GMO Labeling: The Right to Know
More than half a million people have already signed a petition to the FDA asking for labeling of genetically engineered (GE) foods. Now, continuing that momentum, a new video by the director of Food, Inc. encourages consumers to fight for the right to know what is in their food. The video is a collaboration between filmmaker Robert Kenner and the Just Label It campaign.
We are proud to be part of Just Label It’s broad coalition of organizations who have joined together in support of labeling GE foods. We believe the biodynamic community has an important role to play – indeed, is already playing an important role – in meeting the challenge of GMOs.
For more on the GMO issue, see BDA Executive Director Robert Karp’s article “Toward a Holistic Approach to the Threat of GMOs” from the Fall 2011 issue of Biodynamics.
Kinnikinnick Fields
By Corinne Henry, Angelic Organics Learning Center
Angelic Organics Learning Center is working to save a 70-acre parcel of farmland and wild space from future development. The land located in northern Boone County, Illinois and is adjacent to Angelic Organics farm. Known as Kinnikinnick Fields, the parcel home to the beautiful Kinnikinnick Creek, one of the cleanest streams in the state. The land is also home to a beautiful Bur Oak Savanna remnant.
Kinnikinnick Fields is highly prized by developers, and has been identified as a critical area for protection in the Boone County Greenways Plan. The Learning Center aims to remove Kinnikinnick Fields from the speculative marketplace and preserve it permanently for wildlife, organic farming, and beginning farmer education and training.
Angelic Organics Learning Center (AOLC) is the nonprofit educational organization partner to Angelic Organics, the biodynamic CSA vegetable farm featured in the award-winning documentary, “The Real Dirt on Farmer John.” The Learning Center’s educational programs serve more than 4,000 people per year, bringing urban and rural people together to build the local food system. In the past decade, the Learning Center has helped train more than 100 farmers to launch sustainable farms in our region and developed dozens of new urban gardens in Chicago and Rockford.
Kids in the field during one of Angelic Organics Learning Center educational programs
Kinnikinnick Fields will eventually become a permanent home land base for the Learning Center’s educational programming. They plan to build an ecological educational facility on a small portion of the land, white restoring and maintaining the woodlands, savanna and creek. They will also work with a recognized land trust to place the land into a permanent conservation easement, which will protect the land in perpetuity. A portion of the land will be use for biodynamic farming, thus protecting the water quality of the creek.
The Learning Center has a deadline of February 29, 2012 to raise the funds needed to purchase the land. To date $458,000 has been raised and an additional $67,000 is needed. To learn more about the Save the 70 campaign, visit the Learning Center’s website at www.learngrowconnect.org or contact Executive Director Tom Spaulding at 815-389-8455 or savethe70@learngrowconnect.org.
The Growth of the CSA Movement in the U.S.
In a recent post on his blog The Call of the Land, Steven McFadden, co-author of the first book on community supported agriculture, Farms of Tomorrow, looks at the history and trending growth of the CSA movement, including the critical involvement of the biodynamic community:
Unraveling the CSA Number Conundrum
In the beginning it was easy to count. The year was 1986, and there were only two Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) initiatives in the USA: Indian Line Farm in western Massachusetts, and the Temple-Wilton Community Farm in southern New Hampshire. But not long after that, as the CSA concept spread across America and around the world, the number of farms became a bit of an enigma.
No one was ever quite sure how many CSAs there were. The federal government didn’t track the number; at the same time, for a variety of reasons, many CSAs wanted little to do with government or larger systems.
Now however, thanks to several sources, it’s possible to gain a fair idea. Estimating conservatively, there are currently over 6,000 CSAs in the US, possibly as many as 6,500. Meanwhile, the trend of growth continues onward and upward. …
Click here to read the full post.
Raw Milk Freedom Riders
By Thea Maria Carlson
NABDAP and BING Coordinator
Biodynamic Farming & Gardening Association
In the second of a series of events organized by the Farm Food Freedom Coalition to defy the prohibition on transporting raw milk across state lines, last Thursday, December 8th, a group of “Raw Milk Freedom Riders” brought 100 gallons of milk by caravan from Wisconsin to Chicago’s Independence Park. Upon arriving at the park, the caravan was joined by supporters wielding cow bells and cookies, braving the 30-degree weather to stand up for their food freedom.
The rally featured speeches by several well-known activists in the fight for raw milk, including Max Kane, a Wisconsin raw milk advocate who organized the Chicago event, David Gumpert, author of The Raw Milk Revolution, and Michael Schmidt, the celebrated Canadian biodynamic dairy farmer who has been battling criminal charges for selling raw milk for years.
Michael Schmidt speaking to the crowd
Michael Schmidt brought his own megaphone, complete with siren sounds, and spoke about the difference between a breaking point and a tipping point. He asserted that the government’s strategy is to get farmers to the breaking point, with repeated raids and legal threats until they give up trying. Our challenge, he said, is to bring our culture to a tipping point before we reach the breaking point, to create a groundswell of support for food rights:
“If we understand the power of the tipping point, it doesn’t need 100 percent of the population. It doesn’t need 50 percent of the population. It only needs maximum ten percent. But even six percent will bring us faster to the tipping point, in order to wake people up. And that is what we need to understand — the power within ourselves to bring about change. And this change…has to happen with absolute inner passion, with inner conviction, and with a desire to do whatever it takes to bring about that change.”
Max Kane shares words from around the country
Max Kane, the Chicago organizer of the event, shared some of his favorite quotes from supporters at prior events around the country:
“We have a country and a government based on the proposition that each man, woman and child owns his or her own body. If you own your own body, who decides what food you eat?” (Michael Badnarik)
“There a lot of people who are willing to go all the way to secure their right to choose healthy foods. We are prepared to continue without government approval. We will go as far as it takes…this issue is a live free or die issue.” (A woman at the rawsome hearing in LA)
“You can take me to jail, you can do whatever you want, but my customers are going to get their food. And we need people who are willing to go to the mat for these issues.” (Joel Salatin)
David Gumpert read quotes from the FDA, showing that the agency does not consider citizens to have a fundamental right to the foods they choose or to their own bodily health. However, he said:
“We have our own doctrine, and we are going to assert that doctrine. But we are going to have to take some serious steps in order to make it happen. Showing up at events like this, bringing food across state lines, challenging them and actually engaging in civil disobedience is one thing that we can do.”
Gumpert also warned that government regulation of food access will likely expand beyond raw milk to many other foods, and that an important course of action is to make friends with sheriffs and prosecutors and educate them about what is going on so they can become allies.
Liz Reitzig followed with a call to all the mothers in the crowd, saying “we moms need to stand between our farmers and the government” and defend the people who are supplying milk to our families.
Passing out milk and cookies
After the speeches, volunteers filled paper cups with raw milk and passed them out with cookies to everyone in the crowd. Michael Schmidt led a toast to all who came out in support and to the ongoing effort to secure food rights.
The raw milk toast
Then, after drinking the sweet fresh milk, we all made a circle. “This way,” said Schmidt, “we see ourselves not as a bunch of sheep, but as individuals standing side by side, holding hands.”
Raw milk supporters form a circle
Video coverage of the event from the Food Rights Network is available here.
Downwind, Downstream, and Downhill
By Karen Davis-Brown
©Long Hungry Creek Farm
Imagine that you live in a paradise. Long Hungry Creek Farm is located outside the town of Red Boiling Springs, in Macon County, in the hills of north central Tennessee. It is one of the oldest (established in 1974) and largest (250 acres) organic farms in the state, and is home to beautiful woodlands and unlogged forests, flower and perennial gardens interspersed with rock terraces and natural stone outcroppings. Long Hungry Creek, designated by the State of Tennessee as “exceptional waters” due to its “good water quality, important ecological values, valuable recreational uses, and outstanding scenery,” winds its way past bluffs and a cave, providing a natural riparian area for the farm. About 113 acres of rolling meadows and hay fields feed a herd of 50 cattle that in turn helps sustain soil fertility.
Part of what contributes to the natural beauty and fragility of Macon County, and much of Tennessee, is created by “Karst” terrain. As described by the United States Geological Survey (USGS):
Karst is a terrain with distinctive landforms and hydrology created from the dissolution of soluble rocks, principally limestone and dolomite. Karst terrain is characterized by springs, caves, sinkholes, and a unique hydrogeology that results in aquifers that are highly productive but extremely vulnerable to contamination. (See Tennessee Ground Water Monitoring and Management Drinking Water/Source Water Protection Groundwater 305b.)
Long Hungry Creek Farm lies atop a stretch of Karst terrain, which has created the beautiful rock formations and the cave where farmer Jeff Poppen stores produce to keep it cool and protected.
Children with chickens on the farm (©Mark Trela)
Imagine that you have spent almost 40 years supporting and contributing to the surrounding community where this paradise is located. The goal of the Long Hungry Creek Farm is to grow the highest quality farm products possible, while enjoyably developing an economically viable, aesthetically pleasing,and humus-rich farm which remains relatively independent regarding its own feed and fertilizer needs — and to help others do the same. Jeff and his staff have consistently striven for greater local outreach over the years, and have a tradition of giving away produce to neighbors in exchange for rhubarb pies and harvesting help. Long Hungry Creek Farm has become known as a place where the community gathers for work and fun.
Melons for CSA share (©Long Hungry Creek Farm)
The farm supplies a 150-member CSA (community supported agriculture) out of Nashville. CSA members are encouraged to bring their families to the farm for a picnic, to see the animals and gardens, for hiking, swimming, and camping, and to help with farm work. Long Hungry Creek Farm also provides produce to select Nashville restaurants.
As part of the educational aspect of Long Hungry Creek Farm, Jeff writes a weekly column for a local newspaper, produces an organic gardening program for a nearby PBS station, and will soon publish the sequel to his book, The Barefoot Farmer. Long Hungry Creek Farm hosts farm field days and conferences about holistic living (alternative healing, organic gardening, biodynamic agriculture, and more) as part of its social and financial contribution to the local community. Among these conferences is the annual Harvest Festival and Biodynamic Conference, which this year was attended by almost 200 people. In addition to the annual conference, Long Hungry Creek Farm is a regional and national center for biodynamic education throughout the year, including the hosting of multiple interns, and sponsoring classes and workshops taught by Jeff and other leaders and mentors of the biodynamic community.
Now, imagine that your neighbor has contracted with the subsidiary of a large corporation and is building a chicken Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) next to your shared property line. This CAFO is a breeding operation that will see 40,000 chickens go in and out every five months, and is only 500 feet upwind, upstream, and uphill from this fragile, pristine waterway and the farm that has been Jeff’s livelihood for almost 40 years. On one level, Cobb-Vantress, the wholly owned subsidiary of Tyson Foods with whom Jeff’s neighbor is contracting to build the facilities and to raise the chickens, understands the potential health and environmental hazards that such an operation will inevitably generate, and proposes to address them through extensive bio-security measures and a “closed system” for water. These measures include the elimination of household chicken flocks within one mile of the facility — and inspire more fear than confidence in the level of toxicity that the CAFO will generate. However, even their extreme and supposedly preventive measures, do not sufficiently address the 60 inches of annual rainfall and the interweaving of surface and ground earth and water of the Karst terrain below, as can be seen from a mudslide that destroyed part of the Long Hungry Creek Farm gardens after a recent rain.
Mud from CAFO site discharged downhill to farm
This massive amount of soil and gravel slid off the hill from the CAFO construction site onto Jeff’s land, and the results are shown at left. It doesn’t take much to imagine that this mud is an equally massive amount of drug-laced chicken shit sitting around in the rain while it is waiting to be picked up. Approximately 200 tons of waste from the CAFO is expected to be cleaned out two times a year, which is over 11,000 cubic feet in volume. (See “Storing Poultry Litter.”) Layered a foot deep, how many football fields is that?
What healthy alternative can possibly be pursued with the antibiotic-laden waste from such a vast amount of animals in such a small space, so that it will have no negative impact on air, water, or soil? How safe can a place be when people have to change clothes and take 5-minute showers when they enter and leave? How can they expect neighbors to believe, after decades observing the damage and disintegration of supposedly “closed systems” around the country, that their short-term measures will be sufficient against freezing, flooding, trees falling, or other acts of nature? How long could such a system protect future generations who live in the area? In fact, many other communities in Tennessee and around the country have paid a terrible environmental and social price when such CAFOS have been built where their residents live and work.
The negative impacts of just this one CAFO extend far beyond the here and now. When one does the math, these 40,000 breeder chickens will be shipped elsewhere to produce 75 laying hens each, which in turn will each produce approximately 200 broilers. That is 60 million broilers total, which are primarily for export. So, in the end, the meat goes overseas, the salaries to out-of-state laborers, the money to a multinational corporation based in Arkansas, and after 15 years or so the facility shuts down, leaving tons of toxic waste and a destroyed local social and economic structure.
Here is what Jeff and his neighbors are doing to stop this impending degradation of his business and their homes and land. Jeff, his neighbors, and many other local and regional supporters, have formed a not-for-profit group called The Friends of Long Hungry. This group has met monthly since January to track, discuss, and plan how to address Tyson’s plans for Macon County. At one point, their plan was for 12 facilities in the county; at this point, no existing farmers have submitted requests for new permits to the state for subsequent CAFOs, but the company is talking to local realtors and may be in the market to buy their own farms on which to establish these operations.
The Friends of Long Hungry are mounting a comprehensive public relations campaign to inform their neighbors about both the short and long-term negative impacts of the presence of CAFOs in rural communities, and the specific damage that this proposed operation has done, and will do, to the natural beauty, environmental quality,and economic base of both Long Hungry Creek Farm and the Red Boiling Springs community. A Nashville lawyer, among others, has offered the group pro bono legal services, and many other supporters from far and wide are gathering around the group’s work.
Here’s what you can do:
- Donate to The Friends of Long Hungry. Friends of Long Hungry have set up a secure website for contributions through the Tennessee Clean Water Network. Your contributions will be used to support public outreach and informational efforts, and to cover potential legal costs: donationpay.org/tcwn/longhungry.php.
- Write a letter to Cobb-Vantress. Friends of Long Hungry have also begun a letter writing campaign to Cobb-Vantress. The address and other contact information for Cobb-Vantress (based in Arkansas), as well as guidelines and a template for writing a letter, are on Jeff’s website: www.barefootfarmer.com/friends-of-long-hungry/letter-writing-campaign/.
Cobb-Vantress has recently notified Jeff that they do not consider Long Hungry Creek Farm to be a “business” and therefore do not have to follow their own guidelines requiring the building of such facilities at least 1,500 feet away from a school, business, or public place. So, in addition to the points in the letter template on the website, testimonials to having purchased merchandise, attended conferences, etc., and other personal experience about “doing business” with Jeff and Long Hungry Creek Farm are also needed at this time.
Both donations and letters from all parts of the country and world, are helpful and welcome.
It is imperative that we all understand that this type of co-opting of rural communities by large “agricultural” corporations with no commitment, investment, or connection to those who live in them will have serious and permanent repercussions for the nutritional, social, and cultural wellbeing of us all. Please do what you can to support these courageous colleagues.
Raw Milk Action Alert
Michael Schmidt gives a keynote speech at the Biodynamic Association's 2010 National Conference on the topic of food rights
Mobilizing Against Governmental Interference with Property Ownership Rights and Food Freedom
An Urgent Action Alert from the Weston A. Price Foundation:
On Wednesday, September 28, 2011, the Ontario government won its appeal against biodynamic farmer, Michael Schmidt. The appeal reversed the former ruling, which confirmed cow share members’ right to obtain raw milk products. Justice Peter Tetley rejected Schmidt’s argument that providing raw milk to cow share owners who are aware of any health risks was his legal right.
Schmidt has been fighting for the right to provide raw milk at his Grey County farm ever since it was raided by government officials in 1994. The recent ruling convicts Michael on 15 of 19 charges and reverses last year’s lower court decision to acquit him of all charges. This latest judicial ruling basically endorses governmental interference of property ownership rights and violates basic human rights to food freedom.
Since this ruling, Michael has embarked on a hunger strike and faces imminent danger of another raid to his farm, as do other farms that participate in Cowshare Canada.
He feels that our movement is in great danger and we must act in unison now!
Michael’s urgent message: We must mobilize our forces throughout Canada and the US with an enormous public outcry. We need to put relentless pressure on legislators in both countries—national, state and local—and also on health authorities through a massive letter-writing and call-in campaign. We also need to organize face-to-face meetings whenever possible. Canada desperately needs US support in these matters, so we encourage all US members to send messages to key Canadian contacts as well.
More information:
See the Weston A. Price Foundation’s original action alert to find contacts and a sample letter. Also check out Michael Schmidt’s blog, The Bovine, where he is providing updates. You can find out more about his farm at the Glencolton Farms website.
Also see our related press release about a recent denial of property rights and food choice in Wisconsin, and a follow-up post by Gayle Loiselle, one of the plaintiffs in that case.
Wholly Without Merit: No Right to Food Choice
In this follow-up to our last post, “Wisconsin Judge Denies Basic Property Rights and Food Choice,” one of the plaintiffs in the case passionately expresses her dismay at the ruling.
By Gayle Loiselle, Plaintiff
Wisconsin Judge Patrick J. Fiedler impudently ruled that “no, Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to produce and consume the foods of their choice.” This is the latest in a string of astonishing court proceedings focused on the rights of consumers and small businesses to own a dairy cow, enter into a contract agreement with a farmer, and consume unpasteurized milk. In his decision on the plaintiffs’ Clarification Motion, Judge Fiedler called our claim of fundamental rights “underdeveloped” and “wholly without merit,” and went on to say the government has a legitimate interest in regulating the sale and/or distribution and consumption of unpasteurized milk “because it can result in serious illness.”
As a plaintiff in this case I find it “wholly without merit” and completely ludicrous that Judge Fiedler ruled I have no right to own and drink milk from my cow, because I may get sick. Yet I do have the fundamental right to smoke cigarettes, get drunk, carry a gun, and blow my brains out after taking prescription antidepressants. Clearly, this issue is not about protecting the health of consumers. It is rather about control of the production, distribution, and sale of all milk and milk products.
USDA research shows that between 1970 and 2006, the number of farms with dairy cows fell from 648,000 operations in 1970 to 75,000 in 2006 — or 88%. Production is shifting to farms with at least 500 cows, with the most striking changes occurring in dairies with at least 2,000 milk cows. The number of farms in this largest size class more than doubled between 2000 and 2006, as did its shares of cow inventory and total milk production. The majority of these cows each produce 100 pounds of milk per day, they are routinely fed antibiotics and growth hormones, and the horrifying conditions these cows live in are well documented — just Google “factory farms.” These cows are not healthy, and this is not the milk I choose to drink or feed to my family, even after it is pasteurized.
On the other hand, small family farms can and do produce milk that is safe to drink “straight from the cow,” as my kids put it. Raw milk contains beneficial health giving organisms that would be destroyed if pasteurized, and the taste is far superior to that of pasteurized milk. I own and pay board on a cow because it is illegal for me to just buy raw milk from a farm. My cow lives in a herd of about 30, including young stock and a bull, and most days they are out on over 50 acres of pasture. This farm is run on organic and biodynamic principles; it is self-sustaining, environmentally friendly, and able to supply over 200 families with fresh milk, eggs, pork, beef, poultry, and honey. This type of direct farm-to-consumer food supply system makes sense on so many levels: for public health, growing local and rural economies, long-term environmental sustainability, and national food security.
The FDA, USDA, and Wisconsin’s Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) rely on industry compliance with regulations, licensing, and inspections to protect the nation’s food supply. Still, the CDC estimates that each year roughly one in six Americans (or 48 million people) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases. The most recent failure of the government to protect consumers is tainted cantaloupe, which was shipped to 24 states and has sickened 84 and killed 17 people so far. I trust my local farmer monumentally more than the government to provide healthy, nutrient dense, uncontaminated, real, unmanufactured food. This is my choice to make; the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are very clear on that.
Government agencies and members of the judicial system are increasingly emboldened to rule as they see fit regardless of the law, the Constitution, the will of the people, or common sense. Judge Fiedler’s ruling is a blatant manipulation of the inherent meaning of the Constitution, an abuse of power, and is a threat to the core values of our country, our freedoms, and our very well-being. “We the people” need to stand up and remind our government servants that we live in a free democratic society in which we most definitely do have the fundamental right to produce and consume the foods of our choice!
Wisconsin Judge Denies Basic Property Rights and Food Choice
In a striking setback for property rights and consumer choice, a Wisconsin judge issued an order on September 9 that owners of cows do not have a fundamental right to consume milk from their own cows. The order was issued by Dane County Circuit Court Judge Patrick J. Fiedler in response to a motion to clarify an August 12 ruling denying a motion by the Zinniker Family Farm, Nourished by Nature LLC (NbN), NbN members Robert Karp and Gayle Loiselle, and the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund for a judgment that the boarding agreement was in compliance with Wisconsin law.
Under the agreement between the Zinnikers and NbN, dairy cows owned by NbN as an LLC were boarded at the Zinniker Farm. The cows were owned by the LLC rather than by the Zinnikers, who simply executed a services contract to board, care for, and milk the cows for their owners.
Clarifying his original ruling that the plaintiffs did not have a fundamental right to possess, use, and enjoy their property, Judge Fiedler explained clearly that there are no fundamental rights to own and use a dairy cow or dairy herd, to consume the milk from one’s own cows, to board one’s cow at a farm, or to consume the food of one’s choice. In addition, Judge Fielder stated that the private contract between the Zinnikers and NbN falls within the scope of the State’s police power, that the government has the power to regulate the private conduct of growing and consuming food.
Gayle Loiselle, one of the founders and managers of Nourished by Nature LLC, had this to say about Judge Fiedler’s ruling: “As a plaintiff in this case I find it completely ludicrous that Judge Fiedler ruled I have no right to own and drink milk from MY cow, because I may get sick…. Clearly, this issue is not about protecting the health of consumers. It is rather about control of the production, distribution and sale of all milk and milk products.”
Nourished by Nature was developed, with help from the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association and with support from a grant by RSF Social Finance, as a new type of consumers’ association designed to purchase and hold agricultural assets in order to support family farmers and protect consumer rights.
The Zinniker Family Farm, the oldest continually operating biodynamic farm in the country, was shut down in the fall of 2009 by the State of Wisconsin for distributing raw milk through a cow-share program that they had run since the mid-1980s. The State’s actions have put the Zinnikers under severe financial strain. As farmer Mark Zinniker explains, “We’re still trying to figure out how to try and make a living and stay at the same scale, which is very difficult. The milk really gave us the ability to stay on the smaller side. For a small farm like this to be able to survive, it has to have that community support, people who value that small-scale production and are willing to pay the real cost of that production.”
The issues of this case have consequences that reach far beyond the Zinniker farm, however. “It’s very obvious, to us anyway, that this is way beyond raw milk,” says Zinniker. “They’re basically ruling on your rights, [or the rights] that you don’t have. And I think that’s very much of a consumer issue.”
The plaintiffs in the case filed an appeal of Judge Fiedler’s decision on September 26.
About the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association
The Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association (BDA) is an association of individuals, groups, and organizations in North America who are committed to the transformation of the whole food system, from farm to table, and who draw inspiration from the spiritual-scientific insights of Rudolf Steiner. Biodynamics is a worldwide movement for the renewal of agriculture based on an understanding of the spiritual forces at work in nature and in human social life. From this understanding, a particular form of organic farming has been developed that continues to grow and evolve around the world.
Contact: Robert Karp, Executive Director, Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association
(262) 649-9212 * robert.karp@biodynamics.com * www.biodynamics.com
Early Autumn on the Farm
By Rebecca Briggs
Communications Coordinator, Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association
This is the 3rd in a series on Jonah Bloch and Amber Lippert, two energetic young biodynamic farmers who, with a one-year lease and an option to buy, are farming on the Biodynamic Association’s 35-acre property in Oregon.
They are now mid-way through their lease year. The BDA is still seeking a buyer for the property who is interested in entering into a long-term lease with Jonah and Amber so that their inspiring stewardship of the property may continue. To find out more, read Part I and Part II, check out the BDA’s page about the property, and email alison@biodynamics.com for more information.
Life continues to evolve on Jonah and Amber’s CSA farm. Late summer sunflowers and heat-loving vegetables hang on for these unusually sunny and warm final September days. The farm workers turn under the potato beds and pull the broccoli plants for composting. The hoop house awaits the transplanting of fall greens. And last but surely not least, Jonah and Amber celebrated their wedding on the farm last month.
By and large, it has been a very successful season. This is all the more notable for the speed with which Jonah and Amber were able to get a full and diverse vegetable operation going after signing their lease in April, a late date in a farmer’s year, which normally involves planning all through the preceding winter. But they rose to the occasion. Having some farming and gardening experience, I am still truly amazed at what they pulled off. Farming can present challenges even with the best of timing, and Oregon’s weather did not cooperate well this year.
But despite cool early summer temperatures, unexpected power outages, and the mid-season loss of a key worker, the CSA shares so far have been consistently full – sometimes almost too much so. In the case of the pickling cucumbers, there have been almost too many of a good thing, especially with so many other fun cukes to try, like the tiny Mexican sour gherkins. The tomatoes have finally hit their stride, although nearly a month late thanks to the tough early summer conditions. Since the lease timing meant Jonah and Amber could not get their transplants in the ground until July, there simply was not enough time for some of the vegetables to reach their desired states. Some of these, like the sweet cayenne pepper, are quite enjoyable in their not-quite-ripe (i.e. green) stages and so still merit some excitement in the CSA box. And Jonah maintains hope that there might be some melons, although even at best, they are not sure a bet in this region.
Having been involved with the BDA for four years now, it has been personally thrilling to see the community building and the transformation of this land under Jonah and Amber’s care. As the catchphrase of the pioneering biodynamic farmers who started the CSA movement in the U.S. says, “it’s not just about vegetables.” It is about much, much more. I maintain hope that the right partner is out there for them. Who knows…the melons may yet ripen.
Jonah cuts and collects broccoli plants for the compost pile, with hoop house in the background
Row of cutting flowers
Young Farmer Gathering a Great Success!
By Thea Maria Carlson
BING Coordinator, Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association
This weekend, over 70 young farmers and farming enthusiasts came together for two days of inspiration and connection at Angelic Organics Farm and Learning Center in Caledonia, Illinois. As coordinator of the Biodynamic Association’s Biodynamic Initiative for the Next Generation (BING), I spearheaded the organizing of the event, with help from Upper Midwest CRAFT, Angelic Organics Farm and Learning Center, and several other young farmers.
Traveling from as far as Colorado, Ontario, and Missouri to the convergence in northern Illinois, participants gathered Saturday afternoon for an opening circle followed by a walking tour of Angelic Organics Farm with the farm’s famed founder, Farmer John Peterson (star of “The Real Dirt on Farmer John”).
Opening circle at the gathering
Farm tour
We started by visiting the greenhouse to see the farm’s soil block maker, and then went outside to see the transplanter specially designed for the soil blocks, as well as several other pieces of equipment.
Farmer John Peterson shows us around the greenhouse
Angelic Organics has a large collection of tractors and implements, which many of the young farmers were eager to see. As Farmer John put it, “When it comes to farming, you can either do it yourself, hire someone to do it, or get a machine to do it. Those are the only three options I know of. And you might find yourself thinking, as you’re watching someone you hire work, ‘I wonder if there’s a machine that could do this?’”
Checking out the Angelic Organics farm machinery
The walking tour also included the wash and pack areas, and ended by heading into the farm’s main barn to look at the field map, carefully tweaked over 20 seasons to pack an incredible amount of information onto an 11×17 piece of paper, including crop rotations, varieties, and planting dates. The second part of the tour was to be on hay wagons to get out into the fields, but unfortunately the predicted thunderstorms rolled in, so we delayed that portion and crossed our fingers for better weather later in the afternoon.
After the tour, attendees had a choice of two panels of young farmers sharing their experiences. One focused on land tenure and navigating the people side of farming, while the other featured chefs and farmers who are working collaboratively to grow and serve local food. Both panels resulted in lively discussions among the participants, and when the rain came down in heavy, drenching sheets just as it was time to bring everyone back together for a mixer session, everyone decided to just stay where they were, successfully mixing and mingling without any facilitation.
Hanging out in the barn during heavy rain
Once the rain let up, the group gathered to share a sumptuous spread of potluck dishes, complemented by a delicious array of produce from the farm prepared by Angelic Organics’ farm hospitality coordinator and chef, April Morris. With plates piled high with salads, dips, pasta, vegetables, grass-fed burgers, and what some called “the best sweet corn in the Midwest,” we all enjoyed new conversations at tables set up in the farm’s former garage turned café.
Potluck dinner
Miraculously, just as dinner was wrapping up the rain stopped, and everyone hopped on the hay wagons again for a chance to see the farm’s impressive and beautiful fields before sunset. Several attendees remarked that they had never seen such large quantities of vegetables in the field, and the farm’s strong emphasis on order made those hundreds of long beds all the more awe-inspiring. It was nearly dark by the time the hay wagons returned to the barn, but the gathering was far from over!
Touring the farm by hay wagon
The evening’s activities took place in the loft of Angelic Organics’ packing shed, an old barn painted bright orange with a vintage retail sign affixed to the front. The loft is filled with a wide variety of chairs and couches, along with more vintage signs, dozens of window shutters, and all manner of other odds and ends collected over decades. (The upstairs of the big white barn next door features a large costume collection, but unfortunately, due to the leaky roof, we decided not to gather there.)
Around 9 p.m., we made ourselves comfortable for a screening of “The Greenhorns”, a new film about young farmers and food entrepreneurs that is currently touring the country through community screenings like ours. The film’s 50 minutes packed in glimpses of farms throughout the U.S., along with touching, thought-provoking, and sometimes humorous interviews with the young farmers managing them. The film’s producer and director Severine von Tscharner Fleming interspersed her farm visits with educational tidbits on the history of farming in the United States, how the landscape has changed, and resources available for young farmers, illustrated by historical footage and spunky graphics from The Greenhorns’ resident illustrator, Brooke Budner.
The film ended to resounding applause, and was followed immediately by the first of two musical acts: Amy Luxenburger, a former employee of Angelic Organics farm who is now devoting her time to music in Bloomington, Indiana. Amy, accompanied by Zach Anno on guitar, alternately played accordion and ukulele while singing her own songs and a few covers with her strikingly lovely voice. After Amy, those who were still awake swayed to the stylings of the Chicago country band Cpt. Captain, whose acoustic guitar, electric bass, and vocals were rounded out by a pedal steel guitar. One audience member asked me afterward, “Were you aware of the caliber of these musicians when they were invited?” Oh yes, the music was good.
Evening musical entertainment
When we emerged from the loft, the sky had completely cleared to show the bright full moon, many stars, and even some meteors.
Early Sunday morning April was back in the kitchen cooking up an all-local breakfast of eggs, potatoes, and pancakes accompanied by fresh salsa, homemade yogurt, maple syrup, sliced melons, and plenty of hot fair trade organic coffee. Around 35 remaining young farmers and one of the bands who had camped or slept in the barns overnight gathered again to enjoy the morning meal, and everyone pitched in after to clean up and put everything on the farm back in order.
We concluded the weekend with a final circle, where each person shared three words that came to mind: inspiring, connections, friends, energizing, warmth, timeliness, appreciation, organized, success, vibrant (and many more).
Closing circle
Thank you to everyone who came to the event, and to all who helped organize! I also want to thank all of our generous donors and sponsors: Alterra Coffee, Angelic Organics Farm, Angelic Organics Learning Center, the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association, Ela Orchard, The Greenhorns, Heritage Prairie Market Farm, Janet Gamble, Lakefront Brewery, Shadow Lawn Farm, and Turtle Creek Gardens.
We hope that this wonderful gathering will inspire others to organize similar events across North America in the coming months. If you are interested in making something happen in your community, apply to become a BING intern!
