Look who the keynote speaker is for Oregon small farmer’s conference.

[near horse]

Keynote: 500 Acres of Food
Kristin and Mark Kimball run a full-diet, free-choice, year-round, draft horse powered CSA from their northern New York Essex Farm. Kristin will discuss how their unique farm model has evolved over eight seasons, the advantages and disadvantages of scaling up, and the importance of hanging on to a clear vision in the face of rapid change. Her book, The Dirty Life, chronicles their farm’s chaotic startup year. Kristin Kimball, Essex Farm and author of The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food & Love.

[blue80]

I got back two days ago from 10 days working on their place. Long story, but I’m not impressed.

Kevin

[Kevin Cunningham]

We are planning on going to the conference this year. Kristen Kimball’s book has been very inspirational for both Melanie and I, when we read it it sounded a lot like our own experience. Our model could be very similar to theirs, but we have separate vegetable, and grain CSAs, plus meat products and some value added goods. I am very intrigued by the idea of combining them into one whole diet CSA. I am also very curious as to what was not very impressive about their farm.

[blue80]

Maybe I’m assumptive, but the promotion “Kristen and Mark Kimball run a full diet, free choice, year round, draft animal powered csa from their New York Essex farm” sets the bar extremely high. It indicates a successful operation.

Maybe I am defensive, but when I read this on the internet months ago, I immediately felt like I was doing something wrong, because we’ve been working so hard to farm and are not successful, other than gaining knowledge the hard way…..

When Essex advertised for a draft horse person to lead the farm into becoming fossil fuel free in the next several years, and Mark said on the phone nobody had shown interest in the position, I flew out there to see if I could contribute.

I wish Mark and Kristen the best, and have offered to help them in any way neccessary. I do have 4 kids and a mortgage, so decisions to pull stakes and move long term can not be easily made. I have, however, offered to help for a season and take some of the burden of growth of the farm, and help them reach Marks goals.

Of the 500 acres, 400 acres are rented, unimproved pasture. Feeder pigs are being fed on pasture now, in winter. The cattle herd consists of calves of every age. About 1 acre of fall plowing was completed before winter; there are a couple hundred loads of manure to spread before spring breakup; onions, potatoes, squash consists of the full winter diet for vegetables and fruits unless other has been canned by the csa membership; a stiff storm and buildings on the farm will fall down; Tractor PTO’s with no guards on them. And Mark is gallavanting around the country giving speeches. So no its not perfect, but the young farmers are working hard their butts of to keep things going, and even make some great changes.

The point of this is not in any way to hurt the farm. The only reason I stick my neck out and risk friendship with Mark and Kristin is to encourage those at these cross country speaking engagements to get real and solve some problems. It is my hope and recommendation that those who attend make sure you make the most of the time you have together and get some roundtable
full diet vs. specialty csa
year round vs. seasonal
pounds of produce vs. quality of produce
private financing vs. government programs
apprenticeship vs. internship vs. paid positions

discussions going. There are a lot of different ways to live and grow, and do business. I in no way want to run someone elses business. I just want to help a few people who have goals, to achieve them.

I talked at length with Mark about who was promoting the farm as labelled above Mark indicated that the media is inflating what the farm really is. Mark has stated he rates his farm at a .5 out of 10. I think its at least a 2.5….. And the fun thing is Mark wants ideas, and he really is great at, and I think enjoys, falling back and punting.
I think we have to be very wary that the media is looking to hype up sustainable, green farms making heroes out of some who are just regular families tired struggling and yearning for something better.

Some interesting studies out there of how ranches started grass co-ops based on media hype of other grass co-ops. After huge investments of individual ranches and then failures of these co-ops, a common deduction was made that better research, planning and financial coordination should have been instituted before taking the medias hype that small ranchers united could compete with the megalopolys of the beef industry….

I believe Mark and Kristen know I wish them the best, I just want others to know and be reminded their is no silver bullet here. Good food, good water, clean air are building blocks to good community. I was sure encouraged by the liberal hippy locals in NY and the availability of nice farm ground with absence of GMO crops. It is going to be fantastic watching Essex and other farms nearby in the future. Maybe I’ll move there yet….

[near horse]

WOW! I just recognized their names from the book that Donn Hewes had mentioned. But I think you raise a good point about over-hyping things and right now, it’s green and sustainable stuff that “sells”, tired and struggling, not so much. It is imperative that folks get a real idea of what’s involved not just the rosy stuff. Sort of like looking at land when it’s at its worst not at its best. If it still suits you on a windy subzero day in January, then IT MIGHT BE worth a go. Thanks for your input.

[Kevin Cunningham]

Thank you for clarifying your positions and I think you make some real important points. I must say that any type of media can make something look like it is not. Heck even the pictures of our farm that go onto our website seem to misrepresent the reality of a working farm. I never post pictures of half completed projects or the ever present junk pile on the website.

I remember the first year I planted some grain on leased land in our area. I had goals of running a grain csa and had even aquired a small combine and had used it once the year prior. Well, the local newspaper got a hold of it and all the sudden I was celebrity. No one had planted any grain in our maritime climate for many, many years. In fact it must have been in the reaper binder days since there were literaly no combines in our county untill a couple of years ago. And in some ways it make sense, this is not an easy place to grow grain. So even before I made my first real harvest I was the local expert on grain production and I was being contacted by every baker, brewer, and resturaunt in our area wanting to have local grain. They even published my personal cell phone number in the paper. At 8 am on the day the paper came out I had seven messages on my phone of people who wanted into the grain csa. I was very grateful for the free advertising and I was able to fill up my csa that first year, but I had many failures and my grain csa that first year consisted on oats, and barley. Even I got tired of eating oats and barley. We still have some shareholders who have been with us since that first year, but it certainly wasn’t the picture that the media had portrayed.

This will be our fifth season of the grain csa and our last distribution had wheat flour, rye flour, whole barley, cracked oats, cornmeal, and buckwheat flour. Not too shabby considering I am the only grain producer in the area and I only grow 10 acres a year.

I guess I point this out to say that I understand that media portrayals can be misleading of the reality that we may secretly or not so secretly be wanting. In some ways the media is what our collective subconcious wants but it may not be the reality. We will be going to see Kristen speak later this month in Oregon. I cannot pass up the oppurtunity to go to a farm conference that is not a million miles away and costs an arm and a leg. And I can assure you that that there will be a list of some really pressing questions to be asked. I don’t just want to congratulate a farmer for starting a farm I want to share some of the realities that we all share to make it on the farm.

[Tim Harrigan]

Kevin, I agree with you assessment of the media and that there is value in sharing experiences and challenges. Most media writers have no knowledge of the topics they are writing about and that is why you rarely see in-depth or insightful articles, and the closer you are to a topic or situation, the more horrified you are. The story is more important than the facts in most cases. I have seen many articles referring to work that I have done along with direct quotes of things I supposedly said, and in reality I had never spoken to the reporter, or anyone from that media source, and there is no way that I would have ever have said anything that I was quoted as saying. And as far as conference programs and related write-ups, pretty much the same thing. They write what they think will bring folks in, very rare that they run what they write past the speakers for a reality check. You are lucky if the title of your talk accurately reflects what you plan to speak about. So if you expect honesty in reporting you are ripe for disappointment. But don’t lay it all on the speakers.

[near horse]

Hi Kevin –

Grain CSA! I am impressed as that’s one thing I wanted to try (and we live in a dryland wheat/barley/peas area). What combine are you using and did you use your horses to pull the combine?

[Kevin Cunningham]

I am new to draft and I am training my first set of steers right now. I have never farmed with animals but I aspire to someday soon. I do have an Allis Chalmers All Crop 66B. The model I have is PTO driven but I know that AC made ones with a motor on board. I also think that most of the John Deere 12A combines, which are really similar to an All Crop have motors, these could easily be pulled with draft. They are not heavy machines, I can muscle mine around in the barn, they just need a slow steady pace.

I must say that the key to our success with a grain CSA is the community support we have in our area. I feel lucky to have such a willing base of customers that are ready to cook new foods, and pay a higher price for good food. Just for a reference most of our grain is sold for around $4.50/pound. Of course this is seed quality grain and I have paid higher prices for quality seed. Since we save all our own seed all of our grain is seed quality, which of course means more labor.

This hair brained idea of mine is still going after 5 years so I think it might actually work out. Still yet to be proven though.

[near horse]

I have a wrecked AC 60 – the All Crops are really the way to go for versatility.

Here’s where I got my interest peaked in a grain CSA. Great radio program too but sadly no longer produced.

http://www.cjly.net/deconstructingdinner/thelocalgrainrevolution.htm

[Kevin Cunningham]

Yes, I have heard of the group doing the grain CSA up there in BC. Through the site you posted I found another project that I had not heard about, http://www.islandgrains.com/. They seem to have just started a grain CSA on Vancouver island. Grain does seem to be a hot topic on the local food scene. So far not too many people have adopted a paleo diet and still eat grain on a daily basis. Unfortunaly most of us have to ressurect old AC’s and JD’s to do the harvest, and I know there is a place in Oregon that does “Horsepower Flour” I can get it at the Grange Coop in Central Point. I think the main thing we need to remember is to base the price of local grain on what it costs to produce. I can not compete with the big growers who get excited about 10 cents a pound. Even the bulk bin price at the natural foods store is not a good base for price. We keep track of the expenses and charge what it takes for us to make money on it. Like I said most of our grain is sold between 3-5 dollars a pound.

[Crabapple Farm]

I’ve known Mark for a long time (since we were kids), and have met and chatted with Kristen a few times up in Tunbridge. There is no question that Mark is his own brand of crazy, and Kristin must be too for marrying him. But it is a good sort of crazy. I worry, though, about folks taking Essex farm as a model – I think it comes through in Kristin’s book that the only way it works for them is because they are crazy. And it also comes through a bit that “works” is in the eye of the beholder.
That said, we do vegetables, beef, lamb, eggs, grain, dry beans, fruit, seeds, etc. etc. on our farm, and have recently been talking about what it would take to do milk legally (and the scary thing is that it has sounded like we’ve been serious in that thought). We must be some kind of crazy ourselves.
I definately know about the media spinning stories the way they want. I will say this, though – more well-respected publications often put in a lot more effort to get their stories straight. There was an article about the small-scale grain resurgence in the December issue of Smithsonian in which I was featured, and I was really impressed that the editor ran the bulk of the story by me first to get the facts straight. Of course, the author made up the main quote that he ascribed to me, but it was a good quote so I can’t complain too much, even if I never would have said such a thing. Similarly, a couple years ago I was mentioned in an article in the Chicago Tribune, and that article was well written and accurate. The local press has been much worse about misrepresentations, and I definately read articles about other people differently, having seen a couple written about myself, and so knowing just how far some reporters will go with fabricating their story.
Kevin – you mention there not being any combines in the area, so people must not have grown grain recently at all. I don’t know the history on that coast, but here in New England, folks stuck to the reaper binders up through WWII. With good reason – several old books I have mention the then-current conventional wisdom that combines work well in the drier climate out west, but binders are better in a moister climate. If you’re coastal, folks may not have used combines there because they felt the binders were better for the climate, even though everyone on the other side of the mountains used combines.
The reason binders are better in a moist climate is that you can reap the grain sooner (soft dough stage) and let it after ripen in shocks or in the barn, protecting it somewhat from rain as it is doing the final ripening. With the combine, it needs to stay dry as it ripens. Around here, the folks getting into grain recently are all using combines and using dryers – lots of propane and electricity.
I got a 66 Allcrop this fall, that I haven’t had a chance to go over yet. I’m hoping to get it running before harvest time. But I’ve still got my eyes looking for a decent binder – if I find one, I’d like to use that, and then use the all-crop as a stationary thresher for the most part.
-Tevis

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