Hello, I’m Paul, a future Ohio farmer. I currently live in a subdivision in Loveland, Ohio with a small garden, a couple honeybee hives, and a handful of chickens. While this doesn’t constitute a profitable farm, it has been an excellent starting place, an incubator, and a test lab for many of my ideas and visions for my farming future. Though I’m very thankful for the quarter acre on which I currently live, I eagerly anticipate moving to a larger space where I can turn my dreams into reality.

Ten years ago I spent one week in the training seat of a combine on a 4,000 acre grain farm. At the end of that week, I knew it: I wanted to be a farmer. What I didn’t know was how unsustainable and unhealthy conventional agriculture and row cropping is. By divine providence – or the fact that I didn’t have millions of dollars to spend on tractors – I never became a row crop farmer. Even so, my love for farming has not dwindled. My continued intrigue over the years led me to a new, better kind of farming. This farming is good for the earth, produces an abundance of healthy and nutrient dense food, is profitable, and is close to the dirt.

My long-term goal is to become a small-scale mixed vegetable farmer (aka a market gardener). I’ve come to enjoy all of the life that comprises my garden. Whether it’s watching the plants grow, observing the insects work or reaping the benefits of soil organisms, I am fascinated daily by the diversity and abundance of life in my garden. For these reasons and many others, market gardening fulfills my desire to grow food much more than conventional farming ever could. I’m excited to already be making progress towards my goal of becoming a market gardener. 2018 was an incredible year for my infant farm. I grew 10x more garlic than ever before. This single crop taught me more lessons than I could have ever imagined. In 2018 I was also privileged to learn a myriad of lessons from some truly amazing market gardening resources. I’m hopeful that 2019 will bring new land to farm, a bountiful harvest of many vegetables, and even more education through books, webinars, podcasts, and farm tours.

To watch the journey happen follow me on Instagram!