Andy

My wife, Emily, and I have been interested in growing more of our own food and developing a small-scale market garden for a number of years now. I am a teacher of eight years (currently middle school in Alberta); my wife used to teach ESL before we began having children (two boys and two girls, ages eight to five months) and she now is at home with the children and homeschools the two eldest. We believe we are approaching a crossroads, both in my career and in our lives in general. We believe it's time for us to take a more intentional approach to the land and to community, and we are looking for an opportunity to meet the right people and begin building a more connected, grounded life. Does that sound naive and cliche? So be it. The situation we're looking for: a farm with housing available for our family of six (yikes?!), with opportunities for mentorship in growing, marketing, and running a small farm business. Ideally I would work full-time on the farm from the outset to maximize my contribution to the economy and profitability of the farm and to accelerate my learning. I have a passion for learning and for growing/raising food. I've done our own small-scale family gardening for years, but I know I have a lot to learn about larger operations and, well, everything, really. I've worked for a season on a large berry farm driving tractors, taking inventory, etc. so I have a foundation to work with, but lots of room to grow. I bring plenty of energy and enthusiasm, a modicum of intelligence and wit (just a modicum, though), and a strong work ethic and sense of personal and professional integrity. I am a hard worker, I'm relational, and I love working with others. We are interested in a situation in which I would be the primary farm worker/partner (Emily volunteers me for the grunt labour), but in which our whole family would be able to contribute to the life of a small but meaningful community and where our kids could learn, grow, and contribute to the vision of the farm. We'd like to grow veggies, fruit, grain, flowers, and seeds and raise some small amount of eggs/meat or some combination of these things. Preference for organic/sustainable practices. We'd like to discover if this could be a way of life for our family, and we are willing to relocate to make it happen. Please get in touch if you would like to talk more. Warmly, Andy and Emily Casali P.S. A random smattering of our personal interests, in no particular order, for a flavour of our family: -bird watching (Danny, our 6-year-old, is our family's current leading ornithologist) -board games -long naps (well, the adults like these - the kids seem to be opposed, for some unfathomable reason) -Wendell Berry ("Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front" anybody?) -any purple vegetable -fishing -skating -reading -homemade bread (einkorn is our most current revelation) -long naps (did I mention this one already?) -poetry -anything that ends in "-berry" (purple raspberries are a personal favourite, though the kids claim the golden ones are superior; what do they know?)