LotFotL Community Farm

LotFotL is poised to enter its second business year. We grow on certified organic land in East Troy, WI, at Michael Fields Agricultural Institute. We are an incubator farm; we rent land and infrastructure from Michael Fields on the cheap with the promise not only that we will demonstrate care and consideration, but also that we will do what we do excellently. So far, so good!Growing vegetables is the best possible way we feel that the theoretical parts of our lives can be grounded in the greater world. In doing so, we pay homage to all of those before us who loved the land, and married themselves to a lifestyle of servitude to Mother Earth's whims, for better and worse. We envision a future more rich than the "nasty, brutish, and short" agrarian past of the green revolution, and more intricately and honestly tied to the natural sustaining rhythms of non-simulated life.Tim started growing vegetables 5 years ago, when he woke up one day and realized that he would be useless in a post petroleum economy given the skill sets life had presented him. 4 years later, after several trying years of learning to grow, Tim decided to intern on a CSA farm, take a better look at this whole farming thing. That season was the crash course which built his confidence and competence enough for Tim to start LotFotL in 2007.In 2008, LotFotL(Tim, an employee, and 3 interns) will manage 10 acres of land at Michael Fields Ag. Institute. Of this 1 acre is asparagus, 4 in cover crops, and 4-5 acres vegetables. LotFotL will likely be Aurora Certified Organic in 2008, but if not at least the acreage will be. Our equipment barn is filled with many staples of vegetable production operations of our scale (waterwheel transplanter, Allis Chalmers G, lely tine weeder, etc). With the addition of mechanical bean harvesters and walking tractors and a very sophisticated packing shed, we find ourselves very fortunate in our abilities to select the right tool for the job. We aim to be plastic free in the fields by 2009 by utilizing combinations of cover crops and living mulches.LotFotL distributes produce evenly through direct avenues (CSA and 2 Farmer’s Markets) and less direct ones (wholesale to CSA’s, restaurants, and grocers). We minimize our fuel consumption and out-of-field time by combining market streams at the same location. For example, we sell wholesale to a grocer who has a farmer’s market in their parking lot that allows us to distribute our CSA shares as we serve the public. 3 types of sales, same place, same day.We will take no more than 50 full CSA shares in year one of LotFotL Community Farm(our CSA), and provide one restaurant via contract with consistent supply of lettuce, broccoli, tomatoes, onions, spinach, asparagus, and green beans so long as the season permits.LotFotL is an acronym representing the insightful and somewhat outdated expression “Living off the fat of the Land.”Kind of the point of everything, if you think about it.