Intro

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0:14ER and we're at Mountain wise Farm

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0:19we're a certified naturally grown Farm

0:20in zionville North Carolina

0:23we started Mountain wise Farm in 2018

0:26and we're here today on our 15-acre

0:30property

0:31primarily focus on a quarter acre Market

0:33Garden

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0:41we grow primarily vegetables but also

0:44some medicinal herbs

0:47we sell food to a handful of restaurants

0:49and dune Blowing Rock Banner Elk and

0:51Johnson City as well as doing a farmer's

0:54market in Johnson City Tennessee

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1:06thank you

1:10after I finished College I wasn't

1:14finding fulfillment or the joy that I

1:17was really looking for or hoped for

1:21I had family history sort of in farming

1:23and so I think the idea of being on a

1:25farm had a lot of comfort and a lot of

1:27meaning

1:32I was cooking professionally for several

1:35years and it seemed that every

1:37restaurant I worked at no matter how it

1:41was presented as being a farm to table

1:43or a locally sourced restaurant it

1:45seemed like there was this disconnect

1:48in the spring of 2017 we started working

1:51for a local farmer and at the end of the

1:53season she offered to Lisa as part of

1:55her property

1:57so we stayed on her land for that next

2:00season and started Mountain wise Barn

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2:10from the very beginning we knew that we

2:13wanted to create a farm that was

2:15sustainable and doing it with intention

2:19and doing it with love and a certain

2:22amount of devotion and I think that that

2:24comes through in in what we grow how can

2:28we produce the most abundant food with

2:32the most intention on a small amount of

2:35space

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2:35[Applause]

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2:44foreign

Challenges

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2:53challenges we face in the High Country

2:56is our enormous rainfall we're

2:59technically considered a temperate

3:01rainforest

3:03I think the biggest challenge with all

3:06that rainfall particularly in the spring

3:09is just getting our season started

3:11because even though our soil drains

3:13pretty well given the slope of the land

3:16we need to wait a while for it to dry

3:18out to work the soil and and plant and

3:21additionally I think having all that

3:23rainfall in the field

3:25we deal with a lot of soil-borne disease

3:28on all sorts of crops due to all that

3:31crop loss we can probably safely say

3:35that we lost between 15 and 20 000

3:39during a Time of the Season where we

3:41could have sold everything that we grew

3:47as a result we decided to add six more

3:50caterpillar tunnels to our field having

3:53the tunnels allows us to work in the

3:55field rain or shine

3:58I would easily say that in that same

4:01amount of growing space we've doubled

4:03the amount of food that we've been able

4:04to grow this year as a result of having

4:07the tunnels

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4:10somehow we have naturally found where

4:14our strengths are I typically take the

4:17rain on planning and crop decisions

4:21seating in the greenhouse organizing

4:24Tyler I think really when it comes down

4:27to like the management like day-to-day

4:29management I've definitely historically

4:32been a strong back on the farm to do the

4:35heavy lifting and you know I like

4:37straight lines and keeping things tidy

4:40and all that stuff but yeah it's been

4:41really neat to see what our individual

4:44strengths are

4:46we primarily focus on salad greens so

4:51lettuce arugula baby kale but also a

4:55variety of other greens and root

4:57vegetable bowls beets carrots turnips

5:01and we have started to include Tomatoes

5:04into our crops in the past in this past

5:06season so 50 of what we grow generally

5:11is sold to restaurants and the other

5:14half of that we sell through the food

5:17Hub or at a farmer's market our first

5:19couple years we focused so much on

5:22growing these specific crops and trying

5:24to grow them all year long and although

5:26we still really enjoy doing that it's

5:29been really fun to diversify I don't

5:31think we've found a single thing that a

5:34farmer's market customer doesn't

5:35appreciate and enjoy

Family

5:44I've grown up playing music my whole

5:46life it's as big a part of my life as

5:49growing food is

5:51throughout the work we've helped play

5:54banjo on the porch and that really

5:56balances my life out

6:01in addition to the Garden we also have I

6:05would say a whole family of animals and

6:09we take their care and Longevity really

6:13importantly

6:15we have moose and burrito they are our

6:18donkey and mule they're a father and son

6:21and we also have our family of pigs and

6:25we have some ducks and chickens a couple

6:29house rabbits and our beloved cats

6:35our animals are our friends but for me

6:39they're also our teachers in a way the

6:41animals are definitely a motivator for

6:44us to get the work done it's like an

6:46added responsibility

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Future of Farming

6:55the connection between food and the land

7:00is something that is so empowering

7:04it's such necessary work

7:07and despite being able to go into a

7:10grocery store at any certain time and

7:12get the things that you need the reality

7:14is that that's not as stable as it

7:17appears

7:26future of farming really lies in more of

7:30us starting these small farms and being

7:32able to provide for our communities

7:36I think another part of why I'm so proud

7:41to be here doing this is that we have

7:43the opportunity to show other people

7:45that they can do the same thing

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7:49we didn't let the fear of not knowing

7:52everything not knowing all the answers

7:54you know we had very little farming

7:57experience we didn't let it keep us from

8:00from starting a farm

8:05being able to work with each other on

8:08our land surrounded by a community that

8:11we love and people that we love that's

8:14that's a good life

8:18if you're thinking of starting a farm

8:20and you maybe you don't have all the

8:22resources that it requires just be as

8:26resourceful as possible if there's any

8:28bit of land that you have access to or

8:30can lease or maybe a neighbor and let

8:32you start a large Garden in their

8:34backyard or something the land is

8:37calling you

8:39it's something that's in all of us I

8:41think is to grow food

8:51hi guys I'm Jonathan with Farmer's

8:54friend if you enjoyed this video hit the

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8:57inspiring stories like this to learn

8:59more about our Innovative small farm

9:01tools and supplies like easy to assemble

9:03Greenhouse kits flame weeders and a lot

9:05more check out our website at

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