Living straight out of the box

As much as I thrive on documentaries they also depress me. The sobering celluloid heralds paint a portrait of doom that seems too overwhelming and pervasive to repair. Whether or not we acknowledge or articulate it we all suffer from the despair of an unavoidable question, “What can one person do?” What’s even more deflating is that they all seem to be preaching to the choir, reaching only the already receptive and well informed. Those who are in sorest need of conversion don’t attend such films. I refer specifically to the compelling messages delivered by Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, Deborah Koons Garcia’s The Future of Food, and Taggart Siegel’s The Real Dirt on Farmer John.

Then it struck me, like Katrina hammered New Orleans. Even the choir needs to be better informed. And the information that the choir does have it has an obligation to act on and disseminate. Being informed and doing nothing is the same as being uninformed. The primary directive of information is action. If every family acts responsibly then we can collectively make enormous changes in the quality of our lives and the security of our future. Parenthood has taught me that walking, like change, happens one step at a time. There is no hope without action and no action without hope. One cannot exist without the other.

Years ago the corporate world coined the phrase, “Thinking outside of the box.” It was a mantra to engender fresh ideas and new approaches to old problems. When we think “outside the box” we can create simple yet powerful solutions. The first of which is the choice to act. And that is precisely what a courageous group of industrious farmers is doing.

Ground Control to Farmer Tom

Tom runs an irrigation business. With prophetic meadow green eyes set beneath an orange visor he humbly drives his sun burnished skin through the dust and rigors of his daily labor. His words are few, his focus intense, yet his smiles are radiant. If you don’t know Tom, you should. I have never met anyone who works as hard he does. When he installed my irrigation system I was constantly inspired by his steadfast determination. As we got better acquainted I discovered that this back-breaking work was only a sideline that allowed him to finance his real passion; farming. After long blistering days of scorching dusty summer heat Tom would head back to the Applegate to tend his farm and care for his family. Tom and his wife Maud, coordinate the Siskiyou Sustainable Cooperative (SSC), a group of local farmers who pursue the rocky path of organic and sustainable agriculture. They are modern pioneers fighting extreme odds to do what they believe is right.

Lighting a candle is hard work.

Tom’s cooperative is a small part of a larger movement in this country called Community Supported Agriculture (C.S.A.). A national movement recently featured in Taggart Siegel’s documentary, The Real Dirt on Farmer John. CSA is a movement of highly dedicated, ingenious and industrious farmers who are arduously attempting the impossible; supplanting corporate agri-business, an industry that, until now, has had a genetically modified chemical stranglehold on commercial farming. Trever Jones, of Wolf Gulch Farm, points out that, “The government pushes small farmers out of the market by giving tax and land breaks almost exclusively to large scale factory farms. No matter how hard a small farmer works he generally cannot get ahead because the system favors industrial agriculture.” Mookie Moss of Boone’s Farm adds, “. . . we are engaging in active resistance of the status quo. As growers and consumers of this movement we’ve decided it’s time to take a stand for what we believe in.”

Tom and his colleagues grow seasonal, organic, sustainable crops including produce, fresh cut flowers, meat and dairy which they distribute weekly to 63 shareholders in: Grants Pass, Medford, Jacksonville, Ruch, and Ashland. I often share the old adage with my children that, “It is better to light a single candle than to sit and curse the darkness.” Every CSA farmer is living proof of this as they sacrifice and struggle to earn their daily bread with the sweat of their brows.

CSA: A Small Box is a big deal.

A shareholder is a member of the cooperative who pays for the entire season up front. The Siskiyou Cooperative runs their season from June through October (they do not admit shareholders mid-season). My first weekly “small” box included: lettuce, garlic basil goat chevre, herb bunches, kale, cabbage, salad greens, spring onions, garlic scapes, and parsley. “Large” share holders also received: cilantro, spinach, and dry beans. We have since added farm-fresh organic range-fed eggs and Siskiyou Crest goat cheese to our weekly box. Additional seasonal offerings have also included; succulent peaches, cherries, blueberries, yellow and red onions, carrots, beets, collard greens, garlic, potatoes, peppers, melons, tomatoes, summer squash, Japanese eggplant, basil, cucumbers, chard, plums, apples and more.

Brimming with excitement on my first pick-up day I felt like the new kid in school. I met a fellow shareholder named Scott. He welcomed me with a sage grin and said, “This is going to change the way you eat and live.” As obvious as that may sound he went on to explain that, “My wife and I used to get out the recipe book and then go to the store to buy the ingredients. Now we base our recipes and meals on the seasonal food in our box.” My children have acquired tastes that I didn’t expect because now they have new choices on the dinner table. We have also accumulated numerous new recipes which are provided weekly with a newsletter from the cooperative. All of this costs my family roughly $30.00 a week.

How you gonna keep ‘em down on the farm?

Thanks to SSC’s Farm Days we can tour the farms, meet other shareholders, introduce friends and family, and see how our crops are grown. It was on such a day that I met Grace. Tom and Maud’s seven-year-old sprightly blonde daughter was gleefully sliding down the lining of the reservoir and landing in the sparkling waters of her dad’s creek fed gravitational irrigation system. I introduced myself and asked her some simple questions about the farm. Grace was silent as grace itself. Returning from the reservoir she followed me up the path to the farmhouse. Suddenly she darted into the carrot patch and started digging. She was back in a flash, without a word, proudly offering me the fattest carrot I have ever seen. I shared a bite and handed it back to her. She eagerly munched on her fresh garden snack as if to say, “My daddy grew this just for me.”

My four-year-old son (who hasn’t quite wrapped himself around all these concepts and abbreviations) simply knows that his chubby orange carrots, and radiant green apples, come from “Tom’s Farm.” When he is older I will explain to him that the SSC actually consists of many farms: Wolf Gulch Farm, Seven Seeds Farm, Quartz Gulch Farm, Yale Creek Ranch, Boone’s Farm, Dancing Bear Farm, Riverwood Island Farm, Rolling Hills Farm, and Full Circle Bison Ranch; an army of farmers dedicating their lives to improving the quality of ours.

The Domino Effect

Another vital social enhancement supported by SSC is the Produce to Seniors Program. Last year SSC and ACCESS launched a program to supplement ACCESS’s Senior Brown Bag Program (ACCESS has served Jackson County for 29 years in the areas of nutrition, housing and energy assistance). Their target population is people living on fixed incomes, primarily senior citizens and the disabled. Last year ACCESS programs fed 20,000 individuals and reached one in four people in Jackson County. Brown Bag volunteers collect post-dated food and distribute it to people who are in need. It is one of twenty-five nutrition based programs run by ACCESS. Produce to Seniors is a great example of how shareholders benefit the community as well as their own families.

In this age of fear and loathing most of us are painfully aware of what we can’t do. The media reminds us of our limitations daily. However, living straight out of the box has given me fresh hope for what I can do to make a difference. I can’t eliminate the GMO monster but I can remove four of its victims. I can’t single handedly change America’s gas guzzling habits, but I can reduce my consumption and support those who do the same. For example, Farmer Tom uses solar energy to power his ranch and sells the excess back to local power companies. As the bumper sticker says, “Renewable energy is Homeland Security.” With our participation the movement grows. Nationwide organic CSA consumers are currently 50 million strong!

Putting my money where my mouth is.

I can purchase a share in CSA, supporting local farmers, the local economy, and vital community services. I can reduce, reuse and recycle. I can vote to elect those who support change and conservation. I can spread the word and share my food with others.

What I really can’t afford to do is waiting any longer for my President or my Congress to take care of me. “WE THE PEOPLE” have a chance, and a responsibility, to take care of ourselves and our collective wellbeing. If we don’t, who will?

If sobering documentaries have you pacing the cage take some action. Make a stand, nourish your family, and nurture some hope all at the same time. Healing the planet and creating real change only happens one family at a time. We all benefit from the choice to live; straight out of the box.

For more information on the Siskiyou Sustainable Cooperative you can contact Tom and Maud Powell at www.siskiyoucoop.com. Other helpful websites include: OCA (Organic Consumers Assoc.) www.organicconsumers.org, CAFF (Community Alliance with Family Farmers) www.caff.org, and CFRA (The Center for Rural Affairs) www.cfra.org.

Louis Pierotti is a freelance writer who has taught English Literature and Theatre Arts at Southern Oregon University for the past five years. He lives in Ashland, Oregon with his wife and two children. In addition to your feedback he would like to get a hold of some stellar beet recipes. LFPierotti@charter.net.