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Slaves No, Partners Maybe (long)



Here's a copy of the letter that I think is going to be my standard response
to the sudden inundation I've been receiving of people offering to apprentice
themselves to me for "room and board" (with or without stipend).  This is
offered as a thought process starting point for other CSA folks or wannabes,
not necessarily for suggestions helpful or critical about my own opinions and
processes.  <G>


Dear ________:

I read your letter with interest and indeed we might be able to work something
out.  However, as one person attempting to start an intentional community I am
not in a financial position to take on any helpers or housemates who can’t
contribute financially as well as with work toward shared goals.

I do think you would learn here:  I've been in this CSA business for almost
ten years, am a former vice president of the Northeast Organic Farming
Association of New York Inc. and member of their statewide farm certification
board, and am a Cornell Cooperative Extension Master Gardener.  In addition to
growing more than 200 varieties of mostly-open-pollinated-and-heirloom plants
I raise dairy goats and poultry, train goats and horses and ponies for packing
and harness work (and train the horses and ponies for riding).  I'm an
approved equine rescue and rehab site for Panorama Horse Sanctuary, Inc., a
not-for-profit group that rehabilitates horses so badly abused or neglected
that the state police have removed them from their former owners.

What I _can_ offer is an opportunity to build something worthwhile together,
and to share in whatever profits we can create by working together.  I offer
every applicant the opportunity to trade help with non-CSA house and yard work
for half of their rent and utilities share, and housemates are offered a full
working CSA share (other people get to work off half of a share price).

It costs me $1315 a month to maintain this place:

	Mortgage $600 (only $25 goes to principal, rest is interest and taxes)
	Insurance $75
	Electric $100
	Heating Oil $100
	Firewood $25 ($300/year)
	Cable TV $60
	Telephone (2 lines) $80
	AOL $25
	Taxes on vacant land $50 ($600/year)
	Improvement/equipment loans $100
	Monthly maintenance (average) $100

This doesn’t count the unexpected incidentals of any homeowner, like
unscheduled repairs to the frozen/broken water line in the laundry room and
repairs to the water-damaged electric line ($300), driveway plowing ($50 last
week), getting the latest cat drop-offs neutered so I can adopt them out next
summer ($200 -- they don’t have a chance in the local shelter).  Well, maybe
not just any homeowner.  And none of the above address any of the business
expenses of the farm or livestock feed and housing and veterinary care, which
I also cover out of my own pocket and from CSA subscriptions without any
charge to the CSA members for land use or equipment use or my time.

On top of this, I’m working two temporary jobs.  I’m sitting on about $40,000
in equity here (from my life’s savings and small inheritance from my mother)
but can’t get another loan without a “qualified co-signer” because of my
temporary status.  Have been in both of these positions for almost two years
but neither of the companies will move me to permanent status.  Talk about
your basic rock and hard place!

I hope you can see from these details why I can’t afford to hire people
whether I’m paying them in cash or room and board.  And working for room and
board gets dicey -- at its best it’s sharecropping where the landlord enjoys
all of the profits, at its worst it’s slavery.  Neither of those Oppressor
roles are acceptable to me.

I’m looking for people who accept responsibility for their own well-being and
support, who are willing to commit -- and risk -- as much time and effort as I
am to shared goals of environmental and community and personal survival and
success.  Note again that I am not asking fellow travelers on this path to
make any financial commitments other than their own support while we develop
the farm to provide for all of us -- and by doing so, show other struggling
farmers and intentional communities how it can be done.

I’ve been working toward this for nine years and this farm is ready to blossom
as a business: 

	I’m almost certain to qualify for a loan for a new big pro Troy-Bilt tiller,
which means the gardens can be expanded this year with a minimum of extra
labor from their current 4 acres to 10 or more.  Note again that I’m willing
to personally take on this financial commitment.

	I’ve already developed relationships with local tractor freaks for plowing
and other services at reasonable rates so I don’t have to maintain super-
expensive equipment.

	I’ve set up networks with ten other farmers in the region to cover an area of
more than 1,000 square miles for a CSA alliance headquartered here.  

	I’ve built the business skills to be able to go anywhere in the country
during the off season and earn $25-$50 as a technical writer.  Of course, I
can only do that with trustworthy people caring for the animals while I’m
gone.

	AAA is promoting the farm this year as a bus tour destination; my next-door
neighbor has established an auction barn business and has agreed to let buses
park in his lot and to have people use his rest rooms.  

	I’ve also made an alliance with a local retreat and conference center -- and
with a local bus company -- to bring busloads of people from New York City,
Rochester, and Syracuse for the weekend to learn about organic farming and
enjoy a trip to a pick-your-own farm.

	I’ve applied for three SARE grants and will almost certainly get at least one
grant this year from SARE or one of the other places to which I'm applying.  

	I’ve negotiated with the regional Food Bank warehouse to allow me to
sponsor/supervise a two-acre “Helping Ourselves” garden at their site next to
the area’s major mall.  Worthwhile work and great publicity.

	I’ve also arranged with the Food Bank to sponsor a Farmer’s Market at their
warehouse (free setups right next to the mall).   Farmers can donate leftovers
right into the coolers at the warehouse and receive a Fair Market Value tax
deduction receipt from the Food Bank -- rather than taking them home to toss
on the compost pile or staying up until midnight after an already-long day to
put them into our own freezers.

	Ash Grove will also be at the Farmer’s Market I helped to create in downtown
Corning.

	Have also arranged with several local churches to create a fundraising
program in their health-department-certified kitchens in exhange for using
same kitchens to prepare canned and frozen farm produce.

	Am now setting up my strategy for presenting the CSA concept at local
churches and schools and recruiting 1,000 members for this year.

All of this is certainly going to require more work than one old lady with
physical disabilities and two jobs can put into it!  There’s going to be
plenty of work.  But it is ready to all come together and if somebody can make
a commitment to cover half of their own rent ($200 for two of you) and their
own food ($100 per week for two people, any leftovers from the monthly budget
divided by the number of housemates and refunded at the end of the month to
encourage everybody to be frugal), I see no reason that within a year or two
this place can’t be providing a good annual income for up to five people so
that none of us have to work off the farm.

Speaking of which, there are good jobs available in the area.  It’s New York
State’s #3 tourist destination, there’s a community college just five miles
away, several manufacturing plants within ten miles, a day treatment center
(almost always ready to hire good compassionate people -- minimum wage but
very rewarding work) just two miles away.  

I can help with transportation if it doesn’t take me out of my regular route
or schedule -- for instance, can get you down the hill to a friend’s house
where you could keep your bike to get you the rest of the way on the flatland
to a job, bring you back up the five miles of hills on my way home.  Area bus
service is improving greatly as our population continues to increase. 

 If you qualify for food stamps, you also qualify to use the local handicapped
assistance transportation service (wow, somebody has finally recognized that
lack of money in this society is a handicap!), which will pick you up at the
farmhouse for $1 and take you into town where you can catch other buses (and
bring you home again).

In the 13-room farmhouse there’s room for up to five unrelated people (so says
the local housing code -- it would be a squeeze with only one bathroom but
we’ve done it for months at a time).  With standard local rents running $500
for a one-bedroom apartment when utilities are included, I’ve set the “base
rent” for Ash Grove housemates at $300 for singles, $400 for couples.  Up to
half of this amount can be worked off as stated above.

The food-and-supplies (toilet paper, dish soap, etc.) budget is set at $50 per
person per week.   Anything left over from the monthly budget is divided and
refunded to all housemates at the end of the month, encouraging everybody to
be frugal.

I’m glad to accept food stamps and food pantry donations toward food, also if
you elect to take on working shares in the community garden that’s applied to
your food contribution.

For instance, you can work five hours each for a $40 weekly garden share when
the garden is producing, so your food contribution is reduced to $60 for that
week.  If you also bring in a $20 package from the food pantry (which you
would easily and legitimately qualify for as part-time minimum-wage workers),
it’s down to just $40 for the two of you.  $160 as opposed to $400.  Let’s
then say we all stay happy and healthy with rice and beans and fresh cilantro
and mesclun salads and chicken soup and homemade biscuits (in other words, we
eat well on healthy food -- we’re frugal, not deprived) -- so we work together
to keep our food budget low and each housemate gets back $30 at the end of the
month.  So for at least 25 weeks of the year (garden producing), groceries for
the two of you would cost just $25 a week ($12.50 each).  It’s complicated; I
hope this example has made sense.

I just can’t afford to have any more people in here who are emotional,
financial, and labor drains on me.  The ones who live in continual states of
chaos, who get in the door and then flatly refuse to pay any rent, who track
in dirt but are “too tired” to take it back out.  Please forgive me if I seem
very slow to extend trust.  I’m still willing to trust people -- but it’s got
to be earned.  Words are very nice but they don’t pay my bills or lessen any
of the considerable burdens on me.

Beyond working toward part of their rent and food, everybody who works with
the livestock or gardens gets to share in the profits (income from goods sold
after I’m paid back the money I paid that year for equipment maintenance,
taxes, insurance, soil amendments, seed, hired tractor services, animal feed,
supplies, tools, advertising, market fees, and transport of goods to market).
I cover all of those expenses and do not ask others to take them on -- but I
do insist on being paid back before we start talking “profits”!

Not counting the food reductions scenarioed above, you could easily support
yourselves with local part-time jobs, even at minimum wage (and there are
better jobs available in the area):

	20 hrs/wk @ $5.15 = c. $100 less $20 taxes = $80
	 x 2 people = 	$160
	x 4 weeks/month = 	$640

	Rent/utilities		$200
	Food			$400

For income from the farm this year, I’ve bought seed enough to plant about six
acres.  Four acres are already under cultivation; two more will be first-time
gardens this year.  Almost everything is planted in raised intensive beds.  Oh
yes, I also established one restaurant relationship last year, which went
pretty well, so I’m figuring on farm income from June through October to be:

	Corning Farm Market:	$200/week
	Mall Farm Market:		$500/week
	Elmira Farm Market:	$200/week
	Restaurant #1 Sales:	$200/week
	Restaurant #2 Sales:	$200/week
	CSA Sales:			$300/week (30 members @ $10 each)
	Bus Tours:			$400/week (40 people/bus x $3 x 4 buses/week,
							less guide/driver gratuities and 
							parking fee to neighbor)
	Workshops:			$500/week (10 people x $25, 2 ‘shops/week)

$2500/week total x 20 weeks = $50,000 - $10,000 operating expenses/advertising
				   = $40,000/4 (you, your spouse, me, and one other 							working an
equal number of hours)
				   = $10,000 profit share for each of us

Note above that I also mentioned 1,000 members of the CSA alliance above and
beyond direct Ash Grove CSA members.  For distributing food from the 10 or 20
local farmers to those members, I’m also getting 20% of the sale/share price
and $25 per member ($15 of which goes right back into member services).  If
you took part in these endeavors you’d also receive a percentage of that
profit.

It would then be up to you whether to a) quit your “day” jobs and live off of
this income for next year continuing as housemates, b) grab your boodle and
run <G>, or c) invest in the farm as formal partners and intentional community
members.   Meanwhile, you’ve got good living about as cheap as you’re going to
find it anywhere and a heck of an opportunity to make a difference by building
something the world -- and this particular community -- needs.

This isn’t as organized as I’d like it to be; I’ve taken more time putting it
together than I should -- the outside animals still aren’t fed and I’ve only
had one cup of coffee.  I hope I’ve been able to make it clear in a kind way
what I can’t offer (free room and board, or accepting responsibility for you)
and what I _can_ offer (an opportunity to work with me to build something
pretty wonderful without risking anything more than some time and effort for
one season).

Sincerely,





Dori Green, Facilitator

PS -- With your writing skills I don’t see why we couldn’t also work together
to develop a Flying Squad of home-based technical/business/personal writers,
web page designers, etc.  Just for the “off” season, you understand (VBG).  I
have a $2500 professional business computer system with zip drive, printer,
scanner, and modem.  Digital camera is next!  I also do word-for-word tape
transcriptions for attorneys, doctors (under duress -- those guys insist on
dictating while they eat lunch and are picky and slow to pay), and people
compiling family histories.

I’m located about 250 miles from New York City.  A local bus company runs
weekly excursions into Atlantic City for $35 round trip including about $10 in
quarters and doesn’t require you to stay in Atlantic City for the day, just be
back at the pickup site on time.  See, I know how to get around even with a
1984 two-stroke Chevy station wagon that I don’t drive farther than 125 miles
because that’s the limit on my free towing on AAA.

Dori