Martice Scales and Amy Kroll, the owners of Scales Family Farm, grow vegetables, herbs, and flowers on their one-acre plot in southeastern Wisconsin. Scales Family Farm has been operating since 2016 and now is a 32-person CSA through an incubator program called Fondy Farm.
“We grow beyond organic methods,” Martice says. “We firmly believe that when it comes to growing food, you should be able to walk on the plot and put whatever that you’re growing in your mouth without worrying what chemicals are on the plants.”
Right now, Martice and Amy are not pursuing organic certification because they farm on rented land. That, however, does not keep them from preparing the soil for the next farmer once they obtain their own land.
“Our goal is to replace and enrich soil,” Martice says. “Not necessarily just for me, but for the next person that comes in. When we started, we had weeds that were difficult to deal with, so our farming practices will keep the next grower from running into problems like that.”
Martice and Amy practice biointensive farming, and they grow crops in a way that forms a canopy, keeping down the weeds and protecting the crops from the need to use any chemicals. They also do a compost regiment, adding organic matter to the land to make it more fertile. Martice says that they want to leave a healthier plot of land to whoever comes after them, so there is no temptation to use any harsh chemicals.
“It’s a sort of a contract you enter,” Martice says. “The soil consists of lots and lots of living beings, and you want to do right by it or else it can absolutely destroy everything you put in it. You have to take care of it. Even if it takes a long time to turn back on you, it will happen.”
For Martice, farming is a calling, and his respect for land became rooted into taking back the power to farm ever since he learned of having farmers in his family during the post-slavery period. The parents and grandparents of most Black people that he knows have tried to get far away from farming because of the trauma they had endured when it comes to agriculture and slavery.
Prior to quitting his job at the Eco-Justice Center in Racine, WI, and starting Scales Family Farm, Martice says that he had not grown a single vegetable. Even though he had no experience, Martice did not give up and put in the work to learn how to take care of the land.
“Farming for me is not necessarily about the money, it's about rebellion,” Martice says. “I've taken that power back, because I choose to farm, and I want to get more people that look like me and have similar backgrounds like me into farming. I believe that is power.”
Martice says that as a Black man living in Wisconsin, he knew that being outside of urban areas would be challenging. “People of all minorities in any field know how it feels to be an outsider,'' Martice says. “Wherever I go, I try to help represent people like me to break down that barrier.”
Regarding the future of small-scale farming, Martice hopes that it will blossom more as the time goes on and it becomes more mainstream. But to ensure a future like this, Martice says that farmers of color are in need of more financial help from the government in terms of land acquisition and other issues.
“I do think that regenerative farming will eventually take the place of conventional farming, as far as popularity,” Martice says. “It will always be smaller, but I'm hoping that it becomes more affordable and available to everyone, especially having more non-white farmers doing that.”
To learn more about Scales Family Farm and sign up for a CSA share for the upcoming season, visit their website.