After a great year of learning, sharing, and community building with beginning farmers from all over Vermont, the current NOFA-VT Farm Beginnings cohort is finishing their program together at the end of September. Erica Langston and Armando Crespo of Merryweather Meadows in Shoreham are two farmers in that group. On their 18 acres of land, Erica and Armando are committed to human-scale organic agriculture as they focus on egg production from less common breeds of chicken and growing medicinal herbs.
Erica and Armando are both (fittingly) from Homestead Florida. As Erica says, they “didn’t grow up in agriculture, but they grew up around agriculture.” Their town was in the midst of Florida’s booming agriculture sector before a devastating hurricane swept through in the early 90’s. Both Erica and Armando’s families lost their houses, and the agricultural landscape of the area never regenerated. It was through this foundational experience that they realized they wanted to find a place to live that was more climate resilient. Erica describes them “[wanting] to live someplace that took climate change seriously and had a bit of a buffer against some of the disasters they lived through.”
Armando Crespo and Erica Langston in front of a bed of herbs and produce
After stints in Montana, North Carolina, New York City, and San Francisco, they finally alighted in Vermont. In addition to climate resilience, Vermont’s focus on supporting farmers was also a huge draw. As Erica points out they “took stock of the landscape and saw the support for agriculture and support for first-time farmers.” A big part of that support has been the Farm Beginnings program. Erica feels like the year-long program allowed them to tap into the repository of farming knowledge that exists in their new home state, as well as to connect with mentors and peers who have faced the same struggles they have. As Erica puts it, “We needed the ability to ask questions in a place where we wouldn’t be laughed out of the room.”
For Erica and Armando, the most helpful takeaway from the program was the ability to map out their decisions around their enterprise options and then to set realistic goals. The endless possibilities presented to new farmers can be a blessing and a curse - when you can go in literally any direction with your farm business, how do you choose? It was this dilemma that Erica and Armando faced when they began Farm Beginnings but by the end, they had the tools and knowledge they needed to map out their priorities, choose the right enterprise, and set goals to achieve success. Erica credits the program for helping them break the “analysis paralysis” and move ahead with their business goals: “We could have twiddled our thumbs for the entire year if we didn’t have those exercises”.
For now, Merryweather Meadows is focused on their egg production and medicinal herb garden. By looking to established Vermont farms like Zack Woods Herb Farm and Free Verse Farm (their Farm Beginnings mentor farm) as models, they can start to see where they want to be long-term. They hope to start selling herb blends and teas at farmers markets, beginning with a winter market this year. In the future, they’d love to have an on-farm gathering space that would embed their farm even deeper in their Shoreham community.
NOFA-VT is gearing up to welcome a whole new crew of beginning farmers to join the 2021/2022 Farm Beginnings cohort. Applications are now open. For more information and to apply, visit this page or contact Bill Cavanaugh at [email protected].
If you think the program is right for you, you have until September 13th to apply!