Interviewed by: Andrea Yoder
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| Rafael Morales Peralta |
This week we’d like to introduce
you to Rafael Morales Peralta, the most recent addition to the Harmony Valley
Farm, LLC partnership along with me and Richard. Rafael set out to write this article himself,
and while his English is quite good, we knew he had more to share with all of
you than his knowledge of English words would allow. So, Rafael and I sat down and had a long chat
about who he is and what he’d like to share with you about his life’s
journey. I’ll do my best to convey his
thoughts and hope that one day in the future you will have the opportunity to
talk with Rafael yourself! Before we go
any further, Richard has a few introductory thoughts he’d like to share.
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| Rafael operating the ASA lift root crop harvestor, October 2019 |
“Harmony Valley Farm is my life’s
work and it is my desire to see it continue indefinitely into the future. My own biological son, Ari, was raised on the
farm and understands the challenges, but is pursuing a career as an environmental
lawyer and does not wish to be “stuck with having to manage the farm” when I
retire. Thus, I’ve sought out
individuals to bring into the business as co-owners and partners to carry
Harmony Valley Farm into the future. Andrea
has definitely proven her mastery of organization, food safety, sales,
greenhouse and packing shed management, and so much more. With help from Simon, Kelly, Gwen and Amy,
they are a team that is managing the details well through very challenging
times. But then there is the additional
challenge of field planning, machine maintenance, planting crops, managing
irrigation, weed control, coordinating the harvests, cover crops, fertility,
and so much more. It is too much for
Andrea or any one person to manage it all.
Thus, for the last 15 years, I have been looking for an individual who
has the potential to fill this role.
There have been a few promising people, but for a variety of reasons it
was clear that our need was not in alignment with their path in life.
When Rafael started working here, it was
clear he had an intense interest and desire to learn. He was always there to help whenever there
was a need. He rose in the rank of
possibility as he mastered every task presented to him and continued to look
for more responsibilities and thrived on learning new skills. He also started to contribute in greater ways
by starting to suggest improvements to the way we do things. So that led me to make the decision to
sponsor Rafael for a permanent visa to facilitate the opportunity for him to
become an owner in the business. After a
long process spanning nearly four years, Rafael finally received his permanent
residency status last year and is in the process of getting visas for his
family so they may join him. We are
hopeful that we’ll see them before school starts this fall.
Despite Rafael’s limited formal education, he
has demonstrated a desire to continue to learn and he is a very intelligent
individual. He has mastered the internet
and uses it to research new cultivating methods on You Tube, locates parts
diagrams for old and specialty equipment and orders parts that are difficult to
find. He has been well-received by our
local suppliers and is earning their respect.
I continue to help out with the difficult agronomy, fertility, pest
scouting, setting priorities, etc, but Rafael now handles the majority of the
daily questions, problems and needs that come up. The crew now calls Rafael and Andrea first
because they don’t want to risk waking me from my mid-day nap! I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with
Rafael and feel confident he’ll carry the farm into the future.”—Richard de
Wilde, Harmony Valley Farm’s Founding Farmer
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| August 2012, Rafael Harvesting Sweet Corn |
Rafael comes to us from a small
community in Mexico called San Miguel de Allende which is located in the state
of Guanajato. He was born and raised in
this community, and this is where his family still lives. He comes from a very loving, tightly-knit
family. There are 8 children, four boys
and four girls. Rafael is the youngest
of the boys. His brothers, Manuel,
Alvaro and Alejandro also work at HVF and it is clear that they were raised by
very good parents! I asked Rafael if he
respects his parents and he answered immediately with a very strong “Yes,
absolutely.” His parents struggled to
overcome during very challenging economic times while he was growing up. While they may not have had an abundance of
financial resources to buy them “things,” they always pushed their children to
do the right thing and continue to strive to be good people and have a better
future. From his humble beginnings,
Rafael was taught the value of working hard from an early age. He shared with me that his grandfather had 1
hectare (2.2 acres) of land that he grew corn, beans and squash on. Rafael and his brothers remember helping his
grandfather work the land and care for the crops. Most of the food they grew went to their
large extended family, but the squash was a cash crop. Actually, he didn’t sell the squash but
rather the seeds. Rafael remembers
having to scrape the squash seeds out of the squash. He also remembers how sore his fingers were
after doing this all day! Once the seeds
were extracted his grandfather would lay them out to dry before putting them in
big bags to take to town and sell. On
the days Rafael and his brothers helped him he would send a little extra food home
with them. Even before they could bring
home a paycheck, this was their way of contributing to their family’s
needs.
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| Rafael doing precision cultivating of 5-row cilantro crop |
Rafael and his brothers went to
school, but Alvaro and Alejandro were the only ones who completed high
school. Manuel, the oldest son, left
school after the third grade so he could work with his father to provide for
the family. His father was a hard
worker, but the problem was that things were not good in Mexico at that time
and people worked hard but received very little pay in return. With eight mouths to feed, it was hard to
make ends meet. As Rafael got older and
began to understand his family’s situation more clearly, he really wanted to
help his parents. He made the decision
to quit school after his second year of high school so he could work. While Rafael doesn’t regret leaving school to
help his family, he always had a desire to continue learning. He worked for awhile on a large broccoli farm
and later had the opportunity to come to the United States on a H2A visa to
work with race horses in Kentucky. He
did this work for about three years and then the opportunity fell through due
to some unfortunate circumstances. While
the pay was better, working with horses was not something he really enjoyed,
especially after one bit him on the arm!
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Spending time with guests in the sweet potato
field, Harvest Party 2019 |
In 2004 Rafael married his
beautiful wife, Adriana. It is very
clear that Rafael and Adriana have a very strong relationship. Rafael describes his wife as “a great
woman.” I asked him to tell me what
makes her “great.” She is a strong woman
who has always stood by his side as they have created goals and dreams together
for their family. They function as a
team and she has committed to working just as hard as Rafael to create a better
future for their family. They both
understand this means making sacrifices sometimes. While they would like for their family to be
together, they realize the opportunities for working in the United States afford
their family more resources to build their future. So, while Rafael is working here, Adriana has
done her part to manage their household, raise their children, take care of her
parents and continue to help others in their community who are in need. She also started a small business selling
kitchen supplies in order to earn some extra money. Rafael has a tremendous amount of respect for
his wife and further describes her as a very caring individual who is willing
to help anyone. Together they have three
children. Jimena, is 14 years old. She does very well in school and wants to
study medicine and become a doctor. She
is a tremendous help to her mother. His
oldest son, Adrian, is 13 years old.
He’s a quiet child and is interested in becoming a mechanic. Their baby is Mateo. He is 4 years old and is totally different
from their two older children! He is
very outgoing and isn’t afraid to talk to anyone. He keeps everyone entertained and laughing!
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Rafael is happiest on a tractor!
October, 2010 |
Rafael’s brother, Manuel, came to
work at HVF in 2009. After his first
year, Rafael asked him if there might be an opportunity for him to work here as
well. Manuel asked us and we said “yes!” At that time, Rafael and Adriana were looking
for an opportunity that would move them closer towards their dreams for a
better life. They were working very hard
seven days a week. Rafael was working
construction Monday through Friday and on Saturday and Sunday he would work
with Adriana at their own little business.
They rented a grill and sold taquitos from their own little food
cart. Rafael describes the opportunity
to come and work at HVF as the first step on his journey to achieving his
dreams. He didn’t know it at the time,
but the opportunities would continue to stack up over time and the fact that he
was present and willing to take risks and step outside of his comfort zone put
him in a good position for a better life.
Rafael remembers calling Richard on the radio on only his second day of
work! He didn’t even know how to speak
English, but he heard how others were talking on the radio. He was working with Manuel doing irrigation
and they had a problem with a hose and needed Richard’s help. He called to Richard using the limited words
he had, and the end result? “It
worked! He understood me and showed up
in the field to help us!” Little by
little over time, Rafael’s confidence was built.
One time he was clearing brush with Vicente.
Vicente, an experienced equipment operator, was running the skidsteer with the
brush puller on it. Rafael asked him if
he could try. Vicente wasn’t so sure it
was a good idea because Richard hadn’t given him permission, but he let Rafael
have a chance at it. No more than three
minutes after Rafael got in the skidsteer, Richard pulled up in his truck. “Oh man, I’m in trouble” was the thought that
rolled through Rafael’s mind.
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Making guajillo salsa to serve with goat
carnitas at our crew harvest party! |
He stopped the machine and started to get
out. Richard motioned for him to get
back in the skidsteer and continue. He
wanted to see what Rafael could do! There
was another similar incident where Rafael, Vicente and Manuel were clearing a
wooded area with the bulldozer. Rafael
did not have any experience operating the bulldozer, but he had been carefully
watching Vicente, Manuel and Richard.
They had a tricky situation where they were trying to move a large stump
to a pile to be burned. Vicente, Manuel
and Richard all gave it their best shot, but none of them could make it
happen. Richard left and Vicente and
Manuel resigned themselves to the fact that it couldn’t be done. Rafael on the other hand had been watching
all the tactics that were not working and devised a different plan for how to
move the stump. After Richard left he
asked Vicente if he could try. While
very hesitant, Vicente agreed to let him try after saying “Come on Man, you’ve
watched all of us try and it can’t be done.”
Rafael tried his plan and within five minutes he was able to move the
stump to the desired location. When
Richard returned and saw what had been done he asked “Who moved that stump to
the pile?” Rafael was very nervous. He knew they had to tell him, but he also
knew he might get in trouble since Richard had not given him direct permission
to operate the bulldozer. They told
Richard Rafael did it and to Rafael’s surprise, Richard looked at him and gave
him a big “Thumbs Up” and a smile. Yes,
this was certainly another huge boost in confidence for Rafael!
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| Rafael preparing to kill weeds with the Flame Weeder |
Over time Rafael continued to seek
out more “missions” and willingly accepted more responsibilities. He continued to align himself with opportunities
to learn more from Richard and other experienced crew members. He reached out to Vicente who spoke very good
English. Vicente became his teacher
helping him learn more English so he could better communicate with us
independently. Now, Rafael recognizes how his hard
work and perseverance are paying off. He
loves his job and wants to continue to work here into the future. He also loves his family and wants them to be
together. Going back and forth to Mexico
year after year is hard. It’s hard having
to leave his family every year. They all
want to be together and hopefully, they are close to realizing that part of the
dream. As Rafael continues to build his
career here, he realizes how much his work has become a big part of his
life. He knew very little about organic
agriculture when he first came here, but over time he’s come to value this
method of farming and the benefits it has to the people growing and eating the
food as well as the environment.
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Always optimistic, Strawberry Day, 2019
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We continue to learn from each
other. Farming is not easy and we get a
lot of curveballs thrown at us every year, but the three of us continue to push
forward. While we all come from slightly
different backgrounds, Richard, Rafael and I all come from humble
beginnings. We all understand the value
of working hard and have a desire and passion to carry this farm into the
future. Richard and I appreciate
Rafael’s energy, enthusiasm, positive outlook and drive. We are happy to have him as our partner and
want you to know we are doing the best job we can to grow vegetables for you
and your family. We also look forward to
meeting Rafael’s family. Even though
they are in Mexico, they too have greatly contributed to the future of Harmony
Valley Farm with through their love and support.
