Sustainable Small-Acreage Farming from Field to Table

Sustainable Small-Acreage Farming from Field to Table

Accomplishments/Milestones

1. Retreat Program. The Farm to Table retreat was held October 11 to 15, 2004 at the Quillisascut Farm School. The Farm School provided all meals and lodging. Various experiential and instructional events were scheduled each day, and after dinner there was a discussion on a critical issue regarding small farm sustainability. A total of three farm visits were included in the program. The participants, led by the resident chef, helped to prepare meals that featured local products. (See Attachment A for a presentation of the daily activities.)

2. Workshop Participants. The WSU Small Farms Communications and Development Specialist sent announcements of the program to State Extension Directors in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington, to relevant agencies and newspapers. As a result of this publicity, 34 applications for the October 2004 retreat were received. The selection committee narrowed this number down to 13, assuring geographical distribution and group diversity in terms of agency and specialty. There were two participants from Montana, one each from Idaho and Oregon and nine from Washington. This group of 12 represented Extension, Oregon Tilth, Washington State Department of Agriculture, a CSA Program Manager, a coordinator for a farm education program, and an on campus faculty member. Specialties within Extension included Nutrition Educators, Direct Marketing Specialist, County Director with Agricultural Responsibilities, Family and Consumer Science and Viticulture. Every member chosen by the selection committee attended the workshop except one because of a death in the family. (See Attachment B for Application Form.)

3. Video Production. Film footage of graduates of the Farm School of Domestic Arts and Culinary Instructors from Seattle Central Community College and Washington State University was done September 2004. The script based on the transcripts was completed December 2004 and the first cut of the video will be completed in February 2005. This 25-minute DVD will highlight impacts of the Quillisascut program on culinary students and instructors after they returned to their communities including how they have increase source of local and seasonal products for their menus and how they have incorporated sustainability concepts in their work and programs.

4. Participant Response. Project leaders conducted three types of participant assessment to determine the effectiveness of the program. The participants completed a survey containing a set of quantitative questions and a set of qualitative questions. At the final session participants gathered around the table and reported on ways they were grateful for the retreat. The WSU Small Farm Communications and Development Specialist recorded these responses.

Overall the participants were very favorable toward the retreat and indicated new learning and impacts on their knowledge and attitudes about small farm sustainability and field to table connections. The comment “Thank you for a great experience” summed up the reaction of the participants toward the retreat. Some of the learnings included the strategic importance for small farms to coordinate marketing plans through some type of formal or informal association; to work with school districts, restaurants and other institutions; and to emphasize the value and “good taste” of local and seasonal foods. In general, the participants indicated that the retreat helped them to take a broader view of the food system, especially with respect to local and seasonal foods in their programming. The most outstanding experience/new learning was realizing that good and high quality meals could be prepared using local and seasonal products. Another new learning was a better sense of hope and respect for the small family farmer. There were no substantial recommendations for changing the program. (See Attachment C for these responses.)

5. Outcomes. Based on these evaluative tools we can conclude that at the end of the retreat participants:

·Knew how to incorporate seasonal foods into a menu.
·Would be able to connect with local farmers in their communities.
·Would be able to incorporate their experience and learning into their own educational programs
·Obtained an understanding of sustainability issues faced by small farms.
·Obtained an understanding of how approaches to sustainable/organic food production offer unique challenges and opportunities to small farms.
·Learned a well-developed model of the movement from a producer system to a community food system.
·Learned that a small farm with a sound business and marketing plan can be sustainable.

Appendix A

WSARE Retreat Schedule
October 11th-15th Schedule
WSARE Retreat Schedule
Day 1: October 11 Arrive Monday
·2:00 p.m. Settle in, snack, Introductions discuss schedule, goals outcomes barriers, plans, Quillisascut video
·Farm, garden, and well tour, compost station set up
·6:00 p.m. dinner
·Keeping the Family on the Farm and the Farm in the Family video Broken Limbs

Day 2: Oct. 12th Tuesday
6 a.m. Butcher lamb, everyone
·7:30 a.m. coffee, breakfast
·8:00 all meet for morning meeting “respect”
·8:30 am begin Cheesemaking
·11 to 12:00 garden (plant garlic)
·12:00 lunch
·1:00 pm visit Roberson’s Garlic Farm
·3:30 Knife skills prepare toppings for pizza
·6:30 Dinner pizza from the wood fired oven
·7:30 p.m. Direct Marketing Options for Small Farms, Vance Corum, Michele Catalano, Kären Jurgensen
·
Day 3: October 13th Wednesday
5:45 a.m. morning milking begins two students’ milk and two in the garden.
·7:30 a.m. coffee, breakfast,
·8:00 a.m. all meet for morning meeting “Sustainable”
·9:00 am Herbal infusions
·10:00 Nutrition and health benefits of a local food system Holly and Gayle

·12:00 p.m. lunch
·1:30 p.m. Farm Visit Riverview Orchard
·3:30 p.m. dinner preparation: cider ( six on dinner six on cider)
·6:00 p.m. dinner
·7:00 p.m. Bruce Dunlop and Terry Swagerty, Grass Fed/finished Meats, mobile processing unit

Day 4: October 14th Thursday
·6:a.m. milking, feed poultry
·7:30 a.m. coffee, breakfast
·8:00 a.m. review the days plans “enough”
·9:am- garden work, mobile processing or nature walk
·10 am visit Cliffside Orchard tour
·12:30 lunch
·1:30 Honeybees Steve Schott
·3:30 dinner preparations six on dinner six on cider
·5:30 wine tasting, Jack Watson
·6:30 p.m. dinner
·7:30 p.m. Farm to Cafeteria, Kelly Sanger
·Questions and answers about the days activities

Day 5: October 15th Friday
·6:00 a.m. morning milking begins two students milking
·6:30-7:30 two feeding poultry
·7:30 breakfast
·8:00 all meet “Gratefulness”
·9:30 am 11:00 p.m. The Agricultural Professionals Role in Small Farm Sustainability

Appendix B

Application Form

Quillisascut Farm – School of the Domestic Arts

Sustainable Small-Acreage Farming from Field to Table
Retreat for Agricultural Professionals • October 11 – 15, 2004 • Quillisascut Farm, Rice, WA

Full Name
Mailing Address City, State Zip
Phone Number Email Address
Profession Employer

What skills would you like to learn?

What are your goals for participating in this retreat?

How will this retreat help your career?

Do you have any experiences that will help with the success of this program?

Do you have any previous farming experience?

APPLICATIONS ARE DUE BY AUGUST 15, 2004
Submit to: Al Kowitz, WSU Stevens County Cooperative Extension
985 South Elm • Colville, WA 99114
Phone: (509) 684-2588 • Fax: (509) 684-9790 • Email: akowitz@wsu.edu

Appendix C

Participant Evaluation

Farm to Table Written Responses

A. In what ways, if any, did you learn to realistically move local foods and producers into the larger food system?

1. This experience reinforced the importance of people working together as a community to build marketing opportunities and simultaneously enjoy their lives.
2. Making person connections with all types of buyers and telling your story is the key to a local food system.
3. Individual contacts made to school district food service managers and restaurant owners/chefs.
4. If you can show that locally grown and seasonal foods can taste great, they will want to buy more of them.
5. Small-scale production is sometimes more preferable to “industrialized” value-added production systems. They are easier to manage and control.
6. Local food systems need better coordinated marketing plans.
7. Local food systems do not exclude crops grown for commercial sale. There could be some integration.
8. The experience reinforced the fact that a geographically isolated set of farms can individually through cooperation and diversification.
9. Through experiential contact.
10. How to do so with limited capital.
11. The Pike Place multi-farm CSA.
12. Use creative marketing, value-added product development, networking, Internet.
13. Large, “efficient” monocrop operations with contracts.
14. Local/regional products with a good reputation and/or niche market.
15. Connecting them with culinary schools and other institutions preparing and serving food.
16. Small farmers forming collectives to be able to reach/serve larger markets.
17. Direct marketing, e.g., farmers’ markets, CSA’s and restaurants.
18. Cooperative arrangements among local producers, e.g. value-added products.

Summary: Some themes running through the comments were: (1) Coordinating marketing plans through some type of formal or informal association; (2) Working with school districts, restaurants and other institutions; (3) Emphasizing the value and “good taste” of local and seasonal foods.

B. In what ways, if any, will your experience at this retreat help you in your career?

1. This experience reinforced the fact that a geographically isolated set of farms can individually and collectively succeed if they are creative and take risks.
2. I was immensely impressed by the problem-solving skills and the tenacity of people in staying on their land using no cost and or low-cost local inputs.
3. This has broadened by viewpoint of agriculture and the importance of promoting locally grown food.
4. I will be able to develop targeted programming for both producers and consumers.
5. It will give me knowledge of crops and farm products not normally produced in our area.
6. I like the respect part. I’m going to find some way to educate consumers.
7. Elimination of transportation, storage, brokers, wholesale could increase farm income; not a new thought but one that could be worked on.
8. I’ll take care to connect the producers of the food to our daily activities, and help others to understand the connection.
9. By sharing more grower information and nutritional details with our consumers via our newsletter.
10. Time will tell.
11. I enjoy collaborating with agricultural staff, as it better enables me to understand food sources and associated difficulties.
12. I hope to pass on this understanding and appreciation of local food systems to program participants so that they will participate in their local systems as much as possible.
13. It helps me understand better the farmers with whom I work which improves the customer service and support systems from our office for farmers.
14. Makes me think about the bigger picture such as how I consume and encourage the general public when they call Tilth with questions about organics and sustainability.
15. By encouraging and helping students (and others) spend time on a farm to better understand the whole system.
16. To share with students the factors that help make these small farms successful.
17. I can develop a broader farm-food approach in my research studies of sustainable farming systems.
18. I can incorporate concepts of local-seasonal foods in my undergraduate teaching.

Summary: The general reaction was to take a broader view of the food system especially with respect to local and seasonal foods in their programming.

C. What was the most outstanding experience or new insight (if any) you received during this retreat?

1. Seeing the connection between these farmers make me recognize the paucity of true connection that exists in many urban “communities”.
2. The bee keeping presentation; what organic farming really means; eating seasonally, cheese making and milking a goat.
3. How easy it is to make goat cheese and how good locally grown foods can taste.
4. Increased general knowledge on sustainable/organic food production and preparation.
5. The cooperative efforts between conventional and organic growers and the changes conventional growers are making; in general an empathy for the challenges conventional growers face.
6. People mix and openness; high quality food preparation.
7. The farmers we met sought creative solutions to earn a living and did so successfully. They developed what was available to them and were a great inspiration.
8. I have never before been exposed to the theory of buying locally for environmental and economic sustainability to the point of limiting foods to what is in season locally and not supplementing with some food “imports”.
9. A sense of hope for the small farmer, that with the consumers’ growing consciousness of local foods coupled with growing educational programs for farmers and ag tourism for exposure. There is hope.
10. The quality and variety of meals that can be prepared from local/seasonal foods.

Summary: The most outstanding experience/new learning was about paying attention to local/seasonal productions and good and high quality foods can be prepared when relying on this base of supply. A second theme was a better sense of hope and respect for the small family farmer.

D. We will be offering this retreat opportunity again next year and if successful there may be additional retreats offered in the future. What one recommendation do you have for improving the quality of learning at this retreat?

1. Perhaps you could specify periodic 15-minute silent periods for participants to reflect after certain activities.
2. This experience was fantastic. I can’t think of anything to change expect to pay closer attention to some hygiene issues. Two people were recovering from illness and sharing napkins put others at risk. Easy solution: personalized napkin rings to keep tract.
3. We didn’t do the walk up into the trees but if you schedule it for next year, do it in the afternoon after the dew is off the grass.
4. We had a great group but you were preaching to the choir. A more diversified selection of participants would have been interesting. Enjoyed the experience and learned al lot. Particularly found the participants and instructors interesting and engaging.
5. Perhaps more practical details/information on what to bring and what to expect. Thanks so much.
6. I can think of little to improve; more diverse farm visits. Thanks for the tremendous experience.
7. Continue to have a variety of disciplines at one time. We had a great mix representing ag, marketing, meat processing, grapes/wine, nutrition, dairy, etc. This enriched the experience and helped in understanding the “big picture” and different perspectives
8. I didn’t learn anything new or profound from the marketing or nutrition participant presentations.
9. Honestly it was just wonderful as is. Thank you for this opportunity.
10. Expand to a full five days with arrival and departure on the weekends. In other words, more time at the Quillisascut Farm School.

Sustainable Small-Acreage Farming from Field to Table
Notes from final group discussion, “Gratitude, on Friday, October 15

Lora Lea Misterly: Before a new group comes to the farm, she worries, “What if they don’t like it? What if they don’t get it?” She said that without the energy each group brings, the experience wouldn’t happen. “We have set the table—you’re the ones who do something with it.” Said she was lucky to have Extension faculty here who are committed to listening to small farmers, finding out what their needs are before making recommendations. She is also grateful to Kären. “It’s hard to keep a smile on your face and a twinkle in your eye when it’s hard to get away and have time for yourself.” As well, Joanna did so much over the summer to help the farm school look good and make sure programs were well-planned. She and Carter also helped with getting the garden going, weeding and watering even in the heat.

Holly Freishtat: Glad to have the opportunity to rethink her role as a consumer—would like to take the time to become more conscious and sustainable. She said she realizes that her education programs have an important impact in the world. She would like to collaborate with the Pike Place Market to increase volume of Washington-grown products that are purchased locally. She would like to have a single contact person for all schools interested in Farm-to-Cafeteria. Grateful to Joanna and Carter for doing dishes so many times throughout the week. This freed us up to have our lively discussions after meals and to get right into presentations and tours.

Theresa Beaver: She feels like she has new energy to provide educational programming to beginning and existing small farmers through the university and extension. She wants people to learn how to do what the Misterlys are doing by potentially offering a for-credit apprenticeship. She would like to rethink the apprenticeship program so it’s not just about living and working on a farm for, say, a summer. Instead, a retreat like that offered at Quillisascut could be a component of the on-farm experience required of students in the Cultivating Success certificate program. She also sees the farm school as a valuable place for students to tour who are taking the course “Field Analysis of Sustainable Food Systems.” Also grateful that she’s been inspired to try new things on her own small farm. She enjoyed the experience of talking to Jack Watson about grapes, to the Hermans and Crandalls about fruit production, and to the Robersons about garlic.

Vance Corum: He works on grant dollars—not state funding. That means he is always looking for saleable project ideas. He developed two important concepts while at the farm: 1) enhancing markets in the Inland Empire—helping rural communities attract the best vendors by improving the sharing of knowledge and resources and 2) bringing farmers’ market managers from around the state to Quillisascut for a weeklong session. In 2005, he would like to have market managers and board members from around Washington, and perhaps expand it to the entire Pacific Northwest or the nation the following year. He believes people affiliated with markets would love to have this small farm experience. Grateful for the warm weather that we had, and for his renewed interest in cooking that came from working with Kären in the kitchen. He said it’s important to keep connecting with farms and farmers, something he has done more frequently in his earlier periods of his career. He feels committed to seeking out this kind of opportunity more often now. Vance also said he was grateful to have Bruce Smith and the humor he brought to the experience. He said through Bruce’s example, he realized again how much humor can lighten our workload and make difficult tasks and subjects more bearable.

Kathy Revello: Not raised on a farm and gardening is not her forte. Since she comes from an urban background, she enjoyed the opportunity to make the link between food and nutrition. She said her training as a consumer science specialist was based on a conventional and clinical approach to food and nutrition, including food safety. She said she was amazed to see the science and education that underlies sustainable agricultural production. It was a good cross training experience. She said that the Missoula County Fair rejected her local Extension office’s bid to make a display on sustainable agriculture, but her county director is supportive. She said she feels like she’ll be better able to make connections with other Extension specialists in her office—she can see how her work is connected to theirs as a result of this experience. Grateful for the land around Quillisascut, and for the stories we heard from Rick and Lora Lea and from the farmers we visited.

Gayle Alleman: Said she had a fantastic time. She wishes everyone from an urban area could come and experience small farm life. It reinforced her appreciation that healthy, whole foods can be tasty. She would like to weave more of the farm connection into her presentations on nutrition education for low-income people.

Craig MacConnell: Said he has taken the cheese short course offered by WSU in Pullman. He said this experience gave him a chance to see things from the small farm perspective, not from an institutional large-scale view. He was impressed with Pike Place Market’s multi-farm CSA that Michele manages. He said current CSA models seem to restrictive for consumers who are accustomed to a broad array of product throughout the year. He was also impressed by the discipline of the Misterlys and other organic farmers we visited. He said organic farmers in Whatcom County don’t exhibit the discipline it takes to make their businesses a success. He was impressed that Jeff Herman knew so much about biological pest control. He said he saw some models of economic viability. He also said: “I am grateful for the way I was welcomed.” There was an openness to listening, to sharing each other’s values. Grateful for the conversations we had. “I really felt like I had a place on the farm.”

Joanna Moogk: She said that our group was different from the groups of culinary students who come during the summer and who leave really excited about changing the world by shopping for local products at farmers’ markets. She said she is grateful for the different perspective that she got by participating in a session with Extension and other ag professionals. She feels like she got a better sense of the “reality” facing the farm side, and a better understanding of the whole food system and how it works.

Carter: Feels like he gained an understanding of how to be more sustainable as a consumer and how his decisions affect the food system. Enjoyed meeting people who serve the farming side.

Kitri Falxa: Was happy to get away from paperwork and out on a farm, doing chores, and reconnecting with who and what she is working for. She said the experience helped to change her attitudes as a consumer. She plans to write about the experience for In Good Tilth, and is seeking articles, photos and ideas for input. Grateful that the experience was in October, at the end of the field season, so that she could get away from her work and spend time on a farm. She feels re-energized to keep working with growers as a result of being at the farm school. She feels like she has more firsthand knowledge to help her understand where farmers are coming from.

Michele Catalano: Has always admired the Misterlys and their approach, but didn’t feel like she could get away and visit. She feels like her work is so much about input-output, and she would like to offer the Quillisascut experience to her staff, which is mostly drawn from the ranks of urban dwellers who are handling food but may not see where it came from. Felt like she as able to restore some balance to her life through the experience. She said it is important to stay balanced so that she can keep doing the work she does on behalf of farmers. She said her interactions with others at the retreat inspired to explore a new direction for her work at Pike Place Market. She feels like she could capitalize on her relationships with growers to develop a branded broker business that offers one-stop shopping. She feels like she has the confidence now to rethink how she educates the consumers in Pike Place’s CSA program, as well as her staff. She also loves cooking, and feels like Kären is the “glue” that holds the experience together.

Jack Watson: Felt like there was a good balance of chores and activities. Grateful for the experience: “You get so immersed in what you do, you don’t have the energy and strength to take on a new course.” He said he has had an interest in researching and developing sustainable practices for winegrape growers, but it has been on the back burner. Now he is ready to look at this project again, and through this experience, he got some ideas about where to start.

Bruce Smith: Most production in his area needs to be exported. The population is not large enough to support a great deal of direct marketing. He sees small CSAs as a possibility, perhaps by enlisting local gardeners. (Gardening is an important hobby in his region.) He also would like to start a farm school like Quillisascut in his area since only people in their 60s and older even remember what an integrated small farm is like. He also got some ideas for value-added products like rhubarb pie, wine and chokecherry syrup. Said he feels renewed spending time with others who are interested in new ideas and willing to take risks. He plans to launch some new projects as a result of this experience by adapting the things he’s learned to unique needs that he faces in eastern Montana.

Rick Misterly: Grateful that everything went so well. He said we were really fortunate to have the great weather we did. He had been worried that it would be cold and rainy outside and the group would need to spend much of their time indoors. Instead, we had an opportunity to fully experience the farm since it they hadn’t even gotten the frost everyone was expecting. Also mentioned Lora Lea and how she always has new ideas for the farm.

Kären Jurgensen: Said she is grateful for her profession. She gets to work with her hands, and everyday—three times a day—she gets to make new friends just by fixing something good to eat. She said it’s her passion, and she is glad to be able to work and live at Quillisascut.

Al Kowitz: Thinking about using a rental van for more farm tours, and following up the tour with an evening dinner. He said existing farmers markets in the area are weak—including those in Spokane, the second largest city in the state, and he would like to develop a program that enhances markets for growers. Grateful for the opportunity to begin working with the Misterlys when he offered Tilling the Soil course, and now happy to keep working with them to develop the farm school and to offer this experience. Said the farm school and the film “Mostly Martha” has inspired him to take his career in a new direction and get training as a professional chef. He plans to take a sabbatical and go to culinary school.

Rich Hines: Grateful for the goats and all they provide to Quillisascut. They were here working with the Misterlys long before the farm school got off the ground. Plans to write more stories about small farmers and their communities because others need inspiration and models to show them that a sustainable food system can work.

SARE Evaluation: Post-session Questionnaire
1. Please rate the impact of the retreat on your understanding of the following issues facng today’s family farms:

A. Practices for sustaining a viable enterprise in today’s economic environment
None
Slight Impact 1
Moderate Impact 3
Significant Impact 6

B. The purpose of this retreat was to learn how food moves from the ground to the table. How well did we do that.
Poorly
Fair
Good 4
Excellent 6

C. How small farmers can work together to produce and sell their product?
None
Slight Impact
Moderate Impact 5
Significant Impact 5

D. How family farms contribute to the health of their communities (nutrition and vitality)?
None
Slight Impact
Moderate Impact 3
Significant Impact 7

2. Listed below are several topics addressed at this retreat. Please circle what you feel you may have
learned about the topic.

A. Grass fed livestock and poultry
Nothing New
Some New Knowledg 4
A Lot 1
A Great Deal 5

B. Sustainabity
Nothing New
Some New Knowledg 2
A Lot 5
A Great Deal 3

C. Nutrition
Nothing New
Some New Knowledg 5
A Lot 4
A Great Deal 1

D. Cooking with local and seasonal food
Nothing New
Some New Knowledg 1
A Lot 5
A Great Deal 4

E. Food Systems
Nothing New
Some New Knowledg 3
A Lot 5
A Great Deal 2

Collaborators: