{"id":10180,"date":"2022-03-04T17:32:57","date_gmt":"2022-03-04T22:32:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/糖心传媒-edu-mag-dev\/?p=10180"},"modified":"2022-05-03T11:27:12","modified_gmt":"2022-05-03T15:27:12","slug":"you-worry-less-when-you-prepare-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/you-worry-less-when-you-prepare-more\/","title":{"rendered":"YOU WORRY LESS WHEN YOU PREPARE MORE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kim Shaw\u2019s [\u201988] winding professional journey from English major to farm-to-table entrepreneur.<\/strong><\/h4>\n
By Sarah Achenbach \u201988<\/h5>\n

\n\n\tK<\/span>im Shaw \u201988 made peace with North Carolina\u2019s weather years ago. Worrying about when it would rain, how much it would rain, and how hot it would be used to be a daily worry when tending to Arkansas Travelers and Early Girl tomatoes, and the dozens of other vegetables, herbs, fruits, and flowers she grows on the three-acre farm she and her husband Rohan Gibbs established within Charlotte\u2019s city limits 14 years ago.<\/p>\n

\"Kim

Kim Shaw ’88 and husband Rohan Gibbs<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWhen we\u2019d put down rows of drip tape for irrigation, it was guaranteed to rain,\u201d says Shaw of Small City Farm, their 24\/7, year-round, farm-to-table enterprise that supplies several Charlotte restaurants with produce and lush bouquets, wreaths, or garlands she arranges. \u201cWe learned that there\u2019s nothing you can do about the weather. You worry less when you prepare more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being a farmer was never part of the plan. After graduating from Hollins in 1988 with a degree in English, Shaw took a position as editor and legislative liaison for the Secretary of the Commonwealth\u2019s office in Richmond before moving to Charlotte. After temping for a few years, Shaw, who likes to cook and organize events, took a job at a catering firm.<\/p>\n

In 1998, Shaw launched her own wedding planning business, Moonlight & Magnolia, and penned The New Book of Wedding Etiquette: How to Combine the Best Traditions with Today’s Flair<\/em> (Penguin Random House, 2001). \u201cI loved being a wedding planner and think it\u2019s fun to have things be perfect or have the illusion of being perfect,\u201d she says. [Full disclosure: Shaw was my roommate during our senior year, and I can confirm that she probably is the only wedding planner in the history of the industry to have a passport- sized tattoo of the Doors\u2019 Jim Morrison on her back.]<\/p>\n

But running a start-up was far from perfect, and Moonlight & Magnolia folded in 2002. Shaw quickly shifted to a job as an event planner for a catering company, then director of catering for a private club in Charlotte. \u201cI tend to fly by the seat of my pants,\u201d Shaw explains with a deep laugh. \u201cI like to worry about the details later and just forge ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Further proof: her college search. \u201cHollins was the only school I applied to. I had no back-up plan. My dad wanted me to go there,\u201d says Shaw, who moved from her native England to Beaufort, South Carolina, as a young girl. \u201cEven as much as I remember not wanting to go there, I remember my first day at Hollins, what I was wearing, and how it felt when we drove through the gates. I knew I was home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having a rewarding career in a field light years away from her major is hardly unique. A 2013 New York Federal Reserve study found that only 27% of college graduates were employed in the field of their major, a percentage verified by Inside Higher Ed<\/em> two years ago. Shaw doesn\u2019t see it so much as a winding path from writing and editing to farming but a deliberate, new one. \u201cI did so much stuff within my major early on,\u201d she explains. Yes, Hollins\u2019 liberal arts focus certainly helped plant the seeds for lifelong curiosity, but much of her agricultural career was forged by her personality. \u201cI don\u2019t love sitting around talking about doing things,\u201d she says. \u201cI want to do it. Then you can talk about it.\u201d\"Small<\/p>\n

When she married Gibbs, an Australian transplant, in 1997, they started gardening. For her new catering position, she and the club\u2019s chef, Paul Verica \u2014 he now owns Charlotte\u2019s renowned restaurant The Stanley, and just opened Orto, an Italian restaurant \u2014 also carved out a small kitchen garden at the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe local farm-to-table movement had just started, and the garden wasn\u2019t part of my job, but I made it part of it,\u201d Shaw recalls. \u201cIt became my favorite part. There is something super magical about growing something and having a chef take it and create something incredible. I was learning everything \u2014 I was not a good grower at all [then]. We had a fair amount of failure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SmallWhen the 2007 financial downturn eliminated her position, she briefly considered another catering director job, but decided to jump into farming: \u201cA week before I was laid off, I had a conversation with Paul and asked him if we grew more food at our house, would he buy it?\u201d His assurance was all she needed to take the leap.<\/p>\n

Within a few months, Shaw was selling beets, kale, chard, and carrots at the Charlotte Regional Farmer\u2019s Market. By 2010, her 20 raised beds in her yard couldn\u2019t keep up with the demand, so she and Gibbs moved Small City Farm to its current seven acres, bought chickens, and started a CSA (community-supported agriculture) membership. With a USDA grant in 2017, they added a 30’x70′ hoop house for year-round growing.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery jump in farming is a blind landing,\u201d Shaw says, her accent a charming muddle of English slang and Southern drawl. \u201cAs hard as you think farming will be, you end up wishing it was that easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her days start at 5:30 a.m., often in pajamas and farm boots. During the week, Shaw is the only one tending the crops, picking produce, arranging flowers, handling orders for the food wholesaler, and making deliveries. Gibbs, who works full time as vice president of operations at Hope Haven, a residential facility for those recovering from substance-use disorders, drives the tractor on weekends and handles the mechanical work.<\/p>\n

Each January, they start over 3,000 seedlings, and everything requires advance planning. \u201cIn September, we\u2019re thinking about December,\u201d Shaw adds. \u201cLast spring, we thought Orto would be opened, so we planted more Roma tomatoes than usual, but because of the pandemic, he couldn\u2019t open it. Even for chefs, it\u2019s hard to make them understand that each tomato plant yields 10 pounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KimLife took another turn in 2017. While Shaw was pulling a cooler out of her pickup truck for a delivery, a hinge caught her left breast nipple, causing it to bleed. She didn\u2019t give it much thought \u2014 injuries are common in farm work. After visits to several doctors and a diagnostic mammogram, a biopsy revealed stage three breast cancer.<\/p>\n

Her diagnosis on October 1, 2019, is not lost on Shaw, who is a poet and was editor of Cargoes<\/em>, then Hollins\u2019 only literary magazine. \u201cHow symbolic to be diagnosed on the first day of Breast Cancer Awareness Month,\u201d she says. She began chemotherapy soon after, followed by a lumpectomy and radiation (and five blood transfusions).<\/p>\n

Shaw found solace in the rinse-and-repeat rhythms of sowing, weeding, watering, and harvesting. \u201cI used to get mad at her, but that\u2019s how she kept herself going,\u201d Gibbs explains. Her friend Verica concurs: \u201cKim is too feisty, and she wasn\u2019t going to let something like cancer keep her down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her local community and Hollins friends rallied around her. \u201cMy Hollins friends were awesome,\u201d says Shaw, who is now cancer free. \u201cI don\u2019t know how other people\u2019s friendships are at other colleges, or if it is only Hollins. I always thought we\u2019d all still know each other this far down the road, but it\u2019s kind of amazing that it came true.\u201d Sewing also bolstered her spirits. At Hollins, the self-taught Shaw sewed custom dresses for students.<\/p>\n

Every February, Shaw thinks about quitting. \u201cI always say that I am not doing this anymore,\u201d she admits. \u201cFarming is too hard for too little money. But going back to working in an office, I really can\u2019t see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019d miss how her hollyhocks take her breath away or shaking dirt off freshly harvested rainbow carrots. Or how her cats and dogs tail her through crop rows while she pulls onions or picks pomegranates. But mostly Shaw would miss the ways Small City Farm brings her closer to the people. \u201cIt\u2019s super rewarding to go to a restaurant and know it\u2019s my stuff,\u201d she reflects. \u201cGrowing food for people is a very personal thing \u2014 farming is a way to be connected with people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn more at smallcityfarm.com<\/h4>\n

Follow Small City Farm on Facebook #smallcityfarmer and on Instagram @smallcityfarmer<\/p>\n

Sarah Achenbach \u201988 is a freelance writer living in Baltimore.<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kim Shaw\u2019s [\u201988] winding professional journey from English major to farm-to-table entrepreneur. By Sarah Achenbach \u201988 im Shaw \u201988 made peace with North Carolina\u2019s weather years ago. Worrying about when it would rain, how much it would rain, and how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10299,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[129],"class_list":["post-10180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-fall-2021"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10180"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10856,"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10180\/revisions\/10856"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.糖心传媒.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}