Author: erika-howsare

I was walking in the woods today, searching for a lost goat. I had with me a feed bucket, a packet of grain, and a dog leash. It was a little hot for May, and the air was heavy with rain. But the woods smelled good—almost floral, in places.

I’d never walked in these woods before, though they’re right across the road from my house. There’d never been an excuse to trespass before today. Stepping across that invisible boundary—what’s mine, what’s someone else’s—felt delicious, as the land opened its secrets to me, the folded slopes and the old stone wall above the creek and the broken-down trailers listing toward the ground. The walk filled in what had always been a blank space in my mental map. I happened to be under a beech tree’s dense canopy when the rain started, and stayed almost perfectly dry.

That said, I didn’t find our goat. Banging the bucket—a sound she associates with treats—and shouting through the quiet trees failed to make her appear.

As I prepare to hand over the editorship of this page to Graelyn Brashear—and to retire from writing this column and its sister blog on c-ville.com, Green Scene—I’m looking for a handy metaphor to sum up what I’ve learned from all this eco-writing. Here’s one try. Making a sustainable life (as an individual or—why not?—a society) is like the unsuccessful goat hunt. Lots of times, you fall short, and the larger goal feels discouragingly out of reach.

But you learn about where you’re standing. And there’s a lot of beauty along the way.—Erika Howsare

Turkeys and foxes and bears—oh my!
A natural history center has been part of the mission of Nelson County’s Rockfish Valley Foundation since it formed in 2005, and under the guidance of a board of trustees and with the help of local volunteers, the Foundation will open the Rockfish Valley Natural History Center on Saturday, June 16.

Foundation president Peter Agelasto said Nelson County’s natural resources and historic geology make it one of the “more interesting places in the state,” and the Foundation’s focus is on the education and preservation of the area’s natural history.

The board and the executive director of the Virginia Museum of Natural History, located in Martinsville, agreed to help create a pilot museum, and worked out a plan to move Martinsville exhibits to the new Rockfish Valley Natural History Center, housed in the former Wintergreen Country Store on Route 151.

“They have resources to create really interesting exhibits,” said Angelasto, adding that he hopes the center will eventually get enough momentum and support to create its own permanent exhibits. The challenge will be to continue attracting volunteers and donations, he said, because they don’t have any paid staff.

The center’s inaugural exhibit will feature a number of hands-on materials and activities for children, like animal pelts, a dugout canoe, and camouflage face-painting, as well as displays of native animals, including a giant black bear, wild turkeys, and fish. Agelasto said the first exhibit will include “lots of education about living off the land, for people who are so used to just going to the grocery store.”

Special features of the center will include a virtual classroom connecting viewers to a curator and researcher at the museum in Martinsville, and outdoor activities that go hand-in-hand with the indoor exhibits, like geocaching and other trail puzzles.

“We think we’re a very important part of the Nelson 151 Trail,” said Angelasto. The Nelson 151 Trail is home to seven wineries, three breweries, a number of bed and breakfasts, and Wintergreen Resort, and he said the Center will offer a unique, well-rounded experience for tourists who come to the area for other attractions.

“People should not come out here without enjoying the trails and exhibits at the Natural History Center,” Angelasto said.—Laura Ingles

Growers and eaters together
Several small family farms started the Firsthand Farmers Cooperative last year. We operate a diverse CSA program in Charlottesville and Lexington. I was asked recently about my reasons for founding this alliance, and realized the present and future of farming food informed my answer.

In the global economic system, there is little future for independent small farmers. The movement of capital and gaining profit supersede the needs of those who produce and eat real food, and small farmers struggle to remain financially solvent in the face of food commodification and corporatization. In other parts of the world, particularly India, many farmers commit suicide, driven to debt and despair by global trade of food and agricultural inputs like GMO seeds and fertilizer. In the U.S., few small farmers can support a family on farm income alone.

Globally, farming and craft communities trend toward cooperative organizing because there is greater security and ability in guilds of craftspeople to reach markets and provide mutual support. (In recognition of this movement towards cooperation, the United Nations has declared 2012 the “Year of the Cooperative.”)

The Charlottesville area is an excellent place to be a farmer because many eaters are enthusiastic about good food and support our craft—one based on skilled work, blessed by serendipity, and supported by community. The value of this craft goes far beyond the monetary trade. Eaters realize the benefits of our food: excellent nutrition, better health for people and the environment, a stronger local economy, and a more cohesive community.
By developing collaborations between small farmers and happy eaters, we strengthen this good food movement. It is incumbent upon small farmers growing for local eaters to provide the finest food we can, and to set an example for the way we wish our community to organize and revolve around food. We encourage our community to become involved with its farmers and to choose food that has value beyond what is paid for it.

We develop our alliances and community-based models of interdependence, such as cooperatives and CSAs, with the intention of providing excellent experiences for farmers and eaters. We farmers and eaters are in this for a lifetime; let’s plan and work together to increase our benefits. Ask your farmer how you can become more involved, or suggest ways in which your farmer can engage your community. By innovating together, we can overcome challenges faced from those corporate entities we do not wish to emulate or support, and provide great food to a wider more connected community.—Mark Jones

Mark Jones grows mushrooms and useful plants at Sharondale Farm in Cismont, Virginia, and is a founding member of the Firsthand Farmers Cooperative.

Growing together

One thing I’m feeling this spring is that, five years after we moved to Nelson County, our community is really beginning to coalesce. By that I mean both human and natural connections. And what’s delicious is that the two often intertwine and overlap, like vines on a trellis.

Example: A new friend offers to scoop horse manure into our pickup truck using a front-loader. We’ve been using lots of manure on our garden and are happy to cut down on the shoveling. We meet at the stables; I bring my daughter and he brings his grandson. After both our trucks are full (he gardens too), we take the kids into the barn to feed carrots to the horses. The stable manager shows up and we chat. We’ve met before; she’s the sister of another friend we know through our CSA. Because the CSA isn’t operating this year, we’ve been borrowing some space in their greenhouse to start our seedlings—which, of course, we’ll soon plant in all this lovely manure that’s in the truck.

Every year, we get to know more people and we get to know more plants—invasives and natives, those that bloom and those that shelter cardinals’ nests. I forever associate plants with the people who teach me their names; many of those lessons happen offhand, during what could be mistaken for small talk. And I’m finding a kind of slow satisfaction, digging into the soil and rooting into the village, that I’ve never known before.—Erika Howsare

BULLETIN BOARD

Bus stop: Full bus service on Sundays and holidays! That was the rallying cry for a band of protestors who gathered outside City Hall on May 12, according to NBC29. Demonstrators are unhappy with curtailed CAT schedules that keep the carless from easily reaching hospitals, jobs and fun, and say that Western Bypass money should go to public transit instead.

Go, bikes: Earth Day was supposed to include a Children’s Bicycle Rodeo, but rain put the brakes on. Luckily, biker kids get a second chance from 1 to 3pm Sunday, May 27 on the Lexis Nexis upper parking deck. Riders ages 6 to 12 can show up to learn about bike safety, jockey for prizes, and slurp smoothies blended by bike power. Call Shell at 882-1516 for more info.

Hikers help: The Rivanna Trails Foundation is participating in National Trails Day Saturday, June 2, with a work party at Ragged Mountain National Area. The project of the day is to relocate trail sections around Ragged Mountain Reservoir that will be impacted by the planned new dam. Help out between 9am and noon; see rivannatrails.org.

Water works: The Rockfish River is the subject of a new watershed improvement plan, presented at a public meeting on May 16. The problems: bacteria from unsewered houses and failing septic systems, livestock trampling stream banks, erosion, and low levels of aquatic life. The solutions: keep the cows out of the creeks, plant trees, and fix the plumbing, among other measures. Read more about the plan at www.forwatershed.org.

Fracking in our future?

The U.S. Forest Service is reviewing possible changes to a draft management plan for the vast George Washington National Forest, and while the NFS received overwhelming public support for the original plan’s restrictions on natural gas drilling, an industry-backed push for more relaxed rules could mean major fracking operations are in the forest’s future.

Large stretches of Virginia’s Marcellus shale formation, a vast, gas-rich rock layer, are found under the George Washington National Forest, and the gas industry sees potential.

Others want to put the brakes on gas exploration, largely due to concerns over the extraction method, called hydraulic fracturing or fracking. It involves shooting pressurized water laced with chemicals deep into wells to crack open the rock and release gas, which travels back to the surface along with millions of gallons of wastewater. Many worry that possible negative effects remain largely unstudied and poorly understood. One major concern is water contamination, as critics say the chemicals used in fracking could seep into groundwater supplies or spill at the surface level.

A key part of the USFS’ draft plan for the George Washington was a ban on horizontal drilling, the widely used gas drilling process that involves digging laterally through the shale. The method allows for better access to cracks in the rock and the gas inside them.

But fracking opponents worry it could also compound the problems they fear: bigger operations and more fracking-induced cracking could mean more exposure of rock and groundwater to drilling chemicals. Vertical drilling operations often use fracking, too, but their environmental impact is thought to be smaller.

The USFS received more than 54,000 comments on its draft plan. The vast majority were about fracking, and most expressed support for a ban on horizontal drilling, said Ken Landgraf of the USFS’ Roanoke office.

“While the majority of comments were supportive of what we did, we also heard from a number of different industries, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and others on what the science actually looks like,” Landgraf said. “We felt we needed to look at that a little more closely.”

The USFS is taking the minority voice seriously enough that it’s considering reworking the management plan, which will likely be finalized this summer, to allow horizontal drilling after all.

That concerns Sarah Francisco, a senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, which has closely followed the local fracking debate. The SELC and other organizations want to see more limits to gas drilling on national forest lands, she said, not fewer. The federal government doesn’t own all the land within the George Washington’s boundary, and only owns mineral rights on 84 percent of what it does hold. “That makes it all that much more important to protect the large, intact portions that we have, and those resources we can’t be sure we can protect on any other lands in the state,” Francisco said.

Landgraf said he’s aware that some people might see a move to work expanded drilling allowances into the final plan as caving to industry. But he said the USFS didn’t hear from gas companies the first time around, “and they have some legitimate information that can help us make a better decision.” People’s opinions matter, he said, “but we have to pay attention to the scientific details of what might work and might not work.”—Graelyn Brashear

Behold the local solution

I’m just finishing Joel Salatin’s most recent book, Folks, This Ain’t Normal, and the time is right for me to stand up and testify. The Salatin family at Polyface Farm has developed a single solution for most of our pressing societal and environmental ills. The solution is farming, and the work and the decisions that go into it, and the food and the fertility that result from it. Not only has their farm family dutifully produced the food for our tables, season after season and year after year, but the Salatins have also opened their farm and their business to any and all interested parties, offering their method of farming as a replicable, reliable, profitable, and positive way to change the face of food in our country. Amen.

The Polyface production method includes beef cattle, pork pigs, meat rabbits, and meat and egg chickens. By raising these animals in proximity and in succession, the Salatins are orchestrating the natural cycle of grassland grazing and renewal that is actually sequestering carbon and adding topsoil to their farm. Sequestering carbon! Adding topsoil! I’m no scientist, and I can’t personally address the topsoil and carbon issues, but I do believe that our food choices directly support the actions of the folks who produce it. Conveniently, purchasing high quality, fresh, local food translates to excellent flavor, de facto seasonal eating, and a vibrant personal and communal food culture. Hallelujah!

The Polyface pastured poultry method —fresh grass daily, highest quality grain ration, and on-farm processing—is widespread in central Virginia, due in part to Salatin’s books on the topic and the 20 or so apprentices that learn it each year. In comparison to the shameful conditions under which commercial eggs and meat birds are grown (please don’t make me give you specifics!), Polyface Farm’s production methods are a locally-grown solution to the problems of industrial food production.

In this book, Joel explores topics such as water conservation, cooking, occupation for children, entertainment, and community life as experienced en masse in America. In his trademark vernacular (the book jacket calls him “the High Priest of the Pasture”) he offers stories and observations based on his life and experiences at his farm, and offers the reader simple but profound actions that might restore normalcy to our relationship with food and with each other. To sum up: Grow some food in your yard or windowsill. Cook at home. Eat with your family and friends. Agitate for positive change throughout society. Invest in local solutions.

Zero Garbage on vacation

Complications

Got tree questions? It turns out you can invite an expert from the state Department of Forestry over to your house for a chat, and you don’t even have to pay for it. (Or rather, you already did, by paying taxes.) We availed ourselves of this service last week and learned a lot.

Can’t go home again

Last weekend, visiting my family in southwestern Pennsylvania, I saw something shocking. I was driving a mile up the road from my mom’s house, and passed a house where I’d spent a lot of time as a kid—the house of my friend Stephanie and her mother Dian, who cared for me and my brothers. But the house no longer existed. There was just a flat place on the ground and a nearby pile of smoldering wood.

Apparently, a new owner had bought the house and discovered a bad mold problem, so he had it torn down.

It was only one such moment in a weekend full of vertigo. My hometown happens to be in one of the most active areas for hydro-fracking in Pennsylvania. There’s more drilling evident every time I go home—more than 500 gas wells dotting the rumpled topography of my home county. Many of these are on hilltops and ridges and, thus, can be seen for long distances. The wells consist of narrow metal towers, but they require several acres of surrounding flat ground to support storage containers and a parade of large trucks.

Therefore, those hilltops have to be massively reshaped before drilling can begin. After a well is done producing, the tower can be removed and the truck traffic will cease. But the manmade mesa will remain. The soft shapes of the hills are being changed quickly and forever.

Fracking is a possibility in Virginia, too; as near a neighbor as Rockingham County came close to approving a fracking permit in 2010. The U.S. Forest Service is considering allowing limited fracking in Virginia’s George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, too, with a final decision expected in July.

Razing a house might be a necessity, though it does violence to the memories and experience of people who spent time within. When we tear down the hills, what is the reach of our violation?—Erika Howsare

BULLETIN BOARD

Heritage on film: Grad students at UVA have spent the semester making short films about Virginia’s food heritage, and you can see them on May 2 at 7pm and May 3 at 5pm. The latter event will also include presentations about ideas for food-based economic development. See vafoodheritage.com for locations.

Feeling crabby: The Chesapeake Bay Foundation released good news last month about the blue crab population in the Bay. Namely, it’s up. The total crab count is 764 million—the highest level since 1993 and a 66 percent increase since 2011.

Drawing a line: Local activists will join others worldwide for a May 5 rally organized by the climate change network 350.org. Demonstrators intend to “connect the dots” between climate change and extreme weather patterns. They’ll gather at the Down-
town Free Speech Wall from 5-6pm.

Baby spinach: The Local Food Hub hosts a plant sale at Scottsville’s Maple Hill Farm, May 5 from 10am to 3pm. Hear music, munch food, and paint murals (besides, of course, buying plants and produce).

Chronicling progress

When Tanya Denckla Cobb set out to write a book about local food, she didn’t intend to create a field guide to a movement.

An environmental mediator and the author of books on organic gardening, Denckla Cobb was developing a course on food systems planning at UVA when she met Will Allen, whose Milwaukee-based urban farming initiative Growing Power has inspired community gardening projects all over the country.

Denckla Cobb said she was so inspired by his methods—which include using compost to keep winter beds warm, and establishing inner-city apiaries—that she decided to chronicle his organization’s efforts in a book.

But Allen helped convince her that the story was bigger than his group alone, “so we set out to cover the breadth and depth of the food market,” said Denckla Cobb. Her book, Reclaiming Our Food: How the Grassroots Food Movement Is Changing the Way We Eat, has been named one of Booklist’s top ten titles on the environment for 2012, and offers a comprehensive look at how and why small, local farming and food distribution projects are succeeding around the country.

With help from a team of graduate students and colleagues, Denckla Cobb researched and found hundreds of operations across the country tackling all aspects of the food-supply chain. Eventually, they narrowed their focus to a few dozen projects, many of which are succeeding against the odds in challenging climates and difficult environments.

The book features Nuetras Raices, a farming co-op created by Puerto Rican Americans in Holyoke, Massachusetts, who channeled their agricultural heritage into a project that could feed their families and sustain their community. It explores the Janus Youth Urban Agriculture program, which gives poor and homeless kids in Portland the chance to grow their own food and profit from it. And it touches on efforts to encourage sustainable farming from the Arizona desert to southern Wisconsin.

Denckla Cobb said that against her expectations, she found a common thread.
“People are coming at local food projects for a host of different reasons,” she said, “but they’re being used everywhere as a catalyst for healing our land and healing our communities, and helping build neighborhoods where there weren’t any.”

At a time when the national discussion about the way Americans eat is so often bleak—hunger, obesity, food safety fears—Denckla Cobb’s book is packed with good news about real people whose efforts to farm locally aren’t just succeeding, they’re thriving.

But her hope is that the book is more than a feel-good read. She aimed to offer up a practical guide to kickstart similar projects in all corners of the country.

“Everyone needs to eat, and everyone relates to food,” she said. “How people spend their time and how they choose to eat is a way that they can reclaim power in their lives. I really do think it’s democracy in action.”—Graelyn Brashear

Efficiency comes forward

Years ago when I ran a green construction company in a resort town in Idaho, most of the customers we worked with wanted a home that had character and taste. They wanted hardwood floors, exposed beams, and high ceilings. Aside from the givens of separate bedrooms and bathrooms for the kids, they preferred tile that was or resembled stone, granite countertops, black or stainless appliances, big windows to take in the views, and real wood siding.

Energy efficiency was an afterthought, although they did think about it. Five solid months of winter will have you giving some consideration not only to where you store your snow toys, but also what those utility bills are going to look like—especially if your vacation home will be mostly sitting empty.

Still, we did not sell our custom homes or remodels by touting energy efficiency. Sustainability and green, yes, but no one really cared about efficiency. Today, things are a bit different.

Gas prices are on the rise again, and policymakers are worried about the recession’s impact on people’s budgets. Homebuyers are beginning to have conversations around the operating costs of the home—as in, how much extra per month will this home cost to live in over that home.

Seriously, who wants to live in an inefficient home? Um, sign me up for the draftier-in-winter and stuffier-in-summer property, please. I prefer noisy too, and I really like mild to major indoor air quality issues; sneezing and coughing are a major pastime of mine.
No thanks! If you knew you had a choice (and many don’t know), wouldn’t you just say at the outset, I want a nice kitchen AND an energy efficient home?

Here in Charlottesville, LEAP and the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors recently held a stakeholder luncheon on valuing energy efficiency in the real estate market. Attendance was cut off at 75 because every seat was taken. This is a hot topic for real estate agents in our area. We have already had one LEAP customer who believes her home sold quicker because of energy improvements, and others who will be uploading their Home Performance with ENERGY STAR certificate onto their MLS record for potential buyers to see. It’s something to consider for both sides of the real estate equation: investing in a home’s energy performance pays off.—Cynthia Adams, executive director, LEAP.