Get To Know Your Farmers: Insights from Richard & Rafael!

Rafael Morales Peralta (L) &
Richard de Wilde (R)

By Andrea Yoder

We want to welcome each of you to the 2022 CSA season!  It’s been a challenging start to the season as we’ve had an extraordinarily late spring, possibly record setting!  Despite very few dry days, we have been able to get quite a bit planted, but we need some heat so things will germinate and grow.  It looks like we may see some temperatures in the mid to high 60’s by the end of the first week of May, but that’s still unseasonably cool for this time of year.   Right now, crops are behind.  We planted a crop of baby arugula with your May boxes in mind, and while it’s up, it still needs several weeks before it will be big enough to harvest.  We will have to see how this month goes, but strawberries may start ripening later as well.  We’re thankful to have overwintered spinach for this first box, and hopefully the second as well, but it’s been a weird crop.  It started last fall.  We planted it at the scheduled time, but it was about 10 degrees above normal and the spinach grew much larger in size than it normally is going into winter.  Then the first new growth this spring was damaged by a hard frost.  Now we’re in a situation where the plants want to bolt which means the crop will end sooner than we had hoped.  Nonetheless, Mother Nature always takes care of us and we’re doing everything we can to pack some nice spring boxes for you.  The silver lining to having a late spring is that we have ramps for at least the first two CSA boxes, which doesn’t happen every year. 

Richard in his "office"

As we kick off another year, we realize we have a mix of familiar faces joining us for another year along with many new members who are joining us for their first, second or third year.  Thus, we thought it would be appropriate for you to get to know your farmers!  Several years ago we shared the stories of Richard deWilde, our farm founder, and his right hand man, Rafael Morales Peralta.  If you didn’t have a chance to read these articles, we hope you’ll take a moment to do so.  You may not realize it yet, but you are very lucky to have these two very extraordinary men as your farmers!   Connection is a very important part of CSA and we want you to know who is responsible for growing your food!  Thus, as we continue to get to know each other I thought it might be fun to interview Richard and Rafael about their perspectives on each other!  So I sat down with each of them individually and asked them each similar questions.  As you read their answers, thoughts and perspectives about each other, I think you’ll gain some insight that just might make you proud to call them your farmers.

Why did you choose to be a farmer, or did farming choose you?

Rafael checking the status 
of crops

RAFAEL:  “As soon as I came to Harmony Valley Farm, I liked it.  As I got more involved, I liked it more and more and that is why I continue to want to learn more.  We’re never done learning!  When you like what you are doing, you want more.  I like to learn and discover more things about organic farming.”  Is Organic important to you?  “Now, yes.  Before, no.  I didn’t know about organic before.  Now I know how important it is to eat organic vegetables.”

RICHARD:  “I grew up farming, went away to college and never wanted to see another rock or bale of hay in my life!  But then after the ins and outs of professional life, I was looking for more meaning in my life and work.  I remembered how,as a kid, I enjoyed seeing healthy crops and fields of flax in bloom and I decided I really liked farming.  And I still like it!”

Why do you like working with Richard / Rafael?

RAFAEL:  “Besides the work, I like to work with Richard.  He is more to me than my boss.  He’s like my second father.  The reason I like to work with him is because he is a genius of organic farming.  I want to  learn from him and discover more things.  I research things on the computer and then when I tell Richard about it, I realize Richard has it in his head already!  Every single question I ask Richard, he answers.  I feel very comfortable asking him questions and even though he’s very busy, he always answers me.  I feel that connection with Richard, like a father.”

RICHARD:  “Rafael’s smart, but more than that he’s really driven to do a good job, to learn new things, be better than last year.  For example, right now he’s studying growing degree days so we can anticipate the predicted emergence of pests we deal with.  Specifically we’re concerned about staying ahead of the cabbage maggot that eats a lot more than just cabbage!”

What have you learned from Richard/Rafael?

RAFAEL:  “First, I’m learning how to be a good person.  Right now I’m patient.  Not in the past.  I didn’t stop for anything!  In my first year or two here I made some big mistakes, like spraying the wrong field that wasn’t on my list.  I had to tell him what I did and he didn’t get angry at me.  He said ‘Well, lets see what happens with this crop.’  He always stays calm and shows kindness.  That’s what I want to do for others.  I was different in the past.  Working with Richard every day, I’ve learned how to be a good person, helping others, thinking about others.” 

Richard & Rafael evaluating a crop of tomatoes.

“I’m learning the way he teaches the crew.  No matter what’s going on, he’s there to help us, like actually in the field!  In the beginning I didn’t want the job cultivating with small tractors because Richard was always in the field!  It made me nervous and we had a language barrier.  Little by little he taught me and he kept telling me ‘You can do it.’  I believed him!  I remember one of my first cultivating missions.  He sent me to field 62 to cultivate carrots.  I got there and started cultivating.  Richard got to the field and said ‘Rafael, what are you doing?  I said wait for me.’  Richard jumped on the tractor and he made it look really easy!  But when I got on the tractor the steering wheel was difficult for me to control and Richard said ‘Don’t kill any plants!’  I started slow, but I practiced until I could do it more quickly.  Now I’m teaching other crew members in the same way Richard taught me.  We have more implements now to use for cultivating and we understand the concept of cultivation so we can create and invent new techniques.”

RICHARD:  “Rafael constantly reminds me of things we know and principles about running the farm.  He brings them up and puts them into action.  For example, things like how we have to plan for efficiency so we are ready for the crews, you know with instructions, wagons prepped, etc.  In particular he really pays attention to taking care of our machines and making sure they are ready when we need them.  It’s all about management, you know.  I don’t know, did he learn that from me?  Doesn’t matter, he’s doing it!  He's also really good about giving people credit where credit is due.  Specifically, in regard to taking care of things, paying attention to our machinery and noticing when something is wrong before it becomes a big problem.” 

What qualities do you appreciate/admire in Richard?

RAFAEL:  “He has too many good qualities!  One quality is the ease with which he makes decisions.  For me, it’s not so easy and when he’s not here I think ‘How am I going to do this?’  For example, I worry about having to order expensive parts, but he’s not worried.  I guess it’s because he has a lot of years of experience in the business, but it’s hard for me just to think about it!”

“I like his ways, in general just the way he is.  One day I told Richard ‘I’m going to try to be like you.’  He told me ‘You can do better.’  I looked at him and said ‘No way!’  I try my best every day.  Sometimes he shows up with new ideas and it takes me a long time to understand the new concepts.  I try to keep learning new things.  He already has the knowledge, but he needs to share it with us!  He’s super smart!” 

“Richard told me one time that when he wanted to go into organic agriculture his Mom & Dad said ‘You can’t do it.’  Nobody believed in him, but he worked really hard and now we have Harmony Valley Farm.  So when someone says ‘You can’t,’ work hard and show them you can!”

RICHARD:  “Rafael is very fair minded and really wants everyone to be treated fairly and respectfully.  He cares about our standing in the community and goes out of his way to communicate with our landlords and help them out when he can.  For example, one of our landlords told him he was concerned that his honeybees didn’t have enough pollen sources in the fall.  So we worked up a little patch of ground and planted some late blooming wildflowers for his bees!”

Rafael, what is your Vision for Harmony Valley Farm?

Rafael Morales Peralta, a visionary

RAFAEL:  “My vision is to keep working together to keep building Harmony Valley Farm in the best way to keep it going for a long time and to fulfill Richard’s dream.  To keep growing vegetables in the best way for many many years.  I understand the farm now because I have a bigger perspective.  Before, he would give me my mission for the day, I did it and was done.  Not now!  Some days I get tired and have to go to bed early, but the next day when I get up I have the energy to keep going!  It makes me feel good to grow organic food for humans.  That makes me feel really good.  But I couldn’t do this without Richard’s support.”

Richard, how Does Rafael fit into your vision for Harmony Valley Farm?

RICHARD:  “Rafael showed an interest in learning and I decided he was the best candidate to take over my field job, which is why I initiated the process to get permanent resident status for him.  Now, here we are 5-6 years later.  Rafael is a permanent resident and we’re at the final hurdle of getting his family visa’s too so they may join him!  We’ve worked together now for 10-12 years and it just keeps getting better and better!”