Wow, what a show of sustainable farms! Thanks for your prompt replies to my
query--most within 24 hours.
I've collated the replies here. Please respect their privacy.
Incidentally, You Asked For It is a TV show, not a radio show as I
originally thought.
Andy
Example:
Sustenance Farm
Walk Softly CSA
certified organic
permaculture, market gardening, self sufficiency and handicrafts workshops
Bear Creek, North Carolina
Harvey and Nancy Harmon
1-919-837-5805
I would suggest Killarney Farm which is located in North Idaho near Coeur
d'Alene. Farmers Paul Smith and Ellen Scriven have 6 acres of certified
organic produce, 2 milk goats, sheep, angoras, chickens, steers and some
feline rodent control. At Killarney they not only compost, have an intense
cover crop rotations, intercrop, etc, they are "off the grid" and generate
all their own power through seasonal hydro and solar. They also pretty
much live off of the food they produce, i.e fruits, vegetables, eggs, meat,
milk. Ellen also spins her wool and weaves it into clothing and textiles.
Ellen is chair of the Kootenai County Farmers' Market
Association and is very active in the Inland Northwest Community Food
Systems Task Force. I am sure she will not mind your contacting her
directly.
208-661-1719
I'm sure you'll be swamped with suggestions. One interesting example is a
biodynamic dairy farm - oldest in U.S. and wonderful folks - Dick and Ruth
Zinniker. They're located in Elkhorn, WI. Phone is (414) 642-5923. Do you
know what theme the radio station is trying to develop?
Don't know the show, but Anne and Eric Nordell of Beech Grove Farm in Trout
Run, PA would be an excellent (albeit small) example. We awarded them our
1999 PA Sust Ag Leadership Award last week.
Anne and Eric Nordell 570-634-3197
Beech Grove Farm
Rd 1, Box 205
Trout Run, PA 17771
They can be hard to raise on the phone. Evenings are best.
You could try http://ena.gaia.org/enc/
There is a sustainable ecovillage farm in Cameron, 2 hours north of
Toronto where I visited last week - this is their website!
Steve Moore comes closer than any of the many other farmers I work with.
His coastal citrus/avocado ranch has been in his family for four
generations. He started out as a conventional grower and has evolved over
the years through certified organic to biodynamic, and so definitly
minimizes off-farm in-puts.
He's one of the early adopters around here to cover-crop his citrus groves
and still the only one I know to *graze* it down w/cattle, his solution to
the endless hauling of manure that his previously extensive composting
operation used to entail. Now he says he lets the cows deliver it. The
cover crops between the trees are rotated as beds for the vegetable crops
he grows for his booming CSA.
As president of the National Biodynamic Growers Association, he's
experienced, articulate, at ease with public presentation, and accustomed
to answering the full range of questions people have about agriculture as a
whole and his farming methods in particular. He can be reached @:
Moore Ranch
5844 Casitas Pass Road
Carpinteria, CA 93013
805-684-8046
sfmoore@earthlink.net
The best example I can think of is the Moore Ranch Company in Carpinteria,
CA.
They would be more filmable at this time of year as well. The others I know
of
won't have anything coming out of the ground until May or June.
Steve Moore's number is 805-684-8046
Sunshine Farm at the Land Institute
You might contact Carol and Linn Cassedy in Bagdad, Ky. They have a
45-acre organic farm. Listening to Carol talk, it sounds as if they
come close to what you are looking for. 504-747-5822.
You'll probably get many farms to choose from based on your SANET request.
Here's my nomination:
Roxbury Farm (Jean Paul Courtens and family)
124 Roxbury Rd.
Hudson, NY 12534
I can't find their phone # right now, but I'm sure Information will have it.
Andy, Joel Salatin sounds like a good one for that, or perhaps Jack
Lazarr of Butterworks farm in Northern Vermont, Newport, I think. I'll
get information about him for you if you want. They make organic yogurt.
This is out of Vermont's Organic Farm
directory. I've heard Jack speak a couple of times and been to his farm
once. He has brought minerals onto the farm and possibly some added
manure. Other than that, he puts a lot of thought into how he cycles
carbon and nutrients. I don't think he even brings animals on. I believe
he said all but the first cow has been born on the farm. Interesting
farm, and appears to be successful.
Jack and Anne Lazor
Butterworks Farm
Buck Hill
Westfield, VT 05874
802 744-6855
I would recommend Neil Hoffman, 606-593-6584. Neil and his wife
have been interviewed by people from all over the world about their
farm. They are diversified. Neil farms full-time. They live in
Eastern Kentucky, Booneville, KY (Owsley County). They would make a
informative lively interview covering topics from goats to cabbage to
tobacco production and the plight of the small family farmer.
I'd suggest Joel Rissman of Illinois. He received a SARE producer
grant a few years ago to help construct a manure pad and retention pond.
When I spoke to him a few years ago, he described his really neat system
and mentioned self-sufficiency as one of his goals. Since then, I think
he's been certified. Joel is at 815 264-3487
Another idea is Harvey Harman of North Carolina. He has constructed a
series of ponds for an aquaculture operation and recycles waste through
them. (He had a SSARE producer grant to help construct them.) He then
applies much of it back on his crop fields. I'll fax you an article I wrote
for Small Farm Today about Joel.
______________________________________
On Thursday, 2/25/99 at 1:22 p.m.
Sustainable Agriculture Network (san@nal.usda.gov--Andy Clark) wrote:
Sanet:
I have been contacted by the the Radio show: You Asked For It. They are
looking for an example of a self-sufficient, sustainable farm to highlight.
The concept they are looking for is a farm where everything is recycled back
to the farm, presumably with minimal off-farm inputs.
If you know of good examples, please send me contact information!
Andy
Andy Clark, Ph.D.
SAN Coordinator
c/o AFSIC, Room 304
National Agricultural Library
10301 Baltimore Ave.
Beltsville, MD 20705-2351
PH: 301-504-6425
FAX: 301-504-6409
san@nal.usda.gov
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