Chattanooga is taking food seriously. Our Sustainable Food
tour at the Society of Environmental Journalists conference visited two enterprises: Sequatchie Cove Farm & Creamery is a private
enterprise searching for ways to market its new products. Crabtree Farms is a local nonprofit operating
on city property to provide both produce and education to teach residents how
to grow their own.
Sequatchie owner Bill Keener is one of the new breed of
farmer, someone who didn’t grow up on a farm but figured he could learn how to
get food from dirt. Under Allan Savory’s principles of holistic management, the
farm’s sheep and cattle graze together, moving frequently from pasture to
pasture. The plants the cattle eat are different from the plants the sheep eat,
so the two species balance each other. Moving them prevents them from denuding
the pasture, allowing it to grow more food, enriched by the manure the
livestock leave behind. It’s a system that was the focus of SEJ member Judith
Schwartz’s book, Cows Save the Planet,who also attended the conference. Her book was reviewed in the conference issue
of SEJournal.
Keener relies on the people involved in the farm and their
talents. One wanted to be a cheesemaker, so he studied cheesemaking and is now
garnering prizes for its Dancing Fern cheese. Products are available in local
outlets.
The farm produces beef, pork and lamb, with the help of a
local meat processing plant. Certified processing plants are a problem for
small local producers. Large plants handle only huge herds of livestock,
leaving farms such as Sequatchie unable to get their meat processed in
certified plants that produce cuts of meat that can legally be sold to the
public. Operations like Sequatchie Farms are part of the new local food
production networks that are making local food, with its better flavor and
nutrition and lower energy use, possible.
At Crabtree Farms, executive director Joel Houser has
created a lush farm that provides Community Supported Agriculture shares. A CSA
is a way for individuals to support the farm by paying in advance so the farm
has some cash flow, in return for a box of vegetables every week. Those who
don’t have the cash to pay can work for a share – and learn how to grow their
own gardens at the same time. It’s a great way to spend five hours a week.
Program coordinator Andrea Jaeger dreams up other programs
for the community, such as Dig In Kids and the Community Garden. Chattanooga’s
history of industrial pollution requires some special handling – testing for
lead in the soil and creating raised beds if it’s contaminated.
As a poultry person, I was excited to hear the honking of
geese on the farm. Geese need plenty of room and fewer farmers are keeping
heritage breeds. Geese have a long history and can be a productive addition to
a farm. They are vegetarians with discriminating tastes in plants. They were
traditionally used to ‘grass’ cotton and tobacco fields, because they eat the
weeds but not the crop plants. Houser has plans for his eight China geese to do
their part on the farm, but they are youngsters and he hasn’t quite gotten that
in place yet.
The geese haven’t won him over yet, but Jaeger loves them
and they are now permanent Crabtree Farms residents.
Bee Whisperer David Reed, owner of Erma’s Bees, retired from
the military and a government job to pursue his real work: raising bees. They
provide the volunteer pollination for Crabtree Farms’ crops. His hives haven’t
been affected by Colony Collapse Disorder, and he’s breeding his bees into a
vibrant local variety that will continue to contribute to their part in an
integrated agricultural community.
Their publication, Tastebuds, is available free all around
Chattanooga. It lists local food producers, what they sell and where, including
Sequatchie Cove’s cheeses. One of Crabtree Farms’ chickens graces the cover.
Chickens, the mascot of the local food movement, remain controversial in
Chattanooga. They are not yet legal in residential backyards. It’s an idea
whose time has come, though. It’s only a matter of time before Chattanoogans
will be collecting fresh eggs from their backyard Wyandottes and Rhode Island
Reds.
