FARMER Videos
A Video Tour of the Chinese Medicinal Herb Farm with Peg Schafer
A conversation with Lilium Farmer Jonathan Major…
Andi Houston, of the Academy of Five Element Acupuncture in Gainesville, Florida, forest farmer and Lilium Initiative volunteer did an interview with one of Lilium's farmers Jonathan Major from Southern Oregon. She did both a written interview and also an online interview of Jonathan to learn more about his work and journey to get here. Please watch the rest of the interview above.
Andi: “How did you get started?”
Jonathan: “In 2011 my partner of 12 years and I bought a piece of land in a rural farming area of Southern Oregon. Over a few years we built a home and were then wondering how to best offer something back to our community. I had studied and am currently practicing Acupuncture. The dream of having medicine growing on the land has been active in my imagination for decades. Through friends and farmers, I learned about Peg Schafer's work, and went to meet her. I was instantly inspired and signed up for her internship program. I made sure I spent as much time learning with her as I could. Prior to this, I have had lots of gardening experience, Permaculture design training and some WWOOF experiences.
I started to grow five different medicinals on a very small scale and connected with a local farmer as a mentor. He helped me understand how to approach the land and start to cultivate crops. Slowly each year I have built up the soils, expanded my experiments, and focused on growing a few plants at a larger scale while I continue to grow more perennials, trees,and vines from seed. Peggy has been an indispensable mentor, guide, and resource over the years.”
Andi: “What aspect of medicinal herb farming do you find the most difficult?”
Jonathan: “Am I doing it correctly? Will those seeds ever germinate? (They often do, maybe weeks or months later). These are often the questions and concerns that come up for me with new plants and the reality of longer gaps between planting seeds and harvesting medicine. I also am challenged by the immense amount of work that spans the extremes of physical labor, organization, marketing and communication.”
Andi: “What is your most profitable crop?”
Jonathan: “That is a great question and is hard to navigate, I work between 8 and 14 hours a day 4-6 days a week, I don't pay myself an hourly wage and I rarely have covered the costs of growing and investing in my business. It's hard to reconcile costs of growing from seed, weeding, watering, maintaining, harvests and processing versus the amount that comes in with each sale. I hope by year 10 I start to see some balance of input and cash flow. Farming isn't a profit rich trade, unless it's a cash crop that is often exploiting resources and may damage the environment.”