We're Much (contractually) Obliged
Well, I signed my name on enough dotted lines to make it official last week. We are in cahoots with the Natural Resources Conservation Service again and we couldn't be more thrilled!
Every year we throw our names in the ring for the High Tunnel Initiative which offers financial assistance through the USDA's Environmental Quality Initiatives Program (EQIP). Are you sensing the excitability of government programs from all these strings of words?! For small farmers like us who aren't eligible for subsidies and don't get governmental cuts, crop insurance or other bones thrown to us, this program is very meaningful and exceptional. Being that it is an election year, the Inflation Reduction Act and the last Farm Bill made an unprecedented amount of funds available to help growers adopt climate-smart conservation practices, including high tunnel construction.
Back in 2018 when we bought the farm property, we set our sights on erecting hoop houses as soon as possible in order to extend our growing season on both ends and to cover as much growing space as possible in order to protect our plants from extreme weather conditions which are all too prevalent. With our expenses sunk in the myriad costs of a new farm business, we resisted sinking further into debt to build any of these grow houses. I largely blame myself, as I am rather resistant to owing anyone anything. (I'm working on that unhealthy relationship with finances). What I didn't realize was how soon a high tunnel would pay off and how much it would propel our business forward to grow more food and lose less of it for more of the year.
Motivated to get our heads above water and to satisfy the demands of our new business, I put all my effort into our 2019 EQIP application. We got denied in early summer, and revisited the debt conversation. Was it time to bite the bullet and do it ourselves? Just a few months later an angel over at our local NRCS office called to let us know that she had gotten our application retroactively approved after the first round of funding for the High Tunnel Initiative. I didn't bother trying to understand the mysterious ways of government programs...I just embraced the windfall and revelled in the good fortune.
The construction of the 72' by 30' hoop house went as you can imagine a project in the year of 2020 would go. On the day I went into labor with Jack in late January, our hired excavator showed up to dig the drainage trenches. Rich coordinated with him on the phone from our hospital room. Over the course of the spring and summer we rag tagged it with generous family and friends and got it done in spurts. As you can imagine, this derailed some of our fieldwork as weeds overgrew plantings of vegetables as either our newborn and toddler or the high tunnel sat higher on the priority list. The day we 'skinned' the high tunnel will never be forgotten: family and friends and even my childhood next door neighbors volunteered themselves to fit the gigantic plastic sheeting over the house just right and 'wiggle wire it into place'. All the while, as you'll remember, the world was topsy turvy. And yet this collective of people was willing to come together to meet our contract deadline. Community is everything. Let us not forget.
Just last week I got a call from another NRCS angel to come in and sign some paperwork. It turns out the local office is a fleet of angels. Amen to a branch of the government that truly works for the people! I owe many thanks to this person who helped me understand how applications are scored for funding after being denied for the last three cycles. It couldn't be better timing to get approved as the fate of programs like this is up in the air depending on which administration comes to power for the next four years.
Here we are on the outset of round two with a much bigger contract. This go-round we will be building two high tunnels, installing in-ground, all season irrigation channels, rather than the fireman-style hoses we connected to our well and dragged overground to each field (yes...it has been extremely labor-intensive), as well as installing 3 acres of wildlife and pollinator habitat to offset our production and to encourage it. Do not fear! We have two years to complete our contract, we have a relationship now with a band of excellent contractors, and most advantageously, we have the benefit of making innumerable mistakes on our first go-round which will guide us along a smoother course.
We couldn't be more grateful for the wildness that is about to unfold. Once the dust settles, we will find more stability, and enough traction to continue on this ride of ours managing our business and living off the land.
Thank you for reading :).
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