Farm Indiana | November 2015

NOVEMBER 2015

Top of their Game Heritage Meadows Farm makes a name for itself in local food

ALSO INSIDE: Stonycreek Farm | Sustainable Local Foods | Heartland Growers

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

Rural Living & Local Food

Cissy Bowman, Nate Brownlee, Katherine Coplen, Katie Glick, David Hoppe, Jen Janicijevic, Cheryl Carter Jones, Shawndra Miller, Nick Rassi, Jon Shoulders, Madeline Szrom, Ryan Trares, Twinkle VanWinkle, Catherine Whittier, CJ Woodring COPY EDITOR Katharine Smith SENIOR GRAPHIC ARTIST Margo Wininger ADVERTISING ART DIRECTOR Amanda Waltz ADVERTISING DESIGN

Emma Ault, Dondra Brown, Tonya Cassidy, John Cole, Ashley Curry, Julie Daiker, Cassie Doles, Josh Meyer, Desiree Poteete, Tina Ray, Robert Wilson PHOTOGRAPHER Josh Marshall IMAGE TECHNICIAN Matt Quebe

©2015 by Home News Enterprises.

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FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

Contents NOVEMBER 2015

5 Field Notes Tips and advice

6 Stonycreek Farm 12 Heritage Meadows Farm 18 WFYI’s Rooftop Bees 24 Homestead Dairy 28 Sustainable Local Foods 32 North Montgomery

6

High School FFA

36 Hagerstown’s

Campus Cows

38 Coffee Purveyors 40 Heartland Growers 44 Continuing Education 46 From the Field

Columns by growers

53 Local Food

U-Relish Farms, Wildwood Market ON THE COVER

A Narragansett turkey at Heritage Meadows Farm.

Photo by Josh Marshall

FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Paradise Lost

I

If time and weather allow each morning, I sip my coffee and enjoy a front-row view of our small farm’s animals getting a start to their days. The goats nose their way into the hay buckets, and the alpacas tolerantly stand back to wait their turns. The chickens run to and fro under foot, feeding on bugs and fallen grain, and the barn cats scurry past their prepared food dishes to begin hunting. Everyone is happy at our house, and my husband, Randy, and I see to it that no one goes hungry.

My two favorite times of the day are mornings like these, when I can take in the bucolic scene, and again around sunset, when each animal is tucked safely inside the barn again, preparing for a good night’s rest. Caring for our animals — the barn cats, chickens, goats and alpacas outside, as well as our troop of cats and dogs inside — has given me a sense of accomplishment like none other. Loving these critters is my small way of giving back to the world that has, itself, offered me so much loveliness over the years.

Prior to dating Randy, my only experience at raising animals had been with cats. (If you don’t count the many fish I accidentally killed during my college years of attempting to keep an aquarium.)

I’d had no experience with dogs, and certainly none with livestock.

Randy brought a black Lab mix named Ellie and an Australian shepherd named Adelle into my life, as well as two wonderful teenage sons, Reese and Caden.

Ellie was already 12 years old when I met her, but she had a good deal of life left in her. When we’d return home, Ellie, along with 2-year-old Adelle, would rush to the door to greet us. With energy (and maybe a lack of manners), Adelle would always jump onto whoever walked in the door first. Ellie, a little more patient and civilized, would stand in the background, tail loudly

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thumping against the wall to show her excitement at our return.

Caring for the dogs became a part of my daily routine. I adored Ellie for her subdued and kind nature and her tranquil chocolate brown eyes, and Adelle, in spite of her incessant efforts to lick us, for her never-faltering Ellie loyalty and spirit.

Ellie was a nervous dog.

Prior to finding her way into Randy’s life, she’d spent a good deal of time with owners who kept her locked in a cage.

Her teeth were worn down and damaged from repeated attempts to chew her way out. When she was approximately 9 years old, Ellie (which wasn’t her name then) had been taken to the vet to be put down due to her frequent bouts of incontinence.

Instead of ending her life, one of the vet techs took her in, and soon thereafter Randy met Ellie. It was love at first sight.

Ellie stayed by Randy’s side through hardships that I never saw. She was his girl, and I cared for her not only because I loved her, but because I loved him. I hoped to repay her former and continued kindnesses toward him in any way I could.

She was a happy girl. She spent quite a lot of time in my lap while we watched movies.

While Adelle ran rampant, Ellie strolled the grounds of our new home in the country with curiosity and care.

These past two years, however, time and age began to steal the shine from Ellie’s eyes. Her back legs started to give out. The masses on her torso silently grew larger.

Her muscles deteriorated. Before we knew it, Ellie turned 17, and life was no longer easy for her. She slept all day, usually only

ate if I fed her by hand and barely made it outside for a potty break.

We said goodbye to Randy’s girl on Oct. 7 at 2:30 p.m. at Brookville Animal Hospital in Indianapolis. Ellie loved ice cream, and on the way to the vet’s office we stopped at the Frosty Boy in New Palestine to order a doggie cup of ice cream to go. Ellie, who had refused to eat anything all day, slurped her final treat with great abandon.

She went quietly, painlessly we hope, though the pain we endured watching this beautiful girl slip from our lives was — and still is — so great. Not much has seemed right around our home in the weeks since.

Adelle paces the bedroom floor each night.

Ellie had been at her side throughout all of her seven years. Prior to Ellie’s death, I could count on one hand — on fewer than five fingers — the number of times I’d seen my husband cry. And the mornings and evenings that I once so enjoyed knowing all of our animals were safe are punctuated by visits to Ellie where she now lies. A small pot of mums adorns the spot where Randy will plant a mimosa tree to mark her grave — trying to fill the forever hole in our hearts and in our family.

FIELD NOTES

BY CATHERINE WHITTIER

»

Growing Greens

B

Moisture Control

“Bees can be cold and survive, but they can’t be cold and wet,” says Randy Roller of eastern Hancock County. Roller is convinced that his moisture quilt boxes have kept his colonies dry, enabling them to survive freezing temperatures. The winter of 2014 “brought losses to most beekeepers of 50 percent or more,” he says. “Some in our bee club (Community Beekeeper’s Club in Greenfield) lost 100 percent.”

According to Roller, the moisture quilt box helps to solve a basic problem. “Inside the hive, bees keep warm by clustering together and vibrating their wings,” he says. “The colder it gets, the tighter they cluster.

“The way bees keep warm is that they will rotate from the outside of the cluster to the inside of the cluster,” he says. “Inside the cluster will be about 95 degrees and outside about 45 degrees.”

As the bees breathe, they give off warm, moist air.

“If you don’t take some provision, warm, moist air can rise to the top and hit the cold lid, then it condenses and drips back down, just like the water cycle,” says Roller.

The moisture quilt box serves to absorb that moisture.

He found the idea for the moisture quilt box on the Internet. He scoured several designs on various websites before making a few modifications to the concept. His box is constructed of scrap ¾-inch plywood.

Additional pieces of wood are screwed inside, along the edges of the box, holding in place a piece of duck canvas, which is stretched to create a recessed bottom for the box. Approximately 3 inches of pine shavings

A Warm Goat Kirsten Windhorst of Johnson County raised Nigerian Dwarf goats for approximately 10 years. She explains that it’s not always easy or fun to tend to livestock during the winter months, but the show must go on, despite dipping temperatures. Here are some of Windhorst’s tips to help keep goats happy and healthy through the winter.

are placed on top of the fabric and then covered with a recessed lid, which rests on the wood frame inside the box. On top of that, a piece of insulating foam, cut to size, fits over the wooden lid.

“The moist air, generated by the colony, comes up through the cloth, into the layer of pine shavings, where it gets trapped,” says Roller. The box also has ventilation holes on each side, which he cut on the bias, so that moisture can drain out, rather than back into the box.

“This provides cross ventilation, which actually dries that out in there,” Roller says. The rigid, insulating foam serves to keep the top of the hive from getting so cold that excessive condensation builds up.

Roller modified his design so that he would have an additional cavity space at the bottom of the box so that candy could be easily added “beneath the moisture box and into the candy board,” without losing the heat inside the hive, he says, allowing the bees to have candy to eat throughout the winter. He boils sugar to a candy consistency, so that it can be slipped into the cavity and onto the board. “The candy itself will absorb moisture, and that will soften it for the bees,” he explains.

Roller currently has nine hives, which he plans to equip with moisture boxes by no later than the second week in December. “I had a 100 percent survival rate (last winter),” he says. “I have a neighbor a few miles away who also used the boxes, and she had only one colony out of seven die. She lost those on the last hard blast of winter when it went below zero degrees.”

» Goats require good quality hay. “Not any old hay,” says Windhorst. “Winter months are pregnancy months, so it’s important to have a good, quality feed (grain).” » Goats need a dry place to lie down, out of the wind.

Bedding should be dry at all times.

» Goat minerals are important. Don’t substitute minerals designed for cattle or sheep. Goats require different percentages, explains Windhorst. “Salt is salt, but mineral is very different.” » Hooves must be clipped every four to six weeks, even in the winter months.

The chickens at Blue Yonder Organic Farm thrive on healthy greens, which provide the nutrients required to produce the highest quality eggs, according to Sara Creech, owner. The provision of healthy greens can be a challenge when freezing temperatures arrive. “An inexpensive and easy way to supplement feed with greens in the winter is by producing fodder (sprouted grains),” Creech explains. “For example, we transform one pound of grain seed (barley, wheat, sunflowers, etc.) into six pounds of greens,” which can be accomplished, she adds, in eight days from start to finish.

Blue Yonder Organic Farm utilizes a system that circulates water through 18 trays of organic grain every 30 minutes. The system is kept in the house, because grains sprout best when air temperatures remain between 65 to 80 degrees. The system “waters and drains, waters and drains,” explains Creech, who provides fodder for approximately 400 laying hens.

For smaller scale operations, grains can be sprouted in a little tray on the window sill. A system can be created by using two greenhouse trays: Poke holes in the bottom of the first tray, which will serve to hold a thick, single layer of grains. Creech pre-soaks her grains in a bucket for one hour to help them pre-sprout prior to transferring them to the tray with holes. The second tray will hold a small amount of water.

The grain tray is then placed over the water tray and allowed to soak for 15 minutes, before being removed and allowed to partially dry. “It is a fine line. You need to keep the seeds moist, but not underwater,” she says.

This process is repeated three times per day. “This grows into a nice thick grass that is about 4 to 5 inches tall in about six to eight days, depending on growing conditions,” Creech explains. “There are great tutorials on setting up homemade systems, from tabletop to commercial set-ups.”

Blue Yonder Organic Farm sells organic eggs, pastured meat chickens, Pekin ducks, pastured heritage turkeys, Dorper sheep and dairy goats. Its products can be found on Saturday mornings at the Farm to Fork Market at Normandy Farms. They can also be found at Carmel Farmers Market on Saturdays throughout the winter. For more information, visit blueyonderorganicfarm.com.

» Fresh, unfrozen water must be available at all times. » Check fence line for drifts, which might allow goats to go over and out. » Check rooflines for snow impaction so that snow won’t fall on animals or owners.

» Finally, don’t ever be afraid to ask for help from others who raise goats. A good resource is the 4-H Extension office, which can provide contact information for leaders in the area. “We had a lot of help when we were first starting out,” says Windhorst. “That was a real lifesaver.”

FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

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Loren Schmierer with his General Motors farm truck.

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FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

an old-fashioned

FARM LIFE Noblesville’s Stonycreek Farm serves as a link between urban and rural living

By Ryan Trares | Photography by Josh Marshall

FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

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THERE’S MUCH TO DO at Stonycreek Farm in Noblesville. Using two-person slingshots, guests can hurl gourds at faraway targets. They can wander through a maze in the greenhouse or take hayrides out to the pumpkin patch. Kids can clamber over a straw-bale mountain or bounce on the massive “jumping pillow,” an in-ground trampoline.

Visitors more daring can launch from a zip line tower some 40 feet in the air to get a view of all that Stonycreek Farm has to offer.

This isn’t the farm life that Loren Schmierer grew up with. But situated near the rapidly expanding cities northeast of Indianapolis, Stonycreek Farm is a bridge connecting an increasingly urban and suburban population to life in agriculture.

The small farm features pumpkins in the fall, pine trees around the holidays and a nursery and tree farm year-round. Schmierer’s goal is to show people a little bit about what working the land entails and to help people remember what agriculture used to be like in central Indiana.

“I get a lot of satisfaction out of seeing people have a good time and learn a little bit about farm life,” says Schmierer, owner of the farm. “It might not be completely realistic, but at least they get the flavor of farm atmosphere.”

October is the busiest time of the year for Schmierer and his staff. That is when the annual Pumpkin Harvest Festival begins.

Stonycreek Farm will host thousands of people throughout the month, expanding its hours to being open every day and creating new attractions to draw people in.

Organizers have added a rope maze to this year’s festival, as well as a game called “pumpkin curling.” Participants push pumpkins through an obstacle course with a broom, similar to the ice-born sport popular at the Winter Olympics.

The set-up for the festival starts in early

September. Every ride, activity and game has to be tested. Logistics involving parking and food stands have to be scheduled and calculated.

“It takes some planning and careful groundwork ahead of time,” Schmierer explains.

Besides catering to thousands of schoolchildren and families at the festival, the staff at Stonycreek Farm also has to prepare for its yearly Country Christmas event. The farm hosts families who come out to the fields in late November and early December to pick out and chop down Christmas trees and purchase evergreen garlands, pine cones and other natural decorations, as well as poinsettias from the indoor hothouse.

With only about a two-week window between the fall festival and Country Christmas, the Stonycreek team tries to get as much work done as possible before either event starts. Caring for the pumpkin patch, as well as the trees, actually starts in the spring.

Farm employees plant seeds, fertilize the pumpkins and irrigate when needed. In the tree fields, workers clear walking rows to ensure that guests can move around the field to find the tree that they want.

Stonycreek Farm, so named for the winding waterway that meanders just south of the property, is a throwback to Schmierer’s childhood. His family had a small farm with row crops, produce and livestock.

Though he enjoyed that lifestyle, it wasn’t realistic for him to make a living farming.

“There wasn’t enough land for me to take over, so I looked elsewhere,” he says.

Schmierer instead found a job in chemical sales with Elanco Animal Health, a division within Eli Lilly and Co. He took a marketing position, moving from Indianapolis to a facility in South America. But he couldn’t escape his desire for the farm experience.

The roots of what would be Stonycreek Farm took hold in the late 1960s, when

Schmierer returned to Indianapolis and started a small pumpkin patch on the northeast side of the city.

“We ended up with a lot of pumpkins that we didn’t know what to do with, so we put up fliers inviting the neighborhood kids to come pick their own,” he says.

And so Schmierer resumed an agricultural lifestyle.

As the pumpkin patch became more popular, he realized that it was time to expand into a larger farm. With his background in market research, he started investigat-

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Stonycreek Farm WHERE: 11366 E. State

Road 38, Noblesville

OWNER: Loren Schmierer

PUMPKIN HARVEST FESTIVAL WHEN: Through Oct. 31 HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily COST: $5 per carload

COUNTRY CHRISTMAS WHEN: Nov. 21 to Dec. 20 HOURS: 2 to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

Closed Thanksgiving Day WHAT: An opportunity for families to take a hayride into the tree field and cut their own Christmas tree, with varieties including Canaan fir, white pine, Scotch pine and Norway spruce.

The greenhouse and gift shop also will feature freshly cut Fraser fir trees, fresh wreaths, garland, kissing balls and poinsettias.

INFORMATION:

stonycreekfarm.net

ing population trends and land use, places where growing communities butted up to longtime farmland.

“We outlined what we wanted to offer, figured out how far people would drive and what they’d pay,” he recalls. “That brought us to this location right here.”

The farm had been in operation since the 1860s on 50 acres just east of Noblesville.

When Schmierer approached the owner in 1970, it wasn’t for sale, but both sides started negotiating. “It was the ideal property,” he says. “It had rolling hills and some color to it. So we started here and found a price that worked.”

Stonycreek Farm was established with the idea to have a month-long fall festival built around introducing people to rural living. People could take a hayride out to pick their own pumpkins, then stick around for games, activities and carnival-type food.

Schmierer visited other farms that had similar events and analyzed agritourism efforts throughout the country.

“There was a demand for it,” he says.

“This area had a lot of corporate people who

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FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

Zip lines at Stonycreek Farm.

can’t go to grandpa’s farm on the weekends anymore. This gives them a way to get away if they don’t have the farm connection.”

With the success of the fall festival, Schmierer eyed a similar concept for another holiday — Christmas trees.

“That way, some of the same customers could come back for a similar experience,” he says. “It’s just another harvest time that we do a little differently.”

The final piece of Stonycreek Farm’s business approach is its landscaping, a part of the operation where people can buy trees, shrubs and other plants to beautify their yards the rest of the year. The Stonycreek

team completes landscaping projects into the winter, working until the ground freezes 2 inches down.

The farm work starts again in March when the ground thaws. Stonycreek staff members plant trees and shrubs, lay out designs for garden beds and put in patios, walls and fire pits.

As the farm has become more established, it has evolved in different ways.

Schmierer now has a nearly year-round operation, all of which sprouted from a small pumpkin patch and a desire for oldfashioned farm life.

“One thing led to the next,” he says.

For more information, contact Amber Fischvogt (812) 376-7772 or afischvogt@heritagefundbc.org

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Run Of The

LAND

Ten-year-old Morgan McKamey with his Ameraucana cross chicken named Sweetie. Opposite page: Pasture-raised ducks at Heritage Meadows Farm.

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FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

The pasture-raised animals of Heritage Meadows Farm are free to roam

BY JEN JANICIJEVIC | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOSH MARSHALL

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Clockwise: Alan and Amy McKamey. Alan with a Large Black hog.

Morgan sits atop a fence post as he watches his dad. Alan McKamey.

One of the McKamey’s farm hogs.

S

SOME SAY THE GRASS is greener on the other side of the fence, but for Amy and Alan McKamey of Heritage Meadows Farm in Clayton, the color of the grass doesn’t much matter. Lush and green or full of weeds, so long as it feeds their hungry hogs, the pastures at Heritage Meadows Farm are just fine. On these 23 acres of land in southern Hendricks County, the rich resources on the farm have been as carefully cultivated as they’ve been preserved.

Wild raspberries tangle with freshly cut hay, one waiting to be picked and slowly simmered into a vibrant jam; the other

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FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

destined for barns full of hungry bellies. It’s this regard for the land that earned Amy and Alan the title of Grit Magazine’s 2014 Homesteaders of the Year, an honor that’s provided both an affirmation of a job well done and a reminder of how much work is still left to do.

Heritage Meadows Farm is a heavy hitter in the world of locally grown food, a well-rounded combination of pasture-raised animals and organically grown gardens that feed the McKamey family, a handful of CSA members and a list of local food establishments that reads like a Who’s Who of Zagat all-stars.

Raised on a small farm in northern Indiana, Amy is no stranger to getting her hands dirty. A career veterinary technician with a degree from Purdue University, she let her passion for animals lead her from barrel racing horses to racing chickens to barrels and back again. Through her work she met her husband, Alan, a career firefighter who had been a client of her veterinary practice for 12 years. Together with their 10-year-old son, Morgan — whose chores include collecting eggs, feeding the horses and maintaining morale amongst the chickens — the McKameys have settled

Nine-day-old piglets follow their mom out into the pen.

into a life that reaps more rewards than minutes in the day to appreciate them.

Heritage Meadows is home to a diverse blend of animals, most of which are considered heritage breeds with bloodlines that date back centuries to ancestry that was built to breed naturally, mother instinctively and thrive without the use of modern vaccinations or antibiotics.

One such breed is Heritage Meadows’ Large Black hogs. With bloodlines dating to the 16th century, Large Blacks have a solid reputation for producing well-marbled and flavorful meat. The hogs can tip the scales

at 600 pounds or more, with boars reaching upward of 750 pounds. Their large ears flop forward to cover their faces, perfect for shielding their eyes from the sun during long days of foraging.

With five bloodlines of hogs on the farm, Heritage Meadows has a gene pool that’s centuries deep. Leland, a boar from the Longfellow bloodline with a passion for hickory nuts, is Heritage’s largest hog and a prime candidate for breeding. “Leland has a nice, long side, and the side is where you get your loin and your bacon from,” explains Alan. Breeding Leland with a stockier

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FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

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paramour from their Matilda bloodline, the McKameys hope to end up with a long and meaty feeder pig with a market value to match.

Situated at the front of the Heritage Meadows’ property is a large garden with a roster of organically grown vegetables and fruit trees. The garden provides them with over 85 percent of their annual food supply. Bordered by marigolds that Amy seed-saves, the garden is filled with rows of vegetables, like sweet potatoes, pumpkins, broccoli and greens. Several varieties of peppers grow here, and each season means large harvests of both soft and hard neck garlic. Close inspection of a tomato plant reveals a parasitic wasp, an eerie sight to most but a sign of a successful biosphere to Amy. “Mother Nature provides a way to keep things under control,” she says.

Fed mostly from pasture, the hogs sometimes supplement their diets by accident in the garden. “They like root vegetables,” Alan explains. “Last year, they got into my garden and ate 600 row feet of carrots.”

The farm’s flock of sheep, including two from the Katahdin Hair breed.

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In highest demand is Heritage Meadows’ supply of fresh duck eggs produced by the couple’s Ancona and Saxony birds. Chosen for their excellent laying abilities and meaty nature, respectively, both breeds are easily able to hack cold Indiana winters and still produce rich, creamy eggs. “They’re both dual-purpose,” explains Amy. “The Anconas are a little bit smaller, so they’re better egg layers, but (the ducks are) still big enough that they could be a meat bird. The Saxony are the opposite; they’re a little bit bigger, so they’re a better meat bird, but they can still lay decent.”

Ashley and Jonathan Brooks of Indianapolis’ celebrated brunch spot, Milktooth, are passionate about supporting the local food economy, and they claim roughly 14 dozen duck eggs from Heritage Meadows per week. “We use Heritage Meadows duck eggs for our cranberry-walnut bread and raclette grilled cheese with a sunnyside duck egg on top,” Ashley Brooks says. “It’s a local artisanal cranberry walnut bread (made at Indy’s Amelia’s bakery), Indiana raclette cheese (Schnabeltier

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Despite the occasional mishap, the farm’s animals have played a vital role in maintaining a healthy garden. Using the sheep, hogs and chickens as a low-cost cleaning crew, Amy explains how they use the animals’ hearty appetites to their advantage. “After the beets are done, we’ll just let it (the garden) go,” she says. “The sheep eat the grass down, (then) we’ll bring in the hogs. And after the pigs dig up the beets … they’ll fertilize and do a pretilling for us for next year.”

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RE STA MOT RT E

Morgan, Amy and Alan with their Narragansett turkey.

Cheesery in Rochester), Heritage duck egg and drizzled with black truffle honey — a favorite among the crowd.”

Keeping up with the high demand for locally raised, grass-fed chickens and eggs is a never-ending battle on the farm. The McKameys chose a combination of consistent layers and solid meat birds — like New Hampshires, Buckeyes and Phoenix. “We’re trying to create our own crossbreed,” says Amy. “We want them cold hardy, but with a small comb so they don’t frostbite.

We want them to be good foragers. And then we try to go for blue and green eggs.

People really like the blue and green eggs.”

Earlier this year, the McKameys also welcomed a pair of Katahdin Hair lambs, as well as a flock of high-quality Narragansett turkeys.

All in all, Amy and Alan want customers to know that any question is a good question when it comes to knowing what’s on their plate. “We’re an open book,” she explains. “We want people to ask questions.

We want them to know more about where their food is coming from.”

You can find Heritage Meadows Farm products throughout the winter at the Farm to Fork Market at Normandy Farms on Saturday mornings, or by calling (317) 539-2489 to place an order.

For more information, visit heritage meadowsfarm.net.

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hive in the

sk y

WFYI’s buzz can be heard high above its National Public Radio studio

By Shawndra Miller Ross Harding atop the WFYI downtown studio.

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FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

Photography by Josh Marshall

Ross Harding opening the beehive. Right, The WFYI studio roof planted by Rooftop Greenworks.

O

ON TOP OF A DOWNTOWN Indianapolis building, honeybees sally forth from two beehives to a rooftop meadow where grasses and wildflowers wave in the breeze. With traffic noise from Meridian Street below competing with the hum of ventilation fans, it might be a little hard to hear their buzzing. But here atop WFYI’s roof, thousands of bees are hard at work gleaning nectar and making honey.

Ross Harding, beekeeper-at-large and a downtown resident himself, installed the beehives this spring. The green roof came earlier, when Rooftop Greenworks planted it in March 2013 as a sound buffer for the recording studio directly below. But the two

projects fit hand-in-glove as the honeybees pollinate the flowers, whose nectar in turn feeds the bees.

The hives themselves are situated a little distance away from the green roof, in an area that is both sunnier and more protected from wind. The separation doesn’t stop the bees from enjoying this bountiful source of nutrition. “Every time I walk by the green roof and look,” Harding says, “there’s always bees out there.”

That’s music to the ears of WFYI board member George Plews, who was instrumental in funding the beehives. He also serves on the board of National Public Radio, where he played a key role in installing

rooftop beehives at the Washington, D.C., headquarters.

He and his wife, Christina, keep bees on their own property. In actuality, Plews says, “My wife is the driving force behind all this.

She really gets the importance of bees to our natural ecology. She has educated me on this.” (The couple has since underwritten placement of beehives at Eskenazi Health, alongside the hospital’s Sky Farm.)

On a recent summer afternoon, Harding showed a group of curious WFYI staffers the secret workings of the hive. Using no special gear beyond a small smoker, he removed a panel from the top box and held it out for closer inspection. “These bees are FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

19

Clockwise: Harding’s gear that he carries along to access the beehive. He is limited to bringing only what he can carry because the roof has window access only. A honeycomb frame.

Harding begins the process of opening the hive. A bee.

Opposite page: Harding shows a WFYI employee the amount of honey stored in a honeycomb frame.

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FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

very good bees,” he said. “They’re well-behaved bees, and they’ve made a lot of food.”

Encouraging everyone to step forward and watch the bees go about their work, he kept up a steady patter of bee-related factoids. He explained to a growing number of observers — among them CEO Lloyd Wright — that bees barely move without sunlight, that the hive communicates through dance, that some 2,000 bees die each day of natural causes, and that “undertaker bees” remove the deceased from the vicinity of the hive.

“Want to take guesses on how many bees live in this box?” he asked the peanut gallery. A few people called out numbers from

1,000 to upward of 10,000. Harding finally upped every single guess, saying, “Sixty thousand!” with a dramatic flourish, conveying his own amazement at this figure.

With a paint scraper, he peeled away some of the wax capping a portion of the honeycomb to reveal the familiar golden sweetener. Bees quickly encircled the opening as he announced: “This, my friends, is honey.” He explained that the bees pack each cell with a combination of nectar and enzymes from their stomachs.

“What they’re doing is filling the cells and dehydrating (them),” he said. “Once they dehydrate it, they cap it like this.

“They’ll repair this in a matter of sec-

onds,” he said. “Anybody want to try it? Get a finger in there.”

Careful to avoid the bees industriously repairing the gap (in a matter of minutes, it would be covered over), WFYI staffers stepped up to sample the sweetness of justmade honey.

“They’re getting ready for the winter now,” Harding continued, as he passed the panel to the CEO to hold. “They’re condensing the layer the queen’s laying in, filling it with honey. It’s going to be sort of a rainbow, a dome of honey all around to insulate her. It’ll stay 87 to 94 degrees in the winter.

Two inches away from that it’s the same temperature as outside.

“They’re going to survive the whole winter in there,” he explained. “They won’t fly around. They just stay in a tight ball and vibrate, keep warm and eat honey, which sounds like a nice way to spend the winter.”

Clearly, this is work Harding relishes.

“Bees, I just love them,” he says later. “It kind of radiates to people, my passion. …

I’m glad to talk about this stuff.”

Because of that passion, he’s become the Central Indiana Beekeepers Association’s go-to person when calls come in about rogue bee colonies. If bees take up residence inside the walls of a house, or a swarm lights on a tree in someone’s backyard, the desperate property owner often contacts the association. Fortunately, there are alternatives to extermination.

“I’ve done a lot of these,” says Harding.

“So when somebody emails the association, they’re like, ‘I’m not going to climb a ladder with a chain saw, but Ross will.’”

bee facts » Scout bees are the first to go out in the morning. When they find a good source of nectar, they return to the hive and dance to tell the hive where to go. “If you watch this dance,” says Harding, “you can tell where they are directing them by how long they waggle and what direction.” » A hive can drink one and a half gallons of water each day. » Bees will fly three miles in a day. » A bee’s stinger is sharper than a scalpel or a needle — and it’s barbed. » Bees on a farmer’s land contribute to a 40 percent increase in crop production.

In fact, the two bee colonies at WFYI were both “rescued” — one from the property of musician Sarah Grain, who performed in WFYI’s Tiny Desk concert series.

CEO Wright says that having rescued bees and a rooftop meadow at WFYI dovetails with the nonprofit’s mission of “inspiring the best of our community by telling stories and connecting people.” Creating greater awareness of the need to protect bees is part of that story.

Harding manages about 36 hives in Indianapolis, Fortville, Beech Grove, McCordsville and environs. He cobbles together a living doing what he enjoys: tending fish in a saltwater aquaponics setup each morning, spending his afternoons foraging for wild foods and caring for beehives. He supplies about 20 high-end restaurants with the delicacies he harvests from area woods. The fish go to Caplinger’s Fresh Catch and Goose the Market, as well as restaurants.

However, honey is another matter.

Because he’s sensitive to the bees’ requirements, he’s unable to supply honey to everyone who wants it. “I believe in only taking honey if there’s a surplus of honey,” he says.

“The bees need 60 pounds at least.”

This summer, he says, conditions were challenging for the bees. “I noticed the bees started with a strong spring,” he says. “They were really kicking butt, bringing in a lot of nectar, then we had the rainiest month to date.” Honey stores in all his hives dipped low during the summer as the bees were unable to get nectar. For a while he thought he might lose 80 percent of his hives.

But he hopes to see a rebound as fall progresses: Cool nights and warm days have meant an explosion of asters, wildflowers and particularly goldenrod. That may not sound so great for allergy sufferers, but goldenrod is a terrific source of food for honeybees. Ideal for the bees is a balmy fall, with a late frost date.

“They can’t make any more honey after the first frost,” he says. “And some hives are just so low on honey they’re not going to

TM

FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

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Using a paint scraper, Harding removes the wax layer to reveal honey.

make it.” He’ll feed those bees sugar water to get them through the winter and try for a better season than last year’s winter, when some 30 to 45 percent of bees were lost across Indiana.

He’s philosophical about the losses, knowing that there are natural cycles, even as certain threats have crept up on honeybees (see sidebar). “I still love what I do,” he says. “It’s better than sitting in an office.”

Plews, for his part, has noticed a commonality among the folks who care for beehives. “One of the nice things about getting to know bees is getting to know beekeepers,” he says. “They’re some of the most naturally happy and energetic and hopeful people I know.”

Asked what it is about beekeeping that fuels him, Harding talks about the peaceful, almost meditative state the bees inspire as he tends them. “Just to stop and

pay so much attention,” he says. “To stop your mind from racing. You’re just looking at bees, and everything seems far away, and you’re in their world.”

From the WFYI rooftop, that world looks pretty sweet.

RESOURCES Indy Bee Supply: indybeesupply.com (equipment, supplies, bees) Central Indiana Beekeepers Association: indyurbanbeekeeping. org (education, advocacy, networking) Ross Harding: Ross@ indyurbanbeekeeping.org (bee rescue and education)

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FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

bees in peril Aside from weather, top threats to honeybees are habitat loss, mites and pesticides.

Some solutions:

Habitat: Plant wildflowers and native plants; diversify plantings for seasonality, height and flower shape/size; and consider a backyard beehive.

Mites: The Central Indiana Beekeepers Association recommends oxalic acid vapor treatments for mites.

Meanwhile, research is underway to determine strains of bees that seem to possess greater immune defense against mites.

Pesticides: Avoid use of neonicotinoids, which affect the central nervous system of insects, resulting in paralysis and death. Harding notes that some 80 to 90 percent of their use comes from “everyday people buying flowers at big box stores.”

That’s because the pesticide is used as a coating on the seed, and when the plant grows, the compound remains in its tissues. “It’s on the stem, the leaves and in the pollen,” Harding says. “The bees go to the flowers and get exposed to it, and then they have trouble with navigation and can’t get back to the hive.”

Goldenrod grows on the WFYI studio rooftop.

FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

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Manufacturing Methane Homestead Dairy taps the energy future

BY DAVID HOPPE|PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOSH MARSHALL

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FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

G

“GOT MILK?” FOR YEARS that ad campaign practically defined the dairy industry.

Bringing milk and its health-enhancing qualities to market is what dairy farmers have been all about.

The milk we’re talking about, of course, comes from cows. And with cows, you get waste. Manure, that is, and plenty of it.

Which brings us to Homestead Dairy, in Plymouth. It turns out that not only is this family-run farm producing more milk than ever before in its history, it is turning what used to be considered waste — all the manure produced every day (some 65,000 gallons of it) by 3,500 cows — into another cash crop: enough energy to power 1,000 homes.

Ryan Rogers oversees Homestead’s green energy operation. Rogers is a former diesel

A 12-cylinder CAT generator.

mechanic and machinist, and a member, by marriage, of Homestead’s founding Houin family. Rogers handles the engine work around the farm, including supervision of the anaerobic digesters and generator, the technology that makes the dairy’s biogas recovery system work.

Homestead’s owners began thinking about the benefits of converting manure into energy about five years ago. The dairy is about a five-minute drive from downtown Plymouth; a subdivision is just a mile and a half away. Being in such close proximity to neighboring homes and businesses made odor control imperative.

“It was something we needed to do to manage the manure,” says Rogers. “It’s a huge deal, being this close to town.”

Homestead’s commitment to being a

“It was something we needed to do to manage the manure.

It’s a huge deal, being this close to town.”

1

2

3

4

5

6

— RYAN ROGERS

responsible neighbor meant finding an alternative to storing animal waste in open lagoons that not only smell awful, but fill the air with greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change, while also posing a threat to groundwater.

Enter Homestead’s utility provider, Northern Indiana Public Service Co. NIPSCO’s feed-in tariff program turned a problem (dealing with massive amounts of cow manure) into an opportunity and a significant new source of revenue. NIPSCO offered Homestead a 15-year contract to turn manure into electric power at a rate per kilowatt that made good business sense.

“All the energy we produce is sold to NIPSCO,” says Rogers. “It’s a really good rate, and we took advantage of it.”

That rate, along with the availability of grant funding from the federal government, made it feasible for Homestead to make the several million dollar investment needed to acquire the anaerobic digesters and generating system that make the biogas recovery possible. The system is calculated to pay for itself in five years.

The Environmental Protection Agency reports that approximately 250 livestock farms in the United States have installed biogas recovery systems, like the one at Homestead. According to an article by Mira Oberman in AFP’s Business Insider, that leaves roughly 8,000 dairy and hog farms in the United States that, thanks to their size, could still take advantage of this technology. The EPA estimates these farms should be able to generate enough electricity to light over a million homes.

1 and 2: Waste is collected from the dairy and pumped to a remote site, where it ferments in two tanks. 3. Anaerobic digesters and a generating system (shown) make biogas recovery possible. 4. Extra methane is burned off. 5. Slurry from the green tanks is returned to the farm where water is pressed out. 6. Any leftover grass in the waste is then dried and used as bedding for the cows.

FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

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“There’s quite a few digesters within a two-hour drive,” says Rogers of this growing trend, adding that 1,500 to 2,000 cows now seems like the “magic number” necessary for making power feasible on farms.

“The economics of it work better with larger numbers of cows,” he says, “but you can make it work with 500.”

The challenge is to find local utilities with the foresight to pay a competitive rate for power, as NIPSCO is doing. Be that as it may, Rogers believes there are still plenty of reasons for farms to make the investment: “Local providers may not pay as advantageous a rate per kilowatt (as NIPSCO), but you can still generate your own power, improve nutrient management, provide livestock bedding and do odor control.”

Here’s how the system works: Cow manure is collected at the dairy, then sent through a 2,000 foot pipeline (more on that in a moment) to mixing tanks that empty into two large anaerobic digesters. The manure is heated and treated with microbes to

A retention pond holds excess water from the methane-producing process.

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FRED POLLERT Specializing in Farm & Real Estate Auctions

AUCTION

We will sell at auction the following described real estate-farm ground of approx. 111.56 acres total M or L (100.04 Tillable Acres) In Section 1, T5N, R5E, Washington Twp., Jackson Co., IN Located at corner of County Roads 200 N (Yankee Road) & 700 E follow-signs

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2015 AT 10:00 A.M.

AUCTION TO BE HELD AT DUDLEYTOWN CONSERVATION CLUB 111.56 ACRES +/- IN WASHINGTON TWP., JACKSON CO. , IN

ning, the biggest challenge involved pumpproduce methane gas, carbon dioxide and ing manure the 2,000 feet from the dairy oxygen. The methane is captured and pulled to the digesters. “It’s not like pumping any into the engine room, where two Caterpillar other substance out there,” he says. “There’s 3512 generators are running 24/7, 365 days not a lot of experience pumping manure a year, making electricity. that far.”

“Producing methane off the manure is A couple of engineering firms were the key factor,” Rogers says. “That’s what it’s enlisted for the project, and the Homestead all about. It’s taking the manure, treating it crew added their own know-how. The and making a product that’s ready to use, as Indiana Department of Environmental well as getting other products downstream.

Management was also involved. “Anything That’s what’s amazing to me. You take manure touches, IDEM has to look at,” Rogmanure — it stinks — you put it in a storage ers explains. bin. It naturally wants to digest and make Eventually a safe and methane. We’re speeding effective line that, in some that up. We’re manufacturplaces, runs as deep as 25 ing methane.”

Homestead feet underground, was Rogers sees this process Green Energy installed, using PVC pipe. within the larger context 11505 13th Road “We had to make it work, of the family’s farming Plymouth no matter what,” Rogers operation. “It’s a totally (574) 952-1987 recalls. green energy cycle,” he Another positive outsays. “You’re raising your come of Homestead’s leap crop, feeding your animals, into energy production has been its impact making electricity off a capital resource, on the dairy’s public image. Homestead has putting it right back on the ground and domade a point of inviting local citizens to an ing it all over again.” open house to see how the system works.

Homestead’s cows are now bedded on They continue to schedule private tours. biofiber, a byproduct of the process. “We “The community wants to know what’s godon’t use sand or sawdust (for bedding),” ing on,” Rogers says. “And they like it.” says Rogers. “We use biofiber out of the “This isn’t new technology by any digester. The cows really like it. They like means,” he observes, noting the similarities sand, but it creates more wear and tear on to wastewater treatment plants. “They’ve the dairy.” been making these generators for years.

Other byproducts include CO2 and water They’ve been making digesters for years, that can be channeled to help run greentoo. It’s just the last 10 years the agriculture houses, and manure pellets that can be side has been getting hold of it and making burned for heat. something. There’s a lot of energy potential Rogers says that of all the work involved on farms.” in getting Homestead’s system up and run-

GROUND TO BE SOLD: The real estate-farm ground to be sold consists of approx. 111.56 acres total M or L that is divided into three (3) tracts in Section 1, T5N, R5E, Washington Twp., Jackson Co., IN. Tract 1 consists of approx. 31.77 Acres M or L in Sec. 1, T5N, R5E, Washington Twp., Jackson Co. Located at corner of Co. Rd. 200 N. (Yankee Rd.) & Co. Rd. 700 E, IN All Tillable Soils consist of: Dubois Silt Loam; Peoga Silt Loam.

Tract 2 consists of approx. 61.99 Acres M or L in Sec. 1, T5N, R5E, Washington Twp., Jackson Co., IN All Tillable. Soils consist of: Dubois Silt Loam; Peoga Silt Loam; Zipp Variant Clay Loam.

Tract 3 EXCELLENT BUILDING SITES with Rural Water on North side of Yankee Rd. consists of approx. 16.28 Acres M or L in Sec. 1, T5N, R5E, Washington Twp., Jackson Co., IN Approx 10.0 Acres Woods & 6.28 Tillable Acres. Soils consist of: Haubstadt Silt Loam; Wilhite Silty Clay.

Property Sold ‘AS IS’: The real estate is being offered for sale “as is”. The seller disclaims any warranties of fitness for any particular purpose. Potential buyers will be expected to have fully inspected the real estate prior to the sale and should thereby satisfy themselves of the condition of the real estate. All statements in this offer concerning the property are intended to be only generally descriptive. Measurements and acreage that are listed herein are approximate.

The ground will be offered in three (3) individual tracts, any combination of tracts, and as a whole, and will sell however it produces the most money for the seller.

Viewing the Property: The property may be viewed, or you may pick up an information packet, by calling Fred Pollert at Pollerts Inc., 404 N. Chestnut St., Seymour, IN 47274 at (812) 522-2112 Terms of Sale: Cash, clear of all liens and encumbrances, including all taxes due and payable in 2015 and all prior taxes. Buyers will pay taxes due and payable beginning May, 2016 and all taxes thereafter.

CURRENT ANNUAL TAXES ON ALL THREE (3) TRACTS $2,180.92 - REVISED TAXES PER ASSESSOR ON PACkETS PREVIOUSLY SENT OUT. (NO EXEMPTIONS & NO DITCH ASSESSMENT) Sealed bids may be delivered to Pollerts Inc., 404 N. Chestnut St., Seymour, Indiana 47274, or brought to the auction site (Dudleytown Conservation Club) day of sale. All bids will be opened at 10:00 AM on Saturday, November 7, 2015 at the auction site (Dudleytown Conservation Club). After opening the bids, any bona-fide bidder will be allowed to increase their bid in a public auction-type manner. If no acceptable bid is received, the sale will continue from day to day thereafter, until the real estate is sold. The successful buyer(s) will deposit 10% of the purchase price upon acceptance of the bid and shall pay the balance at closing (approx. 30 days). If successful purchaser fails to complete the purchase, they will forfeit the 10% deposit as liquidated damages. Sellers to provide an owners’ title insurance policy and deed. Possession immediate upon closing. Seller reserves the right to reject any and all bids.

Announcements made day of sale take precedence over printed material.

AUCTION TO BE HELD AT DUDLEYTOWN CONSERVATION CLUB Terms: Cash or Good Check . No Credit Cards . No Buyer’s Premium . Photo ID Required Not Responsible for Accidents .

Restroom Available

OWNERS: BROTHERS & SISTERS OF WILLIS POLLERT Visit our Website at www.pollerts.com for other auction information.

POLLERTS INC.

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Real estate • InsuRance • auctIons Web site at www.pollerts.com FrED PollErt, Visit Cai,our auctioneer #au01042348 for other auction information.

MarViN ruMPH, assoc. auctioneer #au01035173 EVaN EggErsMaN, assoc. auctioneer #au11200122 404 N. Chestnut st., P.o. Box 217, seymour, iN 47274

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»

A Midwinter

OASIS Sustainable Local Foods brings yearround indoor growing to Indy’s east side

By Shawndra Miller Photography by Josh Marshall

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FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

INSIDE A DARK WAREHOUSE, a long row of potted basil sits under intensely bright LED lights. The glare contrasts sharply with the building’s general gloom, but soon the entire space will be clean and bright, teeming with hydroponic-fed crops.

Welcome to the future of state-of-the-art urban farming.

Sustainable Local Foods, a for-profit company originating in Toledo, Ohio, has opened its first hydroponic farm in Indianapolis. Founder Jim Bloom, an Ohio native and soon-to-be-Hoosier, partnered with Englewood Community Development Corp. in obtaining an Urban Agriculture Grant from the city of Indianapolis to purchase the building on South Rural Street. His team has been cleaning

Basil. Inset: Mitch Roper, a grower for Sustainable Local Foods, talks with Nate Hershey of City Life Wheels, the property’s former tenant.

and renovating the 61,000-square-foot warehouse, readying it for its new role as a food-producing center.

Hydroponics allows for year-round growing under controlled climate conditions. Envisioning the facility as a midwinter oasis of green, Bloom says, “Come February, when it’s 20 below outside, this will be the place to be.”

Though the interior’s walls and windows appear to be an impenetrable shade of black now, in short order that will all change, Bloom says. He points to the clerestories, covered over by a previous owner, which will soon allow natural light into the building again. “One of the things we’ll be in the process of doing,” he says, “is sandblasting all the grit, sucking that up, and painting

everything white so it will all reflect that natural light.”

When all is said and done, the cavernous space will fill with rows and rows of basil, leafy greens and microgreens. It’s a big step up for a warehouse once used variously as an automotive shop and a storehouse for forgotten office furniture and car parts.

Indeed, part of Sustainable Local Foods’ mission is to help bolster urban neighborhoods by turning underused buildings into community assets.

Bloom, whose background is not agriculture but vocational rehabilitation, started this initiative in Toledo with a goal of job creation. He is committed to offering employment to people who have trouble finding it, such as veterans, ex-offenders and

Why Hydroponics? » Aside from protection from the vagaries of weather, there are many advantages to growing food in a hydroponic system. » Lower water usage. » Higher yields. » Higher essential oil content of certain herbs, like basil.

Sustainable Local Foods uses LED grow lights that only emit red and blue light, resulting in a magenta glow. Below, from left: Meghan Mobley sprays plants with a fungicide. Mustard seeds. A storage room with equipment to be sorted and assembled.

» Year-round growing. » Consistent yields. » Efficient use of space through vertical growing.

For more information, visit sustainablelocalfoods.com.

residents lacking reliable transportation.

So not only will the building’s new life help the community, and not only will countless pounds of produce be grown close to where it is consumed, a dozen or so new jobs will be created. A triple win.

Especially since Bloom plans to partner with hospitals and schools, as well as local restaurants, to put freshly harvested vegetables on the menu. In that way the most vulnerable among the population — children growing up in food deserts, people with medical issues — will have access to nutrition they might not otherwise receive. Produce also will be sold at area Kroger stores.

The facility will offer students at The Crossing, an alternative high school housed

in the other side of the building, a chance to take part in daily operations. The school’s job training program will partner with Sustainable Local Foods in creating opportunities for its 40 students.

The bottom line? Bloom says it’s about filling a critical need. “We really believe it’s essential for communities to have fresh produce,” he says. “Local food is not just a fad, but an economic need and a public health need.” In an era of increasingly erratic weather patterns, produce recalls and food insecurity, he says, indoor farms like these offer a sensible solution.

He expects the near-eastside site to be fully operational by March and will start the first hiring phase in November.

And this location is just the starting

point. There’s potential for many more Sustainable Local Foods operations all over town. Bloom envisions a half-dozen growing facilities, each averaging 30,000 to 40,000 square feet of space. For every 10,000-square-foot unit, five full-time growers will be needed.

For now, at this startup site, basil plants in perlite-filled buckets hook into the demonstration system in two long rows.

Full-spectrum lighting turns the leaves a bluish shade. A temporary white tent over the entire system protects the plants during the renovations.

Just as the building itself is in the midst of major repurposing, some items found on site are being upcycled as well. Pallet racking, for example, will become convert-

ible growing units. Each will hold four tiers of plants in one vertical space, effectively quadrupling the square footage of each 80-by-20-foot corridor.

The LED lights overhead are 85 percent more efficient than the typical growers’ lights and are even programmable. Each receives a “light recipe” based on the crop’s needs and adjusts depending on the amount of natural light reaching the plants.

Ashley Stark, who started with the company in Toledo, works on site with the small crew that’s begun converting the dark space into an airy haven. She notes that the basil plants originated in Toledo and were transported here mainly to give organic certifiers and others a preview of what’s to come. The plants are near the end of their FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

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Microgreens, mustard greens and kale.

life cycle. After the final harvest, a new crop will be transplanted from the nursery, a small side room where tiny basil seedlings are emerging in neat rows.

“It doesn’t look like much now,” she says, indicating the line of buckets holding basil, “but when we were in full swing in Toledo, we were getting a hundred pounds a week, per system.”

Pipes stretch across the floor and feed the plant roots a precise mix of potassium, phosphorus, nitrogen, magnesium and the like. The pipes connect to vats at the far end of the corridor. A complex web of wires and pipes links the system together through a “Fertroller.” This machine allows the team to track electrical conductivity, pH and temperature of the substances.

It’s a high-tech setup, and growing crops this way gives greater control over many elements. But hydroponic growing also means a much higher sensitivity to any disruption. “If something happens and (the Fertroller) is not pumping water,” Stark says, “it’s drastic. And it’s a lot more sensitive to the light. No manmade light

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Equipment that provides water and nutrients to the plants growing inside.

will ever compare to the sun.” This means that proper height and spacing of the light fixtures are critical.

Obviously there’s no need for irrigation when the roots are bathed in a nutrient solution, and weeding is a thing of the past, too. But Mitch Roper, who’s on the team of growers, says farming this way is actually quite similar to farming in the field. Just as in any farming operation, the ultimate goal is plant health. “The main difference,” he says, “is instead of using soil and the nutrients that occur naturally in soil, and water to carry those nutrients, we’re actually giving them nutrients directly through these emitters.”

What doesn’t change with growing indoors? Pests and diseases, unfortunately. “We have the same fusarium worries, spider mites, things like that,” Stark says. “Everything you would see outside, you can get inside.”

Sustainable Local Foods only uses certified organic inputs, including the occasional pesticide needed to get rid of insects.

(Scouting for pests and disease is one of the key tasks of a grower and requires climbing

on a scissor lift to inspect the upper reaches of the farm.)

Regardless of whether the concern is food safety, food miles or any other rationale for eating locally, Roper says hydroponics offers an answer. As a resident of the neighborhood, he is well-acquainted with some of the issues facing would-be urban farmers. “We live in an area where we can’t even safely grow leafy greens in the soil,” he says. “So this is a viable way for us to farm in a neighborhood where the soil is toxic.”

Then there’s the (formerly) limited season of local produce.

“One of the coolest things about hydroponics,” he says, “is it really allows you to have your guilty pleasure of, ‘I want tomatoes in the winter,’ and you can get actual fresh-off-the-vine tomatoes that are local, out of season, because they’re inside your perfect growing area.”

He looks forward to the day that neighborhood eateries and grocery chains carry Sustainable Local Foods produce. “Our stuff’s going to truly be local, like grown around the block.”

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31

North Montgomery FFA’s Owen Coon, co-vice president; Makhalea Young, president; and Dylan Michael, co-vice president.

In the Classroom Local FFA chapters

Service-Minded FFA students at North Montgomery High School are ready to serve

By Catherine Whittier Photography by Josh Marshall 32

FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

F

FFA MEMBERS At North Montgomery High School (NM) in Crawfordsville “have caught the bug for community service,” according to Nancy Bell, FFA adviser and agriculture teacher.

She explains that while members have diverse interests and participate in many areas, such as livestock contests and Career Development Events, “just being there to serve others” is at the core of what the chapter does.

For the past four years, NM’s FFA, which currently has 50 members in Grades 6 through 12, has partnered with Kids Against Hunger in Waynetown to package meals to feed hungry children and their families. Last year, students packed over 12,096 meals into 56 boxes for distribution. “A lot of them (the meals) stay locally, but some of them go internationally,” says Makhalea Young, NM FFA chapter president and District 4 student adviser. “We had a local missionary travel to Haiti a few years back, and she found one of the boxes that we packaged. So

that was pretty neat. One of the biggest things that we have taken back from this service project is the fact that our impact is worldwide.” Beck’s Hybrids, Cargill Inc. and Crop Production Services provide the financial support, which has enabled the chapter to sponsor food for the project, and this year FFA members also came up with a clever plan to raise a little cash on their own.

They hosted a “Kiss the Pig” event, which invited the entire school to participate by donating spare change. Teachers signed up to put their names on individual totes that were used to collect coins. The three teachers who inspired the most contributions had to kiss a pig. “We took a piglet up on the stage and had them kiss it in front of the school,” Young says. “Everybody seemed to enjoy it, and we earned over $100 to put back towards the program.”

Another much anticipated service project for NM FFA members involves an annual trek to Kroger to purchase Christmas

Local farmers plant, grow and harvest crops on the plot. Proceeds are donated to the North Montgomery FFA.

dinner for two families in need. The families, who live in the school corporation and remain anonymous, are chosen with the help of the high school nurse. “There is no budget,” explains Bell. Students are simply required to create a nice menu based on basic information they are provided about the family.

FFA members are really eager and excited to take care of families who are less fortunate than themselves, according to Bell. “Students ask me, ‘Is this enough?’ and I’ll ask them, ‘Well, is it enough? You’re teenagers, you know how you eat. They usually go back and find some more things; they get really involved,” says Bell.

The chapter also partners with the local Nourish program, which provides backpacks full of food for students who utilize the free or reduced price meal program on school days, but may not have enough food to eat at home on the weekends. FFA members help to pack the backpacks three times per year.

The NM chapter also invites other student organizations to join in making 60 to 70 no-sew blankets to be distributed at Riley Hospital for Children during the Christmas holiday season. Students compete to see who can make the most blankets the fastest. “It’s really touching to come in and see that they’re going all out with their

hearts and doing something for people they don’t even know,” says Bell.

While community service is at the center of so much of the activity that takes place, teaching others about agriculture is also an important focus. “One of the major things I like about FFA is getting out into the community and informing them of everything in ag — just teaching them about agriculture,” says Dylan Michael, NM junior and chapter vice president. “I hope to be a leader in ag, paving the way. I’m looking for an ag engineering degree in the future.”

FFA officers have the opportunity to teach fourth-graders about the water cycle, in conjunction with the Montgomery

County Soil and Water District, during the annual Cain’s Conservation Day, which takes place in Darlington.

Students also teach what they have learned during Farm Safety Day, Agriculture Days and during the biennial Petting Zoo. “I’ve had an opportunity to travel around the nation teaching and educating others, and that is really what I want to pursue and continue to do,” says Young, who speaks highly of her experiences with both FFA and 4-H. Young, who is in her senior year at NM, has taken many agriculture classes and is in her fifth year of participating in a Supervised Agricultural Experience, under Bell’s supervision. Young plans FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

33

Coon, Young and Michael enter the greenhouse where 500 poinsettias are growing in preparation for this year’s holiday fundraiser.

to study agriculture communications and education at the college level.

Bell is grateful for the 14-member advisory board, which provides her with much support, including help with budgeting and prioritizing projects. Students bring new ideas to be added to the list of things the chapter does. “I ask the student for details and a plan,” she explains. “They come to me for guidance and direction, and I’m up front with them. I’ll either say, ‘No, that’s not going to go,’ or ‘Yes, but we need to tweak it some.’” Bell then takes the idea to the FFA officers’ meeting for approval and finally to the ag board, which will approve it for this year or next. This is the path that the past chapter president took with his idea to host its first community breakfast, during National FFA week in 2014.

In 2006, the ag board recommended that the school hire an assistant to help Bell with FFA activities, which take place primarily before or after school. The assistant provides invaluable support for Bell, who also counts on many professionals in the community to

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help teach specific skills, such as advanced welding techniques.

In addition to working on multiple community service projects, the NM FFA chapter raises funds for activities and travel.

“When I first started, the kids said to me, ‘We’re always paying for stuff,’ so I said, ‘OK, let’s try to figure out ways that we don’t always have to pay,’” Bell recalls. “When I got here, we were $1,800 in debt. I was constantly getting bills. I felt bad because the kids were always paying, but now we’re at the point that every June we go on an achievement trip.”

Each student must sell 100 items (fruit and greenhouse sales combined) to earn the privilege of taking the two-day achievement trip to Holiday World. “Their tickets and hotel rooms are paid for,” Bell explains.

In March of each year, the chapter also takes a retreat trip to the FFA Leadership Center in Trafalgar, where members receive coaching from state FFA officers. Again, all expenses are paid with the exception of the pitch-in meals they plan together.

NM FFA raises over 500 poinsettias, which they sell, along with Florida fruit, during the holiday season. In addition, members raise flowers, vegetables and bedding plants in the spring. The chapter also generates income through its 8-acre farm plot, which is managed by a local farmer. “My kids are very hands on, very excited, and once they take it, they run with it,” says Bell.

NM FFA has received the Gold Chapter Award, or “Big Ten,” which is awarded to the top 10 percent of the chapters in the state. “The award is based off of how active your chapter is and what you’re active in, not participating in contests, but what you’re focusing on developing in your students,” says Bell. “My goal, ever since I began teaching, was to be, one time, Big Ten, so it’s amazing that we’ve been a Big Ten Chapter for four years in a row.

“I ask a great deal from my kids,” she adds. “Once they become a member, they know they’ve got to be dedicated, because I’m going to push them, and I’m going to ask a lot of them.”

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35

CAMPUS

»

Hagerstown project turns a local school into an operational farm

By CJ Woodring

HAGERSTOWN, with a population of fewer than 1,800, is nearly a blip on the state map. But an agriculture project initiated two years ago at the local junior/ senior high school has gained national recognition.

The project involves raising cows on campus year-round as a hands-on, integrated learning experience, while also providing meat for school lunches and educating students — many of whom have never met a cow up close and personal — to the farm-to-fork process.

It’s a concept that may well represent the face of future high school agricultural classes.

Initially called “Where’s the Beef?” the project is alternately known as Hagerstown’s Beef Farm, the Hagerstown Junior/Senior High School Beef Project and the Nettle Creek School Corporation Beef Project.

And it all began with a budget shortfall and a long-held vision of faculty members Nathan Williamson and Jerry Hillman.

CREATING CASH COWS

Public school budgetary cuts are the norm in the United States, where funding for most states still lags behind figures received before the 2007 recession, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. In Indiana, inflation-adjusting spending per pupil for elementary/secondary education had declined 3.1 percent since 2008, as of fiscal year 2013.

A decline in students — Hagerstown has lost 66 students since 2010 — translated to even less per-pupil spending and a mandate from the local school superintendent to cut $350,000 from the district’s budget.

36

FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

Five teachers subsequently were laid off, a preengineering program was scrapped and the high school pool was drained in spring and summer months to save heating and chemical costs. In addition, staff was asked to come up with ideas to save even more money.

That’s when Williamson, an eight-year agricultural mechanics educator, and Maintenance Director Hillman spoke up.

“This is something Jerry and I had talked about for years,” Williamson says, “but never really pushed too hard. So when we saw this opportunity, we kind of jumped at it.”

A lifelong farmer, Williamson raises beef cows on the farm where he grew up, situated near Hillman’s farm. The program the duo envisioned involved raising cows that would play an integral role in students’ agriculture and science classes while also providing meat for school lunches. The annual savings to cafeteria costs, they figured, would be at least $2,000.

In 2013 the school board approved the program, which is open to sophomores, juniors and seniors, and is planned to eventually become self-supporting.

Mark Childs has been an administrator at the school for 31 years, the past 25 as principal. Although not a farmer, the Hagerstown resident spent his early years on a Grant County farm. While understanding the project would garner local recognition, Childs says he didn’t envision the total scope.

“I knew it would bring local recognition, but not to the degree that it has beyond that,” he says.

“Support has been outstanding, whether in the local community or surrounding counties in lending financial and verbal support. And this is throughout

the state and even nationally. It’s really been more than I had anticipated.”

Williamson and Kara Hendrickson, a second-year agricultural educator and Hagerstown’s FFA adviser, run the program.

Hendrickson grew up on a farm in Charlestown and is in her second year of teaching. She believes the project, initiated shortly before she arrived, is a great learning experience for students.

“They absolutely love it,” she says. “It’s definitely a hands-on experience and stands out from what everybody else is doing and gives us more recognition.”

“Kara and Nathan are both young and relate to the kids well, and they both have the backgrounds the kids need for this type of program,” Hillman says. “It’s a real positive thing, and something different that most schools can’t do.”

FARM TO SCHOOL

Integrating agriculture into school curriculum is not a new concept: According to a USDA census, 25 to 50 percent of Indiana’s schools participate in farm-to-school activities, with another 13 percent planning future participation.

Among the state’s approximately 293 public school districts, 245 completed the USDA Farm to School Census. Overall, 82 Hoosier school districts — about 655 individual schools with an estimated 402,732 students — are bringing the farm to school.

Hagerstown’s project, however, is a cow of a different color: Rather than bringing the farm to school, the school has become the farm.

Agriculture mechanics class initially built a fence around 10 acres of school property, at which time, PHOTOS SUBMITTED.

Williamson says, faculty was in it for the long haul.

Through sponsorships and donations from local banks and community members, organizers bought and processed the first seven cows, kick-starting the project that officially began in the fall of 2014.

“We try and source our calves from one or two sources,” Williamson says. “Then we have them butchered and sell the meat to the school cafeteria for our product cost or whatever replacement costs will be. Then we go out and buy as many more as we can afford.

It’s a perpetual project.”

Beginning in about October last year and throughout this summer, students rotated feeding and caring for eight cows. The maintenance department oversaw them from a distance, assisting as needed.

Williamson says the original cows were butchered in September; nine replacements are already lined up for the 2016-17 school year.

“The goal is to get 10 or 11 cows,” Hillman says.

“Then we’d be at 100 percent from what we’ve used in the past, poundage-wise, because we lose a lot of the better cuts of beef by grinding it all up.”

As for student lunches, Williamson says within the first year they came close to the projected $2,000 savings.

MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

The school received a $14,000 rural community school federal grant this spring, through which school leaders purchased an animal handling facility that restrains cows for general maintenance or health care, while also protecting students from startled or distressed animals.

“That allows a vet to come out, who preconditions, deworms and vaccinates the calves so they’re ready to go,” Williamson says. “Next year, we’ll vaccinate them ourselves, and the tub, alleyway and chute will make it safe for cows and students.”

Once that’s in place, activity monitors — ear tags that track each cow’s movements — will be used. “The monitor will take the cow’s temperature continuously and load data into a computer where the handling facility is,” Williamson says. “There’s also a scale on the chute that tracks the animal’s rate of gain and uploads the cow’s weight, so you can use that activity monitor to find out how often we can weigh or handle them without stressing them. It’s a good learning experience for the students.”

Gathered data will be presented to the math class, broadening the number of departments that are involved, Hendrickson says. “This is a great way for the entire student body to be interactive.”

The school will begin offering an advanced life science course next year, Williamson says, with successful test completion resulting in credit toward Purdue University’s College of Agriculture.

Tenth-grade ag student Haley Baker lives on a beef farm owned by her parents, Jason and Raquel Baker. Currently enrolled in Hendrickson’s agriculture class, the 15-year-old plans to study animal science, which Hendrickson also teaches, next year.

Baker says FFA membership has informed her career choice — she plans to become an ag instructor — but believes the beef project has helped students who lack her background.

“It’s a great thing we’ve come up with, not only for the kids, and helping them understand the process it takes to get beef to the cafeteria, but it’s great for the community,” she says.

Williamson lauded the project’s overall success.

“We were just tickled to death with the way things went last year,” he says. “The only thing we want to do is just add more components to the program and build on what we’ve done. It’s been a very worthwhile project.”

“The real neat thing is students realize the meat is going to end up on their lunch plate. Even today, adults don’t necessarily know where their food comes from,” Hendrickson says. “We think it’s great they’re learning that connection at this young age and can tell others about it. If other states picked it up, it would be a great learning opportunity and a great addition to agriculture in the classroom.”

The project is also on track to becoming selfsupporting, as initially envisioned. Overall, says principal Childs, it’s been an outstanding program.

“I think learning through application, whether in science, math or technology or whatever, is the best way for students to learn,” he explains. “This project is a great example of that.”

Hagerstown Jr. Sr. High School is located at 701 Baker Road, Hagerstown. Call Williamson or Hendrickson at (765) 489-4511 for more information on the project.

FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

37

Tinker Coffee Co.

212 E. 16th St., Indianapolis. tinkercoffee.com The stories of Hoosier artists, producers, merchants and entrepreneurs

The Brew Club

C

Local coffee purveyors aim to achieve the perfect roast BY NICK RASSI

COFFEA CANEPHORA AND COFFEA ARABICA thrive in exotic locales. These plants, which yield the coffee beans that fuel many Hoosiers’ mornings, hail from far-flung points in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and South America.

Though coffee-farming locales are far from the Midwest, that’s not to say Hoosiers don’t have a hand in the coffee trade. The beans, which come to the United States in an unroasted form, are being processed by a growing number of Indiana roasters, who are happy to satisfy the evolved palates and demand for artisan beans of today’s coffee consumers.

Selling their roasts and, often, their brews in accompanying cafes, Indiana-based roasters are making their marks in the coffee world by providing what is, truly, an elevated cup o’ joe.

38

FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

During his travels for work, Jeff Johnson would pop into coffee shops; he then brought these coffees back to his family. His brother-in-law, Stephen Hall, also fell under the spell of the exotic beans, and at the beginning of 2014 and after plenty of research, they began roasting the type of coffee they wanted to drink, Hall explains.

After brewing a batch of their own beans and tweaking aspects of the roasting process, they sent the fruits of their labor to their friends for honest feedback. As they learned and grew as roasters, they began using software to track and plot temperatures and pressures.

In November they opened Tinker Coffee Co. Beans to know: in Indianapolis. Since then, Conduit Espresso, it has grown month by a dark roast that’s month. Johnson and Hall sold year-round. began offering tasting classes shortly after opening; this gave them the opportunity to share their knowledge and passion for coffee with others. “Once you’ve experienced the differences, you want to explore this new world,” Hall says.

The Abbey Coffee Co.

1500 South Western Ave., Marion, abbeycoffee.com Chris DeMarse worked in the campus coffee shop during his time at Indiana Wesleyan University but saw his job mostly as a social experience; he didn’t really like coffee.

Now, he has seen the way coffee can change the world.

After graduating with a degree in ministry, he joined a local church not far from his university. To round out his post-college income, he worked with a roasting company. “It was at a time where there was a push for sustainable trading and transparency of trade,” DeMarse says. “I fell in love with Beans to know: the missional aspect of coffee.”

Community He visited farms in Costa Rica, Blend, a balPanama and Ethiopia to see the anced, sweet way the coffee farmers worked blend from varidiligently with their hands to ous producers. pick and sort the beans. He saw how ethical trading was changing the lives of people around the world. “It’s not charity,” he says.

“It’s just not taking advantage of them.”

In 2012, DeMarse founded The Abbey Coffee Co., in Marion. He wanted to roast and sell coffee that told a story; in the coffee shop that accompanies the roaster, he has provided a space for community connections.

PHOTOS SUBMITTED.

Hopscotch Coffee

235 W. Dodds St., No. 102, Bloomington, hopscotchcoffee.com

Crownlinks Coffee & Tea

Columbus, crownlinkscoffee.com Working out of a trailer he designed and built himself, Wayne King roasts coffee solely to benefit Haiti, which he first visited during a mission trip in the 1980s. Struck by the island nation’s beauty and its poverty, he wanted to help; in 2000, when he wrapped up his career in financial planning, King built coffee roasting into his retirement plans.

And then he made the venture mobile.

“My wife and I are retired,” he says. “She wanted to enjoy travel, so I designed a portable roaster.”

The trailer-roaster hybrid allows King to take his busiBeans to know: ness on the road; EcoCafé Haiti, which the roaster spends is grown and processed six months of the meticulously in year in Columbus northern Haiti. and six months in Florida. He primarily sells through his website, where he offers individual bags of coffee and coffee subscriptions.

Benefits to Haiti are twofold: King typically buys his coffee beans from Haitian farmers, supporting the Caribbean agriculture. Since its inception, he has donated all the proceeds from Crownlinks Coffee to Haitian Christian radio station Radio 4VEH. “I do what I do to see change in Haiti,” King says.

Hopscotch Coffee is the only café and roastery in Bloomington. Since its opening in October, Jane Kupersmith has headed up the roasting.

“Our coffee is really smooth,” she says. “We roast in a way that removes bitterness. We take the time to sort the beans and pay attention to the process.”

Along with making sure the roast is remarkable, Beans to Kupersmith focuses much know: of her energy into finding Ethiopia fair-trade beans. She searches Hambella, for ethical sources of coffee, from a including farming groups traceable that prioritize women’s rights farming and environmental issues. cooperative.

One blend from Sumatra is sourced from a women’s cooperative farm; proceeds from sales go back into local education. “It has an all-female supply chain,” Kupersmith says, something almost unheard of in the industry.

Attached to the roaster is the café, run by Kupersmith’s business partner, Jeff Grant. Although the café is not in downtown Bloomington, it receives a significant portion of pedestrian traffic from the commuters in surrounding neighborhoods. “The physical space is really beautiful,” Kupersmith says.

“One of our benches is reclaimed subfloor from a 110-year-old building.”

Rex Roasting Co.

900 Wabash Ave., Terre Haute, rexroasting.com The origins of Rex Roasting Co. date to 1879, when Terre Haute-based baking ingredient manufacturer Clabber Girl Corp., a branch of Hulman & Co., began selling roasted coffee. Sold under the name Arex, Hulman’s coffee was packaged with a crown logo and proclaimed to be “fit for a king.”

The company stopped selling coffee in 1968, until Hulman president, Gary Morris, decided to transform the first floor of the Clabber Girl office space into a coffee roastery, resurrecting its historic brand in 2009. The name was tweaked to Rex Beans to know: Roasting Co.; the crown Rex Brickyard Blend, made specifically to celebrate graces the company’s the Indiana racing culture, packaging once again. features smooth and sweet Chris Weber roasts flavors throughout. for Rex Roasting Co., creating new blends, and has grown the company’s bean profile to include coffee sources from Central America, South America and Africa. The roaster’s walls have large windows where patrons to the adjacent Clabber Girl Bake Shop can watch Weber as he processes the beans.

Rex Coffee is sold at a number of restaurants in and around Terre Haute; the beans can be purchased onsite, online or in a number of Indiana Marsh grocery stores and Whole Foods locations.

Bee Coffee Roasters

5510 Lafayette Road and 201 S. Capitol Ave., Suite 110, both in Indianapolis, beecoffeeroasters.com

Beans to know: Espresso Artemis is a consistent favorite and has notes of both citrus and chocolate.

When Andy Gilman met future business partner BJ Davis at an art gallery, Gilman was pursuing a career as an artist, and Davis was in the coffee business. She had managed a coffee network in Indianapolis and competed in the first few barista championships. Davis had recently purchased a coffee shop near Indy’s Eagle Creek Park, and she invited Gilman to work for her as a barista. A few months in and Gilman was obsessed with coffee.

He left for a brief foray at a roaster in Zionsville; he returned to Davis’ enterprises, with some savings, and invested in the roaster her partner had already set up. He and Davis formed Bee Coffee Roasters. The roasting work is done on the northwest side of Indianapolis at the original shop. The beans are sold there and at the company’s downtown coffee shop, where business is booming, thanks in no small part to the nearby convention center.

FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

39

Jim Gapinski in the Heartland Growers greenhouse.

True Colors

To Jim Gapinski, success comes from caring for people

By Jon Shoulders | Photography by Josh Marshall

40

FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

J

Heartland Growers

LOCATION: 2621 E. 186th St.,

Westfield

PRODUCTS: Flowers and plants, including geraniums, mums, tulips, lilies, poinsettias and ferns, along with herbs and vegetables (call for produce availability).

INFORMATION: (317) 896-9355,

heartlandgrowers.com

JIM GAPINSKI BELIEVES the key to a successful business, and ultimately a successful life, can be found by simply contemplating a flower.

“When you think about a flower, you realize that it’s what you don’t see that is important,” Gapinski says. “It’s everything that’s going on underneath in the soil that makes the plant what it is. I think it’s the same with anything you do in life. What is behind the scenes of what you’re doing, and the way you treat people, is what matters.”

Gapinski has applied this philosophy throughout three decades of operating Heartland Growers, a Westfield-based wholesale and retail supplier of dozens of annual plant and flower varieties. Originally from Peru, Illinois, Gapinski recalls

Clockwise: Herbs growing at Heartland. Gapinski’s bee hives are each named after a grandchild. Aerial photo of Heartland Growers. Herbs ready for distribution.

accompanying his mother during trips to the local produce vendor for tomato plants as a youngster. “She’s always been quite a gardener, and my dad had a small farm where he did a little bit of corn and soybeans,” he says. “Looking back I can see the effect that being around all that had on me.

I just love plants, and to this day even when I go home from work that’s what I do. I have my own vegetables that I grow. There’s no question that this is what I should’ve been doing with my life.”

A summer job at a greenhouse during his years at Illinois Valley Community College further sparked Gapinski’s interest in all things horticultural, and after finishing school he spent eight years in Asheville, North Carolina, during which he began a

career in the greenhouse trade. In 1976, the same year he decided to head eastward to North Carolina, Gapinski’s brother-in-law opened a modest wholesale greenhouse business that grew to around 10 acres in Westfield — the same business Gapinski would eventually develop into what is currently the largest wholesale greenhouse operation in Indiana.

Upon returning to the Midwest in 1984, Gapinski acquired Heartland Growers from his brother-in-law, and for more than 30 years he has steadily cultivated the company into a multistate wholesale and retail plant powerhouse. In addition to his Westfield headquarters, Gapinski operates 12 acres of greenhouse space near Kalamazoo, Michigan, and six acres on Kentucky AvFARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

41

Clockwise: Lettuce. A generator runs the greenhouse’s grow lights when necessary. Parts of the hydroponic system.

enue in Indianapolis known as Crossroads Greenhouse. Gapinski employs around 100 people full time and hires an additional 70 to 80 seasonal employees each year during the spring and early summer.

“There’s been great leadership at the local level and the state level here in Indiana through the tough economic times that we’ve had since I took over the business,” says Gapinski, who served on Westfield’s planning commission for 15 years. “So luckily we’ve been able to continue to thrive. We’ve seen that when the economy is struggling a little bit, people tend to stay home and nest, and when they nest they want to get flowers and a barbecue and patio furniture instead of taking big vacations. So we’ve seen a deep appreciation for flowers and horticulture even in the tough times.”

42

FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

Gapinski’s temperature-controlled, double polyethylene greenhouse space spans 25 of the 40 total acres at Heartland Growers, filled with sprawling rows of plants that are delivered to a diverse local and regional customer base, including Lowe’s locations across four states, landscaping companies, grocery stores, flower shops and smaller greenhouse businesses. Geraniums, tulips, mums, poinsettias, ferns and seemingly countless additional plant types flourish even in the colder months within the expansive greenhouse, allowing the Heartland Growers staff to continually meet the demands of their equally expansive client list. At the entrance to the property blooms a trial garden that Gapinski named the Gardens at Heartland, where a large assortment of flowers is on constant display as a model

for visitors to enjoy and learn which colors and varieties mix well together.

Gapinski, who lives with his wife, Rose, on the Heartland Growers property, says five of his nine children are currently involved with the business, including his son Nick, who also lives on-site and serves as general manager. “I noticed pretty early on that my kids have a handle on the business aspect, but I always hoped they’d have the passion for it, and I think they do,” Gapinski says. “It has to be more than a job. It has to be a passion, because it’s such hard work and you’re never really done.”

Proudly proclaiming Heartland Growers to have been “green since before green was in,” Gapinski says he and his employees strive to recycle and reuse as much and as frequently as possible. “It was never going with a trend; it’s just who we are,” he

says. All the cardboard and water used at the facility are recycled, and much of the water used comes from on-site rainwater collection tanks. Biological pesticides are preferred in lieu of chemical-based pesticide sprays. Through a recycling program Gapinski established with Lowe’s, customers can drop off extra plastic flower and plant pots at their local Lowe’s Garden Center. “It works great because all that plastic doesn’t go to waste, and the owners are also happy because it brings even more people into their store,” he says.

Matt Maxwell, manager of Crossroads Greenhouse, says his wholesale facility has been heated via methane gas produced from garbage at a nearby landfill since he began working at the location 26 years ago.

“Jim’s always been ahead of the curve with being green and being innovative,” Max-

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THE LINDSAY ADVANTAGE well says. “He’s always looking at where he will need to be in the future and being proactive. He’s committed 100 percent to being successful, which is how he produces a good crop consistently.”

Always seeking ways to diversify and expand his horticultural expertise, Gapinski installed four beehives at Heartland Growers earlier this year to educate himself and others on bee behavior and pollination after Phil Gibson, a Noblesville resident and close friend, expressed interest in keeping his own beehive on the property. “Bee populations were on the decline in the last five to seven years, although apparently that decline has slowed a bit recently,” Gapinski says. “We put the bees here to have an actual living model of what makes a successful environment for them to thrive. We’ll also be trying to

learn more about controlling mites, which are actually more of a factor in the decline of bee colonies than people realize.”

A large portion of Gapinski’s time away from Heartland Growers is spent with the Indianapolis branch of the Midwest Food Bank, a company with six U.S. locations that distribute food to local food pantries.

Gapinski, who helped establish the Indianapolis branch in 2008 and also sits on the organization’s national board of directors, feels there is a common thread throughout his philanthropic efforts, his environmental awareness and his conviction that the strongest asset of any business must ultimately be its people. “It’s a sustainable approach that’s woven into everything,” he says. “You just can’t do business for business’s sake. It’s your life, and it has to be about caring for people.”

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CONTINUING EDUCATION

Ongoing Educational Opportunities Baby, it’s (almost) cold outside, and educational programs this month are turning inward as we prepare to survive another cold Indiana winter. Bloomington offers a fruit tree planting session, several PARP events focus on protecting pollinators, and a tea-tasting seminar highlights teas you can make from ingredients found right in your own backyard. The highlight of this month’s educational roundup is what is perhaps the biggest bee-centric event of the year: the Indiana Beekeepers Association Fall Conference.

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Seed Saving and Propagation

Looking to take the ISA certified arborist exam? Expect a review of the study guide and long discussion of the topics tested. Led by Lindsey Purcell, a Purdue urban forestry specialist, the workshop lasts about a day and a half, with the exam administered on the second day in the afternoon. Application for the exam is separate from application for this prep course — remember to register for both.

Time: 8 a.m. Location: Fort Harrison State Park, 6000 Post Road, Building 701, Indianapolis. Information: ag.purdue.edu

Bloomington hosts this introductory class on the ins and outs of seed saving and propagation. Learn how to prepare cuttings, encourage rooting and more. Sponsors for this course include Bloomingfoods, the Center for Sustainable Living and Hilltop Gardens, where the course is located. Time: 6 p.m.

Location: 2367 E. 10th St., Bloomington.

Information: (812) 349-3700

This bee-focused Private Applicator Recertification Program course covers topics like pesticide risks to habitat, pesticides in water studies, half-life of pesticides and drift watch. This course counts toward PARP credits for those updating their certified applicator credits. Time: 6:30 p.m. Location: Switzerland County Technology & Education Center, 708 W. Seminary St., Vevay. Information: (812) 427-3152

NOV. 6-7

Indiana Beekeepers Association Fall Conference Possibly the biggest bee-related event of the year, this two-day conference offers lectures, discussion panels and award ceremonies. Meet experienced beekeepers, plus participate in raffles, auctions and more. Topics include creating soaps and lotions, maintaining top bar hives and finding the perfect swarm. Location: Clifty Falls State Park, 2221 Clifty Drive, Madison.

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Conservation Tillage Meeting

Area II PARP Program

This PARP meeting covers establishment and termination of cover crops, aerial image use for nutrient and pesticide recommendations, herbicide classification and herbicide carryover. This course counts toward PARP credits for those updating their certified applicator credits. Time: 8 a.m. Location: Marshall Alford’s Farms, 15778 W. County Line Road, Moores Hill. Information: (812) 926-1189

Topics are yet to be announced, but this Area II PARP program will count toward PARP credits for those updating their certified applicator credits. Time: 3 p.m. Location: 247 Atwood St., Corydon. Information: (812) 738-4236

The Fall Planting of Fruit Trees

Beginning Farm Tour: Perkins’ Good Earth Farm This farm tour stops first at DeMotte Public Library, then moves to Good Earth Farm, and offers discussions of cover crops, organic inputs and minimum tillage. The morning session at Demotte’s Library is an educational discussion and networking meeting; the farm tour showcases cover crops, vegetables and high tunnel production.

Both breakfast and lunch are provided.

This event is free, but organizers require registration. Time: 9 a.m. Location: DeMotte Public Library, 901 Birch St. SW, DeMotte. Information: (765) 496-1930

Gardening Basics Good things come to those who plan. This two-hour workshop will cover all the basics for beginners.

Topics include soil prep, seed saving and starting, organic fertilizers, bed design and more. Time: 6:30 p.m.

Location: Hilltop Gardens at Indiana University, 2367 E. 10th St., Bloomington.

Information: (812) 349-3700

Holiday Culinary Gifts to Give for the Holidays The Herb Society of Central Indiana provides herb information and gifts at this event. Time: 6:45 p.m. Location: Clay Township Center, 10701 N. College Ave., Indianapolis. Information: herbsocietyofcentralindiana.com

Studies have shown that fall-planted apple and pear trees have an advantage over similar trees planted in the spring. This course covers cultivar selection, site selection and prep, pollination requirements, early care and dormant season pruning.

Course also includes a demonstration planting. Time: 2 p.m. Location: Hilltop Gardens at Indiana University, 2367 E. 10th St., Bloomington. Information: bloomingtoncommunityorchard.org

NOV. 19

Pollinator Protection This PARP program covers pollinator protections, drift and bee watch, weeds of concern and more. Show up at 9:15 a.m. for ag outlook and 10:30 a.m. for the PARP program.

This program will count toward PARP credits for those updating their certified applicator credits. Time: 9:15 a.m. Location: Jennings County Library, 2375 State Road 3, North Vernon. Information: (812) 352-3033

Wild Tea Tasting Bloomington has a bevy of educational events this month, including an educational tea tasting. But there’s much more to learn than just the various tea tastes. You will discover how to harvest plants from your own backyard to prep, store and finally drink. Time: 1 p.m. Location: RCA Community Park, 1400 W. RCA Park Drive, Bloomington.

Information: bloomington.in.gov

Farm Indiana highlights classes from the Purdue Extension calendar every month, but there are many more to be found online. Log on to extension.purdue.edu for more information.

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45

FROM THE FIELD

p U g n i w o r G on s s e ’s L r e t i r ing W m r e a On ocal F in L zrom line S ade

By M

It started with a tomato.

I had stopped by a farm stand on my way home from work in an attempt to pick up fresh vegetables for dinner. My grocery tote hung empty from my shoulders as I passed the bushels of summer squash, leafy greens and purple carrots. A bit in over my head and reaching the point of uncomfortable hunger, I grabbed a tomato, my produce nemesis, paid, and left feeling defeated.

Just a week prior I had vowed to start cooking more (yet to happen; it’s my boyfriend who does the hard labor) and eat more real food. No more frozen meals packed with enough sodium to kill a baby elephant; no more cheese that’s the color of 46

FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

the sun and seems to glow just as much; and no more soda. If people can clean the grease off their garage floor with it, I don’t think I should be putting it in my mouth.

The tomato trip was my first venture to a farm stand since my vow, and I was determined to give this clean eating thing my all. So although I found myself glaring at the red fruit demon, I decided to move forward with my promise and eat it.

I closed my eyes and ate the first fleshy chunk in one bite. To my utter dismay, it was delicious. For as long as I could remember, I’d never liked tomatoes. Could it have been a coincidence that the one tomato I liked came from a local farm?

I wanted to find out. If buying local meant that tomatoes tasted heavenly, I

coming from California or Mexico, they’re harvested before they’re ripe, so the flavors aren’t fully developed. Food is best when it’s grown to its full potential.”

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, California is the largest producer of tomatoes in the U.S., providing 96 percent of processing tomato output, and Mexico is the leading exporter of tomatoes to this country. The downside is those tomatoes have a long way to travel to make it to Indiana.

“Tomatoes grown in California or Mexico are picked way too early, and then they sit in a refrigerator truck while being transported, which isn’t good for them,” says Craig Sanders, owner of Wildwood Market in Fountain Square.

And it’s not only the transportation of the produce that makes it difficult for fruits and vegetables to ripen naturally, it’s how they are transported.

“As soon as you harvest, flavor and nutrition start to leave the product,” explains Ian Rossman, executive chef at the Garden Table in Broad Ripple. “Your products have been picked to sell (at local farms/markets), not picked early enough to be put into a dump truck and ripen in a gas chamber.”

couldn’t imagine what other fruits and veggies were out there that I hadn’t properly experienced. So I spent a week buying my produce from farm stands, gardens and small markets, and what I discovered was delicious.

Local taste

My first mission was to get to the bottom of this tomato.

Could buying local tomatoes really make this much of a difference in taste? Turns out, it can.

“The taste is going to be different,” says Matthew Jose, owner of Big City Farms in Indianapolis. “With tomatoes that are

Mixing it up

Let me be clear: It’s not like I haven’t been buying fruits and vegetables throughout my adult life or that my parents never fed me their homegrown produce. It’s just that I’ve been buying the same things for several INSET PHOTOS BY MADELINE SZROM

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years. Green bell peppers, red onions, baby carrots and (cringe) iceberg lettuce. Eventually they start to taste the same, look the same, even smell the same. It was time I branched out.

So imagine my elation when I stumbled upon things like purple carrots, brown tomatoes, yellow watermelon and something delightful called a ground cherry (it’s actually a tomato you unwrap to eat).

Walking into a market that sells fresh, local produce is like walking into Mother Nature’s pantry.

“Going to a grocery store gives you uniform produce, and you know exactly what you’re getting every time, for better or worse,” Rossman says. “When you have a relationship with the person growing your food, they can give you varieties that you’ll never find at the grocery store.”

Growing an education

When entering the farms and markets I visited, I didn’t feel as though I was walking into a store, but instead a classroom.

There was something to learn at every table, and I encountered someone willing to teach me at each stop. And guess what?

That’s part of the appeal to these farms.

“When you come pick vegetables at my farm (U-Pick and Farm Stand at the Chase Near Eastside Legacy Center), you get a tutorial on how to pick them, how to prepare them and how to store them,” says Kate Franzman, farmer for Growing Places Indy and founder of Bee Public. This oneon-one interaction is missing from most major grocery stores.

Franzman also says that the Growing Places farm has become more of a community space, providing a place where people can go to gain a greater understanding of the food they’re eating.

“If you were giving away free kale and someone took it because it was free, but they didn’t know what to do with it, then it’s lost,” Franzman says. “There’s a lot of follow-up (and education) that has to happen with food or the impact is completely lost.”

She’s right; I can vouch for that. Until recently, my knowledge of handling kale was to buy it, bring it home and slowly watch it turn into a limp, forest green wad.

Now, after simply asking a few questions at a local market, I know how to steam it, sauté it and make salads with it.

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A caring community

The experimental week ended, and I felt like I’d gone through a mental and physical cleanse. I’d eaten vegetables I’d never tried before, I met a handful of interesting people, and ultimately, I came out wiser and more connected with the food I put in my body.

But the most revelatory part wasn’t the food or the farms. What really impacted the way I now think about local farming is the relationships it creates and the stories the people involved can tell.

“It helps to get to know them (local farmers),” explains chef Ron Harris, owner of Locally Grown Gardens. “When someone handles their business, like Tuttle (Orchards), you learn about their life. If they produce something that’s great and took dedication, you can tell that’s how they live their life.”

These relationships form our community. Growers want to produce vibrant, tasty and nutritious foods for local markets and restaurants, and those markets and restaurants want to encourage the community to purchase and consume fresh food. It’s a cycle that seems to be gaining speed here in Indianapolis.

“There’s a sense people get that ‘this is my farm,’ and they adopt it as part of their community and their town,” Jose says of consumers who regularly shop from local farms.

Eat locally, drink locally, shop locally — it sounds like a trend, but when I talked with Franzman, she explained that it’s less a trend and more of an awakening.

“It’s like we’re waking up from a long nap where we got away from ourselves for a minute,” she says. “It’s less of a novel idea and more about returning to how we’ve done things for decades.”

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FROM THE FIELD

I

The Homecoming I AM A RATHER PRIVATE PERSON, but last month I veered from my usual personality to share the pain of losing my beloved cat, Princess, and the challenges and joys of bottle feeding four needy little kittens. Though we live in a world often riddled with headlines of crime and tragedy, I was overwhelmed with the outpouring of kindness of others, including strangers who went to great lengths to contact me, to offer their words of support and their prayers.

My heartfelt thanks to each of you, and there were many.

When we think of homecoming in the fall in Indiana, we think of high school football, mums, homecoming queen and king and the like, but not this year for me. As I sat in my pole barn cuddling one of my kittens 32 days after Princess had gone, I heard a meow. It was not one of my babies. I looked up and here came a very thin and weary Princess running toward me. Sadly, she hissed as she passed her kittens. They had grown so much that she no longer

48

FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

BY CHERYL CARTER JONES

recognized them, and in turn, they did not know her. After some serious petting and embracing, she followed me to the cat food and then to her pan, where she ate her food nearly as fast as I poured it.

I immediately put her in a safe and confined area, and called the vet. She is now recovering from being spayed and is happy and content. She has had all her shots, is micro-chipped and is feline leukemia/FIV free. I hope this will end her days of mean-

dering, and she will stay put now that she is home. Her coat once again glistens in the light and is silky soft. She has filled out nicely and dearly loves her daily attention. And there is lots of attention!

Everyone anxiously asks what really happened. Here is what I know: • Something clearly caused havoc in my building the night she and three kittens disappeared.

•P rincess was the best mother cat I have ever seen, and she would not have simply abandoned four of her kittens unless she thought they were dead.

• S he clearly went through hell while she was gone, based on her condition when she returned.

•B ut most importantly, she is home. Where she has been is immaterial. Where she is now matters.

The next day after her homecoming, two very wild little kittens started making their way into her new quarters — a chicken coop turned cat coop. They are skinny enough that they can come and go as they please. They scamper away quickly each time we near, but in time I hope they will come to love attention as much as their mother does. The third kitten has not been seen. I choose to believe it is in a good home somewhere, even if that is kitty heaven. Speculation would serve no true purpose.

Life continues to be interesting since I am still transporting two kittens back and forth between my home and my farm each day. Two of the four kittens that I bottle fed now reside with a dear friend of mine and her family. All are doing well and are thoroughly spoiled rotten. The four

kittens all have names. My two are Molli and Milli, and the other two are Rosie and Goghee.

Princess and six of her seven kittens are all healthy and well-adjusted. In time, I will start introducing Princess and her two wild ones to the two that I have kept. In time, the wild two will acquire names as well.

Everything on my farm has a name, including the tractors and truck.

That’s just how I do things.

So out of a very traumatic 32 days came a tremendous amount of joy and thanksgiving. My life is greatly enriched by Molli and Milli and their daily antics. We play for a while every day, and they are adjusted to spending time alone playing each day in the fresh, open air while I farm. They spend an hour or two each evening nestled in a blanket in my lap watching the news with me (they are TV watchers), and they thrive on attention. They fall asleep in my lap, and their very loud purring brings an incredible inner peace to me. Timewise, the last thing I needed was kittens to bottle feed, but the joy they have brought me overrides that by exponential proportions.

Furthermore, this experience has served as a reminder that amidst the bad in the world, there is an incredible amount of good. I witness it every day with my angel neighbors, Beth, Steve, Kim and Duston, who watch out for me and do the nicest

things just out of the goodness of their hearts. I see it with my parents and my fellow members of Union Community Homemakers Club, who were all thrilled to hear of Princess’ homecoming. There are so many generous acts that occur daily, although it is the heinous acts that receive the media attention, and we probably do need to have an awareness of them. But at the end of a day, I would encourage us all to focus on and remember the good in the world.

Possibly that is why Farm Indiana is always such a refreshing read for me. The publication focuses on stories of individuals and families working to build lives on farms.

Farming is not an easy way of life, but a rewarding one that bonds families in a unique way. It causes us to be innovative; it tests our strength and endurance, but also makes us stronger. Farm Indiana shares uplifting, positive stories, causes us to think about new things and makes us smile.

I never thought that I would devote an entire column to a cat, let alone following up the next month with another article on the saga of my cat. This is the exception. I am writing this column as a way to highlight the kindnesses of my readers and thank them for their prayers for my cat to return home. She did.

Next month, it will be time to focus on farming once again.

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

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FROM THE FIELD THE VIEW AT NIGHTFALL

Giving Thanks

BY NATE BROWNLEE

E

EVEN THOUGH it is 2 in the afternoon, I am wearing gym shorts right now. It is a rainy fall day as I write this, and I had to change into shorts because the pigs nosed mud spots onto my clothes during mid-day chores. I sit inside with the weather providing a good window of time for writing, and I realize how thankful I am for the rain, and not only because this article is due tomorrow.

Once upon a time, I worked on a big farm in upstate New York. Everyone who worked on the farm would stick around each Friday night after our CSA distribution in order to eat dinner together. Our boss, Mark, would spend the afternoon cooking a fantastic spread for the table. Even before we could smell the food, the

simple thought of dinner kept me going through the day. But before we could eat, Mark would talk about all the good work that was accomplished that week and thank us all for our hard work on his farm. His thanks was just as nourishing as the meal.

Liz and I have a lot to be thankful for, and since we cannot cook a dinner for everyone who makes our farm possible, I want to write my thanks down here: First and foremost, I am thankful for Nightfall Farm. I think often and fondly of the countless sunrises and sunsets that I have enjoyed from our pasture. Liz and I compete to see the first star of the evening, and I do not mind that today’s clouds may make it hard to see stars. I enjoy a comfortable lead in our competition. I am thankful that our pigs play with me, I am thankful that our turkeys come running when they see me, and I am thankful for all of my opportunities to spend time simply with our animals.

We would not be a farm without our CSA members. Our members keep us going emotionally as well as financially. We

After years of gaining experience on other farms, Nate Brownlee and his wife, Liz, moved back to Indiana to start their own family farm, which they named Nightfall Farm. Here, they will share stories of the many trials, tribulations, successes and failures in running a family business. For more on Nightfall Farm, visit nightfallfarm.com.

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get feedback on and recipes for our meat.

Our members offer us tips on events we should know about, people we should talk with and ideas we should investigate.

When the transmission went out on our truck, we had two members who offered to loan us their trucks. That week we had five important, time-sensitive jobs that required a truck, and we would have been stuck without their help. For all of the support that we get, for all of the networking that they do for us, and for everything, Liz and I owe our members many thanks.

There are so many Hoosiers working toward making good food a reality here in our state. The tireless members of the Columbus Food Co-op excite us for the opportunities that a co-op in our area will provide. We meet so many people at the farmers markets, and whether they are customers or they just stop in to talk we enjoy swapping stories and smiles. And that is what Farm Indiana is filled with: stories and smiles from Hoosiers who care about farming and good food.

At the end of a long day — and most of them are long days — I am thankful that I love what I do. I love working with our animals and raising good food for our members and customers. I consider our farm my office. In my office I can see the day turn into night, I can feel the summer turn into fall and I am daily reminded of how thankful I am to be a farmer.

LET US CATER YOUR NEXT EVENT! Home Cooking for Breakfast • Lunch • Dinner • Catering Daily 6:00am – 8:00pm Saturday 6:00am – 2:00pm

(812) 376-6386 1602 State St. • Columbus

FAMILY RESTAURANT

FINANCIAL OPPORTUNITIES

Let us help you with all your grain marketing needs.

USDA has announced a number of funding opportunities to assist farmers in 2016. Here’s a look at a few programs now accepting applications.

By Cissy Bowman Indiana is in the North Central Region (NCR) of SARE, which offers a number of grant opportunities and great local and online resources to help you with questions. Even if you have been familiar with SARE in the past, there are some changes in how funds can be used, and re-visiting their information is worthwhile. Helpful online information includes the General NCR-SARE Grant Program Overview Presentation, which has information about grant and educational opportunities.

Video tutorials for the various NCRSARE grant programs are online at: northcentralsare.org/Grants/Writea-Successful-Grant/Video-Tutorials.

We are very fortunate in Indiana to have Roy Ballard of Purdue Extension as our Indiana SARE coordinator. Ballard is available to answer your questions regarding SARE grants and can be reached at 802 N. Apple St., Greenfield, (317) 462-1113 or rballard@purdue.edu.

NCR-SARE’s Farmer Rancher Grant Program Farmers and ranchers who want to explore sustainable solutions to problems through on-farm research, demonstration and education projects can apply for available funds. Topics that have been funded include pest/ disease management, crop and livestock production, education/ outreach, networking, quality of life issues, marketing, soil quality, energy and more. These funds are offered as individual ($7,500 maximum), team of two ($15,000 maximum) or group ($22,500 maximum) grants for ideas initiated by farmers and ranchers.

Projects may last up to 24 months.

Applicants for the SARE Farmer/ Rancher grants include farmers/ ranchers or a group of farmers/ranchers who farm or operate a ranch. (A farmer/ rancher is someone who raises crops or livestock, especially as a business.)

The 2016 Farmer Rancher Grant

Program call for proposals deadline is Dec. 3. Sample calls for proposals and lists of recently funded projects can be found at northcentralsare. org/Grants/Recent-Grant-Projects.

Additional assistance for grant writing is available at michaelfields. org/grant-advising-resources.

Increased Funds for Educating New Farmers, Returning Service Members, Underserved and Urban Producers Approximately $2.5 million in grants is now available for projects to help educate veterans, new farmers (individuals or entities that have operated for less than 10 consecutive years) and underserved farmers (groups that have not participated in or have received limited benefits from USDA programs) and urban producers about the more than 20 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency programs that provide financial, disaster or technical assistance to the agricultural community.

Although these grants do not go directly to producers, they will be awarded to nonprofits and public higher education institutions to improve producer education on topics such as financial training, value-added production, recordkeeping, property inheritance and crop production practices.

There will be four evaluation periods to review applications, with the deadlines set for Nov. 20, Jan. 22, March 18 and May 27. Grant awards will be between $20,000 and $100,000 per applicant. More information on the grants and related Farm Service Agency programs can be found at grants.gov with the reference number USDA-FSA-CA-2015-001.

Additional information is posted on the Web at fsa.usda.gov/outreach.

Lynn Lykins, President

Call us for Farm pick-up of grain Cash bids and Contracts

Azalia Elevator Inc.

Azalia, Indiana 812-579- 5475 1-800-437-7246

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 // NOVEMBER 2015

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FROM THE FIELD

»

Take ’er Easy

BY KATIE GLICK

MY FATHER WILL HAVE BEEN gone Just like many of you, I am usually rushfor six years this November, but his witty ing to get to work or home to a million other comments and advice pop into my head at things to do. It’s hard to think about othrandom times. These memories make him ers in the hustle and bustle of life and to be seem closer, and they make me so thankthankful for the people who help make our ful. Each year as this month approaches, the lives a little easier. Do we stop to slow down cold air, along with the feeling that I have to be thankful for the people who pick up been running around so fast that I forgot to our trash or mow the grass along our roads stop and appreciate it all, hits me. so we can see? Do we ever stop and realFarmers use a lot of phrases that some ize we have the safest, most abundant food of us might not understand, and “take ’er supply in the world? We can get bananas easy” is one of them. and tomatoes any time When I was little, I used of year, but most people Katie Glick grew up to think my father was don’t understand how on her family farm saying “take her greasy.” those products got to our in Martinsville and I thought he was such a grocery stores or kitchen now lives with her husband on their weirdo. Once I grew up, tables. family farm near I realized that he was As a farmer’s daughter, Columbus. She is a saying “take ’er easy” and I always give thanks for graduate of Purdue “take it easy.” What he the food on our table. But University and has worked in Indiana politics.

She now works in the agriculture industry.

She was really saying is “slow sometimes I forget to give shares her personal, work, travel and farm life down, Katie.” thanks for the people who stories on her blog, Fancy in the Country.

I never fully understood brought it to us and the my dad until he was gone safety God gave them to after that November night on the farm. While do so. We sometimes are so concentrated on I always appreciated him and his occupation, the “what” that we forget about the “who.”

I never really slowed down enough to stop It takes more than a tractor to farm. It takes and give thanks as much as I should have. hard work, determination, patience with

SCHNEIDER FEED AND SEED

Area Dealer TOM SCHNEIDER

BECK’S HYBRIDS 6767 E. 27th St. Atlanta, IN 46031

(317) 984-3508 (800) 937-2325 (317) 984-3500 FAX www.beckshybrid.com 52

FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

GARDEN SEED, GRASS SEED, FERTILIZER & MULCH

111 Fourth Street PO Box 770 North Vernon, IN 47265

Store (812) 346-3760 Mobile (812) 592-2252 schneiderfeedandseed@yahoo.com

Glick’s father.

the weather and knowledge of seed varieties, insects, diseases, soils, crop protection options, weed control and more. And this doesn’t include the animals that farmers may be caring for in their pastures. Farmers from around the world are the “who” we need to thank for that food on our table and the variety of food our families can eat.

This November, take a minute to slow down and be thankful. Tell someone you appreciate not only what they do, but who they are, because your life is better, safer or more productive and blessed because of them. I’m really hoping to take ’er easy as I give thanks for my dad and all those farmer phrases that teach me to slow down.

LOCAL FOOD

S

In The Bag

at birth. There is no cure for the condition, however, and Ian was assigned a medical diet of formula, supplemented by fruits and vegetables only.

“My sister needed a simple solution for supper to cope with the additional demands of a special need child,” says Dafforn, “so I developed the soup in a sack for the slow cooker.”

U-Relish Farm products are more than a “soup in a sack,” however. Each bag is filled with the perfect blend of dried herbs, peas or beans, along with dried fruits or vegetables. Popular items in the U-Relish line include the Hoppin’ John Black-eyed Pea and the Coconut Curry Lentil. There’s even a breakfast line, including grits and several flavors of rice pudding.

Single bags cost $6, and customers also can buy in bulk: 15 bags for U-Relish Farm products $75. The recipes are all low-glycealso can be found at Basic mic and gluten-free.

Roots Community Foods, Several area chefs, including JenConner Prairie, Georgetown nifer Kaye Burnell, Andrew WhitMarket, Homespun: Modern moyer, Dave Brown, Alan Schoff Homemade, Indiana State and Justin Hicks, contributed to Museum, Moody Meats, help Dafforn craft the recipes for Farm to Fork Market at her bagged meals, she says. And Normandy Farms, Pogue’s many of the ingredients were Run Grocer, The Smoking Goose Meatery, Tuttle grown on her small homestead Orchards, Wildwood Market farm, where seasonal bounand through Green Bean ties of berries, grapes, Delivery, among others. rhubarb and fruit, as For more information, well as an extensive visit u-relish.com. herb harvest in-

STOP TO SAY “hi” to Cara Dafforn at her U-Relish Farm booth at Indianapolis City Market, and you’ll be greeted with warm samples of a slow cooker meal and a sip of hot tea. Chances are good you’ll also hear a bit of Indiana history before you leave. A raconteur of Indiana history who weaves her expertise in herbs and food into any conversation, Dafforn is full of goodwill and cheer. After a quick taste and Dafforn’s pointed concluding lavender, versation, you likely also will want to thyme and sage, head out with a few bags of pre-made are cultivated. At season’s end, the slow cooker meals in hand. crops from U-Relish are then dried Dafforn runs her meals-to-go busiand prepared to create Dafforn’s signess, which she co-owns with her nature nutrient-dense meals. husband, Donald Dafforn, in a place For now, you can’t buy a fully she feels is only natural. As a living cooked meal at the city market, but a historian (she performs at Conner Prairie taste is enough to draw in passersby. By and Lew Wallace Study & Museum), the Cara Dafforn, left, law, Dafforn is a grocer, which means she small shop owner feels it makes good sense is a living historian. can only serve samples. It’s more than just the to sell her wares in the marketplace where tradsample, however, that you get when you visit. Most ers, farmers and merchants have long bartered and who stop hear a great story, get a hug and almost always sold goods. “I feel history here and the energy of longleave with what Dafforn refers to as the “Wonderbag.” ago centuries of farmers selling agriculture to the city To her it’s more than just a bag of dried beans and dwellers,” she explains. herbs. If you ask her what someone should expect when Dafforn started U-Relish in 2010, a result of both nethey grab some bags of U-Relish to go, the answer is cessity and love. Her nephew, Ian, was diagnosed with quite simple: “magic.” phenylketonuria (PKU), an inherited metabolic disorder,

Twinkle VanWinkle is an Indianapolis-based food writer and experienced chef with Southern roots. She has more than 23 years of professional cooking under her apron strings and loves to share her unique perspective on food, foodways and culture with others. Needless to say, her family is very well-fed.

FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

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LOCAL FOOD

Q &A

Wildwood Market When Craig and Emily Sanders moved to Fountain Square in 2012, they felt the grocery shopping options in the area were limited, so they came up with an idea to create their own store. Three years later, Wildwood Market opened in a 1950s gas station turned boutique food shop that offers unique artisan-made products, daily sandwich specials and staples such as milk, eggs and bread.

As owner, manager and head sandwich maker, Craig shares his thoughts about the true purpose of bringing Wildwood to the area.

What is the philosophy behind what products you offer and the food you serve?

We wanted to offer all of the basics to our neighborhood — flour, sugar, milk, eggs, fresh produce and so on. We wanted those products to be of high quality but still reasonably priced. We realized from the beginning that our shop would not be a place where families could do all of their grocery shopping. Our primary goal was so they 54

FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

could have the salad greens for a weeknight dinner or a place to grab sugar when you realize you don’t have enough. In addition to the basics, we want to focus on local products, artisan meats and cheeses and gourmet foods. We try to curate a unique product selection that includes products you often can’t find at other stores in town.

What kind of produce do you sell and who are some of your suppliers?

We primarily sell local, seasonal produce with the exception of some fruits and basics like potatoes and onions. Our produce offerings change from week to week based on what is available from our suppliers. We bought a lot of our produce from urban farms this summer. Pleasant Street Produce is just a few blocks from our store; Big City Farms and South Circle Farm are both less than a mile away. We also buy from Indy Family Produce in Greenwood, Harvestland Farm in Anderson, Salem Farms in Zionsville, Lush Leaf Farm in Greenfield, as well as traveling the state to buy in-season produce like organic blueberries from Mishawaka and asparagus from Fields of Joy in Noblesville.

What types of food do you serve and what kinds of specials do you offer?

We do really try to focus on being what

we conceptualized first, a neighborhood market.

Despite that, we have become known for our daily lunch sandwich and salad. We have a limited menu of one sandwich and one salad each day, along with two soups from Circle City Soups. The sandwich changes each day, and we have only repeated a sandwich once or twice so far. We often feature local products on the sandwich, including bread from Amelia’s, meats from Smoking Goose, cheeses from Capriole or Steckler, and local produce. The salad also changes each day, and we don’t repeat them. We make a limited number of each item every day and often sell out. We do take calls to hold sandwiches, as well as requests via social media, if someone can’t make it to us during lunch but would like to have the sandwich that day.

Tell me a little bit about your background in food and where you came from.

Do you have training, or are you self-taught?

I spent seven years at Traders Point Creamery before opening the store.

There I came to appreciate the time, effort and care that go into making high-quality products. I met and got to know many other local producers and became passionate about telling their stories. I was in sales at Traders Point and was able to travel and visit stores that are similar to Wildwood, which helped develop the concept, too. I grew up in Putnam County on a small farm and have an appreciation for the family farm and the work that goes into raising the food that we eat. I think it’s an important story to

Wildwood Market Craig and Emily Sanders 1015 Virginia Ave., Indianapolis (317) 737-2653 wildwoodmarket.com HOURS:

Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Closed Sundays

tell, and we want our customers to know the story behind the products that they buy. My wife and I met while working at Traders Point, had our wedding there and both credit it for helping mold our passion for local food. She continues to work full time as an occupational therapist for IU Health while helping at the store in the evenings and on weekends.

What’s your food philosophy?

It’s a recurring theme here: We believe that our food should have a story — where it comes from, who grows it, why it tastes better, how it got to our store and your plate are all important details and knowing them can make the experience of eating that much more enjoyable. Even companies like Red Gold or Bob’s Red Mill have stories that are important and worth telling. We want to know those stories and share them with our customers.

What do you love most about Wildwood Market?

We love that we have created a place that offers unique products in an interesting environment. We love seeing our customers and making their lunch or helping make dinner at home a better meal. We love building relationships with our suppliers, telling their stories and hopefully helping them grow and become more successful.

GENERAL FACTS ABOUT AGRICULTURE RECIPE

Roasted Cauliflower and Potato Chowder

Chow Town

BY TWINKLE VANWINKLE

When the leaves begin to turn, I know it is time to start stocking the freezer. Foods that heat up quickly for when I’m not home to cook and dishes to warm our souls on chilly evenings are always on the to-do list. I love the satisfaction of cooking a meal and setting it on the table for family or friends, but sometimes the cook just needs a night off.

Prepping food in advance can ensure I get a night or two away from the stove each week.

A chowder, a soup traditionally made with seafood or vegetables and cream, is a perfect make-ahead meal. In the early days, it was thickened with a bread called hard tack that was crushed over the top. Dry and flavorless, hard tack was a simple bread that old-time sailors and fishermen kept aboard ships for basic sustenance. The closest thing you’d find today is a cracker.

For this chowder recipe, we bring on the cauliflower.

An oft-dreaded side dish for young children, cauliflower has become a staple of the modern dinner table. I’ve always had a crush on this craggy crown in the vegetable aisle, and I couldn’t be happier about its recent popularity.

I love this cauliflower chowder so much that I often end up making it every other week.

It really is at its best fresh off the stove, but it holds up to freezing and reheats so well that it almost doesn’t matter when you eat it. Thaw a batch to room temperature, heat it slow and low, then serve it with grilled cheese, crusty bread or, if you are so inclined, a nice, crispy piece of hard tack.

2 heads cauliflower, chopped into 2-inch pieces 5 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, rinsed and quartered 6 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped 1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest ¼ to ½ cup extra virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons fresh chopped thyme 2 tablespoons fresh chopped rosemary 2 tablespoons fresh chopped oregano 1 tablespoon kosher salt 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper 1½ cups heavy cream 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese ........................................................................

PUMPKIN

More than 1 billion pounds of pumpkins are produced in the United States each year, ranking fourth in the world behind China, India and Russia. Illinois tops the nation in pumpkin production.

Other big pumpkin-growing states are Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, California, New York and Michigan.

More pumpkin tidbits:

• A typical yield per acre is between 800 and 1,200 harvested pumpkins, depending on the type.

• Most pumpkins are grown for processing, not ornamental sales.

• Pumpkin is one of the richest sources of vitamin A and antioxidants beneficial for improved joint and eye health.

• Pumpkin flowers are edible.

• A single cup of cooked pumpkin has a minuscule 83 calories and is packed with 3 grams of protein, 7 grams of fiber and a whopping 2,650 IU (international units) of vitamin A. • Pumpkins are a fruit.

• Pumpkins are 90 percent water.

• Pumpkins were once recommended for removing freckles and curing snake bites. Today, they aren’t considered remedies to either.

• Pumpkins range in size from less than a pound to over 1,000 pounds. The largest pumpkin ever grown weighed 1,140 pounds.

Provided by Farm Flavor / Sponsored by Bartholomew County Farm Bureau Inc.

Preheat oven to 400 F. Place chopped cauliflower and potatoes in a large bowl and toss well with oil, salt, pepper, herbs and lemon zest.

Pour into a lightly oiled roasting pan or baking sheet lined with parchment paper and spread into a single layer. This ensures that everything roasts all the way through.

Roast for 30 to 45 minutes or until the top of the cauliflower is nicely browned.

Test for doneness by gently pressing a fork into a floret. It should easily pierce the surface and feel tender.

Remove from oven and let cool slightly.

Place cooled, roasted vegetables into a 6-quart stockpot. Mix in cream and broth. Blend with an immersion blender until smooth. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can puree in a regular blender or food processor. With this method, puree half of the veggies at a time and then place in the stockpot. Add cream and broth after and whisk 10 to 15 times to blend well.

Cook pureed mixture on low for 10 minutes, then bring to a boil.

Let boil, stirring constantly, for 2 to 3 minutes, then turn down to low and cook for another 10 minutes.

Add in Parmesan a minute or so before you remove from heat and stir well, making sure it melts throughout.

Serve immediately or freeze for later.

FARM INDIANA // NOVEMBER 2015

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