Farmer Spotlight: David Pearman of One Rock Farm
Over the past decade, I’ve fallen in love with visiting local farmers markets and learning more about the incredibly farmers that put so much love and labor into growing food for communities to enjoy!
With my growing interest in their stories and what inspired their journey, I will be sharing Farmer Spotlights to shed light on farms across the country. My first spotlight features my childhood friend, David Pearman who is the founder of One Rock Farm in Maryland. Read more about his journey and what led him to farming below!
What inspired you to start One Rock Farm?
What led me to start One Rock Farm was a variety of inspirations from over the years. The first is nature itself. Like a moth to a flame, I’ve always been drawn to plants and I feel most comfortable around them. It feels like a calling in life, which still inspires me daily to get up and do this work. As far as turning that passion into a real business, I would have to credit a number of small-scale (yet, big impact) farmers that I studied and was inspired by. Through their excellent books and online resources, guys like J.M. Fortier, Curtis Stone, Eliot Coleman, Bill Mollison, Conor Crickmore and a few others opened my eyes to the possibility of making a living from the land without needing lots of machines, equipment or upfront capital. Their “market garden” style of farming was a new concept to me, and was exactly what I needed to discover to help me define what my own path in agriculture could look like.
What do you enjoy most about farming?
I really could go on and on about all the things that I enjoy about farming, but for brevity’s sake, I can sum it up by saying that I really love that I get to spend most of my days outside in nature, and all the experiences and feelings that come with that. No two days are the same on the farm, and I feel the greatest sense of personal freedom while I’m out there working. I love watching things grow all around me, admiring beautiful views and life interactions on a daily basis, using my physical body to make things happen, the seasonality of the work required, the visceral satisfaction of planting seeds and making food come forth from the ground, and so much more.
Describe a typical day on the farm?
I hesitate to use the word “typical” to describe any given day on the farm because I tend to focus on certain tasks on certain days of the week, and the time of year really dictates our schedule and priorities throughout the season. If we’re talking about one of our two harvest days per week, then on those days we are harvesting, washing, and packing our produce pretty much the entire day. All other days, depending on the day, we are generally doing a mix of watering the crops, keeping weeds at bay, preparing garden beds to be planted, fixing things around the farm and so much more.
What’s been one of the biggest learning lessons you’ve learned since starting?
I have learned so many lessons since my decision to start farming. I could probably write a whole book telling you about them all. Anyhow, for me personally, my biggest lesson learned so far was the necessity of accepting that I won’t be able to finish my to-do list most days, and that’s okay. The amount of things to get done on a diversified farm like mine is truly infinite, and even with a small team it’s just not possible to get it all done most days. Making that mental shift does not imply working less hard or accepting mediocrity, but rather is a coping mechanism toimprove my attitude and mental health throughout the growing season. In my first couple seasons I would drive home at the end of a long day on the farm worrying about the things I couldn’t get done before the Sun went down. This habit would increase my stress level and anxiety. Even worse, I would wake up the morning after feeling like I was “behind” every day, which was a feeling that would just compound on itself throughout the season and ultimately lead me to mental burnout. Instead, now I spend more time reflecting on what I was able to accomplish in a given day, without beating myself up for what I couldn’t do, and focus on what tasks have the greatest priority for the next day. This has helped me to have more peace as I work. We are humans, not machines.
What are your top 3 favorite crops?
My top 3 favorite crops are not necessarily my most profitable crops, just what I enjoy growing the most. This is not an easy answer, but if I have to choose three, I’ll go with okra, tomatoes, and swiss chard. I love the upright growth habit of okra, constant production, and it’s got to be one of the most beautiful plants that I grow. Maybe tomatoes are cliche, but to me there are few fruits or veggies more delicious than a fresh tomato in July. I also really appreciate the sheer abundance of their harvest, depending on how you grow them. Swiss chard has been such a dependable crop for me over the years, and I think the thick, glossy leaves are the most attractive of all the leafy greens that I grow.
What’s in season on your farm?
I am writing these responses in mid-June, so right now I am mostly harvesting garlic and garlic scapes, swiss chard, collards, lettuce, chives and french sorrel!
