 |
| Editor’s
NOTE:
We serve a diverse audience of readers engaged
in regenerative, organic and sustainable agriculture
at many levels for many reasons. We want to hear
from you about the issues that are important to
your life and work, and your vision for agriculture
that builds a strong future.
We run selected comments from readers in this
space. Please tell us who you are, with name,
address and phone number for verification. Sending
correspondence to us conveys a right to us to
publish it as is, or in a form edited for length
and/or style. Opinions expressed in this space
do not necessarily represent the perspective of
The New Farm® or The Rodale Institute®.
If you have something important to say about
agriculture in a sustainable global food system,
please -- speak
to us.
NF
|
|
For more than 14 years, I have pursued organic horticulture
and sustainable agriculture, while my wife has studied nutrition
with a vision of serving in Central America. After selling
our decade-old nursery business three years ago, I worked
as farm operations manager/instructor for World Hunger Relief
(www.worldhungerrelief.org)
in Elm Mott, Texas. That work, along with an article I read
in 1999 by Martin Price of ECHO International (www.echonet.org),
entitled “Small Farm Resource Development Center,”
defined for our family our vision--to develop a model for
sustainable small family farms to do field research, demonstrating
and encouraging others in techniques that will support small
farms, promoting biological diversity, proper land stewardship,
and holistic community development. At that time we thought
we would still be working in Central America.
As time progressed at World Hunger Relief, the greatest joy
was spent educating interns (who had no agriculture experience);
organizing public events and school tours; and seeing people’s
eyes open up to understanding where their food comes from,
and how small farms are disappearing across America because
of urban sprawl, the rise of land prices, and a general disinterest
in young people to stay on the farm (the average farmer now
being over 86, or so I have heard). Families would come to
the farm wanting to learn how to vermicompost, raise chickens,
and plant a simple garden (we educated a lot of folks at our
organic retail nursery for 10 years on how to backyard garden).
Growing one’s own food has become a lost art, with a
whole generation or two removed from the farm.
I began to realize that the need was here, domestically,
more than I ever realized, and that our family is uniquely
qualified to help. Following a two-year search, we have secured
22 acres in the earliest settled part of Texas and are restoring
an old farmhouse on the property to be a future farm store/education
center. We’re developing a 1/2-acre demonstration garden
featuring more than 70 varieties of heirloom, open-pollinated
vegetables, we have technically consulted five other local
farmers beginning their small farms (and discussing the possibility
of starting a small-farm co-op), and we have introduced alpine
dairy goats, heritage chickens, ducks and geese to our program
this spring.
We are looking to introduce a multi-species grazing system
incorporating goats, Katahdin sheep and Dexter cattle in the
future. We are depending upon agritourism--our county is no.
2 in the state for tourism--and the farmer’s markets
(more than an hour away). This year will be a big trial period
for our farm, as we are determined to do it without incurring
debt. Our intention is to be a model small-family farm, offering
workshops and demonstrations to encourage and educate others
to develop a successful family farm enterprise along with
providing quality food for our local community, reaching as
far as Houston. South central Texas is finally coming along,
and we are hope to help educate and encourage others in this
local food revolution.
Brad Stufflebeam
Texas
|
