Embarking on a 'Farm Adventure' at Fair Oaks

We're headed for a farm adventure today at Fair Oaks Farm, a large dairy operation about 90 miles south of Chicago between Merrillville and Lafayette.

The kids and I were there in October with my mother-in-law. It was the last big family trip the nearly 20 of us took together before she died. [Always up for something new, it was where she wanted to go for her birthday.]

It's kind of like a Disneyland of dairy farms. There's a birthing barn, where you can see calves born on the half hour. There are some 80 calves a day born at the place. My daughter, just barely 3 at the time, really enjoyed that part. She loves baby animals, so it was impressive for her to see a live birth. Since I had been watching babies born at about her age, I didn't have a second thought about the birthing barn. But if you're going to take small children...be prepared for LOTS of questions.

The fun room is full of farm-related games and interactive features. And, to top it off, there's a Mooovie, about the Fair Oaks operation.

My favorite part last time was the bus tour through the cow barns and the milking carousel. There's a virtual tour in case you can't make the trip in person.

House Feels Sting of Honeybee Loss, Includes Pollinator $$s in Farm Bill

Money to research the mysterious disappearance of millions of bees - the country's prime pollination workforce - was attached to the farm bill thanks largely to honorary Farmgirl Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

She attached her $86.5 million Pollinator Protection Act, to the massive farm bill, which passed the House on Friday, reports the Daily Green. Now it's on to the Senate next.

Boxer's interest in Colony Collapse Disorder is tied to the $2 billion almond crop in California, which Boxer notes demands nearly half of all honey bees in the country.

If the bill passes the Senate, the pollinator money will go to research projects and investigations aimed at solving the mystery of the disappearing honey bees.

Farmer John Movie Opening at a Theater Near You

An exciting new documentary opens today in Sacramento: The Real Dirt on Farmer John.

A review published by The California Aggie, notes that the documentary chronicles the "unbelievably dramatic life story" of John Peterson, a farmer in rural Illinois who nearly lost his farm to unscrupulous lenders after reaching a peak in the 1950s. He resurrected the operation as an organic farm and charging full speed into sustainability and the CSA movement.

Now his farm - Angelic Organics - is supposedly one of the largest CSA farms in the country.

Promotions for the piece, including an "unbelievably special" quote from Al Gore and a Kermit the Frog-throwback promo that "It ain't easy being green."

But there's great period stories about the farm as the center of the hippie movement and the clash that created with the community. Then the farm's near downfall, huge debts, scourges right out of The Bible, and ultimately, redemption found in the organics movement.

Sounds fascinating.

See the trailer here on YouTube. Show times are here. It'll be in Chicago at the Siskel theater in August.

Where are the Veggie Chips?

I can't tell you how upset I am that it's mid-summer and still NO veggie chips at the farmers markets I visit.

I may have to start exploring other markets to see if I can find them. I completely miss veggie chips...waited for them all winter.

I can find them online at places like Nuts & Beyond, but I'm suspicious that they won't be as crispy and fresh as the ones I've come to crave.

Big Farm v. Small Farm Battle Lines Drawn

There's a great story this week in the Pioneer Press about the front lines of the farm aid debate. The story masterfully draws the battle lines between big-farming operations supported by big subsidies and family farm operations supported by tiny subsidies. In Congress, it's pitting Representative against Representative. Big farm against small farm. Eastern Minnesota v. Western Wisconsin.

At stake is $1 billion in farm subsidies in Minnesota alone. Not to mention the livelihood of hundreds of farmers...with large and small operations.

For Wis. Rep Ron Kind, a Democrat, the time is right to "cap farm subsidies to wealthy farmers, boost funding for green programs, and give incentives for farmers to grow fruits and vegetables, not just more corn."

But the Pi Press notes that Kind and his supporters have an uphill climb to impact farm policy any time soon.

The Sweetest Corn for a Sweet Price

We had the sweetest corn I've had since my grandfather picked it fresh out of the garden and my grandmother dunked it ever so briefly in a pot of boiling water. This corn was so fresh and so sweet, it hardly needed cooking at all.

And the best part was we got it for free...at church. It was a promotion of sorts for the Food Resource Bank. Our church partners with a rural church in Forrest, Ill., to locally harvest food for the hungry oversees.

It's a great organization to support and a great way to be a virtual farmer. You can sponsor an acre, a portion of an acre or a shovel to support the effort.

Farmgirl Combats Grief with Green Thumb

For a second Sunday in a row, the Chicago Tribune has a Farmgirl featured on the front of one of its print news sections. This week it's the Q Section's tug-at-the-heartstrings story of Farmgirl Terry Starks, who coped with the death of her 21-year-old son by nurturing a fledgling organic farm she named after him just south of Williamsville, Ill.

Beauregards Farm has been in operation, mainly to feed Terry's family since 1993. But she began sharing with the community last year after taking classes with Farm Beginnings. [Farm Beginnings is part of The Land Connection, a farm advocacy organization based in Evanston.

Terry cultivates heirloom veggies and ornamentals on her sustainable operation. And she keeps guineas, like our friends do, to keep the bug count low. [My question is how do you protect the guineas from the coyotes?]

The story doesn't mention it, but at Local Harvest, Terry notes that we may see a Harvest Festival at her place this fall. Sounds like fun for folks in Central Illinois.

And that reminds me that my husband's family had a traditional harvest celebration every year. But with family dispersing [because of moves and the death of my mother-in-lawd], I wonder if that will continue. Maybe we'll have to resurrect the harvest celebration at our Farm...or even more intriguing...in Chicagoland. That would be another chance for VF to bring a little rural to the city.

Was that a Rooster Crow or a Car Alarm?

Looks like more and more urban dwellers are catching on that homegrown eggs are tastier and healthier than mass commercial eggs. But, of course, that means we'll also see more crowing about this from neighbors who will resist any rural intrusion.

I'm still not sure my enlightened neighbors would be thrilled with us having backyard chickens, but I've already thought of a couple places for them. And maybe if we share the eggs, we'll get less resistance.

Indeed, one family in Texas is bold enough to also have a noisy rooster. They say they buy off their neighbors with eggs.

There isn't a sense yet about how much of a trend this is for urbanites and suburbanites, but hatcheries are reporting increased interest in chickens from big cities and suburban areas, according to the Associated Press. [You know it's a trend if the AP is following it.] And another story this week in the Raleigh News and Observer notes that chicken coop tours have begun in Raleigh and Carrboro.

Another hatchery owner, Bud Wood of Iowa, noted that interest has shifted from the "Future Farmers of America crowd toward young professionals."

I also love that the stories mentioned a side benefit to owning backyard chickens...bug control. Our friends in Southern Indiana let their chickens run free and swear that's the reason they have no mosquitoes and fewer pesky insects.

Of course it was great so see some ink given to Traci Torres, who runs mypetchicken.com, one of my favorite Farmgirl links. And in the N&O story I learned about Urban Chicken Underground, a blog aimed at getting municipalities to allow backyard chickens.

Meet a Rock Star on Your Next Market Trip

The Chicago Tribune may need to start a farm section considering all the ink it's given to farming and farmers markets this year. I especially love the emphasis on sustainable/organic farming. But my favorite part is that the Trib continues to build on its earlier prediction that farmers will be the next rock stars. Indeed, the Trib even recycled the headline from that earlier story this week in Good Eating with a new story "Fame on the Farm."

This week's Good Eating piece, however, highlights three new exciting Rock Star farmers:

• Farmgirl (from Northwest Indiana's Region no less) Beth Sakaguchi Eccles, who grows ethnic veggies (among her 683 vegetable varieties) on her Green Acres farm in North Judson, Ind.

• Wisconsin Mushroom Farmer Eric Rose. [I love his booth at the Daley Center markets and often purchase River Valley Ranch's Shrooms Kitchen brand salsas and dip mixes...especially the spinach artichoke dip, which I served to guests last weekend. Yum. They thought so too.]

• And one I hadn't heard about...Farmgirl Sydney Barton, who is part of the Chicago Honey Co-Op, which maintains more than 100 chemical-free beehives in the city. I didn't even know such a group existed, even though I'm a big fan of Chicago Roof Top Honey.
  

I'll have to check out the honey co-op next time I head to the farmers market downtown or in Oak Park. While I'm at it, I'll stock up on more Shrooms treats.

Don't miss the video pieces on each of these farmers and their organic operations at the Trib's site. There's no permalink, so watch the "related video" while you can.

Organic Can Feed the World, Study Says

Despite widespread, but I'd say gradually changing, thinking to the contrary, researchers at the University of Michigan believe that organic farming can produce three times the yield of pesticide-based farming operations.

In a release [plus podcast] on July 10, U of M Natural Resources and Environment Professor Ivette Perfecto talked about her research that found that in developed countries, yields were nearly equal on organic and conventional farms. But in developing countries, the results were more dramatic, with food production doubling or tripling with organic methods.

"My hope is that we can finally put a nail in the coffin of the idea that you can’t produce enough food through organic agriculture," Perfecto says.

According to this article in Planet Ark, Perfecto and her colleagues reviewed 293 studies on organic farming yields.

A Virtual Farmgirl thanks to eMagazine.com for the tip about the UofM findings.

Covergirl on the Farm

The Chicago Tribune is generally a Farmgirl must read, especially on Sundays. And this Sunday was no disappointment with microbiologist turned model turned Farmgirl Johari Cole-Kweli gracing the cover of Tribune Magazine...standing on her tractor no less.

Turns out Farmgirl Johari is deep into the organic movement in Kankakee County, Ill., where her 45 acres churn out veggies such as kale, peas and tomatoes. She's among what the Trib calls a new wave of settlers who are more educated and more rooted in the middle class than previous generations of African American farmers, who arrived in Pembroke Township escaping slavery, Jim Crow and Chicago riots.

She and this new group are pioneering organic, sustainable, eco-friendly agriculture...while helping to build community by supplying resources and bringing modern technology to the table for farmers and their children.

Johari, her family and Lyabo Farms in Momence are inspiring.

Photos and video of Johari and Pembroke are at www.chicagotribune.com/pembroke.

Feeding Goats Feeds the Spirit

It's been way too long since I've provided an update...but not too late to share our farm adventures from last weekend.

We were in Southern Indiana for some family business and spent our free time at The Goat Farm where my husband spent some of the best parts of his childhood. And let me tell you, my future farmers found the place no less fascinating. There were Nubian kids to feed bottles to, guineas (kept loose for bug control) to chase through the yard, and a couple of calves who broke through their barn fence to run free across the lawn. And, of course, the future farmers loved the goat's milk. My dad wanted to know if I remembered the taste, since I drank plenty of that as a child. But in the quick swig of coffee I had before church, I couldn't get the full flavor.

These are not raw milk fans, BTW. They pasteurize their goat's milk.

We were thrilled to see our rural friends had decided that after 30 plus years, they've had it with mowing [Al Gore would be proud]. In what used to be an elegant, but tedious to maintain front lawn, were more than 300 oak seedlings. That'll be a thinning chore when the time comes. But for now, our friends are happy not to have so much mowing duty. The added benefit is the screen the trees will create to obscure their lone neighbor's house.

We were devastated when we headed back, well on our way north on I-65, when we realized we left a full bushel of fresh garden veggies (zucchini, bell peppers, okra and broccoli) behind.

I told our hostess that if we visited more often, there would be no need to join a CSA to keep us flush with farm fresh produce. But sadly, the CSA seems to be our best option...at least until I expand my backyard garden. We have a bumper crop of cherry tomatoes on the way. Hopefully the chili peppers will be close behind.

Looking Forward to Farm Fresh Veggies

We think we've finally found a CSA to join. I wish I could say we chose Sandhill Organics because we've done a bunch of research.

But we're making the choice purely out of convenience...because we can walk to the veggie drop-off site.

[The drop-off site negative is that it's a cafe that now serves some excellent organic food, great coffee and has an enticing atmosphere. That's a negative because I can't see us just picking up the food without at least ordering some macchiato to go. We'll have to add that to the CSA ticket price.]

We still need to find out if we can get in for summer veggies, but we're definitely up for the winter sign up and maybe fruit this summer.

I'll report back about our experience.

My Little Rant

I'll admit that I get nostalgic when I think about and visit my family's farm. [I'm not old enough to remember how the sheep kept the hillsides manicured. I'm just barely old enough to remember exploring the hay loft in the red barn before time and storms brought it down.]

And I realize that fewer people are growing their own food...that family farms are endangered.

But God help us if the family farm becomes a complete novelty. There's nothing novel about feeding a community or a country.

So I get a little irritated when I see headlines like "Family business turns back clock for visitors." Those stories wreak of condescension.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for agritourism. Promoting family farm history is a great way to connect the public to their food supply...to raise awareness about the fragility of our environment and the need to preserve resources, including well-managed, sustainable farming operations.

But focusing on tired old stereotypes of rural farm life seems counterproductive and a bit disingenuous, especially when I know how much my family values high-speed DSL.

To me the story buried in the Louisville paper is about how the Bleemel family has managed to keep their 191-year-old Slow Poke farm afloat, while surrounding properties are being swallowed up by development.

They've turned to hospitality and farm tours to keep the community engaged and their land intact.