Items Tagged With Northeast

I had the chance to visit Stone and Thistle Farm last week and met Tom Warren who owns the farm along with his wife Denise.  It was a cold rainy day but nothing could take away from the beauty of the farm, where chickens, turkeys, beef cattle, sheep, pigs and goats dot the pastures. Tom was kind enough to answer a few questions for the Grass-fed Party.

Can you tell us a bit about your farm Stone and Thistle, and why you became a grass-fed farmer?

[Stone & Thistle Farm] We are a diversified livestock farm and certified organic goat dairy in the Catskill Mountains of central New York State.  We raise chickens, turkeys, beef cattle, sheep, hogs and dairy goats. We have a restaurant open on Saturday nights on our farm that serves only products produced on our farm and other small farms in our county.   We have been committed grazers for many years.  We did not set out to be “grass fed farmers”, but grew into the practice because we believe it is better for our animals, and the environment.

Do you think that America is ready to rely more on grass-fed farming? As there ben more support and/or demand for grass-fed farming?

[Stone & Thistle Farm] Yes and No.  We market most of our products in our rural region of central New York State.  We have seen a heightened awareness of the benefits of grass fed meat and eggs by consumers, but this does not necessarily translate into widespread committed consumer purchasing. We are a nation of soft believers.  Many consumers are interested in but confused by the many different labels that are currently being bandied about.  They want organic, local, small farm, cage free, grass-fed, pasture raised, family farm products; and which is what or what is which sometimes gets lost.  The demand comes largely from a more affluent better educated; I have read Michael Pollen and Barbara Kingsolver, type crowd. Our challenge as alternative agricultural producers is to   market products at a price that is fair to us, and accessible to a larger portion of the consuming population.  We are not doing that yet.

 What are the biggest obstacles that face grass-fed farmer's in America?

[Stone & Thistle Farm] Consumer education

Do you think grass-fed change will be driven by the consumer or does it also need changes in policy?

[Stone & Thistle Farm] Agricultural policy needs to change in this country.  I would prefer to see an end to subsidies, and more focus on conservation related initiatives that could support better use of our pasture resources.  Unfortunately the USDA will have to implement practice standards for use of the term grass fed. This will probably turn out as badly as the NOP.

Stone and Thistle Farm

Pastured Pig

This recipe hails from New England and is over two hundred years old. Its simplicity and frugality reflect early American life and our puritan roots. This dish is made in one pot and because it is cooked on a low heat (it takes three hours to cook) it frees the cook to work on other things, which was very important in early American kitchens and of paramount importance to the practical and hard working puritans. Not only that, this cooking technique makes a tough cut moist and delicious. Some historians believe that early Americans adopted this technique, where you browned the meat before simmering it for hours, from the Native Americans who have an even older recipe for a pot roast: “A hunk of venison or moose meat. Scorch it all over in some grease until it is brown. Put it in a kettle with some water and salt. Dig up some horseradish, and some wild carrot. Put a little of each in the kettle, and boil a long time until the meat is cooked. Then stir in some corn meal to make gravy.”

What is not in dispute though, is that early New England dishes like Boiled Dinner which used beef brisket and the Yankee Pot Roast were essential and many working animals (oxen) where used in these dinners. Early American life was marked by hard work, clearing forest and making farmsteads. I really enjoyed making this dish because there were no spices in it, just salt and pepper and yet I did not miss the herbs or spices. The roast was fantastic and made for an elegant Sunday supper. I especially loved the gravy at the end, if only I had made it on a wood stove. Then the whole colonial experience would have been complete!

Yankee Pot Roast
Ingredients:
1 La Cense Grass-fed Pot Roast*
1/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons salt
Fresh black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1-cup water
6 medium red potatoes
6 carrots, sliced
1 large onion, sliced
1 small turnip or a large parsnip, pared and sliced
For the gravy:
1/4 cup flour
Salt and pepper to taste
1-cup water
Preparation: Season flour with salt and pepper coat pot roast in flour, using a Dutch oven or large skillet brown the meat on all sides for 15 to 20 minutes until it is fully browned. Add one-cup water cover tightly and cook at a low heat for 1 and a half hours. After an hour and a half add potatoes and vegetables add salt to your liking and bit more water so that the vegetables to do not stick. Cook for another hour until the vegetables and meat are tender. To make the gravy, remove the pot roast and the vegetables to a serving dish. Add one cup of water to the pot let boil, remove and set aside. Using a bit of the fat from the pan or a pat or two of butter melt in the bottom of the pan, add flour to make paste, then add the juices from the roast and whisk until smooth, salt to your liking and serve as gravy with sliced pot roast and vegetables and enjoy!

*La Cense’s new harvest cuts, including the pot roast will ready by Thanksgiving.

Farm Auction in Derby Connecticut, Sept. 1940, photo by Jack Derby

In 1624, the Pilgrims imported the first cows, three heifers and a bull, to the land we now know as Massachusetts.  Cows provided a controlled food supply for settlers, enabling an independent food supply and new trade.  Cattle and oxen were used for labor clearing forests, building structures and ships, and carrying goods to and from the ports.   Nearly every home kept a dairy cow and in some towns herdsman ran collective herds of beef cows or “dry cows” in the lands surrounding settlements.  Herdsman, however, were few and far between as every person was needed for labor.  Cows were otherwise let to roam free, and often trampled gardens and ate crops planted by American Indians.   English tradition called for fenced gardens, not fenced cattle, a practice that did not translate well in the shared space of the New World.  As cows began to outnumber people, more forests were cleared for their grazing land, and more settlers moved west, infringing on agricultural land long held by American Indians.  Cattle were often moved onto American Indian lands as a precursor to formal (or informal) land acquisition, and were the cause of original conflicts between the two groups.

 New grasses that had evolved with grazing in England eventually found their way to New England through fodder in ships.  Soon enough much of Connecticut and Rhode Island was covered in bluegrass and clover, as the cattle spread the seeds and preferred those grasses for grazing.  Surplus beef became a commodity to trade in the West Indies, where sugar cane production made grazing land scarce.  

 As the population grew in the late 17th century, formal slaughterhouses appeared in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and the first cattle drives were made to those centers from as far as New Hampshire.  Manhattan eventually became the largest slaughterhouse center in the Northeast, and maintained this position until WWII.  Cows were ferried down the river to Manhattan, sometimes being held in stockyards across the river in New Jersey.  Slaughterhouses and butcher shops were a necessity in Manhattan as a lack of refrigeration made it impossible for New Yorkers to have fresh beef by any other means.   

 During the era following the American Revolution, Americans began to distinguish their recipes as being uniquely “American”, to separate their foods along with their values from European luxury.  American food represented the virtues of simplicity, authenticity, and honesty. These virtues were held not only in the simple recipes themselves, but in the Jeffersonian ideals of a self-sufficient agrarian society.   Cattle and individual land holdings offered this kind of material independence.

 As settlers and cattle moved further west in the mid 19^th Century, more Northeast farmers turned primarily to dairy production as competition in the beef industry became steep.  Dairy is still the largest agricultural product produced in the Northeast.   However, due to little change in dairy prices and subsidies since the 70’s, the 1990’s saw great consolidation for Northeast dairy farms.   A Grass-fed Party staff member who grew up on a dairy farm in western New York, remembers the time well:

 “In the early 90’s I can remember there used to be an auction selling farms at least weekly.  Within a few years all the small farms in the area had been bought up by the few farms that were able to buy all the farms next door, so that 4 farmers owned everything.  All the barns became empty.  My family sold our farm because we couldn’t compete because the price of milk hadn’t changed since the 70’s, with the price of inflation.   We had 600 acres and about 200 milking cows in Wyoming County in Western New York and we’d been struggling for years and years trying to make money with the farm.    There aren’t really family farms anymore, or there are, but it’s more of a novelty than a way of life.  Where I’m from there was a farm every mile and they were all bought out in a span of five years.”

 In recent years, there has been an effort to help dairy farmers on the verge of collapse transition to producing grass-fed beef, as markets for grass-fed beef grow in urban areas.   Grass-fed beef markets, and dairy cooperatives such as Organic Valley are offering surviving and new farmers a way to make a fair living.  The grasses in this region are well suited for grass-fed beef production as they are non-brittle and cattle need far less acreage to gain weight here than in more arid climates. 

In every region, we’re seeking out people and institutions facilitating smart and fertile solutions for REAL Grass-fed change.  In our search, we were happy to find Sterling College in Vermont, which boasts a 4-year sustainable agriculture major.   Angus had already mentioned Hardwick, their self-sustaining neighbor town, so I wasn’t surprised to find out about Sterling’s unique agriculture program.  As a small liberal arts college with a little over 120 students and 26 miles to Canada, Sterling offers students an integrated and extremely hands-on education in sustainable agriculture.

 On the college farm, students gain experience in managing a small-scale diversified farm or homestead.  A purposeful diversity of livestock is used within pastures, gardens, permaculture area, and forest where students raise animals, grow and process food, and tend trees.  The program supports a mixed power model, using both draft horses and machinery. Grass-fed practices are utilized for the beef and dairy cows.  The dining hall kitchen has its own environmental mission, where food from the farm is eaten, composted, and shared, just as wood from the surrounding forest is used to build farm structures and tools.  Students study theory, literature, science, and applied science to complete their four-year degree, giving the students a breadth of knowledge to take with them into the world.  Sterling also offers a Sustainable Agriculture Semester course for anyone interested in exploring ecological management of plants, animals, and the land.  We invited Sterling students to join the conversation here at the Grass-fed Party, so look for upcoming student member blogs and photos from the farm.                             

I recently had the chance to interview Mitch Hunt, the sustainable agriculture farm manager (pictured above), about the program and opportunities available for students.

You mentioned that you are supporting a Homestead model on the college farm.  Can you tell us about the concept of the Homestead model and why you teach it?

 The homestead model is based on the full cycle of nutrients, energy, and water.  To be sustainable one must be very keen on these areas.  The Homestead model is a micro example of a system that tries to close as many input loops as possible.  For example, we compost approximately 10 ton (20,000) pounds of food scraps each year.  Included in this compost mix is approximately another 40-50 tons of manure and carbon.  We return the compost to our gardens and pastures.  We also use extensive rotation with our grass-fed animals.  It is our belief that through the micro example of a Homestead Cycle, we can give our students a rich education, a full vocabulary, and hands-on know-how to take with them and spread the concepts throughout the world.

How are grass-fed systems a part of your curriculum? 

We teach it in an array of courses.  Some of those courses are hands-on in the pasture, and others theory based.  They see and hear it a lot. Our curriculum focus is a blend of our academic program and our Federal Work Program.  The academic curriculum offers an array of grass-fed livestock systems and management courses.  We have a course called Agricultural Techniques which is offered in the fall and spring semester.  In the fall course we have an on-farm pig harvesting component.  This course allows me to talk about basic physiology, meat quality, and the homestead system of on-farm harvest.  

During the summer I teach a class called Livestock Systems Management.  In that course the students have hands-on experience managing a cornucopia of livestock on grass.  We focus on the many different trains of thought on how to effectively rotate and use the animals to their greatest capacity.  Grazing is not only an activity of eating, but also as a crucial keystone tool for forage health and land fertility.  

I also teach a course in U.S. Agriculture Policy.  This course focuses from the Reconstruction period to the present.  The most important objective in this course is to outline how agriculture shifted from small, natural livestock management to more corporate driven, high production based livestock empires. Students are also directly involved in policy making and policy makers during the Vermont State legislative session.

The second part of our curriculum is embedded in our Federal Work College Program.  I manage approximately fifteen students ranging from farm hands to chore supervisors.  Students can close the learning loops by applying directly what they learn. Students often become passionate about particular issues or management strategies they can then pursue through guided independent study or final senior project.  

What is extremely exciting is more and more of my students are researching and applying ideas in areas that are not widely researched.  Meaning, a student who says to me “I cannot find much (if any) information on this subject,” tells me that they are on the path of becoming leaders in the field of sustainable agriculture.

How is your Sustainable Agriculture Program unique among Ag programs?

 Sterling bases itself as an experiential based college.  Students at Sterling have opportunities abound to be connected with the farm.  It is plain hard work that closes many loops for students.  I like to say that here at Sterling, students can see first hand when romance and reality of farming connect and dance in symbiosis.  I could go on, but we focus not only on what, but how to!

What kind of opportunities do your students have when they graduate from Sterling's program?

 Students graduate and become farmers, cheese makers, policy workers, homesteaders, non-profit workers, and the list goes on.  It is our hope that students can at least be positive role models in the world at large, in whatever they do!  It is the rich and full environmental education that we send each graduate off with.

Family Run Dairy Farm in Treadwell, NY

As we focus on regional grass-fed farming, we would like to have our weekly issue posts express the unique challenges that each region faces. Whether it is environmental or economic, grass-fed farms need to be in tune with the land and the community they reside in.  In the Northeast our challenges are mostly economic because our environment is extremely conducive to grass-fed farming.

As a farmer’s daughter and a native upstate New Yorker, I have seen the traditional family farm disappear and in their wake I have seen mega dairies emerge in western New York. I have also seen a new type of farm appear, one that harnesses the sun and delivers real profit for family farmers and this is grass-fed farming. Yet, there are still real obstacles in our way. Lack of policy initiative from our elected officials, access to markets and USDA inspected slaughterhouses stand in the way of real grass-fed change for the Northeast. On a positive note demand is at an all time high.    People are starting to not only ask for grass-fed meats and diary, they are demanding it. Where there is demand, supply will follow but because so many family farms have disappeared we have to revive farms and rebuild dying rural economies to supply this demand.  Northeast politicians, especially Senators, have not been advocates for farmers like their Western and Midwestern counterparts---it is not really their fault rural votes are small compared to  vote-rich cities and suburbs. When I was an intern in DC I sat in on many an agricultural committee meeting and all the members were from Kansas or Nebraska. Where were the Congressmen from Connecticut and New York? I was only 19 at the time but I knew that this had implications for the farmers in my community.  As a result of this, family farms have left the Northeast because pressures on them have been ignored. Slaughterhouses have been bought by large packers and closed, milk prices have become lower and lower and costs higher, and subsidies have been mismanaged helping larger farms not smaller ones.  We have an opportunity to bring small farms back, New Yorkers and Bostonians have begun to vote with their forks, supporting local farmers and producers, but we still need governmental support. We need politicians to address the fact that access to markets and slaughterhouses is instrumental for the success of small farms and we need to revisit our agricultural subsidies. Most simply put we need a voice for Northeastern farmers.