The farmer next door
By Paige Southwood
Paige Southwood
Bozeman, Mont.
STORY SUMMARY
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Young, educated people across the U.S. are finding themselves unimpressed with Zoom screens and office work, and are choosing to replace their desks with tractors on organic farms like Rocky Creek Farm in Bozeman, Montana. The privileged few live off meager wages and live in vans and RVs while migrating with the seasons and harvests across the country. This type of manual labor, typically sought after by foreign migrant workers, finds a unique home among these environmentally-conscious youth in the West.
Under the shade of Rocky Creek Farm’s greenhouse, Anastasia Jermolaewa and Marcela Sinnett peel organic onions to sell to local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) members in Bozeman, Montana. CSA farms take subscriptions for produce and deliver to local consumers.
Sinnett helps the cider press conveyor catch apples for juicing at the beginning of the apple season at Rocky Creek Farm.
Organic red onions lay out to dry in the greenhouse before heading to local markets.
Ben Austin hustles to feed the hungry hogs, comparing the melee to the mosh pits from his days touring with The Cure.
Blood drains from the recently sliced arteries of the broiler chickens before they are cleaned and packed for Rocky Creek Farm’s CSA members.
Sinnett watches the cider press closely to prevent the antique machine from stalling.
Austin and Sinnett enjoy lunch by their tent trailer, where they live in the farm’s pine tree grove.
After a day of heavy labor, Austin and Sinnett relax with some samba dancing and music.
Herbs are hung to dry in one of the farm’s many barns where CSA boxes are packed and loaded for delivery.
Farm workers toil under the autumn sun gleaning a second cut of broccoli, the last of the harvest before the winter season.
Workers enjoy a lunch break and freshly-made salsa from the farm’s midday school program.
Thomas Roseen carefully gathers delicate edible flowers for restaurant delivery from the greenhouses he has tended since April. He lamented that the squash and cucumbers were lost to an early frost.