To welcome our Week 3 guest Nikki Silvestri, we are going to make her breakfast together! I found out from Emiline that Nikki is following a mostly paleo diet right now. If you aren't familiar with this diet, here's a brief description from the Mayo Clinic: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/paleo-diet/art-20111182
I don't know that every single dish at our breakfast has to be paleo, but let's try to follow paleo guidelines as much as possible so that Nikki has plenty of yummy things to choose from. Lee suggested that a big frittata might be a good, fast way to feed a lot of us. It looks like there are paleo frittata recipes out there we could try or adapt: http://paleogrubs.com/frittata-recipes
John and I will plan on bringing plenty of duck eggs that we can use as the base of a frittata. One option for the rest of you would be to bring a paleo ingredient like a vegetable or a meat that you like and think would be good in a frittata. We could make a couple of them to suit people's preferences.
Other paleo breakfast possibilities include fruit, nuts, and, well, it looks like most recipes can be adapted fit paleo guidelines! Some other stuff that might be fun to make:
Paleo smoothies: https://paleoleap.com/15-delicious-paleo-smoothies/
Paleo muffins: https://blog.paleohacks.com/paleo-muffin-recipes/#
3 ingredient paleo breakfast ideas: https://blog.paleohacks.com/3-ingredient-breakfast-recipes/
I'm sure if you do some googling you'll find lots more recipes as well!
I wish we had asked all of you about your dietary preferences in class so that we can make sure to have things that everyone can eat! In the comments section below, if you have dietary restrictions and feel comfortable sharing them, please post them so we can be respectful of your needs. And please post what you would like to bring for our breakfast! If you are bringing an ingredient for a frittata, please indicate that.
I think we'll plan to spend the first 20 or so minutes of class chopping, blending, cooking, and making small talk as we do. Then we can throw the frittata in the oven and talk with Nikki as a class as it cooks. If you are bringing a different dish that will need some time in the oven during class, let us know.
Also! If you would like to be reimbursed for your food purchases, save your receipts and bring them to class.
Saturday, April 14, 2018
Monday, April 9, 2018
Amy's Post: "Organic" Farming?
Since we've been talking about how important soil care is in the type of farming we do during these first two weeks, I thought it would be fun to bring up some recent controversies regarding the National Organic Program standards, including the debate about whether soil is a critical component of organic growing or not.
First, I'd like to share with you an article that I wrote for the Michigan Organic Connections newsletter that reflects on my reasons for farming using organic methods:
______
Since the last MOFFA newsletter, which included several great articles on the “what” of organic agriculture, I’ve been pondering the “why.” For me and most of the farmers I know who use organic growing practices, certified or not, the reasons are more complicated than a market-driven response to consumer demand. After all, there are a lot of easier ways to make a buck.
I farm organically because before she married my dairyman grandfather, my grandmother taught nature studies. My primary babysitter when I was too young to help with farm chores, she introduced me to many farm residents who I still count among my friends: the bullfrogs that moo in the duck pond on warm spring evenings, the thrushes whose bell-choir holds the ravine rapt in summer. On clear nights she’d spread a blanket in the hay field so I could learn constellations and ponder my small place in the nature of things.
It seems to me that “conventional” agriculture as it is currently practiced has its root in a fallacy that runs through our culture—that the human place in the nature of things is one of inherent opposition: Humans vs Nature. Which also seems to me to be a really weird way of thinking about ourselves. We don’t talk about other species this way. To think about “bears vs nature” would be absurd. We might even say that bears are nature, or part of it. Certainly, their lives depend upon it—for bears to thrive, they need functioning ecosystems within which they play vital roles. Somehow we have convinced ourselves that we are the only species to whom this doesn’t apply.
And so we pollute air as if it does not constantly pass through our lungs, spread poisons in water as if our bodies were not over fifty percent composed of it, strip life from soil as if it were not the source of our own living energy, and diminish the diversity of our ecosystems as if we didn’t know that other threads plucked from the ecological web tremble our own.
To counter these acts, botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer calls for “acts of restoration, not only for polluted waters and degraded lands, but also for our relationship to the world.” She encourages us “to live as if this is the land that feeds you, as if these are the streams from which you drink ... to take care of the land as if our lives and the lives of all our relatives depend on it. Because they do.”
For three quarters of my life, this piece of farmland has fed me and I have drunk from the stream beneath it that feeds my well. Organic farming is my act of restoration, of giving back to this land and my community. Though since my farm isn’t certified, perhaps I should find a different term for what I do. I like “ecological farming” because it reminds me of Aldo Leopold’s call to recognize that I am a “plain member and citizen” of an ecosystem community that includes “soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land.” When it comes to the “whats” of ecological farming, I follow NOP guidelines, but I also measure my decisions against Leopold’s prescription for cultivating an ethical relationship to land: “Examine each question in terms of what is ethically and esthetically right, as well as what is economically expedient. A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”
Of course, my ability to live up to this ethical ideal (and to do so without engaging in practices that degrade and destabilize ecosystems other than my own) is constrained, in part, by the socio-economic structures built by my human community. It’s hard to farm ecologically within a culture that doesn’t recognize the inextricable ties between human well-being and ecological health and that doesn’t include downstream and long-term consequences when factoring value. I’ve got some work to do before my farm is able to sustain a truly reciprocally supportive relationship with the biotic community in which I live while also remaining economically and energetically sustainable. Pursuing that goal means both refining my farming practices and working to increase ecological awareness and sustainability within my human culture and community.
When my grandmother let nettles grow tall in the corner of her yard and taught me to peek between their folded leaves to find Red Admiral caterpillars, I learned more than butterfly identification. I learned that I have the ability and responsibility to nurture beauty and diversity in this world. Each year I farm I realize a little more of what that means. Sometimes the lessons are hard, reminding me of just how much more I have to learn. I’m grateful to be a part of this organic community, which inspires, supports, and teaches me. Together I hope we are moving toward a cultural change that will enable all of us to live with more integrity and beauty in relationship to each other and our ecosystems.
Works Referenced
Kimmerer, Robin Wall. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. Milkweed Editions, 2013.
Leopold, Aldo. Sand County Almanac. Oxford University Press, 1949.
_____
Even though I claim to use organic farming methods in the above article, because we aren't certified, we can't label our produce as organic. It might be useful to think a little bit about the history of the term "organic" as currently applied to farming systems. Obviously (or maybe not so obviously), human cultures across the earth have developed diverse farming systems specific to the ecosystems in which they lived. Some of these systems were ecologically destructive, reducing biodiversity and using up soil nutrients so that after a period of time the land would be no longer productive and the people would have to move their growing activities to new land. Some agricultural systems, however, actually increased biodiversity and soil health, enriching the ecological web while providing the people with nourishment for generations.
I suppose that some of these indigenous, ecologically-based farming systems could have been organically certified if such a certification had existed during the times they were practiced, but really that term is a relatively new one that has evolved over the past century to refer to a specific set of rules managed by a governmental group called the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB). Here's brief history of the development of organic regulations:
History of Organic (SARE): https://www.sare.org/Learning-Center/Bulletins/Transitioning-to-Organic-Production/Text-Version/History-of-Organic-Farming-in-the-United-States
And here are the regulations as they currently stand. You definitely don't have to read all this! But take a look through the table of contents and click on one or two of the subject headings just to get a sense of what this document looks like:
National Organic Regulations: https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=3f34f4c22f9aa8e6d9864cc2683cea02&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title07/7cfr205_main_02.tpl
Here is how the USDA tries to simplify the organic rules for the general public (do read all of this one!):
USDA Organic 101: https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2012/03/22/organic-101-what-usda-organic-label-means
Sounds pretty good, huh? Except that as more and more consumers have become concerned about the toxic effects of chemical farming on the environment and their health and have turned to buying organic food as a solution, big business has entered the organic market. You would think that would be a good thing that led to more farmers being able to grow healthier food in more environmentally sustainable ways. Except that the businesses that are now running these organic farms aren't really committed to organic principles; they are committed to making as much profit as possible. And while making a profit is of course important for a business, the influence of big business on the organic food system has led to a number of recent controversies including scandals over a lack of enforcement that has allowed imports of grain into the U.S. that were fraudulently labeled organic and a rule that would have improved animal welfare standards being withdrawn from consideration. The organic standards also don't provide protection for farm workers laboring on large organic farms and in what was the final straw for some organic growers already fed up with the system, the NOSB voted last year to allow hydroponic growing to be certified under NOP standards. Because the original premise of organic farming rests on stewarding healthy soil to grow healthy plants, these farmers say that farming without soil is not organic farming.
Here's an article from Modern Farmer that goes into more depth on both sides of the hydroponic debate: https://modernfarmer.com/2017/05/is-hydro-organic-farming-organic/
That article was from May 2017. In the fall of 2017, the NOSB voted to allow hydroponics to be certified organic. One NOSB member, farmer and agronomist Francis Thicke resigned from his position on the board in protest after that meeting. Here is the statement he released after his resignation: https://www.keepthesoilinorganic.org/final-comments-from-francis-thicke
As Thicke mentions, there are coalitions of farmers working together to create add-on or alternative certification systems to the current organic program. Here are a couple:
Regenerative Organic: https://rodaleinstitute.org/regenerativeorganic/
Real Organic: https://www.realorganicproject.org/
Questions for you: In the comments section, please respond to what I've shared by reflecting on your own knowledge and beliefs about the word "organic." Prior to reading this post, what did you know about organic food and farming? When you see food labeled "organic," what assumptions do you have about where that food came from and how it was produced?
Also, what opinions do you have on the organic hydroponics debate? Do you think that food grown in soil-less mediums should be considered "organic"? Why or why not?
First, I'd like to share with you an article that I wrote for the Michigan Organic Connections newsletter that reflects on my reasons for farming using organic methods:
______
Ethics, Esthetics & Ecology: Why I Farm Organically
by Amy NewdaySince the last MOFFA newsletter, which included several great articles on the “what” of organic agriculture, I’ve been pondering the “why.” For me and most of the farmers I know who use organic growing practices, certified or not, the reasons are more complicated than a market-driven response to consumer demand. After all, there are a lot of easier ways to make a buck.
I farm organically because before she married my dairyman grandfather, my grandmother taught nature studies. My primary babysitter when I was too young to help with farm chores, she introduced me to many farm residents who I still count among my friends: the bullfrogs that moo in the duck pond on warm spring evenings, the thrushes whose bell-choir holds the ravine rapt in summer. On clear nights she’d spread a blanket in the hay field so I could learn constellations and ponder my small place in the nature of things.
It seems to me that “conventional” agriculture as it is currently practiced has its root in a fallacy that runs through our culture—that the human place in the nature of things is one of inherent opposition: Humans vs Nature. Which also seems to me to be a really weird way of thinking about ourselves. We don’t talk about other species this way. To think about “bears vs nature” would be absurd. We might even say that bears are nature, or part of it. Certainly, their lives depend upon it—for bears to thrive, they need functioning ecosystems within which they play vital roles. Somehow we have convinced ourselves that we are the only species to whom this doesn’t apply.
And so we pollute air as if it does not constantly pass through our lungs, spread poisons in water as if our bodies were not over fifty percent composed of it, strip life from soil as if it were not the source of our own living energy, and diminish the diversity of our ecosystems as if we didn’t know that other threads plucked from the ecological web tremble our own.
To counter these acts, botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer calls for “acts of restoration, not only for polluted waters and degraded lands, but also for our relationship to the world.” She encourages us “to live as if this is the land that feeds you, as if these are the streams from which you drink ... to take care of the land as if our lives and the lives of all our relatives depend on it. Because they do.”
For three quarters of my life, this piece of farmland has fed me and I have drunk from the stream beneath it that feeds my well. Organic farming is my act of restoration, of giving back to this land and my community. Though since my farm isn’t certified, perhaps I should find a different term for what I do. I like “ecological farming” because it reminds me of Aldo Leopold’s call to recognize that I am a “plain member and citizen” of an ecosystem community that includes “soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land.” When it comes to the “whats” of ecological farming, I follow NOP guidelines, but I also measure my decisions against Leopold’s prescription for cultivating an ethical relationship to land: “Examine each question in terms of what is ethically and esthetically right, as well as what is economically expedient. A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”
Of course, my ability to live up to this ethical ideal (and to do so without engaging in practices that degrade and destabilize ecosystems other than my own) is constrained, in part, by the socio-economic structures built by my human community. It’s hard to farm ecologically within a culture that doesn’t recognize the inextricable ties between human well-being and ecological health and that doesn’t include downstream and long-term consequences when factoring value. I’ve got some work to do before my farm is able to sustain a truly reciprocally supportive relationship with the biotic community in which I live while also remaining economically and energetically sustainable. Pursuing that goal means both refining my farming practices and working to increase ecological awareness and sustainability within my human culture and community.
When my grandmother let nettles grow tall in the corner of her yard and taught me to peek between their folded leaves to find Red Admiral caterpillars, I learned more than butterfly identification. I learned that I have the ability and responsibility to nurture beauty and diversity in this world. Each year I farm I realize a little more of what that means. Sometimes the lessons are hard, reminding me of just how much more I have to learn. I’m grateful to be a part of this organic community, which inspires, supports, and teaches me. Together I hope we are moving toward a cultural change that will enable all of us to live with more integrity and beauty in relationship to each other and our ecosystems.
Works Referenced
Kimmerer, Robin Wall. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. Milkweed Editions, 2013.
Leopold, Aldo. Sand County Almanac. Oxford University Press, 1949.
_____
Even though I claim to use organic farming methods in the above article, because we aren't certified, we can't label our produce as organic. It might be useful to think a little bit about the history of the term "organic" as currently applied to farming systems. Obviously (or maybe not so obviously), human cultures across the earth have developed diverse farming systems specific to the ecosystems in which they lived. Some of these systems were ecologically destructive, reducing biodiversity and using up soil nutrients so that after a period of time the land would be no longer productive and the people would have to move their growing activities to new land. Some agricultural systems, however, actually increased biodiversity and soil health, enriching the ecological web while providing the people with nourishment for generations.
I suppose that some of these indigenous, ecologically-based farming systems could have been organically certified if such a certification had existed during the times they were practiced, but really that term is a relatively new one that has evolved over the past century to refer to a specific set of rules managed by a governmental group called the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB). Here's brief history of the development of organic regulations:
History of Organic (SARE): https://www.sare.org/Learning-Center/Bulletins/Transitioning-to-Organic-Production/Text-Version/History-of-Organic-Farming-in-the-United-States
And here are the regulations as they currently stand. You definitely don't have to read all this! But take a look through the table of contents and click on one or two of the subject headings just to get a sense of what this document looks like:
National Organic Regulations: https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=3f34f4c22f9aa8e6d9864cc2683cea02&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title07/7cfr205_main_02.tpl
Here is how the USDA tries to simplify the organic rules for the general public (do read all of this one!):
USDA Organic 101: https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2012/03/22/organic-101-what-usda-organic-label-means
Sounds pretty good, huh? Except that as more and more consumers have become concerned about the toxic effects of chemical farming on the environment and their health and have turned to buying organic food as a solution, big business has entered the organic market. You would think that would be a good thing that led to more farmers being able to grow healthier food in more environmentally sustainable ways. Except that the businesses that are now running these organic farms aren't really committed to organic principles; they are committed to making as much profit as possible. And while making a profit is of course important for a business, the influence of big business on the organic food system has led to a number of recent controversies including scandals over a lack of enforcement that has allowed imports of grain into the U.S. that were fraudulently labeled organic and a rule that would have improved animal welfare standards being withdrawn from consideration. The organic standards also don't provide protection for farm workers laboring on large organic farms and in what was the final straw for some organic growers already fed up with the system, the NOSB voted last year to allow hydroponic growing to be certified under NOP standards. Because the original premise of organic farming rests on stewarding healthy soil to grow healthy plants, these farmers say that farming without soil is not organic farming.
Here's an article from Modern Farmer that goes into more depth on both sides of the hydroponic debate: https://modernfarmer.com/2017/05/is-hydro-organic-farming-organic/
That article was from May 2017. In the fall of 2017, the NOSB voted to allow hydroponics to be certified organic. One NOSB member, farmer and agronomist Francis Thicke resigned from his position on the board in protest after that meeting. Here is the statement he released after his resignation: https://www.keepthesoilinorganic.org/final-comments-from-francis-thicke
As Thicke mentions, there are coalitions of farmers working together to create add-on or alternative certification systems to the current organic program. Here are a couple:
Regenerative Organic: https://rodaleinstitute.org/regenerativeorganic/
Real Organic: https://www.realorganicproject.org/
Questions for you: In the comments section, please respond to what I've shared by reflecting on your own knowledge and beliefs about the word "organic." Prior to reading this post, what did you know about organic food and farming? When you see food labeled "organic," what assumptions do you have about where that food came from and how it was produced?
Also, what opinions do you have on the organic hydroponics debate? Do you think that food grown in soil-less mediums should be considered "organic"? Why or why not?
Sunday, April 8, 2018
John's Post: Seeds and Their Stories
Always I have been fascinated by seeds--their vivid shapes and colors,
their power and mystery. When I joined the Seed Savers Exchange (http://www.seedsavers.org/)
in 1982, I fell in love with the stories attached to seeds gifted to
me. Most of our culture at the time had not yet awakened to the
"heirloom phenomenon" we see today. Matter of fact, most gardeners and
farmers had come to believe as they were told by seed companies and
university breeding programs that modern hybrids were far superior.
These beautiful seeds that I had requested would arrive at my door
accompanied by wonderful handwritten stories about the seeds like these:
"My family lost almost everything during the Great Depression, but these beans kept us alive."
"This was the only corn to make ears during the great drought of '34."
"My people carried these beans on the Trail of Tears."
I added my own stories when I sent seeds in return: "Midnight, late July, Aunt Mary's Sweet Corn in full tassel and silk--strong stalks and setting two ears--I feel such powerful ecstatic energy."
Seeds and culture intertwined. There is more encoded in seeds than their DNA. Seeds have stories to tell and they are still waiting for us to listen.
So, yes! I do think seeds have agency. They are my sisters, brothers, and teachers. Since it appears that climate change may encourage us to rethink agriculture, what kinds of questions should we consider that connote a relationship between us of mutuality and reciprocity? Here are a few that I have been pondering:
Have we misinterpreted our ancient ancestors' true motivations for selection of seeds for food crops? What about the seeds/species we did not select (such as perennials) and those we have chosen to leave behind?
How might a nurturing/stewarding seed culture emerge in our Great Lakes Bioregion?
What critical consciousness skills will we need to bring to the table when we consider genetically modified organisms?
What about all the seeds that sit in cold storage in seed vaults? Where are the gardeners to find out if these seeds could have a new "homeland"?
How might we re-vision our educational ethics so that seeds and our healthy relationship to the biotic community mean more than power and money?
This talk at a Bioneers conference by John Mohawk talks about the role that the human relationship with "domesticated" plants has played in allowing humans to adapt to many different environments and how that relationship will be important as we adapt to the coming climatic changes. Take a listen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6kOA-KtPxw.
In the comments section, write about your reactions to the film "Seed: The Untold Story" and John Mohawk's talk. Do any of the ideas in the film and the talk challenge your ideas about your relationship to food and plants? If so, how so? Do parts of the film and talk resonate with your experiences and beliefs? If how, tell us how! Do any of my questions above resonate with your own ponderings? What other questions arise for you as you contemplate your relationship with the plants that sustain your life?
Looking forward to exploring these ideas with you in person!
"My family lost almost everything during the Great Depression, but these beans kept us alive."
"This was the only corn to make ears during the great drought of '34."
"My people carried these beans on the Trail of Tears."
I added my own stories when I sent seeds in return: "Midnight, late July, Aunt Mary's Sweet Corn in full tassel and silk--strong stalks and setting two ears--I feel such powerful ecstatic energy."
Seeds and culture intertwined. There is more encoded in seeds than their DNA. Seeds have stories to tell and they are still waiting for us to listen.
So, yes! I do think seeds have agency. They are my sisters, brothers, and teachers. Since it appears that climate change may encourage us to rethink agriculture, what kinds of questions should we consider that connote a relationship between us of mutuality and reciprocity? Here are a few that I have been pondering:
Have we misinterpreted our ancient ancestors' true motivations for selection of seeds for food crops? What about the seeds/species we did not select (such as perennials) and those we have chosen to leave behind?
How might a nurturing/stewarding seed culture emerge in our Great Lakes Bioregion?
What critical consciousness skills will we need to bring to the table when we consider genetically modified organisms?
What about all the seeds that sit in cold storage in seed vaults? Where are the gardeners to find out if these seeds could have a new "homeland"?
How might we re-vision our educational ethics so that seeds and our healthy relationship to the biotic community mean more than power and money?
This talk at a Bioneers conference by John Mohawk talks about the role that the human relationship with "domesticated" plants has played in allowing humans to adapt to many different environments and how that relationship will be important as we adapt to the coming climatic changes. Take a listen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6kOA-KtPxw.
In the comments section, write about your reactions to the film "Seed: The Untold Story" and John Mohawk's talk. Do any of the ideas in the film and the talk challenge your ideas about your relationship to food and plants? If so, how so? Do parts of the film and talk resonate with your experiences and beliefs? If how, tell us how! Do any of my questions above resonate with your own ponderings? What other questions arise for you as you contemplate your relationship with the plants that sustain your life?
Looking forward to exploring these ideas with you in person!
Week 2 on the Farm: Garden Design and Seedbed Preparation
One of our farm goals this week is to get the garden beds behind the house and across the driveway ready for planting. We've designed these gardens with permanent raised beds that we maintain (mostly) with hand tools such as broadforks, cultivating hoes, shovels, and rakes. Whether you are growing on 80 acres, 1 acre, or on a patio, planning out the design of your garden so that it is integrated efficiently and enjoyably into your lifestyle is key to a sustained and successful farm or garden. During your time at the farm this week, we'll have you help us prepare these gardens for planting, talk about why we designed them the way we did, and help you think about design possibilities for different types of farms and gardens.
To get you thinking about farm and garden design before you arrive, please watch the following video by Jean-Martin Fortier, a market gardener in Quebec. He and his wife Maude-Helene Desroches make a living growing on an acre and a half of permanent raised beds. Fortier's book "The Market Gardener" has become a popular guide for farmers wanting to grow organically and intensively on a small acreage without large equipment:
The Market Gardener with Jean-Martin Fortier, Part 2 (18 min.): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_8ZsRbCnxM
As a part of preparing our beds for planting, we'll be working with the soil to maintain good tilth and make sure that the seeds and seedlings we'll be planting in a few weeks have the nutrients they need to get off to a good growing start. In preparation for talking about developing and maintaining soil fertility in raised bed systems, please watch the following video, again from Jean-Martin Fortier:
The Market Gardener with Jean-Martin Fortier, Part 5 (16 min.): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfrqK_Q3JGk
As we mentioned when we met on the farm last week, your learning in this course will be driven by your curiosity. To cultivate that curiosity, please come up with a question that you'd like to ask after watching the video segments above and type it into the comments section of the blog. We will have time on the farm for you to ask your questions--maybe we will even have some answers!
Tuesday, April 3, 2018
Thursday Week 1: Relationships to Food, Farming, Each Other
To kick off our series of Thursday conversations, we'd like
to invite us all to reflect on our relationships to the food we eat and the
systems (and people, plants, and animals) that produce it.
Here are some reflections from John & Amy:
Amy's Reflection:
Here are some reflections from John & Amy:
Amy's Reflection:
My
first friends were farm animals. Cows, mostly, because my parents were dairy
farmers and so I was surrounded by them. We had chickens too, but they pecked
me when I tried to collect their eggs and the roosters flew at my head with
their dusty wings and sharp talons whenever I entered the chicken yard. I
preferred the cows. I remember one old cow who always chose the same stall in
the middle of the barn. I liked to sit next to her and stroke the soft
underside of her neck as she calmly chewed her cud and waited her turn to be
milked. I was too young to be of much help in the barn then, but I loved being
around the cows, touching them and smelling their sweet breath.
As soon as I was tall and strong enough, I was given chores. My first responsibilities were feeding the cows and young calves, then cleaning stalls and milking. In the summer there was field work as we grew and harvested the crops that would feed the cows through the winter. It was hard, physical work but I enjoyed it. I loved being outside, working with my family. We were a team, working together to take care of the cows, who in turn took care of us by giving us milk, meat, and money. Neither of my parents had off-farm jobs, so everything we had came from those cows. If they flourished, we flourished.
No childhood is perfect, but I loved growing up on the farm. I determined that I wanted to live on a farm forever and planned to marry a farmer when I grew up. (That it didn’t occur to me that I could be a farmer myself should give you an indication of the gender dynamics in my family.) It was when I was about twelve that I started to realize that something was amiss in the world of agriculture.
In the mid-80s, a decade after former Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz (you can read about his legacy here: http://grist.org/article/the-butz-stops-here/) extorted farmers to “get big or get out,” the dairy industry hit a crisis. Production, bolstered in part by government price-supports and buy-ups of surplus product, rose to unsustainable levels. As part of an attempt to reduce the surplus milk flooding the market, the federal Dairy Termination Program offered a buyout option which paid farmers to stop milk production.
I
imagine that a conversation similar to the one my family had one February
evening took place across many farmhouse kitchen tables that year. My father
explained the terms of program. We’d have to sell the cows and agree not to produce
milk for a certain number of years, which meant we’d be done dairying, since it
wasn’t feasible to get back into the business after being out for several
years.
“Well, family, what do you think?” my father asked, looking from my mother to my brother to me. “Should we take it?”
“No!” I yelled, shaking my head vigorously, eyes wide, shocked that we would even consider such a thing. I couldn’t imagine life without the cows, without the farm. What would we do?
I don’t know how much my reaction actually figured into my father’s decision not to take the buyout. Many of the small dairies in our county did. And though my parents didn’t stop farming when I was a kid, they determined that they would be the last generation of my family to farm. “Go to college,” they told my brother and me. “Get a good job off the farm. You can’t make a living doing this on a small scale—it’s too hard.”
The agricultural policies promoted by Butz and others who shared his interests (and the fallout from these policies) have changed the landscape and ecosystem in which I live. Once my township and those surrounding it were dotted with small, diverse farms. My father remembers the days when every family had a garden, a pig, a cow, and some chickens. Now a few large farms dominate the area with corn, soybeans, and dairy herds which contain thousands of cattle (at its biggest, my parents’ herd was a couple of hundred).
“Plant fencerow to fencerow,” Butz said. Today, even the fencerows have been cut and plowed, destroying precious buffer zones and ecologically diverse habitats. In the effort to get maximum yields per acre, erodible land is tilled and soil washes into our rivers and streams. Chemical fertilizers and herbicides have destroyed the life in our soil and they also wash into our watershed, wreaking havoc in our aquatic ecosystems. Livestock, also, are pushed to the limits of production through breeding, feeding, and confinement practices that leave them with shortened and unpleasant lives. And farm workers share that same fate as they put in exhausting workdays which frequently include dangerous working conditions and exposures to toxic substances.
My
re-entry into farming as a small-scale vegetable grower in 2010 was motivated
by a desire to enter into a more intimate, conscious, and conscientious
relationship with my local community. Over the past eight years of developing
and working this business, I've experienced deep satisfactions and deep grief.
I've moved from hope to discouragement and back to hope again. I've pulled
myself back from the edge of burnout and bitterness, dug deep to recover the
joy I find in working with the earth, and learned (am learning!) how to be
increasingly honest about what I need in order to sustain this work.
I suspect that in order to create a truly resilient, just, and joyful agricultural system, we have to change some of our fundamental cultural beliefs about who we are in relationship to the other beings of this earth and to the earth itself. My farming practices are an exploration of the possibilities for those changes in my own life and being.
I
titled this class “Slow Farming” after the “Slow Food” (https://www.slowfoodusa.org/about-us) and “Slow Money”
(https://slowmoney.org/about/principles) movements, which emphasize the revitalization of local food traditions and
investment in community food systems as means of resisting corporate control of
food and farming systems. I think we need to extend these “slow” conversations
to include the growing of food as well so that more people have the ability to
access the deep pleasure and responsibility of growing their own food. I hope
this class will contribute to that for each of you.
John's
Reflection:
I
have grown old in a society that promotes competition and condones violence in
myriad forms. Much of my work and play in this life has been focused on
restoring balance by encouraging and attempting to live in support of these
principles:
Cooperation
and Collaboration
Respect
for diversity
Justice,
Justice, Justice
Nonviolence
After
40+ years of gardening and farming, I feel like a child again. Much of what I
always "sensed" about these two potentially noble adventures are
being confirmed. In the larger scheme of things, all parts of an
ecosystem--animals, trees and plants, fungi, microbes, etc., are collaborating
and cooperating to maintain balance and health. The greater the diversity
present in all realms, the more healthy the system. In my love and affection
for gardening and farming, the more I collaborate and cooperate with this
process, the healthier I, we, become.
Having shared my experience, I'm interested in what you "sense" and experience in relationship to the Earth.
Questions for you:
What beliefs and knowledge about food and farming did you absorb through the circumstances of your childhoods and early adulthoods? When did you first begin to be aware that something was amiss within our food and farming systems? How have you responded to that awareness? Your responses might include thoughts, feelings, or actions. Please type your reflections in the comments section of this blog.
Having shared my experience, I'm interested in what you "sense" and experience in relationship to the Earth.
Questions for you:
What beliefs and knowledge about food and farming did you absorb through the circumstances of your childhoods and early adulthoods? When did you first begin to be aware that something was amiss within our food and farming systems? How have you responded to that awareness? Your responses might include thoughts, feelings, or actions. Please type your reflections in the comments section of this blog.
Monday, April 2, 2018
How to Use This Blog
We'll use this blog to support our class in two ways.
First, each Sunday John & Amy will post a "preview" of that week's farm practicum, along with materials for everyone to review in preparation for their time on the farm. Please review this material and post a question or comment in response to it prior to your weekly time on the farm.
Second, the facilitators of the coming week's Thursday class will each compose and publish a blog post by the Sunday evening as well. These posts will relate to the food/farming related issue that the author would like us to explore during their 45 minutes of Thursday class time. These posts should contain:
1) a personal reflection about the author's interest in/relationship to/ideas about the problem at hand,
2) links to reference materials that will help the class understand the issue in some depth,
3) information about or links to materials that describe attempts to solve the problem,
and
4) questions that you would like the class to respond to in their comments on your posts.
Keep in mind that we want this course to be personal and solutions-oriented. In order to move toward real solutions, we need to understand the issues in all of their complexity. Your blog posts should contain lots of factual information to help us with this understanding (and please make sure your factual information is coming from sources you deem credible!). But they should also be written from a personal perspective. Why are you concerned about this problem? When did you first learn of it? How does it affect you personally? How are others attempting to solve this problem and how might you personally engage with its solutions?
Your blog posts should end with an open-ended question or two that you'd like the class to respond to by Wednesday evening. Everyone else in the class will respond to your post with a comment that addresses the question(s) you've posed. Commenters, please spend some time composing thoughtful responses--200+ words is a good length to shoot for, but quality is more important than quantity.
First, each Sunday John & Amy will post a "preview" of that week's farm practicum, along with materials for everyone to review in preparation for their time on the farm. Please review this material and post a question or comment in response to it prior to your weekly time on the farm.
Second, the facilitators of the coming week's Thursday class will each compose and publish a blog post by the Sunday evening as well. These posts will relate to the food/farming related issue that the author would like us to explore during their 45 minutes of Thursday class time. These posts should contain:
1) a personal reflection about the author's interest in/relationship to/ideas about the problem at hand,
2) links to reference materials that will help the class understand the issue in some depth,
3) information about or links to materials that describe attempts to solve the problem,
and
4) questions that you would like the class to respond to in their comments on your posts.
Keep in mind that we want this course to be personal and solutions-oriented. In order to move toward real solutions, we need to understand the issues in all of their complexity. Your blog posts should contain lots of factual information to help us with this understanding (and please make sure your factual information is coming from sources you deem credible!). But they should also be written from a personal perspective. Why are you concerned about this problem? When did you first learn of it? How does it affect you personally? How are others attempting to solve this problem and how might you personally engage with its solutions?
Your blog posts should end with an open-ended question or two that you'd like the class to respond to by Wednesday evening. Everyone else in the class will respond to your post with a comment that addresses the question(s) you've posed. Commenters, please spend some time composing thoughtful responses--200+ words is a good length to shoot for, but quality is more important than quantity.
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