What’s wrong with this picture?

By Dee Reid

Once I heard Jim Minick read from The Blueberry Years, I knew I had to take one home with me. It wasn’t just that this “memoir of farm and family” was named the SIBA Best Non-Fiction Book of the year.  Or that Jim is a superb writer and story teller. Or even that  his book might contain a young couple’s familiar real-life account of how they found their calling on an organic farm at the end of a dazzling country road.

What really attracted me was Jim’s honest approach to each story, which I suspected would reveal much more than the usual sustainable farmer’s story of salvation.

The first hint was when someone asked about the book’s cover image. Jim winced and quietly acknowledged that the idyllic scene on the front was not his farm after all. The publisher took a picture of a dairy farm, Photo-Shopped in an image of a man walking down a central row, and added some generic berry bushes.  We’re not sure they’re even blueberry bushes. The result is a symmetrical flat field that bears no resemblance to the Floyd County, Va. , hills where Jim and Sarah planted and mulched their pick-your-own berry operation over the course of a decade.

Thankfully, Jim’ s saga of the berry life is the real-deal. It’s a coming of age tale told with love and reverence for the complexities of small farming in America today. I savored the sweetness in each chapter along with the “What’s wrong with this picture?” moments tucked instructively between them, which  Jim labeled “Blue Interludes.” Here’s one entitled “Working off of the farm.” To wit: “One report summarizes that ‘the off-farm income share of total household income…rose from about 50 percent in 1960 to more than 80 percent in the past ten years….the message for those still wanting to farm has become: ‘Get big or get a job.’ Be a not-farmer in order to also be a farmer.”

Jim allows us to taste the freshness of ripe berries, the richness of teaching yourself a new way of life, the  challenge of making new friends, and the inconvenient truths about  the economics of small-scale farming.

Though he and Sarah usually excel at everything they try, they can’t harvest a viable living by cultivating one of the first organic blueberry farms in the mid-Atlantic region. Even after they pay off the mortgage in less than four years (!), it looks like their off-farm income will always have to exceed the dollars they glean from some of the healthiest blueberries the Blue Ridge has to offer.

It’s not their fault of course. It’s the reality of “sustainable” farming that is often not so sustainable for farmers even when they do their homework and their chores as well as these two bright pioneers do.

In the end, Jim and Sarah decide they desire time to pursue writing and basket-making more than farming. They sell the blueberry business and move to the next county, where  they live as teachers and artists, enjoy a slower rural pace, and grow enough food for their table.

The Blueberry Years were hardly wasted, though, in the living or the writing. This is the best small-farm book I’ve read in years, precisely because it’s as much about pursuing one’s passion as it is  about how farming should be.  I wish I could send a copy to every ag official and politician in the country, so they could learn a few lessons about what’s really needed to improve the future of sustainable farming.

I’m glad Jim has more time to write these days and I look forward to the completion of his novel in progress.

Lease and learn from a leading farmer

By Dee Reid

Photos by Katherine Vance

The Piedmont is paradise for small-scale farmers. We have an outstanding sustainable agricultural extension agent and a model community college program that trains and supports future farmers who want to use the best organic practices. Add to that dozens of farmer’s markets and CSA’s, several natural foods groceries, plenty of locavore restaurants, and a growing market of savvy consumers hungry for fresh local food.  The region also boasts a sustainable meat processor and soon will open a “value added” center where farmers can process and package jams, jellies, baked goods, etc. from their farm goods.

No wonder folks who want to be sustainable farmers are flocking here from all over the country. But there’s one problem — the price of  land near good markets has become too steep for many who are just getting started.

Bill Dow, one of the most experienced and respected small-scale farmers and advocates in the region, has an innovative solution.  Three decades after he helped launch the Carrboro Farmer’s Market and became North Carolina’s first certified organic farmer, Bill is ready to lease out parcels of his expertly cultivated land one year at a time to prospective farmers who can’t afford to buy their own place yet.

In exchange for a modest monthly fee, the “Growers of Ayrshire Farm” will have access to terraced plots that are ready to grow, crops that are tested, markets and relationships that are well established, and mentoring from a seasoned pro.

It’s a darn good deal for anyone trying to get started with very little risk or investment — a chance to develop a viable enterprise at one of the best farms in the area, while learning firsthand from a pioneering leader who has mentored countless new farmers and knows what it takes to succeed.

Ayrshire Farm is located on a scenic rural road in the middle of Chatham county, six miles west of Pittsboro and Central Carolina Community College’s Sustainable Agriculture Program, 20 miles south of Chapel Hill  and the famed Carrboro Farmer’s Market, and 40 miles west of Raleigh and more markets. To learn more and arrange a visit, you may contact Bill Dow at dfwalker99@hotmail.com, 919.548.4196.

To learn more about Bill and Ayrshire Farm check out this  video.

Rhymes with bumpkins

By Dee Reid

My spring garden started sprouting early this year. Even before my sugar-snaps germinated in late February, something unexpected sprung up in the pea patch. Looked like squash seedlings, but that couldn’t be, since my zucchinis and summer squash got wiped out by the bugs and worms last year, and the year before, come to think of it.

A few days after I disposed of the new squash look-alikes, the same sturdy little boogers started peeping up in the arugula bed. Then amidst the chard and red-leaf lettuce. Dang. Who invited these unexpected visitors anyway?

No problem, I kept snatching the volunteer seedlings up and tossing them away like weeds. But they kept on poking their perky little heads through the soil.

Soon the strangers were showing up in the bed I had prepared for tomatoes, but hadn’t even planted yet. What the heck?

Then I remembered. Last fall, I threw several rotting Halloween pumpkins into my compost bin. They bio-degraded very nicely, thank you very much, and I smugly dumped the most excellent results on all of my garden beds.

Now I’ve got pumpkin bumpkins sprouting all over the place. File this in the department of unintended consequences, next to the humility lessons.

Hmm, maybe next year I should save some zukes, instead of eating every last scrap, to throw in my compost pile . It may be the only way I’ll ever get a decent squash crop.

Just another reminder that no matter how efficient and earnest we are in the garden, we’re not always really in charge after all.

Food Matters

By Dee Reid

I haven’t bought a cookbook in years. When I need a fresh idea for dinner, I Google a new recipe or improvise on an old one based on what’s in the fridge and the pantry. Yet one of the most important books I’ve read, and re-read, this year is Food Matters, by Mark Bittman, the New York Times Minimalist columnist.

Of course it’s not really a cookbook, but rather, as the subtitle claims, “A Guide to Conscious Eating.” The fact that it includes 75 recipes is a bonus.

Bittman’s premise is that we can change our impact on the world and our health by making a few simple but profound adjustments in the way we eat and cook for the rest of our lives.  After reading his book and following his advice, I believe he’s right.

This is not about losing weight, though if you follow Bittman, you will inevitably shed pounds. It’s also not about counting calories, because if you eat wisely, you can eat as much as you want (and even splurge on the high-cal stuff once in a while).

Bittman’s plan requires no secret  ingredients or complicated rules. And it won’t cost you more than you’re already spending on your diet, because you’ll be cooking more and spending less money on meat and junk.

He says, simply, we should eat less meat and processed foods, and more fruits, vegetables,  legumes and whole grains.  Sounds like Michael Pollan right? The only difference is that Bittman shows us how to do this with ease and flavor, and without breaking the grocery budget.

Bittman believes that food matters more than just nutritionally. Industrial agriculture depends on petroleum-based pesticides and transportation, producing more than its share of carbon emissions, thereby contributing to climate change. What’s more, factory meat farms use too many hormones and antibiotics, and also degrade the landscape.  And processed food contains too much fat and high fructose corn syrup, contributing to diabetes, obesity and other diseases.

Okay, we knew this. While Bittman acknowledges it will take wholesale policy revisions to dramatically reduce Big Ag’s impact on climate change, he shows that what we do in our own household will matter, and may influence policy change down the road. That got my attention.

“Eating a typical family-of-four steak dinner is the rough equivalent, energy-wise, of driving around in an SUV for three hours, while leaving all the lights on at home,” he writes. “If we each ate the equivalent of three fewer cheeseburgers a week, we’d cancel out the effects of all the SUVs in the country. Not bad.”

The Minimalist is not interested in tying anyone to the kitchen stove. He takes a practical approach to cooking and shopping. Stock the pantry with basic staples (flour, grains, olive oil, herbs and spices) and the fridge with fresh fruit, vegetables , eggs, cheese and if you like enough meat to enhance your meals. Do this and you should be able to whip up a great healthy dinner in no time.

He also recommends cooking up a pot of beans and a pot of grains every week, so that you’ll have the basis for many meals that can be put together quickly.

Cook up a big batch of your favorite meal and freeze some for those times when you’re too busy to plan dinner. Take the leftovers to the office for lunch.

For folks who don’t know how to do this, he includes a simple daily plan with recipes. I’ve tried his approach and he’s right: it has transformed the way I shop, cook and eat, all for the better.

Now you’ll have to excuse me while I re-heat my favorite tomato-white-bean-onion soup and grab a slice of the no-knead bread that was baking while I wrote this. I’m about to do my bit to reduce global warming  the Bittman way.

Pittsboro PepperFest, Pretty Soon

People, please: Pittsboro’s Pepper Festival is uPon us. Sunday 10/3 from 4 to 7 PM, at The Plant, aka Piedmont Biofarm at Piedmont Biofuels’ permissible eco-paradise in PBO.

Sgt. Peppers (that’s Farmer Doug, peeps), presents perfect peppers for  Piedmont permaculture pastures.

Plentiful chefs promise palatable plates. Plus pretty peppy music.

Purchase passes now online ($15) or procrastinate and pay more at the door.

All you really need to know: http://theabundancefoundation.org/pepper-festival

Farmer Doug Jones

Hi-Def Chickens in 3-D

By Lyle Estill

Arlo's excellent coop.

My son Arlo has been wanting chickens for awhile now. Last spring he started building a chicken coop down at Summer Shop.  I’ve been offering him wise counsel and advice.

In the past I have hunted and eaten prairie chickens, and I have raised multiple generations of “rare breed” domesticated chickens.  Which means I have seen chickens die of dehydration.  And I have seen them fall victim to snakes, possums, raccoons, dogs, foxes, hawks, owls and weasels over time.

Weasels are the worst.  They come every other night and they kill only one bird, eating only the breast.

No amount of experience was enough to sway Arlo.

When Megan and Tim Toben came to dinner, two things happened.  Firstly, they spotted Arlo’s custom chicken coop.  And secondly, they sunk their teeth into one of Arlo’s apple/pear pies.

From their perspective it was entirely clear.  Pickard’s Mountain was having a dinner.  They needed pies.  From Arlo’s point of view it was also obvious.  He needed chickens.  Megan struck a deal with Arlo:  eight pies for eight hens.  Done.

In order to prepare for the chickens we went to the feed store to get supplies.  We needed staples to secure the fence to keep dogs out, and we needed oyster shells to keep the hens calcium up, and we needed chicken feed, and a bunch of stuff.

This morning Arlo harvested a solitary egg.  I suggested that it was worth about one hundred and eighty bucks.

Which left Arlo undaunted.  He’s going to make a go of it in backyard chickens.

And we are going with him.

Earlier today Tami said, “The chickens make me happy.”

That’s worth something.  I’m not sure how to price it, exactly, but we could charge some happiness to the chickens.

Tonight I came home from watching a scholastic soccer game and I went out to watch the chickens.  I called it “chicken TV.”  Cancel the satellite television subscription, I’ll go watch the chickens.  I’m not sure what it would cost for a bunch of television but I’m guessing it is a lot.

Tami came home from her yoga session and we went back out to watch the chickens.  Clearly it is a channel both of us would normally subscribe to.

I’m guessing that if we sharpened up our pencils, and charged everything from happiness to forgone television subscriptions to fresh eggs, we would be way ahead with chickens.

And if I am wrong about that, it’s too late.  Because we have a mixed flock of chickens to contend with…

– From  Energy Blog. Lyle is Vice President of Stuff at Piedmont Biofuels in Pittsboro.

Sustainable cinema features sustainable ag 9/28

ChathamArts’ Sustainable Cinema series will feature an evening of local documentaries about sustainable agriculture, Tuesday September 28 at 7 pm in the Barn at Fearrington Village, eight miles south of Chapel Hill.

North Carolina filmmaker Matthew Barr presents Hungry for Green, one of the first films to link issues of agricultural sustainability and worldwide hunger. The 30-minute documentary, narrated by former U.S. Senator George McGovern, underscores what farmers and consumers can do to influence how food is produced in the U.S. and around the world.

Ken Burns called Hungry for Green “an important film that underscores the urgency of achieving agriculture sustainability to help alleviate hunger and protect our natural environment.”

The evening also features several short films on sustainable farming, building and energy, produced by students of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University:

• Backyard Bounty by Diana Monroe and Martha J. Moore. Bountiful Backyards is laying the groundwork for Two Ton Farm, an urban minifarm cooperative that will produce literally tons of fresh produce for the neighboring community.

• Green McDonald’s Guy, by Brooke Shuman and Maura Tourian. One of only three “green” McDonald’s restaurants nationwide opened in Cary in 2009. Franchisee Ric Richards describes its surprisingly long list of eco-friendly design features.

• Watch Me Grow, by April Simon and Sara Washington. The Watch Me Grow program introduces kids as young as three to gardening, to engage their senses and to encourage them to eat more fresh produce.

A panel discussion follows with filmmaker Matthew Barr and local sustainable farming advocates. Admission $5 at door.

Teens learn to farm and lead

By Dee Reid

Sharada

When I pulled up in front of the SEEDS community and youth garden in Durham, conveniently located next to the Food Bank, I was amazed to see huge vegetable gardens on both sides of the street. After entering the first section, I realized it was even bigger than what I had seen from my car.  There were community plots, a Seedling Garden for children, a green house and hoop house, compost bins, clay-bale oven, hand-made pond, mushroom logs, herbs, pollinator garden, a fire pit, sheltered outdoor classroom, and beautiful murals. All just past the railroad tracks in east Durham.

Even more impressive, my tour guides were inner-city teens who knew a heck of a lot about farming. Sharada Fozard-McCall and Vianey Martinez love learning, growing, cooking and talking about it — all part of their jobs as year-round crew members of SEEDS DIG program (Durham Innercity Gardeners). They especially love selling produce and flowers at the Durham Farmer’s Market.

“We learn so much that adults come to us now for knowledge,” said Vianey.  And, they get paid. “It’s pretty awesome,” said Sharada.

The community garden beds are leased to local residents on a sliding fee scale ranging from $1 to $35 a year.

Vianey

Their DIG garden is across the street and includes vegetable, flower and herb beds, bee hives, and a shed with a rooftop garden and cisterns.

“Alot of time, effort and love went into this,” said Vianey.

And it shows.

– SEEDS was one of two dozen farms on the Eastern Triangle Farm Tour this week-end. Photos by SEEDS.

Urban bounty

By Dee Reid

From left, Ishmael and Keith with summer produce ready for Vimala's, 9th Street Bakery and Trosa Grocery (Photo by Bountiful Backyards)

Keith Shaljian believes that fresh, local, organic fruits, herbs and vegetables shouldn’t just be for affluent foodies.  That’s why he and his colleagues at Bountiful Backyards partner with other community organizations to start sustainable gardens in unlikely locations.

I first met Keith when Bountiful Backyards was helping to install a community garden that would provide job training for homeless persons in Chapel Hill. I found him again this week-end at Two Ton Farm, an amazing urban permaculture garden with produce, fruit, flowers and herbs, filling the 2500-square-foot lot surrounding Jruth Manor, a transitional house in North East Central Durham. They call it Two Ton Farm because they intend to eventually be able to harvest 2-3 pounds of food per square foot.

“We want this to be a replicable model of sustainable life, expanding access to local, fresh organic food at an affordable cost,” Keith explained during the Eastern Triangle Farm Tour.

He and Sarah Vroom, also of Bountiful Backyards, explained that the garden shows that you can grow enough food on an urban lot to feed multiple families or to start a micro-business by selling to local food enterprises.

The Durham garden is a community collaboration involving several other organizations including Good Work (a sustainable community development organization), Green Space Initiative (working to connect Durham to its agricultural roots) and Jruth, Inc., developing social entrepreneurship strategies for homeless persons, ex-offenders and others.

The project broke ground May 1.  Working with Jruth residents, teens and other volunteers the group developed compost, mulch and 15 French intensive double-dug raised vegetable beds. They also planted herb and pollinator plots,  elderberries and blueberries, according to a plan designed for sustainability and low maintenance. They have harvested more than 275 pounds of fresh produce to sell or give to neighbors, restaurants and community organizations.

Check out photos and video about Two-Ton Farm, produced by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.

More photos of Two-Ton Farm on Facebook.

Don’t miss the Eastern Triangle Farm Tour Sept. 18-19

From Edible Earthscapes farm near Moncure

By Amy Armbruster

Carolina Farm Stewardship Association’s 5th Annual Eastern Triangle Farm Tour will have a record 24 sites, including eight new farms. So mark your calendars for Sept. 18-19, 1 to 5 p.m.

We will be showcasing ten farms with sustainable and humane livestock operations, getting the word out about healthy, local meat  options.  Several are Animal Welfare Approved and all have beautiful animals.

We will have mushrooms again (Spain Farm) and honeybees for the first time (Betsey’s Bee Farm.)

On the urban scene, we are happy to welcome an urban mini-farm in Durham (Two Ton Farm sponsored by Bountiful Backyards) and the farm of the Inter Faith Food Shuttle in Raleigh.  These sites, along with the SEEDS Garden in Durham, highlight how to grow a lot on small acreage in the city and how youth can be engaged in the movement.

Another newcomer to the tour this year is Durham County’s newest goat dairy. Located in Bahama, Prodigal Farm has 65 goats and a brand new milking parlor and cheese-making building.  Very cool.

And, of course, the tour includes a strong collection of vegetable, flower and fruit producers, where foodies and growers can learn about organic and sustainable horticulture practices.

The tour brochure, an interactive Google map of all the farms and ticket information are available at our website; you can buy your ticket button online. www.carolinafarmstewards.org/etft2010.shtml.

Buttons are $25 per carload in advance and $30 the day of the tour. Single farms are $10 per carload.

– Amy Armbruster is Communications Coordinator for the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, based in Pittsboro.