Planting seeds to grow a business, future farmers
Posted: Thursday, October 3, 2013; Times-Dispatch, Richmond, VA
The property is not much to look at now. The fields are weedy, the roads are rough and the barn’s roof has seen better days. But Sean Sheppard and his partners have big plans for this place.
Standing at the barn, he points around the property: the vegetables will be grown over there, the orchards across the way, maybe flowers in the back. He talks excitedly about providing food for restaurants, markets and food banks, starting a compost operation and laying out nature trails.
However, the primary mission, Sheppard said, is to “grow more farmers.”
“What we really want to do is showcase … sustainable agriculture techniques for replication,” he said. “We want to turn this place into a school.”
The 30-acre parcel of land in Highland Springs is tucked between Nine Mile and Creighton roads, only a half-dozen miles from downtown. Part of it had been used as a horse pasture, another as a private landfill. Soil and water tests didn’t reveal anything that would prevent it from being used for agricultural purposes, said Sheppard, who acquired the property this year and immediately brought in his colleagues from Backyard Farmer to begin plotting the future.
In an attempt to speed up the process, Backyard Farmer launched a Kickstarter campaign, trying to raise $150,000 by Oct. 12. The money would be used for infrastructure such as constructing wheelchair-accessible pathways, restrooms and raised garden beds, as well as the planting of 250 fruit trees and a 3-acre garden. In return for contributions, donors receive rewards such as heirloom or organic seeds that Backyard Farmer has purchased in large quantities, or, for larger donations, custom-made raised beds.
Kickstarter, an increasingly popular way to finance creative projects, is an all-or-nothing proposition, meaning if the goal isn’t met, donor pledges are voided and Backyard Farmer receives none of the money. Regardless of the outcome, Sheppard characterized the Kickstarter campaign as “a long shot … but worth a shot.” He said their plans will come to fruition eventually, just at a slower pace if the Kickstarter effort is not successful.
The group plans to get started this winter, planting garlic, cover crops and hardy greens, and establishing 100 trees.
Backyard Farmer is a cooperative of four owners who have their own contracting businesses: one is an arborist, another does stone work and site-grading, a third performs carpentry and makes custom furniture, and Sheppard works in landscaping, sustainable agriculture and education. They work together to market and share jobs, each one bringing something different to a project.
“We’re all very independent people,” Sheppard said when I visited the Highland Springs property the other evening. “We don’t want to work for anyone. We don’t want to have employees. We all use each other to get big jobs done.”
Backyard Farmer is a young, for-profit business, though it often is mistaken for a nonprofit because it performs so much of its work for school — installing gardens, for example, and teaching kids about the joy of growing things — and other community organizations, sometimes on a contract basis, others on a volunteer basis. Backyard Farmer maintained the Whole Foods community garden in Short Pump before it was lost to development.
Sheppard, 26, grew up on the Eastern Shore near Kiptopeke State Park. He said it would be nice to say he’s been farming since childhood or always wanted to do this sort of work, but neither would be true. His family didn’t even have a vegetable garden when he was a kid.
But Sheppard’s grandfather was an ornamental bonsai enthusiast, and he taught Sheppard about horticulture and composting and even how to painstakingly repair terracotta pots he had brought over from his native Italy.
Sheppard attended college, thinking he wanted to earn a degree in business. But he lost interest in traveling that career path, dropped out of school and instead set about creating his own future with the skills and knowledge his grandfather had given him. His grandfather died in 2007 without knowing how things would turn out for his grandson.
“He would love it,” said Sheppard, who still takes care of his grandfather’s bonsai and other plants back home.
Sheppard wants to provide that sort of edification at the proposed learning center, not only in the form of school field trips but in the area of professional career development. “Maybe someone looking to start a hobby farm,” he said.
Such a career move can seem daunting to someone without an agricultural background, but Sheppard believes it increasingly is becoming more feasible as farmers markets and community-supported agriculture gain popularity, and interest continues to grow in locally produced food.
“I’m a big believer that … small-scale, non-industrial farming is going to be a big job-maker in the future,” he said.
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