Peer Mentorship for the Win

One of the GFF keys to success

I shared, a couple of weeks ago, an article that featured several of the webinars I have been a part of over the past couple of months. In one of those webinars, Jill Beebout and I shared key moments, or turning points, for our farms over the past couple of decades. The idea was that others might walk away from that webinar with hope that they too might find their way forward to being successful growers over time.

Neither of us sugar-coated things during the webinar. There are challenges. There will be bad years and even worse moments. And yet, there is also success and a way forward. Maybe some of our learning and experience could be useful for others even if the only thing that resonated was the connection that growers have by virtue of a shared profession.

I don’t know about Jill, but the process of preparing for this webinar served a positive purpose for me and our farm. I was reminded that the Genuine Faux Farm and its two farmers are not just defined by the bad moments, difficult decisions, and seasonal struggles. We are also shaped by many successes - even if we don’t always allow ourselves to celebrate them as much as we dwell on the failures, the lessons they offer, and the changes they encourage.

Peer Mentorship Making a Difference

One of the key positive turning points we highlighted in the webinar was our peer mentorship group. This group of farmers, initially known as the Gang of Four, has its roots in an event at Grinnell Heritage Farm in 2010. And for those who aren’t keeping score, that was a momentous year for us at the Genuine Faux Farm. We came within a whisker’s width of ending the grand experiment. Instead, we added a tractor, a high tunnel and, soon thereafter, a social support network.

It was at the Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI) conference the following winter (2011) that the idea of forming this group took shape. The gathering at Grinnell the previous summer had illustrated the power of connections to peers. In my case, I don’t think it was until that event that I realized exactly how isolated we really were. Our customers, no matter how supportive they might have been, could not fully understand what we were doing and what our struggles were. This was also true for our friends and our families. Their love, friendship, and support were important - of course - but they could not reach the same level of understanding that a peer could have for what we were experiencing.

Melissa Dunham, Tammy and I started discussing the idea while we took a break from PFI conference sessions in Marshalltown. And soon, Andy Dunham and Mark Quee (Scattergood Friends School Farm) joined in the planning. We were going to take turns each month traveling to one group member’s farm, doing some work, sharing some food, and having much needed conversation.

We had one problem. Three farms wasn’t quite enough. We all felt like we needed a fourth.

So, after a quick consultation, we decided to see if the “cool kids” of Blue Gate Farm, Jill Beebout and Sean Skeehan, might consider joining us. They looked a bit startled when we proposed the idea, but agreed fairly quickly after we figured out how to explain the idea well enough to make the plan clear.

You see, it turns out they probably felt a bit like we did.

I know we were a little surprised and probably more than a little pleased that some of our peers WANTED to be around us. And, even though we helped hatch the idea, we had some worry about how we could cram this into our already full lives. But, gosh darn it! We needed something like this.

It’s amazing - the power of knowing someone actually wants to do things with you.

Then, we all returned from the conference to our respective farms. It was at this point that I went through the five stages of disbelief:

1. A stage of general disbelief (I’m sure they’re just trying to be nice. They’ll probably disappear soon enough once they get to know us.)

2. A stage of amazed disbelief (What?!? They actually chose us? Wow. Do they know what they’re getting into?)

3. A stage of confused disbelief (What the heck are we getting ourselves into here?)

4. A stage of introvert’s panic - which is a special form of disbelief (Are you CRAZY?!? This means interacting with PEOPLE!)

5. And, finally, a stage of practical disbelief (There’s no way we can get this to work. We’re all so busy.)

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Commitment is Key

When that first visit approached in June of 2011, I will admit that we - and probably everyone else - was wondering how we were going to justify leaving our own farms for something as trivial as our own mental health. For those of you who have not done the small-scale, diversified farm thing in Iowa, the months of May through September are difficult times to leave the farm for any reason other than to deliver product or acquire supplies.

As a matter of fact, I remember feeling this way several times - especially during the first year. We would recognize that a visit was coming up. We would look at everything that needed doing at our own farm. We would consider how tired we were and wonder if we had enough in the tank to go through with the visit. We would consider, briefly, whether we might need to beg out of this particular event.

Then we would remind ourselves that we had made a commitment to do this and we would go.

And we never regretted going.

When obstacles came our way, we negotiated adjustments to what we were doing. Initially, we tried to pick a day during the work week to go on these visits. When that caused problems, we selected Sundays. When there were issues with that, we explored other alternatives. This was a necessary process because the needs of our respective farms came first and one farm’s structure and schedule did not automatically line up with another.

And we had four of those structures and schedules to try to navigate around.

Over time, there were scheduled events where an individual or two was not able to attend. But, there was always a representative from each farm - even if the whole contingent was not able to be there.

More important, our farming peers were there when they were needed most. I still remember how we came together for an unscheduled trip (2012) to Blue Gate Farm as the “fairy weeders” when Sean was in the hospital. You can bookend that with last year’s visit to our farm when our battle with COVID saw us requiring aid to jump start our season.

We have celebrated successes and life “wins” as a group, mourned and acknowledged losses, stood together when the challenges came, and provided listening ears and counsel to each other as we navigated our lives and our farms’ progress. This peer mentorship has evolved to the point that members are considered to be extended family, not just a group of farmers sharing work days.

Over the years, I have watched while others tried to mimic our peer gatherings without emphasizing the commitment portion of the project. And, I watched those groups fall apart, either quickly or slowly. It wasn’t for lack of good intentions and it wasn’t because the participants didn’t like each other or find some positives when they did get together. It was typically because they made it too easy to listen to the little voice that said “you’re too busy to go this time.”

And frankly, that could have been our group. But it wasn’t.

The truth of the matter is that peer mentorship is very much like small-scale, diversified farming. If you want results, you have to put something into it. But if you put what you need into it, the rewards far exceed expectations.

Evolving Over Time

After we cycled through all of the farms during the growing season, we followed that up with a November gathering that you could call a Thanksgiving Feast or a Harvest Celebration that was hosted by the Scattergood Friends School farmers.

There was A LOT of good food that came from each of our farms.

And there was good will.

And there was friendship.

But, even as we approached the time to depart our celebration, Tammy and I were still a little uncertain. We wanted to do this again in 2012, but what would the members of the other farms think of that idea? After all, we could call this a success - which it was - and then move forward in any number of ways. Perhaps some in the group would prefer to take the model and make it work with other farms that were closer to them? It’s not like we had a contract or exclusive rights to the members of this particular group of peer farms.

To this day, I am not certain who asked the question at the table. But I recall a feeling of relief when the idea to continue the next year was met with enthusiasm. It wasn’t until much later that I learned that some of the others were a bit worried that, maybe, the answer would be “no.”

But, we DID do it again. We even added something we initially called “Almosta Conference” the following Winter where we spent a weekend together and gave each farm space to bring their plans, farm issues or whatever they wanted for group discussion. We renamed this gathering “NOTA” (for “not a conference”) and actually held the 2024 edition at Blue Gate Farm a little over a week ago.

When one of the farms needed a little extra help for a special project, like putting plastic on a high tunnel, cabbage harvest, or catching up on planting after a very wet start to the season, there was often members of the other farms there. When our farm lost produce intended for our CSA because of the 2012 spray plane incident, it was our peer farms that provided us with replacements.

And, it’s become a running joke that we’ve provided a social support network for farm members who have lost body parts. No, I’m not referring to farming accidents where fingers and toes lost battles with machinery. But, our peer group has seen our share of medical emergencies from cancer to hip replacements. Our spare parts might have been enough to create a Farmenstein or Frankenfarmer…. or something like that.

Amazingly, our Gang is still at in 2024, even after significant changes that are bound to come over time. Our Grinnell Heritage Farm friends are now in Virginia, but they still came back for the 2023 NOTA. Our farm has scaled back as I took an off-farm job. Each one of us has made many big (and small) adjustments to our farms and our lives since 2011.

What sort of games do farmers play? Apparently gardening games

Gleaning Expertise from Peers

The greatest strength that comes from peer mentorship is the diversity in the ideas, approaches, goals and personalities that each participant brings. The other greatest strength is the similarity in our ideas, approaches, goals and personalities.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Each of us in the group is very different. We’ve got members who are very outgoing and others who are quite introverted. Our taste in books, movies, games, music and any number of things does not always match. Some of us speak often and others speak rarely. And that’s part of the reason why we provide space for each farm to take the lead. We are similar in that we respect and honor each individual and we are willing to be in their space when it is their turn. This gives us the ability to safely be ourselves and not feel pressure to try to be like everyone else.

Our farms are also different in many ways. This gives us opportunities to learn from each other. We can adapt our farm’s techniques so we might be able to adopt something one of our peers are doing. This works because we all have a similar overarching goal to operate sustainable and healthy farms that provide good food to our communities while maintaining the health of the environment around us.

We often saw the worst of each others’ operations. And we showed up at times when our peers were struggling. It is a testament to our friendship and commitment that we maintained a “no judgement” and “ready to help” attitude. We learned that a field can get “out of hand” at any of our farms. And we agreed, even if we didn’t say it out loud, that this wasn’t a competition. Instead it was a collaboration.

And, not surprising to me, these gatherings often provided a positive turning point for the season. Each farm experienced times when the world seemed like it was against it. Except the world couldn’t take us down, because these people were in our corner.

Adapting and Adopting

There are a number of things that changed at the Genuine Faux Farm as a result of our connection with these people we trust. For example, we always knew that the soil on our farm could grow excellent onions. However, our tools made it difficult for us to keep them weeded early in the season. As a result, we had inconsistent onion harvest quality. After Andy showed us the Williams Tool Bar (a flex tine harrow with other possible attachments) and discussed options with us, we took the plunge and picked up one that was the proper size for what we did.

The result has been consistently good onions each year once we adopted the use of the tool and adapted it to use within our system.

Then there’s Mark’s use of zinnias to mark the changes between varieities of vegetables and Jill’s tub sowing for onions. At least, I think that’s where these popped up in our group.

There are numerous examples on each of our farms where something was adopted and adapted to each operation. These changes did not always work with great success, but they were certainly more likely to succeed because we had some expertise within the group to help us climb the learning curve. Some changes evolved well beyond the initial adaptation. As a result, some of those modifications ended up being adopted/adapted by the farm that modeled the original idea.

Over time, it has gotten to the point that I am not always sure where some of these ideas originated. And that’s okay with me. Collaboration, not competition. Still, I will say that when I notice something on one of our friend’s farms that I am pretty sure started at ours, I count that as a tremendous accomplishment. Something we did positively influenced someone else in the group. There are few compliments better than that.

And here we are, looking at another growing season. It will be different than all of the others, just as every growing season has been unique in its own way. But, we’ll still have our peer group. Whether you like Zoom or not, it will allow us to get together and include our friends in Virginia. And the three farms that remain in Iowa will “run the circuit” twice this year.

And that little voice that says, “You’re too busy, maybe you should skip this one,” sits in the corner of the granary on a stool by itself. We’ve told it to go there and stay, because that advice doesn’t work and never did.

Here’s to peer mentorship.

For the win.