Veganic Agriculture Network

Animal Place Veganic Farm

Meghan — 2013-03-17T18:02:44Z

Animal Place (www.animalplace.org) has been providing refuge to neglected farmed animals since 1989 on their sanctuary in California. More recently, they launched a 3-acre veganic farm, a working proof of the concept that domesticated animals are not necessary to grow food. In conjunction with the resident animal ambassadors, Animal Place's veganic farm educates visitors about how their food is produced and demonstrates a healthier, more compassionate way of eating and living.

The farm is managed by two farmers, Stephanie and Greg, along with the help of one or two interns, and occasional help from volunteers. To learn more about interning, visit animalplace.org/vegan-farm-internship. Please note that the internship positions are quickly filled, and applications are accepted in the fall for the upcoming spring. The farmers also provide regular information about the veganic farm through a blog (http://growitkindly.wordpress.com/) and a facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/growitkindly).

Animal Place's veganic farm participates in the USDA funded national program Farm to School. They stock an after-school veggie cart for a local elementary school, where children and their parents can take home free (or by donation) veganic produce and information about Animal Place. The kids visit the farm in the springtime to get hands on experience with veganic farming, and to meet Animal Place's resident animal ambassadors and hear their stories. Animal Place donates seedlings in the spring to encourage families to grow their own food veganically.

In 2013, Animal Place's veganic farm begins their first season as a CSA. They also sell wholesale to a local natural foods store and several vegan restaurants in the Grass Valley and Sacramento areas, as well as at a farmer's market.

Part of the harvest is also shared with the resident animal ambassadors who live on the sanctuary. All sales from the veganic farm directly benefit the rescue, care and advocacy for farmed animals at Animal Place.

Animal Place's veganic farm uses a full spectrum of proven techniques that have been developed by innovative farmers such as John Jeavons and Iain Tollhurst and they “veganize” the techniques that many successful organic farmers having been using for years.

For green manures and cover crops, they use a readily available mix of peas, cowbell beans and oats. As soil amendments, they use soybean meal, kelp meal, rock phosphates, alfalfa tea, and green waste compost. For potting soil, in addition to the base of peat moss, vermiculite and perlite, they are beginning experiments with alfalfa tea and complementary veganic fertilizers.

They grow a diverse selection of vegetable crops in order to provide ample variety to their CSA members and farmers markets. Their young orchard features figs, asian pears and permissions, and the perennial flower and herb garden attracts pollinators and other beneficial insects.

The veganic farm sits on a 600-acre piece of property, as part of the nonprofit Animal Place. Most of the land is a nature preserve, with another large portion reserved for pastures and barns for the rescued animals. The acreage of farmed land for food production is 3 acres but can be expanded in the future.

The soil on the farm is a clay loam. The climate is Mediterranean: hot and dry in the summer, cool and wet in the other seasons. The challenges on the farm include heavy rains which deplete the soils of nutrients and organic matter, and sloped land with poor drainage near the bottom. They are working to improve the soil fertility with an extensive program of cover cropping and amendments, and they will be taking measures to improve the hydrology while assuring that there is no net loss of wetland habitat.

The vegan ethic of least harm is extended to all areas of the farm. For example, they don't use violent and fatal traps to deter wild animals such as gophers and voles; instead, they make use of live traps and the adjacent nature preserve to relocate the animals. They offer habitats for song birds and native predators, which helps reduce the problems of insects and overpopulations of rodents on the farm, while reestablishing the natural ecology of the land around them.

Animal Place's veganic farm provides a working example that food can be grown without the use of domesticated animals. This links into Animal Place's overarching goals of providing education and outreach activities that promote compassion, respect and responsibility for all life.

Ark Gardens

Meghan — 2010-11-24T01:07:51Z

Ark Gardens (http://arkgardens.com/) is a small veganic farm in east-central Alberta in the County of Minburn. They are an off-grid farm, deriving their power from wind and solar, and they are focused on growing fruits that are high in phytonutrients.

Growing on less than 1 acre, Ark Gardens concentrates on growing dark-colored fruits for their health benefits. They also make herbal teas from the fruits and their leaves, as well as tinctures. Growing a wide variety of fruits, the greatest concentration is on black currents, tart cherries, honeyberries, dark purple grapes, jostaberries, and dark purple sandcherries, for their neutraceutical properties. They also grow apples, plums, saskatoon berries, gooseberries, blueberries, cranberries, strawberries, and pears. They use a thick tree mulch on the fruit trees, for the purpose of keeping the soil cool and delaying flowering in the springtime, as late frosts can damage developing flowers. They grow heirloom vegetables, saving the seeds, and also propagate some of their own fruit plants.

Their soil is a mix of hard-packed silt, clay, and rocks. The farmers use comfrey tea, vegetable compost, and organic alfalfa pellets as the main sources of fertility. In the propagation phrase, they use a 50/50 mix of peat and vermiculite. For potting soil, they have contacted companies to learn which potting soils are free from animal products. The main vegetable and strawberry patch, as well as the greenhouse, have raised beds that are filled with hand-mixed veganic soil that includes vermiculite, peatmoss, seaweed compost, and alfalfa pellets.

To repel insects, they use homemade mixes that consist mainly of garlic, hot peppers, olive oil, and peppermint soap. All of the fruits are harvested by hand, then hand washed and hand processed, using only food-grade peroxide for cleaning the fruit and utensils.

The farmers believe that veganic growing is equivalent to “organic squared” or organic², the next level of organic growing. They chose veganic methods because they would like to develop a closed system, free from imports, without raising animals. They also find that veganic is the safest method of growing fruits and vegetables. It also falls under the golden rule: do unto others, as you would have them do unto you, or, grow for others, as you would have them grow it for you. For the farmers at Ark Gardens, all the plants are gifts that are to be taken care of to the best of their abilities. Rather than focusing on maximizing yields, they place importance on the origins of the products they use and the way that they grow.

Ark Gardens incorporates sustainable methods for energy, water, heat, and housing. Completely off the grid, their power is derived from the sun and wind. They have a little over 1500 gallons of rain water catchment, which is augmented with well water if needed. They designed and built a simple passive solar house, which heats itself on sunny days even during the frigid Canadian winter. For additional heating, they use wood, mainly deadfall collected from nearby sources, and the ash is returned to the fruit and vegetable beds the following season.

Janlau Farm

Meghan — 2010-05-06T12:26:06Z

For 12 years, Laurent Lefebvre and Jean Côté have been moving toward farming without manure. Though they began as dairy farmers in 1973, they decided to stop farming animals in 1997 and concentrate exclusively on field crops. With their fields Certified Organic since the 1980's, they were concerned about possible deficiencies when they stopped using animal-based fertilizers. The two co-owners decided to call upon two agronomists, Jacques Petit and Pierre Jobin. The agronomists affirmed that it is completely possible to grow without manure, as long as one-third of the fields are left as meadow each year.

The 1/3 approach is nothing new. In Germany, the peaceful agriculture movement supports the idea of leaving the land to rest (as meadow) one year out of three. In the U.K., Stockfree-Organic farming, which is free of animal inputs, uses long term green manures (2 or 3 years) and with long rotations (over a period of 8 years).

The key to success

The farmers chose a rotation over 9 years, during which the first 3 of those years are permanent meadow. The following years alternate between cereals and legumes. The meadow plays the role of a green manure over a long time period. The plants have the time to become well established, drawing deep nutrients and forming wide and dense root systems. Moreover, the meadow stimulates and shelters life, fixes nitrogen, makes new minerals accessible, and improves the structure of the soil while also nourishing the soil.

Such a meadow makes it possible to diversify the crop rotation. It counteracts the pest cycle and offers a way to counter against competing plants (often called "weeds") by its density and the following soil work.

The meadow is planted in the springtime at the same time as a cereal (ie. wheat). It is composed of a mixture of 7 species: alfalfa, clover, fescue, millet, dactyl, Kentucky bluegrass, and sweet clover. It's only after the grain is harvested that the meadow is established. The following two years, if the price of hay is good (more than $70/tonne), up to two cuts will be harvested. If not, the hay is left in place, just like the third cutting.

The third year, after the second cutting, this meadow will be destroyed by two passes with a rototiller and one pass with a subsoil plough. The temperature must be hot and dry. The cropland is then left fallow, during which time the roots are exposed to the sun, after being uprooted by the tillage. The fallow ends in September with the sowing of autumn grains or with a green manure of white mustard. That green manure picks up the nutrients made available during the fallow, avoiding leaching. It also protects the ground against erosion during the winter.

The crops

On their 490 acres of active farmland, (that includes 85 more acres in transition), in 2005 they grew 162 acres of soy, 80 acres of wheat, 50 acres of spelt, 43 acres of buckwheat, 25 acres of flax, and the remaining 130 acres as hay.

Monitoring the results of soil analysis every 3 years confirms an improvement in its properties. Every year, parts of the land are limed, to
return it to a neutral pH. Only magnesium seems at the moment to be a
slightly low, but this situation could be corrected by the use of limestone
that contains magnesium.

Other green manures are used at different stages of the rotation. Clover
and grain are sown simultaneously just before the final pass of the harrow.
After harvest all crop residues and residues and straw are left in place,
building the amount of soil organic matter.

As well as soya, wheat, spelt, buckwheat and flax, Janlau Farm has tried
various legume crops in the past: lentils, chick peas and red broad beans.
The last of these were grown for 10 years for export to Germany. A
difficulty with legumes is that they do not completely cover the soil,
allowing weeds to grow in the gaps.

Another interesting trial consisted of growing flax in association with
the short-straw wheat variety Barry. The idea was to harvest the flax (which is taller) first, and to harvest the wheat afterwards. This technique was successful, except for one year when showery conditions favoured the wheat, which then choked the flax.

In the last two years spelt growing has been difficult due to showery
conditions in December. As an alternative, they plan to cultivate a new
variety of spelt which can be sown in spring rather than in autumn.

Their marketing strategy is to produce grain for direct human consumption.
Grain is sold directly to customers at La Pierre Mill and Les Brumes Flour
Mill, while soya is sold to the Japanese market via an intermediary.

Hesperides Organica

Meghan — 2010-03-09T21:46:49Z

Hesperides Organica is located in the town of Warwick, New York, about 1 ½ hours northwest of New York City, and is run by farmer Lisa.

The farm is located in the Black Dirt region of Orange County, an area with extremely fertile soil. The black dirt is left over from an ancient glacial lake, and has a high degree of organic matter (50%). Farmer Lisa likens the soil to “a big bowl of compost”. While the land isn't suitable for building houses or practicing livestock agriculture, the high degree of organic matter is quite favorable to veganic growing.

The farmers chose to use veganic methods because they oppose the use of animal products, especially those produced on factory farms, and they also find that veganic agriculture fits well with their goal of becoming a self-sustaining farm.

At Hesperides Organica they are aiming for a closed system, and are working to minimize their use of outside materials. The farm currently has minimal inputs, including some seaweed and kelp meal, and certified organic pesticides in the case of specific problems. They purchase open-pollinated and heirloom seeds, and have begun to practice seed saving with the intention of becoming self-sufficient. As the land they are growing on is already highly fertile, they feel it is possible to sustain high fertility without outside inputs.

To maintain fertility on the land, Lisa uses vegetable compost, compost tea, and cover crops. Barley, rye, buckwheat, and sudangrass are used for cover crops, as well as a spring green manure mix from Johnny's Seeds. A mixture of grasses are grown around each bed of vegetables.

Hesperides Organica market their produce through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, providing vegetables and herbs to 50 members, and part of the harvest is donated to local homeless shelters and food banks. Alongside a wide variety of household staples like potatoes, brocolli, squash, and greens, Hesperides also grows popcorn, okra, and peanuts. Their herbs include parsley, cilantro, lovage, dill, mint, echinacea, chamomile and lemon grass. To learn more about the farm or to join the CSA, visit their website at http://hesperidesorganica.com/

View online : Hesperides Organica

Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center

Stéphane — 2010-03-09T21:20:11Z

Tree of Life is a retreat center in Patagonia, Arizona, founded by Gabriel Cousens. They offer programs in healing, disease reversal, conscious gardening, and spiritual growth. Tree of Life has two acres of gardens that take their inspiration from veganic agriculture and Japanese Nature Farming.

The produce from the gardens is used in Tree of Life's rawfood vegan cafe, which prepares meals for the center's guests, employees, and workshop participants. In the summer the garden provides up to 75% of the cafe's produce, and in the winter they supply the cafe with greens and sprouts.

Tree of Life's gardening practices are largely influenced by Japanese Nature Farming. Like veganic agriculture, they do not apply animal products to the soil. Though contrary to most veganic farms, they also do not practice crop rotation. They leave the plants in one place, with the idea that the soil will become specific to that type of plant. Their relationship with the plants is spiritual in nature, and they express their gratitude to the plants when harvesting.

To maintain fertility on the land, they use cover cropping, sheet composting, straw mulch, Effective Microorganisms (EM), bokashi, and fermented plant extracts. Sudangrass and cowpeas are used as cover crops in the summer, and in the winter they use a soil builder mix from Peaceful Valley. For composting, they previously composted in piles, and have recently switched to sheet mulching directly on the fields. They place layers of kitchen scraps and straw on the beds, and these decompose in place within a month. They find that this is simpler than maintaining the compost piles.

Tree of Life's other fertility techniques—Effective Microorganisms (EM), bokashi, and plant extracts—involve making fermented substances. Tree of Life teaches these processes in their Concious Gardening courses. In their gardens they use EM5, and they find it aids with insect and disease resistance. Bokashi is an alternative to composting, where scraps are fermented in anaerobic conditions (much like natural pickling) and added to the soil. Due to the acidic nature of bokashi it can only be applied in small quantities. Tree of Life also makes plant extracts, by fermenting weeds with Effective Microorganisms (EM) to extract the nutrients from the plants. Extracts of garlic and mustard can be used as insect repellents, and clover extract is high in nitrogen. They make extracts based on the plants they have available, and also to address certain needs in the garden.

Tree of Life practices plant-based farming because they are a vegan community, and veganic gardening is consistent with their ethical views toward animals and the environment. Tree of Life has encountered some challenges when gardening due to the imbalanced ecosystem in their region. The mesquite trees in the surrounding area were previously cleared by miners, leaving an arid grassland. Grasshoppers thrive in this region that is now largely devoid of native bird species. Tree of Life's philosophy is that they would happily concede a portion of the harvest to insects, though the grasshoppers were eating the majority of the crop. Tree of Life made the decision to bring Guinea fowl onto the land to lessen the impact of the grasshoppers. While they are aware that their gardens would not qualify for veganic certification with the use of Guinea fowl, they strive to maintain a plant-based system in the other aspects of their agricultural practices.

The climate in Patagonia adds challenges when practicing agriculture. Located in the desert, they receive about 20 inches of rainfall per year, though this is mostly during the monsoon season in July and August. The gardens are irrigated from a well on the Tree of Life property, though the water has high salinity so they counteract this by adding gypsum. The temperatures in the desert change considerably from daytime to nighttime, with temperature swings of up to 60F in the same 24 hour period. They focus on growing cold-tolerant plants, and plants that can handle swings in temperature. The plants receive large amounts of sunlight, and in the summer the gardeners set up shade houses to provide 50% shade to the plants when growing delicate crops like greens.

Tree of Life has a solar dome greenhouse in which they grow tropical fruits like papayas and lemons, and also herbs, basil and ginger for the cafe. Two larger greenhouses are used primarily for tomatoes and cucumbers, two staples at the Tree of Life cafe. In their sprout house they grow a steady supply of sprouts year round.

Tree of Life offers week long courses in Conscious Gardening, where participants learn the basics of plant-based growing, and do hands-on activities like making batches of Effective Microorganisms (EM) and bokashi. They also have a SEVA program for people who are committed to doing voluntary service in the gardens for three months. Tree of Life has full-time employees who manage the gardens and coordinate the Seva volunteers.

View online : Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center

Santa Cruz Farm

Stéphane — 2010-02-22T03:27:43Z

Santa Cruz Farm is located in the town of Espanola, New Mexico, about 30 minutes north of Santa Fe. Santa Cruz is run by farmer Don Bustos, with the help of apprentices who are trained to co-manage the farm.

The land has been in Don Bustos' family for 400 years, and he has been farming the same piece of land since his childhood. Don's farming practices combine traditional growing methods with appropriate technology.

Located in the high desert at an elevation of 1700m (5600ft) above sea level, Santa Cruz Farm is an example of year-round veganic growing in a region with little water and wide temperature variance. The temperature can fluctuate significantly, changing by upwards of 25°C or 40°F from daytime to nighttime, so the crops must be resilient to constant temperature change. Their sandy loam soil has only 1-2% organic matter, and the region sees an average rainfall of 8 inches per year. The fields are irrigated with water from the Santa Cruz river basin, a communal resource for farmers in the region.

On 3 ½ acres, they harvest over 70 varieties of vegetables and fruits, including strawberries, blackberries, heirloom tomatoes, asparagus, eggplant, cucumbers, and bok choy. The farm specializes in hot peppers—Big Jim chili peppers, local heirloom chili peppers, jalapeños, and yellow hots—which are high in demand in the state of New Mexico.

The farm focuses on season extension, growing crops for twelve months a year. They have three coldframes on the farm, which are used for growing baby greens in the winter months. This is a feat in Espanola, where temperatures can drop well below freezing at night. The baby greens are insulated with row covers, and tubing is run underneath the plants to warm the soil.
Fertility on the farm is maintained through green manures, crop rotations, and plant inputs. Legumes are the primary choice for green manure, including cows peas, black eyed peas, and pinto beans, and they also plant vetch. Due to the low organic matter in the soil, they add large amounts of organic amendments each year. For inputs, they purchase Certified Organic alfalfa from a neighbor. This is not alfalfa meal, but rather larger pieces of alfalfa leaf and stem. It's incorporated with the soil in February, when the soil is at its wettest after the winter snow and rainfall. They source Certified Organic cottonseed from within New Mexico, and add 1-2 tonnes per acre to the soil. Batches of compost tea are also used to bring nutrients to the soil.

The farmers start their own seedlings in the coldframes. The seedlings are started in a mixture of 2 parts peat, 1 part vermiculite, 1 part perlite, and 1 part of their own mix. The mix consists of organic matter from decomposed cottonseed and alfalfa, along with vegetable compost to boost the bacterial activity. The seedlings are kept warm with temperature-controlled heat mats. Aside from these heat mats which are powered with electricity, Santa Cruz Farm's plants are grown entirely with solar energy, even during the winter months. While Santa Cruz previously grew seedlings using animal inputs, Don says that he prefers to use plant inputs: bloodmeal, for example, led to more disease problems such as fungus, whereas the whole system is cleaner when using plant inputs.

Don Bustos previously farmed using conventional techniques, and later switched to organic. He changed to veganic techniques after seeing the film “Our Daily Bread” which shows the realities of industrialized animal agriculture, and after hearing a speech from the former Secretary of Agriculture speaking about the 'acceptable' number of deaths in the U.S. food system related to food diseases such as e. coli and mad cow. Don started to question the animal-based amendments that he was adding to his fields. Upon meeting two veganic gardeners at the Santa Fe Farmer's Market, Don decided to try veganic techniques.

Santa Cruz Farm have diversified their marketing approach, and their produce is marketed through various channels. They sell at the Santa Fe Farmer's Market year-round, and sell at other farmers markets during the height of the harvest. They perform 'market espionage' to see what other farmers are growing, and strategically try to identify what isn't being grown, to fill a niche or create a new demand. They purposefully avoid growing the same crops as other farmers and entering into direct competition, instead preferring to offer less common crops, or offering crops like lettuce at uncommon moments in the season. For several years they have provided salad greens directly to the local school district as part of the Farm To School program. This allows the farm to have a steady source of income throughout the winter as they continue to grow salad greens in the coldframes. The farm offers a box scheme through a CSA, providing produce on a weekly basis to about thirty families, and they also sell directly to local stores and restaurants.

Don works outside the farm for a social justice non-profit, helping traditional communities retain ownership of their land and water resources by developing profitable models of sustainable agriculture. Don has been involved in agricultural policy and advocacy for over 20 years, with a special emphasis on ensuring that resources are accessible to disadvantaged communities. At the local level he focuses on protecting natural water sources of New Mexico, and working on issues of food sovereignty with the Good Food Network of New Mexico; in the southwest he is involved in Western SARE and Western SWAG; and at the national level he is on the board of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and he works on behalf of immigrant farmers to ensure that they have a voice as the president of the board of the National Immigrant Farming Initiative.

For over a decade Santa Cruz Farm has given tours and hosted guests and visitors from all over the world. Santa Cruz Farm accepts volunteers and apprentices, and provides an opportunity for new farmers to gain hands-on experience with veganic agriculture. Long-term apprentices progressively take on more responsibilities, and eventually handle the day-to-day operations of managing the farm. For more information, please contact Santa Cruz Farm at 505-614-7067 or santacruzfarm (at) windstream (dot) net

Sunizona Family Farms

Stéphane — 2010-02-16T20:55:05Z


Veganically Grown: Veganic tomatoes at Sunizona Farm

Sunizona Family Farms specializes in greenhouse tomatoes, herbs, and salad greens, and they have recently started growing field crops. In 2008 they began to transition their farm to veganic agriculture, and now the main greenhouse and fields are completely veganic. Sunizona has a special emphasis on local inputs, and they heat their greenhouse and make their own potting soil using local waste pecan shells.

Sunizona Family Farms is located in Willcox, Arizona, a little more than an hour east of Tucson.
A collective family effort, Byron and Janice and their four adult children manage all aspects of farming and marketing. Sunizona also provides employment for 8 other families in the region.

At Sunizona they grew hydroponically for years with chemical fertilizers, though always without pesticides. They wanted to switch to organic agriculture, but hydroponic organic growing generally involves fish fertilizers, and they were determined to grow without animal products. Over the course of 2008 and 2009 they converted their 1 ½ acre greenhouse from hydroponic to veganic raised beds. This greenhouse, which mainly grows tomatoes, along with zucchini and green beans, became Certified Organic in 2009. Their other greenhouse, which grows herbs and baby greens, is still hydroponic, though they hope to convert it to veganic practices in the future.

2009 was Sunizona's first season growing crops in the fields, growing 6 acres of veganic squash and melons. They are planning to expand this to 30 acres in future years, diversifying their crops and developing a rotation with over-wintering green manures. Despite having extremely dry desert temperatures—6% humidity, and months at a time without rainfall—the farm has access to an aquifer that is fed by nearby mountains, and they can use this to irrigate the fields.

“Veganic” is labeled clearly on the packaging at Sunizona Farm, which generates conversations and questions from their customers. The family transitioned to veganic agriculture for several reasons: the ethical treatment of animals, avoiding contaminants from animal-based fertilizers, and providing proper nutrition for the plants.

Byron is concerned that the widespread use of antibiotics in animal agriculture can lead to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, with potential effects to human health and soil health. Byron read a study that showed that antibiotics in manure can be uptaken by the plants, and another study which showed that antibiotics can enter the water system through rainwater runoff from farms. They also want to avoid problems of e. coli and salmonella from fecal contamination. While many greenhouses rely on fish emulsion, at Sunizona they are concerned about the high levels of heavy metals in fish populations.

They also find that plant-based fertilizers provide a better balance of nutrients. As nutrient requirements are fairly uniform across the whole kingdom of plants, by feeding plants with plants they receive the nutrients they need in about the right proportions. With manure, after passing plant material through the body of a cow, there is an imbalance of low calcium and excess phosphorus and potassium. Byron finds that it is much simpler to deal with plant nutrition by using plant-based inputs.

Sunizona Farm strives to find fertility sources in their local area. They purchase locally-grown alfalfa and keep all of their dry tomato waste, and they run these materials through their pelletizer. These pellets are the primary source of fertility in the greenhouse, and make it easy to apply a consistent amount to each bed.

Their desire to produce food locally goes further, as the Sunizona greenhouse is heated using biomass from local, reclaimed pecan shells. The shells are pelletized and burned in a bio-mass boiler system, and excess pellets are sold by the farm. The ash from the boiler is added back into their potting soil. Sunizona makes their own potting soil mix from local waste pecan shells, ash from the boiler, leaves and stems from their tomato plants, and waste cardboard from the warehouse.

Over 90% of their produce is sold within Arizona. They supply all of the Whole Foods stores in the state, and also supply a smaller health food chain in northern Arizona. Much of their produce is purchased by high-end restaurants and resorts. In previous years they sold their produce directly to a broker, but now Sunizona coordinates all of their distribution by contracting a delivery company. This allows them to supply their customers with much fresher produce, and cater to the needs of smaller businesses.

To learn more about Sunizona Family Farms, please visit their website: www.sunizonafamilyfarms.com

View online : Sunizona Family Farms

Spirit of the Earth, The Living Centre & Living Arts Institute

Meghan — 2009-07-22T14:46:44Z

Spirit of the Earth, The Living Centre & Living Arts Institute, founded in 1983, is an eco-spiritual education sanctuary in the countryside near London, Ontario.

A place where edible gardening and aesthetics are intertwined, The Living Centre has a far-reaching vision of sustainability, natural beauty, and responsibility to future generations. The centre includes herb gardens, vegetable gardens, forest gardens, orchards, a cherry grove, and an edible medicine trail, all grown veganically.

The Living Centre (www.thelivingcentre.com) is run by Shantree Kacera and Lorenna Bousquet-Kacera. Their educational programs are aimed at holistic human development, with teachings that promote peace, spiritual growth, physical and emotional health, and eco-sustainability. They teach and practice bioregionalism, deep ecology, and permaculture. Shantree is an author and an Ayurvedic Medicine Practitioner, and has a doctorate in Nutritional Medicine and Herbalism. His teachings include live-food nutrition, herbalism, and forest gardening.Lorenna is a Certified Ayurvedic Living Nutrition Educator and a Creativity Coach, teaching Shamanu, living nutrition, primorial movement, and inner healing.

The grandson of an herbalist, Shantree has been an avid gardener since he was a child, and moved to the countryside as a young man in his desire to return to nature. The lands he purchased have always been free of pesticides and chemicals. Shantree previously grew organic vegetables as a business, and at one time was the largest distributor of organic garlic in Ontario and Quebec. Realising that his true interest is in teaching, he changed the focus from commercial growing to developing an education centre. Over the years, he nurtured the land and developed a centre that is visited internationally by students. A large portion of the centre's food is grown in their gardens and orchards, and all meals are live-food, vegan, and organic.

The 50-acre sanctuary is largely made up of meadows and forests, with about 5 acres set aside to be cultivated. The gardens have incredible diversity. Over 500 species of herbs and edible medicinal plants are grown in the Sacred Medicine Wheel Herb Garden, and over 1,000 species of edible and medicinal plants are found at The Living Centre. Their passive solar greenhouse, an earthship made from tires and earth, provides the centre with fresh produce for 9 months a year.

The gardens are mulched with local amendments of straw, hay, sawdust, woodchips, and leaves, to protect the soil, retain water, and feed the microorganisms. The Living Centre maintains sizeable compost piles, and they also make regular batches of nettle tea, kelp tea and comfrey tea.

They are currently establishing forest gardens, with the long term aim of having gardens that are largely self-sufficient and that have a wide ranging positive impact on the environment. Forest gardening is done in 3-dimensions, creating biodiverse ecosystems that incorporate fruit and nut trees with shrubs, vines, herbs, root vegetables, ground cover, and fungi. When fully thriving, forest gardens can become self-fertilizing, self-mulching, and self-perpetuating, and able to retain water and nutrients. The key to forest gardening is to mimic nature—gardening becomes easier, says Shantree, when we work with nature and allow the natural processes to do much of the work for us.

Shantree sees forest gardening as a long term vision, a positive way to interact with future generations, the place where agriculture and ecology meet. Whereas annual plants require frequent tending and quick nutrients, The Living Centre is incorporating more perennial plants, which become resilient and self-reliant with time, drawing up nutrients with their deep roots while improving soil structure. As perennial plants and trees may be present for decades, Shantree feels that this allows us to develop a personal relationship with the plants.

The Living Centre offers courses in forest gardening, where students learn the fundamentals of beginning and maintaining a temperate forest garden. Courses are offered for 2 days or 5 days, or through 4-week and 10-week apprenticeship programs for in-depth learning. Herbalism is also taught at The Living Centre, with 2 day and 5 day courses, and through correspondence. From April to October, The Living Centre regularly leads herb walks, with each 2-hour walk focusing on a certain theme. They offer a variety of courses and events each month, listed on their website's calendar.

Shantree gardens veganically "for every reason under the sun". With a love for animals, he would rather see animals thrive in the wild than be domesticated. He also finds that working directly with plants is simpler and more efficient than involving farmed animals in the system. Shantree says that the way you garden is the way you view the world—it reflects a mindset. Concerned about our society's rapid loss of topsoil, Shantree views himself not as simply a grower of plants, but as a grower of healthy soil, aiming to replenish the fertility and long-term viability of the lands that they tend.

View online : www.thelivingcentre.com

Reverence Gardens

Stéphane — 2008-12-18T16:33:14Z

Reverence Gardens is a located in Round Lake, Illinois, about an hour north of Chicago. Reverence Gardens was run as a commercial veganic farm through a customer subscription program in 2007 and 2008, and was Certified Naturally Grown in 2008. Starting in the 2009 season, the farmers are changing their focus and transitioning Reverence Gardens to a large family garden, and are also hoping it can be used for outreach as a demonstration garden for veganic growing.

Reverence Gardens is run by Chris Pado, with the help of her family. The Reverence Gardens website, www.reverencegardens.com, features a blog, photos, and local food recipes. The website offers plenty of transparency, with a complete list of all theinputs used, and also links to each of theirseed providers.

In past years, Chris grew a wide variety of predominantly heirloom vegetables. In the coming years, the emphasis will be on flour corns, dried beans, edamame, and storage vegetables, to create a year-round veganic food supply for her family. Fertility is maintained primarily through alfalfa meal, green manure, comfrey tea, and organic molasses. Plant-based mulches of hay, straw and leaves are used to suppress weeds and retain moisture.

Reverence Gardens was founded by Chris so she could grow food in accordance with her values. As she learned that many plant-foods were grown with pesticides and slaughterhouse by-products, she realized that by growing her own food she could assure that it was grown with respect for animals and nature. She also viewed this as an opportunity to demonstrate that great looking and great tasting produce can be grown with reverence toward all life. She objects to the use of pesticides, even organic pesticides. Chris relies on maintaining both healthy plants and a healthy ecosystem for pest and disease control, and believes that working with nature, not subduing it, is the more effective way of living on this earth.

While Reverence Gardens will likely not be selling commercially in the 2009 season, interested parties are welcome to make arrangements to visit the farm by contacting Chris directly through her website: www.reverencegardens.com

View online : http://www.reverencegardens.com

Honey Brook Organic Farm

Meghan — 2008-12-16T16:03:00Z

Honey Brook Organic Farm is a veganic CSA in Pennington, New Jersey, and was profiled in the Winter 2008 edition of the American Vegan newsletter. With 2,200 CSA memberships, feeding between 3000 and 4000 people in total, Honey Brook Organic Farm is called the largest organic CSA in the United States.

Local families purchase shares for the entire season, and are provided with fresh Certified Organic produce for significantly less than the price at the big box healthfood stores. The variety of crops grown at Honey Brook can be seen on their website's Harvest Calendar.

Farmers Sherry and Jim run a successful farm, with several seasonal employees and a waiting list for CSA membership. With 65 acres, they recently expanded the farm by purchasing more acreage in a nearby county.

After farming organically with animal products for many years, the farmers more recently transitioned to veganic agriculture at the suggestion of one of their CSA members. They had become more aware of their vegetarian members and of animal issues when Sherry participated in an ethics study program at her church. Since they began using plant-based compost in place of composted manure, the farmers feel that their crop quality has improved.

On their website, www.honeybrookorganicfarm.com, the farmers list the admirable goals for their organic CSA. They are committed to environmentally sound and sustainable agriculture that builds soil fertility, without the use of sewage sludge, animal manures, or GMO's. They strive to offer high-quality local produce at reasonable prices, while also providing safe working conditions, comfortable housing and liveable wages for their employees. Concerned about preserving the genetic diversity of food crops, they grow many rare heirloom varieties. And in their local area, the farmers are active advocates for the future viability of family farming in New Jersey, and they also provide a setting where CSA members can reconnect with the land where their food is grown.