Ahhh, nothing quite like a pile of blank forms, waiting to be filled in, fitted with checks, and returned by deadline. January is the month to get the market garden squared away with the various powers that be. There are renewal forms for the farmers’ market (this form I like to see every year), farm business registration (need it for agricultural property tax rates, and to generally be considered an “official” farm), organic certification (a LOT of forms for that one), and for our spot on the small farm promotional map put out by the municipality. This farm is tiny and local and sells fresh veggies, all of which exempts it from a whole other world of paperwork that comes with organic wholesale, larger scale livestock, and anything to do with food processing. Once my forms are filled in and sent out, I’m luckily able to more or less forget about rules and registrations, and turn to the big garden for another year!
Lucky you to be able to “forget about” paperwork for most of the year. In France, filling in forms seems to be a national pastime!
Mountain Dweller: So I’ve heard! My sister got married and moved to France around four years ago, and the layers of bureaucracy and miles of red tape seemed to put her mildly into shock! Here, growing on agriculturally-zoned land seems to be the last hold-out of relatively regulation-free living. IF you’re just growing plants, and marketing fresh produce direct to customers, you basically don’t have to do too much, compared to the rest of the business world. It’s your right! Of course, once you start processing food, dealing at all with meat, dairy or eggs, re-selling other people’s goods (like, even, selling local preserves on your farm stand), the regulations rain down on you. I’m tiny farming in a tiny free zone… :)