How many of us have felt our lives transformed after reading a book with a message that we just could not ignore, a message that seemed as if it were written just for us, just at this moment? Rob's story reminds us that there are a lot of dusty tombs out there, waiting to be cracked open. You never know which one holds a key to your future. If you're looking for inspiration, check out GFJ's Required Reading at goodfoodjobs.com/education.
Turner Farm is hiring Apprentices!
When did you know that you wanted to work in food?
I grew up on a larger-sized farm that was conventional but still incredibly diverse. There were 300-plus acres of row crops, plus a dairy, pork, chickens and my uncle raised draft horses. However, my brothers and I were steered away from farming as an option from a fairly early age because of the difficulty of the lifestyle and the ups and downs of commodity-driven growing. Not that it would have made much of a difference because I was set on becoming a journalist.
I served in the Marine Corps as a combat correspondent from 1994-98 and went on to college and a professional news job before I finally realized that I didn't really enjoy the job. I switched over to PR and worked to raise awareness of disabled veterans for over a decade during a mini-career with the Disabled American Veterans (DAV). But the sense that I was missing out on part of my heritage was a pebble in my boot. While I was in Okinawa during my Marine days, a friend sent me a copy of Wendell Berry's Sex, Economy, Freedom and Community. I didn't read it right away, but didn't throw it out either (at least partially because it intriguingly had the word "sex" in the title).
When I read it years later, I knew I had to at least give this profession a try. I was 37 - certainly no spring chicken - but my wife was supportive of my attraction to agriculture and I was in reasonably good shape. I started with backyard chickens and then a beehive. That was enough to satisfy me for about a year. But the seed had been planted and began to grow.
How did you get your current good food job?
Mostly what kept me from making the jump from PR into farming was how deeply involved I had become with the veteran community. I started that job just after 9/11 and had my heart broken and my inspiration jar filled a thousand times by the tales of service and sacrifice of these men and women and their families. When I left the DAV, it was to work with veterans who wanted to become farmers. After a few missteps, I found Turner Farm and its Veteran to Farmer Training Program (VFTP). My wife shopped in the market on Turner Farm because of its excellent local reputation for meat and produce. As she was writing her check to drop in the cash box, she saw a flier for the farm's veteran program. I completed the intensive two-year training program/business incubator. I did well enough that the leadership asked me to stay on to manage the program and to also bring my public relations background to bear on this incredibly unique, beautiful and dynamic organic farm/education facility/land preservation estate.
How did your previous work or life experience prepare you for a good food job?
In many ways it's as if I've been training my whole life for this job, at this place, with this group of amazing professionals. I grew up on a farm and feel comfortable with the language, seasonal rhythm and unspoken aspects of the job. Oftentimes those are the most difficult things to get in tune with in a new career. During the first week of my apprenticeship at Turner Farm, I was comfortable enough to ask the management to use a skid-steer to do some work. I was then able to teach others how to use it. I had spent many hours in one of those little tanks growing up on the farm, and it was like riding a bike when I climbed back in the seat and lowered the safety bar again after 20 years. My ability to tell stories and promote products by appealing to feelings and emotion was well-developed after 11 years at the DAV. It got my foot in the door for my first farm job, which was at a training farm in Southern California. These skills continue to serve me today, and I rely on them as my growing skills strengthen and develop.
What was the greatest obstacle you had to overcome in pursuing your Good Food Job dream?
That first farm job in Southern California was a nightmare. I was completely unprepared to help that farm get from where it was to where its owners dreamed of being. Every skill I had for promotion, critical thinking, detailed analysis?none of it was any good for that particular business. So after leaving my safe, secure job with much fanfare and heroic confidence and moving my wife, two daughters, dog and cats from Ohio to California, I failed miserably and had to slink back home to Ohio in less than a year with no job, no savings, no new farm skills and a growing sense of desperation.
My wife was the one constant source of unfailing support through all of this. I owe much more to her for keeping me sane than I can adequately express. Not just the "stand by your man" nonsense either. She's a motivator and a no-nonsense doer of the first degree. I had her to lean on when I was at my lowest. Then there is the military training and the culture of service. It instills a desire for forward momentum, constant assessment and adjustment, and succeeding under difficult circumstances. I have many veteran friends who have suffered enormous setbacks - amputations, blindness, brain injury and worse - yet still found a way to assess the damage, make peace with the loss, and keep moving ahead.
Name one positive thing that a former employer taught you that you continue to appreciate?
The military is full of pithy aphorisms that can keep you in line when working on a project. To stress the need for redundancy in critical systems, there is one of my favorites, "Two is one. One is none." The importance of thoughtful and patient work inspired another gem, "Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast." But my favorite bit of advice came to me from a retired Marine Corps officer and my boss at the DAV, Maj. Gary Weaver. He was always encouraging our team to think creatively, boldly and without fear of failure. He was willing to go to bat for us against naysayers at all levels if we had a vision and were determined to see it through. But managing all of that creative energy was not easy, and Gary strongly believed that the end result - the product, service, story, video - was what mattered. The more energetic input, the better the result. he tidily summed up his philosophy with a saying he probably borrowed from some other great leader, " Good things happen when nobody cares about who gets the credit."
What can you identify as the greatest opportunities in food right now?
I have the privilege of managing a program that trains veterans for careers in organic agriculture. These men and women are hard working, disciplined, willing to work for little cash reward and compelled by a sense of higher calling. They are, without question, one of our nation's and our agricultural economy's greatest untapped resources. Also, the Veteran to Farmer Training Program's business incubator is on a small space - just over an acre. Knowing that before I was hired on, I dug deeply into the writing and interviews from Jean Martin Fortier. He is one of my role models and it was a great privilege of mine to meet him during a speech he gave at the University of Kentucky in 2014. I love his work, his attitude and that laid back French-Canadian accent. I believe that what he and farmers like Curtis Stone are doing could make agriculture accessible and profitable on smaller scales than recent history would deem possible.
If you could be compensated for your work with something other than money, what would it be?
Easy question. Time. I'd always take more time over money.