Two weeks later, on a rainy weekday morning at eight-thirty, Tom drives a battered mini van to the Hillsboro light rail station, waits for about ten minutes. The train arrives, empties. Seven passengers, led by Mei, march over to the vehicle and strap in. Enthusiastic conversation makes the twenty minute drive to the farm seem like ten.
Sitting around the old dining wooden dining room table in the farm house, Jim smiles and shakes his head. This is going to be a real adventure. You guys, I can't guarantee anything, but you have come to the right place if you want to have a shot at realizing you own potential. Don't hold back, you're here because you are a winner. Most of you are young and jobless up until now, it's a tough economy. We're all here to learn and grow, to give it our best effort. Let's go around the table, say a few words about yourself.
Mei speaks first. I just want to say thanks for doing this, Jim. I went to college in Michigan, and came to Oregon because I feel like it is my destiny. I want to get something going with China - some trade or agricultural exchange.
Tom says, you college eduacated kids, I work on cars, I'm pretty handy with a lot of things, but maybe you guys can teach me something. Jim interjects, as you all know, I am paying coffee shop wages to everyone, but, there are exceptions, - because of their years of experience, and specific skills, Tom,Pete and Marti are getting double coffee shop wages. Just to be clear.
Sarah, Anna and Kristin are college friends. Sarah is a biologist, her main interests are sustainable forestry and food production. You came to the right place to practice your ideas, grins all around. Kristin has a marketing degree from Ohio State. She's interested in marketing farm products to the three dozen or so open air farmer's markets around the Portland area. She believes relationships can be established with local vendors to brand the farms food products, and get the story behind the food out to consumers and diners at restaurants. You can wholesale to retailers or direct at a lot higher margin that just selling your filberts and berries to the grower's cooperative. Eveyone nods in agreement. Anna is a philosophy major. She spent a year living at a rural study program in Japan. I can teach you guys the zen of being satisfied with a simple bowl of rice, and I'm a hard worker. She's funny and likeable.
Well, my name is Flash, I'm a computer guy, I design online computer games and I have also done hardware work on computer and telephone systems. I have a double major, electrical engineer. Um, I really enjoyed harrowing that field during the visitor day. Everyone laughs.
Marti: my parents wanted me to be a structural engineer, when I was a kid, they drilled math into me. I worked in a company for a few years, I hate sitting behind a desk. I love engineering, I can afford to do this for a while, I told Jim, there are a few things I'd like to do for the farm, like work on engineering some specific alternative energy generators. I don't think Jim will mind my saying that he has a very clear plan for some projects, and the money is budgeted.
Finally, it's Pete's turn. I graduated from he culinary institute and have run kitchens at various downtown restaurants over the years, specializing in Northwest food creations using local ingrediants. I plan to be more my own boss a little here for a while, work on some ideas and get recharged. Oh, one minute - he walks back into the farm house kitchen and returns balancing a couple of huge trays of pastries, sandwiches, and fruit, vegetable and nut creations. After another round trip from the kitchen, he's carrying pitchers of coffee and fruit juices. I like to eat. the aroma of baked goods and cheese and coffee fills up the room.
Jim says, welcome everyone, and thanks. Obviously, this project is a social and economic experiment. My goal is to break even, apart from the capital investment in the farm, after the first year. That means, paying everyone's wages and paying for the cost of materials on stuff that gets sold or traded off the farm.
Tom, Mei, Marti and I have laid out some infrastructure. I have purchased eight used camper trailers, and these are set up in a village near the west forest. They're pretty nice, when you're inside, it feels like a small apartment. You can commute to the city on the light rail and keep your apartment or whatever your living arrangements are, or you can pay a few hundred bucks per month to live here. If you live here, your water, electric and heat are included with the trailer. Marti and Tom are working on the plans to build a boiler plant near the village, powered by a wood burning furnace that will produce lots of hot water, which will heat the trailers and provide hot water. We'll buy our electricity for now.
You're paid for eight hours a day for your labor, if you want to work longer on your own projects, no one is stopping you. There is money available, come up with an idea and give me a business plan describing the specifics and you can go for it. For example, if you want to be the chicken specialist, you may want to take over one of the outbuildings and invest in feed and equipment and sell meat and eggs at the farmer's market. You can keep a third of the profits, after material costs and the cost of your wages is deducted. It is going to take more than eight hours a day to make money on chickens, but you are free to leave after you put in your time, maybe you'd rather spend the time commuting to the city, if you have commitments. The van is be available to shuttle over to the light rail station.
My goal for the farm is to come up with some sustainable practices and systems that can be replicated, or franchised, all over the state. By franchise, I mean, having a business that runs when you are not there. You come up with the ideas and do the hard work up front, maybe you replace yourself with employees at some point so you can do on and do something else, think up new ideas or go have fun, but the business works whether you are there or not. It doesn't depend on you personally, and the equipment and procedures are standardized. Make sense?
The other thing is, Flash has been working on getting us wired, and we'll soon have satellite cable and wireless internet on the whole farm, and the cell phone coverage works everywhere. I'm throwing in a nice big flat panel screen into each camper. The farm house here will be used as a common area, Tom is helping build out another bathroom, there will be three bathrooms with showers here, as well as the campers. Tom and I will be commuting and living at our homes nearby.
Pete's going to be working on one gourmet meal every day. That's on me, at the farmhouse. We're going to be working on some product development, frozen food meals and so on, but also provide one main meal daily for anyone who sticks around, that will give us a little informal social time to meet or relax over food and process our problems and progress.
Ideally, every one is going to find one area to take charge, and then you'll have to negotiate with each other if you need help, additional labor, to make your project a success. I guess Flash is interested in running the tractor and doing some planting out in the open fields, is that right, Flash? Flash is deeply engrossed with something on his laptop, and he looks up and smiles. Uh, yeah. And I've got a new idea for an online computer game that could generate some good revenue, if anyone wants to trade for a few chickens, looks like I'll have some cash.
Jim says, nice, that reminds me, you're all free to barter with each other for goods that help make your life better here. I just want my two thirds cut on the profit of stuff that gets sold off the farm. Obviously, I have to pay for the land and equipment and supplies and your labor. That should give you an incentive to create some wealth for yourself, to pay back your student loans, or save money to buy a house in the city, or start your own farm.
For anyone who is staying here tonight, why don't you go check out the campers and get settled, and Tom will be running the van over to the train station around six. We'll put in a full day of work tomorrow.
