Register Now for Upcoming Groundswell Workshops

Organic Livestock Production Basics Series

July 3 - August 7, 2013

This workshop series is a required component of our Sustainable Farming Certificate Program but is also open to non-certificate trainees. The series consists of six 3-hour sessions, 5-8 PM on Wednesday evenings, except for the Sheep Basics class which meets on Sunday, July 7, 1-4 PM. 

You may also register for individual sessions:

July 3: Grazing Basics 
Instructors: Troy Bishopp, Grazing Specialist with Madison County Soil & Water Conservation District, and Maryrose Livingston, Grass Farmer
Location: Northland Sheep Dairy, Marathon, NY 

July 7: Grass-Fed Sheep Basics (Sun 1-4 PM)
Instructor: Maryrose Livingston, Sheep Farmer
Location: Northland Sheep Dairy, Marathon, NY

July 17: Pastured Poultry Basics 
Instructor: Karma Glos, Poultry Farmer
Location: Kingbird Farm, Berkshire, NY

July 24: Grass-Fed Beef Basics 
Instructor: Brett Chedzoy, Beef Farmer
Location: Angus Glen Farm, Watkins Glen, NY

July 31: Pastured Pigs Basics 
Instructor: Karma Glos, Pig Farmer
Location: Kingbird Farm, Berkshire, NY

Aug 7: TBA 

Cost: $250-$325 for entire series; $45-$60 for individual workshops. Voluntary sliding scale. Pay more if you can and help support our low-income trainees. Scholarships may be available depending on tuition received -- let us know if you need support.

Commercial Organic Vegetable Production Workshops

Instructors: Todd McLane and John Bokaer-Smith, West Haven Farm

June 26: Understanding and Managing Weeds 

July 10: Understanding and Managing Pests & Diseases

Aug 14: Sourcing, Conserving and Using Water

Aug 28: Making and Using Compost 5-8 PM

Sep 11, 4-7 PM: Improving Efficiency of Harvest and Labor

Oct 9, 4-7 PM: Record Keeping and Enterprise Analysis

TBA: Hoophouse Building Practicum 

Cost: $350-$425 for entire series; $45-$60 for individual classes.  Voluntary sliding scale. Pay more if you can and help support our low-income trainees. Scholarships may be available depending on tuition received -- let us know if you need support.

Advanced Intensives

Our advanced-level "Intensives" are specialized, full-day programs designed for those with previous agricultural production experience.  Conventional and low-input producers interested in learning about certifiable organic production systems are encouraged to attend. Class size is limited and priority will be given to farmers and farm employees with at least one full year of production experience, or who are simultaneously enrolled in the Sustainable Farming Certificate Program. (Certificate Program tuition does not include Intensives - you must register separately.) Others are welcome to apply for these programs and may be accepted if space is available. Once you are accepted into the program, your tuition must be paid in full to reserve your space. Tuition will be refunded only if we are able to fill your space.

Organic Pastured Poultry Intensive
Monday, Aug 12, 10 AM - 4 PM
Instructor: Karma Glos  Location: Kingbird Farm

Poultry Processing Practicum
Sundays, dates TBA, 9 AM - 3PM
Instructor: Karma Glos
Location: Kingbird Farm

Organic Sheep Dairy Intensive
Sunday, Aug 18, 10 AM - 4 PM
Instructor: Maryrose Livingston
Location: Northland Sheep Dairy 

Hog Breeding & Farrowing Intensive 
Monday Sep 16, 10 AM - 4 PM
Instructor: Karma Glos
Location: Kingbird Farm 

Draft Horse Intensive, Part I 
Saturday, Sept 14, 10 AM - 4PM
Instructors: Donn Hewes, Maryrose Livingston
Location: Northland Sheep Dairy
Prerquisite: Experience with horses and premission of Instructor. 

Draft Horse Intensive, Part IISunday, Sept 15, 10 AM - 4PMInstructors: Donn Hewes, Maryrose LivingstonLocation: Northland Sheep Dairy
Prerequisite: Completion of Part I

Cheesemaking Practicum 
Part I: Sunday, Oct 6, 9 AM - 3 PMPart II: Monday Oct 7, 2 PM - 4 PMInstructor: Maryrose Livingston Location: Northland Sheep Dairy

Cost: $120-$150 per class (the Poultry Processing Practicum is $60-$80). Voluntary sliding scale. Pay more if you can and help support our low-income trainees. Scholarships may be available depending on tuition received--let us know if you need support.

Crooked Carrot "CSK" Celebrates its First Season on the Farm

By Erika Lundahl

Since 2011, Crooked Carrot Community Supported Kitchen has sought to provide healthy, locally sourced meals to the larger Finger Lakes community - and this season brings a big change.

Early morning on Crooked Carrot Farm, out past rows of apple trees and a small creek, plots of onions are just beginning to sprout. “Garlic, hot peppers, cabbage, parsley, herbs – we’re really so excited for the farm’s first season,” says Jenny Caldwell, one of the farm’s founders. Alongside her is Silas Conroy, one of the founders of the Crooked Carrot Kitchen in 2011.

The farm, located on two acres of land between the Cayuga Lake Watershed and the Chesapeake Watershed, began as Hemlock Grove Farm by Jenny’s parents. Jenny, who has been farming on various Upstate New York farms since she was in high school, is giving the farm a second life.

Now it serves to support the Crooked Carrot Community Supported Kitchen in their CSK (similar to a CSA) “shares.” Each share contains a variety of pre-prepared dips, broths, beans, and vegetable dishes with ingredients sourced from the Crooked Carrot Farm as well as several other local farms.

Groundswell has played a crucial role supporting the development of the two businesses – the kitchen and the farm. Silas, an Ithaca transplant from Central Pennsylvania, took the Groundswell farm business planning class for the kitchen in 2012, and Jenny took the same class in 2013 for the farm. They have been working together to refine the interdependent relationship between the two businesses.

“The Groundswell class really helped us develop our budgetary goals and create a comparison enterprise budget to see the costs vs. income viability of each of our ventures individually,” says Silas. He has been working with the kitchen for three years and sees the farm as a way to further their personal values of sustainable agriculture and sustainable living.

“In farming you get to see so clearly how interconnected ecological systems are, and how your decisions effect your immediate environment. This lifestyle is sort of a bridge between personal and environmental health,” says Silas.  Together he and Jenny presented their unique business plan and budget at the Northeast Organic Farming (NOFA) conference. Is was essential, Jenny explained, to put the goals and values of the organization first and foremost when considering every monetary decision the farm makes. “You have to ask yourself how you want your life to be, and then try to reflect that in what you do, and how you farm.”

In these early stages of the formation of the farm, Crooked Carrot is constantly making major decisions about the direction of the farm, a process that Groundswell has assisted with from the beginning. “Taking the business planning class definitely helped us see what kind of growth was realistic, and how we can best focus our energies,” said Jenny.

So, other than the Facebook advertised blackened garlic and pinto bean salad rumored to be in the fourth CSK share of the season, what else is on the menu for Crooked Carrot in the future? Growth, hopefully. The two acres of land won’t support the budding farm for long. “This is a tiny operation right now in comparison to most farms. It’s great because the kitchen provides an immediate venue for everything the farm produces- but we hope to expand within the next couple years,” says Silas.

It’s clear that Crooked Carrot has exciting times ahead of them in the years to come, as they continue to make a name for themselves in the Ithaca local food and farming community.

Find out what’s cooking at the Crooked Carrot on Facebook or at www.crookedcarrotcsk.com
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_Erika Lundahl is a volunteer writer for Groundswell. An Ithaca transplant, she graduated in 2012 from Ithaca College with a Writing degree. While in school she worked with our local bookstore cooperative, Buffalo Street Books and has been working at The Piggery for the last year. We're grateful for her help in bringing you stories about our amazing Groundswell trainees. Thank you Erika!_

From the Director

Just a couple Saturdays ago, I had the huge pleasure of hanging out with some of the area's most amazing farmers, foodies, visionaries, activists and dreamers.... and LOTS of energetic kids... at the second annual Asparaganza Festival at the Good Life Farm in Interlaken. What an inspiring community! These folks are passionate about re-learning skills, re-building farms and food businesses, and re-weaving the fabric of personal relationships that make up a strong community and local economy. They're creating the social and economic infrastructure that we're going to need so very badly in the coming years of climate change and all its attendant ecological, social, and institutional disruptions. 

What took me by surprise was just how many people I ran into at this gathering who were Groundswell alums and instructors! There were literally dozens of them - 20-somethings and 70-somethings and everything in between - who had participated in one or more of our training programs. I knew from our records that we have engaged 290 trainees so far in our programs. But here, at Asparaganza, was concrete evidence of the huge impact that Groundswell has had in four short years. 

Will you join us?
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We invite you to be part of this exciting movement! This month we are launching a new Groundswell Membership Campaign  to help raise funds to support our new farmer training programs. Your contribution of $25 or more will help us provide training and business incubation support to aspiring farmers, with programs like our Sustainable Farming Certificate Program, Farm Business Planning Course, Finger Lakes CRAFT, Farm Mentor Training, and the new Groundswell Incubator Farm. As a Groundswell member you'll get program discounts, a cool sticker, and invitations to member-only events like our new Homestead Farmers and Gardeners Gatherings for those of you want to be involved in rebuilding the food system in your own backyard.

Become a Groundswell Member Today!
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Click HERE to find out about member benefits and make a secure online donation. As always, thank you for your support of a strong local food system!

Joanna Green

Calling all Homesteaders!

Groundswell Members are invited to the June 16 Homestead Farmers and Gardeners Gathering.

Not sure if you’re a farmer or a gardener? Serious about growing things, but not for sale? Eager to learn from other serious homestead-scale producers? Then join Groundswell as a member and receive invitations to our monthly gatherings of homestead farmers and gardeners. Our first awesome gathering was May 19 at the Lansing homestead of Philip Snyder and Pat Dell. Philip is an amazing gardener with decades of experience, and every one of us learned something new about intensive, year round gardening, extending the season, and establishing an organic orchard.

The June Homestead Farmers and Gardeners Gathering will be on Fathers Day, Sunday, June 16, from 3:30 - 5:30 PM. We'll tour Steve Austin's homestead in suburban Ithaca. The event is free for Groundswell members, but you must register in advance and space is limited to the first 20 registrants. Sorry but we cannot accept walk-ins.

Youth from Match High School in Boston, Help out Groundswell

“I learned that farming takes a lot of patience and perseverance…But living on a farm could be fun for anyone.”—Joselia Souza; MATCH High School Student, Boston, MA

Recently Groundswell was lucky enough to receive many helping hands from a group of awesome high school students to build the deer fence at the Groundswell Incubator Farm.  Visiting all the way from the MATCH Charter School in Boston, Massachusetts, these students were in town to experience a bit of what Ithaca’s college-scene has to offer, but they also spent much of their trip volunteering with some of the local community organizations.  For many of these students there are few opportunities to experience careers and lifestyles outside of the city, so we were thrilled to share a little bit of agriculture from the Town of Ithaca, and get some fence posts installed at the same time. When I first met the students as they were getting off the bus, I think many of them were a bit skeptical about the muddy farmer who was walking up to meet them.  Although most of them had been on farms before, they were all dressed to the level of fashion that most everyone does in high school.  Fortunately they were all extremely kind about my own messy-farmer fashion, but as they toured the farms at EcoVillage I could tell they were hesitantly-curious about what kind of work they had agreed to do.…

When we got to the Incubator Farm, the holes for the fence posts had already been dug, but our job was to level and set each post in its place by tamping the dirt around it.  For the corner-posts, we had to attach wood “feet” to the bottoms of the posts, and then pour concrete around them for added stability.  I can tell you that this Work Party immediately became a success when we started to use the tools, because as each student took a turn at screwing in the wood “feet” or at slamming the tamping bar down into the hole—everyone else was watching with collective support and excitement!  As we got more into working, their characters really came out and we all had a GREAT time.  As one student said, ““When we first got there, I was not at all happy. But by the end I was pounding dirt using a hammer with a smile on my face. I felt like I did something that day.”—Sidney McCauley*

The best part about the Work Party was that we saw their excitement around getting something physical done, which feels very different than working on a computer or in a classroom.  For many farmers, working with your hands and the earth’s tools: soil, wood, metal—is the most rewarding part of a farming-lifestyle.  It was clear that some of students picked up on this and I am so grateful that we were able to impart a sliver of this joy before they went back to their high school lives.  Big Shout-Out to our friends in Boston!  Thank you for all your hard work, and we hope you come back again next year!

Other quotes from MATCH students:
“It was really cool to see how much work goes into building part of a farm.”—Janel Williams*

“Learning how to build a fence together and the experience as a whole made us closer, and it was fun.”—Kerry Sonia*

Janel, Kerry, and Sidney are all Students at MATCH High School in Boston, Massachusetts.  MATCH is a Charter School focused on preparing low-income students for success in four-year colleges and are innovative and strive to find unique solutions to whatever issue may arise.  Please find out more about MATCH, here http://matcheducation.org/match-schools.