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Genesee Valley Organic Community Supported Agriculture |
by Elizabeth Henderson
After the trials of the summer drought, nature did her best to soothe us through
a long, mild fall. With our new well ready to pump water into the trickle irrigation
system, and some rain from above, fall crops grew abundantly. Though adequate
for our crops, the rain has yet to replenish water tables to their normal level
in Wayne County. As the hours of daylight grew shorter, so did our work days.
We were grateful to be able to provide ample shares, clean up from the season,
and prepare for winter at a relaxed pace.
Overall, fall crops did well. Our huge effort at watering broccoli transplants
set out during the drought paid off with a good crop of broccoli in October
and November. We matched our goal of 7 weeks of broccoli in your shares. The
warm days of November and December brought an extra flush of broccoli side shoots
which we shared with the few families who responded to our invitation to come
and pick. We had plenty of mizuna, Swiss chard, spinach, collards, and kale
to put in shares, and enough left over and still growing to provide our own
families with greens for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. We were able to put
lettuce in your shares every week for 26 weeks this year:only one CSA member
complained that it was too much.
The first frosts held off till September 30 and October 1, and we were still
able to pick cucumbers and zucchini for another week. The extra weeks without
frost helped the winter squash ripen up. But unlike other years, when it has
been very obvious which squash was ripe and which was not, the squash was uneven
this year. We apologize for any unripe squash you may have received. The additional
rat caging we constructed saved what we did harvest from rodents. The hoop house
protected the eggplants from the first frosts, so we picked the last flush after
the middle of October. Unfortunately, rodents in the hoop house ate methodically
through the peppers, starting with the ripest, then leaving deep tooth marks
on all the rest. We will need to come up with a solution to that problem for
next year. The warm weather also helped the carrots, which had germinated so
late because of the drought. We did not have much extra for bulk, but at least
we did have carrots for the last week, and sweet ones at that. At the very end
of the season, we even had some excess greens and root crops to sell to Abundance
Cooperative Market.
The fall rains also allowed us at long last to work up the beds on the Barn
Field and to seed them with a rye cover crop. Interns David and Rebecca did
the major portion of the cover crop seeding. The only beds we left bare through
the winter are the few beds of root crops we harvested too late to seed down
to rye. The oats we planted on the beds we plan to use early next spring grew
thick and lush in the late warmth, making up somewhat for the organic matter
we lost by not being able to plant buckwheat. As of this writing, the oats are
still green. Within a few miles of the farm, we hunted down two large piles
of manure to use in our composting. Equipment hassles have prevented us from
trucking them home so far, but they are high on our list of priorities for the
near future. We hope eventually to produce enough compost and vermicompost (worm
castings) of our own so that we can stop purchasing them.
With the help of CSA members, we planted garlic in two mornings. We put more
pounds of seed in the ground than last year in hopes of having a larger crop
for 2002. How much we harvest depends so much on the weather. Garlic size was
down this year because of the freakishly dry weather in April and May. Garlic
likes a moist spring and a dry stretch during harvest time in mid to late July.
We also mulched a bed of hardy leeks to put in shares next spring.
We lost some of the final lettuce in the greenhouse to white mold. CSA member
Jana Lamboy, a plant pathologist, was able to identify the pathogen and brought
a team of three scientists, headed by Helene Dillard, chair of the department
at the Geneva Experiment Station, to the farm to inspect the soil in the green
house. They prescribed a biological remedy, Serenade, microbial organisms that
will consume the white mold fungi. Serenade is on the list of approved materials
for certified organic farms.
All of us from the farm plus Marianne Simmons from the Core attended the NE
CSA Conference, "Growing our Food, Building our Movement, Changing our
World," at Frost Valley YMCA Center in early December. The opening keynote
speakers were Gloria and Steve Decatur from Live Power Community Farm in Covelo,
California. The Decaturs told the story of their farming since 1973, and of
founding the first CSA in California in 1988. Gloria spoke to the central theme
for the conference, reading from a Hopi poem which announces the end of the
"era of the lone wolf," and concludes: "We are the ones we have
been waiting for!" Steve emphasized how important it is for CSAs to ask
more of their members, "providing a context for giving," for it is
through participation that they will find their heart in the garden.
In the 4 pre-conference mini-schools, and 44 workshops, experienced CSA farmers,
core members and support organization staffers shared detailed information and
visionary ideas. There were nitty-gritty sessions on soil fertility, crop production,
CSA organization, land tenure, labor, children on the farm, how to build support
networks, mentoring and apprenticeships, research on CSAs, and many aspects
of CSA business management, including share pricing, and fair payment to farmers
and farm workers. And bigger picture sessions on CSA and social movements, GMOs,
revisiting the CSA dream, and CSA and agricultural policy. Outstanding CSAs,
like Brookfield Community Farm and Caretaker Farm, shared their stories. Jered
Lawson recounted his experience in Japan working on Tekei farms. Some of these
sessions were taped, so if you missed the conference, you can contact the Robyn
Van En Center for CSA Resources (www.csacenter.org) to get copies.
Helen rated the children's program as outstanding. The food, supplied by local
farms and prepared by the Frost Valley kitchen staff, was excellent. The culture
that goes with our agriculture was well represented in displays of paintings,
photos, and a poetry reading by Scott Chaskey. The audience greeted Suzy Polucci's
skit, "Rambi Picks Up Her Share," with chuckles and guffaws. Paul
Rosenberg, accompanied by the Walker Family Band, led us in contra and folk
dances from around the world. The Northeast CSA Conference brought us steps
closer to realizing our vision of a food system that integrates spiritual, social,
economic and environmental ideals.
Since the conference, Greg, Ammie and I have finished up our accounts for the
year. We began our search for interns, spending an entire day each interviewing
two good candidates. We had an enjoyable get together with the Kraais to pay
our rent on land, buildings and equipment, and to celebrate our annual lease
signing. Our lease is a 5-year rolling lease, which means we renew it yearly,
but both parties have to give 5 years notice to end it. We have begun designing
the planting schedule and seed orders for 2002.
Greg and Ammie are spending the winter on home improvements, firewood, and cross-country
skiing with Helen. They will be doing some classroom volunteering, and giving
some presentations to Helen's and other classes in her school. She is loving
public school, and will perform in a production of "Annie" in the
spring with the rest of her childcare gang. As usual, the entire farm team will
attend the NOFA-NY Winter Conference.
Sadly, on November 29, I attended a memorial service for long time CSA member
Jane Whiting. It was comforting to be there with old CSA friends Pat Mannix
and Janet Laird. I was deeply moved by Jane’s daughters words about her
mother who did not proselytize, but quietly went about her way, buying and cooking
locally grown food, supporting efforts for local empowerment, cooperation and
peace.
In November, I learned that I had been selected as one of three Farmer Educators
by the NE Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SARE). Remarkably,
this honor will not mean more work! Instead, SARE will compensate me for the
work I have been doing voluntarily, giving farm tours, workshops, and serving
as a source of information for other farmers, researchers and Extension educators.
Through the winter, I will give a number of workshops and keynote speeches at
conferences for organic farmers, help NENA make urban farming plans for the
coming season, and pursue the development of Social Stewardship guidelines for
organic agriculture. I will also continue work on the Growing New Farmers project,
which is developing materials and resources to help more people get into farming
and learn to farm successfully.
Greg, Ammie and I are very sure that for us bigger is not better. The new 6
1/2 acre Barn Field may give you the wrong impression. We do not plan to increase
the size of the GVOCSA. The new field provides the space we need for good rotations,
so that every year, some of the beds can spend an entire year in a clover/grass
cover crop. We want to concentrate on doing what we are doing better, and on
sharing skills among the three of us so that we become more or less interchangeable
and truly share responsibility for the farm. Our most cherished goal is to make
the farm sustainable for us and for you. The local food system we are creating
together - our farm, the Kraai's Crowfield Farm, the Austin's Heidenreich Farm,
Blue Heron Farm, Abundance Cooperative Market, Lori's, the Northeast Neighborhood
Association in Rochester - this is peacework. We are laying the groundwork for
a loving and peaceful way of life. These are difficult times, but let us hope
our thoughtful and cooperative way will prevail, and that some day, we will
live in a just and fair world of peace, love, and abundance.
Copyright © GVOCSA 2002. All rights reserved.