Labor of mixed emotions

Growing up, Nic Theisen thought farming was a terrible way to make a living. Still, at the end of college, he was won over while working a fall harvest on a farm. He’s been farming ever since.

Nic’s childhood opinion wasn’t totally wrong. He and his wife, Sara, have operated Loma Farm in Traverse City Michigan for the past fifteen years, growing vegetables and flowers. But it’s hard. After spending day after day on their hands and knees in the dirt, they hardly make a profit from the farm.

“I call this whole project a labor of mixed emotions,” Theisen says. “It's not a labor of love. Sometimes it is a labor of absolute disgust. I cannot stand it. It is so hard, and I feel so downtrodden. Other times I'm just floating through the beauty and the luck of it all.”

This is a story about working really, really hard and still not knowing if you’re going to make it. Until something big changes.

Click Points North to listen to this podcast.

Editor's note: This story was adapted from Points North, a podcast about the land, water, and inhabitants of the Great Lakes, from Interlochen Public Radio.