My son, the Vulcan Foodie

13 year old son Jon noted the other day that nearly every vendor at the farmer’s market identifies themselves as “X Family Farm.” Why is that he asked? He’s obviously no stranger to the concept of family farming, especially this summer. But we don’t use that label.
I explained that in part it is because we are what is sometimes known as a “blended family.” Which family name to use? Between remarriages and several generations with only daughters, the family name attached to our operation has changed repeatedly over the 130 years. But mostly I said, it has to do with marketing. If you’re at the farmers market, would buy your produce from Farmer Bob’s Family Farm, or Foodco Farms?

“It depends”, he said. “Which one had better food? I’d probably buy from both, then next time I’d know whose was the best.”
You can’t argue with that logic.

Lisa Hamilton has it right

“Sustainable agriculture is founded on the principle of farmer leadership. The first step to creating a sustainable food system is restoring stewardship, that elemental relationship in which a farmer balances food production with ecological health and social well-being. That is possible only when farmers are empowered: trusted to lead, respected financially, and encouraged—indeed, allowed—to be independent and free.”

This paragraph is lifted from a letter written by Lisa Hamilton to President Obama. (Read the whole letter here.) In it, she perfectly captures what I consider to be the defining challenge of a more sustainable food system: The fact that the people who best understand it are restricted in their ability to innovate and compete. Elsewhere in her letter, she points out that the bureaucratic burdens of operating within a highly regulated framework put the small farmer at a severe disadvantage. She cites the NAIS program as a prime example of a program, that however well intended it might be, makes it difficult for the farm without a major regulatory compliance to succeed.

I understand that some of this comes with the territory with a bureaucratic system. In one of my earlier professional lives as an employee of the federal government I saw it first hand. I recall feeling that I had to choose between getting the job done, or completing all the required weekly, monthly and quarterly reports that would demonstrate exactly why I didn’t. My immediate supervisor trusted me, but unfortunately that trust could not translate back to Washington.  The bureaucrat’s surrogate for trust? Documentation. What a relief it was to leave that job for the private sector in Silicon Valley.

Part of the allure of the farmer’s market is the ability to reconnect with the farmer and experience the trust that comes from a direct, personal relationship. I’ve experienced it myself: contrary to my own prediction, at last week’s Outstanding in the Field dinner, few seemed to care whether I was organic. But they did want to know about me… they wanted that trust.

Can we maintain that trust in a food system beyond the very small and local? That remains to be seen. But I hope so. A sustainable system where farmers were trusted to do the right thing appeals to both the progressive and the libertarian components of my nature.

Worms

“I’ve been getting a lot more into earthworms lately.”

Odds are very good that only a few short years ago, this was a phrase I would never have thought to utter.  Possibly I would have thought it a sign of impending mental illness. But these days, it is the truth. These are pretty remarkable little organisms, and I find that I am having some success rearing them.

Why would I do that, you ask? Well, for starters, they are great consumers of our kitchen wastes. They break down our waste, turn it into soil, and them are released with their castings into the vegetable or rose garden. Of course, many get snatched up by our ever vigilant flock of hens, meaning some made their way (indirectly of course) to my plate this morning. When prepared in this fashion, I can heartily recommend worms for breakfast.

The other reason I’m raising them is for my “vermidrainage” project. At our Saticoy ranch, we have a compacted clay soil in our Block A, familiar by now to my handful of regular readers. We have been maintaining a cover crop to help break up the soils, and in the next couple of weeks, when we replant, we will attempt to create some natural drains in the clay pan. Basic concept is simple: Use the PTO auger to bore through the pan, then refill it with a mixture of active vermicompost, mulch, and a little of the original soil. A cap of mustard cover on top should add some deep roots, and make it easy to spot the sites. The hope is that this column of active soil will  allow water to drain, and serve as a colony for earthworms to spread through the covercrop rootsystems that surround them. Three 30 gallon barrels are serving as my hatchery. Of course a little vermicompost will go into each new tree’s hole as well.

I’m not alone in this new found interest. Friend and pathfinder Rose H-S alerted me to a blog piece from a young farmer named Devin Foote. If I was concerned for my sanity, then I am now doubly worried for Devin, since his thoughtful and detailed article suggests that he has given this much more thought than I.

Read it here.

The Question

I’m really looking forward to almost everything about tomorrow night’s Outstanding in The Field Dinner at McGrath Family Farm. Phil McGrath is our local “local-food rockstar” here in Ventura County, and it might be unsettling to have to share his spotlight, if I didn’t already know what a great guy he is. Phil, I’m pleased to be your opening act.

I always look forward to any meal with Tim Kilcoyne from Ventura’s Sidecar Restaurant, so no issue there. I’m also looking forward to the event itself, since I have read and heard about the great job the Outstanding in the Field crew does.

I said “almost everything”, because the one thing I’m not looking forward to is The Organic Question. You see, I’m not an organic certified grower, and I don’t plan to be… certainly not by tomorrow night. For a lot of local food enthusiasts, though, organic certification is considered the entry-level criteria for sustainable agriculture. Given my penchant for complexity, I don’t see the issue as being nearly that simple. But tomorrow night, I will be asked The Question, I will answer truthfully, and I will watch the flicker of disappointment wash over the face of the guest.

So here’s the long answer that I will probably not have time for tomorrow night. I don’t believe that organic certification means that much in the context of sustainability, either in economic or environmental terms. Certification is about compliance with certain standards, which have some relation to (but do not define) sustainability. I’m more interested in the philosophy that guides sustainability, and on that score I feel pretty comfortable. I embrace the organic philosophy of feeding the soil, not the plant. In other pieces I’ve outlined our use of composting, mulching and cover-cropping, so I won’t repeat them here. We have utilized beneficial insects as part of an Integrated Pest Management program for three generations. With any chemical application that I may need to make, I give a good deal of weight to potential impacts on my own soil-ecosystem, let alone the larger environment. And it is my belief that a farm managed with natural or organic processes, with an occasional chemical boost when necessary is a perfectly justifiable and sustainable proposition.

It’s really all about moderation, isn’t it? I enjoy a cold beer (or colder limoncello) occasionally, without feeling like I’m risking alcoholism. A good cheeseburger from time to time is not going to be the death of me. Now if I lived my life on nothing but Slim-Jims and cheap whiskey, then I’d have a problem.

People typically think of the food world as being bi-polar: virtuous, small, local, and organic farms on the one extreme, and greedy, global, corporate factory farms on the other. In his book, The Ominvore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan explores a third option: the so called industrial organic model. In this model a conventional mindset and retinue of cultural practices is employed using organic inputs to create food that is legally organic, but is philosophically indistinguishable from conventional farming. It is this model that has made Wal-Mart the largest retailer of organic food in the world.

I’d like to think I’m part of a fourth model: organic and small in philosophy, but open to the benefits of conventional agriculture when needed. So if a little herbicide will knock down a morning glory patch without hours of hand tool and weed- whacker work, I’ll do it. And if a little extra nitrogen helps get young trees off to a good start before winter, I’m OK with that too.

Maybe if the wine really gets flowing, I’ll get to have this conversation about the deeper aspects of sustainability. But I might have to talk with my mouth full.

CDFA on the chopping block?

Given California’s budget problems, a move is afoot to severly reduce or eliminate the California Department of Food and Agriculture. With a rapidly shifting agricultural economy, threats from many invasive pests, a spat of food safety issues, and no reliable climate models for the future, is this the right time for this? And hey… if I’m the guy speaking in favor of retaining a bureaucracy, you know it has got to be serious.

I’ve been meaning to formulate a piece on this, but my friend Rose Hayden-Smith beat me to it. I’ll see if she really does read this blog, by linking to her well-thought-out piece from Civil Eats below:

http://civileats.com/2009/06/16/proposal-to-cut-california-dept-of-food-and-agriculture-a-bad-idea-for-the-nation/

A Lesson on People: Herb and Warfare

When I decided to start writing on a regular basis, I thought it would help teach me a little about my self. There is nothing like being confronted with your own words from time to time, as any politician can appreciate. I also thought the conversations it might spark would teach me a little about other people. As of 8AM Sunday morning, I can declare success in that department.

That is when my home phone rang. On the line was a very sincere sounding women thanking me for my editorial. It seems the piece I posted here as “An Open Letter to Mr. Bill Nash” had been picked up by the VC Star on the op-ed page. She was very glad that someone took Bill Nash to task for his column. I accepted her thanks, but pointed out that neither his piece nor mine was entirely serious. “Oh, I know” she continued, but “I don’t know what makes him think he can say things like that. People like him are destroying America.” By this point I was really back on my heels. I had been mentally prepared that some people might miss the joke and think me a humorless sourpuss who was being unfair to a hard-working writer. I didn’t imagine that anyone would take it seriously AND agree with my purported point of view. If not taken as satire, my piece could only have come from a very angry and unstable mind. Nonetheless, I got one Sunday morning “Amen”. Not sure where to go with the call, I tried to find a gracious but prompt exit.

As I walked among my trees checking the sprinklers later that morning, the incident gave me a lot to think about. I guess there is an audience for every kind of crazy out there. I thought I was spoofing the extreme language and remedies that we seem all too ready to embrace these days, only to find a disciple. Thankfully, I just recieved the one call, so for now it doesn’t seem like I’ve started a movement.

To sum up: (CAUTION: NO SARCASM OR IRONY INTENDED IN THIS PARAGRAPH)

Bill Nash seems like a great guy who just happens to not like cilantro (unfortunate) and believes it is overused (he may be right.) These are the serious points of his column, and everything else in it was at least partiually in jest. I do like cilantro, and am willing to give Bill 5 pounds of avocados. These are the only facts in my letter. He is not heading us to a cilantro civil war. I don’t think chefs are “notoriously irresponsible.” OK, maybe my assertion that cilantro and avocado have both benefited from California cuisine is true. But in general, this was a work of fiction.

(RESUMING NORMAL SENSE OF SATIRE)

So, my brothers and sisters in herbal arms… the battle is over, the war is won! Let us resume the eating of our pungent leafy herb in peace and good will to all, and malice toward none. Excepting of course, godless parsley growers… but that’s just common sense.

Rain and other thoughts

OK, so there’s not much, but .15″ is pretty good for Saticoy in June. Not so much at Santa Paula yet…. here’s hoping.

This did cause me to juggle a few goings on at the farm. I shortened an inspection of our younger avocado trees at Saticoy. It looks like we have a decent fruit set for next year based on the trees I saw. This is some nice news in light of slumping lemon prices. I hate it when my major farm work for the week is sitting in the office, trimming the budget.

Another ton of Meyer Lemons went off to our friends at Oxnard Lemon on Wednesday. Look for them in stores soon! Of course it may not be possible to ascertain if they are ours. Buy them anyway. Better safe than sorry, you know.

Between the threat of meaningful rain and a commitment that takes me off the farm tonight, I elected to bring the goats in from their pasture early. Arriving back at the barn I discovered a turf war developing between two of our hens. One had managed to hatch a single chick last Sunday, but now wanted to hijack the other hen’s clutch of eggs that was beginning to hatch. Note to self: setting up the folding wire chicken pen in a confined space is easier without the ever curious goats on hand. If you have attempted any sort of useful activities with goats around, then you know that “on hand” is not merely an expression. For now, things have settled down.

I’ll probably spend a little time this afternoon on weedwhacker maintenance while I hope for more rain. This is probably self-defeating. Just like washing a car is sure to bring rain, leaving the field to work in the shop makes it stop.

Usually I like to wrap an essay up with some slightly philosophical and thematic observation about farm policy or farm economics. But not today.

When Local Food will Work

Without making a conscious decision to do so, I have divested myself from major banks. I no longer own Citigroup stock, and I no longer use BofA for my business banking. I belong to a credit union, finance my farm within the Farm Credit system, and am a customer and minor shareholder of our local Santa Clara Valley Bank. With all the turmoil these days, many critics of our financial systems say this is the right approach to take. It is what we should do. But I didn’t do it to make a political statement or encourage an alternative financial structure for our nation.
I did it because it works. Today I enjoy all the technological conveniences that used to be the domain of the big banks. Online billpay and transfers, ATM access all over the world… you name it. But I get much better service from people who not only know my name, in some cases they even know my dog’s names. Such is community banking in a small farm town. I get the chance to talk with the bank’s CEO on a regular basis as we serve together on several community projects. I would have needed a lot of money on deposit with Bank of America to get that kind of access.
What does this have to do with local and regional food? Right now, a number of people advocate for a local and regional model for our food system. It is what we should do, they say. Very possibly they are right. But in food, as in banking and energy (the other tack I could have taken for this piece) , we don’t do things just because we should. We go with what works for us.
Currently, local food systems fall short. Sure ,we have the Farmer’s market system, and a few CSAs, but access is a real issue. A few consumers with the knowledge, extra time, and disposable income gain the benefits… they get to meet their farmer. But this system hasn’t yet shown the ability to rival the mainstream. But it is growing and getting better. You still need to make sacrifices to eat locally but not to the same degree as just a couple of years ago. So maybe the day is not far off, when this is no longer something we “should do”, but simply “do.”
That will be when local food works.

A Good Night for Farmworkers

Last night I attended the fundraiser held at the Ventura Theater  to benefit HouseFarmworkers. Appearing for this purpose for the second time in Ventura, Kris Kristofferson put on a very well recieved solo acoustic show. Martic Sheen lent his face and voice to a brief documentary which aired beforehand that highlights the benefits that Farmworker’s kids have enjoyed by having clean, safe and affordable housing. With the kid’s own words and camera work, the piece wasn’t always that smooth, but was very moving and hearfelt. A nice appetizer reception was held outside that included food from many local farms and restaurants. A huge and very professional job was done by Tim Kilcoyne of the Sidecar in Ventura. Ventura Councilmember/Kristofferson Doppelganger Carl Morehouse was again instrumental in getting things going.

Ellen Brokaw. So many great things have been said about her leadership that I am not creative enough to add anything new. Ellen, please just replay everyone else’s comments in your head, and then add my thanks.

I’m not a music critic or a society columnist, so I’m not sure how to do a long piece on this and keep it interesting. But I want to  ackowledge the great job that the House Farmworkers teams does. Since 2003 their tireless outreach and advocacy has resulted, directly or indirectly, in 400+ new farmworker housing units in the County. The work is far from over, but thanks to them, the mountain is a bit lower than it once was. These days I am only a supporter of their work, not an active participant, but I was proud to be a small part of it last night.

Thank you.

About SOAR

I am a believer in representative democracy, which is the more positive way of saying I am not a fan off California’s all-pervasive initiative system. As practiced today, this system represents and failure of our elected officials to exercise the wisdom and judgment that the voters should rightfully expect. Instead we get endless campaigns pushing narrow special interests, distorted demagoguery and finally, just plain bad policy.

A favorite local example for me is the Ventura County SOAR complex. I call it that not to make it sound ominous, but because I think it is a real mess. SOAR stands for Save Our Agricultural Resources. But it applies to a series of City ordinances governing the potential conversion of agricultural land to other uses, a county ordinance with the same objectives, and a non-profit advocacy organization of the same name. The term is also used generically to apply to active members of the organization and/or the roughly 70% of Ventura County voters who can be relied upon to vote for just about any “no-growth” ballot initiative. Since two of our 5 County Supervisors are SOAR Organization founders and Boardmembers, people frequently (if imprecisely) consider the County Government and SOAR synonymous as well.

I hope anyone who knows me or regularly reads this blog believes that I am concerned with the long term economic viability of agriculture in Ventura County. So why would I have issue with a program intended to preserve agricultural land? Frankly, because I think that it does little to advance the goal, while restricting options for agricultural landowners (not always the same thing as a farmer).

Even my most organic and liberal farming friends (Yes, we have them here in Ventura… I know conventional farmers who own Priuses!) start to sound a little libertarian when it comes to property rights. This should be understandable. After several generations of carefully stewarding an asset that typically represents nearly the entirety of their net worth, farmers don’t like to see its value diminished. For a farmer, the land is not just a job, it is a family heirloom, legacy to the children, and retirement plan. Sadly though, if a farmer opposes SOAR his concerns are pretty airily dismissed. After all, his financial motives seem clear enough.

Those of us in Agriculture bear some responsibility for this. When SOAR was being rolled out in the mid ‘90’s, we generally failed to engage in the debate. No point dignifying such hare-brained scheme. We did not engage or propose alternative means to similar ends, which are surely one that most remaining Ventura Farmers can embrace. We want to see Ag continue here. We are literally working toward that goal every day.

What to do now? Item one is engagement, and this has already begun. At our County Farm Bureau annual meeting last week, SOAR architect and County Supervisor Steve Bennett was our keynote speaker. He explained the world view of our “urban friends”. In a Q&A session that followed he heard some of the rural worldview. I think there were moments where it was quite clear that neither side had any idea what the other was saying. But both frustration and a desire for cooperation was evident on both sides of the podium.

Item two is for those of us in agriculture to really begin to get serious about the policy directions that frankly acknowledge the desires of the urban majority in this county, while being a fair and workable system for those on the land. To this point, the debate has largely focused on a false choice between SOAR or no-zoning anarchy and unlimited suburban sprawl. We need a richer palette of choices. I agree with their desire for continued agriculture, and believe that local government has a role in shaping land use. There narrow point on which we differ is that in a county with greenbelt ordinances, Williamson Act restrictions, and notoriously cumbersome planning and zoning processes, SOAR believes that an additional layer of ballot box planning review represents leadership in stewardship of the land. I feel it is bureaucratic overkill. Let’s make something better.

Having been pretty tough on the “SOAR complex” let me contradict myself and acknowledge the real passion and commitment for the continuation of agriculture that I have seen from some of the individuals within SOAR’s leadership.  Specifically, I want to thank Karen Schmidt, SOAR ‘s Executive Director, for exhaustive work that she has done in support of the Ag Futures Alliance. A typical knock on SOAR is that it is a one-dimensional means to preserve pretty viewshed for the suburbs. Karen’s efforts in developing new economic opportunities for farmers with local and regional food systems contradict this view. I have enjoyed working with her for nearly 6 years, and I hope that her systematic approach to all the whirling variables in this complex system will be a model for others, even while she and I continue to argue about the details.