2009 Newsletter W
I N T E R
2 0 0 9
A Farm Family Reinvents Its Business
Nutrient Dense Farming: The Next Frontier
By Tracy Frisch
Adapted by Tracy Frisch, with permission, from an article by Dan Kittredge
momentous day, which he and his wife Joanne had long been planning for. It would take some time to adjust to not having to rise before dawn to milk and not having a biweekly milk check to depend on. But Dan, who had milked cows all his life -- since age 12 – and had been selling organic milk since 1999, was not giving up on agriculture.
ing the soil of minerals. If we do not replenish the minerals removed -- up to a level where everything that we want in our bodies is in our crops -- we are not doing the best job of crop production. That's where Nutrient Dense farming comes in.
When Dan Tilley sold his herd of Holsteins in early 2008, it was a Every time we harvest crops off a field, we are strategically min-
Today Tilldale Farm in the hamlet of Hoosick near the Vermont border produces organic heritage breed pork and grass-fed beef, sold from the farm and at farmers markets. Confident that his meat is healthy, Dan, a modest man, says in his low-key way, "I'm hoping it's something that can do people a lot of good." Dan's wife Joanne was the catalyst for the new enterprise. She had suggested that turning 55 would be time for Dan to try a less physically demanding type of farming. Together they explored many options. They learned to make cheese and considered other animals. Finally "we decided to do what we knew," said Heritage Breed Devons Joanne. To prepare to fill the growing demand for organic meats, he had been acquiring heritage breed animals, including two dozen Red Devon cross cattle from Wisconsin and a purebred from Rhode Island, as well as Tamsworth and Berkshire hogs. Dan is very excited about Devons. They do well on grass and even the cross-breeds have tender meat. Raised exclusively on grass and balage, their meat contains healthy fats -- CLAs and omega 3s. The heritage pigs have more flavor and less fat than the pink ones he once raised. On over 200 acres of certified organic ground, owned and rented, Dan pastures his animals and grows all their feed. He puts up round bales of hay and balage, the fermented grass with a sweet aroma preserved in plastic wrap that his cattle love, plus up to 40 acres of shell corn and 20 acres of soybeans, some sold as organic feed. It takes Dan much longer to raise a pig than it takes conventional farms (8 to 12 months vs. 6), because he limits their grain intake to 5 pounds daily, feeding "a lot of hay" instead. Except for the little ones, his pigs live outside year round, moved from paddock to paddock periodically. Dan believes that, with its lower expenses, the income potential from his organic meat business could exceed organic dairy. But for now, Dan and Joanne are developing their marketing skills and customer base while Dan increases his cattle herd. [P-3]
Nutrient Dense farming aims to create a highly functioning soil ecosystem in which the crops that are harvested have a measurably larger quantity of a broad spectrum of different minerals, vitamins, phyto-nutrients, and antioxidants than ordinary crops. These nutrient components are also in healthy ratios with each other. Second generation organic farmer Dan Kittredge has made it his mission to help lots of Northeast farmers succeed at producing Nutrient Dense food. He created and directs the Real Food Campaign, and in 2010 he will be leading workshop series on the subject in five states in the region, including a year-long course sponsored by RFFP. The intriguing promise of Nutrient Dense farming goes beyond nutrition. Fruits and vegetables grown with these principles have more complex and intense flavor, and a longer shelf life. These crops have a higher yield and are more resistant to plant diseases and insect pests. If his predictions come true, this system will soon emerge as the next big advancement in ecological agriculture – and the favorite of health-conscious consumers as well. He says consumers are beginning to understand that they can discern the quality of the produce by its flavor and by measuring its brix with a refractometer. While nutritionists refer to certain fruits and vegetables as nutrient dense, Kittredge points out that the levels of different nutrients in blueberries from one blueberry patch can vary tremendously from those grown in another field. Soil conditions largely determine the quality of a harvest [P-2] RFFP is offering a year long workshop series which will take the farmer/gardener through an entire growing season, from ordering inputs, seedlings, planting, cultivation, harvest and field/plot preparation for the 2010 growing season, with step by step guidance to insure optimal success. Register: www.farmandfood.org or info@farmandfood.org RFFP Members: $250 series of six / $45 single session Non-Members: $270 series of six / $50 single session Dates: Jan 10, Mar 7, May 8, Jul 10, Sep 11 & Nov 7
2
RFFP Newsletter
NUTRIENT DENSE (continued from page 1)
Mission: The Regional Farm & Food Project is a member-supported, farmer-focused, nonprofit, serving the greater Hudson-Mohawk Valley food shed of NYS. Founded in 1996 to promote sustainable agriculture and local food systems, we do grass roots organizing, farmer to farmer trainings, consumer re-skilling workshops, and public issues education. Our reward is restoring the balance between farms and factories, local and global, and people and profits.
(within the genetic potential of the plant species and variety), and these are conditions that a farmer or gardener can readily address.
Editor: Tracy Frisch, RFFP founder tracy@fastermac.net Editorial Board: Gianni Ortiz, Executive Director Louise Maher-Johnson, Chair Paul Van Amburgh, Board Member RFFP Board: Gianni Ortiz Executive Director Legislative and Fundraising Committees gianni@farmandfood.org Louise Maher-Johnson Chair, Permaculture Committee louise@farmandfood.org David Delozier Secretary, Publisher: Eco Local Guide Nate Darrow Saratoga Apple Farm, Nutrient Density Dana Salazar Attorney, Mentoring Michelle Smith Educator, Regional Food Security Paul Van Amburgh Dharma Lea Farm, Nutrient Density RFFP Board of Advisors Kelly Crine Therapist Victoria Dougherty Culinary Arts Teacher Nora Edison Strongtree Organic Coffee Louise Frazier Nutritional Consultant Tracy Frisch Writer, Founder RFFP Tim Holmes Historian, Consultant Skotty Kellogg Radical Urban Sustainability Chris Kemnah Otter Hook Farm Lael Locke Green Pastures Fund Jim Manning Ferris Farm Bill Parker Horton Hill Farm Ethan Roland Permaculture Teacher, Author Jennifer Van Amburgh Consultant
Some organic proponents would like to believe that organically grown foods are automatically more nutritious, but this is not so. While a number of studies show higher levels of vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants, and other nutrients in organic crops, others have inconclusive results. Dan says the reason is simple. Plants evolved in a symbiotic relationship to soil life, and they can only achieve their full genetic potential when the soil microbial community is feeding that plant what is wants, when it wants it. Soil bacteria and fungi act as a sort of external digestive system for plants, breaking down minerals and converting chemical compounds into a form that is readily assimilated by plants. Feeding this soil life then is the first principle of Nutrient Dense farming. In human and cattle nutrition, we understand the importance of establishing “healthy” biology in the gut to facilitate health. For our crops to thrive and produce the best nutrition for us, it's critical to do the same in the soil. We can shift the makeup of the soil life community by manipulating factors like the relative amounts of minerals, organic matter, air, and moisture. Kittredge stresses that "weeds" prefer different soil life communities than crop plants do. It follows that implementing Nutrient Dense farming principles in the soil will reduce weed pressure. In addition to increasing organic matter through cover cropping, and adding composts and manure, Nutrient Dense farming amends the soil with minerals. The goal is to enrich the soil with optimal mineral levels and ratios for crop plants and their symbiotic soil microbes. If these minerals are absent or in short supply, farmers will have quite a struggle to raise high quality crops. To enhance the availability of recommended rock minerals to soil microbes – to nourish them and thereby the crops, growers coat them with humates, powdered fish, kelp, sugar or molasses, and biological inoculants.
A conventional soil test might assume that a crop can be brought to harvest through a solution of 12 or 16 minerals. But our bodies require as many as 84 different minerals, most in extremely small amounts, for essential processes like DNA replication, hormone management, glandular function, and enzyme activity. A lack of these critical micronutrients has been implicated in many of our chronic and often preventable diseases. Nutrient Dense farmers use handheld tools to monitor the health of their soil and crops in the field. Taking periodic measurements of soil and plant sap conductivity, brix, and other parameters alerts growers of deficiencies in real time. Before they become a problem, growers can intervene with a nutrient drench or foliar spray. According to the theory of Nutrient Dense farming, plant diseases and insects attack only when the crop plant's function becomes limited (though stressed plants don't necessarily look malnourished). Conventional agriculture rejects this idea as sacrilegious. For instance, some insects can only digest simple sugars and free amino acids (rather than complex carbohydrates and proteins). The presence of these compounds in plant sap is symptomatic of mineral deficiencies. Likewise, fungal hyphae can readily penetrate weak cell walls to infect a plant with disease, while a wellnourished plant is able to defend itself by maintaining strong cell walls. We have been cropping, tilling, and generally disturbing and depleting cultivated soils for a very long time, sometimes even centuries. Through Nutrient Dense farming we have a means of returning the soil eco-system to a high level of vitality and functionality so we can count on a harvest of the truly quality crops. Editor’s Note After a break of several years, the RFFP newsletter is back! This introductory issue provides a taste of what's to come. Future quarterly issues will have more pages and much more content to help us assemble more building blocks for a just, sustainable, local food system. Watch for regular departments -- a profile of an innovative farmer, a feature on a model project or solution, an analysis of a current controversy (i.e. food safety, GMOs, the dairy crisis), tips and resources for both farmers and consumers, editor's picks of books, films, websites, etc. – and lots of good ideas. We welcome your suggestions.
3
Editor’s Pick The End of Overeating: Taking control of the insatiable American appetite. David A. Kessler, MD. 320 pp., Rodale. 2009 In this must-read, instant New York Times bestseller, the FDA commissioner under Presidents H.W. Bush and Clinton (who took on the tobacco industry) illuminates a central cause of the obesity epidemic. After exposing how food corporations have deliberately engineered their products to provoke impulsive behavior and addiction, he builds a scientific case against the belief that a lack of willpower or character flaw causes people to overeat. Kessler draws from the fields of human and animal physiology and psychology to explain why designing modern processed foods to be hyper palatable -- like adult baby food -- and irresistible – with lots of sugar, fat, and salt, and complex flavors and textures – is good for the bottom line. The goal is to drive desire so we can't stop eating. The result is foods that bear little resemblance to what exists in nature. Dieting alone won't work, according to Kessler, who applied the principles he recommends to deal with his own overeating problem. While each food rehab program will be different, part of his answer is mindfulness. Figure out what stimuli (foods and situations) trigger you to lose control and eat automatically. Then train yourself to actively avoid and resist them. "Change the channel," he counsels. "Once you begin to debate, 'Should I or shouldn't I?' you've lost the battle." Everyone who eats will learn much of value from this fascinating book.
It takes longer to raise pastured pigs because Dan limits their grain intake, but heritage pigs have more flavor and less fat than the pink ones he once raised.
TILLDALE (continued from page 1)
This year they had 30 or 40 pigs butchered but only had 15 or 18 beef ready to sell, about a third of the eventual goal. "I've always said if you stray too much from nature, you get burned," says Dan, summing up his deep-seated commitment to the organic philosophy. He believes that frequent use of antibiotics hurts the immune system, and that pesticides don't do soil any good. His path away from chemical agriculture began when his father-in-law, also a dairy farmer, had a chance meeting with a Canadian dairy farmer who sold natural mineral fertilizers. By the mid 90s, Dan had stopped using herbicides to control weeds and was cultivating his corn instead. He also became one of the only farmers in the area to rotational graze his cows, moving his milk herd to new pasture twice a day. Living outside all the time, with a clean bed every day, his cows had few health problems. "For cows, there's nothing in this world better than to graze," he said. When he felt capable of treating sick cows with alternatives like homeopathy, vitamins, and herbs, he went organic. For those that were extremely ill, he found an intravenous injection of vitamin C, followed by another of hydrogen peroxide an hour later, to be effective. Joanne, who, Dan says, "has always been a natural thinker," works almost full-time as a nutritionist. She also takes the lead on meat sales and manages the processing and inventory. Besides attending farmers markets (which Dan does too, sometimes with his wife), she also started a new market with 12 vendors in Hoosick.
At a recent farmland protection meeting, Joanne, who's the feisty one, encouraged local farmers to try something different, so they don't have to accept the abysmal milk price they're given. She remembers saying, 'Don't let the government keep you down. Get a processing plant or something. It would be a lot of work, but you'd have something for your kids.' The Tilleys don't have anyone in the wings to someday take over their farm and they see very few young people interested in making such a commitment. Their three daughters have careers in education and health as a Montessori teacher, a nutritionist who got her M.S. at a naturopathic school in Seattle, and an occupational therapist. Dan "raised" various "boys," who came to Tilldale Farm to work as young teenagers, and, as grown men decades later, several continue to help sometimes on the farm, but no one wants to become a farmer. Reflecting on the life he has always led, Dan says, "Farming is a different world. Money-wise, you make more on the outside." And as a dairyman, "you're not connected with a lot of people," for you're working all the time. "I very seldom had eight hours of sleep in my whole life," he re- Dan Tilley, along with his wife calls. Even with a full-time hired Joanne, have transitioned to direct marketing. man, his 8 or 9 hours of daily chores running a 50-cow dairy, "let alone field work and fixing things," added up to 12 to 14 hours of labor a day. Today as a meat producer, he gets to sleep more and has less stress. Meaningful work keeps Dan going. "I like to do something constructive every day. I feel better about myself. I think everybody does." Tilldale Farm (www.tilldalefarm.com) sells meat by the cut and as a 30 lb. share of assorted cuts. Contact the Tilleys at 518/686-7779 or tilldalefarm@gmail.com.
4 RFFP Mushroomology Workshop Students seal drilled holes with melted beeswax in fresh, hardwood logs after they have been inoculated with shitake mushroom plugs. Skotty Kellogg, author of Toolbox for Sustainable City Living, and Gianni Ortiz, RFFP Director, prepare pasteurized straw that will be the growing medium for indoor oyster mushroom cultivation.
Winter Farmers’ Markets One place you can shop for local food outside the growing season is a winter farmers market. More and more summer farmers markets are now moving inside when it gets cold so they can continue to offer produce, meats, dairy, and other foods fresh from vendors' farms. We'd like to hear about any markets we missed. And if none yet exist in your area, maybe it's time to help start one! *Ballston Spa, first Saturday only, 9 AM-noon, Cornell Cooperative Extension auditorium, 50 W. High St., Nov.-May, www.ballston.org Cambridge, Saturday, 10 AM-1 PM, Lovejoy Building in the Cambridge Freight Yard, Nov. 15-Dec. 20 Delmar, Saturday, 9 AM-1 PM, Delmar Presbyterian Church, 585 Delaware Ave., Nov. 7- Dec. 19, www.delmarmarket.org Gansevoort, Saturday, twice monthly, Gansevoort Town Hall, contact Linda Gifford at 518-792-0198 *Glens Falls, Saturday, 9 AM-noon, Christ Church United, 54 Bay St., Nov. 22-April, www.glensfallsfarmersmarket.com *Salem, Saturday, 10 AM-1 PM, Courthouse Community Center, www.salemcourthouse.org *Saratoga Springs, Saturday, 9 AM-1 PM, Division St. Elementary School (Take Division St. about .75 mi. from Borders Books), Nov-April, www.saratogafarmersmarket.org *Schenectady, Thursday, 9 AM-1 PM, ground floor of City Hall, Nov.-March 4 *Schenectady, Sunday, 10 AM-2 PM, inside Proctors, State St., free parking in garage,, Nov.-April, www.schenectadygreenmarket.org *Troy, Saturday, 9 AM-1 PM, Uncle Sam Atrium, Broadway at 3rd & 4th Sts., Nov.-April, www.troymarket.org
* = runs all winter