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Gabriel Hahn
Farm Manager
Seeds of Hope Farm
June 30, 2015

When did you know that you wanted to work in food?

I was about to get a Bachelor's degree in English, but was tired of being inside and learning about not much besides standardized testing, so I got a job on an organic vegetable farm. Tedious harvests led to talks about the world's problems, such as the likelihood of a failing economy. So, one morning picking raspberries, I just knew. I also figured if I knew how to grow food, I'd always have a job and a satisfied belly.

How did you get your current good food job?

My old boss called me up and told me about this farm management  job opening up, and that I should apply. He's one of the brightest people I know, so I took the advice. I didn't have the experience needed (but luckily no one else who applied did, either) so went heavy on the charm during the interviews.

How did your previous work or life experience prepared you for a good food job?

During high school and college I was pretty angry at the world, so that developed some coals. Once I got my first job as a farm hand and had Brett Palmier as a boss/friend/teacher, he really helped me both broaden and refine my views on the world. One day he said, 'Stay angry Gabe, you'll get old like me,' so I started to do what I thought was right in the world instead of fighting the wrong. In my travels through South America I got connected to nature, permaculture, and people living close to the land. I wanted to make a positive (and smaller environmental) impact in my daily work and be connected to the living world.

What was the greatest obstacle you had to overcome in pursuing your good food job dream?

There are more small things than one huge obstacle, but sometimes the long hours needed to get the project up and going the first couple years really got to me, as did the bureaucratic nature/difficult to balance schedule of paperwork and meetings while needing to be in the field growing. That disharmony has never felt good, but I'm grateful to be doing the work I am and maybe it can help the way to a better food system and more people growing their own food.

The other hurdle would be in the nature of working on the food desert issue. People have been so left aside and so limited in choice that connection/interest in health and well being fell off the radar a generation or two ago. The lack of interest in good food, self sufficiency, and learning we sometimes encounter from our local community can feel defeating or insurmountable - but growing and eating healthy food is such a key to empowerment that we have to keep on. You can learn more about how we go about it on the Seeds of Hope website.

Name one positive thing that a former employee taught you that you continue to appreciate?

My first day at Biver Farms, Brett came to the field and picked cherry tomatoes with me for about an hour. We talked about world economy and a few other things, but what stuck with me was that he mostly asked questions, though he knew more about the topics at hand. I later figured out that Brett understood that getting to know his employees created better employees, and that personal relationships foster care and integrity. His listening that day, and for the following three years, helped me to feel valued. He was also open and honest about the nature of farming, its toils, and his thoughts on where the food movement really needs to go, and I always appreciated that.

What can you identify as the greatest opportunities in food right now?

Every day is the greatest opportunity. Each is an opportunity to grow food, be outside, get exercise, and connect. We expand the capabilities of our senses by gardening, and can use all 5+ while doing so - and increase self sufficiency and reduce economy by doing so.

It's a fact that when the topic of real food or gardening comes up in almost any conversation, people want to talk about it. There is an instinctual awareness that people want to connect with. Sometimes when I talk with people who aren't part of the food movement, they often seem to have a shade of guilt or feeling of disconnect by not being part of it. If that's true, and I think it is, there is a huge market at the edge of people's conscience. Put that together with California's current drought conditions, and we can quickly move to a smaller, more local food economy - or better yet, more people growing more of their own food.

If you could be compensated for your work with something other than money, what would it be?

I am well compensated by people sharing their praise of our project, helping us out and other things. But, in place of money, community, mainly housing/land/tools, would sure be great. It'd feel pretty clean trading work for a few primary needs.

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