How To Start an Organic Farm – a visit to Fire Mountain

Catherine Gockley, owner of Fire Mountain Farm and Apiary, didn’t start out as a farmer. She didn’t even start out wanting to be a farmer. But once she sets her mind to things, they get done: having decided to become a grower later in life, she spent ten years learning and working to reach her goal. Fire Mountain is a beautiful example of an organic, chemical-free farm built on small acreage and with a reasonable budget— and Catherine made it all happen on her own gumption.

A bit of background: a trained geologist, Catherine worked as a backcountry ranger in Denali and Yosemite before deciding to become a grower. She found a couple of farms in the hills of California where she could work and live, picking up skills and experience from the landowners. She took a special interest in beekeeping, becoming an apiarist and even teaching chemical-free beekeeping workshops. And then she took the plunge, buying four acres of sloped, sunny property on the Pitcairn Mesa.

Catherine was my rideshare from Boulder to Paonia. I thought she was fabulous and fascinating, and I was intrigued by the idea of visiting a brand new organic farm. How do you get started setting up a small farm? Where do you begin, and where do you go from there? So I invited myself over to get a better look at Catherine’s method.

Fire Mountain Farm is small, but it’s the perfect size for Catherine: soon she’ll be able to support herself completely on this little piece of land. Here’s how she began.

Interns

Four acres isn’t much, but it’s still a huge amount of work. Too much work for one person, especially when everything needs to be built from the ground up.

Catherine posted on ATTRA and brought in a few hands: young people who want to learn by doing. They’ll live in town, and she’ll pay them a stipend just like at any other job. When I visited, only one of the interns had arrived; the other two or three were on their way to Paonia where they’ll work through the growing season.

Greenhouse

I’d never seen a brand-new greenhouse before, but this one was actually sparkling. Like everything else at Fire Mountain, it’s smaller than average— perfect for modest propagation and production, without taking up half the farm.

Catherine already had young tomatoes and other seedlings inside; they were tucked inside straw bales for extra protection from cold nights. As the nights get warmer and the greenhouse fills up, this won’t be necessary.

Planting

I arrived at the beginning of the growing season, so only a few things were in the ground: fruit and nut trees, grapes, greens, and other hardy plants that could survive snow and frost.

Some of the produce will be for eating, but quite a bit of it will be sold through a CSA and at markets. Fire Mountain is starting out with just a couple of beds for potatoes and other basics: It’s easy enough to dig new beds when you want to plant more, so Catherine is letting most of her back acre go to hay until she’s ready for big production.

Irrigation

Pitcairn Mesa is on the watershed of the Gunnison River: there’s an irrigation ditch flowing right down the side of the road, along the edge of Fire Mountain farm. Catherine can divert the water she needs (in the amount she has legal rights for). Then it’s just a matter of using ditches and pipes to move it around the farm. She’ll use flood irrigation for the sloped back acre.

Fauna

Just the basics: Catherine is starting out with chickens, ducks, and goats. The chickens, 11 young Rhode Island Red hens, live in a brand-new coop out by the barn, and spend their days in the chicken tractor (a large enclosed box that can be moved throughout the day to fresh patches of grass). The ducks are young too, a herd of handsome brown devils that glide through the tall grass en masse, muttering as they go. When I visited, Catherine was still waiting for her first dairy goats. By now I’m sure they’re all moved in, and (as goats do) making as much noise as they can.

Bees

Catherine being an apiarist, it’s natural that she’s got several hives around the property. She uses small bees, with a 4.9mm comb. Smaller bees are believed to be healthier, and around here a healthy bee does a LOT of good.

The Fire Mountain bees visit neighboring orchards, pollinating trees and ensuring fruit. They keep their home happy and fertile too… and then there’s the honey, which will bring a lot of money at market and be useful for local trading. Fire Mountain honey is chemical- and treatment-free, which is even more pure than the “organic” standard. I’m willing to bet it’s delicious too.

Income

Let’s not forget the most important part! It’s possible to have a self-sustaining farm, but the vast majority of farmers sell or trade their goods. Fire Mountain has a CSA – a very common practice wherein local residents pay a monthly or yearly fee and receive fresh organic produce once a week or so. Catherine will also sell everything from honey to duck eggs to chevre, all of it produced chemical-free. Between the income this brings and the fact that she can now grow most of her own food, she’ll be able to live off these four acres for many years to come.

And that’s the farm, in a nutshell anyway! For anyone reading who is thinking about starting a farm of their own, I have one very important piece of advice: get off the Internet and go get your hands dirty. I can give you the glossy overview, but the farmers have lots more to tell. Learn from those who’ve done it before: they’ll be happy to teach you in exchange for a little work, and you’ll be able to start out with confidence and skill like Catherine did.