The second woman was Laurie Arboreal who owns Eaters Guild Farm in Bangor, Michigan. Laurie's inspiration started at a young age when she realized how much she loved to cook, her mother did not care for cooking rather she would clean, so they made a great team in the kitchen! Laurie met her husband and joined him on an internship in agriculture which finally led them to starting their farm. Laurie grew up with a nice garden and continues that lifestyle now with her large vegetable farm, including a large herd of goats. She realizes the importance of raising a family with healthy eating habits ands would like to continue that for her daughter!
The third woman was Shauna, owner of Blue Dog Family Farm located in Bangor, Michigan. Shauna grew up on a dairy farm, which is much different from her current vegetable farm, and has kept the lifestyle going. Shaunas job on the farm includes preserving the food, the business work, keeping the children busy, and so much more that goes into being a farm wife.
All three of the farms offer CSA, community supported agriculture, shares which allow the community to help the farm. These shares are bought before the season in which they are wanted for and the money goes to the local farm, meanwhile the share holders receive a box of produce every week that is hand picked from the farm. This is a great opportunity for the community to get involved while helping out the local farmers!
One really interesting topic during the evening was about how organic farmers become certified. I personally had no previous knowledge about organic farming aside from the bits that were discussed earlier in ENGL 1100. I learned that a third party certifier comes in for inspection and grants the certification. Inspections take place once a year to ensure that the farm is still following the organic guidelines. As far as following the guidelines for chemical usage is concerned, a lot of record keeping must be done by the organic farmers, it is all about tracking such as back to the plants origin, when it was planted, transplanted, harvested, etc. Luckily, most organic farms do not need chemically enhanced soil or sprays because their soil is so rich in nutrients already!
Another interesting concept, trailing certification, was about how organic farmers nurture their soil. The three farmers explained that crop rotation is key, don't plant a leafy green plant after planting a different leafy green plant, there must be changes in what's planted in order to ensure the soils nutrients aren't becoming over used. Also, they explained that compost is hard to come by however it is necessary to keep the organic matter high, soil testing must be done to ensure the right compost is used.
We, especially those who read The Omnivore's Dilemma, learned a lot about the large commercial farms throughout the world. One big question for the local, organic farmers was how do they get around the commercial farmers who spray a lot of chemicals that cannot contaminate their land. They explained that there are buffer zones around the organic farms that cannot be farmed, however these zones ensure that the land they encompass is free from contamination. Also, they explained that if a farmer wants to switch to organic there is a three year transition period.
For the upcoming season the women explained what they are most looking forward to growing, Heather said she was really excited to grow melons however she is reconsidering now because of the lack of warm weather. Laurie is going to try a hot house approach to growing a tropical strain of mushrooms! Shauna said that she would really like to put together a baby kale salad mix.
The whole discussion that took place was really interesting, above I have just listed some of the topics that I found personally interesting, especially for this course. I definitely want to check out the farmers market around here this summer and try to find produce from the three local farms. I have never been big on organic foods, mostly because of the price, however I learned a lot about organic farming from this experience and I think I would like to try to incorporate more organic foods into my grocery list and diet!
One final note about the evening, a woman from the audience spoke up at one point to tell everyone about her farm, Tabitha Farm off of South Burdick street, because from May to November they provide a free farm stand with foods from local farms!
Sounds like a worthwhile discussion, part of me has always wanted to get involved with organic farming. It seemed like you had a lot to write about! I'm particularly glad you included that last part about free produce at Tabitha Farm
ReplyDeleteI think it's so cool that you can get a box of produce from helping the farmers out. I also think it's great that there are farmers out there who don't use chemicals on their crops!
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