Farm Indiana

july 2014 | Section a

B8 Inside this section: A3 A5 A6 A8 A10 A12 A14

Indiana Grown Initiative Benefits of Berries Hoosier Hops Birds of Prey Aquaponics Nay-ture’s Hilltop Farm Bread & Roses Nursery

B1 Russell Sheep Co. B4 Sterling Formulations B6 Grant Options B7 Urban Farmer B8 Engleking’s Country Beef Shop B10 Students and Food B12 Organic Labels B13 Eat Local

ABOVE: Cows graze at Engleking’s Country Beef Shop. RIGHT, TOP: Strawberries can be found at Nay-ture’s Hilltop Farm. RIGHT, BOTTOM: Sheep at Russell Sheep Co. Photos by Josh Marshall.

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Farm Indiana // july 2014

>> Editor’s Note

The Sweet Stuff

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very morning. Every evening. And sometimes, admittedly, in the late afternoon. As well as around lunch time, too, I throw on my Muck boots and head outside for a few minutes with our dogs. I grab their attention by telling them it’s time we go on a “walk-about.” These words they understand, and each, our 15-year-old Lab, Ellie, a little slower than 5-yearold, Adelle, runs to the front door to wait for me to meet her there. We love our walks, each for different reasons.

The girls sniff their ways across the acres. Sometimes, Ellie, who is a little hard of hearing, wanders too far, and I have to call her back, repeatedly clapping, stomping on the ground, dancing around and waving my arms in the air to get her attention. (I appreciate the lack of neighbors close enough to see this daily spectacle.) Adelle, inevitably, sniffs out a spot she likes and rolls her way through it, finding her way, also inevitably, into an unplanned bath to wash the stink off later in the evening.

For me, our morning … and afternoon … and evening … and sometimes lunchtime … walks give me a chance to check on what’s growing. I admit I may be a little obsessivecompulsive. I am aware not much is going to change from one hour to the next. But I like to have a look anyway.

This season we’ve planted (in no particular order) sweet corn, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, potatoes, banana peppers, sweet peppers, hot peppers, tomatoes, sugar snap peas, snow peas, fava beans, bush beans, pole beans, zucchini, acorn squash, yellow squash, cabbages, pumpkins, onions, carrots, cucumbers, lettuce, spinach, beets, melon, peanuts, herbs of all varieties, sweet potatoes, sweet potatoes and, yes, more sweet potatoes.

(We like our sweet potatoes.)

For our two hives of bees, we now have rows and rows of sunflowers about to bloom, as well as clover spreading its way through the open pasture. There are canna lilies, wildflowers, grape vines, and a lemon tree and a pomegranate tree getting just a little bigger with each new day. Then there are the approximately 180 Norway spruce seedlings we planted, which now outline our property and are slowly creeping their ways toward the heavens.

So you might say there’s a lot to check on out there.

I think (key word: think) we’re done planting for now, save for a couple of more rounds of lettuce and spinach, and some garlic in the fall. My knees are significantly scraped, from crawling around in the dirt every weekend, and the tips of my ears were sunburned a couple weeks ago from too many hours in the unforgiving sun. I have successfully plucked at least one tick from my hair, and I have admittedly spent hours thinking there was a phantom tick still crawling on me somewhere. Summer is officially here.

These walks represent some of the most gratifying moments of my days. They’re filled with hope, with wonder and with excitement when I stumble upon something growing just a little bit faster than I expected. I look forward to reaping the harvests of what our hard work has sown. As I wander, I imagine the acorn squash we’ll soon cut in half and bake, with a little butter and brown sugar on top for good measure. I can taste the sugar snap peas I will pluck and eat straight from their vines. And I look forward to the roasted sweet potatoes, the mashed sweet potatoes and the many sweet potato pies I will soon make.

These cinnamon-spiced and honey-sweetened pleasures are what dreams are made of for this Indiana girl. But, for now, these walks — sometimes with my husband along and always with our girls — are plenty sweet as is.

A Home News Enterprises Publication A monthly publication of Home News Enterprises, Farm Indiana offers the local news and views of Indiana’s farming world, including features about local families and their farms, agriculture businesses, equipment and technological advances, educational outreach programs and more. Farm Indiana promotes and celebrates Indiana’s rich history and tradition in farming; serves as a conduit of information among growers, producers, farmers, retailers, farming organizations and local food consumers; educates readers about the nutritional, social and financial importance of local food support and consumption; and highlights Indiana local foods and agritourism.

PUBLISHER | Chuck Wells EDITOR | Sherri Lynn Dugger CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Cissy Bowman, Cheryl Carter Jones, Jessica Ervin, David Hoppe, Paige Langenderfer, Shawndra Miller, Jim Poyser, Julie Cope Saetre, Jon Shoulders, Clint Smith, Ryan Trares, Jeff Tryon, Jennifer Zanto COPY EDITOR | Katharine Smith SENIOR GRAPHIC ARTIST | Amanda Waltz ADVERTISING DESIGN Emma Ault, Hollie Brown, Dondra Brown, Tonya Cassidy, Julie Daiker, Ben Hill, Phillip Manning, Josh Meyer, Desiree Poteete, Tina Ray, Kelsey Ruddell, Robert Wilson

PHOTOGRAPHER | Josh Marshall

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Farm Indiana // july 2014

Indiana State Department of Agriculture prepares to revamp its Indiana Grown Initiative Story by ryan trares

ith summer in full swing, the bounty of Indiana produce is on display. Roadside farm stands are flooded with ears of sweet corn, bins of ripened tomatoes and other fresh produce. Pork, beef and chicken producers lug coolers filled with meat to area farmers markets. Local restaurants are taking advantage of their proximity to some of the country’s best farm products and featuring Indiana vegetables, fruits and meat on their menus.

But Indiana officials want to ensure the Hoosier-made products that the state is wellknown for are visible year-round.

State agriculture officials are hoping to revamp and restyle the Indiana

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Grown Initiative brand. Within the next two to three months, a commission will be formed to oversee the marketing and promotion of food raised in the state. The hope is to make Indiana produce and meat more visible in the local marketplace and give shoppers a clear way to support their community farmers.

“People are becoming more and more concerned about where their food comes from,” said Laura Buck, agricultural advancement and promotion manager for the Indiana State Department of Agriculture.

“They want to help the food dollars they spend go back to their communities and their farmers, and this will help that.”

Indiana residents spend about $14.5 billion on food each year, according to a report on consumption prepared for the Indiana State Department of Health in 2012. About 90 percent of that total is spent on producers and manufacturers from out of state. Proponents of local agriculture want to find a way to corral some of those dollars for Indiana farmers.

That was the rationale behind House Bill 1039. The bill was signed into law in March, giving the state department of agriculture permission to

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Farm Indiana // july 2014

put together a commission dedicated to enhancing the Indiana Grown brand.

The 12-person group will work with agriculture officials to study the existing Indiana Grown program, as well as the ways that surrounding states promote their farmers.

“We want to take this program, look at its strengths and weaknesses, and see what we need to change to help Hoosier farmers,” Buck said.

The Indiana Grown program has been in existence since 2012. The idea is to unite farmers, processors, wholesalers, retailers and restaurants with the Indiana State Department of Agriculture to promote local products.

Producers could pay $100 to join the program and renew their membership for an additional $50 each year. Members could then use the Indiana Grown label with their own promotional material. “Pretty much, if you have something that comes out of the ground in Indiana, like if you grow and sell tomatoes at the farmers market, you can be part of the program,” Buck said.

Jessica Smith has been part of the Indiana Grown project since it started. She and her husband, Erick, started This Old Farm, a food hub that brought area farmers together to provide locally raised food. Their farm works with approximately 20 other farms to bring produce to stores in Chicago, Indianapolis, Bloomington and beyond.

When the Indiana Grown label was announced two years ago, the Smiths wanted to support the effort. “It’s something I believe in,” she said. “I believe in specialty crop production and diversified agriculture.

If a state initiative is there, I thought we needed to support it.”

But thus far, the results have been underwhelming. Only 17 producers throughout the state are part of the program, and Jessica Smith hasn’t seen the bump that she had hoped. “It’s a fledgling program without a budget and without direction,” she said. “In the future, can there be benefits? Yes. Can the networking opportunities grow? Yes. That hasn’t been seen yet.”

States all over the nation have branding programs for their local producers, Buck said. Kentucky started the Kentucky Proud

program in 2004, and it currently boasts more than 3,000 members. Ohio introduced its OH So Fresh project in 2013, which helps supply specialty crops and produce to more than 100 independent grocery stores.

The commission will study how these programs have operated, been funded and worked in other states. “That’s one of the things we’re going to be looking at, to see how they did such a great job and how they’ve accomplished it,” Buck said.

From April through June, the department of agriculture accepted applications from farmers and other producers to be part of the commission. The final panel will be announced in late summer, Buck said.

So far, the response has been enthusiastic, with producers, manufacturers and retailers coming together to take part, Buck said.

“There’s not just a consumer demand for more locally grown products, but producers want something to get their small farm business or locally grown items sold,” she said.

The law authorizing the commission doesn’t go into effect until July 1, which has limited what organizers can do as far as planning to this point, Buck said. After that

Indiana Grown Initiative What: An effort by the Indiana State Department of Agriculture to promote and market locally produced food to the public.

Started: 2012

Current members: 17

|

Changes: A law passed in March creates a commission to examine and study the program, working with producers to make changes and help the program grow.

About the commission: The 12-member commission will help lead the effort to connect businesses that use or sell agricultural products, such as restaurants, grocers, wholesalers, processors and farmers markets, with Indiana-based producers of meat, fruits, vegetables, wine and forest products.

When will it start: The law goes into effect July 1. Work will start at that time.

Learn more: Visit in.gov/isda/2513.htm

date, Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann will choose the commission from the applications submitted. The members will start meeting right away and start recruiting more producers to join the effort.

Current Indiana Grown members will remain in the program, but organizers have

stopped accepting new applicants until the commission can help revamp it, Buck said.

At that point, people will be able to get involved with Indiana Grown again.

“We’re kind of in this netherworld right now. The program is coming, but we’re not there yet,” Buck said. *FI

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Farm Indiana // july 2014

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Nutrient Dense

Vitamins, minerals and antioxidants … these berries pack a powerful (and tasty) punch By cheryl carter jones I will never forget the first time I served fresh berries to my grandson. He looked at me defiantly and had no intention of those berries passing into his mouth. Grandma prevailed.

From that day forward, he was a culinary genius in the kitchen, creating new recipes weekly, all of which included fresh berries and a dollop of whip cream. The bowls became larger, and I always needed to ensure enough berries were available for seconds.

We all savor the delectable flavor of berries, but there is more to berries than just an incredibly scrumptious taste. We hear more these days about different varieties of berries and their nutritional values. Berries grown in other parts of the world are now starting to gain popularity in the United States. As I was developing the plans and intentions for my new farm, The Food Farm, I elected to focus on nutrition and flavor. After all, if the taste is not there, people are not going to eat something.

Aronia Berries

Aronia berries, also known as chokeberries, have high levels of phytonutrients (naturally derived plant compounds that may contribute to overall wellness), vitamins and antioxidants. These berries are low in fat and calories, but provide a good source of dietary fiber.

Blackberries

Blackberries are very common in our region and are known for their high vitamin C content. They are used in jams, jellies, pies and cobblers and are also quite enjoyable eaten fresh. Overall, blackberries are a good source of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and dietary fiber. The berries also have antiseptic properties.

Currants

Red currants are high in vitamin C, iron, potassium and fiber, while black currants are high in potassium, phosphorous, iron, vitamin B5 and are packed with vitamin C.

Honeyberries

Raspberries

I have a large section of my berry field in red raspberries, with black raspberries planted in another area.

(Black raspberries, red raspberries and blackberries need to be planted far apart.) Again, my preference is to eat them fresh, but they are also widely used to make jams, jellies, pies, ice cream and cobblers. Raspberries are said to have a high vitamin C and manganese content. They also are a good source of vitamins A, E, B-complex and K, as well as minerals and fiber.

Blueberries

Blueberries are used in jams, juice, pies, muffins and puree. Personally, I just like them as fresh fruit. They contain high levels of antioxidants and are a good source of vitamin C, vitamin K and manganese.

Goji Berries

Elderberries

Containing wonderful antioxidant properties, elderberries are used in juice, jams, cakes, muffins and syrups. Elderberries are said to contain vitamins A, B, C and amino acids.

Honeyberries remind me of elongated blueberries in appearance. They have high vitamin and mineral content and are said to boost the immune system.

My first source for determining nutritional value of any food is always the United States Department of Agriculture. In particular, to gain a more in-depth knowledge of the nutritional value of a certain berry, I recommend visiting reedir.arsnet.usda.gov/codesearch webapp/(eg4l4s45hwkzwdqanpbwzsjb)/codesearch.aspx to find more information. The USDA offers additional nutritional information through choosemyplate.gov. A snapshot chart may be found at health-alternatives.com/fruit-nutrition-chart.html, however, it does not cover nearly as many fruits and berries as the USDA does. And, for those also interested in storage and selection, you may also want to peruse fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org.

Here, I have provided a high level overview of the greatest nutritional value of a number of berries. If you search further, you will find each berry offers even more than I have outlined, at least in trace amounts.

Goji berries, also known as wolfberries, contain essential amino acids, are high in protein and are loaded with vitamin C, iron, trace minerals and dietary fiber.

Lingonberries

I have high hopes for my lingonberries — the plant closely resembles a cranberry. In European countries, they are juiced, and in some areas, lingonberry juice is as common as orange juice is in the States. Lingonberries are rich in vitamins A, B and C, potassium, calcium, magnesium and phosphorous.

Saskatoon Berries

Some people think Saskatoon berries are blueberries; they are very similar in appearance.

Saskatoon berries are native to Canada and are rich in vitamin C, manganese, magnesium, iron, calcium, potassium, copper and carotene.

I want to end my column with an important disclaimer: Berries obviously are an important part of our diet and overall health, serving as an excellent source of vitamins, antioxidants, minerals and fiber. Evidence suggests that they may assist in warding off certain diseases and aid in the recovery of some diseases or conditions. However, I caution you not to consider them a cure-all, nor a guarantee against any disease. I think of berries, vegetables and herbs as important aids to our overall well-being. They are not a preventive guarantee, but our bodies are certainly better prepared to fight disease if they are a regular part of our diet. *FI

Cranberries

Cranberries aren’t just pretty during the holidays. Long associated with urinary system health, cranberries are rich in phytonutrients and are high in vitamins E, K, C and manganese

Gooseberries

A relative of the currant, gooseberries are low in calories and are filled with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Gooseberries are a good source of dietary fiber and vitamin C. Green gooseberries are great for pies and jams, while the riper ones are best suited for eating fresh. Gooseberries can be kept in the refrigerator for as long as two weeks.

Mulberries

Mulberries, which boast a multitude of vitamins and minerals, can be used in jams, pies and jellies.

They also make a great natural dye — just try getting the stains off your hands.

Sea-buckthorn Berries

I do not look forward to harvesting my seaberries, as they have some nasty-looking thorns on them, but I am anxious to start eating them. They are grape-sized berries, orange in color and are native to the Himalayas. They are rich in antioxidants and vitamins. These berries are commonly consumed as a juice.

Strawberries

Yum … fresh strawberries. Besides being just plain delicious, strawberries are high in vitamin C, manganese and folic acid. Strawberries are well-suited for jams, jellies and preserves. They can be added to salads, ice cream, tarts, pies and, oh yes, milkshakes. And who doesn’t enjoy homemade strawberry shortcake?

Cheryl Carter Jones is an Indiana farmer and president of the Local Growers’ Guild, a cooperative of farmers, retailers and community members dedicated to strengthening the local food economy in southern Indiana through education, direct support and market connections. For more information on the guild, visit localgrowers.org.

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Farm Indiana // july 2014

Up

story By jennifer zanto photos by josh marshall

Matthew Crankshaw and Justin Kratoska have built an Indianapolis farm for beer lovers

A cable structure built atop repurposed telephone poles holds string that in turn supports the vines as they grow.

BELOW: Matthew Crankshaw, left, and Justin Kratoska.

Hoosier Hops Farm 3315 Wellington Ave., Indianapolis, (317) 223-4998

W

hen Matthew Crankshaw sought the advice of a career counselor in 2012, he was told that his talents would lead him to one of two paths: working as a farmer or as a minister. Though well-versed in the act of praying for both rain and sunshine, Crankshaw, who works as a service coordinator for OTP Industrial Solutions by day, now finds fulfillment in spending his Sundays working the earth and cultivating a different kind of spirit.

Looking for a change of pace professionally, Crankshaw and his longtime friend, Justin Kratoska, had spent many hours talking about the possibility of farming for a living. Taking a look at what was already

being produced and distributed around central Indiana, the two decided upon a niche in one highly sought after plant. “One day it just clicked,” recalls Crankshaw. “It was hops.”

The pair searched high and low before finally settling on a location to build their Hoosier Hops Farm. “Ideally, we wanted real farmland out in the country,” recalls Kratoska. “It just wasn’t in our budget.”

Finding that land in the city was much more affordable, an Internet search led Crankshaw to a 4.25-acre plot of abandoned dumping ground on the north end of a small neighborhood in Indianapolis. Situated right off Interstate 465 near 30th Street and Franklin Road, the site had become the

unfortunate landing spot for trash, old mattresses and a makeshift dirt racing track.

The property was abandoned and bankowned, but Kratoska and Crankshaw saw potential. They paid cash for the land. Now, all the two had to do was change everything about their investment.

In March 2013, Kratoska and Crankshaw set about clearing the lot. A daunting task at hand, the two sorted through junk until they had a good, solid acre where they could plant. With the lot clear, the time had come to build the structures to support the climbing hop plants. Repurposing old utility poles into mammoth trellises, Kratoska and Crankshaw used a climbing harness to string rolls of coconut fiber-based twine throughout the poles.

Finally, with rows of hops planted and an irrigation system in place, they waited for their little plants to start climbing. But the hops’ growth was much slower than anticipated.

Crankshaw took a look at the soil. “We were trying to grow them in clay, and it wasn’t working,” he explains. “There wasn’t enough nutrition in the soil.” Amending the soil by trucking in loads of fresh dirt and compost, the two found the new mixture to be ideal. Hoosier Hops Farm is now in its second year of growing and is on track for a good harvest this fall.

When choosing which varieties of hops to grow, Crankshaw and Kratoska followed

Hops are the flowers of the hop plant, a hardy, climbing perennial that vines.

Resembling small, green pine cones, the hops are harvested in late summer or fall, then dried and packaged. Hops are then sold to brewers, who choose their hops based on the flavor they impart when brewed into beer.

Eighty percent to 90 percent of hops grown in the U.S. are farmed commercially in the Pacific Northwest.

The rest are grown by small farms like Hoosier Hops Farm and happily snapped up by local brewers looking to keep their resources close to home.

Farm Indiana // july 2014

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RIGHT: Crankshaw during the installation of the cables. Submitted photo. BELOW: Early hop burs. BOTTOM, LEFT: A sign marks the location of a hops variety being grown. BOTTOM, RIGHT: The cable and string structure that supports the vines as they grow.

an adage that cuts to the chase and minces no words: ‘Give the people what they want.’

Selecting varieties mainly used in producing India Pale Ale (IPA), a popular style of beer that’s heavy on the hops, the pair hopes their harvests will appeal to a broad market of brewers. But with a bevy of test plots featuring varieties of hops that are a bit more unusual, the farm isn’t showing its full hand just yet. With the intent of being able to offer brewers something a little different, the owners of Hoosier Hops Farm aim to set their farm apart from other growers.

To grow their farm, Kratoska and Crankshaw enlisted help in the form of a grant from Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education. In order to receive the grant, the growers are conducting a study that focuses on the effect that plant maturity has on its yield. On larger-scale commercial farms, new hop plants are started from rhizomes, small, cut portions of the roots of a mature plant. The plants take three to four years to become mature and reach their full yield, an investment of time that large growers can make.

Kratoska and Crankshaw, however, planted fully rooted plants. Thirty percent to 40 percent more expensive than buying rhizomes, these plants have taken off quickly and are on schedule to produce a decent yield this year. “If we can get a head start with the fully rooted plants at a higher purchase price but a quicker payout … that’s what we’re studying,” Crankshaw says.

The research that the farmers are doing will make the journey a little smoother for other new growers. “There are half a dozen hop farms in Indiana, and we’re all within two to three years of starting,” says Crankshaw. “So nobody has generations of

knowledge to fall back on, whereas those who farm corn, soybeans … they have what’s been passed down to them from their grandfather’s father. Right now, it’s all about what will grow here in our soil.”

With the lion’s share of dirty work done and a hearty crop of hops climbing their way skyward, Kratoska and Crankshaw are ready to taste their success. “We’re just excited to taste a beer that has our product in it,” Crankshaw says. And with a seemingly green thumb and a solid set of potential buyers ready to purchase, Hoosier Hops Farm shouldn’t have a problem finding a swig of beer that contains its handiwork.

Pleased with the farm’s progress, Kratoska is optimistic about the venture. Laughing, he offers this final statement: “Hey, if it doesn’t work, we have a hop farm.” *FI

HOPS WEBINAR Farmers new to producing hops or considering getting started in it as the craft brewing industry continues to grow will learn about opportunities and risks through a Purdue Extension webinar on July 10.

The webinar, from 4 to 5 p.m.

EDT, will cover estimated hops production costs and returns,

by Rob Sirrine, community food systems educator. That webinar can be accessed at gomeet.itap. purdue.edu/hopsgrowercosts.

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Farm Indiana // july 2014

A red-tailed hawk.

Raptors can help prevent rodent damage to crops and equipment Story by Jeff Tryon

B

etween crop losses, infrastructure damage and the cost of preventive measures, rodent pests cost the agriculture industry millions of dollars each year. But natural predators like red-tailed hawks and barred owls help to keep rodent populations in check, consuming more than 25 times more rodents each year than a barn cat of the same size.

These raptors are worth thousands to individual farmers in reduced potential crop losses each year, according to Patty Reynolds of the Indiana Raptor Center.

“If you have two mice on January 1st, and they are left to breed unchecked, breeding and re-breeding, you’ll have 65,000 mice by the end of the year,” she says. “So for every two mice a red-tailed or a screech owl or a kestrel takes, they’re saving you the potential of 65,000 mice.”

Each mouse can do $25 worth of damage to a crop or a house in a year, she adds. A screech owl family can eat five to seven mice a day.

In open areas around farmsteads, hawks

and owls hunt in shifts, day and night. “If a kestrel and a screech owl have each hatched a capacity family on your property, they can save a farmer $350 a day,” Reynolds says. “Over a 100-day growing season, that’s $35,000.”

Reynolds and her partner, Laura Edmunds, are the founders and co-directors of the Indiana Raptor Center near Nashville, a facility that rehabilitates and releases into the wild raptors that have been injured by cars, buildings, electricity and shooting or trapping.

The state and federally licensed and permitted facility houses the largest collection of captive raptors in Indiana, usually between 24 and 27 birds. Reynolds and Edmunds present more than 120 education programs a year at schools, camps, parks and churches.

The volunteer, nonprofit center rescues injured birds from all over southern Indiana, from Greenwood to Louisville and from Terre Haute to Connersville. Of the birds that end up at the center, 70 percent have been hit by vehicles and another 15 percent have collided with man-made structures. About 10 percent

are caught in leg traps, electrocuted, poisoned or, increasingly, shot by guns.

“A few years ago, we had a 1,300 percent increase in the number of shot raptors over a year, mostly in Brown, Morgan, Green and Owen counties,” Reynolds says. “We’ve been involved in a couple of prosecutions.”

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act and state laws make it illegal to kill, capture, possess, harass or harm any bird of prey. “People shoot hawks because they might kill a chicken,” Reynolds says. “How much is a chicken worth, $5 or $6? Well, over the course of a summer, a family of red-tails can eat the equivalent of 500 rats, and it’s estimated each rat does $15 damage in a season.

“So, a family of red-tails, over the course of a summer, can eat enough rats to save you $6,500,” Reynolds says.

And, she said, that chicken might be an investment in future, full-time rodent control.

“Maybe that one chicken is … going to help that red-tail that maybe doesn’t hunt very well yet stay alive and get established, become a

"Over the course of a summer, a family of red-tails can eat the equivalent of 500 rats, and it’s estimated each rat does $15 damage in a season.”

—Patty Reynolds, Indiana Raptor Center

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Farm Indiana // july 2014

Laura Edmunds, vice president and education director for the Indiana Raptor Center, gives a presentation with a bald eagle, named Ben, who resides at the center. Bottom left: A red phase Eastern screech owl receives care.

Bottom right: A bald eagle is released by the center in Bloomington. Photos courtesy of Indiana Raptor Center.

better hunter,” she says. “And then he’s going to start taking care of your mouse problem.”

Reynolds and Edmunds encourage farmers to make raptors into valued allies by helping with habitat and avoiding using poisons. “The rodenticides are a big, big thing,” Reynolds says. “It gets into the food chain and ruins everything.”

Poisoned rodents typically seek water, and predators also seek prey around water. “The bird takes it home to his family, pulls the meat apart and the whole family dies,” she says.

Farmers can help encourage hawks and owls by preserving habitat and installing high perches in the middle of large fields to help hawks and owls hunt pests.

Farmers can place kestrel boxes on the side of a barn or on a pole, best if placed in shade. For screech owls, boxes should be “about two or three trees back off of the field in the tree line,” Edmunds says.

“If you have a farm, you will have red-tails come around,” she says. “You can put up a pole with a perch, pretty high, 20 feet or so.”

She has worked with REMC to place perches in the middle of fields too large for hawks to easily hunt across.

“Another thing is, people are so quick to cut down dead trees, and sometimes there’s more life in a dead tree than there is in a live one,” Edmunds says.

Reynolds also advises having open water on the property.

“One of the things farmers do to attract barn owls, and I imagine this applies to all owls, is they plant a fescue border,” Reynolds says. “Fescue seeds later than other grasses, so that provides something that helps attract the mice away from your crop as it matures; it’s an alternative food source. And those mice are feeding outside of the field, out on the edge, so they’re really easy to catch.” *FI

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Farm Indiana // july 2014

Pioneers

Green River Greenhouse grows year-round

(From left) Bottle caps collected from Brooks’ family and friends house a bacteria that converts nitrites to nitrates before returning the water to the tank. Michael Brooks Sr., left, with Michael Jr. Harvesting the baby fish from a tilapia so that they can be raised artificially.

story By david hoppe photos by josh marshall

he future doesn’t advertise. It starts on the margins, in places where the present isn’t paying attention.

The Green River Greenhouse is located just north of the town of Peru.

You follow a gravel road into a wide clearing surrounded by an old forest.

From the outside, the greenhouse doesn’t tell you much. It’s long and translucent, with an outdoor woodburning furnace at one end.

But when you step inside things

get interesting. That’s where you meet the two Michaels. Michael Brooks — father and son — manage Green River Greenhouse for Noble Gilbreath, a former crop farmer who hired them to turn what he thought could be a great idea into a reality.

Gilbreath believed that aquaponics, a combination of hydroponics, where produce is grown without soil, and aquaculture, or fish farming, could, in fact, prove to be agriculture’s future.

But Gilbreath was having trouble getting his project off the ground. As it happened, he regularly worked out at a gym with Michael Brooks Sr., a heavy equipment operator and concrete contractor who had also, among other things, worked for a time as a professional deep sea fisherman in Hawaii.

When Gilbreath asked if Brooks would consider taking over his project, Brooks jumped at the chance.

“Pouring concrete for a living was getting really hard on my back,” he says. “I was at that stage of my life where I was looking for something different.”

Brooks immediately began the process of mastering a double-edged learning curve: figuring out how to balance fish and indoor produce farming. “If I don’t know something, I find somebody that does,” he says. “I don’t

care who gets the cookie for the idea as long as it works.”

Brooks called on other tilapia farmers. He talked with professors at Purdue University and joined the Indiana Aquaculture Association. He spent a lot of time doing online research.

He also assembled a team, including his son, Michael Jr., a former Marine who served in Iraq, and T.J. Hopper. Michael Jr. traveled to Florida for a sixday aquaponics course offered by Pentair, a worldwide leader in the creation of aquatic ecosystems that promote long-term sustainability.

Aquaponics uses fish waste, instead of artificial or chemical nutrients, in a closed system for growing certified organic produce. The fish waste feeds the plants.

The plants’ roots serve as biofilters, cleaning the water and recirculating it back to the fish. The system conserves water and offers high yields without soil.

Aquaponic systems consist of five components: rearing tanks, where fish (or shrimp, say, or crayfish) live; a catchment to prevent any solid wastes from reaching the plants; a filter to convert ammonia into nitrates for nitrogen; hydroponic raceways, where the plants grow and receive water; and a sump to transfer water back to the rearing tanks.

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Two 200-by-80-foot greenhouses house the produce and fish farms.

RIGHT: Brooks prepares the hatchery for newly harvested eggs.

BELOW: Organic certified ripe tomatoes are ready for sale.

Although aquaponics may seem like the future, its principles are pre-Columbian. Aztec Indians grew crops like maize and squash on “chinampas,” manmade islands located in shallow wetlands adjacent to canals where fish were raised. The fish waste from the canals’ troughs was collected and used to fertilize the plants.

A contemporary aquaponics system, like the one at Green River Greenhouse, can use as little as 10 percent of the water needed for traditional farming.

“With a recirculating system, the only water loss we get is through evaporation, which is minimal for the food produced,” says Brooks Sr. The Green River Greenhouse recirculates approximately 70,000 gallons of water and aims to produce about 4,000 heads of lettuce a week.

And since the plants are grown in fish-infused water, they are free from fertilizers and pesticides. “So much of our farmland and soil has been depleted of nutrients. That’s why they have to add to it chemically,” explains Brooks Sr. Taking soil out of the equation also means the plants are free from dirt and grit and can be planted in high density, using as little as one-tenth the space required in traditional farming. This makes it possible to raise produce and seafood anywhere.

The Green River fish are fed a high-protein diet.

“We can tell you exactly what this farm-raised fish has been exposed to its entire life,” notes Brooks Jr.

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The goal is to raise produce, including lettuce, kale, peppers, cucumbers and broccoli, for general distribution and consumption. Meanwhile, the tilapia will be made available to other fish farmers for breeding purposes. “A general rule of thumb in aquaponics is they say the fish pay the bills, and the vegetables line your pockets,” says Brooks Jr. Father and son share an enthusiasm for the ways in which the Green River project encourages environmental sustainability and healthy eating. Brooks Sr. had been feeling drained and lethargic until he changed his eating habits. “I found that eating what I call clean food, or real food, my energy level increased and some of the ailments left me,” he says.

He sees Green River’s products as providing a healthy alternative to processed and nutritionally suspect foods. “When I was a kid in school, there might have been one overweight kid in class. Now there’s just one who isn’t.”

Brooks Jr. places his work with Green River Greenhouse within the context of a larger public demand: “You can see there’s a calling for organic and pure-raised,” he says. “You see it everywhere — on the Internet, Facebook.”

At present, the Brookses are in the process of investigating produce markets and distribution deals.

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supply and, thanks to aquaponics, are confident they can eventually deliver the goods.

“We’ve always been a real tight family and had real set values,” says Brooks Jr., looking at his dad.

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Farm Indiana // july 2014

Mary Lou Nay works in a strawberry field.

BELOW: James and Mary Lou Nay, with their son, Jacob.

A Experiential Learning Mary Lou Nay puts her background in education to work on the farm story By Jeff tryon photos by josh marshall

Nay-ture’s Hilltop Farm is located at 5883 Hamilton Creek Road in southern Brown County and is open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. May through October, or by appointment. For more information, visit sites.google.com/ site/nayshilltopfarm/home.

fter Mary Lou Nay retired from a career in education, she set out to satisfy a childhood dream of growing fruits and vegetables. But her lifelong love of teaching children never left her; it just followed her into the field.

She and her husband, James Nay, are just a few years along with their Nayture’s Hilltop Farm, a family-owned and operated fruit and vegetable farm in southern Brown County, where visitors can pick their own produce or purchase pre-picked items.

The farm also offers family-friendly activities like fishing, canoeing and hiking. In the fall, there’s pumpkin-picking, and Saturday night bonfires are a regular event, subject to weather.

But mainly, Nay-ture’s Hilltop Farm is about berries and kids.

“My husband and I both grew up on a farm years and years ago,” she says.

Mary Lou had always been into gardening, gradually filling up the 10 acres surrounding their home on Hamilton Creek Road with gardens, rooting out stubborn rocks and “mulching, mulching, mulching,” she says.

Then a farm with a couple of ponds on it came up for sale a few miles away, and the two retired educators decided to grow a gardening business, but one with a primary goal of giving their guests an opportunity for experiential learning.

“We love teaching,” she says. “So we said, ‘We’ll try this; this is something we’ve always enjoyed.”

They started out with blueberries, but soon learned the berries take five years to get established. So, in the meantime, they decided to generate a little income with strawberries, which only take a year to start producing fruit.

“We had people come out, and the joy was in the teaching of it,” she says. “It’s so cute when the little kids come out and pick their first strawberry.”

Before picking, children get a lesson from Mary Lou in how to properly pick the berries. “You have to taste the first one, and if it’s not as sweet as you want, you get to taste another one,” she explains.

Through their experiences at the farm, she hopes children will develop an attachment to and an understanding of gardens.

“We get into the idea of caring for the land and caring for the plants and the joy of eating them,” she says. “I call it experiential learning. The bottom line is, if you actually do it, you’ll remember it better. You feel it; you smell it; you taste it.”

She says many former students show up to give their children a berry-picking experience.

“Almost all people of our age have memories of picking berries as children,” she says. “Most people come and they want their child to pick summer strawberries. They pick a quart together, and then they say, ‘Do you have more already picked?’”

The Nays planted 18 varieties of pumpkins last year, which also brought a lot of folks out to the farm in the fall. “We had beautiful pumpkins,” she says. “It was gorgeous.”

Nay-ture’s Hilltop Farm also has raspberries, blackberries, persimmons and paw-paws, but the Nays are still waiting for those blueberries to fruit. “They produced a few last year, but we’re figuring out how to grow blueberries,” she says. “They don’t seem to be something that I quite have my green thumb with yet. But the birds love them.”

Likewise with the deer, rabbits, wild turkeys and a multitude of other woodland creatures likely to visit a Brown County garden. But Mary Lou is philosophical.

Farm Indiana // july 2014

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A child picks berries in the field.

Submitted Photo

“The kids enjoy seeing those, too,” she says.

With the help of their son, Jacob, the farm has become a family operation, and each member is trying different things to learn and grow. “We also have things like broccoli and potatoes,” she says. “In fact, I went through the seed catalog, and we have one of every single thing from okra to rutabaga; we grow everything.”

The couple also sold wood this past winter, which was very popular, she says. “This has been a good winter for that (wood). My husband baled hay last summer. We have sort of gotten into ‘you-name-it.’ We’re seeing if we can make a business out of it, and we’ll sort of go from there.”

They hope to develop the ability to reach more people with their produce and other products, including coming to the Columbus Farmers Market. Also envisioned: providing fresh produce to customers’ doors.

So how did she end up back at a farm after a long career in education? The seed may have been planted near the end of her career during her daily commute. “I remember driving home one day, and I saw this strawberry patch,” she says. “It wasn’t big, just a local thing, and the sign said, ‘U-Pick’ so, guess what? Even though I had my business suit on and heels, I just could not resist stopping to pick a few strawberries.”

“And I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, this is fun, fun, fun,’ she recalled. “Who else would have thought that except a crazy person like me?” *FI

“We had people come out, and the joy was in the teaching of it.

It’s so cute when the little kids come out and pick their first strawberry.”

—Mary Lou Nay

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Farm Indiana // july 2014

MORE than just PLANTS

Salem Willard sits inside the affectionately named “treehouse” at Bread & Roses Nursery in Bloomington.

Bloomington’s Jonas Carpenter and Salem Willard offer a different way of looking at the world story By clint smith

You’re never too old to play in the dirt. In fact, at Bread & Roses Nursery in Bloomington, playing in the dirt is not only encouraged, it’s a steadfast philosophy.

Rooted along a serene, three-acre tract in the heart of the Hoosier National Forest, Bread & Roses Nursery offers tomatoes, squash, asparagus and Jerusalem artichokes, perennial culinary and medicinal herbs (lemon balm, Echinacea, nettles and elderberry), strawberries, cranberries, grapes, hazelnuts and more, as well as landscaping, consultation, design, installation and maintenance services. The property lies in a woodland hollow (aka “holler”), where the nursery’s operators experiment with more than 400 species of plants to learn which work best in the southern Indiana climate.

Jonas Carpenter and Salem Willard, owners and landscape custodians at Bread & Roses, have toiled for the past three years — felling trees, terracing the wooded hillsides, plotting beds, constructing greenhouses and, of course, sowing numerous varieties of plants — to create a space wholly dedicated to the concept of permaculture.

Permaculture is a philosophy that involves working in tandem with nature and taking a more holistic approach to understanding the functionality of plants and animals and their existing habitats. It is an overarching way of thinking and living that promotes the ongoing ethical care, treatment and

photos by josh marshall

use of one’s natural resources. In simplest terms, the object is to live off the land, but to leave the land better off than it was before you found it.

On their company website, Willard and Carpenter explain the premise behind the business: “We call ourselves a permaculture nursery because we aim to provide more than just plants. We’re offering a different way of seeing and interacting with the world. … We grow and seek out species that will help the planet and humankind.”

“In permaculture,” says Carpenter, “the goal is to give back. It’s the philosophy behind our work and our lifestyle.”

A Use for It All It’s a temperate Saturday morning, the baby blue dome of sky is nearly cloudless, as Carpenter, 28, and Willard, 30, walk the grounds of Bread & Roses, giving a preparatory inspection of the plants, beds, mulched pathways and intricate terrain before guests begin arriving for an open house or, in this case, an open nursery. In addition to the plants that are sought because of their aesthetics and edibility, the proprietors intentionally plant other types of vegetation that can be repurposed; nothing goes to waste. Tree-trunk segments provide edging for raised plant beds, scattered wood chips from a nearby sawmill act as mulch.

Carpenter explains how the garden beds were designed to manage water runoff. “We’ve created these by digging up the paths, working on the contours of the earth,” he says. The staggered tracts act like soil-based sponges. “We hardly ever have to water out here.”

Willard pauses at one of the beds, plucks a thick-pedaled specimen, comfrey, from the ground and gently places it near one of the brightly blossoming plants. High in calcium, comfrey is utilized in abundance in organic farming, particularly as fertilizer.

Plants are often combined to become a “compost tea,” says Willard,

Farm Indiana // july 2014

which will be spread around the property to further feed the soil. “We don’t use chemicals of any kind, and we try to use as much as possible around here to make everything go as far as it can.”

Carpenter, a member of the Bloomington-based Local Growers Guild, continues his circuit through the gardens. “This was all just poplar, walnut and spicebush. Nothing was here,” he explains, gesturing toward the plant beds. “We cleared it out and used pigs to till the space.”

Several potbelly pigs are housed just off one of the trails, their occasional huffs and grunts, along with wandering ducks and roaming bands of chickens, providing a soundtrack for the nursery.

Sharing the Wealth Bread & Roses offers property consultation for those interested in maximizing their own permaculture potential. Carpenter has been called as far away as the East Coast and Canada to examine landscape habitats.

“We typically walk the property and spend a lot of time evaluating, a lot of time listening,” he says. “We research as much as we can about what existed there beforehand and assessing the geography.”

As Carpenter is called away to greet emerging nursery guests, Willard, on his way back from checking on the potbelly pigs, explains that the small family of swine have been surly this morning — the big pig in particular.

He laughs and suggests that if the pig doesn’t become a more accommodating neighbor to the other pigs, he might end up becoming food. And providing food is, indeed, a critical component to the permaculture ethos.

Carpenter and Willard have worked with a number of local chefs and restaurants, such as David Tallent of Restaurant Tallent and chef Bob Adkins of The Rail, by providing produce and herbs (basil, sage, thyme, oregano and chives) to them over the years. “We really work on a lot of greens for them (mainly mustard greens, collards, kale and Swiss chard),” he adds.

A small selection of Bread & Roses products, such as thyme, basil and oregano, and numerous perennial flowers like bee balm, French sorrel, comfrey, yarrow and horsetail, are also available at the Bloomingfoods west location in Bloomington.

“We love sharing our holler-grown food with the community,” says Carpenter. “We are also dedicated to empowering others to grow more foods themselves, as this is a more sustainable path forward.”

Carpenter returns to his discussion of permaculture and ticks a list off on his soil-stained fingers to explain its benefits: “It’s about health care, people care and fair share,” he says. At the end of the day, he believes, if your hands are dirty and your conscience is clean, you’re doing something right. *FI

Bread & Roses Nursery 9127 S. Roberts Road, Bloomington, breadandrosesnursery.com

A greenhouse built in the spring of 2013 houses produce that is sold to restaurants and at markets, and feeds Willard and Carpenter. TOP, LEFT: A basket of long radishes is ready for the Bloomington Farmers Market. TOP, RIGHT: Jonas Carpenter.

“Like” Farm Indiana on Facebook for updates, agriculture news, photos and more. www.facebook.com/FarmIndiana

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july 2014 | Section B

Jeremy Russell, left, with his parents, Diane and Paul, on their Delaware County farm.

Tending the Flock The Russell family takes sheep farming to the next level story By paige langenderfer

J

eremy Russell spent his childhood riding in tractors and chasing sheep. Now 23, he has turned his childhood passions into a lifelong career, farming cooperatively with his parents, Paul and Diane Russell, in Delaware County.

“Growing up, I always loved riding in the combine with Mom, or riding to the elevator with Dad,” he says. “I have always loved the farm and knew pretty early on that I wanted to come back home and farm.”

Diane, 59, says all three of her children loved growing up on a farm, but Jeremy is her only child who embraced it as a way of life.

“Jeremy always preferred being with us

photos by josh marshall

as we did farm work over playing like other kids,” she recalls. “Being around livestock people and listening to their conversations always intrigued him. All that time being his dad’s shadow as he was growing up seems to have prepared him quite well for the life of a farmer.”

Jeremy earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from Purdue University and has been farming full time with his parents since his May 2013 graduation.

“We are loving having Jeremy back as a fulltime farmer, working with us and also farming independently,” Diane says. “He has brought some new ideas to the grain operation, helped with implementing new technology, and it has always been his expertise with the sheep that has brought Russell Sheep Company its success.”

The Russells have always raised sheep, but as a competitive 4-H member, Jeremy had a passion to take the flock to the next level,

// See sheep on b2

Sixteen acres of barley grow at a nearby pasture and will be used for sheep feed.

B2

Farm Indiana // july 2014

sheep // cont. from B1 Diane says. He grew the flock from less than a dozen to today’s count of 200 ewes.

Jeremy then looked for venues to ensure profitability. Because of the better-than-average structural correctness of their flock, the Russells have had success selling their lambs as purebred breeding stock and 4-H club lambs, as well as selling lamb meat at farmers markets. They also recently started selling lamb meat to a handful of Indiana restaurants.

“We were introduced to potential restaurant clients at the annual Dig-IN event in Indianapolis that pairs local farm producers with chefs for a premier food tasting event,” Diane says. “This opportunity gave us our first contacts with chefs interested in preparing and serving our lamb products.”

Russell lamb is currently served at the Barn Brasserie in Muncie, the Corner Wine Bar in Broad Ripple and the Local Eatery and Pub in Westfield.

Showing their sheep at livestock exhibitions improves name recognition and is an opportunity to ensure that their breeding practices are producing the best of the best.

“It is always rewarding to see the cream of the crop (lamb crop, that is) competing in the show ring,” Diane says.

Their efforts were recognized in 2013 as one of their ewes was named the Grand Champion Slick Shorn Ewe at the North American International Livestock Exposition.

“I love the sheep operation for the challenge that comes with piecing together a breeding program with genetic selection. Making those decisions is like putting together a puzzle, and when something clicks it’s really rewarding.”

—Jeremy russell

“I love the sheep operation for the challenge that comes with piecing together a breeding program with genetic selection,” Jeremy says. “Making those decisions is like putting together a puzzle, and when something clicks it’s really rewarding.”

In addition to raising 200 ewes, Paul and Diane manage 1,000 crop acres, and Jeremy manages 700 crop acres.

“Grain farming is fun (who doesn’t like driving a tractor),” Jeremy says. “I enjoy all the management decisions that need to be made throughout the year, coming up with a plan and executing it is rewarding.”

Being “good stewards of the land” as they grow corn, soybeans, wheat, barley and alfalfa is a top priority, Jeremy says.

“We think it is important to try and take care of the land so it will be in better shape than when we found it,” he says. “We have no-tilled for a long time and are starting to work with cover crops

now in hopes we can reduce runoff, limit erosion and build organic matter in the soil.”

Diane says not all land owners are as thoughtful. “We have been saddened to see farm ground transitioning from a generation that owned and cared for it to the next generation that only wants to cash it out,” she says. “As a tenant, we treat the ground as a long-term investment, and it hurts when our years of toil and care are not valued by the next generation.”

She also is saddened by the misconceptions people have about farmers, farm products and food sources. Jeremy says he feels obligated to change people’s perceptions.

“We have done a poor job as an industry explaining what our production practices are and why we do them,” he says. “Farmers work hard to produce a consumer-safe product and take care of the environment. I don’t think that story gets told enough.” *FI

Jeremy stands with his father, Paul, among 16 acres of barley. RIGHT: Jeremy checks the barley’s growth.

BELOW: Soybeans grow surrounded by intentionally killed cereal rye and last year’s corn stalks that will help build organic matter and protect the soil from erosion.

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Farm Indiana // july 2014

B3

Diane Russell

Russell Sheep Co. Owners: Paul, Diane and Jeremy Russell Location: Eaton Livestock: 200 sheep Crops: Corn, soybeans, wheat, barley, alfalfa Acres: 1,700 Website: russellsheepcompany.com

Sheep head for shade and water after grazing in the rotational pasture.

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B4

Farm Indiana // july 2014

Rooted in the Soil

Sterling Formulations Offers Earth-Friendly Field Treatments story By Shawndra miller | photos by josh marshall

A

conversation with a local organic farmer started Sterling Formulations, a small Shelbyville-based business, in an unexpected direction — a move that helps Indiana’s small-scale and organic farmers.

Late in 2013 Bill and Becca Selkirk, partners with Vince Plowman in Sterling Formulations, drove to Carthage in search of locally grown grain and beans. With a daughter serving as chef at Bluebeard restaurant in Indianapolis, they hoped to find products to augment the restaurant’s menu.

They found that and more. In fact, a whole new customer base opened up when they connected with Anna Welch.

She and her partners in Fields of Agape, located in Rush and Henry counties, grow organic grains, beans and seeds.

When she learned that the company had just branched out from industrial to agricultural products, she jumped at the chance to learn more.

The recession had slowed Sterling Formulations’ work on the metal manufacturing side — industrial solvents, cleaners, coatings and the like — so the partners had begun working on a new set of products to serve lawn care companies and industrial agriculture. They’d developed a line of earth-friendly fertilizers and amendments and lined up a distributor to market them to large-scale farmers growing corn, beans and potatoes conventionally.

They never anticipated selling directly to organic farmers, but Welch explained why organic farmers needed help, too. She and her husband, Keith, had tried various organic products on their fields, such as fish emulsion and molasses, common additives in organic growing. But they ended up with 8-foothigh foxtail and other weeds clogging the plots and hurting their yields. “You can’t generally apply this stuff when you’re in organic farming,” Welch says.

“You just shoot your own foot off.”

A one-size-fits-all application is harmful because, according to biochemist Bill Selkirk, micronutrients in the soil affect the growth of weeds in very specific ways. Consulting with a team that includes an Amish farmer and an agronomist, Selkirk is responsible for Sterling Formulations’ recommendations once soil samples are analyzed. He prescribes particular combinations of additives based on the balance of micronutrients already present in each field.

Most of the ingredients in Sterling Formulations’ products are certified by OMRI, the body that determines acceptability for organic applications. So even though the products are in use on both conventional and transitional/organic fields, they’re soil-friendly. Many of the formulations are on their way to official organic certification.

Though it may seem unusual to blend organic and conventional markets in this way, it makes perfect sense to the

For more information, visit sterlingformulations.com.

TOP LEFT: Dried kelp will be fermented and harvested as natural liquid fertilizer. TOP RIGHT: Beakers and funnels sit in the Sterling Formulations laboratory ready for use in analyzing products.

OPPOSITE PAGE, LEFT: Vince Plowman. OPPOSITE PAGE, RIGHT: A surface layer forms on the top of fermenting kelp.

three principals. Their concern is the health of the soil, which is the foundation of healthy plants, regardless of farming philosophy.

As Plowman puts it: “We look at the soil, the microbes, all the activity in the soil, because we believe at the end of the day that that grows healthier plants.

We’re big believers that we shouldn’t be dumping mounds of nitrogen on the fields. That’s detrimental to the soil.”

That approach resonated with Welch and other organic and transitional farmers in the area, and word quickly spread. “All of a sudden there were six growers (customers), just by word of mouth,” Becca Selkirk recalls. By this spring that number had doubled.

Plowman, who takes the lead on marketing and sales matters for the company, says it’s remarkable how quickly the organic market fell into place. Standing next to an enormous drum full of fermenting kelp in the Shelbyville production facility, he recalls, “We did not go out and solicit that business. Of all the things you go out and bust your hump for, that business just came to us.

“It was really just because there’s such high demand for some kind of infrastructure and help in this state.

People are having to buy (fertilizer) from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania — and do you think they get any kind of support? No.” Though he’s president of the company, Plowman has his hands as deep in production as anyone else. In fact, he’s been christened “Captain Kelp” because he can so often be found ascending a ladder to work with these vats of kelp.

The sea vegetable contains naturally occurring plant growth hormones, offering a huge boost to crops, so it’s an ingredient in many of the company’s formulations.

But that’s just one piece of the complex picture that emerges when Sterling Formulations assesses a farm’s crop needs. In Fields of Agape’s case, one field, infested with Canada thistle, was determined to have low levels of manganese. “Weeds grow because the soil is out of balance,” says Plowman. They also take up nutrients meant for the crops, leading to poor yields. Canada thistle thrives on manganese-poor soil, so addressing that imbalance is a key strategy to its elimination.

Bill Selkirk proposed a three-year corrective plan to return the soil to balance, which Anna and Keith Welch are implementing under Sterling Formulations’ guidance.

“It can take two to three years to get the soil back right,” Plowman says. “But we will see over the years that weed counts go down, and crop production goes up.”

As two staffers fill jugs with a concentrated foliar spray mix, he explains how organic growers have suffered for lack of scientific, individualized support.

The typical advice for organic farm-

ers involves annual applications of composted chicken manure. Plowman says that knowledge base leaves out a crucial bit of information. “What we’re finding is, they’re putting so much nitrogen down in the form of chicken poop that they’re killing the microbes in the soil,” he explains. “The whole concept of organic farming is for the soil to become sustainable through microbes. In fact they’ve been doing the same damage to the soil that conventional farmers were, and unfortunately they didn’t have chemicals to get good growth out of their crops.”

But Sterling Formulations’ specialty is addressing the imbalances in various soils and supporting the health and vigor of the vegetables, grains or beans grown there.

It’s common knowledge that different crops have different nutrient needs and that beans tend to put back what corn has depleted. But the larger picture of nutrient interplay is much more complex.

“Everybody knows about NPK, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, the value of those,” Plowman says. “The ability of those three biggies to be taken up by the plant is largely due to the boron levels, calcium levels and so on.

These micronutrients people don’t often pay attention to are very important.”

Anna Welch believes Sterling Formulations’ work will help mitigate the risks around raising food organically.

“This is a breakthrough. … The customization of field treatment is a huge step forward in organic farming in Indiana.”

John Pavey is another small-scale grower trying Sterling Formulations’ additives for the first time this year. He grows vegetables for Green Bean Delivery and other outlets on 23 acres in Rush County. In his third year of growing on former pasture land, he knew he would need to augment his soil because of nutrient depletion from harvesting crops.

Each of his seven plots requires a different formulation based on its makeup and the demands of the plants being grown there. He plans to use a kelpbased foliar feed spray on his beans and potatoes as well as soil amendments.

Though it’s too early in the growing season to measure the impact of Sterling Formulations’ involvement, Pavey has every confidence in the company’s approach.

“There’s no doubt I think we’re going to see good results,” he says. “When you test the soil and it shows needs, and you take care of those needs, Mother Nature is pretty kind to reward you.”

Pavey started with land that was in

B5

Farm Indiana // july 2014

Why are soil microbes important?

“pretty good shape” since it had been pasture for years. But on the conventional side, where soil tends to be quite depleted, using Sterling Formulations’ soil-friendly products is a departure from business-as-usual. The impact can be dramatic.

Recommendations usually include a product called Buncha Bugs to replace microbes lost to chemical applications, along with a kelp-based product called Start Rite.

Farmers using these products in test plots alongside conventionally treated fields reported seed corn germination within three days, Plowman says. “Customers are getting germination a week earlier than what they were getting in conventional plots,” he says, “and in the farming world, that’s an eon. Especially in a short spring like we’re having.”

The level of microbial life in the soil is directly linked to crop production. About 50 billion microbes live in one tablespoon of soil, according to North Carolina State University’s Cooperative Extension Service. These soil creatures include bacteria and fungi that aid plants’ growth, production and resistance to disease.

Microbes are responsible for converting the nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and minerals in the soil into a form plants can use. These microorganisms digest field stubble into organic matter, and the higher the organic matter, the more nutrients are available to plants.

Bill Selkirk notes that if a soil contains 3 percent organic matter, that offers plants about 90 pounds of nitrogen per acre. At 7 percent organic matter, 210 pounds of nitrogen are available per acre. (Amish farm fields typically contain 7 percent organic matter, while conventionally farmed fields have very little.)

Corn requires 200 to 250 pounds of nitrogen per acre. So in a field containing 7 percent organic matter, little to no additional nitrogen would be needed, even for one of the most nitrogen-hungry crops.

That’s why Selkirk advocates adding microbes to the soil and switching from petrochemical fertilizers to soil-friendly formulations — to bring back the natural processes that support plant growth.

Bill Selkirk notes that an agronomist colleague recently gave him an idea of just how damaging such a wet, chilly and prolonged spring can be for plants, especially if it’s followed by a blazing hot summer. “It’s like your baby is just home from the hospital and you’ve sent it to senior (graduation), and it can’t handle it.”

So anything that can stabilize seeds more quickly in cold soil gives farmers a leg up. In effect, Sterling Formulations wraps an extra sweater around the infant, feeds it a fortified breakfast and stands up to bully weeds — all to give it a fighting chance on its way to graduation day.

For Anna Welch’s part, she’s excited not only about remediating her own fields, but about the possibilities Sterling Formulations represents for area farmers of all stripes.

For those interested in transitioning to organic methods, Bill Selkirk and the rest of the team can help them through the preparation. Often the switch from petrochemical-based farming to organic leads to a dramatic decline in yields in the first year. That’s because the plants’ life support is suddenly withdrawn before the soil is rebuilt.

But with earth-friendly products helping to first prepare the way, farmers can avoid a large drop in production.

So Anna Welch has continued to spread the word. “We have a new field partner who’s a conventional farmer and wants to transition his land (to organic),” she says. With such early adopters testing out Sterling Formulations’ products, she hopes to see many more make the move to earth-friendly farming methods in the coming years. *FI

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B6

Farm Indiana // july 2014

Grants and loans available to grow businesses and communities Compiled by Cissy Bowman

A series on government, private and alternative funding available to Indiana farmers.

Look for more information on available grant money in next month’s Farm Indiana.

It seemed to take forever for the new Farm Bill to get passed this time around. Despite the frustration accompanying it, many good funding programs have been continued and new ones created, many of which are intended to help increase and improve the quality of and access to local markets.

Because of the delay and because of the necessity to keep funds in their appropriate fiscal year, we are just now seeing program announcements.

Many have really tight deadlines for application, but don’t despair. Most programs will continue to be available at least through 2015, and that gives you plenty of time to learn more about application requirements and work on your proposals. This article will cover grants, loans and grant/loan combinations.

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) Regional Conservation Partnership Program Due Date for Pre-Proposals: July 14.

NRCS will select applicants to submit final proposals, which will be due Sept. 26.

This program is a new conservation initiative, intended to give private businesses, local communities and other non-governmental partners a way to invest in “clean water start-up operations.”

Eligible partners include private companies, universities, nonprofit organizations, local and tribal governments and others who join with agricultural and conservation organizations and producers to invest money, manpower and materials to their proposed projects. Eligible applicants also include states, water and wastewater utilities. First-year funds are estimated to be nearly $400 million.

For more information, visit nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/ site/national/home.

Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) Grants and Guaranteed Loans Due Date for Application: Grants and grant/guaranteed loan combinations are due July 7.

Applications for guaranteed loans only are due July 31.

REAP provides financial assistance to agricultural producers and rural small businesses to purchase, install and construct renewable energy systems; make energy-efficiency improvements to non-residential buildings and facilities; use renewable technologies that reduce energy consumption; and participate in energy audits and get assistance for renewable energy development assistance. The program is intended to create opportunities for economic development for rural businesses by providing support for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, via loan guarantees and grants.

Award Amounts: $12.38 million in grant funding and $57.8 million in guaranteed loan funding available for 2014. No less than 20 percent of grant funding may be used for grants of $20,000 or less.

Grant funds are limited to 25 percent of the project cost. Grant limitations include a maximum of $250,000 for Energy Efficiency projects and $500,000 for Renewable Energy Systems. Guaranteed loans are limited to $25 million. Grant and loan guarantee funds are limited to 75 percent of the project cost.

For more information, visit rurdev.usda.gov/ BCP_ReapResEei.html.

Local Foods, Local Places: Federal Assistance for Sustainable Communities Due Date for Application: July 15 Local Foods, Local Places is a new program supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) and the Delta Regional Authority (DRA) to help create more livable places by promoting local foods. Together, these agencies are investing $650,000 in the Local Foods, Local Places program.

The program intends to increase economic opportunities for local farmers and businesses, support entrepreneurship and improve access to healthy local food — especially among disadvantaged groups who have limited access to fresh foods. Its focus also includes the revitalization of downtowns, main street districts and traditional neighborhoods by supporting farmers markets, food hubs, community gardens, community kitchens and other kinds of local food enterprises, and by providing people with affordable choices for accessing those amenities, such as walking, biking or public transit.

Special consideration will be given to communities that are in the early stages of developing or restoring local food enterprises and creating economically vibrant communities.

Applicants must be communities anywhere in the United States.

How to Apply: Submit a letter of interest of no more than two pages that describes the community’s needs and goals related to local food and the revitalization of downtown and traditional neighborhoods. The letter should indicate a primary point of contact and other members of the community or organizations that would participate in the technical assistance process. Letters of interest may be submitted by any community representative, including representatives of local government and nongovernmental organizations.

For award amounts, more information and to submit letters of interest, email Ed Fendley at lflp@epa.gov. Local Foods, Local Places and the name of the community should be included in the subject line of the email.

Intermediary Relending Program (IRP) Each year, Congress provides program funding as called for in the federal budget. Fiscal year funding levels will be made available as soon as possible after the beginning of each fiscal year.

The purpose of the IRP program is to alleviate poverty and increase economic activity and employment in rural communities.

Under the IRP program, loans are provided to local organizations (intermediaries) for the establishment of revolving loan funds.

These revolving loan funds are used to assist with financing business and economic development activity to create or retain jobs in disadvantaged and remote communities. Intermediaries are encouraged to work in concert with state and regional strategies, and in partnership with other public and private organizations that can provide complimentary resources.

Examples of eligible projects are: The acquisition, construction, conversion, enlargement or repair of a business or business facility, particularly when jobs will be created or retained.

• The purchase or development of land (easements, rights of way, buildings, facilities, leases, materials).

• The purchase of equipment, leasehold improvements, machinery, supplies.

• Start-up costs and working capital.

• Pollution control and abatement.

• Transportation services.

• Feasibility studies.

• Hotels, motels, B&Bs, convention centers.

Award Amounts: An intermediary may borrow up to $2 million under its first financing and up to $1 million at a time thereafter. Total aggregate debt is capped at $15 million. For 2014, $18.9 million in IRP loans is available.

Applicants must be private, nonprofit corporations, public agencies, Native American groups and cooperatives with at least 51 percent rural membership aimed at increasing income for producer members or purchasing power for consumer members.

The following entities are generally eligible to apply for loans from intermediary lenders provided they owe no delinquent debt to the federal government: Individual citizens or individuals who have been legally admitted to the U.S. Those located in a rural area defined as an area with a population of 25,000 or less.

An entity that is able to incur debt, give security and repay the loan.

A corporation, partnership, LLC, individual, nonprofit corporation, public body.

Intermediary Relending Program (IRP) Lender Training Due Date for Application: For regular IRP funding, June 30. For set-aside funding, June 19. Applications received after June 30 may be considered for funding in 2014, subject to availability or for funds that will become available in the first quarter of 2015, depending on program requirement changes.

RMAP provides loans and grants to Microenterprise Development Organizations (MDOs) to help very small entrepreneurs and businesses with 10 or fewer employees access microloans to start or develop businesses. The funds are used to provide training and technical assistance to eligible small businesses or to establish revolving loan funds.

Award Amount: $5,000 to $50,000 Applicants must be entities interested in making IRP funds available in their communities to support sustainable economic development and help create or retain jobs in disadvantaged and remote communities.

For more information, visit rurdev.usda.gov/BCP_irp.html and rurdev.usda.gov/BCP_irp.html.

For more information, visit rurdev.usda.gov/IN-Home. *FI

The founder and program director of Hoosier Organic Marketing Education, Cissy Bowman has been growing food organically since 1973 and on her current farm, Center Valley Organic Farm, since 1983. For more information on Hoosier Organic Marketing Education, email cvof@earthlink.net or call (317) 539-2753.

Farm Indiana // july 2014

A Good Seed

From humble beginnings, Urban Farmer blossoms in Westfield story By Jennifer Zanto | photos by josh marshall

Buckwheat

Birdhouse Gourd

Black Diamond Watermelon California Blackeye Peas

Detroit Dark Red Beet

Silver Queen Corn

Super Sugar Peas

New Zealand Spinach

Provider Bean

I

t started with a box of leftovers and a stack of magazines. Fashioning improvised seed packets with some glue and old pages of a Sports Illustrated magazine, Noah Herron was only trying to file away his extra seeds for the next year’s garden.

When he realized just how many seeds he had, he decided to sell a few online.

It was 2008, and Urban Farmer Seeds & Plants was born. “I threw some packets up on there (online), about 10 varieties,” he recalls. “I just did it out of my bedroom. Friends kind of laughed at me. They said there’s no money to be made there, with these $2 packets. The first year, I got maybe 100 orders.”

Herron soon turned selling seeds into a part-time job. Maintaining his website and researching new products, he saw a direct link between the quality of his site and an increase in sales. He spent the first three years “just trying to build the site and increase traffic and orders,” he says.

“Finally … I was able to Urban Farmer hire a local company to 4105 W. Indiana 32, build a whole new site, basically start from scratch.

Westfield, It took about six months (317) 600-2807 to build, but it increased ufseeds.com traffic a lot.”

Adding new varieties of seeds to keep the selection fresh, he found customers returning each year to try something new. Urban Farmer now carries more than 1,500 varieties of seeds on the website.

With more customer orders to contend with, the weight of growing a business began to take on more literal meaning when Urban Farmer went from or-

dering 5-pound sacks of seeds to stocking 50-pound bags in its Westfield warehouse. This shift in growth has helped Urban Farmer keep its prices competitive, offering customers an increasingly better value.

“We’re at the point where we’re growing really fast,” Herron says. “This year we’ll do about 20,000 orders, just shipping to customers in the United States and Canada.”

Herron credits Urban Farmer’s well-groomed website with driving new customers to order. “It’s about having good content on your site,” he explains.

“When people are looking up how to grow tomatoes or fertilize tomatoes, they come to your website, get good information and realize who you are. Then the next time they go to purchase, they come back to purchase from you.”

With ongoing requests from customers and a desire to start new projects, Herron opened a garden center on State Road 32 earlier this year. With a generous supply of vegetables, herbs, flowers and even fruit trees, the center offers primarily heirloom and organic selections of herbs and vegetables, including 30 kinds of tomatoes and 20 varieties of peppers.

Bags of mulch and soil surround rows of seedlings, all lined up and ready to plant.

With Urban Farmer’s customer base growing as diverse as its plants, it was a natural choice to expand the seed store’s offerings. Realizing the difficulty that some of his customers were experiencing trying to find suitable food for their two-legged friends, Herron started

Noah Herron stands among a selection of non-GMO seeds.

carrying GMO-free and organic chicken feed, as well as birdhouses, birdseed and beekeeping supplies.

He also is excited to announce that Urban Farmer now stocks an extensive selection of home brewing supplies, including hops and yeast. Composting systems, soils, fertilizers and rain barrels all line the walls of this well-stocked gem, and the store carries a line of books and natural plant disease and pest remedies, as well as informational boards full of local gardening resources.

Herron has found an interest in hydroponic gardening, a practice that uses water and nutrients — but no soil — to grow vegetables, and the center now stocks a collection of both hydroponic and aquaponic products, including an extensive line of nutrients and fertilizers.

This year, Herron is growing about 40 different varieties of his own seeds. “We’ll harvest the seed in the summer and fall, package it up and send it out to our customers next year,” he says. “That’s the direction we want to go: growing our own seeds.”

You can browse Urban Farmer’s huge line of seeds at ufseeds.com, but if you’re looking to buy some of the company’s trademark magazine seed packets, you’d better snatch them up while you can.

Those packages are getting a new look. Made from up to 35 percent recycled paper, the new packets are more eco-friendly than their glossy counterparts.

Herron found that shipping a pallet of magazines to a different state to have them die-stamped and then having them shipped back proved to be a bit heavy on the fossil fuels. In addition to a diminishing carbon footprint, the new packets also offer a lot more seed-specific information that satisfies both inquiring minds and state regulations alike.

It may be the end of an era for Urban Farmer, but the beginning of a sleek new look for the company’s seeds. And for Herron, those savings amount to a whole lot more than a pile of beans. *FI

Clockwise from top left: Colorful bottles of aquaponics fertilizer and nutrients line the shelf. A Garden Tower from the Garden Tower Project grows fresh produce, and is available to purchase along with many educational books and hanging flowers.

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Farm Indiana // july 2014

Robert and Darlene Engleking have no bones to pick with the central Indiana beef business story By jon shoulders

photos by josh marshall

Robert and Darlene Engleking

“If you want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.”

Robert and Darlene Engleking, owners of Engleking's Country Beef Shop in eastern Hancock County, have operated their farm for more than three decades by adhering to this frank assertion, regularly uttered by Robert’s father, Roland Engleking, around the family farm many years ago.

In 1955, after working as a sharecropper in Knightstown for eight years, Roland purchased the Charlottesville property on which Robert and Darlene live and work, and with Robert by his side learning the trade, Roland steadily grew a milking herd of Holstein cattle. Dairy would become the Englekings’ specialty until 1996, when the family decided to sell most of their milk cows and begin raising a small number of steers to be sold on the open market to beef processors. “It was a downsizing thing,” Robert says. “The beef was a sideline for a few years when we were still doing the dairy cows, and we realized it might be a little convenient to make the change. But we enjoyed the dairy side. We did dairy cow showings at 4-H with the kids, which was a big part of our life.”

Robert and Darlene would arrive at another crossroads in their farming career in 2006, and Roland’s frequently repeated pearl of wisdom from earlier years became particularly useful. Their children, Andrea, 31, and Ryan, 27, had both moved out, and the couple realized it was time to streamline their operation further. “We were doing as many

as four farmers markets a week and keeping 100 chickens along with the cows, and it was getting to be too much for us,” Robert recalls. “To be able to manage the farm, schedule, harvest and do the farmers markets, something had to give.

So we decided to change our situation to make it easier on ourselves and focus on selling beef to consumers.”

The result is the couple’s unassuming shop located next to their home, a quarter mile east of the Engleking cow pastures. Ground beef, roasts, bacon, sausage and a variety of steak cuts are among the types of meat available, and brown eggs are also regularly for sale courtesy of 30 Golden Comet chickens kept on a small plot of land near the shop.

The changes have allowed the Englekings to be away from the farm for longer stretches of time, an advantage they use as frequently as possible to visit Andrea, a graduate of the University of Southern Indiana who works as a nanny in Arkansas, and Ryan, a Purdue University grad who studied agricultural systems management and currently works for John Deere in Iowa. “They both want to move back to this area, so it would be nice if they followed in our footsteps here at the farm, but I don’t know if they will,” Robert says. “But I will say the farm is one of the best ways to raise a family there is. We were always together, working or otherwise, and the kids were mature for their age because we were more of an influence on them than, say, a day care or something.”

Although Robert, 63, and Darlene, 55, stay busy running the farm and serving customers at the shop without any other employees, the atmosphere on the property stays quiet and easygoing — precisely what they had in mind when they decided to narrow their focus toward beef sales eight years ago. Robert spends his days leisurely traveling the stretch of road back and forth between his cattle pas-

Engleking’s Country Beef Shop 9842 Road 350N, Charlottesville, (765) 785-2842, englekingscountrybeefshop.com Specialties: Steaks, roasts, ground beef, pork and brown eggs Store hours: Tuesdays from 3 to 7 p.m.; Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Also by appointment.

Where else to buy: Cumberland Farmers Market, every Saturday from May through October, 8 a.m. to noon, 11501 E. Washington St., Indianapolis. Irvington Farmers Market, the second Sunday each month from June through October, noon to 3 p.m., Ellenberger Park, 5301 E. St. Clair St., Indianapolis.

Farm Indiana // july 2014

“The farm is one of the best ways to raise a family there is.

We were always together, working or otherwise, and the kids were mature for their age because we were more of an influence on them than, say, a day care or something.”

—robert engleking

tures, where he typically keeps around 80 Holstein steers, and the beef shop, next to which sits a spacious garage in which he frequently tends to ongoing equipment repairs.

Several Berkshire swine are also kept near the cow pastures, and the Holsteins are usually grown to between 12 and 14 months before processing.

“It doesn’t vary too much, except the jobs you’re performing during the day,” he says. “It can range from fixing plumbing to carpentry and machinery. That stuff varies quite a bit, but as far as the daily chores, feeding morning and night, hauling feed and manure or fixing fence, it’s kind of a routine. We keep it pretty calm.”

Darlene, a Decatur County native now in her 18th year working at the Eastern Hancock County High School cafeteria, adds that her job’s early hours, which last from 6:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. through the week, are the perfect fit for devoting her afternoons and summers to the farm and beef shop.

According to Robert, refocusing their specialty to beef in 2006 has brought the Englekings closer than ever to the community, one customer at a time. “We’ve done some wholesale, but we prefer the individual customers,” he says.

“When you sell to restaurants and things, the customer may like the meat, but they don’t know where it comes from or how it’s raised. That’s the nice thing with having the shop on the farm. They can come out and see the animals and see what we’re doing. I raise all the food my cows eat and don’t purchase byproducts or anything that you really don’t want them to eat. The customers get to know all that when you have the individual interaction.”

A few other things you won’t find on the Engleking farm are growth hormones, steroids, antibiotics or feeding stations for their steers, all of which Robert feels diminish both taste and quality, and add health risks. “I think the taste buds of America are really dumbed down,” he says.

“People don’t know what things are supposed to taste like.”

Barb Smith, secretary of the central Indiana-based Hoosier Harvest Council (HHC) and co-owner of Blue River

Natural Foods in Greenfield, feels that the most important thing is to be honest with your customers. “Bob and Darlene were one of the first members of the Hoosier Harvest Council to sell meat at the local farmers markets and have set an example for others wanting to do the same,” she says. “They represent their product well and have developed a customer base that follows them from market to market.”

Why use Holsteins, a traditional dairy breed, for beef?

The reasons once again boil down to flavor, tenderness and quality. Robert points out that marbling is a crucial factor in achieving flavor and tenderness in meat, and Holsteins tend to produce more marbling than traditional beef breeds, which grow around 25 percent more trimmable fat.

Plus, “they’re easier to work with than other breeds,” he adds. “They’re bred for being handled in the milk lines, and they’re quieter and more domesticated. They’ll come right up and start licking on you.”

Not that Robert doesn’t harbor a soft spot for the family’s former dairy days. An ex-dairy cow named Megan grazes in front of the shop, holding the honorary title of family farm pet. “I call her a lawn ornament,” he laughs.

“She has me a calf every year. She’s too old to be in the dairy business now, but she goes back to when we milked, so she’s special.”

To help spread the word about his own beef products and other local farms, Robert helped organize the HHC with Smith’s husband, Earl, and a few other like-minded farmers in 2004, and today the organization partners with the Purdue University Extension Service in Hancock County to expand and improve the ways central Indiana farms connect with consumers. The HHC promotes farmers markets, CSAs, direct-to-consumer sales and agritourism opportunities, all of which the Englekings use to market their products. They even host an annual farm tour in the summer with food samples and animal exhibits.

Smith, whose own farm specializes in dairy and grassfed beef, stresses that the HHC’s educational and network-

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ing components are every bit as beneficial as the marketing tools it provides for its members. “We do several markets with the Englekings and have worked through the process together sharing ideas, and I feel we have learned from each other,” she says. “Bob and Darlene helped with farm tours we hosted in 2007 through 2009.”

Rather than thinking in terms of competition with larger beef manufacturers who are often able to sell at lower prices due to higher volume and non-grazing feed methods, Robert prefers to focus on the niche market his farm serves.

“Some people prefer to go to town and buy most of their products at the supermarket, and that’s fine,” he says. “We can’t match those prices, especially when they have their big sales to move product before it goes bad. But that’s OK because we’re only here to serve people that are hunting what we have. We’re here for people who care about going green, doing things locally and thinking sustainably.” *FI

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Farm Indiana // july 2014

Every Student a Farmer; Every School a Farm A manifesto for Indiana’s future

By Jim poyser

irst, let’s get our caveats established: I am not a scientist, and I am not a farmer. I don’t even play one of those on television.

As part of my job as executive director of Earth Charter Indiana, I go to schools and engage with students about the challenges of climate change.

But what do kids want to talk to me about? Food.

What they’re eating, where it comes from and where it goes when it turns to waste.

Perhaps that’s not a surprise to you, but it sure is a surprise to me. And I’m going to roll with it, because every single aspect of growing food, eating food and responsibly disposing of food is an act of kindness toward the earth, a way of mitigating and adapting to climate change and surely one of the most powerful ways to restore our damaged and damaging relationship to nature.

Plus, bottom line, it’s healthier for our kids.

Engaging Students I began going to Indiana schools in September 2013. As of this writing, I’ve been in front of around 2,000 young people, from kindergarten on up through college. And I’ve been blown away by the commitment of teachers and students whom I’ve met, their sustainability successes and their food frustrations and failures.

Turns out, in the circles I now run, kids want to eat locally sourced foods in their cafeteria, and they desire to dispose of their unconsumed food in a responsible manner.

Sounds simple. But it isn’t. In fact, it’s quite complicated, like a Kafkaesque set of rules that few understand. (Editor’s note: Farm Indiana will publish an investigative story on this subject in the August issue.) My first inkling of the sophisticated farming practices going on in Indiana schools was the discovery of numerous, fully functioning aquaponics and aquacul-

A tilapia farm/aquaponics system built by Wayne Naylor at Oaklandon Elementary School in Indianapolis. With the help of Oaklandon’s parent support group, the unit was constructed for about $600.

ABOVE: Boots that the students must put on before working in the outdoor areas.

ture systems. I have been aware for some time of the aquaponics system in place at Kephrew Institute in Indianapolis, but I had no idea that other schools were building and maintaining aquaponics units, too.

Aquaponics combines aquaculture and hydroponics to create a food production system. In it, plants extract the nutrients that they need to grow from the water. In the process, the plants clean the water to benefit the fish. Fish waste would normally create toxicity in the water, but in an aquaponics system that waste is fed into a hydroponic system that converts the bacteria into nitrates that the plants use as nutrients. Presto!

A full cycle system that actually creates edible food.

To me, aquaponics teaches students how nature is a complex cycle that wastes nothing; one organism’s waste is another organism’s energy source.

Here’s how Wayne Naylor at Oaklandon Elementary School in Indianapolis describes it: “Aquaponics provides students a highly engaging way to apply math and reading skills in authentic learning. It also generates interest in where our food comes from.”

Naylor engaged his Alternative Instruction Classroom (AIS) students in building a tilapia tank as part of their inquiry learning.

He notes that students come to the AIS room because “they are struggling in the regular class setting,” he says. “Normally, this means they are not behaving and thus disrupting the learning for others.”Naylor says he had absolutely no discipline problems during the building of the aquaponics system.

“One student,” Naylor says, “became passionate about this aquaponics project and has led it all year long. He has connected his reading and writing to the project by writing instructions on how to feed the fish, care for the fish and breed them. He also applied his math skills when building the tanks.”

Imhotep Adisi, school

director at Kephrew Institute, says that its aquaponics system is “an integral part of our urban ag science lab. Our intergenerational team raises tilapia and arugula in our system. The project is used to teach ourselves and the community about sustainability, chemistry, math, teamwork, economics, success, failure and self-reliance.”

I reached out to Cecil Baird, past president of the Indiana Aquaculture Association, to find out more about what’s happening on a statewide basis. She started our conversation making a distinction between aquaculture and aquaponics. “Aquaculture is strictly producing fish, while aquaponics is raising fish in combination with plants,” she explains. “In aquaponics the ammonia given off by the fish become nitrates, which are utilized by the plants along with other nutrients and minerals. ... In aquaculture, the nitrates are removed by frequent water changes. In aquaponics, the plants consume them.”

Baird says she contributed small-scale aquaculture systems to East Noble High School in Kendallville, West Noble High School in Ligonier and Wawasee High School in Syracuse. What does she get in return for activating these units? “They grow out yellow perch and bluegill for me that I get back at the end of the school year,” she explains.

Baird hopes that working with aquaculture or aquaponics will inspire students to become future fish farmers. “Traditional farming is getting tough to get into due to the cost of farm ground, but fish farming can be less expensive and requires a much smaller footprint,” she says. “I also think since there is biology and chemistry involved, it might make science interesting and fun.”

Connecting to the Land A little more traditional, but by no means less meaningful science- and math-related skill is the creation of raised-bed gardens. They’re ev-

erywhere I go, in various states of flourishing.

“Growing food at our school is one of the best things I’ve ever done as a teacher,” says Jabin Burnworth, an Advanced Placement environmental science teacher at Manchester Junior Senior High School. “Students feel connected to the land. Growing food on school grounds deepens that connection. Students feel proud when they see their crop on the cafeteria salad bar.”

The students “develop a desire to seek out food that contributes less carbon to the atmosphere,” he adds. “These students are happier and healthier because they have learned to grow their own food.”

In my travels, I’ve had the fortune of visiting alternative teaching venues. A homeschool in my hometown of South Bend is especially instructive, as a nearly dozen students there are constantly involved in numerous project-based learning endeavors, including growing food and raising hens.

“Growing garden food and raising hens is so important to our home and school that we spent four years, as a school, changing the law together in South Bend, so that we could have chickens,” says Karen Coman, home-school mother. “Our children understand politics, food security, soil pH, chicken health, responsibility, labor and appreciation for nature, among many other important educational and survival skills.”

Someone who has made it his life’s work to teach children how to grow food is Tyler Gough, farm manager at Indy Urban Acres, the award-winning Indianapolis farm that regularly engages youths in farming. The work of Indy Urban Acres results in contributions to a local food pantry. “When we teach a child to grow food, it’s not only water, seeds, soil and sunlight that must be learned for them to be successful,” Gough says. “More than the basics, it’s the balance of nature and the awareness of environment. The beauty is not only in the food,

Farm Indiana // july 2014

Earth Day volunteers help build raised bed gardens at Oaklandon Elementary School.

Resources: but more than that it’s in the transformation of the way a child views the world.”

Brian Plankis, assistant professor of science education for the Indiana University School of Education’s urban teacher education program at IUPUI, utilizes school gardens as ideal tools for connecting learners to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and environmental education key concepts.

“School gardens are a powerful way to engage learners, especially those learners who aren’t confident in science or environmental topics,” Plankis says. “The gardens provide that potent, hands-on hook to science and environmental topics that may not otherwise engage some learners in the classroom. The bountiful connections to STEM, environmental and health issues through gardens are rich opportunities for teachers and their students.”

Previously unengaged students are suddenly eager “to use balances to weigh the produce and carefully record it in their science journals and then create a graph of their results, because it is their garden,” he explains. “What more do we want than to guide our students engaged in STEM, develop their environmental citizenship and watch them consume healthy food they helped grow?”

National Farm to School website: farmtoschool.org USDA’s Farm to School website: fns.usda.gov/cnd/F2S/ Default.htm Indiana’s MarketMaker for listings of farmers: in.marketmaker.uiuc.edu Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food: usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/ usdahome?navid= KNOWYOURFARMER Indiana Department of Education Farm to School website: doe.in.gov/student Kephrew Institute: kheprw.org

Combating Food Waste My concerns about food waste are related to climate change. Discarded food ends up in landfills, rotting and emitting methane, a greenhouse gas at least 25 times more powerful than CO2. But for the students I visit, food waste is more of a social justice issue than a climate problem. To them, it’s simply unconscionable that kids would waste food while others are hungry.

Numerous school cafeterias are engaged in programs to deal with this problem.

I’ve been impressed by a number of these

Indiana Aquaculture Association: indianaaquaculture.com/ about.html Youth Power Indiana: youthpowerindiana.com

efforts, but the most effective one I’ve encountered is located at St. Bartholomew Catholic School in Columbus.

A group of eighth-graders at this school was distressed by the amount of their food waste and created a project called Operation End Hunger.

They began their project by volunteering at the local food bank, Love Chapel. They delivered food to the less fortunate folks in their community, which gave them a ground level experience of food insecurity.

They then set about collecting and weighing their food waste.

The initial grand total reached a staggering 268 pounds of waste in one week. Given the school has a population of 345 kids, this was nothing less than shocking to the students, who call their group: the Imagine Team.

To educate their fellow students about the problem, they went into every classroom in the school and discussed the issue of hunger, inspiring all the students to waste less food.

In the process, they discovered that there’s actually a word for a piece of leftover food. It’s called ort. An essential step for the project was to mount a giant graph that stretches across their cafeteria wall. The Imagine Team calls its graph the Ort Report.

This enables all students to participate in this process and see their progress.

Bridget Steele, St. Bartholomew science teacher, shepherded this food capture process. She says the idea for the project began with her school’s annual Thanksgiving feast, when she noted with alarm that a lot of food was being thrown away. She enlisted the help of students to weigh the trash. “We created 178 pounds of waste that meal,” she recalls. “This seemed counterproductive to being grateful. The Imagine Team discussed this fact and decided that one way they could raise awareness about hunger would be to convince our student body that one

pound of wasted food is equal to one meal.”

Steele says that collecting data “proved to be an excellent motivator. The students reduced their ort by 50 percent in just four weeks.”

Next step for the Imagine Team, according to Steele, “is going to be to differentiate between compostable ort and non-compostable ort as we continue to address this problem next year. We are also going to encourage teachers to use this data as a daily or weekly math lesson. Using real data in the classroom and tracking it over time provides a muchneeded, authentic STEM opportunity.”

Dreaming of the Future As I said, I’m neither farmer nor scientist.

I suppose you could say that I’m a dreamer.

Who else would come up with a slogan like my headline: “Every student a farmer; every school a farm.”

I dream of a state where schools become farms, and students become farmers. Where Indiana kids eat fruits and vegetables they grow with their own hands — even in winter via hoop houses and greenhouses, warmed by waste heat from local industries.

Where food waste is put back into the overall sustainable system by creating compost for gardens. Where kids learn about companion planting, organic growing, vertical farming and water conservation.

Where kids are healthier, happier and more connected to nature because of it.

Where testing becomes integrated with project-based learning.

Where growing is what kids do, inside and out.

Let’s start dreaming together. Our kids’ future depends on it. *FI Jim Poyser, executive director of Earth Charter Indiana, can be reached at jimpoyser@earthcharterindiana.orb.

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Farm Indiana // july 2014

by jessica ervin

W

hether you are a consumer, food producer or a market vendor, you need to know what the term organic means and how it came into existence. With the hard work of consumers, stakeholders and some local farmers, the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) was created as part of the 1990 Farm Bill. But it’s important to note that before this act was created, organic food did exist. The term organic was first used back in the 1940s by Sir Albert Howard.

Organics have been certified by state and private agencies, which included Indiana Certified Organic (now Ecocert ICO) since 1995. However, organic practices were not regulated on a national level until 2002.

There are a number of problems with state and private agencies creating their own organic integrity (or other food labeling terms). “Organic” could mean any number of things depending on location and agency.

An example would be if one agency in Indianapolis writes and implements an organic standard for broccoli and another agency in Greenwood implements its own organic standard for broccoli that doesn’t match the requirements of Indianapolis. In our example, the standards in Indianapolis were not the same in Greenwood, so broccoli from Indianapolis could not be sold as organic in Greenwood and vice versa.

The goal of the Organic Foods Production Act was to create a consistent standard so that consumers would know the meaning of the organic label, as well as to: • Establish national standards for organics that would be held up state-to-state.

• Stop mislabeling and clear up labeling confusion.

• Educate consumers, growers and producers about what real organics are.

• Facilitate interstate commerce related to organic food.

• Protect consumers and other businesses against organic fraud.

OFPA is not the last word in organics. The act allows states to set organic standards that are even more restrictive than federal standards. Subsequently, the Organic Foods Production Act authorized the creation of a National Organic Program (NOP) to implement an organics program and a National Organic

Standards Board (NOSB) to provide recommendations on what the states’ standards should be.

Any regulations set by individual states must be approved by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). For instance, California has standards for products produced and sold in the state to uphold additional requirements and for certification agen-

Quick Notes about Organic Labeling The USDA Organic Seal is available for use by certified organic operators. The seal must meet strict guidelines about color, size and placement.

An operation that grosses over $5,000 per year in sales and uses the word organic to market its product, without proper certification, is in violation of the NOP regulations. As part of NOP compliance efforts, such operators are subject to financial penalties and other enforcement actions.

The word “operation” refers to one legal entity or business. An example: If one business sells $1,000 worth of lettuce and more than $5,000 worth of potatoes, it cannot separately market its lettuce as organic under the exemption. This scenario could result in violation/action taken by the USDA National Organic Program.

A product that is not certified may not be used in a multi-ingredient certified organic product (jelly, for instance).

Retailers and restaurants are exempt from the requirement of obtaining organic certification in order to sell raw organic product.

If you have concern that a product is not meeting the National Organic Program standards, or that an operation is making an organic claim without certification, you may submit a complaint to the NOP. The NOP and certifiers investigate every complaint received and take action if problems are found. Complaints can be made anonymously. Suspected violations of the organic regulations may be reported to the USDA by sending an email to NOPCompliance@ams.usda.gov or National Organic Program via phone at (202) 720-3252.

cies and certified operations to be registered within the state. California and Utah are the only states that currently have approved USDA programs that have additional organic requirements and procedures for organic production and sale.

Organic food is defined not only by the inputs, seed, practices and any material substance in the food itself, but also by the holistic methods used on organic farms to grow it. The regulations define “natural” and “synthetic” products with regard to what inputs/materials were used in the product.

The Organic Labeling at Farmers Markets fact sheet can help consumers, farmers market vendors and community supported agriculture (CSA) operations properly market organic fruits, vegetables or livestock products. Included in this USDA fact sheet: “Farmers and vendors who use the word ‘organic’ to describe their products or practices in the marketplace must comply with the USDA organic regulations. The Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) states that no person may affix a label to, or provide other marketing information concerning products, if that label or information implies, directly or indirectly, that such product is produced and handled using organic methods, except in accordance with the OFPA. Most farms and businesses that grow, handle, or process organic products must be certified, with only a few exceptions. Producers and handlers that sell less than $5,000 per year of organic products are exempt from certification.”

Although these exempt processors and handlers are not required to be certified by an agency, operations must still keep records and follow all NOP regulations as if they were certified in order to label their products organic. Such operations may not label products as certified organic and may not use the USDA Organic Seal.

For more on the requirements specific to farms exempt from certification, see the Organic Labeling at Farmers Markets fact sheet at ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dD ocName=STELPRDC5107731. *FI Jessica Ervin, with over 15 years in organic certification and ISO auditing, is the deputy general manager of Ecocert ICO (formerly Indiana Certified Organic LLC). Ecocert ICO, a subsidiary of Ecocert Group, is the only USDA National Organic Program accredited certification agency in Indiana and operates across the United States and beyond. For more information, visit ecocertico.com.

Farm Indiana // july 2014

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>> EatLocal

In the Mood for Meat?

Adam Moody sets up shop in Johnson County

Adam Moody

story By Clint SMith | Photos by Kellie maxwell, courtesy of moody's butcher shop

For those in Johnson County, obtaining locally raised meat, poultry, produce and assorted culinary treasures just got easier.

Moody’s Butcher Shop opened in May in Greenwood, joining the retail ranks of the two established Moody stores in Zionsville and Avon. It took more than four years of scouting the Center Grove area — keeping an eye on developing businesses, grocery stores, salons and churches — for president and founder Adam Moody to make his calculated move.

And though Moody is a veteran in the farming and local business industry, any big move requires fortification of existing relationships while establishing a new, community connectivity. One of his latest collaborators is Indy Family Produce, a Greenwood-based business that has been operating a family farm since 1943. “It was an easy decision for me to invite them to use my shops as a retail point of sale for their products,” says Moody. “They are truly a great family.”

The partnership began last year when Indy Family Produce committed to replacing a portion of its grain operation with vegetable production and began converting roughly 30 acres to growing organic produce, he explains. Now, products from Indy Family Produce can be purchased at all of Moody’s shops.

“We believe we have a quality product and chose to align ourselves with meat providers who also offer a quality product in a professional and friendly atmosphere,” says Cathy Richards, business development manager with Indy Family Produce. “Giving back to the community

is important to both Moody’s and Indy Family Produce, which is why Moody’s is trying to offer a one-stop shop to its customers by providing more than just meat.”

At the new Greenwood shop, customers will find displays featuring numerous cuts of beef, from tender filets to rump roasts, as well as a variety of pork chops, tenderloins and rib cuts. There are also selections of deli meats and cheeses, a freezer section with pre-cut steaks, pork cuts, duck sausage and bacon, and sea bass, salmon and halibut.

Also prominent among Moody’s products are items from local businesses in and around Indy: Bacon from the Smoking Goose, artisan potato chips from Broad Ripple Chip Co. and bottles of Triple XXX Family Restaurant’s Root Beer (Lafayette) line the shelves.

As for where Moody’s meat comes from: “Our rabbits come from Connersville, our duck from Zionsville, and one of (our) egg growers is from the Richmond area,” Moody explains. The shop owner plans to feature Wagyu beef from Joseph Decuis (Roanoke) and highlight products from Tyner Pond (Greenfield), Traders Point Creamery (Zionsville) and various other local food providers in the future.

“As the population continues to grow in the Greenwood area,” says Richards, “so does the need for specialty food sources.

People want to know where their food comes from, who grew it or what the livestock was fed. Having specialty stores, such as Moody’s Butcher Shop, gives the consumer the chance to meet the butcher and have their questions answered.”

But there’s more going on here than simply strengthening the ties that anchor a local business. This is philosophy manifested. “Every time we pass over our hard-earned dollars to a food system, we are hiring that system to raise and process and sell the very food we eat,” Moody says. “In this hiring we are voting for and therefore edifying that system.

“Moody’s is an authentic butcher shop,” he says. “We farm, we slaughter, we dry age, we process and set a full service retail meat case six days a week. My hope is that the (Greenwood) community will embrace this model of local food and vote for it with their food dollar.”

And just like any system that sincerely strives to achieve sustainability, consumers have an equal, symbiotic stock in determining the health and longevity of that system — the proverbial pen being cast aside and replaced, proving that the fork is mightier than the sword.

“The simple truth is the biggest challenge that exists for sustainable local food systems is not the weather, weeds or the predators,” Moody says. “Nor is it government regulations or big industry. It lies in consistently gaining the critical mass needed to sustain the business economically. It needs you.” *FI

“My hope is that the (Greenwood) community will embrace this model of local food and vote for it with their food dollar.”

—ADAM MOODY

Moody’s Butcher Shop 862 State Road 135, Greenwood, (765) 376-2179, moodymeats.com

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Farm Indiana // july 2014

>> EatLocal

To the Kuntz family, farming at Traders Point Creamery is a noble endeavor story By julie cope saetre | photos by josh marshall

Jean and Peter Kuntz

TOP, LEFT: The Traders Point dairy bar offers a variety of products, including ice cream, milkshakes, yogurt, smoothies and root beer floats, along with soups and pies. TOP, RIGHT: Fresh pulled beets from the Traders Point garden.

Traders Point Creamery, 9101 Moore Road, Zionsville, (317) 733-1700, tpforganics.com

Reap What You Sow

By Clint SMith

ust minutes away from the high-speed hustle of Interstate 465 in Indianapolis, Moore Road treks north between wide swaths of leafy green trees. A short distance up this road, the trees give way to a picturesque dairy farm, lazily sprawling across 160 acres.

Although interstate traffic is not far away, the only sounds heard here are birds chirping, children laughing, adults chatting and, if you’re lucky, the lowing of this farm’s stars: 100 or so Brown Swiss cows. Those gentle bovine residents are the heart of Traders Point Creamery, a family-owned organic dairy farm and artisan creamery.

A labor of love for owners Peter Kuntz and his wife, Jean, Traders Point holds the distinction of being Indiana’s first organic dairy farm, turning out its debut bottle of milk in 2003. Built on land passed down from Jean’s grandparents, today’s Traders Point produces milk, cheese, yogurt and ice cream. The Loft restaurant — sporting a newly expanded kitchen — serves breakfast, lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch overlooking the bucolic farm. A red “party barn” hosts weddings, receptions, corporate gatherings and other events. And a year-round calendar of special events draws guests for experiences as varied as visits with

INgredient Acres is a seven-acre swath of land in McCordsville dedicated to supplying prime products to INgredients Field to Fork Market in Indianapolis. According to co-founder Jacqueline Bartelt, five-and-a-half acres of the property are reserved as cow pastures, while an acre is devoted to cultivating fruits and vegetables. The Indy-based store offers prepared meals for lunch and dinner made from the foods sown on the farm, as well as shelves lined with fresh produce and an assortment of locally sourced products.

The daily menus and the shop’s

Santa to an Oktoberfest celebration that welcomed 5,000 in 2013.

It’s an impressive transformation, one that the Kuntzes couldn’t have imagined when in 1997 they first began preparing the family land, already being used as a dairy, for organic farming.

“We had not an idea, really, where we were headed in many different ways,” Jean said. “But we were sure what we wanted to do with our land. I don’t really feel like an owner; I feel like a caretaker. ... We believe farming is a very noble endeavor, so we wanted to see if we could continue and make it work.”

The organic component was a key part of that enterprise. Peter’s profession as a physician reinforced the Kuntzes’ dedication to mindful eating, and part of Trader Point’s mission statement promises “to produce the most nutritious and healthful product possible.”

That begins with the Brown Swiss cows themselves, chosen in part for their gentle nature. Thanks to a 100 percent grass diet, the milk of these cows is high in Omega-3 fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acids (like Omega-3s, also considered a “good” fatty acid) and fat-soluble vitamins. The 100 percent whole milk and chocolate milk are non-homogenized. The homogenization process changes the fat molecules, preventing them from separating, and has been linked

products cater to customers of varied tastes; vegan, gluten-free or paleo-friendly offerings can be found here. “So no matter what your preference, you should be able to shop and dine on the best that Indiana has to offer,” Bartelt says of the store.

If you’re growing and cooking food at home, co-owner and master gardener Kevin Logan submits some helpful tips for gardening, and INgredients chef Allison Godinez offers advice for preparing what you harvest.

“As we begin to feel the summer heat coming, if we all still want to enjoy our tender and sweet lettuces, then we have to take some extra measures to protect them,” Logan says. “I like to grow mine under the shade of trellised peas, pole beans or cucumbers. The legumes will infuse nitrogen into the soil and feed the greens.

The shade will preserve moisture and not burn the more delicate lettuces, such as the bibb and leaf lettuces. Make sure you continue to do succession planting so the harvest will carry on throughout the summer. I prefer to pick the let-

tuces when smaller and tender, thus the succession planting will allow a continual crop.”

Beyond the field, INgredients regularly offers cooking classes for those who’d like to take their culinary skills to the next level, and the eatery’s kitchen team is available to answer questions at any time. “The season can offer a sudden bounty of produce, and finding a way to utilize it all can seem like a daunting task,” says Godinez.

“I would advise not to over-think it and go for simple preparations. A surplus of garden greens can be transformed quickly into a tasty stir fry by sautéing with some garlic and ginger and maybe adding a dash of coconut milk and curry.

A bounty of kale can be whizzed up in the food processor with olive oil, a few nuts, lemon and parmesan (if desired) for a delicious kale pesto.”

INgredients Field to Fork Market 5628 E. 71st St., Indianapolis (317) 570-3663 ingredientsindy.com

Farm Indiana // july 2014

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A soft French-style milk cheese, left, used for spreading, and a soft ripened cheese with an ash rind. FAR LEFT: A herd of Brown Swiss cows raised on the farm produces the milk for all of the products offered at Traders Point Creamery. BELOW: The recently renovated restaurant and store.

to arterial damage, the Kuntzes explained.

Early customers embraced the organic milk, and additional products followed. European-style, drinkable yogurt made a splash on the scene, first in plain and then in four fruit-flavored versions. Hand-stirred cottage cheese won over even those who normally wouldn’t so much as take a spoonful. And conveniently, the milk’s protein ratio is ideally suited for cheese production, leading to a family of artisan offerings ranging from feta to pepper jack.

The products have seen great success. In fact, Traders Point’s signature cheese, Fleur de la Terre, a classic gouda, took home first-place honors from the National Cheese Society the first year it was entered, 2005. The yogurt also has received national awards. Today, it is sold coast-to-coast in Whole Foods stores. It recently debuted in grab-and-go, glass bottle single servings and has become a quick favorite of travelers through LaGuardia and JFK International airports, with nine more air hubs scheduled to add the product.

Back at home, the Loft Restaurant expanded on the early success in a different way. Originally a humble dairy barn, selling Traders Point’s artisan ice cream, it began its transition to full-fledged restaurant after the Kuntzes introduced a weekly Friday night farmers market. Jean wanted to serve some simple meals and had to install certain kitchen components to meet local health department guidelines. Originally used as a multipurpose venue, it grew into “a real restaurant,” Jean said with a laugh.

The new full commercial kitchen expansion also enabled the addition of an elegant private event venue on the floor above — 1,000 new feet of space total. The large new upstairs room overlooks the grazing fields to the east and, to the south, the organic garden that supplies fresh produce for chef Brandon Canfield’s seasonal Loft menus. (Tomato season and the bacon-packed BLT are especially anticipated.)

The restaurant’s original outdoor balcony dining space has increased in size, now accommodating more diners and a tiered herb garden. Below, a second dairy bar with a walk-up window has been added for the convenience of guests lounging on the welcoming outdoor

patio space, which has doubled in size.

Despite the accolades and sales successes, the expansions and additions, Traders Point remains true to its humble beginnings. The farm’s initial business plan included education as a key goal, focusing on fellow farmers and the community in general, and the Kuntzes have never waned in that commitment.

They provide advice and support to those wishing to enter the organic dairy business or expand on their current offerings. And thousands of schoolchildren, in addition to regular guests, tour the dairy farm every year, where they can see up to 60 cows being milked daily in the milking parlor.

“I think it’s really important for kids to see where their milk is coming from,” Jean said. “Most people think it just appears on the shelf at the grocery.”

The buildings on the property provide quite an education as well, this time in history. The Loft Restaurant and its adjacent Farm Store date to the 1860s. Shipped disassembled from Bluffton, it had to be rebuilt board by board, “like a jigsaw puzzle,” explained Gail Arden, director of marketing and events for Traders Point.

Both the milking parlor and the Big Red Barn arrived from Geneva, Indiana. The sister structures originally served as animal housing and a pig sty, respectively, after being built in the 1870s.

This unique combination of soothing setting, healthful products, education, entertainment and inventive meals draws some 100,000 visitors annually to Traders Point, many arriving from far-flung locations. On weekends, locals flock to special events, such as the popular Dinners on the Deck on summer Fridays, complete with live music and the ever-faithful farmers market booths.

The farm and its offerings, Arden said, have become “a place where people celebrate the food. ... So much work and love go into it.”

And while guests lavish praise on the Kuntzes for the farm and all that it has accomplished, Jean is quick to brush off the compliments.

“Make the cows the heroes,” she’ll say. “They’re doing all the work.” *FI

SEND US YOUR UPCOMING AGRICULTURE EVENTS:

Fresh from the Loft Chef Brandon Canfield of The Loft Restaurant at Traders Point Creamery offers this recipe, a picture-perfect fit for your next summer fete.

Summer Melon and Tomato Salad ½ cantaloupe, cut into bite-size chunks ½ watermelon, cut into bite-size chunks 3 pounds mixed tomatoes, cut into bite-size chunks 1 cup pickled red onions 1 cup honey-mint vinaigrette (recipe follows) ¼ pound Traders Point Creamery raw milk feta In large bowl, combine melon and tomato chunks; add pickled red onions.

Dress with the honey-mint vinaigrette and serve within an hour or two. If desired, garnish with chiffonaded mint leaves.

Honey-Mint Vinaigrette Makes 1 cup ¼ ounce mint leaves, washed (packed tablespoon or 6 sprigs) 1.5 ounces local honey ¼ cup cider vinegar ¾ cup canola oil 1 teaspoon salt Place all ingredients in blender; blend until smooth.

Mixture should appear light green and taste of fresh mint and honey.

Be sure to include a contact, the date, location and other important information.

Email info to: farmindiana@hnenewspapers.com.

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Farm Indiana // july 2014

july Events July 2 Growing Places Indy 2014 Lunch & Learn Series.

Lunch and panel discussion on What’s “Fair” Food? Time: 1 to 2 p.m. Free admission. Location: The Platform, Indianapolis City Market, 222 E. Market St., Indianapolis. Information: growingplacesindy.org July 5 The Carmel Symphony Orchestra Live on the Lawn.

Featuring The Wright Brothers and a fireworks finale. Time: 7 p.m. Cost: $15 in advance, $20 day of show. Children 15 and younger are free. Location: Mallow Run Winery, 6964 W. Whiteland Road.

Information: (317) 422-1556, mallowrun.com July 10 Slow Food Indy Book Club discussion of “Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table,” by Ruth Reichl. Time: 6:30 p.m. Free. Online registration is required. Location: Indianapolis Museum of Art Café, 4000 Michigan Road, Indianapolis. Information: slowfoodindy.com July 11 Shelbyville’s First Friday event on the square.

Local vendors and artisans are wanted for the indoor public square market. Information: (317) 586-3253, mainstreetshelbyville.org.

July 12 Summer Fiesta. Enjoy Latin-inspired foods and music with your favorite Indiana wines. Music

by Stacie Sandoval & Trio Con Paz. Time: 5 to 8 p.m. Free admission. Location: Mallow Run Winery, 6964 W. Whiteland Road. Information: (317) 422-1556, mallowrun.com July 16 Growing Places Indy 2014 Lunch & Learn Series.

Lunch and panel discussion on Small Local Grocers. Time: 1 to 2 p.m. Free admission. Location: The Platform, Indianapolis City Market, 222 E. Market St., Indianapolis. Information: growingplacesindy.org July 17 Pickling class. Learn how to pickle green beans, beets, cucumbers and anything else on hand that’s in season. Cost: $25 per person or bring a friend and two tickets together are $40. Time:

Fair Time Crazy for county fairs?

No worries. July is filled with opportunities for getting your fair fix.

6:30 to 8 p.m. Location: INgredients, 5628 E. 71st St., Indianapolis. Information: (317) 5703663, ingredientsindy.com Seminar on estate and succession planning, presented by the Indiana Agricultural Law Foundation. Seminar will provide basic resources for families considering the future of their farm.

Registration cost is $75. Indiana Farm Bureau is a sponsor of the seminar, which will be held at the IFB home office in downtown Indianapolis.

Information: (317) 692-7840, inaglaw.org July 19 Pizza & Wine Night featuring Music by Toy Factory. Bring your lawn chairs and picnic blankets, spread out on the lawn and enjoy pizza by the slice with your favorite Mallow Run wine. Time: 5 to 8 p.m. Free admission. Location: Mallow Run Winery, 6964 W. Whiteland Road. Information: (317) 422-1556, mallowrun.com July 23 Growing Places Indy 2014 Lunch & Learn Series.

Lunch and panel discussion on Eating for Health.

Time: 1 to 2 p.m. Free admission. Location: The Platform, Indianapolis City Market, 222 E. Market St., Indianapolis. Information: growingplacesindy.org July 26 Polka Boy Live on the Lawn. Polka Boy is a 14-piece band that plays a variety of music from classic rock to pop hits — all with a polka twist.

Time: 7 p.m. Cost: $15 in advance, $20 day of show. Location: Mallow Run Winery, 6964 W. Whiteland Road. Information: (317) 422-1556, mallowrun.com July 27 Slow Food Indy Canning Series – Jams and Jellies. Time: 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Cost: $15. Location: Ivy Tech Culinary Center, 2820 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis. Information: slowfoodindy.com July 30 Growing Places Indy 2014 Lunch & Learn Series.

Lunch and panel discussion on Ethnic Food and Immigration. Time: 1 to 2 p.m. Free admission.

Location: The Platform, Indianapolis City Market, 222 E. Market St., Indianapolis. Information: growingplacesindy.org

Adams July 20-24 Allen July 22-27 Bartholomew July 4-12 Benton July 23-28 Blackford July 11-19 Boone July 18-24 Brown July 27-Aug. 2 Carroll July 11-19 Cass July 6-12 Clark July 11-19 Clay July 13-18 Clinton July 13-19 Crawford July 6-13 Decatur July 10-17 Delaware July 14-19 Dubois July 15-21 Elkhart July 18-26 Fayette July 26-Aug. 2 Floyd July 7-12 Fountain July 11-17 Franklin July 14-19 Fulton July 12-19 Gibson July 6-12 Greene July 11-19 Hamilton July 17-22 Harrison July 13-19 Hendricks July 13-19 Henry July 9-19 Howard July 7-12 Huntington July 11-25 Jackson July 20-26 Jasper July 12-18 Jay July 7-13 Jefferson July 7-12 Jennings July 6-12 Johnson July 13-19 Knox July 21-26

Kosciusko July 7-12 LaGrange July 5-12 LaPorte July 6-12 Lawrence July 12-19 Madison July 20-26 Marshall July 13-19 Martin July 11-16 Monroe July 26-Aug. 2 Montgomery July 17-24 Morgan July 25-Aug. 2 Newton July 14-19 Noble July 12-19 Orange July 19-25 Owen July 6-12 Parke July 19-26 Perry July 9-12 Pike July 20-25 Porter July 17-26 Posey July 13-19 Putnam July 18-25 Randolph July 19-24 Ripley July 20-26 Scott July 13-19 Starke July 12-19 Steuben July 19-25 Sullivan July 12-19 Switzerland July 14-19 Tippecanoe July 19-26 Tipton July 11-16 Union July 19-24 Vanderburgh July 21-26 Vigo July 6-12 Wabash July 6-12 Warrick July 14-19 Wells July 19-24 White July 19-24 Whitley July 11-17

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