2014 Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Assn Conference: The Time Is Now

I'm a board member of the Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association.  TOFGA is a statewide organization supporting organic and sustainable agriculture, and the farmer is our focus.

Our major undertaking is an annual conference, and I just returned from our 2014 get together in Houston. It's always a fun time with great food, and it's often the only opportunity we have to see some of our friends throughout the state, so we look forward to it for both the educational and social aspects.

This year we noted some changes, which I feel are indicative of a broader change in sustainable agriculture in Texas.

TOFGA is one of the few places you can find people to talk about things like small animal husbandry, backyard livestock, GMOs and how to run a raw milk dairy.  We cover all the usual subjects - specialty crops, composting, farmers' markets, etc., but we also hit the livestock track, which is where I saw the big difference this year.

Usually, we provide the livestock classes and may get 4-5 people in each class.  They appeal to a targeted niche audience, so that's not unusual, but his year we had 15-20 in each class.  And not just grass fed beef production (there were 35 in that class).

Our livestock track covered pastured poultry, pasture-based goat dairy, grass fed beef, high-density grazing, pastured swine and sheep, and raw milk production.  Not your average everyday gardening conference. And there were a lot of folks there to learn.

We brought in some of our heavy hitters to teach:

Jon Taggart of Burgundy Pasture Beef talked about sustainable practices in grass fed beef - he's seeing some changes in the industry that he's not happy about. Grass fed is grass fed - why is there discussion about that?

Stuart and Connie Veldhuizen spoke about raw milk dairy farming, and if you've had some good Texas cheese, you've probably had theirs.  Veldhuizen Cheese has a Redneck Cheddar that is truly amazing, and Stuart has developed a method for building cheese caves using papercrete that is both simple and cost-effective.  And...they bring cheese samples to their workshops, so of course they are well attended!

Betsy Ross of Sustainable Growth Texas discussed soil health and high density grazing.  Ranchers are in effect grass farmers, so they must keep the health of their soil as the highest priority.  She's been working closely with Kim and Laurie at Barking Cat Farm in West Tawakoni, so we are reaping the benefits of her mentorship here in north Texas.

What does that mean for Texas?  Hopefully, more access to meat, eggs and milk from some new small, sustainable farms.  Homegrown food that is native Texan.  I'm all for it.

Changing Your Diet Series: Farmers Markets

Coppell Farmers Market Community

A farmers market can be your doorway to better food.  It will introduce you to farmers, foodies, and folks who know where to find stuff.  Stuff like raw milk, and local grains, and the best places to find pick-your-own peaches and blueberries.  Not to mention the fact that these people know how to cook...

The Coppell Farmers Market has created a wonderful sense of community in managing their market.  It's run by a local volunteer committee that approves the vendors and determines policy based on input from the vendors, customers and city, and balancing what is right for the community.  The Coppell Farmers Market mission is to connect people to food producers.

The Coppell Market was the second market I visited in the DFW area.  The first, of course, was the Dallas Farmers Market,.  Before I realized there weren't many farmers there.  Coppell has introduced me to many of  the producers I use today, and the CFM Committee is careful to ensure each producer is exactly who they say they are.

Another local market is Eden's Garden CSA Farm in Balch Springs.  Only 10 minutes southeast of downtown Dallas, it's a lovely market on a small urban farm that carries produce, meat, baked goods, honey right from the farm (we call that hyper-local!) and locally produced (Texas) olive oil.  Everything has been vetted by farmer and market manager Marie Tedei, who only allows food that is free of pesticides and hormones at her market.  Added benefit:  the kids will love to see the chickens, and she has a couple sheep as well!

Many markets have classes scheduled to teach you how to use some of the produce sold by their vendors, (sometimes even local chef demonstrations) and it's a great way to get connected to the local food community.  Make sure you bring small bills/change, shopping bags, and a cooler for meat, fish and cheese.  

If you have yet to visit a local market, spring and fall are the best times of the year for fresh produce in north Texas, and you can find winter markets as well.  Late summer markets can be a little slim with the heat, but they are always a fun way to spend a Saturday morning.  Here's a link to a great list of local markets thanks  to Edible DFW!

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Opportunities

Saturday I made the trek to Rose Creek Farms in Sunset, TX.  The name Sunset makes me think of heading into the horizon...which feels like an adventure.  I was up early and arrived just after 8 a.m.  Pam had the coffee on and snacks as well, so it was shaping up to be a good day!

We had 10 attendees at the first session of our Farmer Education Series, coming from as far away as Austin.  This is information that is needed, and our farmers need opportunities to learn new techniques and just to share information about best practices.

The Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association is a statewide non-profit that serves to educate the public on sustainable and organic farming and gardening.  I'm proud to be a member of this organization.  The Texas farmers I've met through TOFGA are truly a wonderful group of people.  They understand the importance of what they do, and don't mind sharing their knowledge with someone interested in joining their ranks.  With the state of Texas agriculture, there is plenty of room for expansion here...in fact, pretty much every farmers market in the state is calling for more farmers, more produce.

Farmers understand food security.  They have it right outside their door.  I read an essay a while back (unfortunately I can't remember where so if it's familiar to you please tag it for me) stating that people used to know how prepared they were by looking at their garden, at the livestock they had, and how much they had "put up" - canned or preserved to be eaten later.  They could touch their food security.  Not many of us can say that now.

There has been a flurry of articles in the media lately touting that organics is just not such a big deal, that there is no difference in the nutritional value of food grown using organic principles and food grown conventionally.  Understand where it's coming from - Proposition 37 in California is an important piece of legislation that will be voted on tomorrow.  GMO labeling has the potential to change the face of American agriculture with a swipe of the pen - California is such a major producer that what happens in California will likely be replicated throughout the rest of the country.  If you know a voter in California, I recommend you contact them and talk to them about this issue, because it affects you too.

So from my visit to Rose Creek Farms for a workshop, to food security, to Proposition 37...what we do is connected.  And so are our farmers.  A big thank you to Pam and Ronny Johnson at Rose Creek Farms, Jay Mertz, founder of Rabbit Hill Farm, Mark and Wanda Chapin of DMS Soil, and Lynn and Cynthia Remsing of Gnismer Farms in Arlington.  We need more farmers, and you are building that vision in our North Texas community.

This is an organically grown sweet potato from Rose Creek Farms.

Potatoes, revisited

I'm feeling the pain of my farmer friends.  The heat and drought have taken such a toll in north Texas, and things aren't growing the way they should.  Not just growing - in some cases, they aren't even germinating, and hardening off??  Good luck with that. 

I planted potatoes a few months ago - something new for me, and because I had never done it before, I was very diligent in caring for them.  I fed them, watered them, and generally babied them, and here is what I harvested ----->>>>

Yes - that's right, I harvested less than I actually planted.  I won't lie, I find this disheartening. Where's the satisfaction in this??   I just had a 15 gallon bucket, and I'm upset with the weather.  Some of my friends have plowed under their fields because there was nothing to harvest.  My friend Marie has replanted the same crops several times this year and still had little to no harvest. It's even hard to get farm eggs right now...the hens are just too hot and aren't laying.   But farmers are very special people. Hopeful people.

 

Some friends outside Austin raise chickens on their small farm, and their pond has been hit badly by the drought.  Jules writes:

This pond was over 15' deep and once covered the entire space up to not the first row of  vegetation but the second almost to the top. The herons are feasting on the fish that are left in that small amount of water at the bottom... and when those fish are gone, I don't know where our resident great blue and green herons and egrets will go, but leave they will when the food is gone.

What sorrow and trials this is! For us, for the wildlife too... we have a well that

we can use to refill it but must repair the pipes that run down-pasture and then be able to afford the electricity to run it long enough to pump many thousands of gallons.  Sooo, nature will take it's course without our intervention at this point.

We haven't seen the full effect of this drought yet.  But think about your local farmer when you are in the grocery store or farmers' market and see a sign that says "LOCALLY GROWN".  When you look at the price, and think, "wow - I can get it much cheaper than that...."  The price is a reflection of how difficult the harvest has been, and if we don't help our local farmers out now, they won't be here when we really need them.