Video Pod Chronicles

My high school friend Henry Ogilby is farming 14 acres in the middle of Belmont, Massachusetts, surrounded by suburbia, on land deeded to his family in the 1600s by the King of England. Henry gave me a tour of the barn this week. Afterward we retreated from the cold to his cozy home next door for coffee and talk about how much his life has changed, from a 25-year career at Hewlett-Packard to saving the family farm in perpetuity through the American Farmland Trust. His strategy is to emphasize organic farming, and you can participate by purchasing a $400 share in the upcoming season's crops that entitles you to a big basket of fresh produce each week. You can e-mail henry.ogilby@verizon.net for details. If I lived here, I would definitely jump on this opportunity, and my mother has already sent in her subscription form and check.

Henry let me sit on one of the vintage tractors crowded into the barn. I was delighted to hear his stories and have collated excerpts of our convesation in this podcast. Henry and I held the top jobs on The Panel, our high school newspaper. I was the editor, and he was the business manager. Nearly four decades later, I am still looking for good stories, and he is still doing a terrific job running a business that matters.

During our taping, I received a call from my daughter Sarah, which immediately took priority over talk of organic farming, because she is due to give birth any day now. She was just calling to say hi, and as of this posting we are all still waiting and wondering what news the next phone call may bring concerning the the arrival of the next generation.

Here is the podcast, about 18 minutes long:

Saturday, February 18, 2006