farmer i call this my real farmer's manifesto why a manifesto not only is a manifesto a public declaration of intention but the word manifest as a noun is defined as a list of a ship cargo so oppose the question as we take this voyage as farmers what do we take along in our ships cargo to ensure a meaningful and successful journey what do we want to manifest after doing some more internal composting i developed a manifest list with nine items one for each of the letters of the word manifesto in the form of an acronym it easy way to remind myself of what i carry with i will illustrate each statement with either a personal farming story of my own or one collected from other farmers because it is the simple act of sharing farming stories that gives  idea so much depth inspiration and purpose so let's begin make a connection i regard jack laser cutter works arm to be one of the original innovative pioneers earlier ghana movement so it seems very fitting that i begin by sharing his story about making those first connections with old time farmers and then paying it forward to the next generation in one thousand nine hundred four he wrote i was a eyed twenty three year old want to be farmer visiting my sweetheart and out in wisconsin we went to a farm auction and bought a set of harness for a future dream farm and homestead after the sale we were approached by a very friendly farmer who wanted to buy the collar to put a mirror and it to hang in his living room we got to talking and found out that he milked thirty cows on a small farm and he still used workforces to spread his manure we didn't want to sell the horse collar but we asked if we could come visit him on his farm he introduced himself as john ace and told us to come on over and he would show us the round being from out east now there and our i had any family in wisconsin but the aces made us a part of their family and taught us all about a type of small scale agriculture that was quickly to pick disappearing even in seventy four we moved back to vermont the next year and brought with us a pretty good understanding of midwestern dairy farming where you grew the grain as well behaved for your cows it was this foundation of knowledge that gave me the vision to pursue a path of self sufficient dairy farming thirty eight years have passed since that farm auction and many more individuals have helped us along the way i have recently had the opportunity to help others on their paths i was contacted by a young woman named mara who wanted to learn about growing grain for poultry we met you v m and with within five minutes we were instant friends she is only the latest in a long string of individuals whom we have helped and inspired as farmers we have a relationship with the land and with others who love the land as much as we do and it is these personal connections that are so vital to our way of life  my first in turn at least recently shared this story on another type of connection becoming popular in young farmer circles these days namely we need dating and know this is not involved the she says i never thought i would go we dating and by that i mean i would totally stand by to see who shows up but i would not participate which is exactly what i tried to do last fall the common ground fare i don't know what exactly felt off maybe it seemed a little too contrived everyone standing around fidgeting holding a little mason jar in anticipation that a potential suitor might leave their name and number but felt overly self conscious but then i rationalized what with all the fantasies of living off the land and brooklyn hipsters and plan all who don't want to date a farmer during the fairgrounds round up of more single victims i ate an ice cream cone and watched as my friend took the plunge intrigued i fall the whole group to a wee row of swiss chard and with legitimate prodding from my friend i reluctantly joined in i mean why not what i have to live but here's the thing i did not meet my life partner i talk to a bunch of non straight males and a bunch of really rad women if anything we dating was more like a show and tell of this is what young farmers look like i doubt we did a good job weeding either but this is exactly the kind of playful high jinks young farmers need and sometimes i joke that what young farmers really need is a good match maker they ask for support i've known farmer rose eric rosendahl of mark rockville market farm and starks for over vermont since childhood our fathers were college roommates and they even spent a summer in the sixties by care cross country and relatively obscure italian tends to be wearing nothing but t shirts a pair of later hose and and chasing an insatiable sense of adventure here eric describes his experience as a farmer asking for support he says i've owned a farm for seventeen years now and i spent the first thirteen years trying to figure out how to get out but these days i can't imagine ever retiring it's an exciting time to be a farmer and i'm very proud of what we've been able to accomplish shortly after we bought the farm in the early two thousand things took a turn for the worse crops failed cash to not flow and we were unable to make mortgage payments needless to say it was a really rough period one autumn day we went for a long walk and i had an epiphany i realized i had no idea what i was doing it was very liberating and i started asking a lot of questions later that fall i want to farmer to farmer exchange to honduras with farmer richard with well we spent two weeks together traveling and talking he offered to help and i'm pretty sure we were first consulting gig with his help we streamline our business focusing only on profitable crops one thing we learned is it's hard to let go we had attachments to many of the crops we had grown successfully in the fertile sandy soils of the interview having the support of a third person mentally a tiebreaker helps to make decisions and became a powerful tool i still talk with richard on a regular basis and after all these years of farming and finding the courage to ask for support i'm very comfortable with the notion that i still have a lot to learn and nurture yourself i first met urban farmers that pickens a are park farm during a visit to new york city in the winter of two thousand and twelve he farms and potting soil filled milk crates lined with wheat cloth and stacked into raised beds in an empty building lot next to the river park restaurant where all the produce only travels the few hundred feet to be prepared and served as delicious and as local as the get would seen he says i am one of the very fortunate farmers in this world that is being provided with health care by my employer i finally took advantage of this after nine months of strenuous labor and fourteen hour days i was having stress and exhaustion issues magine that from farming and sought the advice of a very good holistic doctor in the city and i couldn't imagine the answer would be this easy she took one look at me i'm tall and thin about six three and asked for confirmation he said you're a farmer right i said yes she replied and you eat regularly right i said i work at a farm next to  restaurants so it's hard not to do and do so well she said well how much because you should be eating at least five thousand calories per day with a lot more protein and good fats too after giving a routine physical and running blood tests that was the beginning in the end of her advice to me eat more eat more than double the average recommended calorie intake for adults in the us and i can say with one hundred percent certainty that her by while incredibly basic what's the difference between the way felt in two thousand and one on the way home two thousand or eleven and two thousand and twelve this simple tip gave me the energy i needed to not only get my job done but to also get home without popping out from it off exhaustion every night working in such a strenuous job i forgot to check in with my body and make sure i was taking care of myself so i'd become a negative feedback loop of sorts more i ignored my body and the more stressed i got the less energy i had to remember things like take care of i innovate and inspire ideas and katie bolinger were interned at my dad's farm a few years ago and now have two children and operate a successful farm river farm in decor iowa mike is also founder of horses and tools which is developing movable greenhouses for small scale farmers he shares his story about inspired innovative designs for the farm he wri did you know that no one manufactures gates for defense opening seven feet by sixteen feet that sit on a downhill plant and see that gates are designed with right angles and are meant to function on nearly level ground we came to this realization as we were trying to finish erecting a four acre deer fence on our hillside farm we were on the verge of becoming the laughing stock of the neighborhood are you trying to keep the men are you trying to keep them out and judging by the size and familiarity of the herd now is the moment to figure out our date solution or take up your farming frankly the thousand dollars that we were quoted to install a couple of traditional gear gates did not seem like a workable figure for a so we knew we needed to think quick what materials do we have in the shed that you fashioned into gates then it came to us a simple solution that would cost only fifty dollars per gig cables turn buckles a handful of wire cymbals and w place eyeballs it was a sort of aha moment a deep satisfaction knowing that once again we figure out our own solution and with the parts we had already laying around sometimes i ponder why we farm given that fact and that we are not suffering from a surplus of financial freedom and that the hours are long and hard to plan the rest of our lives around and that each normal farm day provides us with many challenges but the one thing that really keeps the fun in farming for us is the problem solving the idea that each system we are creating can constantly be improved upon the idea that simple solutions exist we look out at our fields imagining what they might provide all the while remembering that we have what they have much of the eighty's and this is a story i remember about how my father always had a knack for putting the fun in farming it was approaching the summer equinox in june and a heat wave had descended on garden hill gang and boisterous summer crew mostly made up of former students had been hired by my dad to help with the summer work i had eagerly volunteered not so much that i wanted to farm but at the age of thirteen and much to my dad's say i knew there would be cute boys to get into a group of us were gathered in the rows of english l p s having been instructed to quickly harvest an over abundance of plump juicy pods before the intense noon sun and mugginess stopped our energy by one as we gathered around the t v and v c r laughing and smiling with delay my fingers deftly prying open and sliding keys and holes i noticed my dad disappear from the dining hall and then magically just as the credits rolled on the screen and the last piece fell from and he suddenly emerged from the kitchen bearing a handful of spoon and six frosty pint of ben and jerry's ice cream for a reward we educate your community as a young and enthusiastic farmer at rock bottom ranch an educational farm located in basalt colorado and we met a couple of years ago through my consulting work for the  nonprofit here she serves her story about educating her community she writes it's my first time living on a ranch in colorado and working with livestock and also hands down my first glimpse of the sweaty and tents and intensely gratifying work for free to meet my co rancher and i are successful raising fifteen hundred broilers on pasture using a chill pill that we sell the frozen birds at local shops around the area barely breaking even financially the education and the experience are true profit but fortunately the ranch is a community center that focuses on environmental studies and sustainable agriculture we run dozens of summer camps each year to teach kids about the importance of learning the story behind too and a bit about how to grow it too as we refine our poorly or enterprise we are able to incorporate the camp kids and put them right to work they water fever rotate heard our prayers each day taking pride in their contributions and asking and list questions along the way is this like the chicken i eat for dinner are you sure i can't just name this one and take her home are all these birds really going to be killed next week is this how all chickens learn the answers can't come fast enough yes no yes no and if they stand still long enough kids that is we have the opportunity to go deeper they begin connecting the dots and asking their parents about the chicken they eat at home and then the word got out to the local hispanic community that there was fresh meat available at reasonable prices whole families would come out to see the live gun enos for themselves and select the heaviest tastiest birds right out of the pasture they would buy twenty or thirty at a time spend an afternoon plucking and gutting and then share the goods with family and friends know but during instructions needed these folks have been processing broilers since childhood and even taught us a thing or two the sense of community grew as more and more families arrived for fresh or frozen chicken and as we lead farm tours for visitors during the day and talked to them about the importance of ethically raised food people from all diverse backgrounds all paying us a visit to acquaint themselves with one tiny story within the mouth of story of food they were there to learn but it was the ranch staff that by far learned the most that summer we were there students even as they were  yes serve your community i met farmer corey pierce of bread and butter farm at a high tunnel conference this past november she gave an excellent presentation about winter greens production and later that day we were sitting at a table together along with her five year old son henry noticing him fidget in his chair and missing my two boys i quietly showed him how to fold a piece of paper into origami balloons he was delighted of course corey recently told me that to this day he still talks about my magic paper and here she shares her story about serving her community she says i'm a first generation family farmer farming entered my life during high school when i got a job working on a farm in southern new hampshire i instantly fell in love with the hard work teamwork the fact that my work directly impacted the family i worked for the rich this real work was powerful to me i dreamed of farming for myself after that very first year and continued to work there for another six seasons fifteen years later i finally purchased and started my own diversified farm at only three and a half years old we are committed to creating a true community are one that nurtures the soil plants animals farmers in the surrounding community from the beginning starting out was exciting and scary and full on and dissipated surprises in order to make it possible for our farm to get off the ground our family needs to access the amazing vermont state program health insurance and child care resources including initially i felt a little guilty about this i felt as if i was just taking and i thought maybe we were doing something wrong  couldn't make the farm business school without the additional help i also question the long term viability of our business model if we had to rely on the sector to help recently however i have been reminded in countless ways of the positive impact a business like ours has in a community and how valuable it becomes beyond those financial implications as a community farm we attract hundreds of people each week to purchase our food to visit our animals to explore our greenhouse garden we provide field trips and tours to local schools and we host sold out burger nights in the summer although small in the scheme of the whole regional economy we are part of an important network of local businesses farming among so many other things has shown me directly how my family and i can be supported by our community while simultaneously serving tea trust in nature michael and joy plain are old family friends and farmers from way down under and gun to rue us trail yeah i spent part of my year after high school wolfing at their farm and battling one of their worst farming  cockatoos here joyce shares her story about the lessons learned from nature's vandals she writes for years we have battled cabbage white butterfly with natural pesticides various row cover barriers and appropriate cool season timing and now after two years of releasing some tiny parasitic wass as soon as the butterflies emergent spring we find ourselves going into winter with a healthy crop of brassica and not a single white butterfly to be seen but this success does not keep my blood pressure from rising at least forty large and glorious white cockatoos are ready to descend on my fields i can appreciate that are our holes are attractive to birds eaters and i'm happy to net our orchard trees to keep all parrots that are not only pick out the seeds from a mature fruit but destroy the whole tree in the process but i have never understood the odd attraction that cockatoos to our vegetable these birds simply adore the senseless prank of snapping off young cabbages onions garlic and corn all the while leaving the edible debris littering the ground later in the season if there are any corn plants remaining they of course gli nibbling at the outside of the stand a few cups at a time and then arrive the next day having put the word out to all their friends ready to demolish the entire lot just to make life even more difficult cockatoos are valuable fiercely protective and highly intelligent birds the glittering c d s and disco balls that adorn our garden at this time of year have to be installed at just the right moment and moved around frequently if there's any hope that work as it turns out comes t suburbs of new jersey where he started the home said see it's a seven arrows east here he shares an example of owning his story he writes after college i spent several years working in the advertising industry to pay off my extensive through long hours and a little luck i quickly climbed the corporate ladder and ended up in my own corner office heroes on my paychecks book clothes and dining regularly a restaurants dressed in a suit and tie and running around manhattan from meeting to presentation to pitch flying weekly to l a to chicago to london i must have seemed to be living a life but all along i had a secret identity one with dirt on his fingernails stained overalls and a sweet smell of farm and horse shit my inner farmer debuted when he decided to buy plants for every desk in the company offices and become caretaker guess he's just a green thumb kind of guy then my alter ego started shopping at farmers markets on lunch breaks in between client meetings lugging around bags full of kale and cole robbie on evenings and weekends he tended to a container garden small first and then occupying every square inch of windows so terrace and rooftop space his apartment off he ate his own coffin grown tomatoes lettuces zucchini all summer long he read and reread farming tomes coleman oxen and started dreaming of the day when he would gaze down his own field somewhere counting down the days till the last frost more and more he paid down that student loan debt and with every last class extra the paycheck and schedules for the coming season my inner farmer put the finishing touches on his that day he loosened his necktie hung up his suit jacket untied the shiny shoes and gave his two week final notice now it was time to pursue the farm dream in earnest some years later with real dirt under my fingernails real stained overalls and a horse shit smell i really just can't wash away spite my best times i'm beginning my first season as my own farm business owner and through those sometimes i look back fondly to the paychecks vacation time and the clean clothes i look forward much more to that impending last frost and the sweet smell of tomato starts going into the ground so i have shared with you quite a collection of ideas about the real farmers and each idea illustrated by real stories from real farmers with the goal to encourage a larger conversation about the heart of farming as the next generation makes them work i understand how challenging it is to farm i also know how difficult it can be to have the courage to speak from the heart but that is where our stories come from and that is what it takes to discover our authenticity and farmers my call to action is to unearth beyond all the farming kill the planning the politics the economics your authenticity of the farmer by sharing your stories in an attempt to cultivate your emotional intelligence water your creativity build trust and resilience in your farming ability and ultimately to strengthen your community of farmers everyone here the early pioneers and the new generation has incredible value to offer the farming world simply by owning and sharing your farming stories so i invite all of you to consider what are your stories for inspiring your manifesto sons ask me what it means to be a real farmer this is my response what is real ask the rabbit one day does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick out handle real isn't how you were course it's a thing that happens to you when a child loves you for a long time not just to play with but really loves you then you become real it doesn't happen all at once you become it takes a long time generally by the time your real most of your hair has been lopped off and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby but these things don't matter at all because once you are real you can't be ugly except to people who don't understand