On our way from Ted Turner’s Bad River Ranch, we took a side tour on to a gravel road to meet 143 wind turbines out in the fields. We had reached Lake Benton, Minnesota. We hadn’t planned the stop, but we most certainly had to stop and admire the wind and the commitment to wind energy. Each wind turbine stood approximately 25 to 30 Emilys and generated a total of 107 megawatts of energy. The spinning blades on the turbines were easy to personify. Emily leaned back in her seat and munched while watching out the window, “I feel like I’m eating popcorn and watching a good movie…except it’s trailmix and wind turbines!” After a short picnic, we packed up and got back on the main road.
We met Kay and Annette Fernholz within the hour. The two are blood and religious sisters who are in the order of Notre Dame and help direct the Center for Earth Spirituality and Rural Ministry (www.ssndmankato.org/pg_howWeServe.htm). Four years ago, the sisters moved back to their family farm and now help take care of their parents, who are both in their 90s. They have also turned their four-acre farm into a beautiful organic CSA (community supported agriculture) called EarthRise Farm (www.ssndmankato.org/pg_community.htm).
Benefactors/shareholders of CSAs contribute labor or buy shares in exchange for the food from the farm. The cost of one summer’s share is scaled based on income because less well-off people deserve the right to healthy food just as much as the well-off. Last year, Kay and Annette provided food for 39 members. The benefits of CSAs are numerous. Besides getting to know their neighbors and members of their community better, Kay and Annette also put conscious effort into producing not only nutritious food but a large variety of food. This is a positive alternative to the monoculture common in industrial agriculture.
Early in the tour, we went into the Rachael Carson House, which is named after the renowned author of "Silent Spring." The site was once the chicken barn, but now it is a carpeted room with cabinets, a kitchen stove, a sink, tables, chairs, and a heater powered by corn, all of which were donated by the local community in appreciation for the nutritious food produced on EarthRise Farm. The Rachael Carson House holds the farm’s library, though the collection will shift to the trailer apartment for the summer interns soon. They are still looking for summer interns, by the way. Feel free to email (erfarm@hotmail.com) or call them (320-752-4700).
Inside, we discussed with Kay and Annette the earlier parts of our trip and the people, projects, programs, and ideas that we came across. In turn, they exposed us to Rudolf Steiner’s perspective on biodynamic agriculture, which examines the powers of the earth. Annette explained that biodynamic agriculture is the “spirituality of agriculture.” Kay and Annette provide space not only for gardening but for community events, such as stargazing parties, Environmental Sabbath prayer services, and events for school-age children to learn about gardening.
The farm also has chickens; but ironically, they live in the renovated hog barn. The chickens produce eggs that are rich in omega-3 proteins since the sisters feed them flax. After being collected, the eggs are packaged in the Earth Trade Center, a small structure built next to the Rachael Carson House that was established following September 11, 2001. In the packaging process, Kay places a small sticker on one egg per dozen for a personal touch. This external example characterizes the friendly and personal approach to farming Kay and Annette practice. Kay said gleefully that children of all ages come to their farm and ask to see the chickens that lay the eggs with stickers attached.
We moved on to the greenhouse which housed small seedlings from celery to rosemary. The greenhouse was another example on our trip of how bartering can be a good form of exchange. In return for a share of fresh vegetables over the summer, a friend of theirs built their wonderful greenhouse. Though the materials were bought by the two sisters, the labor was a service that will always be held special to them. This kind of exchange forms bonds and creates a new and more appropriate value for products that monetary exchange cannot.
As dusk was approaching, Kay ended the tour by turning us loose to explore the farm on our own. We split up, but we were all drawn to the sunset, and later the moonrise. That evening we made dinner while the family went to church. They gave us some of their eggs and raw milk that they obtain through bartering with other local farmers. A splendid and delicious dinner was prepared.
When the family returned from church, we went upstairs to watch a movie about agriculture called the Future of Food (www.thefutureoffood.com). Farmers are having problems with genetically modified seed (GMO’s) produced by companies like Monsanto. The GMO producers patent genes that make them round-up ready so that when the field is sprayed with round-up everything (i.e. weeds) but the crops are killed. The gene is spread in pollen, and can cross-pollinate with plants from miles away. The corporation thinks that any plant that obtains that gene is legally theirs, which is outrageous considering farmers that have not bought the GMO seed should not be responsible for contamination of their crop by their neighbors. Moreover, this is a bigger problem for organic farmers since if a crop becomes contaminated with GMO’s through cross-pollination, the farmer’s crops are no longer considered organic. The responsibility for contamination should be put on the corporation who is producing the seed and not the local organic farmer. If this wasn’t bad enough, farmers are having problems with large corporations patenting unmodified seeds, which the farmers have been using and planting for years. After going into third-world countries to find seeds to patent, the corporations come back and force farmers to pay royalties on the seeds or they are sued for patent infringement. There are many problems with the agriculture industry that this movie touches upon, but CSA’s, farmer’s markets, and communities reconnecting to sources of food production are fighting back in full force.
We then ended the night with a conversation with the nuns about their lives and continued sharing our stories. We continued until sleep took hold all of us and we shuffled off to bed.
