Clearly, our present ways of agriculture are not sustainable, and so our food supply is not sustainable. We must restore ecological health to our agricultural landscapes, as well as economic and cultural stability to our rural communities.

Click the link below to read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/opinion/05berry.html?_r=1

It’s barely Thursday, September 9^th at 4:45 AM in East Lansing, Michigan. Bleary-eyed and squinting through the dark, Taylor and I load the car and are northwest bound within minutes. We’re headed to Milwaukee via a car ferry, but it’s still three hours to the edge of Michigan. As we drive through the lollygagging hills, fruit groves and crop fields of Western Lower Michigan, farmers on either side of the highway are already awake and humming along. The vistas are appropriate, as we are about to spend the next three days celebrating the Sustainable Farmer, the Essential Agriculturalist, the Local Food Advocate, the Aquaculturalist, the Food Justice Activist, and other Visionaries at the “Good Food Table” : Growing Power’s first conference on urban and small farming.

As we pull up to the SS Badger, docked in Ludington, the sun has cleared the horizon and dances across massive white totems asleep on the beds of semis, which we discover are segments of wind turbine towers – their presence nearly foiled by two-hundred-yard piles of the “other” black gold, coal, sparkling in the distance. Four breathless hours of Lake Michigan beauty later we arrive in Manatowoc, Wisconsin, two hours north of Milwaukee. The ride is a meditation on fresh water, precious as it is, and plentiful in this ancient glacial intersection.

We’re a day early, so we take our time southbound on 43, catching glimpses of the coast and a nearly contiguous patchwork of dairy pasture and barns until we arrive at the Wisconsin State Fair Grounds in West Allis, far ahead of most of the 900+ people expected to be here for the entire weekend. Wisconsin is the promised-land of dairy, home of Organic Valley and many of Horizon’s farmers; and it’s not only cows – the state ranks first in milk goat population, at 40,000 head, and does well with cranberries, too. It’s fitting that the conference will play itself out here at the State Fair grounds, an institution of agricultural pageantry, traditional to American farm life for well over a century. This particular ground is hollowed, once home to Native Americans who stewarded the land for sustenance.

Friday Morning opens with the man himself, Mr. Will Allen, in true shoulderless-shirt form and surrounded by a vast Growing Power coterie. He welcomes us to the Good Food Table and the “composting process” of the conference itself. The audience – a bold mix of good food revolutionaries from around the country and the world – is enraptured by Will’s call to grow the movement, his appeal to move beyond talking and “just start doing.” Winona LaDuke follows, her voice billowing with pride and tinged with urgency, as she recounts the rice harvest the day before and the need to protect the genetic integrity and ancestral heritages of our seeds and land. Indeed, “the decolonization of our food.” Urban farming luminaries fill-out a panel just before lunch, when we are served the very rice Winona and fellow Anishinaabe harvested earlier in the week.

Immediately after lunch, Taylor prepares for his panel with Joel Morton, the voice of Farmaid’s hotline, and Amy Mall, founder of Altgeld Sawyer Corner Farm in Chicago. The session is titled “Tools for Change: Resources and Opportunities for Supporting New Farmers, Transformative Food Systems and a Just and Diverse Food Economy.” It’s standing room only before Joel gets started explaining the resources available through Farmaid’s website and hotline. He’s the guy on the other end of the line when you call – and you couldn’t be in better hands; his voice is measured and assuring, exactly what a farmer beset by crisis (or just in need of a good chat) would like to hear. Next up is Taylor, who provides an overview of the challenges beginning farmers face and how the website (yes, this one) serves our needs, now more than ever as its popularity increases monthly. Check out a clip of his presentation below. Amy closes the panel with a beautifully rendered narrative of how her community’s relationship-based garden is flourishing – a testament to the success of, in her own words, a “MacGuyver-style” approach from the start.

Stay tuned for PART II of the travelogue …

see full photo albums:

day one I day two I day three

Saturday, September 11, 2010.

Homegrown is put together by a dedicated group of individuals and sponsors who represent some of the many facets of the localization movements in Washtenaw County.

The HomeGrown Festival seeks to engage the entire community of Southeast Michigan around issues of food security, enjoyment and the environment by celebrating good food and local business with family-oriented fun and activities. The mission of the HomeGrown Festival is to serve as a catalyst in raising awareness of the importance and benefits of community food security.

Many indicators point to industrialized food production and globalized distribution systems as significant contributors to the climate crisis and to widespread health problems. A direct way for people to take action in their daily lives (three times a day!) to address these serious problems is through locally grown, sustainably produced food and products. Buying local food not only addresses environmental quality, but also increases food security and keeps dollars circulating in the local community by investing in the Michigan economy.

Read more about the Homegrown Festival at the website: http://www.homegrownfestival.org/

Read a story and see video and pictures on Annarbor.com, written by Corrina Borden-Hill Parker, volunteer market manager for the budding Westside Farmers’ Market in Ann Arbor:

http://www.annarbor.com/entertainment/food-drink/third-annual-homegrown-festival-a-smashing-success/

We’ve set a tentative date in January (14-16), which gives us a little more time to prepare than we had last year.

• Friday evening will be reserved for food, fun, mingling and a film.
• Saturday will involve some coalition planning, 2 rounds of skill shares, and maybe something else (and more food, celebration, fun & mingling).
• Sunday will be for folks who want to contribute to/help strengthen the “governance structure” stuff.

We’re looking for folks to lead a:

• panel discussion
• storytelling session
• workshop
• learnshop
• demonstration
• morning yoga session
• nature walk (location TBA)
• something else good

If you want to do any of that, follow this link and submit a skill-share presenter request:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dG5IclcxSXZ0TG81N2dXWkpjaTM2NVE6MQ

We’ll keep this form open until December! So apply anytime!

If any of you are interested in helping to plan the retreat, send me an email to get on the list of planners. We’ll start conferencing semi-regularly in october.

lindsey@michiganyoungfarmercoalition.org

More information on the retreat and planning will be coming up soon!

2009 MYFC Retreat

Read all about it here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/magazine/12food-t-000.html?_r=1

http://www.dailytribune.com/articles/2010/08/26/news/srv0000009191749.txt

Fresh produce for HAVEN

Thursday, August 26, 2010

By Jeanne Towar
For the Daily Tribune
The name of Allison Stuart Caplan’s company, Ask in Your Face, is your first clue that this is a woman with strong opinions who gets things done.

Caplan was the guest of honor at a hot and muggy Kids Cafée luncheon in the HAVEN shelter parking lot. Children of residents proudly served up a menu grown almost entirely in HAVEN’s garden, including veggie kabobs, bean salad, lots of fresh greens, zucchini bread and carrot cake, which they had helped prepare.

“One cold, winter day, I came to HAVEN and Beth took me on a tour,” Caplan said. “When she showed me the pantry, I was struck that all the food was canned and boxed. I asked if the residents ever have the opportunity to eat fresh produce.” Beth is Beth Morrison, HAVEN’s president and CEO, who explained that friends of HAVEN occasionally bring fresh produce from their gardens, but otherwise most of the food HAVEN serves is packaged.

“So,” the founder of Ask in Your Face asked, “could you build a garden here?” Morrison said there was a half-acre of vacant land behind the parking lot, but HAVEN had no resources or knowledge of how to create a garden.

That was all Caplan needed to hear. Her son, Ben Gluck, and his friend, Alexis Bogdanova-Hanna, are passionate about gardening.

Gluck is finishing his senior year at Michigan State University studying horticulture, and Bogdanova-Hanna, who lives in Troy, is a certified organic farmer who has also studied at MSU. “How would you and your farmer friends like to build a garden for HAVEN?” Caplan asked.

The pair, who founded the Michigan Young Farmer’s Coalition in October 2009, formed a HAVEN garden committee to plan the garden and raise money for start-up costs. Their goals were to train new farmers, supply fresh food for HAVEN, and provide a safe and peaceful outdoor place HAVEN residents could enjoy.

The committee found Aaron Kyle, a Yoga instructor with no agriculture experience, but a deep desire to learn. Under Gluck and Bogdanova-Hanna’s tutelage, Kyle is now a farm manager who works at least 20 hours a week on HAVEN’s garden, harvesting 250 to 300 pounds of fresh produce a week. In addition, well over 600 volunteer hours have been donated to the garden by friends of HAVEN and the Michigan Young Farmers Coalition. “It’s been a huge, collective effort,” Bogdanova-Hanna said.

“Residents are making the most awesome salads,” said Ernestine McRae, director of HAVEN’s residential program. “We don’t waste one ounce.” As well as standards like lettuce and tomatoes, McRae has introduced simple recipes using unfamiliar vegetables like kohlrabi and eggplant.

HAVEN’s kids like to grab blueberries and raspberries right off the vine and eat them in the garden. And, McRae said, they can’t wait to make Halloween jack o’ lanterns out of the massive pumpkins ripening there.

“Before, we were rationing lettuce,” McRae said. “Now we have enough that residents can take harvest home with them for family visits.” HAVEN’s garden is producing such an ample harvest they are able to send about 25 percent to Gleaner’s Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan.

The end of summer will not be the end of the garden. Kyle just planted fall spinach and salad mix, and is planning a harvest of fall vegetables which can be stored and used all winter.

As former Oakland County Circuit Court judge Fred Mester hungrily dug into the veggie lunch, he said, “I’ve been a supporter of HAVEN since its commencement in 1975. They not only provide shelter but a mechanism for resolution of serious conflicts in human relations.”

Mester has good reason to know about the conflicts HAVEN residents face, since he now hears all requests for personal protection orders in Oakland County. “It’s great to see what wonderful and tasty results this garden project has produced,” he said.

Plans are already under way for next year’s garden. The farm committee would like to purchase a greenhouse so fresh food could be grown year-round, and they really need to add a covered shed for tasks like washing produce. More fundraising and a new crop of donors are necessary to make that happen.

The committee would like to find 24 sponsors at $500 each, one for each of the 44-by-4-foot garden beds, which will be marked by bricks made by the kids. A recipe book to sell at the holidays is in the planning stage, but also needs a sponsor.

“If it weren’t for Allison coming to tour HAVEN, this all would not have happened,” said Morrison.

To learn more about Caplan and Ask in Your Face, go to www.askinyourface.com, a website devoted to women’s health, fitness, nutrition and social issues like animal welfare and sustainability. The HAVEN garden is also featured there.

“This garden is truly a labor of passion and love,” Caplan said. If you can help with the garden, send her an e-mail at info@askinyourface.com. For garden sponsorships, donations or information about HAVEN, contact Belle Hornung at bhornung@haven-oakland.org or (248) 334-1284, ext. 659.

Author: Ginny

August 20, 2010
I’m doing a loop around the State working on farms, I stayed at the Eaters’ Guild for a week. The things to love about the Eaters’ Guild Farm:

1. Lee and Laurie
2. Lee and Laurie
3. Lee and Laurie

No seriously, Lee is some kind of genius and I am pretty sure Laurie is a reincarnation of some Hindu goddess. Lee is super resourceful and has received a number of grants including one to improve worker residence and another to prevent waterway pollution through an amphitheater size compost hut. To those seeking an internship for a summer this is a place to consider; great learning opportunities, fun
living quarters, and Lee and Laurie.

Chickens, ducks, peacocks, turkeys and others run free about the old barns. There is also a lot of lactation going on at the Eaters’ Guild. Cows and goats help to make wonderful cheeses and Laurie is nursing their second child, Leaf.  One day, I helped hundreds of kale and collards into bunches for Whole Foods using a twist tie labeled, “Slow Down, Chew Well, Breathe.” The crew works hard but it also seems there is plenty of time for conversation and reflection. The place feels like a school on life, like a good place to get some life philosophy. I could go on…

One of my goals for this trip was to find a cool-arty community on the southwest side of Michigan, near the Chicago market. Clearly there are many amazing people there but it seems like a real fight out there for the progressive farmer. It is poor, super Christian and home to many huge conventional farms. I doubt I could persuade many of the people I want to be in my life to move there….but yet that is where big
changes can happen.  More to consider.
It’s hot!

I’m going north to Traverse City!

GinnyG

If anyone has any questions or thoughts, let me know!
Thanks to everyone who emailed me last week!

Author: Ginny

July 30, 2010
I’m touring the State working on farms. It’s a business, an educational experience and a spiritual journey.  I sleep in the bed of my truck with my stirrup hoe and water tight boxes full of class notes and books. Last Saturday, armed with business cards, I approached the East Lansing Market to offer my services as a consultant and laborer. Green Eagle took me up and what a farm that is.

Remarkable points:

• Ecology galore!  Are the frogs and toads going crazy this year or is it just me?
• Dry farmers!  Fifteen years without a sprinkler!
• They grow mint in the hoop.
• The disease and insect pressure is minimal I mean like I saw one CO beetle larva. Steve and Chela have done next to nothing to fight disease and insect pressure for the last fifteen years.
• Steve has this awesome way of laughing when there is a problem, “Te He”. The kind of laugh that makes it seem like problem solving is why he is a farmer.  It made me fill with joy each time I heard it.
• Green Eagle garlic rocks!

This was the third farm on my tour.  I also have had a great time on Capella Farm, Living Stones Farm, and Traps Berry Farm.  Equally as wonderful experiences, more on them some other time maybe.

The business end of what I’m doing:

• I have a promotional email that I have sent out to farmers with more details, check it out: http://digitalidentity.biz/earlybird.html
• I am keeping track of my business miles.
• Opened a business checking account.
• Wrote a contract that I have yet to use.
• Wrote a business a process I highly recommend.

Spiritually I am practicing “Loving-Kindness Mediation”.  It uses repeated positive phases aimed at yourself, others and the world. I’ve just started but already it seems like I have more patience.  I want to be a person in the present, ya know.

Tomorrow I will visit my home town’s market, Rockford, then to the Grand Rapids for the Fulton Street Market and possibly the K-zoo market.  Another reason for the trip is to find a kind-arty-fun community on the west side to the State.  I’m going to Eater’s Guild for some of next week, Lee seems like a guy I’m gonna dig. Also I want
to meet the cats at Granor Farm(sp), they seem cool, anybody know them?

I will keep a weekly post and please feel free to contact me with ideas, comments and anything!

Cheers to a crazy awesome growing season!
Peace and Love,
GinnyG

GELT (Green Economy Leadership Training) Participants crop mob the MYFC-Haven Garden Project

Today we presented two, 30-minute workshops on Crop Mobbing at the Ann Arbor Reskilling Festival. The festival is hosted by Transition Ann Arbor. It was a great turnout! People were appreciative of the topic and excited to learn about the Michigan Young Farmer Coalition. I talked with lots of folks and it looks like we’ll have some really cool opportunities to partner with people in the near future!

It was a great event and I look forward to attending and maybe presenting at the Winter Reskilling festival!

To learn more about MYFC Crop Mobbing visit:

http://www.michiganyoungfarmercoalition.org/projects/cropmob

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