Growing Food + All Its Challenges
When Ana was 12 months old, we were driving home from a road trip and my husband (Dustin) said “if you and Ana die, I’m going to move and become a farmer.”
My response: “uh, why do we have to die for you to have a career change?” 😬
A year later he started doing all the research, found a piece of land to lease in Acme, Washington and he went for it. 🙌🏼 In addition to learning about soil, growing food, pests, irrigation, environmental obstacles, equipment, etc, he instantly needed to be good at marketing, customer service, distribution, social media, small business bookkeeping... it was so overwhelming.
Who chooses THIS much hard work only to be questioned on pricing and value (gulp, thank you farmers and craft food producers, I see you and I love you!) No wonder the farming population is declining. This is HARD AF.
So we talked at length and realized that if we can make it easier for producers to sell, market, and distribute their food they could have better margins, reduce waste, and ultimately do more of the work they love. So, that is the true story about how we started a little side hustle known as Acme Farms + Kitchen in 2011.