Tune In to the Local Food & Farming Radio Hour!

Fridays 7-8 AM on WRFI
88.1 Ithaca, 91.9 Watkins Glen
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by Sharon Clarke

For the past two months Groundswell staff and program participants have been my guests on the Friday Morning Show, a one-hour program which I produce and host. The show is exclusively about local food and farming, which makes it a perfect venue to spread the word about the work and the people of Groundswell.

Most recently, I interviewed Silas Conroy, co-owner of Crooked Carrot Community Supported Kitchen www.crookedcarrotcsk.com and Devon Van Noble, farmer/owner of Van Noble Farm www.facebook.com/vannoblefarm.  Devon is also Groundswell's Incubator Farm Coordinator.  Silas was a participant in the first year of the Farm Business course and through it was able to gain valuable information which was immediately applied to the development of Crooked Carrot.  This session one of his business partners is also taking the business course!

Both Devon and Silas are first season farmers as well. This is the first year the Crooked Carrot team are growing their own vegetable crops. And for Devon, this is his first season raising his own hogs. The two admitted that previous experience working on farms certainly helped them get to where they are, but they also benefited from luck and the generosity of more experienced farmers in our community. For Devon, it has been support and experienced gained working with The Piggery Farm owned by Brad and Heather Marshall; while Silas has gotten significant encouragement and support from his relationship with Chaw Chang and Lucy Garrison-Clauson, of Stick and Stone Farm.

Tune in any Friday to find out more about what's happening in local food and farming!

Trainee spotlight: Devon Van Noble, Van Noble Farm

Devon and one of his pigs.

Groundswell trainee, staff member, and new farmer Devon Van Noble shares his personal journey from dreamer to farmer.

by Devon Van Noble

I feel like I've been becoming a farmer for my whole life, but it's only in the past few years that my journey really took off. Growing up in suburban community in Florida, where locally-sourced food is a rarity, I was only recently able to connect with farming on the ground. I read plenty about farming in school but really only started participating in it when I returned from Vermont, where I went to grad school, to Ithaca. In the spring of 2011 I started working for Groundswell, and soon after I took Groundswell's Sustainable Farming Certificate Program (SFCP). That season I also began harvesting with Early Morning Farm in Genoa, a medium-sized organic vegetable farm, on Fridays.

Coming into the SFCP, I felt like a “noob.” I was still totally unsure of what to do or how I could successfully enter farming. But by becoming immersed in the Ithaca agriculture scene, I quickly familiarized myself with Groundswell's Mentor Farmers, learned about other enterprises that existed locally, and gained a general sense of how farming was being done in this area. In the SFCP program, I learned the basics of crop production, planning, and management, and toyed around with the idea of raising livestock. But most importantly, it was one of my first steps towards becoming a farmer. I needed that intensive experience of seeing many different operations in a short period of time, and I also needed the time to go back to the same farm and get a deeper picture into the farm.  By seeing the enterprises at various stages of production you get a better sense of the businesses and what they require.

After I finished the SFCP program, I don’t think I was totally conscious of it, but I was definitely discouraged about my prospects of being a successful farmer.  The main reason for this is that I realized (and maybe had this inclination prior to the program) how much intelligence and what strong skill sets it takes to be a successful farmer.  And the reality really hit me that most farmers are forced to supplement with off-farm income, and only a select few really make their living off of it (and some of them are in substantial debt).  It is an incredible feat to manage your production, finances, labor, and markets, not to mention put it all together in a successful and coherent way. I felt really intimidated by all of that.

Since I had based my entire farming future upon the idea that I would be a crop farmer, and plants are not nearly as intuitive to me as animals, I felt that it would be many many years—and a major uphill battle of classes, reading, questions, and mistakes—before I would be competent enough to make a living from a farm enterprise. At that point, I had never even considered that I could really pull off being a livestock farmer. I'm not sure why—maybe because I didn't quite understand how livestock farmers successfully process and sell their product. Because this option never seemed open to me, I imagined that I'd remain in an off-farm job for the next few years with only occasional day trips to work on farms.

Infrastructure, Equipment, and Tools

Digging a test hole at the Incubator Farm.

By Devon Van Noble

Finding or creating the right tool for the job. Using what you have in front of you. Self-sufficiency. Ingenuity. 

These are parts of farming that are really exciting to many farmers.  It’s an inspiring time to be part of the sustainable farming community, because there is a movement of innovative thinkers that are developing new techniques for producing and processing food that are cost-effective and accessible.  All types of farmers are utilizing these kinds of innovations to save money and labor, improve the function of their tools and farm, and most importantly, to create quality products without high-risk investments in capital.

Groundswell has been gearing up for the launch of the Farm Enterprise Incubator Program in early 2013, and began prepping fields at EcoVillage over this summer.  At the Incubator Farm, beginning farmers will be able to get access not only to land, but also to infrastructure, equipment, and tools. These things are essential to start growing food, but they're things that many new producers can’t afford before they are making sales of their own.  Once enrolled, Incubees will be able to lease land for up to 3 years before they graduate from the Program and are expected to transition to a new property.  This allows for new groups of beginning farmers to continue entering the program and benefit from the same infrastructure and resources.

Through a partnership between the Groundswell Center, beginning farmers, and support from the broader community, the “Incubees” will benefit from a three-year window to create enough revenue to capitalize their enterprise and transition to new land.  The community, in turn, will be supporting an enduring framework for new farmers to learn the skills and access the resources necessary to operate sustainable farm businesses that can feed local people.  The Incubator Program could play a significant role in the food and farming system in this region.

On October 21^st, as part of the Groundswell Local Food & Farm Festival, we'll launch the 2012 Incubator Farm Infrastructure Campaign through Kickstarter, which will help fund the construction of farm infrastructure and purchase of cost-effective equipment.  This infrastructure will be utilized by diverse beginning producers, making it possible for many to get started who would not be able to do so otherwise.  We believe this framework is critical to healthy local food and farms, and we invite you to be a part of supporting it.  Supporters will receive various benefits for participating, such as having your name engraved or painted on one of the fence posts, t-shirts, or a tour of the Farm.  Donations will be accepted at the Local Food & Farm Festival hosted at EcoVillage, and on the web into December.

Applications Now Open for Groundswell Incubator Farm!

When the ice melts next spring, and the sun starts warming the ground, Groundswell's first group of “incubees” will be moving into their newly-leased sites at the Groundswell Incubator Farm, located at EcoVillage. Application forms for the Farm Enterprise Incubator Program are now available online, and we are encouraging all types of beginning farmers to consider applying.

The Groundswell Incubator Farm offers a relatively low-risk entry avenue for new producers by providing access to land, production and marketing infrastructure, production support services (such as tractor tillage), and ongoing support from experienced farmer- and business- mentors.

If you think you might be interested in the Incubator, we encourage you to meet one-on-one with incubator Coordinator Devon Van Noble, who can answer your questions and help you complete the application forms. You can reach Devon at devon@groundswellcenter.org, or  (607)319-5095. Or you can find the application materials online at www.groundswellcenter.org. Click on Programs/Incubator.

The Incubator Application Form has two parts: Part 1 is a Personal Data Form and Part 2 is a Farm Enterprise Data Form. Your responses will give us a picture of your farm business concept, your cultural and farming background is, your current resources and your needs, both personally and for the business.

Learn about the Incubator Oversight Team...

About the Incubator Oversight Team

Starting a new farm business is a complex task, and creating a supportive environment for beginning farmers to grow their businesses requires a range of knowledge and backgrounds. The Incubator Oversight Team is composed of a mix of experienced and new farmers, business mentors, finance specialists, and landowners.

Since April of 2012, this Team has been meeting regularly to lay out the groundwork for the Incubator Program, and have been central in creating application materials. Together with Groundswell staff, the Oversight Team will be selecting a group of applicants to be Groundswell’s first group of incubee farmers by January 2013, and will continue to be involved in each incubee’s development through the program. The Team will serve as business and production mentors and will help each Incubee to assess their farm business plans, goals, and progress.

Groundswell Staff and the Oversight Team look forward to working with you on your farm enterprise. Get in touch with us if you, or someone you know, would like to apply.

Prepping the Ground!: Starting Work on Groundswell's Incubator Farm

The Groundswell Incubator pond site.

by Devon Van Noble

We’re thrilled to announce that field work on the Incubator site at EcoVillage has begun!  On June 23rd, Groundswell volunteer Jeff Gilmore from EcoVillage started brush-hogging a 3-acre section of the 10 acres designated for the project. In the coming weeks, Melissa Madden of The Good Life Farm is going to do the heavy work of plowing and discing the field for the first time in… too many years.  She and Jeff are doing a tremendous service for Groundswell by taking care of all of this initial field work.  Melissa will also be helping us put a nice cover crop on the ground by fall, probably some hearty rye that we’ll plow under at the start of the 2013 season to warm the beds up for the first group of trainees!  Additional sections will be cleared this fall using larger equipment to make space for infrastructure, such as a hoophouse and sheds. 

After months of communication with consultants, neighbors, and regulators exploring different options for the Incubator site's water supply, the Incubator team has determined that simply expanding the current West Haven Farm pond (just north of the Incubator site) is the simplest and most sensible solution.  John, Jen, and Todd of West Haven Farm have generously agreed to share this water supply with Groundswell, but there will be secure metering systems installed to help manage this common resource carefully. Creating a water supply has been one of the most intensive parts of developing this farmland, especially because of other interests that need to be considered. Readers who plan to develop land in the future would be wise to start evaluating your water source early in your design process.

If you’ve been up to EcoVillage in the past several weeks, you’ll notice that we aren’t the only ones working the land this summer.  The groundwork for the third neighborhood at EcoVillage, TREE, is well on its way.  In fact, it turns out that Groundswell will be using some of the same excavating equipment from the TREE project for developing the area, including the Incubator's pond site.

To learn more about the Incubator design process, visit our website.

You can help build the Incubator!

Help us grow new opportunities for beginning farmers in our community!  By supporting the Farm Enterprise Incubator, you'll be helping landless aspiring farmers take the first steps towards launching a viable farm business. The year, Groundswell will be using a crowd-funding platform, Kickstarter, to launch a 2-month fundraising campaign to pay for many of the elements of the Incubator’s infrastructure. By participating in our Kickstarter campaign, you'll be able to specify which component of the site you wish to support, and you'll also receive food & farm gifts for making a donation (so keep an eye out, because there will be some good “farm and food” perks for your participation!).  We will be kicking off this FUN-raising campaign at Groundswell’s first annual Food & Farm Festival in October.  The Festival will be your chance to see the Incubator Farm firsthand and show your support.

Want to make an in-kind contribution? The Incubator site can use sheds, fencing, hoophouses, wood and insulation to build a Cool Bot Cooler, and lightly-worn farm tools among other items.  If you or someone you know has items they believe would be of use for the program or Groundswell trainees, please have them contact us at info@groundswellcenter.org, or call 607-277-0180.

Connecting Land and People

Abandoned potato digger at the Groundswell Incubator Farm.
Photo by Devon Van Noble

 by Devon Van Noble

In the past several years we have witnessed the Groundswell Center develop into a wonderful suite of programs for beginning farmers and food citizens. We thank all of you for making this momentum possible! 

Recently Groundswell has begun to go beyond farmer training to engage in conversations about farmland access for aspiring farmers. Groundswell first touched on this conversation last fall in planning for the Farm Enterprise Incubator, which will offer access to land, infrastructure and support for diverse producers in the early years of their farm-based enterprise. However, the Incubator is only one piece in a community-wide puzzle of how to successfully connect new producers with land opportunities. For some of these land seekers, the Incubator will offer readily accessible infrastructure, training, and business development that they will need to get started. Others are prepared to seek independent land arrangements, but do not have the ability to create an agreement with landowners who could offer what they need. 

As a community, it is important to find out how to best provide both land seekers and owners with the knowledge of how to make successful rental, transfer, and purchase arrangements, and possibly more critically, how to effectively build trusting and mutually beneficial partnerships between the diverse new producers in the area, and the current farmers and non-farming landowners. We know that there are a variety of ways that people have been trying to access and offer land for new enterprises, and we wanted to hear more about people’s experiences have been locally. Last week, we brought together members of the Groundswell community for a conversation on “Connecting Land and People”. A group of current farmers, "greenhorns," and food citizens gathered to share their thoughts about the status of land access in the area and the actions that could be taken to enhance it. 

Update: Groundswell's Farm Enterprise Incubator

Urban agriculture leader Karen Washington visited
our incubator site in late April.

by Devon Van Noble

Ahhh -- Finally the onset of lasting warm weather.  It's not only a critical time of year for established farmers, it’s also an important season for assessing new farmland.  At the site of Groundswell's Farm Enterprise Incubator, we've been busy measuring and mapping, reading the biological communities, taking soil samples, analyzing hydrology and digging test holes for ponds.  We have been fortunate to have the guidance of some great resource people in this process. 

David Werier, a botanical consultant and an instructor in Groundswell’s Sustainable Farming Certificate Program this year, gave us a sense of how to think about the various types of vegetation and micro-ecosystems as we plan the site to interact with them.  We’ve found that the very different stages of succession across the site will offer opportunities to diversify the type of enterprises that are incubated, to preserve habitat for wildlife and beneficial insects, and create transitional spaces that we bring into production slowly. 
 
Recently we have made a lot of progress in identifying potential water sources at the site, and found that digging a new farm pond is a strong possibility.  With the help of Phil Snyder, a consultant who has worked on several pond projects at EcoVillage, we have accurately identified the major flows through the site.  We've mapped out several locations that would be able to catch a sufficient amount of water to supply the Incubator enterprises.  After getting a bit smarter about the levels of regulation that can be involved, I was beginning to get concerned that some of the potential sites might not work, but thankfully we have been getting a positive response from the Town of Ithaca Planning Department, the New York State DEC, and the Army Corp of Engineers.  We will be returning to them with more detailed design plans soon, and I will post a new Incubator Update on our website with any news about the Incubator farm pond.

Giving Ground: How Land Access Empowers New Farmers

Young farmers Sam Bosco and Simone Lackey are entering into
a land agreement with Giving Ground Farm this year.

by Devon Van Noble

It is our pleasure to share with you some wonderful news about connections being made between new farmers and landowners in the Groundswell community.

Dedicated young farmers and Sam Bosco and his partner Simone Lackey have begun preparing for their first season at Giving Ground Farm with Betti and Joe Lambro in Hector, New York. Other friends in the area, Aaron Munzer and Kara Cusolito have launched Plowbreak Farm on land leased from Daryl and Suzanne Anderson. These types of land sharing arrangements are important opportunities for beginning farmers, who might not otherwise have access to farmland on which to learn and grow.

We are truly grateful for the strength of the small- and medium- scale farmers in the region that bring so much bounty to this area. In addition to feeding us, these producers have garnered invaluable knowledge about the land and life here. Their knowledge, along with new land opportunities, are essential ingredients for establishing the next generation of producers. By continuing to leverage these opportunities as a community, we can do a lot to support the preservation of local agricultural knowledge through the new farmers who carry on the traditions, and adapt them.

Today new farmers come up against enormous financial barriers to land ownership. The transition of resources from generation to generation has not been a historically equitable process. Many communities have been largely denied access to agricultural resources, especially land. Today, when land transfer happens, it often passes down through close relationships, which maintains the status quo of what kinds of people own land. New farmers, many of whom do not have farming families, often start out by renting land through short-term leases before they either are able to buy land or enter a long-term agreement.

Farm Service Agency offers new program: Land Contract (LC) Guarantee Program

by Devon Van Noble

We are pleased to share news of the launch of a new financing program through the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA), called the Land Contract Guarantee Program. As of January, the FSA will be offering loan guarantees to eligible farmers to buy and operate family sized farms. The focus of the program is to reduce the financial risk to sellers, who wish to sell agricultural property to a beginning farmer or a farmer who is a member of a "socially-disadvantaged group". Groundswell has been working hard to develop new farmer training opportunities, but without financing options that are compatible with the scale of farming they are interested in, these new farmers wouldn’t be able to continue growing in our area.

In some places in the country, the purchase of farmland through land contracts is a key mechanism for land succession, and we see this Program as a wonderful opportunity for both, landowners and new farmers in Tompkins County and Central New York. If you are beginning to plan for the transition of your estate, or selling property, we hope you will take the time to understand how this financing option works. You can find more information at www.fsa.usda.gov.

What does this mean for beginning producers and landowners?

Growing the Farm Enterprise Incubator in 2012

The Farm Enterprise Incubator at EcoVillage at Ithaca in 2011.

By Devon Van Noble

This winter marks a new phase for Groundswell’s Farm Enterprise Incubator — a program designed to provide beginning food producers with affordable, low-risk access to land, business mentorship, training, and support.  The Incubator program is especially focused on providing these opportunities to limited resource and socially-disadvantaged communities in the area.  For now, a field of approximately 10 acres has been designated by EcoVillage at Ithaca as the initial site of the Groundswell Incubator. This winter, Groundswell is engaging in a planning process with farmers and potential incubees to ensure that the Incubator meets everyone's needs.

Permaculture Design at the Incubator Site

This past August, we began regularly walking the 10-acre Incubator site with our two farmer-consultants, Melissa Madden and Garrett Miller of the Good Life Farm in Interlaken, NY.  Having just used a permaculture design process to create their own 69-acre farm, we knew they would be wonderful coaches to help us thoroughly assess and understand the 10 acre site at EcoVillage.  Permaculture design is a process of truly understanding both the land and the people that you are working with.  Not only have we been evaluating the water flows, soil composition, and landform that make up the Incubator site, but Melissa and Garrett also helped us design an interview process that collects a swath of useful information from the many stakeholders who have an interest in the Incubator project.

After Melissa and Garrett introduced the permaculture principles, I think some of us were ready to just start designing!  But they kept reminding us that we had a lot of observations to make and data to collect before we would be prepared to actually lay out plans for the site.  Permaculture is really an iterative process between the needs of the land, the people and the life around them, so one of Melissa’s ongoing tasks has been to keep checking our expectations for the Incubator and help us to be open to the process as it develops. 

Volunteer Spotlight: Fred Schoeps

Since being a part of its creation in 2009, Fred Schoeps has volunteered for Groundswell in many capacities and we are grateful for the significant commitment he continues to make!

By Devon Van Noble

This month’s Volunteer Spotlight is on a very special Groundswell contributor, Fred Schoeps. Fred was instrumental in the planning and creation of the Groundswell Center in 2008-9 and he has continued to provide support through advising, envisioning, and putting his shoulder to the wheel on numerous projects.

Fred’s contributions have included helping to manage the early phases of our website development, scoping out database options for tracking our many contacts in the community, reviewing budgets and grant proposals, and harnessing his tremendous passion for Groundswell to reach out to organizational supporters and community members. He is a model of inspired and inspiring volunteer commitment, making himself available to address almost any of Groundswell’s organizational needs as they come up. He was also our first Advisor to step forward with a generous donation for the Groundswell Farm Enterprise Incubator.

“Fred brings a wealth of business and organizational expertise to the Groundswell team,” says Groundswell Director Joanna Green. “He is absolutely passionate about what he calls 'knowledge management systems' and he loves to think creatively about how to improve communications, organize information, and support people to achieve great things.” Fred’s professional background includes many years with IBM in its systems engineering, management consulting and marketing departments. He was a member of the launch team for IBM’s original foray into the PC business and later, as IBM’s Director of Learning and Knowledge Management, was instrumental in the Re-Engineering IBM project. After retiring from IBM he moved with his wife Margot to Ithaca in 2008. Shortly thereafter he joined the Board of Directors for EVI, Inc. that advises EcoVillage at Ithaca Center for Sustainability Education.

Student Profile: Marcia Harrington

This month, Groundswell is proud to spotlight Marcia Harrington, a trainee from Groundswell's New Farmer Training Program!

A lifetime New Yorker from Syracuse, Marcia grew up spending time in the garden and has happy early memories of her grandfather’s small urban farm. Her interest in agriculture continued in her teen years, when she enjoyed visiting family member’s farms. 6 years ago, after years of backyard gardening, she began seriously looking for a property where she could create a farm of her own. Two years ago, she bought a beautiful piece of land in the town of Skaneateles, and found herself living her dream of getting back to the land. Although Marcia did have an understanding of agriculture that she gleaned at an early age, she felt she needed to get some training to refresh her knowledge and says the New Farmer Training Program has given her the confidence to begin some of her dream projects. 

Although she spent brief periods of her life in other places across the Northeast, Marcia has maintained a very close connection to the Central New York area. As a young adult, Marcia got a Fine Arts Education between Carnegie-Mellon and Syracuse Univeristy. She had a studio at Eureka Studios in Armory Square where she founded a figure-drawing group called the “Walton St. Irregulars” that provided local atists with an opportunity to work with live models. In the 1980’s she became a cartographer at SU, where her work focused on thematic mapping of post-colonial Latin America. Marcia has also been a committed community organizer, active in the Interreligious Council’s Community Dialogue to End Racism, Syracuse’s Tomorrow’s Neighborhoods Today community councils, working in community gardens, and on the Board of the Syracuse Neighborhoods Initiative, addressing neighborhood vitality and safety. For the past 12 years, she worked for United Way of Central New York as the Marketing Vice President.

Marcia’s 8-acre homestead has been the same contiguous parcel since the house was first built in 1830, and has been a family homestead farm ever since. The previous owners had bought it just after the Great Depression and raised a family there. When the patriarch passed away, the home sat empty for about 5 years before Marcia moved in. Because it had not been updated in some time, Marcia hired a contractor to renovate the home. But when he went bankrupt in the middle of the project, Marcia realized that she was going to have to learn much more than just how to farm. She soon found that home renovtions can be a time and money pit, but the the work itself was something she could learn to do and she steadily took on each new challenge. Working on the home renovations gave her time to observed the land’s life through the year before she planted or modified the landscape, but this spring she could wait no longer! She prepared a 50’ x 50’ garden (see above; Marcia’s garden in June 2011) and has already grown a wide variety of herbs, flowers, and vegetables (see below; September 2011). You can see the joy in Marcia’s face when she describes the beautiful land and its Wassaic silt loam soil!

Student Profile: Allan Gandelman

Allan Gandelman is a student in Groundwell's New Farmer Training Program.

Interview by Devon Van Noble

Allan Gandelman in the greenhouse
at Main Street Farms.

Allan has had a lifelong passion for farming. "For the past 10 years I had my own gardens, fruit trees, and raised goats in New Paltz," he says. When he moved to the area and began working as a middle/high school social studies teacher at Cortland Alternatives School, Allan found himself deeply interested in school food. "Being aware of school food issues in the Cortland County School District inspired me to be able to provide healthy food for kids year round, food that didn't depend on international sources."

Now Allan is an urban farmer and entrepreneur in the rural town of Homer, NY. His enterprise, Main Street Farms, sells organic produce and vegetable transplants.  He hopes to tackle the issue of healthy school food by distributing his locally grown produce to area schools through his nonprofit, Schoolyard Gardens.