Reviving the Culture of Agriculture at the Young Farmers Conference
Last week I sent Betsy Perreten, my stable manager, and Ryan McCallister, my gardener, to the fifth annual Young Farmers Conference held at the amazing Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture in Pocantico Hills, NY. Every December, more than 250 young farmers from across the United States gather here to learn from agricultural leaders, peers, and business experts in the sustainable agriculture movement. Farming is a tough business and this conference provides invaluable support, encouragement, and direction to these ambitious, hard-working individuals.
1 The entrance to Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture and Blue Hill at Stone Barns
2 Stone Barns Center in Pocantico Hills, utilizes these magnificent interconnected Norman-style farm buildings, which were originally built by John D. Rockefeller in the early 1930s for use as a dairy farm.
3 After his wife, Peggy, died in 1996, it was David Rockefeller's wish to turn the property into a nonprofit center dedicated to sustainable agriculture, a cause Peggy had embraced throughout her life.
4 This is the large education center, which was once the hay barn and to the right, where the cows were once housed, is part of Dan Barber's fabulous Blue Hill at Stone Barns.
5 This is the outdoor eating area where guests can enjoy the food purchased at the cafe.
6 A very pleasant view from the eating area
7 Blue Hill Café offers light snacks, farm-fresh lattes, and other locally grown goodies.
8 Hours of operation are Wednesday through Sunday from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm.
9 As you approach the greenhouse complex, you come upon this introduction sign.
10 Year-round farming is possible because of this 1/2-acre minimally heated greenhouse facility. The retracting roof panels allow for outdoor exposure on nice days.
11 This is the propagation area where a class was to be held.
12 There were several flats of germinating seeds below protective bird netting, since birds are able to fly through the greenhouse.
13 Ryan was intrigued by this method of prestarting peas, instead of direct planting.
14 A more mature tray of peas beginning to sprout
15 Stone Barns utilizes the same rubber tubs that we use at the farm.
16 These specialty tools from Johnny's Seeds were part of a tool demonstration.
17 Johnny's was well-represented at the Young Farmers Conference.
18 These peas in the greenhouse were grown specifically for a pollination demonstration.
19 Every inch of space, every seedling, and every clump of soil is intensely managed here 365 days a year. Plants grow right in natural and cultivatable dirt floors.
20 The entire complex is succession planted throughout the year for a constant crop supply.
21 Beautiful Swiss chard was waiting to be picked.
22 As was this curly kale.
23 The produce is used in the Blue Hill Restaurant and also sold in their farm market every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. http://www.stonebarnscenter.org/products/farm-market.html
24 The giant mustard leaves were amazing.
25 A generous row of fluffy carrot tops.
26 These two smaller greenhouses move along on tracks. When one crop is finished, the house is pulled over a new plot. This way, the plots are not exhausted from overuse.
27 Betsy and Ryan also took a tour of the barnyard to see the various livestock raised there.
28 There are 23-acres of pasture and Finn-Dorset sheep are the primary grazers. When the grass is growing from May through November, most of the animals are grass-fed and maintained in a rotational grazing system. The livestock is brought indoors during winter.
29 The farm also raises Berkshire pigs, a heritage breed of pork.
30 The meat of the Berkshire pig is darker than commercial pork and has a higher fat content, making for great flavor. At Stone Barns, very little of the pig goes to waste as they also make sausages and delicious charcuterie products.
31 This is the winter home of the White Plymouth chickens. They also raise Rhode Island Reds and have about 1,200 hens that lay approximately 6,000 eggs per week. The hens are also used as broiler chickens.
32 Young farmers gather here at this conference for intensive workshops, demonstrations, business courses, and conversations.
33 The Education Center fills to capacity with farmers eager to learn from experienced thought leaders, creative practitioners, and business experts in the sustainable agriculture movement.
34 This was the seed exchange table where people get to share their shared seeds with others.
35 The seeds went quickly!
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Very interesting!!!
We need all the farmers we can get.
Gloria G!!!
Posted by: Gloria | December 18th, 2012 at 12:20 am
This is awesome!! Way to go supporting young farmers!!
Posted by: Lauryn | December 18th, 2012 at 1:54 am
Martha,
This was a very interesting blog. I did some reserach and found out a lot of information I didn't know. Wikipedia is my friend! What a lovely dedication to Peggy Rockefeller. The gaint mustard leaves are amazing, I have a great aunt that could make those melt in your mouth. Thank you so much for another interesting blog.
Posted by: KLBrown | December 18th, 2012 at 3:00 am
Loved seeing all that fresh produce growing in the winter. Wish I had the space for a large greenhouse, my mouth was watering. The white plymouths looked very happy in their winter greenhouse too. Fun to see.
Posted by: Glen Nyhus | December 18th, 2012 at 3:34 am
The buildings at Stone Barns Center are beautiful, I love english, gothic style structures. You always introduce us to the most amazing places Martha, I think it's wonderful there is support for our farmers, especially in sustainable farming. Their greenhouse system is very interesting. The vegetables they are growing look so good, I wish I lived near the center to be able to shop at the farmer's market!
Thank you Betsy and Ryan for taking these great pictures.
Posted by: Cindy F | December 18th, 2012 at 7:53 am
Hi Martha, Our weather has been very rainy since fall started and this morning we have some snow for the first time in a while! Our temperature is in the 30s and a bit windy, also! Have you had any more snow lately? Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful blog about Betsy and Ryan going to the Young Farmers Conference in Pocantico Hills in NY! What a great place for them to go to learn so much information to use at your farm! Have you been there before? I recall seeing blogs about you going to similar places before and getting lots of great foods! How great that this fantastic farm was built by John D. Rockefeller way back in the 1930s as a dairy farm! What a beautiful place it is and these photos are terrific! The weather even looked nice while they were there! I'll bet Betsy and Ryan brought back lots of great ideas and foods! Thanks for all of the great tweets you have been sending us and it's so great to hear from you daily! Sure hope you have another great day! Off to see The Daily Wag about being "All Partied Out!" Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | December 18th, 2012 at 9:09 am
Hi Martha,
You've taken us to Stones Barn Center a few times and I enjoyed those visits also. This is a very fascinating place and I’m amazed with all the other things they do there such as hatching their own chickens, and beekeeping too. (I had another look at your August 12, 2011 blog.) I've never heard of greenhouses that move on tracks but it sounds like a great idea to not overuse the plots. I guess it would be the same principle as changing our potting soil. I use the old soil to fill up spaces in the back yard and sometimes I get a surprise plant! Well, I’m sure Ryan and Betsy came back with all kinds of new ideas and probably even shared a few of their own from your amazing farm where lots of good ideas are also implemented. Thanks for a most interesting blog. Trish
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P.S. If I may, I wanted to share some of my exciting news. I wrote to Chicken Soup for the Soul about an experience I had several years ago and they published it in their new book, “Angels Among Us”, page 149. The release date is January 1st and the book is available in paperback or Kindle edition if anyone is interested. (I still have the first Chicken Soup book published back in ’93!) Thanks and here’s the link to Amazon: http://amzn.to/ZfNdvJ
Posted by: Trish | December 18th, 2012 at 9:43 am
A half acre greenhouse makes me extremely jealous! I wish all young farmers had access to such great funding. At least the NRCS has our backs a little bit in that department... Great pictures, I always love to see more conferences and education for young farmers in the sustainable ag business, we need as much support as we can get!
Posted by: Tiffany Mathews | December 18th, 2012 at 10:07 am
Hi Martha,
Thank you for promoting local, sustainable farming and ethical treatment of farm animals. I have watched your television shows and remembered that your rubber tubs were featured in a green episode. I made a notation but have since lost it and would like to find out who makes them.
Thanks again
Posted by: Sheila | December 18th, 2012 at 11:24 am
Love the red and white of the chicken picture.
Posted by: jw | December 18th, 2012 at 12:30 pm
Martha, the pictures are great as usual but this blog gives little in terms of how important the sustainable agriculture movement is. Our entire corn crop is in jeopardy due to genetic engineering funded by the mega industrial farming complex and it gets more sinister than that. Corn and soybean seeds and other vegetalbe seeds have been genetically modified so that they are resistant to roundup. For years farmers have been applying the weed killer over crops without apparent damage. However insufficient research was done or hidden so that long term effects have only recently surfaced. Farmers have noticed that the internal organs of these animals are damaged. Not only that but weeds are now evolving into strains that are roundup resistant. Europe insists that all genetically modified food be labeled as such. Once again the United States is behind the curve. Corn is in danger because these genetically modified strains can polinate "clean" varieties miles a way since corn pollen becomes air born. Even organically grown seed strains when tested have shown genetic modification because of air born pollen. Some thoughtful seed companies are testing seed and in some cases have rejected up to 50% of previously "clean" seed sources. Genetically modified seed is only one aspect of industrial farming that is rejected by sustainable farmers. I urge your readers to become educated and take action. Thanks for the blog on this important topic. Alexis Stewart also tried to bring awareness to sustainable agriculture on her old Whatever blog. Thanks to both of you but lets continue.
Posted by: Thomas | December 18th, 2012 at 4:30 pm
Martha,
What inspiration for independent farmers to attend a conference in such a beautiful setting! It's nice to see more people embracing safer and organic growing methods. Keep it going! Thanks for an interesting post.
Posted by: Judy | December 19th, 2012 at 7:14 am
Hi Martha!
Thanks for posting this. I love this place. Its literally 5 minutes from my house in Tarrytown, NY. I walk my dogs there as much as I can, and the entire farm is an inspiration in so many ways. Another great farm you might want to visit is Hanover Hilltop farm in Yorktown. We, My partner and I just went to the annual holiday pot luck. It was fantastic, and they, like stone barns do an amazing job teaching about agriculture. Well, Hope you have a wonderful Holiday.... thanks again for posting about one of my favorite places..
Signed- Your Westchester neighbor. (suzie q )
Posted by: Suzie Roscio-Gordon | December 21st, 2012 at 12:57 am
Farming has changed so much in our lifetime. In Ireland where I grew up in the 60s, there was mixed farming and everything was self-sufficient, at least in terms of the basics like potatoes, eggs and onions. 40 years later we have come to realise (I hope) that this type of agriculture is preferable to the agriculture in the hands of a few. The descriptions of GM developemnts versus organics is the classic case of the old ways versus the new ways. I would love to hear more posts about this for it is this arena for sure that the future wars regarding agriculture lie. And also what was agriculture like in the US prior to `modernisation`? Where there small holdings and to what extent have things changed by comparison to then?
Posted by: Michael | December 21st, 2012 at 4:43 am
Dear Martha,
I want to recommend this book to you and all of the young farmers who attended this conference. It's absolutely lyrical. The author's life has been made into a documentary that will be shown on PBS for Earth Day in 2013. It's called "Green Fire." This man is an American hero. http://empty-nest-expat.blogspot.com/2012/07/book-that-made-me-crazy-with.html
Posted by: Karen | December 28th, 2012 at 10:41 pm