We are often asked why we farm for a living. There is a beautiful love story that we like to tell – of how we fell in love with each other at the same time as falling in love with agrarian living and the most real, most fresh, organic vegetables we’d ever experienced. We were in our early twenties. Life was simple, fun, and filled with learning about things we had never before encountered and it spurred years of dreaming about our future farm.

But there is a second part of the answer to that question. That first story addresses what got us into farming for a living but it does not address what keeps us in this business. It does not address what provides the daily motivation to make our business successful – what makes us determined to still be doing this work of growing enough vegetables to feed 200 local families twenty years from now.
 The title of this post is the spoiler, of course. We have realized that we are now doing this for our children. 
That could mean a few different things. It could mean we want a farm-based lifestyle for our kids. Or that we want them growing up close to the process of growing vegetables. Or that we want them to know more about organic soil science than the average kiddo.

All of these things are true. But more than those wonderful aspects of our life with these four amazing children, we have realized that we are growing, and therefore feeding them, the most nutritious food around. Regardless of dietary choices they make as adults, we know that providing them a foundation of supremely nutritious vegetables during their childhood is incredibly valuable. The most nutritious vegetables are the tastiest, and they know and love great tasting veggies. Don’t try to feed them frozen or canned versions. They will politely (and discreetly) tell us that they “don’t prefer it” – our instructed wording for things that they aren’t enjoying at the moment. They will divulge that it doesn’t taste right. Their taste buds can tell, and really nutritious food during this time of phenomenal brain development sets them up for the best health we can allow for. It also awakens their taste buds from an early age to how wonderful real, raw, fresh, nutrient dense food (also grown organically) tastes and how nourishing it is. This is our most basic motivation and our gift to them. We believe we can’t buy more nutritious vegetables for them, so we better keep growing them. We think this is a win-win for our community: as we are motivated to grow seriously nutritious food, our community benefits. Whether you are an individual, a couple, or a family with children, if you care about the level of nutrition you are feeding yourself and/or your dependents, please know: We care, too. We care a lot. This care leads to intense interest, research, experimentation, analysis, and determination to keep it up, year after year. Sure, we love working outside. We thrive on the intellectual challenges and curiosities of this work. We cherish our relationships with community members and longtime customers. We love getting together with our community of biological farmers throughout Virginia, the mid-Atlantic, and the East Coast. But our role as parents and our desire for a nutritious foundation for our children makes this pursuit personal and fervent.

So now you know our personal story. It connects us to your best interest. And, lucky for us, it is super fun and rewarding. So much so that it makes frustrating moments with the tractor (shown above) worth it in the grand scheme of things.

Tractor problems get fixed, fields get prepped, and vegetables get planted.
 We analyze soil test reports for days on end, run calculations on what we need to acquire and do to make the nutrition available in the soil, and tend these thousands of baby plants so that we can all get some seriously good tasting, healthy eating from this amazing soil.

**In our efforts to deliver these veggies to you cherished consumers, we are in need of many paper bags. Any that you can bring us at a pick-up spot or market is most appreciated! Thank you!

Available for Market Share CSA members to choose from this week:
Beets, Carrots, Chard, Salad Mix, Spinach, Kale (red russian), Microgreens, Pepper Jelly, Fermented Jalapenos, and naturally leavened Hearth Baked Bread.

2015 Market Share CSA Members: Reserve your selection online to pick up on Saturday, April 11 at our farm, at Good Health Herbs, or at the South of the James market. (Any vegetables remaining after CSA members choose their selection will be available at the SOJ market, along with our first offering of transplants.

**Anyone may order select goods from us, when available, through Fall Line Farms, Richmond’s online farmers’ market. You can use discount code “broadfork” to earn a complimentary 6 month subscription.

AND – those of you wanting to sport our beautiful (and organic!) t-shirts and/or hoodies, you can now order them directly from the printer, in the size and color of your choosing! See our online shirt shop to place your order. We can’t wait to see you sporting these! Huge thanks, as always, to the talented Jennifer Strader for drawing the artwork for us.

Enjoy ~
Janet, Dan, and the rest of the Broadfork crew
(Want to learn more about us? Visit us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.)

Reminder: Our next Farm Tour is Saturday, May 9th at 2:30. Our Plant Sale is also that afternoon, from 1:00 – 5:00, where you can shop from our full selection of vegetable and herb transplants for your garden. Please plan to join us, and spread the word! Check out the new barn, featuring farm stand and CSA member pick up area, and join in a guided walking tour of our abundant vegetable farm in Chesterfield county to learn how we manage the soil and plants for optimum health, nutritional content, and overall deliciousness!  {No fee for the tour. Family friendly. Please – no pets.}

Certified Naturally Grown farm in search of (in exchange for cash or vegetables)…
:: Area rug approximately 6×9′ or bigger (to use in the area we are making in the barn in which our children may play and rest comfortably during work days)

**Note from our favorite livestock farm: Ault’s Family Farm now has rabbit meat available. There are rumors that you may be able to reserve chickens from them in the future. Send them a note if you are interested, and tell them you want to pick up at Broadfork. 🙂 aultsfamilyfarm@gmail.com

**If you wish to invest in our farm, order from us in 2015, and have first access to our harvest, please Sign up for our 2015 CSA season! Though the main harvest season is still ahead of us, your investment now allows us the funds needed in the early season.