In Minnesota in the late ’90’s, I had the chance to get to know a group of farmers who had decided to make a big management change on their operations. They went from confinement-style dairies with row crops and hayfields, to grazing operations. Instead of spending their day on their tractors, growing and hauling in feed to the herd in the barn, they were now walking their pastures and moving fence twice a day, to give their animals access to fresh grass. To a person, they spoke of the improvement to their quality of life, for themselves as well as their cows. And another thing happened as their feet traversed their pastures each day; they had time to observe each seasonal change as it happened, through up close encounters. And they all became birders!
With their farms back in a system that mimics Minnesota’s eco-history of tall grass prairie and roaming bison herds, native wildlife returned to habitat that once more welcomed them. Bobolinks and meadowlarks nested on fields that had been plowed for generations, but were now back in healthy grassland. And the farmers learned to set aside areas from grazing and hay making until after the grassland nesters had finished raising their young.
When I moved to Penns Valley in 2001, I’d sketched out a vision of a landscape and its community in my head that I wasn’t quite sure existed in the real world. I’m a country person at heart, and had worked farm jobs around the country, while accumulating a saddle bag full of opinions about food, environmental protection, farms and farm policy, human nutrition, and local economies. I loved Penns Valley from the first visit. Farmland, fencerows, creeks and woodland patterned the Valley, while the mountain forests looked like they might house black bears, bobcats, and pileated woodpeckers. It seemed like a place where my love for farming and home-grown foods could exist in harmony with clear-flowing creeks and abundant wildlife.
Penns Valley holds many gifts, as anyone who spends time here will soon find. One of the earliest to please my farmer-soul was the presence of family-owned farms that were already growing healthy food for local eaters. Local communities thrive when businesses and their customers live in the same place. Dollars circulate locally, support goes in both directions, and business owners are community members, with a stake in seeing their community thrive. Many of the Amish farms in our area are diverse operations, flexible enough to weather the ever changing market place and economic environment.
So many experienced growers in one place seemed like an opportunity to expand the already rich local food options. With help and advice from many community members, a group of farmers and I started a loose marketing network we call GroundWork Farms CSA and Buying Club. The reasoning was that the Penns Creek Watershed’s food growing potential abounds, and why not work to connect family farmers with local eaters throughout the area, to everyone’s benefit? Our goal is to provide as much food locally as we can find, and to make it as convenient as possible for our customers to avail themselves.
And while we’re at it, we decided that the local fare we provide should be raised in a manner that protects our shared natural resources of soil, air, and water, and should be raised on farms friendly to wildlife. Animal products should be raised humanely, using practices that allow for the natural behaviors of each species. And by stewarding soil health and focussing on natural diets for our livestock, we can strive for food that’s nutritionally dense as well, bringing our community of eaters into the circle that includes healthy soil, water, farm animals, wildlife, and humans.
It was impossible that I wouldn’t encounter the Penns Valley Conservation Association almost immediately upon moving to this area. I’ve been a member and volunteer for 17 years now, and have watched PVCA grow and flourish during that time. I appreciate PVCA’s effort to reach out to the Valley’s farmers, offering solutions that benefit their operations, while improving water quality and wildlife habitat. It’s an organization that understands the value of agriculture to this community, and wants to see family farms thrive. And it shares the vision that I first encountered back in Minnesota, of farms as part of an ecosystem, providing a livelihood for its human residents alongside high quality habitat for wildlife. Because of relationships forged with farmers throughout the watershed, we have seen trees planted, streams fenced from cattle, stream banks restored, and fish and bird habitats improved. And that’s the kind of harvest that benefits all of us.
