Beginning Farmers

Eight years after starting this adventure we call Rock Spring Farm, we still have a soft spot in our hearts for beginning farmers. Maybe because both us spent the ten years before we bought this place getting ready for that moment, scrimping and saving and learning and experiencing on farms from California to Washington to Wisconsin to Maine. Maybe because we know that satisfactions of planting that first crop, as well as the heartaches of capricious weather, big mistakes, and forgetting to appreciate one’s surroundings as you work day and night to stake some kind of claim to a future. And maybe because we know that the hardest step is the first one, and how few people take the chance to follow a dream that is larger than life. And we know that our soft spot comes from a knowledge of how few farmers remain, the old age that farmers have collectively achieved, and how badly we need more of us.

Farmland accounts for an astounding forty-two percent of America’s land base; farmers control much more than that. Farmers have control over a huge proportion of our landscape, and play a major role in the quality of our environment. Careful farming practices and positive stewarding of the land have the ability to work environmental wonders, from providing habitat for migrating songbirds to reducing dead-zone inducing pollution in the Gulf of Mexico to sequestering carbon in organic matter-enriched soil; but it’s hard to expect hired hands on thousand-acre farms and mega-dairy feedlots to exercise the same kind of care and have the same deep understanding of the land as a farmer with a long-term commitment to a particular piece of soil.

Unfortunately, farmers in this country have shrunk to less than two percent of the population, with an average age of 55 (organic farmers don’t fare much better, with an average age of 51). And in 1997, the United States had more than three times as many farmers over the age of 65 than it did farmers 35 and under —a sure sign of a population in decline.

Despite this decline, a return to the land has a strong draw for many people today. Fortunately, most of the mostly-young people coming into agriculture from the outside have a strong organic—or at least ecologically-enlightened—bent. These are people who will care immensely how their livelihood affects everyone and everything downstream. We believe that, while agriculture is in the midst of a serious and ongoing crisis, this interest in starting vibrant and successful farms around the Upper Midwest provides a substantial reason for hope.

So on Tuesday night, Chris will make the first stop on his annual trek to the Land Stewardship Project’s Farm Beginnings Program to teach the first of three courses this year on Financial Planning for beginning farmers. Each year, the Farm Beginnings Program provides an in-depth education about the principles of sustainable farming to a group of about 40 aspiring farmers. Chris discusses enterprise budgeting, time and money management, annual planning, and long-term planning with the group. We look forward to welcoming these students as our neighbors in the small community of farmers.

In Kim's Kitchen

Savoy Cabbage has a pleasant, light flavor that is well-suited to light cooking.

Savoy Cabbage with Carrots and Ginger

2 cups savoy cabbage
3 carrots
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
1 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil

Shred the Savoy cabbage finely. Grate the carrots. Heat the olive oil in a skillet, add the ginger heat lightly, add cabbage and carrots. Sauté the vegetables for just a couple of minutes until fork tender. Add salt pepper and pine nuts. Toss with the Balsamic vinegar right before serving.

Daikon radishes are popular in Japan, where they account for 15% of that country’s vegetable production. We frequently enjoy them sliced, raw, as a foil to salty meats or just for snacking. We also enjoy the following recipe:

Beet, Carrot, and Daikon Salad

1 medium beet
6-inch piece of daikon
1 medium carrot
2 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp canola oil

Grate all of the roots together, and add salt and pepper to taste. Add rice vinegar, sesame oil, and canola. Makes 4 small servings.

Daikon radishes also work nicely in just about any recipe that calls for spring or winter radishes. This take on Waldorf salad has the fun seasonal twist of celeriac in the place of celery.

Waldorf Salad on a Bed of Greens

1 cup mayonnaise
1teaspoon grated lemon peel
1teaspoon lemon juice
6 Granny Smith apples, cored and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup chopped celeriac, or celery
1 medium winter radish, chopped
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1 cup pecans, toasted, chopped
Salad mix, or fresh spinach

Mix mayonnaise, lemon peel and lemon juice in bowl to blend. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate 15 minutes. Toss apples, celeriac, radishes, cranberries, and red onion in large bowl. Add lemon mayonnaise, and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate. When ready to serve, stir in pecans and spoon on top of plated up salad.

Our crop of potatoes this year was plagued with all kinds of difficulties, a real sob story, but the end of it was that they never got hilled due to August’s heavy rains (we plant our spuds late to avoid a variety of early-season diseases and pests) and now they have green spots, which are caused by exposure to light. Cut them out before you use the potatoes, and everything will be okay.

Tasty, flat Cipollini Onions have a full flavor that nicely complements the earthy flavor of turnips in this sauté, which works nicely with regular red onions as well.

Turnip Cipollini Onion Sauté

3 -4 medium turnips cut into 1/4 inch cubes
3 medium cipollini onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup butter
dash nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

Boil turnips until fork tender about 7 minutes. Melt butter in a large frying pan over medium heat until foamy. Add onions, and cook until soft and starting to brown. Drain turnips and add to onions. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper; cook until golden brown.

Baked Carrot Puree

2 cups water
1 teaspoon table salt
1 pound carrots, cut into1-2 inch pieces (no need to peel)
About 1/2 cup cooking water
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup half & half

Preheat oven to 350. Bring the water to a boil. Add the salt and carrots, cover and cook until soft, about 15 minutes. Drain the carrots (save the water!) and transfer to a food processor. Add the water (enough to get the consistency thick not runny) and rosemary. Puree until almost smooth. Add the butter and brown sugar and continue pureeing. Stir in the half & half. Transfer to a greased baking dish. Place in hot oven for about 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly all the way through.

Farm Happenings

As it started to turn cold, we moved all of our rosemary pots into the greenhouse, so that now the transplant greenhouse is full to the brim with rosemary.

We turned much of our attention to the planning work we do each winter for the Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference. Chris attended a board meeting for the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service in Downsville, Wisconsin – that’s the group that puts on the conference. In the eight years that we’ve been involved in the conference, it has grown from a relatively small, but respected, regional conference to a major national event, so we decided to change the name of the conference to the Organic Farming Conference.

On Monday, we decided to put the sheep in the barn after chasing them around a neighbor’s farm. One reluctant ewe balked at going in with the rest of the flock, and when we did get her into the alleyway, she decided to come back out. When Chris failed to get out of her way, she decided to go right through him, hitting him in the chest with her head and lifting him right off the ground. The chiropractor figures she sprained his sternum, and he has had a sore back, chest, and head for the whole week.