MORE on Backyard Farmers

Well, there are apparently MANY people successfully managing companies like MyFarm. (See my post from yesterday on how this company sets up and maintains urban farms in people's backyards).

Here is information on Your Backyard Farmer in Portland. These two women have been setting up backyard farms for several years and many articles claim that they were the first to come up with the idea. See this Edible Portland article and The Portland Tribune. They charge about $40 per week to come maintain the farm and harvest the vegetables. They have been booked for two years straight and have a waiting list for 2009. There is apparently a big need for this service.

I realize that people hire these companies because they do not have the knowledge and/or time to garden themselves. But my first thought when I read about this was that it was unfortunate that the clients were missing out on the journey. The food was just delivered on their doorstep and they were not getting to experience the garden. However, after more reading, I discovered that the clients do indeed enjoy the journey. Many of the clients come out and help when the farmers are working in their backyards and many others decide to maintain the gardens themselves after the first year. They change the service to a consulting service so they still receive guidance. They just needed the help in getting it all started.