 |
Hand-Raised Organic Garden Starter Plants |
Meet The
Farmer
|
|
Before he was
partially disabled by a near fatal central
nervous system infection, our farmer, Dr. Harold Miller, started and
sucessfully operated the first USDA certified organic Community
Supported
Agriculture (CSA) project in the Texas Hill
Country (near Moutain Home). He has since
recovered to the point that he is able to get back to both his great
passions, organic farming and making pottery. (Please visit our sister
site "Harold
Miller Stoneware.") Farmer Miller's current activity in organic
farming is limited to growing seleted organic herb and vegetable
starter plants for sale in Austin, where he lives. He also does
container gardening for his
family's and neighbors'
enjoyment. Below is a short bio penned by Farmer Miller as a prelude for a 2003 interview with Corinna Hawkes, PhD, for an article about Community Supported Agriculture in an international food production trade journal: "My father, Oscar 'Ox' Miller, grew up on a West Texas cotton farm during The Great Depression, and could hardly wait to get away from farming. And so I grew up in the city (San Antonio, a great city). But most of Ox's siblings stayed in West Texas, and they stayed with some aspect of farming or ranching. Two of his sisters married cotton farmers, and these two couples also raised most of their own vegetables in very large garden plots. "Some of my happiest childhood experiences involved spending 2-3 weeks of my summer vacation with the two 'farmer aunts' and their husbands. At harvest time, we would all go to one or the other of their gardens early of a morning to pick sweet corn ("roasting ears"), blackeyed peas, green beans, etc. In the afternoon, everyone would help with shucking, shelling, etc., and the entire harvest would be canned or frozen by day's end. The following week we would do the same at the other couple's garden. I felt a great sense of belonging, a great sense of accomplishment, and I learned to share my relatives' respect for the land and their gratitude for its bounty. "My parents--and these wonderful aunts and uncles, as well--encouraged me to study science and mathematics, to become an engineer or research scientist. (This was the way for children growing up in the 50's.) I eventually became a physician, but I started backyard gardening while in junior high school and continued it whenever I could find time--even during medical school. "Also during medical school, I read the book Living the Good Life: How to Live Sanely and Simply in a Troubled World, by Helen and Scott Nearing. And while I was very busy with medical school and internship, and with helping raise three wonderful daughters, my pipe dream became a simple life of sufficiency farming. Also while in medical school I read an article in the Dallas Morning News which predicted a national renewed interest in locally grown produce, and specifically the "pick your own" system of distribution. I filed it away in my 'Farm' folder. "After my medical internship (1978-1979) I moved my family to Alpine, Texas, and there I truly enjoyed the waning years of the golden age of medicine as a Texas country doctor. I also had my first really large garden while in Alpine. With the help of my daughters, I grew more vegetables than I could give away--especially the cucumbers and squash! But the times were changing, and, after trying different practice arrangements in different Texas locations, I found that serving in rural community hospital emergency rooms is the closest I could get to being a Texas country doctor. My wife and I moved to Austin in 1991. (Our daughters are through college and out on their own). In 1999, I was able to purchase some acreage near Mountain Home, Texas. At last I could practice medicine part-time and farm part-time, so I began researching my options, including 'pick your own.' I definitely wanted to avoid having to grow a single cash crop, and didn't want to become ensnared in the 'agribusiness' system which is now ruining most family farmers and their precious land. "I discovered the Community Supported Agriculture concept through a web search for 'pick your own.' The first book I found about CSA was Farms of Tomorrow Revisited: Community Supported Farms--Farm Supported Communities, by Steven McFadden and Trauger Groh. It is written with a touch of missionary zeal, but is otherwise an excellent guide. While I am perhaps not as zealous, I do believe that the CSA movement--especially where members help with farm work--is a small but necessary step toward restoring a sense of community & connectedness, which, in turn, will have some beneficial impact--however small--on our society as a whole. We are forming a small community of like-minded folks who want locally grown organic produce, and who like to get their hands dirty doing it. Our CSA members are invited and encouraged to take part in all aspects of the growing cycle--invited and encouraged to reclaim a sense of belonging, a sense of place and of nature’s own time. "There is something immensely satisfying about working outdoors, with the earth, until dusk-- knowing you've completed a day's work done well." |
| HOME |
ABOUT THE FARMER |
CSA
ARCHIVES |
THIS YEAR'S SELECTIONS |
CONTACT |