My name is Ariella Falkowski, and I was, for many years, a wandering farmer. I realise that is a bit of an oxymoron, as farmers are classically people that belong to a place, that know a piece of land well. They know how the seasons play out over the land, they know the soil. They are stewards of their land, and they have sunk their roots down deep.
And that is what I have long aspired to. However, having not come from a farming background, but realising while I was rather young and penniless that I wanted to farm for a living, I had to go about getting to that place of rootedness creatively. I spent many years working on the farms of others, in different parts of the world, trying to glean from the wisdom of other farmers, trying to learn the complex art of farming from their experience and my own.
I favoured spending whole seasons, or multiple seasons on one farm, in order to get a feel for the ebb and flow of things from planting to harvest. So I did not move around to different farms every week or month. Rather, I gained a feel for a farm over a season or two, with some depth.
And in this semi-nomadic way, in going from farm to farm, I managed to find a place in which to settle at the Lohbrunner Community Farm Co-op, a piece of land to sink my roots into, where I can continue to learn my chosen craft, where I can be a steward of land and soil, growing food and community.
The Nomad Farmer 