Help Mark and Bo relocate and start over
Donation protected
My name is Mark and my canine companion is Bo, we are farmers.
Semi- Nomadic farmers. February 2022 Bo and I traveled back to the town I spent my childhood in to work on a Dairy farm and get more experience handling cattle. Somewhere along the way I wound up growing produce for their monthly meat CSA share (I am a veggie farmer first/cattle second), as an additional perk for their investment. February 2024 I moved to the farm and that gave me way more focus to tend to the cows and my garden, but then a bad wind storm blew away the tiny green house I used to get my plants started.
I created a professional document with a cost of rebuild and plan for expansion and the people whom I work for read it (allegedly) and then turned me down while still expecting the same results as the year prior.
In the end many things were late or just didn't grow at all.
2025 I decided to invest my own funds into preparing for the growing season, to grow my own food and really bulk up the CSA. After purchasing all of the supplies, driving around finding everything I needed, and purchasing all the barn and field clothes I needed for the year...the farm decided they no longer wanted me to grow food for the CSA (this was end of February- early March they decided to tell me)
Things have since downward spiraled.
This farm has
- told me I can't sell plant starts or produce at the Farm's store.
- asked for receipts, when provided did not read document until a month later and tried to share the google document with non-paid employee/volunteer whom has a history of harassing me and when reported I would be asked not to say anything because he works for free.
- experienced a handful of their own misfortunes causing a range of issues. Lack of sufficient workforce, funds, and management to name a few.
Now I am out of $3,700- $4,500 and need to figure out how to pay all my bills and move off of the farm. My Van may or may not make the trip so I must prepare for that repair or alternative option as well. My investment to this farm was with the intent of selling and eating most of it to save on food and pay for the supplies I purchased.
I need help to get the heck out of this mess and not fall further into debt. Bo and I just need to pay off the expenses and secure ourselves for a bit while we move back to Michigan and find housing and work.
Organizer
Mark Cleveland
Organizer
Spencer, MA