A Local Folkus » Farming

Central Florida Sustainable Food Project and Guide

John — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:30:30 +0000

Last night at Stardust Cafe I attended a meeting of the “local food” pioneers behind an exciting Local Food Map project. Chief among these pioneers were: Tia Meer (Simple Living Institute), Andrew Landis (CFL Regional Planning Council) and Lance Turner (AeonBlu/Ourlando). These leaders are at the helm of a truly exciting initiative for our local food system.

Their vision is for the continued development of the Central Florida Sustainable Food Project which includes a detailed database of the area’s farmers and producers as well as the retailers, restaurateurs and the general consumers of our locally produced meats, veggies and goods.

Their hope is to launch a print version of the Local Food Guide and an online search able database format by early spring next year. The may be able to do a soft launch of the web application as soon as this fall. Perhaps we can have a little launch ceremony / ribbon cutting at the Nov 20th Winter Park Harvest Festival. There a ton of way to get involved with this exciting project. Please stop by the Facebook page and become a fan of the project and you can stay abreast of the latest on the Simply Living Institute’s website as well.

I hope to see you at the next meeting.

Florida Small Farms Conference July 31 -Aug 1

John — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:33:29 +0000

Kam and I just registered for the Florida Small Farms Alternative Enterprise Conference. Five years ago “farming” would have been the last thing on our minds. However, with the economic downturn we were grateful that the lost art-form of backyard gardening was among our bag of tricks.

During our introductory years of gardening it was so exciting to transition from transplanting Home Depot seedlings into containers to actually cultivating the soil on our own property and planting our own seeds. Watching them sprout and grow was an amazing adventure.

While neither of us would consider our urban gardening adventures an excuse to call ourselves a “small farm”, we do nonetheless feel like the knowledge transfer we’ve had from Tia and Terry at the Econ Farm and the gardening wisdom we’ve garnered form the UF extension office has made us more aware and appreciative of the small scale farms and farmers in Central Florida.

The thought of being able to brush shoulders with our fellow green thumbs and to learn some new gardening techniques at the Small Farms conference made this event a must for us. We hope to see some of hte other small scale urban growers at the conference and look forward to sharing our experience on our blog for those of you who can’t attend.

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Slow Money National Gathering 2010 Slide Show

John — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 13:03:59 +0000

I’m working on a proper write-up of the Slow Money Gathering but there is just so much to say. Until I can wrap my head around it here are my pictures from my 3 day visit to Shelburne Farms and the Hadwick, VT farm tours.

A Visit to Polyface Farm in Virginia

John — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 21:27:46 +0000

As I was driving up to the KOA north of Harrisonburg, VA I remembered that Joel Salatin’s farm Polyface was somewhere in western Virginia. Well once Murph and I settled into our site a little visit to Google let me know that we were only 30 minutes away from Polyface, a farm thats sustainable, synergistic model of animal husbandry was made famous by its coverage in Michael Pollan’s eponymous book “Omnivore’s Dilemma”.

Rather than go for a hike in the morning, Murph and I packed up Kodi and drove the winding back roads to Polyface’s front drive. I had read on the website that “self-guided” tours were available so once I deftly parked Kodi, I ventured up the long drive towards the farm. There was a lot of activity with several young college-aged folks gathered around a barn full of farming equipment.

Following signs to the “store” I ended up in the currently under construction farm store. Wendy was nice enough to give me the low down and I browsed the offerings. All of the meat, produce and eggs are kept in old refrigerators with masking tape labels. I love it…..Wendy did say it was in the works to create glass cases, but the mystery of opening a fridge door to pursue the goods has a special sort of mystique to it.

I asked if it was ok to take picture. LOL…She said “Of course go wherever you want, nothing is off limits. They are moving the mobile chicken coops in the back pasture now if you want to see that.” Wait, wait, wait … I can go WHEREVER I want. Who the heck lets people do that anymore. Guaranteed no industrial producer would let you photograph and tour their facilities un-attended or without signing some restrictive waiver.

The regulars and the summer interns were in the pasture moving the mesh electrical fencing to create a temporary paddock for the egg laying hens to forage upon. It was so neat to see the team working together and to be honest the interns looked just as excited to be there as I did. Well Ben used the tractor to pull the mobile henhouse into the new field and then they build fence alleys towards the permanent hen house. The idea is to open the doors on the permanent henhouse and like the running of the pulls of Pamplona to funnel these birds into the new field.

It is such a neat set up. The cows graze the field first, eating the long grass and leaving their piles of manure to mature in the open Virginia air. Flies and beetles have there way with the piles for 3 days and let their larva get good and fat. Then the crew moves the cows to a new field and brings the mobile chicken and turkey enclosures into the cow’s old field to feast on the fat larva of the flies and spread the manure around the field as they forage. What an incredible symbiosis.

Polyface also rears pigs and rabbits as well, with the same attention to quality of life as the chickens and cows enjoy. To say the least the self-guided tour was an eye opening experience and made me long for a larger piece of land in Central Florida in which to put Salatin’s principles to work. There was just such harmony and wholeness to the entire operation. My hat goes of to Joel and his hipster vision and very much look forward to hearing him speak at the conference tomorrow.

Farm to Table Retrospective – Central Flrorida Locavores FTW

Road Trip 2010 – Brunswick, Charlotte and Harrisonburg, VA

John — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 00:05:28 +0000

Had a good couple days driving. We left the park in Brunswick and stopped by the Farmers Market to grab some grub for the road. Murphy and I had the good fortune of meeting Del and Debra Ferguson, grass-fed cattle farmers from Georgia who had set up their booth at the market in Brunswick for the first time.

I mentioned I was on the way up to the Slow Money National Gathering and a bit about the movement and their interest was peaked to say the least. When you talk about opening up new flows of capital to farmers and entrepreneurs in our local food system people perk up.

I picked up some pre-shaped burgers and a nice T-bone from them along with some “Devil Crab” cakes and a glass of fresh squeezed lemonade from another nice couple. Fat and happy we hit the road and rendezvoused with Kam, Keltin, Michelle and Whit who were attending a bridal shower for Whit’s brother in law’s fiance.

It was great getting to see Keltin and Kamrin. Even though it had only been two days I missed them and getting to hold Kelty girl and kiss my wife really did my heart good. It was a great stop of in Charlotte as I also got to see Leigh and Kevin Mays and their little tike Tyson.

Murph and I headed north along the hilly and pastoral Hwy 81. We set up shop in an RV park in the Shenandoa National Park and pulled the grill out to do a proper “Guys Grill Out”. Following the “Cooking Grass Fed Beef” outline that Del gave I produced a perfectly cooked medium-rare steak. Murphy devoured the bone like a Savannah lion and both of us just have to just say that life on the road is pretty darn good (minus the absence of the lady folk of course).

On the Road

John — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 12:29:43 +0000

Murphy and I have officially hit the road. We packed up Kodi (our travel trailer) and gassed up the Fox (our Ford F150) and headed north. Not too far on the first day but we did make it up to Brunswick, GA. And I think we’d both agree it was a good stop. We visited Mary’s road side produce Van, Spanky’s seafood on the river, The Georgia Pig BBQ and enjoyed a swim at out very plush Coastal GA RV Resort. Check out the images below for a view into our life on the road.

Road Trip 2010 – Brunswick, Charlotte and Harrisonburg, VA

Audio of our interview with Slow Money founder Woody Tasch.

John — Thu, 27 May 2010 16:19:04 +0000

The audio of yesterday’s interview with Woody Tasch is now online and you can listen below.

As always joining Julie and Jeremy in the WPRK studio is always a pleasure but yesterday’s interview was particularly incredible. Slow Money is such a great “catch-all” for me. About 85% of my posts have to do with food and in particular our local food system and the consumers and producers that make it all happen.

I can think of no greater investment of my time and finances then to support our local food producers. There are so many local consumers who have never tasted a real vine ripe tomato or who settle for produce the ripened on a cross country truck rather than down the street. Slow Money is the perfect combination of ethos and praxis and our interview with Woody should have a little bit of something for everyone.

Hope you enjoy!

The Seed – Community Mural and Garden

John — Sat, 15 May 2010 18:16:18 +0000

I have the pleasure of working with some really talented people on my current project for Cape Canaveral National Seashore. One of these creatives is Brian Tortorelli. Brian is a consummate Renaissance artist. Trained in Digital Media to metal smithing, he is at the helm of our Turtle Cam’s aluminum frame fabrication.

But he is not just a whiz with a soldering iron, he also has a softer side. His current project, SEED, involves a community mural project tied in with a community project at a local elementary school. Check out this incredible video shot by Aaron Hose’ capturing the progress of the project to date.

Great work guys and keep it up. You are an inspiration.

The Seed from Aaron Hosé on Vimeo.

Urban Farmer’s Market Thrives in Miami

John — Thu, 06 May 2010 13:34:05 +0000

Having lived in Miami years ago it is heartening to see a story like this. We are so close to having something like this in Central Florida. With the success of our community gardens it is only a matter of time until we could have a proper Urban CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). CNN thanks for the inspiration.

Wendell Berry is speaking at Stetson Monday Feb 1

John — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 15:23:20 +0000

What what what ….. Wendell Berry is in Florida?

Yes my friends it is true. Wendell Berry one of my favorite authors is speaking at Stetson University in a free lecture series Monday night the 1st of February. I’m heading up to attend the lecture and I can’t even express how excited I am. Berry’s non-fiction writing has played a pivotal role in developing many of my beliefs. Through his writing I’ve come to appreciate the importance of nurturing of our local community, that the good life is more than consuming and that working with the earth, even in the middle of a modern city, is vitally important to the health and well-being of my family.

The lecture is sponsored by the university’s Values Council. His talk, “Simple Solutions and Package Deals,” is based on the council’s theme for the year, “How Shall We Live?”. Berry will be discussing the impact of economic globalization on the way we live and it’s sure to be lecture chock-full of thought provoking ideas.

According to Berry, the good life includes sustainable agriculture, appropriate technologies, healthy rural communities, connection to place, the pleasures of good food, husbandry, good work, local economics, the miracle of life, fidelity, frugality, reverence, and the interconnectedness of life (via wiki).

Here are the details of the lecture: Stetson University at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 1, in the Lee Chapel of Elizabeth Hall, 421 N. Woodland Blvd. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

Hope to see you there.