Ep 1.13 Ashlyn Bristle & Abraham McClurg
“The jobs that I worked were a pickle factory and a spinnery and an apple orchard, All of those were learning how to operate in a system watching how other people create systems and deal with the logistics of production. I think now that's made me a pretty strong systems thinker. I'm good at being strategic and good at looking at the entire large moving sort of juggernaut of the farm and identifying where it's not working.”—Ashlyn Bristle
Ashlyn Bristle and Abraham McClurg come from a variety of backgrounds in art, education, cooking, and non-profit management. They met at a dance and “have been dancing ever since”. Their dance has included homesteading, renting land, buying a steep hillside farm, and growing a business through the stresses of COVID. Along the way, they’ve focused on setting up good systems, balancing farm time and couple time, and figuring out what enterprises they’ll keep doing and which they’ll drop.
“The jobs that I worked were a pickle factory and a spinnery and an apple orchard, All of those were learning how to operate in a system watching how other people create systems and deal with the logistics of production. I think now that's made me a pretty strong systems thinker. I'm good at being strategic and good at looking at the entire large moving sort of juggernaut of the farm and identifying where it's not working.”—Ashlyn Bristle
Ashlyn Bristle and Abraham McClurg come from a variety of backgrounds in art, education, cooking, and non-profit management. They met at a dance and “have been dancing ever since”. Their dance has included homesteading, renting land, buying a steep hillside farm, and growing a business through the stresses of COVID. Along the way, they’ve focused on setting up good systems, balancing farm time and couple time, and figuring out what enterprises they’ll keep doing and which they’ll drop.
Rebop Farm media:
Rebop Farm email
Rebop Farm Instagram
Some resources mentioned in this episode:
NOFA Vermont (Jen Miller)
FAMACHA—parasite management technique
Books:
Range: Why Generalists Thrive in a Specialized World by David Epstein
Other Useful links:
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Ashlyn Bristle
Co-owner/operator
Ashlyn Bristle co-owns and operates Rebop Farm, a diversified and pasture based livestock and dairy operation on a hill farm in Brattleboro with her husband, Abraham. She has been farming for just over a decade, and holds degrees in education and sustainable food and farming. Managing the farm’s soil for the health and well being of the surrounding community, the livestock and people that live on and eat from the farm, and the farm’s viability has become the foundational principle that drives her decision making. When she’s not working on the farm, Ashlyn might be knitting too many sweaters at once, baking, or hoping for the speedy return of square dances and pub sings.
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