Sunday, June 30, 2013

Natures harmony asking for money


I've written several entries about Natures Harmony, and my skepticism about their "farm school" -- purporting to teach you how to make a profit farming -- and about issues related to their animal husbandry.  Take a look at the reviews of Tim's book, "accidental farmers" to get a feel for the animal husbandry issues that I and many others, have had with Tim. 

Tim has spent quite a bit of money on his farm, and for someone who's going to teach you how to make a profit, it seems to be eluding him so far.  So he's started a kickstarter project to raise $27,000 to help him expand his operation.  

Normally I'd be all for a farmer raising money to promote better welfare practices, or more local food, or to allow them to be of service to their local community -- all of those are great things. 

But Tim has chosen, many times, to make decisions which I and many others personally disagree with, and I'd hate to see this guy get funded doing the stuff he's done in the past. 

Tim, you've talked for years about "transparency" and "openness" and every time you've hit a rough spot you've deleted everything you can, removed the archives from google and any other search engines and that's pretty much the opposite of what you claim to support and you relentlessly ban anyone who asks questions or makes a comment about your operation.  I have no idea how many people you've removed, but I've talked to quite a few over the years. 

Draw your own conclusions on why he deleted his blog, and his podcasts and most of the comments and information on his facebook page.   When asked he claimed it was the hosting fees -- and didn't bother to respond to me when I offered to pay them in full. 

Do the right thing, Tim.   Lets take farming to the next level, but with appropriate animal care and true transparency. 

2 comments:

George said...

I'm surprised they are running a farm school and cheese school.. having very little success or experience in either....

$750 a head to go to those schools.. yikes.

At least on their facebook page they admit to treating animals in a haphazard "natural selection" strategy.....

Anonymous said...

On their updated How To Become An Artisan Cheesemaker (without cows or a farm!) website, you can buy the entire online course for $495.
Sheesh.