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BEN MOSTYN
TODD LISTER. CARPENTER/FARMER
FP: What are your biggest challenges as a farmer?
TL: Record-keeping is really big... Look at your
beds at the end of the season. How many dollars
did that bed make? In the big picture, if that bed
didn't make X number of dollars, I can't grow that
product anymore. It's not worth my time... like,
I grew horseradish last year. It's just worthless...
people at the farmers' market [buying] big honker
pieces of horseradish root? They're not going to
want but a little bit.
...And pests... if some bug is eating a plant in
my field, I'm ready to lose my mind...
FP: Do you ever talk to the plants?
TL: Oh, my God! Every plant in that field knows
when I'm there. They do... I just have this sense, I
have a connection with every one of those plants: I
took the seed, I put it in the seed tray. I took care
of it gently, with water and sun until it popped up.
I watched it 'til it was the right size. I picked a
bed; I amended the bed; I built the bed; I put the
compost in there; I made it all righteous... I gotta
tell you, it's amazing.
FP: I'm assuming you eat pretty well at home?
TL: Oh, man. I'll give you an example... we have
about 35 very mature asparagus crowns... we have
asparagus in huge quantities on our dinner plate
three times a week.
FP: Being a lifetime carpenter, what do you think
of the quality of our structures today?
TL: ...I 'm a hardcore treehugger, I despise mod
ern construction. I won't build you a new house,
but I'll work on a real old one.
Todd Lister loves to talk. In the midst of an hour-and-40-
minute conversation, he told me that his wife once suggested
that he wear a cork around his neck so that any exasperated
listener could stuff it into his mouth when they'd had enough.
But luckily, Todd has a lot of interesting things to say—
which can be expected, considering the circumstances: he is
an organic vegetable farmer living in Vesta, a former town
between Lexington and Elberton that now is just "a flagpole on
a granite monument." His front yard includes the long-aban
doned post office, while his backyard boasts an assortment of
tombstones not far from the back door. Beyond the graveyard
is a two-story wood shop that he built himself. His wife, Dale
Wechsler, is an accomplished fiddler who plays in four different
local ban’ds, including String Theory and the Garnet River Gals.
He met her during a "pit stop" in Columbia, MO, where he was
selling his stash of antiques out of a 30-foot truck bed and she
was attending grad school.
...I was interested in it, but it was a side thing—I worked
full-time in wood. I do historic restoration work, historic pres
ervation work, antique furniture restoration—anything old. Old
building dissection... my wife and I used to have an antique
store and I've been into antiques my whole life.
...My friend who I did the work for was spending all of his
time... playing with plants. And he was telling me about how
much money he was making at it—-wasn't bragging about it,
just matter-of-factly how much money he had done in sum
mer of '07. And I thought, "I've got some dirt. I should be
able to make that work..." The story went around town that
Eric [Wagoner]'s Locally Grown website had such demand that
if you put something on there, it was sold—all of it, every
time... it was really the motivating factor that made me think,
"How much can I lose?" The seed pack is two bucks, you know?
...Now, the labor factor—it's monumental. I mean if I
figured my hourly rate, it [would be] about a nickel. But I
don't look at it that way. My whole world of being
a woodworker has been about "time is money"—
incrementally, every moment has a value that I
must not squander. And this is just the exact oppo
site. There's no end to the things to do.
After some nudging from Dale—a UGA alum—Todd agreed
to move from Boulder, CO, where he owned an antiques store,
to Lexington in the fall of 1997. Four years later, they moved
to the historic property where they now reside. When he's not
prepping his plants for sale at the Athens Farmers' Market,
Todd enjoys surfing the Internet and playing guitar. I caught
him on a grey, misty evening one Thursday after a vegetable
drop-off to customers of Athens' popular "Locally Grown"
online produce market.
Flagpole: How did you get into farming?
Todd Lister: I'm like a 40-year carpenter. Even now, I'm
a woodworker. I took farming on as a side thing in the last
couple years, 'cause a number of my friends are big growers
locally—organic gardeners. And one of 'em, I built his house,
and I built his greenhouses, and I built him a certified kitchen,
and I've done his carpentry over the years and watched him
build his garden. A couple years ago I said, "I should I be able
to do this."
FP: So, do you think there are already plenty of
houses out there for people to live in?
TL: No, there isn't. I just don't want to be the one to help
furnish new housing. I don't want to be the one to be burning
up new resources to create modern houses, which by today's
standard, houses are complete garbage. If you have a half
million dollar house at Lake Oconee, it's a great big piece of
garbage... [construction] is not what it used to be.
FP: What were you doing before you came to Athens, before
you started farming?
TL: I grew up in Wisconsin, moved to Boulder, CO when
I was 25... I was young—it was '75—1 didn't really have a
trade. And I latched onto a great Sicilian carpenter from St.
Louis that turned out to be a lifetime mentor and friend...
gave me all the solid basics of good journeyman carpentry in
my first couple years... stayed with that about 20 years; really
enjoyed it.
Jeff Gere
THf FIRST EPISODE
(BEATLES TRIBUTE)
Doors 9pm • Music 10pm
SPECIAL KID FRIENDLY
ALL AGES SHOW!
Doors 1pm • Music 1:30pm
(SUBLIME TRIBUTE)
HURRY UP AND SEND YOUR TEAM REQUESTS
TO KATIE@GEORGIATHEATRE.COM *
WE ARE f HUNG UP FAST FOR JUNE, MORE JULY GAMES TO COME
FAMILY FEUD
VERY DISCO: DAFT PUNK TRIBUTE
ATHFEST PRESENTS... WE VS. THE SHARK /
DEAF JUDGES / GEOFF REACHER / MARRIAGE /
HOT NEW MEXICANS / IAZER/WUIF
ATHFEST PRESENTS... KUR0MA / VELVETEEN PINK /
GIFT HORSE / IMMUZIKATION / WHAT'S OUR NAME
JENNY LEWIS WITH HEARTLESS BASTARDS
AND THE GRENADINES ^
Tickets for all All shows available in advance at www.georgiatheatre.com
icon indicates that advance tickets are also available at SCHOOLKIDS RECORDS
706.353.1666 and at JUNKMAN'S DAUGHTER'S BROTHER 706.543.4998
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