N: Hi, I’m N. And I’m interviewing B. with V. and A. And let’s thank B. for having the time to do this.
Our first question is: What is Turner Farm?
B: What is Turner Farm? Well,it’s a working farm that’s dedicated to educating people as well as growing meat and vegetables.
N: When did you start organic farming?
B: I started in 1994.
N: What kind of vegetables do you grow?
B: About every kind you can think of and many you can’t think of. We grow year round vegetables. We start in the spring with asparagus, and lettuce, and spinach, then we go on to onions, and peas, then we go on to beans and peppers and eggplants and tomatoes and in the meantime we have collards and kale and broccoli and cabbage and then we go into the fall crops which are mostly squashes, we have a summer squash and then we have winter squash and pumpkins and diacon radishes and pok choi and hm, hm, what’s it called, chinese cabbage and then we go into spinach, and lettuce, and arugula and mache in the winter and then it’s spring again.
N: Thank you. Now it’s A.
A: When do you start planting most of your vegetables?
B: Well, we start in the green house in February with the tomatoes and things that take a long time and have to be grown in the green house first because we have to grow all our vegetables from seeds because we can’t just buy plants from some place else because they won’t be organic. And so, in order to be certified, we have to grow all our seeds and organic potting soil ourselves.
A: Do you sell vegetables and what kind?
B: I sell vegetables and every kind I just said that we grow we sell.
A: What season do you have the most buyers?
B: Probably summer , like midsummer, July and August and September.
A: Okay, thanks, next is V.
B: Hi, V. Nice to see you again.
V: Tell me about your animals.
B: The animals. We have sheep, and pigs,and chicken and milk cows, and horses that work on the farm and a donkey that works on the farm, two working dogs, and a working cat.
V: Do you use your animals for work and what kind?
B: I use the horses mostly, they are the biggest workers. They plow and disc and cultivate and cut grass and mow hay and rake hay and they pull the hay wagons back to the farm when they’re full and they take wagons out to show people how to do it. We are also doing a horse farming clinic this year so we’ll be using the horses to teach other people how to use horses.
V: What jobs are there on the farm?
B: Well, there is planting and growing and harvesting and weeding and then there is work with the animals , you have to feed them every day, twice a day, and there is also the cleaning up of the animals, you have to clean the manure, and keep them in feed and water. There is also administrative jobs like, almost all falls to me, it‘s having to do with keeping track of the records, and what we grew and how much we grew of it and how much we sold it for and also making copies, like when we have new brochures I have to make all the copies, I have to do all that stuff. It’s, it’s a lot of work.
V: What is your favorite part about organic farming?
B: The food. I like to eat. And I like to eat what I grow. So, that’s really what drives the farm and me is I like to eat my own food.
V: Thank you for letting us interview you.
B: You are welcome.