Forward, OH
Two years ago, LFV moved to southern Ohio with a plan: purchase a 500-acre farm with funds promised to arrive by March of 2020 and begin student and family courses in 2021. In the meantime, we would work with local farmers, veterans and educational institutions to increase our knowledge base, partnerships and understanding of the unique agricultural conditions of southern Ohio. By January of 2020 everything was on track, all our primary staff were moved in; we were attending the “New and Beginning Farm Program” at The Ohio State University CFAES in Ross county. We had a farm identified and agreements from multiple groups and individuals to help refine and implement our unique program for veterans and their families. Then Prussian General Carl von Clausewitz’s adage: “No plan survives contact with the enemy” and Murphy’s law: “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong” began to rear their heads. By the end of February, Covid-19 had begun closing banks, educational institutions, and international travel, while limiting onsite and in person engagement with many of our partners. By the middle of March our promised funds were halted while the institution tried to navigate the new terrain of the Covid-19 world.
To navigate the changes in the environment we shifted our focus to building relationships and service opportunities with local veteran farmers and individuals practicing regenerative techniques0 on their farms and production facilities. Or in other words, we began to focus on farm visits to engage in as many hands-on learning experiences as possible and began experimenting with different building technics and agriculture practices as permitted. Overall, we found great success even in our failures that have helped us to refine our plans and projections.
As a result, we have adjusted our large-scale plans to fit the funds and experiences we have gathered so far. We are shifting from working hundreds of acres in large plots and fields to urban agriculture, small scale livestock production and alternative construction focused on local sales and marketing. Our classes for Veterans and their families will echo these changes and will begin in the spring of next year.
We are continuing our hands-on partnerships, specifically those that focus on traditional practices and multiple spectrum agricultural integration (have a hand full of items work together to produce dozens of marketable products). To that end we are attending an animal drafting exhibition in near Peebles, Ohio this upcoming weekend. We would love to see you there and thank everyone for their continued support. May you learn from us and adjust as needed in the battlefield of your life.
Sincerely, Deven Little and LFV