State of the Farm 2024
When you come off a couple of seasons like the last two, it’s hard to predict what may happen next. 2022 was one of the driest, hottest growing years and 2023 was certainly the wettest! It’s normal for farmers to complain about the weather but the extremes in the environment have been way beyond normal. Hundreds of farmers in Vermont suffered major damage from the rains and floods that began in early July 2023. I’m on a review committee for the NOFA-VT Emergency Fund and the requests were heartbreaking. Fortunately, contributions to the Emergency Fund were record breaking as Vermonters truly value their organic farms and NOFA was able to provide some immediate assistance.
We had a wet weather disease called phytophthora that caused some of our peppers to rot, flowing rainwater that washed away arugula seeds and soaked earth that cost us our last two corn plantings which proved my grandfather’s adage “corn don’t like wet feet”. On the plus side, excavation work we had done by Glabach Land Management in 2022 solved a flood issue on an important field that plagued us for many years and our greenhouse crops did better than ever. That’s the main reason we constructed greenhouse #26, our third moveable “Rolling Thunder” structure from Rimol Systems. Protected culture continues to grow dependable crops no matter what’s happening outside. We’ll now be planting part of our outside pepper plantings inside where disease is not an issue. We’re hoping that our customers did OK with their home gardens and won’t toss in the towel for 2024.
Carpenters rebuilt a supply shed that collapsed during the big March snowstorm, replaced the roof on our sugarhouse pottery building and constructed two new bays on our machinery storage lean-to out by our back fields. Each year we put funds back into the infrastructure since the family farm transition process is going well and it looks like Walker Farm will be around for quite some time, continuing the blood line started in 1770. Our son, Dustin, is delving deep into management of the farm and has a great team of veteran Walker Farmers who help by expertly managing their areas of the business. Among our best investments were the automatic generators that keep the greenhouse heaters going in winter and the coolers running during summer thunderstorm power outages. Nice not to have to jump up when the alarms go off in a blizzard at 3 am and pull a generator out of the barn and get it going so tomato plants won’t freeze!
I asked my main flower seed salesperson this year if anybody else in New England grew as many lisianthus plants as Walker Farm. He said “No”! This year we offered more than ever in 6-pack sales, grew more than ever in the ground both inside and outside and sold more bouquets containing lisianthus than ever before. Most flower growers know it’s the longest lasting cutflower. It’s also known as “The Desert Rose”. I think that’s one of our main attractions, the variety of what we grow and the number of choices we offer gardeners and eaters: over 140 heirloom tomato varieties, more than 100 types of hot peppers (including one of the “hottest peppers on earth” the Primotalli at 2.3 million Scoville Units), dozens of different colored pansies, salvias and coleus, even two colors of okra! We’ll do our best this year not to run out of Tithonia, Sungold and Ground Husk cherries.
Perhaps the main reason our farm has been so successful is due to the quality of the people we are able to attract to work here. For some reason, they come to work on a Vermont farm and end up staying for many years. We have 4 people who each have over 30 years. Daisy, our talented propagator, started working here when she was 17 and she’s now, well let’s just say she has been here for quite a while! Abby, our main tomato grafter, has put in the same amount of time and sometimes I think Betsy was here before we were. Customers appreciate that consistency, I believe, and are happy to see a familiar face. Jen, Jan, Doreen, Katie, Adam and Jess end long days with the same pleasant attitude that started the day. That’s a special talent. Their connection with our customers sometimes makes me think we should change our name to the Walker Farm Fruit, Vegetable and Therapy Stand.
The folks behind the stand that take care of the fields and greenhouses could be managers in any top business but they choose to seed, plant and grow amazing flowers and organic produce. It makes this endeavor go so much smoother with the intelligent and capable crew that works with us to achieve the highest quality results. Their positive personalities also help attract our annual summer “bean & berry” college and high school teams. These are the workers who can still easily bend down and stand up a hundred times per day. It’s especially rewarding when we hire the kids of previous workers!
Some of our great 2023 Beans & Berry Crew with their leader, Liz!
Walker Farm has come a long way since a couple of hippies came up in 1973 to live with a grandfather on an inactive family farm. Somehow a 12’ by 9’ glass greenhouse from Agway turned into 26 greenhouses, 30 certified organic vegetable and fruit acres and 25 acres of certified organic Christmas trees and we employ around 40 people each summer. My grandfather always told us to grow slowly. He said after our first calf was born to lift it gently every day. There’s just a small increment in weight increase each day and should be able to lift it forever if you just do a little bit at a time. So far, we’re still able to lift the calf. We want to keep on that path because we’re so fortunate to live in an amazingly supportive community.
