So what if Andrea, 32, had never even weeded a garden before? How hard could farming be? the Bemis’s thought. They quickly learned the answer.

“We were on a field crew of 15 folks and quickly learned the true meaning of hard work,” Andrea tells Modern Farmer in an email. “Back-breaking days in the hot and humid weather, coupled with an endless list of chores, was a complete wake-up call. Somehow, through the chaos of the hard work, we fell into a good rhythm and fell in love with working the land.”

In 2012 – after three years at Hutchins Farm and a stint as the caretakers of the Ralph Waldo Emerson House – the couple headed back west to farm their own patch of land in Parkdale, Oregon. More than half of the six-acre Tumbleweed Farm is dedicated to vegetable production for the Bemis’ 50-member CSA, as well as for the local farmers market and nearby restaurants.

Modern Farmer: Why do you consider yourself a modern farmer?

Andrea Bemis: If the farm is my office, the kitchen is my happy place. I want folks to be stoked to eat more vegetables. One of our strongest marketing tools is our farming/cooking website Dishing Up the Dirt where I post three to four recipes a week using the majority of the produce that goes into all 50 families’ CSA boxes that particular week. A lot of folks who were hesitant to sign up for our CSA because they weren’t sure they’d be able to find creative ways to cook through their boxes have been members for multiple years now. Nothing makes us more proud than receiving emails or text messages with a photo of a meal one of our members made using a recipe we created with the food grown on our farm. It’s pretty damn cool.

MF: Why is it important to you to support local agriculture?

AB: Supporting local agriculture is really important to me not only because it helps keep small farms in business, but it brings the community together. When we sit down to eat dinner, it’s not just the two of us at our table. Our neighbor’s cheese is sprinkled on our pasta. The beef is from our favorite ranch, and the fruit is from the hard working orchardists right down the road from us. It’s pretty special to put a face behind the food we consume, and when it’s fresh and local it simply tastes better.

MF: If you could grow or raise any food or animal, what would it be and why?

AB: If we could grow avocados in the Pacific Northwest I’d be all over that. We’re also planning on raising pigs for the 2017 farm season, and we’re getting pretty excited to have a few more farm animals join us at Tumbleweed.

MF: What’s your favorite vegetable?

AB: Beets. I love them raw, roasted, or blended with goat cheese and smeared on toast.

MF: If you could give other modern farmers any advice, what would it be?

AB: Apprentice on someone else’s farm before diving in head first. If we hadn’t had the experience of learning from seasoned farmers, we would have drowned. Also, find your people. There is nothing more comforting than sharing the joys, sorrows, and little triumphs with fellow farmers. We are lucky that we grow food in a valley with a lot of other folks doing similar things. Clinking glasses and sharing a cold one with folks whose hands are just as dirty and calloused over as your own is pretty darn wonderful.

MF: Do you have a farming/agricultural hero? Why do you admire them?

AB: My father-in-law. We would not be where we are today if it wasn’t for his knowledge and guidance.

MF: What was the biggest mistake you’ve ever made in regard to farming? How did you solve it?

AB: Not setting up a proper deer fence our first year on Tumbleweed Farm. We didn’t realize how destructive the deer could be, and we had to cancel our wholesale lettuce accounts for two months after they wiped us clean out in the fall of 2014. They’ve cost us a lot of money, time, and sleepless nights. Thanks to Taylor’s mad fence-building skills we are now resting comfortably with a proper deer fence surrounding the whole farm.

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