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A world meeting of food communities.
October 26-30, 2006
Turin, Italy
MID ATLANTIC EAST
Community of Slow Food Philadelphia
These individuals represent just a few of the many food artisans and sustainable farmers who make up the Philadelphia Slow Food Community. They are at the top of their fields, employing innovative sustainable farming, brewing, and harvesting techniques while paying heed to Philadelphia’s rich culinary heritage.
Branch Creek Farm (Community of Micro-Vegetable Growers) is a member of the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA). These family farmers grow heirloom crops—both organic micro vegetables and herbs—on twenty-one acres in Perkasie, Pennsylvania. They are local pioneers in forging successful, close relationships with local restaurants and chefs.
Charlestown Cooperative Farm (Community of Charleston Growers), also a member of the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, is a family-run farm that uses sustainable practices to grow vegetables and fruits including heirloom Pennsylvania corn and tomatoes, flowers, and herbs. Alongside their farming program they have created and run numerous side projects including an exchange program between Italian and Philadelphia-area farmers, a gastronomy internship program where chefs learn about sustainable production methods and the benefits of cooking with fresh, seasonal products, and a special “school garden” where kids learn about freshness and nutritional health. The cooperative involves 168 member families.
Heavyweight Brewery (Community of Ocean Township Brewers) operates in Ocean Township, NJ, where it employs traditional, time-extensive brewing methods to create unfiltered beers that the brewers let mature in the bottles.
Yards Brewery (Community of Philadelphia Brewers) creates a wide-selection of English and Belgian beers that are naturally cask and bottle conditioned. One of their outstanding projects has been to reproduce accurately three historic ales from recipes created by American Founding Fathers, including one from Benjamin Franklin’s original recipe for Spruce Beer. Yards Brewery members attended Terra Madre 2004 where they met the Barritta brothers from Calabria, Italy. They invited the brothers to apprentice at their brewery and study the production of traditional ales. This year, Yards Brewery will help the Barritta brothers to open the first microbrewery in Calabria.
Production area
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Community contact
Elizabeth Anderson
Community of Wrightstown Organic Farmers (Anchor Run CSA)
Anchor Run Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms a total of 12 acres on the Anchor Run Farm Preserve. The farm was acquired in 1996 and 1998 with the support of two local families, the township's residents and Board of Supervisors, and Bucks County Open Space Funds. Wrightstown Township is committed to protecting local farmland and encouraging environmentally responsible practices.
One hundred and fifty households participate in the Anchor Run CSA program. Anchor Run CSA brings together farmers and community members in a mutually beneficial relationship that ensures fair compensation for the farmers while providing the community with sixty-varieties of delicious, freshly-picked vegetables for six months of the year. The Community of Anchor Run CSA is committed to the responsible use of precious agricultural land. All the produce is grown without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides or genetically modified organisms. Anchor Run makes use of compost, cover crops, and crop rotation to promote healthy soil and plants. Their goal is to sustain the environment while building community.
Production area
Wrightstown, Pennsylvania
Community coordinator
Tali Adini
Community of Central Appalachian Farmers Market Organic Farmers
In the Central Appalachian region of Virginia and Tennessee, the Community of Anthon Central Appalachian Farmers is at work to transition from an economy dependent on coal mining and tobacco farming to one rooted in organic agriculture, grass-based poultry and meat production, and other more sustainable enterprises. Appalachia was once a self-reliant region where local people grew and raised the vegetables, fruits, meats, and dairy they needed. The Community of Anthon Central Appalachian Farmers includes a network of forty certified organic produce farmers, 50 farmers in transition to organic, 20 pasture-based meat and poultry farmers, and a number of direct marketers. All are at work to regain Central Appalachia’s self-reliance while creating new opportunities for family farmers and other local entrepreneurs. The farmer community is active in the development of its community farmers markets. In addition, it provides nearly 60,000 pounds of organic produce each year to the regional Food Bank.
Production area
Central Appalachian region; Virginia and Tennessee
Community coordinator
Anthony Flaccavento
Community of Purcellville Livestock Breeders and Farmers
(Mountain View Farm at Blue Ridge Center)
The pastures of Mountain View Farm are nestled below Virginia’s Blue Ridge and surrounded by hundreds of acres of woodlands and wetlands. The ponds and springs that punctuate the valley help to create a broad habitat, encouraging many native species of trees, shrubs, wildflowers, and wildlife. At Mountain View Farm, a small, family-run farm, animals are raised on high-quality grasses and legumes in an integrated, rotational system. This process of grazing and re-growth encourages the development of rich soils, maintains the vigor of the grasses, and increases the diversity of grass species. The farmers are self-employed and lease their land from a nature preserve, the Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship, in exchange for hosting educational programs.
At Mountain View family farmers raise lamb, turkeys, cattle, broiler chickens and laying hens and grow heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables including melon, corn, and bean varieties that are essential to historical Appalachian cuisine. They have just begun to keep beehives. The Farm’s produce is sold to local restaurants and distributed through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.
Production area
Purcellville, Virginia; Piedmont region of Virginia and Western Virginia
Community coordinator
Shawna DeWitt
Community of West Chester Herb Gatherers and Honey Producers
(Cross Creek Farm)
Cross Creek Farm is a small, family-run farm in West Chester, Pennsylvania that provides seasonal, fresh culinary herbs and honey to local restaurants. Christine and Mark Miller and their son Edward garden without the use of chemicals. In July they harvest their first honey crop and in October their second, a crop of autumn herbal honey. They sell honey in its raw form, strained but not heated. Cross Creek Farm delivers its fresh and handpicked herbs including garlic chives, lemongrass, pineapple sage, lemon balm, and many varieties of basil, from May until November. They have close relationships with many members of the local restaurant community who often recognize the farm on their menus.
Production area
West Chester, Pennsylvania
Community contact
Christine Miller
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MID ATLANTIC WEST
Community of West Chester Herb Gatherers and Honey Producers
(Grow Pittsburgh)
Grow Pittsburgh is a small collaborative of urban growers that provides classes and apprenticeships for teens and young adults in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Grow Pittsburgh teaches classes at two demonstration sites, Mildred’s Daughters Urban Farm and Garden Dreams. Mildred’s Daughters is a five-acre farm deeded since 1875 in the Lawrenceville/Stanton Heights area of Pittsburgh. There, students and farmers grow and market herbs, vegetables, fruits and free-range eggs. Garden Dreams, which was created on two reclaimed lots in Wilkinsburg, is a quarter acre market garden with a licensed greenhouse. Here participants grow and market naturally grown vegetables and specialty and heirloom seedlings. They also provide products and services for backyard gardens. Grow Pittsburgh’s hand-on classes serve as a tool for community revitalization. On the farm and garden, students learn about sustainable urban agriculture, local food security, and the health benefits, both environmental and personal, of a local-based sustainable food system.
Production area
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Community coordinator
Randa Shannon
Community of Ohio and Erie National Heritage Canalway Farmers and Producers
The Community of Farmers, Producers & Markets of the Ohio & Erie National Heritage Canalway represent a broad spectrum of local-based producers, each sourcing its products to a local audience and working to build a solid, sustainable food community.
Curly Tail Organic Farm (Community of Fredericktown Organic Pig Breeders) is a 114-acre farm in Knox County that raises certified organic heritage breed pastured pork. Along with their meat program, the farmers grow vegetables and process and market locally grown organic feed grain to Ohio’s small- and mid-scale farmers. Thanks to connections made at Terra Madre 2004, Curly Tail has begun to supply their meat to local chefs to make cured meat products.
Crown Point Ecology Center (Community of Crown Point Farmers) sits on a 130-acre historic farmstead in Bath, Ohio that overlooks the Cuyahoga Valley and National Park. The Center runs a 10-acre CSA organic farm and is committed to environmental education and sustainable agriculture.
Larksong Dairy Farm (Community of Amish Livestock Breeders, Poultry Producers, and Dairy Farmers), located near the Amish community of Fredericksburg, is an organic operation with 40 Jersey cows. The dairy farmers practice intensive and rotational grazing, which provides 98% of the feed for their herd.
Basket of Life (Community of Cuyahoga Valley Farmers) is a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Farm in the Cuyahoga Valley. Its twenty-five CSA members come from three surrounding counties in Northeastern Ohio. The farm serves as a community center, connecting people to the greater regional food community through partnerships with bakers, small fruit growers, meat producers, and dairy farmers. It operates inside the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, one of the few remaining areas with available agricultural land. Where urban sprawl and rampant development have largely wiped out local agriculture, this innovative program revitalizes historic farmsteads.
Production area
Cuyahoga County, Ohio; Northeastern Ohio
Community contact
Kari Moore
Community of Shepherdstown Fruit Growers
Fresh and Local CSA
This biodynamic farm in West Virginia grows heirloom variety vegetables for CSA members. The small farm hosts interns each year who receive an intensive education in biodynamic farming and gardening as well as room, board and a monthly stipend.
Production area
Shepherdstown, West Virginia
Community contact
Allan Balliett
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NEW ENGLAND
Community of Cornwall Hollow Dairy Farmers and Livestock Breeders (Hautboy Hill Farm)
This one hundred acre plot in the Northwest Hills of Connecticut has been farmed since the mid-1700s. For years the small family dairy farm shipped its milk to a distributor and lost contact with it from that point on. Two years ago the family decided to eliminate the “middle man.” It scaled back the size of its herd and began to distribute its own pasteurized (not ultra pasteurized), non-homogenized milk and cream and produce its own cheeses. Hautboy Hill raises its cows without the use of antibiotics or hormones. The farm also has several hundred free-range chickens that produce brown eggs for local consumption. At its farm stand Hautboy Hill sells pesticide and herbicide free produce in season and its own pastured pork and beef.
Production area
Connecticut
Community coordinator
Allyn H. Hurlburt
Community of Cape Cod Hook Fishermen
This Cape Cod, Massachusetts’ community is made up of 2000 commercial fishermen who use hook and line. These fishermen employ methods that are more time consuming than the use of nets, which destroy fish habitat, because they are dedicated to environmental sustainability. The community members catch wild cod and haddock on jigs or demersal long lines and deliver their catch fresh to a filet house for immediate processing and sale. They catch lobsters wild, which they store and then sell while still alive.
The commercial distribution of codfish and haddock caught on hook and line has a long and distinguished history in New England; both fish have been central to the trade, diet and sustenance of the region’s populace for centuries. This community of fishermen, bound together as a non-profit and cooperative, are working to build a future in which sustainably harvested wild fish will reestablish itself as a staple of the regional diet. They seek to educate the public about the importance of healthy ecosystems, connect consumers to the processes that bring them the fish that they are eating, and promote changes in regulation that disallow traditional hook fishing.
Production area
Chatham, Massachusetts
Community coordinator
Peter Baker
Community of New Britain Organic Farmers
(Urban Oaks Organic Farm)
Urban Oaks Organic Farm is located in one of the poorest and oldest neighborhoods in New Britain, Connecticut. Once a booming industrial city, New Britain has been ravaged by the money-saving tactics of modern multi-national corporations. The community that remains in place is multi-cultural, reflecting waves of immigration from the turn of the nineteenth century through today, initially from Europe and more recently from Latin America. The community’s diverse cultural make-up is part of what drives the farmers’ achievements in growing heirloom and imported varieties of produce.
Urban Oaks sees itself as part of three larger communities: certified organic specialty growers, urban farmers, and local food systems activists. Its members believe in the holistic benefits of urban agriculture; by providing fresh foods to its local community, Urban Oaks saves fossil fuels that would be used for transport and connects local citizens to their food sources. The Farm works directly with local chefs, offering a year-round supply of various products, delivers wholesale, runs a CSA, and sells from its onsite farm stand.
Production area
New Britain, Connecticut
Community coordinator
Anthony Morris
Community of Cromwell Vegetable Growers
(Upper Forty Farm)
This seven-acre certified organic farm has operated in Cromwell, Connecticut since 1986 and is today the last remaining farm in the town. At Upper Forty Farm, a small handful of producers grow hundreds of varieties of heirloom, open-pollinated and ethnic vegetables. Almost all of the heirloom vegetables have cultural and regional backgrounds that make them historically important. The Upper Forty farmers are passionate about educating the customer on the benefits of eating organically, locally, and in season and the joy of trying new varieties of vegetables. Each year they host a “Tomato Taste” sponsored by Slow Food Connecticut.
Production area
Cromwell, Connecticut
Community coordinator
Kathryn Caruso
Community of New Hampshire Farmers
Two farms, Willow Pond Community Farm and Sunnyfield Farm, have come together to form the Community of New Hampshire Growers. Both farms are run with a focus on social responsibility, community support, and sustainable land stewardship.
Willow Pond Community Farm (Community of Brentwood Vegetable Growers) is the only vegetable farm operating in Brentwood, New Hampshire. The farm has a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program on three acres of conservation land, providing the forty-five participating local families (163 individuals) with 190 varieties of fifty different crops. All the member families contribute volunteer labor on the farm, which is run by a single employed farmer. As a community they share a belief in and commitment to responsible land stewardship, sustainable farming practices, and building strong connections between people and their food.
Sunnyfield Farm (Community of Peterborough Dairy Farmers and Vegetable Growers) sits on a former dairy farm from the 1940s. The farm had gone unused for five years when the Crotched Mountain Foundation founded Sunnyfield. The Foundation leases protected land in exchange for sustainable land stewardship. Sunnyfield farmers grow and hand harvest salad greens, onions, potatoes and tomatoes according to organic methods. In addition they raise a few bull calves, hens, and pigs, and tend ten dairy cows—Jersey, Brown Swiss, Milking Devon—for organic raw milk production.
Sunnyfield Farm works with organizations that provide support for disabled individuals, in turn providing job training and employment for the handicapped on the farm. Approximately fifteen people work on the farm full time or as part time volunteers, supplying thirty-five to forty families. Sales occur at the farm and at a local farmers market.
Production area
Brentwood and Peterborough, New Hampshire
Community coordinator
Kathleen Sullivan
Karen Holmes
Community of Waltham Organic Farmers
This community consists of 200 organic Community Supported Agriculture farms on the fringe of Boston’s urban area. The urban residents of Boston have historically enjoyed fresh produce from local farms. These CSAs continue that tradition, the young farmers working side by side with CSA member volunteers to grow and harvest organic vegetables on the farms’ 1000 productive acres.
Production area
Waltham, Massachusetts
Community coordinator
Amanda Cather
Tel. 781 899 2403
Community of Maine Organic Potato Farmers
With a 200-year tradition of potato growing, Maine was the number one potato producing state in the nation until 50 years ago. There are still more potatoes grown in Aroostook County, Maine than in any other county in the United States. Within the county there is a community of certified-organic, small-scale potato farmers who are committed to agricultural sustainability and crop diversity. The approximately 125 members who make up these organic family farms grow and harvest potatoes using simple, sustainable practices. They use wheat and oats as rotation crops in a tradition that Maine farmers have applied for 200 years.
Production area
Aroostook County, Maine
Community coordinator
Jim Gerritsen
Community of Aroostook County Wheat Growers
This community of three growers, two large bakeries, one distributor and one community college in Aroostook County, Maine represents a re-establishment of wheat in what was once a large grain-growing region referred to as the Food Basket of New England. Most grain production eventually moved west, but this community believes that wheat is still a viable crop for the regional food system. They practice crop rotation and under sow clover to facilitate soil build-up. The community harvests its wheat with a combine and stone-mills on the farm. In addition it grows oats and rye that the community processes into rolled oats and rye flour. All of its value-added products have organic certification through Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA).
Production area
Aroostook County, Maine
Community coordinator
Angela Wotton
Community of Berkshire and Taconic Region Biodynamic Farmers
Three small-scale organic farms situated in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts and foothills of the Taconic Mountains of New York have come together to create a community that practices sustainable agriculture and shares its resources. Moon In The Pond Organic Farm and Berle Farm, both 15-year-old operations, and North Plain Farm each has only one to four workers. As a community their farming practices unite traditional, sustainable methods with modern technology to create a system that benefits their animals and land, and produces healthful, delicious foods. At North Plain Farm, they rotate heritage-breed grass fed animals from pasture to pasture, leaving some fields to grow back in order to provide habitat for wildlife.
Together the three farms produce cheese, dairy milk, meats, poultry, vegetables, legumes, cereal grains, honey, and maple syrup. They sell and distribute their products within a 70-mile radius. Moon On The Pond and North Plain Farm have been able to farm on land preserved through the efforts of land trusts working with the Agricultural Preservation Restriction Program (APR).
Production area
Berkshire/Taconic Region, Western Massachusetts/Eastern New York
Community coordinator
Sean Stanton
Community of Martha's Vineyard Aquaculturists
The Wampanoag people have harvested shellfish on Martha’s Vineyard for millennia. A community of small-scale aquaculturists continues that tradition using sustainable, natural production methods in coastal bays and ponds. The community includes approximately three hundred shellfish aquaculture producers and twenty-five members of the Slow Food Martha’s Vineyard Convivium. Together they work to provide high quality, fresh, local products to the region’s eaters, and their success has kept industrial-scale shellfish operations out of Massachusetts. Their products include eastern oysters, bay scallops, hard clams and cultured bivalve shellfish. Their various endeavors help to support the local economy, bolster the area’s shellfish population, and preserve New England’s culinary heritage.
Production area
Massachusetts
Community coordinator
Richard Karney
Community of Hancock Educators
This year the founder of Norway Hill Garden in Hancock, New Hampshire is piloting a project to build a greenhouse and school garden at Wells School in Peterborough, New Hampshire and a garden and garden shed at Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center in Greenfield, New Hampshire. At the two sites, students will learn science, history, and geography hand-in-hand with stewardship of the land and the value of locally grown food. The project seeks to become a model for all schools in the Monadnock Region.
Production area
New Hampshire; Monadnock region
Community coordinator
Kin Schilling
Community of Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association Farmers
With over 5000 members, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) is the largest state level organic association in the United States. The heart of the community consists of about 500 small, diverse, organic farms that are substantially smaller in scale than the national average. The community also includes fifty large commercial farmers and several thousand households who focus their energies on home food production. The MOFGA counts among its membership leaders in local farmers markets, seed saving and biodiversity preservation, and the growing Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) movement. At every level, members are at work to build bridges between farmers and eaters. The associations runs an organic certification subsidiary, as well as putting on an annual harvest festival, the Common Ground Country Fair, that draws 50,000 people to Unity, Maine each September.
The organic farming movement in Maine is now thirty-five years old. Today, nearly five percent of Maine’s farmers are certified organic, with fifteen percent of the state’s dairy farmers in that category. Most of the products the farmers and gardeners produce have been grown in the state for 300 to 400 years, a few of them truly indigenous to the region.
Production area
Maine
Community coordinator
Russell Libby
Community of Rhode Island Dairy Farmers
(Farm Fresh/Rhody Fresh Dairy Cooperative)
Farm Fresh Rhode Island is an organization that runs five farmers markets in Providence and others in Woonsocket and Central Falls, Rhode Island. In an additional project to link local farmers with potential buyers, Farm Fresh has created a searchable database of locally grown foods which gives Rhode Island’s small and specialty farmers greater exposure and market access. The Rhody Fresh Dairy Cooperative is one of the groups that work with Farm Fresh. The cooperative was created to preserve, protect, and promote dairy farming in Rhode Island. Thirty years ago there were over 100 dairy farms in Rhode Island, but currently only 18 remain. Four farmers came together to create Rhody Fresh. One of the members also runs a
milk transportation business. The cooperative convinced a large grocery retailer, Stop and Shop, to carry its local milk, and the result has been proof of the profound success that can occur when locally grown foods are made more accessible.
Production area
Rhode Island
Community coordinator
Noah Fuller
International Community of Food Producers in National Parks
This community represents a first effort to recognize that there are food producers around the world operating within national parks. Many of these producers have been living and farming the same land for generations, long before the establishment of the national park. Across the world there are many cases of park managers collaborating with NGOS and other national and regional organizations to protect these traditional producers and their modes of life. In some cases producers have been able to brand their products with reference to the park. Mexican Blue Corn, raw milk cheddar cheese, olive oil, and lentils are among the products these traditional producers grow and create.
Production area
Various countries
Community coordinator
Jeffrey Roberts
Community of Vermont Wild Food Gatherers
This community comprises several hundred people in Vermont and the greater region of New England who harvest wild foods. They are not part of a formal association, but rather are united by common experiences and practices.
The wild food gatherers supply their families, friends, village markets, and chef-owned restaurants with the natural bounty of their landscape, from fiddlehead ferns and ramps, wild greens and tubers to various wild mushrooms and berries. Their work reintroduces indigenous foods to eaters and makes possible the continued appreciation of wild foods. The community members know it is to their advantage to protect the natural habitat and many actively work to protect it. Nova Kim and Les Hook, founders of VT Native, have started a Wild Foods CSA program year-round, and offer regular classes to culinary schools throughout the area.
Production area
Vermont; New England
Community coordinator
Nova Kim
Community of Vermont Fresh Network Growers
The Vermont Fresh Network is the nation’s first state wide farm-to-restaurant program. Founded in 1996 by the Vermont Department of Agriculture, Food and Markets at the New England Culinary Institute and incorporated in 1999, the Network is currently under the direction of a board of dedicated farmers, chefs and consumers. The farmers in the network grow and produce a variety of products in a number of ways; some items are heritage breeds, some certified organic, but all are grown in Vermont. The community membership totals around 96 farmers and food producers and 180 Vermont chefs, colleges and food co-ops. All have a dedication to creating a vibrant community that preserves the state’s agricultural heritage and working landscape. The Networks diverse projects create direct links between farmers and restaurants and promote fair prices for quality local products. Its aim is to create a thriving local food system by populating the state’s landscape with a farms and restaurants that work together to provide fresh, flavorful, high quality food to Vermont’s citizens and visitors. Member chefs highlight the local products on their menus so that eaters can make informed decisions when dining out.
Production area
Vermont
Community coordinator
Meghan Sheradin
Community of Upper Connecticut River Valley Sustainable Meat Producers
Members of this community in the Upper Connecticut River Valley are committed to raising animals that thrive in a pasture-based system that compliments the local climate. The community involves 45 farms and three processors. Many community members raise animals that have been bred for generations for adaptation to the area. Though many of the small farmers in the area have disappeared in the last 20 years, those remaining are playing a fundamental role in the burgeoning local food economy.
Beef, sheep and pigs are rotated through pastures so that they have access to fresh grass regularly. Animals are also given access to annual forage crops to extend the time they spend on pasture and to supplement their grass diet. Pigs are fed grain as well. The animals are processed in one of two slaughterhouses that serve the region, and carcasses are custom cut for the producers.
Community members create a number of value-added products such as ham, bacon and “Canadian” bacon, which are traditionally cured in a brine containing maple syrup—an economically and culturally important regional product—and smoked with maple wood.
Production area
Connecticut
Community coordinator
Chip Conquest
Community of Vermont Bread Bakers
The small state of Vermont is home to a number of small-scale bread bakers; many have been established over the past 25 years. This community’s membership currently includes four bakers committed to using sustainably grown non-GMO grains and to baking breads without using additives, flavor enhancers or preservatives. The community expects its membership to grow. By devoting themselves to thoughtful production methods to create outstanding artisan products, these bakers have helped Vermont develop a reputation as an important place for baking.
Production area
Vermont
Community coordinator
Jeffrey Roberts
Community of South Londonderry Organic Vegetable and Herb Growers
Anjali Biodynamic Farm sits in the Green Mountains of Vermont on a ten-acre slope above the West River in the village of South Londonderry. This small farm has grown organic heirloom vegetables, culinary and medicinal herbs, berries and melons for the past nine years. The two-member community also raises chickens for eggs, harvests shiitake and oyster mushrooms, creates value-added products including Rhubarb Ginger Chutney and Garlic Honey, and runs a medicinal herbal company on the farm. They provide their products to local chefs and restaurants, offer CSA members the opportunity to volunteer, teach hands-on farm education classes, and recently hosted a Vermont Fresh Network dinner on the farm.
Production area
South Londonderry, Vermont
Community coordinator
Emmett Dunbar
Community of Vermont Maple Syrup Producers (Maggie Brook Sugarworks)
Maggie Brook Sugarworks specializes in producing organic maple sugar. The tradition of boiling maple tree sap into sugar traces all the way back to the Abenaki People, the native inhabitants of the land. Maple syrup continues to be a centerpiece of Vermont culture and history. Maggie Brooks Sugarworks is a family-run operation of people personally invested in the quality of their products and the health of their forests. Four to eight family members and friends tap maple trees in a sustainably managed forest and market Maggie Brook syrup. In turn their syrup production contributes to the biodiversity of the woodlot and makes the forest a greater financial resource. The wood from their plots is harvested according to the standards of Vermont Family Forests, the local green lumber certifying agency, and milled and distributed locally.
Production area
Vermont
Community coordinator
Caleb Elder
Community of Intervale Farmers
The Intervale Center stands at the center of a community of 22 farmers across twelve farms. The Center’s thirteen workers run a variety of projects and ventures to restore agricultural land and provide jobs, healthy food, and clean energy to the Burlington community. The Intervale itself is a parcel of more than 700 acres within the city of Burlington, Vermont that was first cultivated as agricultural land more than a thousand years ago by the Abenaki Indians. Since 1988 the modern Intervale Center community has reclaimed over 325 acres of agricultural land.
Intervale farmers seed, grow, harvest and deliver themselves. They are in partnership with Vermont Fresh Network, an association that connects farmers directly to local chefs and restaurants. One farm specializes in pick-you-own berries, another grows dry beans, rye, and oats and sells straw to local farms as a cover crop, and another raises chickens, which it moves between its farm fields to assist in weed and pest control. Half of the Intervale Farms have organic certification, although all are required to farm organically. All twelve farms are individually owned and operated; two are cooperatives, one is a not-for-profit Community Supported Agriculture farm, and the rest sole proprietorships. As a group they provide Burlington citizens with six percent, or 500,000 pounds, of their fresh produce needs.
Production area
Burlington, Vermont
Community coordinator
Mara Welton
Community of Northeast Organic Farmers Association Growers
The Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT) is a non-profit organization that unites a community of 384 organic producers, gardeners and consumers in Vermont. As a whole, the community is dedicated to producing high quality foods, supporting local food systems and maintaining a viable agricultural economy in Vermont.
The Stevens family, members of NOFA-VT, operates Golden Russet Farm, a certified organic greenhouse and market garden. They grow a wide variety of vegetables on 8-10 acres and sell 95% of their produce and plants within 15 miles of their rural farm.
Production area
Vermont
Community coordinator
Enid Wonnacott
Community of Lebanon Heirloom Apple Growers and Cider Producers
(Poverty Lane Orchards/Farnum Hill Ciders)
The family farmers at Poverty Lane Orchards in rural New Hampshire grow 85-100 varieties of apples. They are first-generation apple growers and leaders in the planting of rare and heirloom varieties. They sell their apples as is and pressed and fermented as cider. Thanks to Poverty Lane Orchards, apples including Spitzenbergs, Golden Russets, Wicksons, and Pomme Grise now have a strong market in gourmet shops and restaurants. The farm uses an integrated pest management system. They make their hard ciders in the regional American tradition by fermenting their apples with neutral champagne yeast at cool temperatures for better flavor. A visit to Bullmer Ciders, the best-known cider producer in England, taught the farmers how to choose apples for cider.
Production area
Lebanon, New Hampshire
Community coordinator
Louisa Spencer
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NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY
Community of Community of Hudson Valley Agricultural Educators
Hearty Roots Community Farm in New York’s Hudson Valley
Located in the village of Tivoli in New York's Hudson Valley, Hearty Roots Community Farm is a place where local community members connect with the land and one another through the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Members of Hearty Roots CSA visit the farm every week during the growing season to pick up a CSA share of naturally grown produce, freshly harvested by the farmers. Hearty Roots strives to keep locally grown produce affordable for everyone and offers alternative payment options for those living on a low income. In addition to their local CSA program, the farmers sell their greens at the Montgomery Place farm stand and several local restaurants. Once a week, from June through November, they deliver produce to Brooklyn, where city CSA members pick up shares at the Red Shed Community Garden in the Williamsburg/Greenpoint neighborhood.
Production area
Tivoli, New York; Hudson Valley
Community coordinator
Benjamin Shute
Community of Stone Barns Center Farmers, Chefs, and Educators
Since its public opening in 2004, Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture has been successfully teaching, demonstrating and promoting sustainable, community-based food production to a mixed audience of small-scale farmers, school children, aspiring chefs and everyday eaters. The Stone Barns Center is on 80 acres of pasture, woodland and cultivated fields in New York’s Westchester County. Nestled in the center of the property are its namesake stone barns; converted from 1920s farm buildings, the stone barns now serve as home to the Center’s educational and culinary spaces. The community members put an emphasis in all their activities on a direct farm-to-table relationship. The Center operates on three integrated levels of production and consumption: the farm and grass-fed livestock program, the not-for-profit education center, and the adjoining restaurant, Blue Hill at Stone Barns.
Production area
Pocantico Hills, New York
Community coordinator
Nena Johnson
Community of Central New Jersey Ice Cream Makers and Vegetable and Herb Growers
The Community of Sustainable Farmers and Ice Cream Makers of Central New Jersey is an informal association of approximately fifty chefs, farmers, local brewers, coffee roasters and livestock farmers from the Central New Jersey region who are committed to reemphasizing the processes that bring food from the field to the table.
Cherry Grove Organic Farm is a certified organic farm that produces a variety of vegetables for a local CSA, a farmers market, and other local businesses. The Farm grows over 25 varieties of mostly heirloom tomatoes, helping to preserve New Jersey’s tradition of high-quality tomato growing. The farm is situated amid sprawling development, which makes it a testament to the viability of sustainable agriculture within the urbanized world.
The Bent Spoon specialized in making small batches of artisan ice cream and sorbet using eggs from local farms, hormone-free dairy products from a nearby co-op, and herbs grown just down the road.
Production area
Princeton, New Jersey; Central New Jersey
Community contact
Gabrielle Carbone
Community of Shushan Pig Breeders (Flying Pig Farm)
Flying Pig Farm is a family-owned and operated farm in Shushan, New York that uses sustainable methods to raise heritage breed pigs including Large Blacks, Gloucestershire Old Spots, and Tamworths. Of the fifteen pig breeds grown in the United States in the 1930s, six have gone extinct, making these heritage breeds very rare and precious. Flying Pig Farm raises the pigs outdoors, allowing them to feed on pasture. Pork from these breeds has more moisture than the pork from conventional hybrids.
In 2003, Flying Pig Farm co-founded Farm to Chef Express, a New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets grant-funded organization, which became Farm to Chef, Inc., a private company owned by farmers and chefs. For a fee, Farm to Chef market farmers’ goods to city restaurants and provides once a week delivery to participating New York City chefs. Pork from Flying Pig Farm is served in restaurants in the city and nearby and sold on the farm, through mail order, and at New York City greenmarkets.
Production area
Shushan, New York; Battenkill River Valley
Community contact
Jennifer Small
Community of Vernon Artisan Bakers and Cheesemakers
(Bobolink 100% Grass-Fed Cheeses)
Bobolink Dairy and Bakeyard is a family-run operation where farmers raise old breed cows on 200 acres of native New Jersey pasture grass, make raw milk artisan cheeses from the milk, and bake rustic breads in a wood-fire oven. The cheeses are produced daily from April through November and aged 3-15 months in a cellar.
The family bakes twelve types of rustic breads using organically grown grains, natural ferments and yeast, locally grown produce, and Bobolink cheese. Bobolink also runs an internship program for future farmers, cheese makers, and bakers.
Production area
Vernon, New Jersey
Community coordinator
Nina White
Community of Honey Producers (Bee Raw Honey)
Bee Raw Honey is a small, New York-based business that supports eight artisan beekeepers from around the United States who provide raw, unfiltered honeys made from single flower varieties. Bee Raw has been working with individual beekeepers since 1999 to bring a diverse assortment of varietal honeys into the marketplace, from buckwheat honey from Washington State’s Yakima Valley to Saw Palmetto honey from the Florida wetlands. Bee Raw Honey seeks to preserve and extend the rich beekeeping heritage represented in each region of the United States.
Production area
Various locations
Community coordinator
Zeke Freeman
Community of Norwich Dairy Farmers (Evans Farmhouse Creamery)
Evans Farmhouse Creamery is a certified organic, family-run dairy farm located in upstate New York. Chenengo County’s primary agricultural focus has long been dairying, but recent years have seen the closure of over half of the area’s small family farms. The Evans family has been instrumental in preserving small family farms by educating members of its community about value added dairy products. The family is dedicated to sustainable agricultural practices, as well as to producing top quality, healthy dairy products. Their yogurt is made from low temperature pasteurized milk and is non-homogenized which allows the cream to rise to the top. Their unsalted butter is made from gently pasteurized cream in small, 30-gallon batches. At the creamery they also bottle non-homogenized, gently pasteurized milk and make Chenango County’s historic Monterey Jack cheese. The Evans Farmhouse Creamery has been a model for and advisor to other families interested in producing organic and value added dairy products such as fluid milk, yogurt, butter, and crème fraiche.
Production area
Norwich, New York
Community coordinator
Dave Evans
Tel 607-334-5339
Community of Brooklyn Urban Farmers (Added Value)
Added Value is a non-profit organization that works with the youth of Red Hook in South Brooklyn to help them engage with their community and provide healthy, locally grown foods to neighborhood citizens. Since its opening, Added Value has provided long-term training to more than 85 neighborhood teenagers, provided hundreds of local elementary school students with educational programs. The non-profit together with neighborhood young people have helped revitalize local parks, transformed vacant lands into vibrant Urban Farms, improved Red Hook citizens’ access to healthy, safe and affordable food, and begun to grow an economy that supports the needs of the community.
Currently Added Value operates two Farmers' Markets that features produce grown on Red Hook Community Farm by its youth leadership team as well as products from other regional farmers including fresh milk, yogurt and ice cream, a full selection of fruit and pasture raised meats. The Red Hook Farmers Market was established in June 2001. It serves as the sole provider of fresh produce for neighborhood residents.
Production area
Red Hook, South Brooklyn, New York
Community coordinator
Ian Marvy
Community of Brooklyn Seedsavers and Gardeners
(The Brooklyn Botanic Garden)
Since 1914 children have continuously tended a garden within the walls of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It is the oldest children’s garden in the United States and possibly the world. Currently, the organic garden is in partnership with Slow Food to teach children about the importance of America’s food heritage and of locally produced fresh food. The garden features many of the fruits and vegetables on The Slow Food Ark of Taste including the Moon and Starts watermelon, the Burbank tomato, the Cherokee purple tomato, the German Pink tomato, the Boston Marrow squash, and Wenk’s hot pepper. The Children’s Garden holds a true Johnny Appleseed apple tree, grafted from a tree he planted in Upstate New York. This living cultural treasure serves as a continual reminder to children of their national food heritage and the power of planting a single seed.
Hands-on, garden education is one of the best ways to teach children about ecology, scientific observation, food heritage, and the mystery of creation. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden is committed to cultivating a sense of wonder and appreciation in children for the natural world and is actively growing a future generation of sustainable gardeners and ecologists.
Production area
Brooklyn, New York
Community coordinator
Adrian Almquist
Community of New York City Greenmarket Farmers
Greenmarket is a program of the Council on the Environment of New York City that has organized and managed open-air farmers markets in New York City since 1976. The program promotes regional agriculture and ensures a continuing supply of fresh, local produce for New Yorkers. Greenmarket provides the region’s small family farmers with venues to sell their fruits, vegetables and other farm products directly to urban citizens.
The Community of Greenmarket Farmers’ includes around 170 farmer participants. The farms that will be representing this vast membership at Terra Madre 2006 are Eckerton Hill Farm in northeast Pennsylvania, which produces over 50 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, Keith’s Farm in Orange County, New York, and Honey Hollow Farm, which specializes in heirloom produce varieties and foraged plants including fiddlehead ferns, ramps and mushrooms.
Production area
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut
Community coordinator
Gabrielle Langholtz
Community of New York Just Food Farmers
Just Food is a New York City non-profit organization that addresses regional farm and food issues in order to build a more just food system. The non-profit facilitates Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs whereby family farmers sell their produce directly to consumers in New York City neighborhoods. Just Food has helped to start over 30 CSA programs in the city, and this number continues to increase as it starts additional sites with new groups and new farmers every year. Its membership includes forty farmers who supply over 8000 people through 42 CSA programs. Two farms will represent this broad and diverse group at Terra Madre 2006.
Garden of Eve Farm (Community of Long Island Farmers) grows certified organic produce on the east end of Long Island. Founded in 2001, Garden of Eve sells organic vegetables, fruits and flowers at farm stands in Riverhead Long Island and through a CSA in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Windflower Farm (Community of Taconic Hill County Farmers) is a small organic farm on 38 acres in the Taconic Hill country of New York State between Saratoga Springs and the Vermont border. Windflower Farm offers a 23-week long vegetable share, a 20-week fruit share, a 16-week cut flower share and a 22-week egg shares to people in the Lower East Side of Manhattan and Park Slope, Clinton Hill, and Prospect Heights neighborhoods of Brooklyn.
Production area
New York, New York; Eastern Long Island and the Hudson Valley
Community coordinator
Paula Lukats
Community of Catskills Region Agriculture Promotors (Pure Catskills)
Pure Catskills is a campaign sponsored by the Watershed Agricultural Council to mobilize support for fresh food products grown, raised and manufactured in the Catskill Mountain Region. A group of one hundred and fifty farmers, chefs, educators, and others are involved in promoting “Pure Catskills” as a regional label.
The following are two of the farms that receive the Pure Catskills designation: Stoneledge Farm grows organic vegetables and fruits for restaurants and CSA customers. Once a year they invite all the New York City CSA members to the farm for a tour. Ti Na nOg Farm is a family farm near Walton, New York that raises heritage breed pigs, sheep, cows, turkeys and chickens.
Production area
Walton, New York; Catskill Mountains
Community coordinator
Allison Bennett
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PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Community of Community of Dungeness Calallam County Organic Farmer (Nash’s Organic Produce)
Nash’s Organic Produce was established in the 1970s. It is a 400-acre diversified organic farm that serves as the heart of the Sequim-Dungeness Valley organic agricultural community. This farm’s small crew grows a variety of vegetables and produces eggs, chickens, pigs, seed crops, forage, and cover crops. Nash’s Organic Produce uses bi-products from local crabbing and small-scale dairy operations. They sell their produce at a farm stand, local farmers markets, Puget Consumers Cooperative in Seattle, and through a CSA program.
Owner Nash Huber is actively keeping farming alive in Calallam County on the North Olympic Penninsula of Washington State through his extensive work in farmland protection campaigns and involvement in the local land trust. He has secured long-term leases and conservation easements on his 400 acres so that future generations can continue to farm the land.
Production area
Sequim, Washington
Community coordinator
Nash Huber
Community of Bristol Bay Wild Salmon Cooperative Family Fishermen
(Iliamna Fish Company)
In Bristol Bay, Alaska, the Illiamna Fish Company is part of a family owned and operated commercial fishing cooperative of approximately twenty people. Iliamna Fish Company packages and sells the fish of the larger family collective. Bristol Bay is home to the world’s largest sustainable wild salmon fishery. Under the guidance of a strict conservation model legislated by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the cooperative members fish for wild sockeye salmon in twenty foot vessels with hand-operated gillnets.
Sockeye salmon have been an increasingly important economic component of Bristol Bay for several centuries and a primary subsistence for the native Alaskan family that owns and operates this cooperative.
Production area
Bristol Bay, Alaska
Community coordinator
Christopher Nicolson
Community of Upper Columbia Poultry Breeders
(SF Upper Columbia Producers)
This is a community of approximately 100 growers, educators, and market managers in Stevens County in Northwest Washington who are committed to sustainable production. During the first thirty years of the twentieth century millions of pounds of fruit were being shipped from this area, but the construction of the Grand Coulee Damn caused the flooding and destruction of endless tracts of orchard land. The remaining orchardists were struggling and are now getting back on their feet by beginning to market directly. Some members of this community grow organic apples, cherries, peaches, and pears, others raise poultry; some make goat cheese in the traditional European manner and others raise grass-fed beef.
Production area
Stevens County, Washington State
Community coordinator
Albert Kowitz
Community of Bristol Bay Wild Salmon Cooperative Family Fishermen
(The Washington Trollers Association)
The Washington Trollers Association represents 80 fishermen who harvest salmon off the Washington State coast using traditional low-impact selective gear. This Trollers community supplies the Washington State market with high quality, regionally distinct fish. Nearby fish smokers and restaurants prize the unique ‘marbled salmon,’ a breed of Chinook that has a one-of-a-kind flesh coloration. The Trollers Association is in partnership with the Makah Native American nation who process much of their catch.
Production area
Washington State Coast
Community coordinator
Jeremy Brown
Community of Cattail Creek Lamb Breeders
The Community of Cattail Creek Lamb Breeders consists of two family farms in the southern Willamette Valley. The lush grass pastures made possible by Oregon's mild climate and abundant rainfall enable Cattail Creek to graze lambs exclusively on pesticide free pastures nearly year round. The breeders never apply hormones or sub-therapeutic antibiotics nor feed their lamb with GMO grown grains. Cattail Creek meat is processed in small batches at a USDA inspected facility where it is not irradiated or gassed. In order to maximize flavor and tenderness, carcasses are dry aged whole for six days. The lamb is then cut and wrapped, and either delivered fresh the next day or quick-frozen. Cattail Creek has provided lamb to Chez Panisse restaurant since 1985.
The primary breed at Cattail Creek is the Romney breed, an old English long wool breed sheep known for its sweet and mild flavor. Cattail Creek also raises a limited amount of Navajo-Churro, a heritage breed that is on the Slow Food Ark of Taste. Navajo-Churro sheep were North America's earliest domesticated farm animal. Descended from the Churra, an ancient Iberian breed, they were introduced to North America by the Spanish in the 1500s. This breed is extremely hardy and lives lightly on the land, requiring less water and grass than other sheep breeds.
Production area
Junction City, Oregon; Willamette Valley
Community coordinator
John Neumeister
Community of Western Alaska Gillnet Fishermen
There are around 1500 Bristol Bay gillnet fishermen and close to ten processors who come together to form this community. Somewhere between 25 and 60 million Sockeye salmon return to Bristol Bay each summer. The fishermen of this community catch sockeye using gillnets, each net sized according to the neck size of the fish. They do not begin harvesting wild salmon until the preseason forcast numbers appear in the spawning streams which ensures bountiful future salmon runs.
The “Go Wild Consumer Education Campaign,” run by community members, provides the public with information about how to make environmentally sound, healthy decisions when purchasing seafood. A member of the community filed a lawsuit enforcing an FDA label requirement that differentiates wild salmon from farmed salmon. Since the labeling went into practice, the price of wild salmon has risen which has helped numerous fishing communities stay alive.
Production area
Bristol Bay, Alaska
Community coordinator
Anne Mosness
Community of Alaskan Wild Salmon Fishermen
This community consists of the Cape Cleare Fishery, a four-person independent business that cooperates with other Pacific Northwest wild fishermen and environmental groups. A member of Cape Cleare has been catching salmon with hook and line and processing it onboard for the past 29 years. All the fish Cape Cleare sells are caught one at a time and promptly flash frozen at sea. This community is active in working with groups to enlighten citizens about sustainable seafood and healthy ocean issues.
Production area
Sitka, Alaska; Port Townsend, Washington State
Community corrdinator
Joyce Gustafson
Community of Bristol Bay Wild Salmon Fishermen
(Bristol Bay Wild ‘N Red Salmon)
As an association of nearly thirty fishermen and three processors, the Bristol Bay Wild ‘N Red Salmon community is committed to the sustainable harvest of wild salmon and to consumer education. Wild ‘N Red champions the profound nutritional benefits of wild caught, flash-frozen sockeye salmon fillets. Bristol Bay Wild ‘N Red Salmon uses an affordable pricing structure that is based on volume sales to make its wild sockeye an affordable choice for familiy meals. Its marketing targets neighborhood and community groups. Wild ‘N Red would like to see wild caught salmon on family dinner tables.
Production area
Bristol Bay, Alaska
Community coordinator
Nadine LaPira-Wolos
Community of Cascades Farmers Market Producers
Approximately 500 growers come together to form the Cascades Farmers Market community. One of its members is Ninety Farms which began in 1993 in Western Washington State with some of the first Katahdin Hair sheep on the West Coast. Ninety Farms raises nearly 900 purebred Katahdin lambs on pasture. It sells its grass fed beef, heritage breed Katahdin lambs, and naturally raised veal at local markets. In 1995 Ninety Farms started growing a few artichokes in a garden plot. Now they grow a diverse array of herbicide and pesticide free vegetables for a CSA program and for sale to restaurants in the Seattle area. As development springs up on every side of the farm, the growers work hard to educate their community on the benefits of local agriculture and the importance of sustainable land stewardship.
Production area
Arlington, Washington
Community coordinator
Linda Neuzing
Community of Oregon and California Biodynamic Growers
The North Coast Biodynamic Farmers are approximately 64 farms linked together by their Demeter Biodynamic certification. Demeter’s mission is to foster and encourage holistic, biodynamic methods of food production. They offer certification to farms, gardens, processors, and traders. Demeter encourages farmers to work with an understanding of the whole farm as a living organism and as part of the living earth. The delegates who will represent the larger Demeter community include Ceago Vineyard in Clear Lake, California, Frey Vineyard in Mendocino, California, Elk Creamery in Elk, California, and Hoskins Berry Farm in Philomath, Oregon. These four producers grow biodynamic grapes, raise a goatherd and make artisan cheeses, and grow blackberries, some of which become fruit spreads and vinegars.
Katrina Fetzer of Ceago Vineyard and Katrina Frey of Frey Vineyard were instrumental in establishing the GMO free zone in Mendocino County, California.
Production area
Oregon, California
Community coordinator
Jim Fullmer
Community of Creswell Farmers (Sweetwater Farm and Nursery)
The growers at Sweetwater Farm and Nursery seek to capture the finest tastes and highest nutrition levels they can by growing organic foods and maintaining soil health. On 26,000 square feet of greenhouses and cultivated acreage, Sweetwater practices open pollinating farming. Six year round and five seasonal employees grow organic vegetables, fruits and herbs, raise chickens for eggs, harvest wild foods, and produce vegetable preserves. They replenish the soil through composting, the use of rock powders, and seed saving. The Farm and Nursery supplies its harvests to 150 subscribers to its Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, or about 300-350 people.
In the 1880s, the grandfather of Sweetwater’s owner immigrated to the United States, bringing with him seeds from his home in the Tatry Mountains of Czechoslovakia. Sweetwater continues to grow and nurture those prize “Grandfather Beans.”
Production area
Creswell, Oregon
Community coordinator
John Karlik
Community of Fourth Corner Farmers Market Producers
Fourth Corner is located north of Seattle, Washington. The Fourth Corner Farmers’ Market began with a small group of Italian immigrants who farmed small lots of land at the turn of the century. Today, approximately 75-100 farmers in the Fourth Corner region produce hazelnuts and raspberries, high quality dairy products, and over 150 varieties of traditional and heirloom vegetables and flowers.
Uprising Seeds, a vendor at the Fourth Corner Farmers Market, recently began providing local Northwest gardeners and farmers with regionally adapted, organically grown seeds. Alongside commercial standard varieties, Uprising Seeds believes lesser known heirloom vegetables have a vital place in the cultural identity of the Pacific Northwest.
Production area
Bellingham, Washington; Fourth Corner Region
Community coordinator
Brian Campbell
Community of South Puget Sound Growers
Common Ground Farm is a small-scale, direct sale farm in the South Puget Sound of Washington State. The farmers grow the more than 50 varieties of organic vegetables and herbs in complex rotation and succession and distribute them primarily through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. They are at work to use exclusively on-farm-generated fertility such as cover crops and composts so that they will not have to bring in manure from off the farm. Common Ground Farm makes several cultured raw goats milk products including yogurt, buttermilk, and fresh and aged cheeses. They grow shiitake mushrooms as well as organic orchard fruits and berries that they sell fresh and process into ciders, jams and wines. Common Ground is part of a larger community of growers in the Southern Puget Sound region who have dedicated themselves to ecologically sustainable farming.
Production area
Olympia, Washington
Community coordinator
Julie Puhich
Tel. 360 866 9527
Community of Slow Food Portland
The Slow Food Convivium of Portland, Oregon nominated the following groups to represent the Willamette Valley’s exemplary sustainable food producers. These vineyardists, dairymen, and farmers all create delicious, high-quality products using sustainable practices.
The Deep Roots Coalition (Community of Willamette Valley Wine Grape Growers) is an association of Oregon Winegrowers who are committed to the production of table wines from grapes grown without irrigation in order to preserve local water resources. There are currently nine wineries in the Deep Roots Coalition. The vineyards adhere to one or more of the following low-impact viticultural programs: LIVE, Organic, Biodynamic, and Salmon-Safe.
The Community of Willamette Valley Dairy Farmers make farmstead cheese from their own milk supply. Their cows graze on organic pastures, and the milk goes directly from the dairy into the cheese room at the Willamette Valley Cheese Company where it is vat heated. The cheeses are aged on wooden shelves and develop a natural rind. One of the group’s star cheeses is a Dutch-style farmstead Gouda made from all Jersey cow milk. Their other cheeses include Havarti, Jack, Fontina and Mozzarella.
The 47th Avenue Farm (Community of Portland Urban Farmers) manages several pieces of land within the Portland, Oregon metro area. The Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm started a plot ten years ago in the Woodstock neighborhood of Southeast Portland. At any given time the community involves one full time manager, 3-5 apprentices, and the owner. These days most of its vegetable production takes place at two separate locations: Zenger Farm, a sixteen acre farm and wetlands in the historic Lents neighborhood; and Luscher farm, a fifty-acre plot. Zenger Farm houses a non-profit education center where they promote sustainable food systems, environmental stewardship, and local economic development. CSA members are welcome to attend regular working sessions at the urban farms.
Sauvie Island Organics (Community of Sauvie Island Organic Farmers) is a group of growers committed to producing food in an environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable manner. They cultivate nine acres of public land on an island 15 miles from downtown Portland. Sauvie Island Organic sells food directly to the Portland community through a CSA and and has relationships with several local restaurants. They offer the opportunity for consumers to build a relationship with the farm through weekly newsletters, farm tours, and potlucks. The Community of Growers at Sauvie Island Organics collaborates with other groups in the Portland area, namely the Portland Area CSA coalition, FoodWorks, and the Eat Local Challenge.
Production area
Sauvie Island; Portland; Salem; Willamette Valley, Oregon
Community coordinator
Katherine Duemling
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HAWAII
Community of Waipi’o Valley Mokuwai Piko Poi Producers
The Mock Chew family has been raising wetland taro for four generations in the Waipi’o Valley on the big island of Hawai`i. Approximately twenty farmers remain in the valley producing fifteen percent of the state’s taro. There were once more than 300 varieties of taro, but now only a few are grown. The amout of taro being produced in Hawai`i is declining due to adverse weather conditions, various diseases and pests, and a decline in the interest level of younger generations to become taro farmers. Kanani and Kalai Mock Chew are part of the future for taro; they are young farmers dedicated to continuing their family business.
The family raises several varieties of taro on a 22-acre farm. The labor-intensive process requires cultivation and maintenance primarily by hand. The family then brings its taro to a small facility where they produce poi, a taro root paste, in equipment designed and built by Jayson Mock Chew. They send Mokuwai Piko Poi, as the product is labeled, out to neighboring towns and farmers markets for distribution. Each week the Mock Chews produce 800-1000 pounds of fragrant, delicious poi.
Poi taro was successfully nominated to the Slow Food Ark in 2004. It is a staple of the Hawaiian diet, nutritious and easily digestible. Hawaiians offer it as the first food to their babies and the last to their elderly. It has been said that without poi there would be no Hawaiian culture.
Production area
Waipi’o Valley, Hawai`i
Community coordinator
Kanani Mock Chew
Community of Native Plant and Medicinal Herb Gatherers (Honopua Farm)
Honopua Farm is located in the Waimea Puukapu Farm Lots, a district in North Kohala that is leased to native Hawaiians by the State of Hawaii Department of Hawaiian Homelands. Waimea is the primary vegetable growing area on the island of Hawai`i. Marie McDonald and her husband Bill grow a wide range of vegetables for the local market on 9.75 acres of land. They specialize in native plants used for kapa making (kapa is the traditional bark cloth made by native Hawaiians for their clothing), natural dyes, and traditional medicine. Honopua Farm sells directly to consumers in their community through farmers markets and restaurants. The two began as flower farmers and still grow and cut flowers and arrange them into flower wreaths known as leis. Leis are part and parcel of traditional and contemporary life in Hawai`i—no occasion is celebrated without the giving or receiving of the lei.
Production area
Waimea (Kamuela), Hawai`i
Community coordinator
Roen Hufford
Community of O’ahu Food Producers
The island of O’ahu is becoming increasingly urban. Several farmers and producers have made significant contributions to preserving and developing local agriculture. At Ma’o Organic Farm, Gary and Kukui Maunakea-Forth produce a variety of organic fruits and vegetables which they supply to their local farmers markets and restaurants. They also work with Waianae youth to teach them about local food traditions and get them involved in organic farming. Together Gary and Kukui have established a local cafe, Aloha Aina, one of the few non-fast food joints in Waianae.
Production area
Waianae, Hawai`i
Community coordinator
Kukui Maunakea-Forth
Community of Waiahole Taro Producers
The Waianu Farm, a partnership of two brothers, is one of the last two taro farms on O’ahu Island, Hawai’i. The farm sits in the Waiahole Valley, once famous as a taro growing area. Taro is a flooded crop that requires about 15 months to mature and is traditionally eaten as poi, a paste made by pounding and grinding. The families of the Waianu Farm were pioneers in rebuilding taro lo’i (patches) in Hawai`i and in fighting for the return of water that had been diverted for sugar plantations. They received grant money to create the Waiahole Poi factory, which processes taro into poi once a week and provides local citizens with part time jobs. Along with organic taro the farmers grow papaya, banana, breadruit, honey, coffee, cacao, and much more. They sell much of their harvest at Peoples Open Markets, a city run network of around 30 markets that rotate to mostly high-density, low-income neighborhoods.
Production area
Waiahole Valley, Hawai`i
Community coordinator
Paul Reppun
Community of Maui Pineapple Growers
The Maui Land and Pineapple Company (MLP) community, now headed by David Cole, is the strongest force in creating a self-sufficient, diversified local food economy for Hawai’i.
Pineapple agriculture dominates thousands of acres on all the main Hawaiian Islands. It is in the hands of small number of large companies with Maui Land and Pineapple as the only locally based company. In the past MLP was engaged in diversified agriculture, from ranching to growing aloe, melons, papaya, and other tropical fruits. It ceased diversified production, but under David Cole’s direction the company has rediscovered the tradition. David Cole is a Hawaiian native who returned to the islands in 2003 after revitalizing a farm in Virginia, Sunnyside Farm. He took the helm of MLP and began a full-throttle campaign to awaken Hawaiians to the importance of self-sufficiency and agricultural variety and to inspire all local citizens and growers to become active in building a sustainable future.
Nearly 90 percent of Hawaii’s food and nearly all of its fuel for transportation and energy production are imported from elsewhere. MLP now embraces the notion of diversified local production as a means to strengthen the economy and provide food security. Its members and the greater community are exploring the possibilities of developing oleo-fuels and taking on new agricultural endeavors.
Production area
Maui, Hawai`i
Community coordinator
David Cole
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ROCKIES
Community of Boulder Farmers (Cure Organic Farm)
Cure Organic Farm is a small family farm located on the fertile, high plains of Boulder, Colorado. Using both organic and biodynamic methods, they grow over 90 varieties of vegetables, berries and herbs on 10 acres. The farm raises 150 pastured laying hens, and tend several honey beehives. At farmers at Cure Organic Farm focus on growing the most nutritious and highest quality produce possible, while working to maintain and encourage natural diversity.
The farm provides food to over 100 families through its Community Supported Agriculture program. In addition it supplies produce to elders in need in the community, local restaurants, grocery stores and the Boulder Farmers Market. The farm offers educational classes, tours and volunteer opportunities in order to connect local people with their food source. The Kitchen Café, a restaurant in Boulder that creates simple dishes, is a regular customer of the farm. The cafe brings ingredients grown in the community to the table.
Production area
Boulder, Colorado
Community coordinator
Anne Pendleton
Community of Boulder Farmers (Pushroot Wyoming Convivia)
The Lander Valley is nestled against the foothills of the Wind River Mountains. The town of Lander, formerly called Pushroot, is on the banks of the Pop Agie River. Agriculture is the bedrock of the Lander Valley community, but production is dominated by the export of beef calves for feedlot and alfala hay. The Slow Food Wyoming Pushroot Convivium is focused on reviving the rich agricultural traditions of the area as well as shedding light on the sustainable hunting and gathering practices that once sustained the valley’s population.
Wild River Indian Reservation is a more than 1.7 million-acre stretch that sits northwest of Lander. Wyoming’s only Indian Reservation, Wild River is home to the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes.
Twin Creek Ranch and Lodge is a member of the community of producers of high-quality local goods that has sprung in response to the diversification of Lander’s population. Twin Creek Ranch and Lodge provides ranch-raised food to its guests and community members. The ranchers raise beef, pork, and poultry, make goat cheese, and grow vegetables.
Production area
Lander, Wyoming; Wind River Mountains
Community coordinator
Andrea Malmberg
Community of Big Snady Grain and Field Crop Producers
This community of American grain producers supports sustainable farming methods and growing for taste and quality rather than yield. Across the country these farmers are using cover crops extensively in order to improve the richness of the soil. No-till farming and compost have also been introduced to protect the land. Hard red winter wheat, oats, millet, barley, corn, soy, beans and peas are grown in varying quantities based on geography and climate considerations. Many community farmers are exploring organic farming as the important alternative to industrialized, standardized grain production.
Production area
Big Sandy, Montana
Community coordinator
Bob Quinn
Community of Eastern Colorado Plains Lamb Breeders
Prairie Natural Lamb is a small family-run sheep operation in the eastern plains of Colorado. The family raises 60-70 lambs per year, allowing ewes and lambs to graze on pasture. They supplement their diets with hay and finish them on a combination of high-protein alfalfa hay and additive-free, soy-free grain. They do not use antibiotics, artificial hormones, or animal by-products in feed. Sheep have played a historically important role in the lives of Colorado farm and ranch families, their wool and meat providing the local community with sustenance. The family sells directly to consumers after the meat has been custom cut and wrapped in a family-owned USDA approved facility.
Production area
Strasburg, Colorado
Community coordinator
Marilyn Wentz
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SOUTH
Community of Chattanooga Breeders
Historically, the Southeast of the United States has been known for its forested pork and cured hams. This community of ten people, mostly family members, raises pigs in the forests of Chattanooga, Tennessee. They are at work to develop high quality cured ham and sausage products. They also raise grass-fed beef and lamb without using any antibiotics. The community raises rare heritage breed animals including Milking Devons cows and Gloustershire Old Spot and Large Black pigs. Biodynamic principles to guide the farm operation, which also produces vegetables for a CSA program using only farm-generated compost.
Production area
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Community coordinator
Bill Keener
Community of South Atlantic Farmers Market Producers
This community consists of ten farm producers and two off farm processors that run Riverview Farms, a certified organic farm. Most community members are part of a family that has raised animals and grown grains and vegetables on the same plot for the past thirty years. The family sells to local restaurants, at local farmers markets, and to families that participate in its Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Its pigs are all heritage breed animals, raised on pasture and fed corn, beans, and vegetables from the farm. The family sends its pigs to a local family-owned slaughterhouse for processing and cures the meat themselves. Additionally, the farmers teach workshops on sustainable farming in partnership with Georgia Organics, Biodynamics, and Slow Food.
Production area
Ranger, Georgia
Community coordinator
Charlotte Swancy
Community of Gulf of Mexico Seafood Harvesters
The Gulf of Mexico Seafood Harvesters are shrimpers, oystermen, fishers and crabbers from the second largest seafood production area in the United States. The community’s main products are white and brown shrimp caught with trawls and then sold fresh locally or to dockside buyers who freeze them. An individual owns each fishing boat in the Gulf and operates it with his or her own small crew. Fishermen of the community harvest and process oysters and reef fish such as amberjacks, snappers, and porgies. Seafood is a vital component of regional food culture. Because of the devastating effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita this community has the difficult and important task of coming together to rebuild a struggling industry.
Production area
Galliano, Louisiana
Community coordinator
Margaret Curole
Community of Virgin Islands Sustainable Farmers
The Virgin Islands Sustainable Farm Institute on Saint Croix Island is a study-abroad school with hands-on courses in agro-ecology and related sciences. It encompasses a 100-acre Caribbean organic farm. This community of farmers, students, educators and residents believes that an education in the production of local, organic agriculture is the first step toward building a vital community and achieving long term sustainability for the island. The Institute employs six permanent producers, many temporary, part-time workers, and five processors. They harvest mango, papaya, passion fruit, and hot peppers and produce mango wine, papaya and passion fruit juices, hot sauce, vinegars, oils, and more.
Due to the isolated nature of the islands, people on Saint Croix have been growing fruits and vegetables and harvesting from the wild for their own consumption for centuries. In recent times St. Croix has become dependent on an expensive importation scheme for its residents, importing much of its fruits and vegetables. This community is attempting to create a base of local and sustainable produce to make the island more self-sufficient, to improve local food security, and to preserve the agricultural knowledge and seed heritage of St. Croix.
Production area
St. Croix, Virgin Islands
Community coordinator
Ben Jones
Community of Gulf South Blueberry Growers
This community is made up of members of the Gulf South Blueberry Growers Association, a group of 210 producers who grow indigenous “rabbit eye” blueberries both organically and conventionally. Members of the community planted the first managed acres of blueberry bushes in 1982. The farmer members now grow over 2,400 acres of the local blueberries in the southeastern United States. The highest concentration of these orchards is in the southern half of Mississippi State where the “rabbit eye” blueberry grows well in the acidic, sandy soils. Bees pollinate the blooms so farmers use earth-friendly methods of field management to preserve healthy native and domesticated bee populations. Most of the fruit is grown on small acreages on small farms. Farmers harvest and market independently or through cooperatives.
Production area
Southeastern United States
Community coordinator
Amy Phelps
Community of Chattanooga Cooperative Farmers (Crabtree Farms)
Started in 1998, Crabtree Farms is a non-profit organization that runs a demonstration farm and community garden on 22 acres in the Clifton Hills neighborhood near downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee. The non-profit offers workshops and hosts farmers markets and various events put on by Slow Food and other sustainable agriculture groups. The community grows nearly 200 varieties of vegetables, flowers, fruits, and herbs on the farm and garden. Many varieties found at Crabtree Farms have histories tied with the Southern United States and are not otherwise commercially available.
Production area
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Community coordinator
Vanessa Mercer
Community of Slow Food Asheville
Asheville, North Carolina has an active community of food producers and researchers who are exploring ways to preserve Asheville’s rich food heritage while improving the sustainability of their operations. This community believes in keeping foods local. With top quality, one-of-a-kind products and practices, these brewers, bakers, wild food gatherers, and activists are helping make Asheville into place with its own very distinctive modern food culture.
The Asheville Brewing Company (Community of Asheville Brewers) opened over ten years ago as part of a resurgence of microbreweries in the southeast of the United States. This community has four brewers and fifty employees. The ales produced by Asheville Brewing Company are “real ales,” unfiltered and alive. They have no chemical additives or preservatives. After the mash is used to make the artisan ales, all the leftover grains are sent to local farmers for feed.
The brewery operates on a small-scale, selling their ales to the local community, thus eliminating the environmental stressors of extensive packaging and transportation. Asheville Brewing houses a local recycling center and hosts the North Asheville Tailgate Market, the largest, most successful and longest-running local foods market in the area. They participate in the local bio-diesel program, which uses leftover fry grease as a local fuel source.
The Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) (Community of Appalachian Sustainable Farmers) involves over 300 members, including farmers, bakers, wine producers, grocers and educators across the Appalachian Mountains. ASAP promotes local agriculture through marketing campaigns, school garden projects, various events, and publications. It certifies products as “Appalachian Grown” to help educate the community about its regional food sources. The project’s members envision a future food system throughout the mountains of North Carolina that provides a safe and nutritious food supply for all segments of society, enhances environmental health, and adds economic and social value to rural and urban communities.
The Ramp Project of the Smoky Mountain Native Plant Association (Community of Smoky Mountain Native Plant Growers and Gatherers) brings together a group of over forty members who grow, collect, process, and market Appalachian native plants. The association provides education about native species and produces value-added products using locally grown, sustainably harvested plants. In order to insure an ongoing supply of regional specialty crops, this ethnically diverse community is involved in research to determine the best propogation, cultivation and harvest practices.
The community’s primary products are ramps, a wild forage crop gathered in the spring at high elevations in the Smoky Mountains. Ramps were enjoyed by the indigenous Cherokee Indians for untold generations and are celebrated locally as a great delicacy. Because local communities consider ramps to be one of the first signs of spring, numerous ramp festivals are held in April throughout the Southern Appalachian region.
Natural Bridge Bakery (Community of North Carolina Bread Bakers) was the first bakery in the region with a wood-fired open. Jennifer Lapidus who owns and operates the bakery on her own, began Natural Bridge twelve years ago. She bakes desem bread, an Old World Flemish bread that can be found in only a handful of localities across the United States. She mills her own flours and uses organic ingredients.
Flat Rock Village Bakery bakes breads in a wood-fired brick oven. All their breads are worked by hand for at least a portion of the kneading process. They use wild yeasts and organic flours from North Carolina growers and millers whenever possible. The bakery maintains a sourdough culture which creates a distinctive flavor in many of its products. Their selection is every-changing because the bakers include seasonal, organic ingredients in their breads. The bakery sells on-premises.
Production area
Asheville, North Carolina
Community coordinator
Kelly Davis
Community of Waxhaw Organic Farmers (New Town Farms Organic)
A ten-person family works together on this small, diversified farm, producing organic vegetables, small fruits, pastured poultry and pork. They offer their products through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, a farmers market, and by selling directly to local restaurants. All their products are certified organic. New Town Farms Organic is in Waxhaw, a town in a once rural county in North Carolina that is now the second fastest growing county in the United States. Only a few farms remain in the rapidly developing area. New Town Farms Organic has been highly involved in promoting organic farming as an alternative mode of production to agribusiness. The farm’s family leaders helped found the Matthews Community Farmers Market in 1992.
Production area
Waxhaw, North Carolina
Community coordinator
Samuel Koenigsberg
Community of Chattanooga Organic Bread Bakers
The four employees at Niedlov’s Breadworks, an artisan bakery in Chattanooga, Tennessee, produce 50,000 lbs of naturally leavened, handcrafted, and hearth baked organic bread each year following a traditional recipe. Their breads are made from stone-ground organic whole grain flours milled by a small regional mill, the Lindley Mills of Graham, North Carolina. Niedlov’s artisan breads contain only three ingredients: flour, water, and salt. They are leavened with a sourdough culture that was started six years ago in Chattanooga and has been maintained with only organic whole flour and water since. The Niedlov’s Breadworks community sources organic garlic, honey, tomatoes and herbs from local farmers. Many of Chattanooga’s fine-dining establishments serve Niedlov’s breads.
Production area
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Community coordinator
John Sweet
Community of Louisiana Farmers, Shrimpers, and Restaurateurs (Terra Madre Relief Fund Grants Recipients)
Hurricane Katrina was one of the largest natural disasters the United States has endured in its history. Through its Terra Madre Relief Fund, Slow Food USA has awarded twelve grants to local fishermen, farmers and restaurateurs to help them reconstruct their businesses and rebuild of their food system. The recipients include Isabel and Miguel Mendez, the only growers of the Louisiana strawberry, a Slow Food Ark of Taste product, Pete and Clara Gerica, local shrimpers, God’s Vineyard Community Garden, and Mrs. Leah Chase of Dooky Chase restaurant. Each has been an active part of New Orleans’ long and rich food history. The recipients face tremendous difficulties in their daily lives, but each continues forward with determination. Together they represent the possibility of a revitalized New Orleans food system.
Production area
Louisiana
Community coordinator
Poppy Tooker
Community of New Orleans Urban Gardeners
(God’s Vineyard Community Garden)
God’s Vineyard Community Garden was started in 1997 in a lower income, predominately African American neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana to involve young men in the community in labor-intensive work and in nourishing the land. The garden project grew rapidly, soon involving 35 boys ages 11 to 19 years old. Hurricane Katrina severely damaged God’s Vineyard Garden. As a Terra Madre Relief Fund recipient they received a grant to help put the production back in business.
In 2000 the community started a food bank, offering local residence okra, corn and eggplant from the garden. In 2002 with a grant from USDA they began producing St. Thomas Seven Pepper Hot Sauce. The sauce is made with peppers that grow in the garden. Every aspect of production is done within the community, from growing the peppers, preparing the hot sauce, labeling and bottling the product, and selling it at the local farmers market. All proceeds from the sale of the hot sauce support God’s Vineyard and provide college scholarships for the young men who work in the garden.
Production area
New Orleans, Louisiana
Community coordinator
Earl Antwine
Community of North Carolina Piedmont Triad Producers
North Carolina Piedmont Triad area was once a thriving agrarian community composed of many small farms, dairies, orchards, orphanage farms, markets and small supporting business. A group of over 75 food growers, farmers markets, school gardens, Presidia, Ark and Raft members, and at least thirty cooperating restaurants are at work to revive the community. All the producers are committed to sustainable practices. Their primary products are cheese, meat and poultry, vegetables, and wool. Some members of the community are highly involved in the academic and educational fields as professors at the University of North Carolina, as food writers, and as school garden coordinators.
The food producers of this community make a variety of remarkable products. Goat Lady Dairy is a small-scale family farm that makes award-winning gouda cheese. The dairy is committed to sustainable practice in pasturage, feed, energy creation and conservation and water and resource recycling. Rising Meadow is a family farm with a herd of 200 Navajo Churro Sheep, a breed designated in the Slow Food Ark. The Rising Meadow farmers also raise whey-fed Ossabaws, a hog breed developed at local A&T University in Greensboro to create an alternative to the large-scale hog operations of North Carolina. The North Carolina Piedmont Triad community of growers work together on many levels: Rising Meadows ossabaws hog are fed the whey from the cheese making process at Goat Lady Dairy.
Production Area
Greensboro and Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Community coordinator
Charlie Headington
Community of Research Triangle Farmers Market Producers
The Triangle Farmers Market Community consists of seven vendor-run farmers markets with over 250 participating farmers, gardeners, ranchers, and food artisans. The markets offer a direct retail outlet for local farmers, many who have been selling at the markets for twenty-five years. These farmers are at the top of their fields; several teach at local and national conferences and at nearby colleges. Many farmers of the Community grow heirloom fruits and vegetables and/or raise heirloom hogs, chickens and cows. Community growers produce on a small scale, averaging five acres in production. They produce cheeses, pickles, relishes, fruit butters, preserves and jellies. Some hold Certified Organic and/or Certified Naturally Grown certifications. Ayrshire Farm, Perry-winkle Farm, Pine Knot Farm, and Shiloh Farm are some of the community’s most active, exemplary members.
The Triangle Farmers Market community has been working with its Slow Food local chapter and several agriculturally oriented non-profits to help its greater community foster an awareness of the local foods in their midst.
The Community of Sustainable Meat Producers of Central North Carolina is a rapidly growing community in a region that has been a major meat producing area since the 1700s. This community brings together more than one hundred meat producers, four red meat processors, and one poultry processor. Peregrine Farm, Shady Grove Farm, Fickle Creek Farm, Cane Creek Farm, Harris Acres Farm, and Chapel Hill Creamery raise between them cattle, minor-breed pigs such as Ossabaw Island, Large Blacks, and Old Spots, minor-breed chickens such as Dominique, Delaware, and Plymouth Rock, heritage turkeys, sheep, and goats. They sell to restaurants, locally owned groceries and farmers markets.
The Shady Grove Farm with community support founded Growers’ Choice, a poultry-processing cooperative, in part because after attending Terra Madre 2004, the farmers realized the importance for small quality meats producers of ocal access to processing.
Production area
North Carolina
Community coordinator
Andrea Reusing
Community of Tallahassee Region Farmers and Heirloom Seed Savers
(Native Naturals Farm)
Native Natural Farm is a 100-acre diversified farm in the Tallahassee Region. One family has practiced sustainable agriculture on the same land since 1826 across eight generations. At Native Naturals they organically grow primarily heirloom varieties of vegetables and fruits and raise chickens and cattle using a sustainable rotation system. Native Naturals participates in Tallahassee area local growers markets and cooperates with the Florida A&M University Small Farm Program, hosting on-farm workshops on a regular basis. They have also worked with a regional group to preserve agricultural lands from urban sprawl and incompatible development.
Production area
Lamont, Tallahassee Region, Florida
Community coordinator
Susan Anderson
Community of Slow Food Atlanta
The Slow Food Atlanta, Georgia Community is composed of one hundred members who have all contributed to the Slow Food movement in the area. The community promotes sustainability and biodiversity by endorsing and supporting local growers who use responsible, eco-friendly production methods. The community also works to safeguard the culinary traditions of the area through various events and educational workshops.
The region’s agricultural heritage reflects the blending of Native American, African American, Asian, and European immigrant populations. The majority of the community’s growers have small, diversified family farms where they strive to preserve a farming heritage that is being lost because of the dominance of corporate agriculture and urban sprawl. The Slow Food Community members work to inform the local population of the importance of eating local and tasty foods for personal and community health.
Farmers Fresh is a network of farmers and food producers who work to create sales opportunities for small farmers of high quality, nutritious foods. Member farms and producers offer their products through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and at several seasonal farmers markets. One of the members of the network is Glover Family Farms (Community of Atlanta Family Farmers.) The Glover family is a third-generation farming family who runs a 30-acre organic farm. They have been involved in starting many of the farmers markets in and around Atlanta and began a Southeast Asian immigrant farm project that is now used for the National Immigrant Farming Initiative.
White Oak Pastures (Georgian Natural Grassfed Cattle Ranchers) is a natural grass-fed beef operation that uses rotational grazing. The farm was founded in 1886. The ranchers believe in responsible stewardship of the land and the significance of respecting their the animals. Hodge Common Sense Beef also raises animals using rotational grazing and without hormones, antibiotics or any unnatural foodstuffs.
Five Seasons Brewery (Community of Georgian Artisan Brewers) produces handcrafted beers that it sells locally. With over 30 different types of beers and an exemplary restaurant, this brewery has gained local and regional praise.
Tamworth Farm (Community of Georgian Pig Breeders) raises pigs in open lots and fields and feeds them pure, non-GMO grains with no animal by-products. Everyday members of the Tamworth | 
