After hanging out with my family in Vermont, I spent some time with friends who have a farm in upstate New York, an hour or so west of Albany. They've been there for most of six years, and during that time I've visited in the early summer, when we could just wander outside and pick whatever we wanted for dinner, and in the early spring, when the pickings were slim (though we ate well anyway.) This time there weren't many edible plants growing (except some wild thyme that we used for seasoning) but there was plenty of recently harvested food like squash, onions, garlic and beans.
They were shrewd and fortunate enough to make a sufficient down payment on their land to not have to grow any cash crops. Instead they're focusing on being as self sufficient as possible, growing for their own needs and experimenting as they go along. They've had pigs and goats, but the karma of killing them for food felt burdensome and, besides, the animals ate a lot. They have quite a few ducks and chickens and they sell eggs sometimes, but it's more of a way to spread around a good thing than an earnest money-making endeavor.
It's always refreshing for me to visit there and experience their unique perspective on agriculture. I spend so much time around farmers who are struggling with the economics of small-scale enterprises. Some of them are better farmers, with more experience and resources (not to mention soil that hasn't been depleted by hundreds of years of use), but they don't have the kind of freedom that comes with building something specifically to meet their own needs. It's unconventional, but it's exciting to watch it unfold.
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