{"id":29,"date":"2012-02-03T21:33:39","date_gmt":"2012-02-04T05:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.joshvolk.com\/blog\/?p=29"},"modified":"2014-11-12T07:15:26","modified_gmt":"2014-11-12T15:15:26","slug":"remembering-andy-and-a-repost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joshvolk.com\/?p=29","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Andy and a repost"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Andy<\/a>
Andy teaching Dan Gross to drive the tractor at Hidden Villa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I apprenticed on a small farm that was run by a farmer who, at that time had been farming for almost as long as I had been living. The farm was an amazing place, a small CSA run by this amazing, generous, eternally positive guy, Andy. \u00a0It was in the middle of a 1600 acre ranch run by an educational non-profit, and provided some of the backdrop for the farm and wilderness programs there.<\/p>\n

Andy knew everyone there, knew seemingly everything about that property, and lived in a little house on the creek at the upper end of the ranch with his wife Carolyn and his two young sons Forrest and Ray. \u00a0I spent most of my time working on the farm, but what I remember most are the people there, especially Andy. \u00a0It feels like most of the time I spent with Andy was driving up and down the ranch with him in a Clubcar Carryall II, stopping at the milk house to top off his huge mug of coffee with the cream skimmed off the top of the big milk jugs, and then proceeding to spill half of that coffee on the bumpy dirt road that ran the length of the ranch. \u00a0The entire time Andy told me stories, mostly farming stories, often the same ones he had told me earlier in the week.<\/p>\n

I spent a year there and I was anxious to do the next thing when I left, though sorry to leave many good friends behind. \u00a0I made sure to come back for visits whenever possible, although those visits got farther apart as the years wore on. \u00a0Andy was great about keeping in touch and keeping me updated on the happenings at the ranch, and with the family. \u00a0For a few years we’d meet up at the Eco Farm conference every year and room together which was an opportunity to catch up. \u00a0The farming connection continued but over time I came to visit more to just see Andy, Carolyn, Forrest and Ray, hear about their trips in the Sierra and what was new on the ranch.<\/p>\n

Forrest ended up going to school in Washington and then moving to Portland so Andy would come through every so often and when I got lucky he’d stop for a quick visit. \u00a0On his last swing through town we were lucky enough to have him bring Carolyn, and Forrest and Forrest’s girlfriend Holly over for dinner.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday evening another farmer friend and mentor Michael Ableman, and his son Benjamin, came for a visit on their way down to California. \u00a0When we got home from a dinner out Tanya checked the messages and there was one from Carolyn telling me that Andy had passed away on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

I’ve been thinking about Andy a lot ever since. \u00a0I’ve also been thinking about all of the other good friends I made, especially the ones I’ve managed to keep in touch with. \u00a0I also thought about this blog post I wrote back in 2008, coincidentally with both Michael and Andy mentioned. \u00a0My good friend Dan Gross, who I also met at Hidden Villa said of Andy,<\/p>\n

Andy taught me even more about how to talk to people than he did about farming, even though he taught me so much about farming. While I was at Hidden Villa I always felt bad to ask Andy a question because he spent an hour answering it to me.\u00a0 I felt like I was wasting his valuable\u00a0time when he took all that time to answer me.\u00a0 Now, as I get older, I strive to listen and engage friends and family as Andy did to me.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Andy absolutely set an example I’ve tried to emulate. \u00a0I’ll miss him every time I think about him, but I’m so happy that I got the chance to work with him, to learn farming from him and so much on top of that.<\/p>\n

The following post was about Michael’s farm, but it could just as well have been about Andy’s…<\/p>\n

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\"Michaels<\/a><\/p>\n

Michael\u2019s Farm<\/strong> – Tuesday, May 6, 2008<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My first \u201cformal\u201d farming apprenticeship was ten years ago, 1998.\u00a0 I went to work for Andy Scott at\u00a0Hidden Villa<\/a>\u00a0in Los Altos Hills, California, and spent a year absorbing stories, asking questions, and working hard.\u00a0 It was one of the best years of my life.<\/p>\n

A few years later I was at the Ecological Farming Conference, talking with Andy and Jim Nelson from\u00a0Camp Joy Gardens<\/a>, a small farm I\u2019ve always really admired.\u00a0 One of us, I don\u2019t remember who, started talking about how great it would be to apprentice on someone else\u2019s farm for a season, just to step back and do the physical work and not worry about all of the details of planning and selling and so on.\u00a0 Everyone agreed, it would be great.\u00a0 I just remember standing there with two farmers who had both been farming for practically as long as I\u2019d been living, both so accomplished and both still engaged in learning more.<\/p>\n

It was probably that same year that I met Michael Ableman.\u00a0 He was hosting a monthly discussion series on agricultural topics at\u00a0Fairview Gardens<\/a>\u00a0and I was farming about an hour North.\u00a0 I had been really inspired by his book,From the Good Earth<\/a>, when a friend at Hidden Villa showed it to me, and subsequently his book\u00a0On Good Land<\/a>\u00a0about his experiences at Fairview.<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/a><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve run into each other a handful of times since that summer, always with an invitation to come up and visit.\u00a0 Finally this spring I made the time to go visit for a month, help out around the farm, and exchange farming ideas with another farmer who has been at this a couple of decades longer than myself.\u00a0 The result was one of the best months of my life, a chance to temporarily shed all the accumulated layers of responsibility that have built up over the years since my first apprenticeship, and to just focus on learning from someone else\u2019s farm<\/p>\n

\"Snow<\/a><\/p>\n

It ended up being incredibly cold and wet most of the month.\u00a0 There was snow when I arrived in at the beginning of April, and then it snowed and melted, and snowed again.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t mind though, I just enjoyed getting the opportunity to be an apprentice again, to watch and learn from an incredibly accomplished farmer.<\/p>\n

In the month I was there we planted an orchard, fixed tillers and tractors, put together new equipment, skidded logs, seeded, covered and uncovered, mapped fields, put down a plan for the whole season on paper, and then changed it all again.\u00a0 We baked bread, ate lots of spinach and carrots, watched Benjamin race down the road on his bike, again and again.\u00a0 We counted and recounted, even when there wasn\u2019t any reason to count.\u00a0 We moved rocks, lots of rocks, we dug holes and filled holes, Such a diversity of work in one month.\u00a0 Such is farming.<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s a big thank you to Michael, Anne, Jeanne Marie, Benjamin and Aaron and to all the farmers who have come before me, and after me, and that have been so generous with their time and knowledge.\u00a0 There is such an amazing community of farmers out there and it is truly one of the best parts of farming, that and the scenery.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I apprenticed on a small farm that was run by a farmer who, at that time had been farming for almost as long as I had been living. The farm was an amazing place, a small CSA run by this amazing, generous, eternally positive guy, Andy. \u00a0It was in the middle of a 1600 acre … <\/p>\n

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