Know Your Farmer

The USDA launched its "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food" initiative recently, a program meant to help boost local economies and local farms. 

You can watch Tom Vilsack talk about the intiative on YouTube, or read the USDA news release for more information.

This initiative and all the chatter on our Facebook Page made us curious about how well we all know our farmers already. 

SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH US

Can you share your relationship with your farmer with us? 

How did you meet? 

Do you know his or her name? 

How important is a relationship with your farmer to you? 









Display in list as "Anonymous"



0-15 of 15 signatures
Number Date Name
15 June 17, 2010 lee hao
14 March 24, 2010 Anonymous I met my farmers at the Austn Farmers Market. I'm lucky to live in such a progressive, supportive city. I viewed Fresh and heard Ana speak at an Edible Asutin benefit event here and have been talking up the film ever since. I purchased a copy (at the Farmers Mkt!) and have been passing it around to all my friends. I grew up on a small family farm in Michigan and am greatly saddened and distressed at the industrial state of agriculture and the prevalence of animal mistreatment. Thank you for everything you do!
13 March 03, 2010 I have several "farmers". I get most of my beef from a grass-finisher about 30 miles from where I live. I've known this family for 15 years. I trust that they raise their beef the way they say they do, because I have a relationship with this family and know that they are honest and have integrity.
I purchase my eggs from mitchell family farm [who run a CSA], I've known this family for more than 3 years. Again, having a relationship is the key for me. It allows me to trust them and know their character. Visiting their operation allows me the comfort of knowing what sort of conditions that their animals are raised in as well.
In the summer months I often purchase produce from a number of backyard gardeners. I can ask them their growing practices and get an honest answer. If I don't like their answer I can purchase my veggies elsewhere.
I am very pleased with my 'farmers'! I only wish I had a few more!
12 February 27, 2010 Anonymous I just recently found farmers who provides me with local happily raised duck eggs. I found their ad on Craigslist and we have a positive business relationship. I can visit "the girls" anytime and I'm always welcome in their home-they live a town away. I know the farmers' names and a bit about their family, they provide lots of colorful information about the ducks that lay our eggs and are in the process of becoming a CSA- they are also open to input about my needs as a consumer & try to accomodate my family's needs. They are organic growers and one of them has returned to school to study agricultural science. Because in my family we have dietary sensitivites our local farmers are more important than my doctor...their weekly effort keeps us healthy...I am so thankful I found them and have placed a standing order for duck eggs and look forward to any other products they make in the future.
11 February 15, 2010 Anonymous I was raised on a small "hobby" farm in southern Ontario Canada. I was my father's "right-hand man" and my Mother's helper with all duties. At the time I hated the tasks I was given, all chores and no play. BUT I am truly fortunate and love that fact as an adult! I learned everything and have a great fondness for nature!
As a married adult, I grew my own gardens, never thought twice of purchasing meat from my local butcher rather than the store and even treasured the home grown chickens that my father still grew and butchered, they make the most wonderful chicken soup!
But, times change. I am stuck in a townhouse with barely any yard and neighbor kids that steal and trash my things! I also have a physical ailment from years back that make it impossible for growing my own garden. I yearn for my OWN things.
So, to make up for the lack of ability, I still do canning and freezing. I had a friend that still lived near where I grew up, their farm was gorgeous! The soil there is black sandy loam. I adore that soil, just like I had less than half a mile down the road!
But they too can no longer market garden this year. It is too intensive to do when you have hip replacements and strokes, etc. I can understand but now I am on a hunt for new sources.
Being from the countryside, I am familiar with the local farmer's auction barn, but pity they also went down this past fall! So I am aware of another one almost an hour's drive away and went there to gather things for my stocks.
My favorite farm, my friends, they grew organic and mostly genetically sound veggies. I knew the dirt. I would go and spend time there, even help picking to my best abilities.
I went to another person I knew to ask if he was doing corn this year, she said he might. I told him how I am looking because my other source is not growing this year. I will have to call him and see if he can use non-genetically altered corn, he could use it not thinking of the issues. If I chat with him, maybe he will reconsider that part of the equation. Maybe I can assist him in realizing that it is a huge market value to advertise that fact!
I also spotted a notice of a local farmer wanting to sell his beef from his farm. I haven't called them as of yet, but plan to very shortly. I want to know MORE much more about them and their beef before I commit to purchasing. Do they use antibiotics? Do they corn feed or graze? Is it only old worn out beef that get butchered? Then I will make my purchases from there, after I know these things. I am super fussy on what I put into my body and my family is full of "sensitivities" making my task of purchasing things in the regular grocery store almost impossible! Not ONE item that is prefrozen is without SOYA additives, not even plain chicken breasts! I have some children with SOYA allergies in this house. I can not buy frozen meats!
So, do I care about my farmer? Yes! Do I care about the choices they make in their seed and spray and feed and treatments? OH YES! Absolutely! I wont buy if they do the wrong things! I keep hunting.
10 February 10, 2010 Anonymous Coming to the country may as well have been china . Even though i was raised in a small town passing by farms was all i ever saw of one . My family was very cold and uninvolved with each other . I had no grandparents to teach me how to sew or cook , or even grow a simple tomato . In essence I am a victim of the 20th century . If there are no trucks to deliver to Ingles or Walmart I might be one of the millions of clueless people to starve from lack of simple basic knowledge due to easy convenience of boxed , frozen or canned products . My quest for the simple life and a wholesome place to raise my kids brought me from the city in Florida to cleveland ga . Immediately i began to make plans for my new home . We took down and acre of trees and made pasture , we built a barn and erected fencing , i made a garden outside my kitchen . I researched goat breeds and paid a ghastly amount for purebred saanens . Well things arent as simple as i imagined at all . my kids do not like goats milk , and since i do not have enough pasture it cost more to feed them than i got in profit from selling the goats . We built our barn in the middle of the field and we cant keep the horse out for nothin! and after spending hundreds on a garden all i got was 3 tomatoes . I have not given up and I prayed for a mentor . This Kool Aid kid ain't giving up! I pray for simplicity , life should not be this hard . There must be a way to work with the land ,not against it .
My gut tells me our future here on this earth is in jeopardy and without sustainability we must rely on the energy infrastructure . Have you ever wondered how a tomato ends up at the grocery store ? Have you ever wondered why a peach is shipped to GA from California wasting valuble gas when peaches are grown right here in GA ? or why your milk came from new york when there is a dairy right here in cleveland ? why is local food not being sold in local stores ? where does Cleveland's food go? I never see anything grown or raised in white county sold local .( except Nadines Chicken salad at IGA )
One day at the check out counter at the store the young lady ringing up my organic produce says to me " oh my mom is into this stuff " and tells me about her moms farm and that i can talk to her if i need to learn more . Well she takes my e-mail and i promtly get a farm newsletter and I realise this farm is less than one mile from my house . Organic Rose from logan Berry Heritage farm has has taught me more in 1 hour than i have learned from books in 10 years ! An answer to prayer she is .
She showed me how to make marinara sauce from tomatoes fresh picked and then can them . I would like to say that after spending an hour picking tomatoes and then making sauce all afternoon that i have enough cans to last me the winter . But I don't . I invited friends over for dinner and sent each home with a can of sauce after they said it was the best they ever had . Good food shared with friends .
Consider buying your food local . Purchasing from local farmers . Since I have a freezer full of local beef naturally raised , all i need now is a source of local chicken . Eventually i would like to raise or grow everything my family eats . I need a new property though , maybe seven acres of pasture to graze cattle. But for now I shal gaze apon the barn in the middle of my field and laugh at my mistakes.
9 February 10, 2010 Anonymous Maybe it is the amount of financial problems i have accumulated or maybe its everyone on tv talking about saving the environment ,and they are gonna kill granma with the new healthcare plan , lately though I can't stop thinking . I turn on little house on the prairie and long for the simpler days when kids behaved and parents prayed . So in my quest for simpleness my life got very complicated . I have made many mistakes and I have learned from them . Coming to the country may as well have been china . Even though i was raised in a small town passing by farms was all i ever saw of one . My family was very cold and uninvolved with each other . I had no grandparents to teach me how to sew or cook , or even grow a simple tomato . In essence I am a victim of the 20th century . If there are no trucks to deliver to Ingles or Walmart I might be one of the millions of clueless people to starve from lack of simple basic knowledge due to easy convenience of boxed , frozen or canned products . My quest for the simple life and a wholesome place to raise my kids brought me from the city in Florida to cleveland ga . Immediately i began to make plans for my new home . We took down and acre of trees and made pasture , we built a barn and erected fencing , i made a garden outside my kitchen . I researched goat breeds and paid a ghastly amount for purebred saanens . Well things arent as simple as i imagined at all . my kids do not like goats milk , and since i do not have enough pasture it cost more to feed them than i got in profit from selling the goats . We built our barn in the middle of the field and we cant keep the horse out for nothin! and after spending hundreds on a garden all i got was 3 tomatoes . I have not given up and I prayed for a mentor . This Kool Aid kid ain't giving up! I pray for simplicity , life should not be this hard . There must be a way to work with the land ,not against it .
My gut tells me our future here on this earth is in jeopardy and without sustainability we must rely on the energy infrastructure . Have you ever wondered how a tomato ends up at the grocery store ? Have you ever wondered why a peach is shipped to GA from California wasting valuble gas when peaches are grown right here in GA ? or why your milk came from new york when there is a dairy right here in cleveland ? why is local food not being sold in local stores ? where does Cleveland's food go? I never see anything grown or raised in white county sold local .( except Nadines Chicken salad at IGA )
One day at the check out counter at the store the young lady ringing up my organic produce says to me " oh my mom is into this stuff " and tells me about her moms farm and that i can talk to her if i need to learn more . Well she takes my e-mail and i promtly get a farm newsletter and I realise this farm is less than one mile from my house . Organic Rose from logan Berry Heritage farm has has taught me more in 1 hour than i have learned from books in 10 years ! An answer to prayer she is .
She showed me how to make marinara sauce from tomatoes fresh picked and then can them . I would like to say that after spending an hour picking tomatoes and then making sauce all afternoon that i have enough cans to last me the winter . But I don't . I invited friends over for dinner and sent each home with a can of sauce after they said it was the best they ever had . Good food shared with friends .
Consider buying your food local . Purchasing from local farmers . Since I have a freezer full of local beef naturally raised , all i need now is a source of local chicken . Eventually i would like to raise or grow everything my family eats . I need a new property though , maybe seven acres of pasture to graze cattle. But for now I shal gaze apon the barn in the middle of my field and laugh at my mistakes.
8 November 16, 2009 Patricia Baehr Our family travels full-time in our RV with my husband's work however my children and I spend part of our time on the road searching out local farms and farmers, volunteering and purchasing farm fresh food. It is important to our family not to support industrialized agriculture and we don't mind paying more. What these farmers do is well worth the price! We have met Joel Salatin, Polyface Farms, Jason Mann, Full Moon Coop/Farm 225, The farmers at Sapelo Farms, Sequatchie Cove Farm and many others through local farmer's markets.
7 September 28, 2009 I love the local farmer's markets in my northeastern IL area during the growing season. I know my local veggie farmer, Sue, and Farmer Nick who has the best wild-fed pork and turkey products, at Crystal Lake farmer's market. Michele, the grass-fed beef farmer I met at the Woodstock farmer's market. We also purchase eggs monthly through our organic food coop from the egg lady, Lynn, of Marengo. It is very important knowing who supplies my family's food... knowing they care about their animals, treat them humanely and want to produce quality products for maximum nutrition is paramount.
6 September 24, 2009 suzie hemphill
5 September 23, 2009 Kevin Berman Our first, Maple Creek Farm CSA, my wife's father gave us an article that mentioned them. Then John Linck's for chickens, Oliver Farms (Chuck has the dairy/beef, Toni (his daughter) makes great raw milk cheeses )for milk, cheese, beef and pork, and along the way various other local producers.

It is very important to know where our food comes from, not only from a 'security' perspective but it gives the farmer a sense that there are people who care what they are doing.
4 September 22, 2009 Local Nourishment I have several farmer friends. There's the Delvins - Cindy and Hank and their kids - that provide my vegetable CSA program. Hank was very seriously injured in a truck crash this summer and will be recuperating for a long time. They just had their second grandbaby. West Wind Farms - Kimberlie and Ralph Cole - have an amazingly eco-friendly and sustainable farm where they milk their happy Jersey cows, grassfeed their beeves and make locally famous sausages. I found them by asking around for raw, or what we call here "Pet Milk." I also belong to a CSA for meat over with Peaceful Pastures where Jenny and Darrin Drake have a wonderful grassfed operation and provide me with the most mouth-watering beef, lamb, pork and chevon. Their eggs are amazing as well! We go dancing every Friday night where we met Sarah and Stacy Geny. They have a farm in the area and grow wonderful organic foods. They're a younger brother and sister who are learning their craft from their parents.

I've met many more farmers at my farmer's market, the lady who comes down every couple weeks with goat cheeses; the man who built his own wood-fired oven and bakes the most delicious sourdough breads; the man with the apple orchard...all of whom I have met and started forming relationships with. They are precious people and I take every possible opportunity to put my grocery dollar into their hands.
3 September 22, 2009 Cathy Payne I may run out of room. We have several farmers that we met through various networks. We know them by name, have been to their homes, know spouses, children, parents, have mobile numbers on speed dial, think about them often. The relationships with our farmers are extremely important to us. We know how are food is raised, where, and by whom. We are grateful when we sit down to a meal and honor the farmers who made it possible. Our farmers include Tim and Liz Young of Natures Harmony Farm, Chuck and Lynn Pugh of Cane Creek Farm, Bill and Di Hodge of Hodge Ranch. All of them have been interviewed for our Podcast and blog.
2 September 22, 2009 Alexia Dunay Zaid and Haifa own Norwich Meadows Farm. I met them through a CSA. I absolutely love their produce. first stop is to Zaid and Haifa's stand at the Union Square Farmer's Market. I feel like I am part of the family. Haifa is so generous with her time. They love what they are doing and you taste that love..
1 September 22, 2009 Nicholas Sweeney Our farmer is Zaid, from Norwich Meadow Farms - we get a CSA share each week with incredible produce, fruit, eggs and butter for half the price it would cost for us to shop at our local market! Zaid and the rest of his crew hand-pick the produce sent to our CSA each week with care - I wouldn't get my food any other way.