Howdy Hungry Folks.

News from the Farm.

AFTER THE LONG WINTER, As of today we have in the ground a thriving plethora of veggies starting with 'maters, taters, onions, kale, mustards, lettuce, lettuce, lettuce, carrots, beets, spinach, chives, squash, zukes, melons, eggplant, okra, basil, broccoli, cabbage and all of our favorite….MMMmmmm….GARLIC!!!

Might we add tasty Garlic Scapes to add for good measure?

This is a super specialty item and won't last long.

We have also mowed an alley crop system into our 6 foot tall cover crops and will be planting Monday into these no till blocks with peppers, broccoli, cabbage, cukes, sunflowers & more lil' maters into our intercropped alley cropping system.

The wind rows are performing marvelously and protecting our plants from the constant wind and direct sun. In addition our home grown 200,000 gallon above ground irrigation pond lovingly named the "skeeter breeder" is now pulling water directly from a snow melt creek and irrigating our 5 acres.

This monster consists of nothing more than 200 straw bales, a pond liner, t-posts and fencing to contain the volume. Truly awesome.

Living up to its name the breeder is its own ecosystem and has inspired us to put fish into the pond for pest management, fertigation, food, and super Frankenstein farming!

Lastly, a fresh harvest of delicious food has arrived straight from the farm to the coolers at the Hungry Mother HQ.  We are scheduling our harvest for about every other day, go and get some, Very tasty!!

Keep growing!

Well keep feeding you

The Hungry Mother Farm Team

Well with all things being said my first year as a farm manager at Hungry Mother Organics is not going so bad.

By my estimate a combination of the weather has set us back maybe 2-3 weeks, another is not having a number 2 at the farm while the need to divert my time towards the community, markets, and developing the "backyard bonanza garden" at the farm stand is left unfinished or in the balance.

However I still love the work.

Another set back for sure was that I didn't get to recruit Matt McCue's farm mule Jeremy Lopez early on during the off season farm draft. He is another of our long time FVC farmer veterans and was my 1st round draft pick.

I really need a #2 so to speak of and now "nursery season" is rapidly morphing into "farm season and despite my long hours and 6-7 day work week its difficult juggling all the fastballs and telegraphed punches coming my way when the support I need is left unfilled.

But you know what? I am making it work, and making the best decisions possible, the bad ones occasionally occur but those mistakes only happen once and I am thankful for the learning curve.

Recently in the farm draft I recruited "yard bird"

He is from Sonoma/Santa Rosa, is a Navy veteran and is one of the guys the FVC and I have been helping get into agriculture over the last couple years.

Originally he was coming for a couple weeks prior to panning for gold in the Sierra's, but looks like he needs a place to crash for a season, hopefully I can help him make some money while gaining some much needed farm experience.

Thankfully Yardbird tends to look at the world a little cockeyed; and though this bird can't fly straight he sure gets a damn good job done.

For all intents and purposes I have been left pretty much to myself to run the prison farm, which is good, after all I am the farm manager and the learning curve is steep but not unbearable.

But it takes a team firing on all cylinders and if one piston doesn't fire, such as our marketing guy not selling eggs then the 40 dozen eggs per day start piling up and tasks fall more onto my lap and what valuable space we have for produce is usurped for unsold product that normally is able to sell itself.

A farm such this I am learning takes a whole team. When the support I need to manage the farm and markets is there its awesome, however I am having to run a farm when decisions needed to be made on the fly but I am forced to wait hours if not sometimes days for a resolution.

Sometimes keeping an eye on the inmates is a full time job on its own, and each time I have to leave the farm to run errands then break time begins until I get back. Which I feel as accountability speaking is the greatest drawback of HMO operating at the prison

Having Yardbird around keeps an extra pair of eyes on the guys, he helps with many farm and house chores as well as even taking Agadez the wonder pup out on walks.

Not to forget he plays a mighty fine guitar too.

Damn I like this guy, a guess a bird on the farm is worth more than two in the bush.

Well with all things being said my first year as a farm manager at Hungry Mother Organics is not going so bad.

By my estimate a combination of the weather has set us back maybe 2-3 weeks, another is not having a number 2 to help me at the farm so I can also create the garden at the farm stand. Lastly is the disorganized management above my pay grade. I should say no more.

However I still love the work.

Another set back for sure was that I didn't get to recruit Matt McCue's farm mule Jeremy Lopez early in the off season farm draft. I really needed a #2 so to speak of and now here "nursery season" is rapidly morphing into "farm season and despite my long hours and 6-7 day work week its difficult not being able to keep up on all the task.

But you know what, I picked up the "yard bird".

Thankfully he looks at the world a little cockeyed and though this bird can't fly straight he sure gets a damn good job done.

For all intents and purposes I have been left pretty much to myself without any substantial guidance from my manager which is good. However, when decisions have to made on the minute I have to wait, minutes, hours, sometimes days and beyond for resolution.

Having Yardbird around keeps an extra pair of eyes on the guys, helps with house chores and even takes Agadez the wonder pup out on walks.

Not to forget he plays a mighty fine geetar too.

Damn I like this guy, a guess a bird on the farm is worth more than two in the bush.

At this time I am on $200 MONTHLY in food stamps, still holding my breath for regular pay and literally feeding 9 mouths.

Add three more servings when myself, Yardbird and lil loyal companion Agadez need to eat.

But between myself, 7 incarcerated farmers, the "Yardbird" and HMO'S 1st volunteer "Petina" as well as our other HMO staff at the nursery "not on my food stamps" we are all striving to grow food and nursery plants which will fill the hungry bellies and imaginations of thousands more!

In these times its good to be able to stretch a buck.

But a whole heap higher than donkey dung BETTER to do something that can give back to thousands.

I won't pause despite potential poverty at this time.

My life, work, love, and ultimate joy is to live in a community created from the root need of food and sharing ideas, work and daily experiences.

You know my favorite part of what I do is to think of those lil' plants moving on to become something either monumental like be a child's first tomato, or the best slicer on a burger from the Sierra's.

Working normal retail, or the living out slow painful "Cubicle Death " has no interest for me. I need growth in my daily life.

A requirement of my occupation is to grow personally on a daily basis and enjoy the simple pleasure of ensuring others have safe, healthy nutritious food to put on their tables.

I think of my villagers everyday and choke back tears, I miss them.

They would be proud of me, I am doing what I promised I would when I came home.

They taught me so much.

Call me a pleaser.

"They say slavery has been abolished but not for the convicted felon."

-Ice T

Well spoken and I certainly can not argue with this quote. After a lil more than a month here I'd even add beyond slavery, another human rights violation observed everyday is in the form of the food the inmates are forced to eat.

Seriously nasty, nasty stuff. Sure they are convicts, but still human beings.

Most have illness's, addiction, mental illness.

Most are not criminals coming in, only going out.

FDR believed food is a human right.

True, but the onus is also on the citizens to learn to grow food.

This reinforces responsibility, land stewardship, sustainability, community, grass roots economy and much more.

The weather is breaking, farm season is opening up with less frequent frost nights. The soil is warming up and my little tail wags to see tree buds morphing into leaves.

Today I mechanically carved out niches for an acre tater field, and about a 1/2 acres worth of onions, spinach, lettuces, carrots and "Hopi" White corn. Its good to be creative and use innovative strategies such as intercropping horticulture plants between standing wind rows of barley and rye.

Tomorrow we should be transplanting into the beds as well as be featured in the first part of a summer long series of stories which will be running in the Reno Gazette Journal.

Currently we are pumping water into our 200,000 gallon above ground irrigation pond created with nothing more than straw bales stacked 2 high, T-posts, reused fencing and way to thin pond liner which is bound to fail due to its thinness.

Despite the pond liner, Its Brilliant!!!

If all goes according to plan we will be collecting snow melt from the Sierra's until late July and then used in a gravity fed drip irrigation system for our vegetable crops.

On hot days I'd anticipate seeing incarcerated farmers running along in their boxers to cool off into the oasis. Our fat man has even offered the first belly flop.

Pretty rad place still, though working for my bosses is becoming more and more difficult due to their well….who knows.

However my incarcerated farmers are still incredibly loyal and hardworking. Though it is a prison farm, the real benefit for these guys is the open space w/out the hacks and good food we grow daily.

Its not easy, you can only expect so much output while paying 60 cents per hour. But you know the fact is they want to be out there, and they are 7 days a week, 8-12 hours per day.

In Carson I don't have any time left for personal things such as making normal friends so these guys are my friends. A motley crue for sure but you know we get along, I treat them decently, bring them food, work with them, and share a lot of laughs.

Though I am still not really being paid, my passion is the work. I even use half my monthly food stamps on the locked down farmers.

Gotta admit its weird being "boss", and I have to find balance between authority and friend. Some good advice was given recently by Michael O'Gorman who said, don't fire to much, but not to little either. So with that in mind….

A couple days ago, I caught a fella from the farm sneaking a few dozen eggs into the prison under his jacket. They are like gold on the inside, and there is a whole trade network based on this currency.

Sure I should have fired him but the man has been locked up for almost 20 years, most of it on the "hard" yards with murderers, rapists, etc. So I can't really say I blame him, I know it has been going on, but had no real proof.

Though he should have been canned, I decided to rip his ass, threaten banishment from the farm, but also show leniency. It worked. Taking away the only thing that matters to a man is a cruel exercise, he knows he did wrong.

Best part though, was that he shut down the whole smuggling ring. He went back into the prison and turned away all the business regardless of his peers threats for doing so. It meant more to be free a few hours a day than a criminal the rest.

Not to mention it also straightened out the other hooligans a little.

Come to think of it, it’s a bummer we won't see that fat guy belly flopping into the irrigation pond. Had t fire him to make an example despite being our best produce washer. But finding balance of firing to much or little was key. The man was screwing up by working too slow and eating too much food.

Damn he hated me afterwards, however I put a call in for him to his case manager and got him actually promoted to a better paying job at $1.50 per hour. All I had to say was that he was a stand up guy but I just didn't need him anymore.

Its funny, I have received hidden notes in school but never prison. He sent me one through the other inmates and thanked me as well as apologized for saying he was going to shank me as well as screw my girl friend.

When I wondered? Homey was on lock down.

Damn this place is fun. Really, what pleasure is there to be at the retail stand and deal with normal folk or some pimply kid trying to grow dope in his back yard. I can't say its fun either to grow for rich folk who can afford the best but seldom appreciate the workers who grow it.

I feed the common folk, inmates too apparently.

Ciao!

Matt McCue whom I met as a Peace Corps Volunteers I consider one of my closest friends, favorite people, and co-farmer veteran who helped start the FVC came to my farm last weekend.

We farmed, we jammed, he advised, I listened, and we BBQ'd for my man "Rude Dog" who was an incarcerated farmer who like the old song goes "from these prison walls I'll fly…..I'll Fly Away!!

Hate to see a good worker go, but good to see our "Saw'd off lil Midget" get out.

Hope he stays that way.

Bummer to lose my carpenter on the farm but damn good to see someone re-starting life as a free person. My hopes is that our farm brought him happiness and something to reflect on always as positive experience while growing food for others and with friends.

Back to matt. His arrival to the farm has finally marked the first occasion in our three years of farming together that he has visited "my farm". Sure he visited me in farm school, but that school, and with 40 others.

To be honest, Production'ly speaking me and the boys at the prison are weeks behind in field production. We finally planted out about an quarter acre of Kale, Collards, Cabbage, Broccoli and spinach. So far the weather has been miserable, gardens are being destroyed by the freezing nights and frequent late spring powdery storms. Though we have pushed thousands of plants we are sitting on tens and tens of thousands of beautiful orphan plants looking for some ground to call their own.

Good observations Matt also made were to go ahead and mow in our cover crops, alter our seedling mix for better germination as well as start field planting….grrr!!...that one I only wish.

Currently planned for the field production we are going to plant two successions of mixed taters amounting to about a 1/2- 3/4 acre, another acre at least throughout the season in lettuce, spinach, then we will also be doing an acre of sweet corn, 1/2 acre of sqaush-zukes-cukes and a late June planting of our winter crops of pumpkins, winter squash, and onions.

Currently we have a 1/2 acre of beautiful garlic, as well as 5 4x50ft beds of veggies seeded in: beets, radishes, carrots, kale, broccoli, spinach, and lettuce.

Before this weekend we will be also planting out beds at the Farm Stand in cabbage, kale, radishes, lettuce, mixed herbs, perennials, artichokes, broccoli, chives, and flowers. Not to mention this week we have finished the 2nd 22x40 high tunnel, dug 20 3x25ft garden beds, transplanted thousands of tomato plants to 5 gallon pots, and yes continued managing our flock of about 500 birds sputtering out a paltry 40 dozens eggs per day.

Whew….And I thought the awesome mountain bike rides behind my double wide that I steal on the National forest trails on a weekly basis would keep me busy enough….guess not.

On a home makers front, I have also hosted my first two guests over for dinner this week. A co-worker and a volunteer who works with us.

For memorial day weekend I am driving 5 hours to Santa Cruz and will be hosting 25 farmer veterans on Matt & I's alma mater farm on the University as well as some other stellar farms with the Farmer Veteran Coalition.

Agadez you ask, is doing very well is 7 months old, 70 lbs and is voracious for all farm rodents.

You all know the tale, its damn good to have a home, a loving pup, friends, family, and great crops to brave the shitty on and off spring weather.

Keep your powder dry and your plants dry and warm, then shred the trails all other times.

Happy 21st b-day nubb'n!!!

Love ya bub'

HERE it is.

It is my mothers birthday, # not important but the date is; May 17th.

Its odd to think that two years ago officially marks the date I broke my back.

What a long strange trip it has been since that fateful fall.

To celebrate this ominous occasion today, I put my first field crops in the ground. After reading my winter blues rant, or even knowing the last two years has been all travel and no roots.

So planting a farm of my own today was monumental. After being deprived of doing so back in Niger after the fall, this to me was a very big deal.

A day to really live in the moment and appreciate life.

There is nothing I would rather be doing now.

Its late in the season, though the schedule has been hectic the wintry weather been uncooperative to say the least, but the timing has not been there, its really difficult coming into a season mid swing with a rotating mix of incarcerated farmers most without any farming experience. But that's life.

So far I am managing god knows tens of thousands of plants, seven farm workers, two locations, a new home, an energetic puppy, while also attempting any chance to mountain bike or play music.

Damn its good to be settling roots.

Back to our field: Our plant out was 8 beds, 3ft x 160 ft, it took us four hours. Not bad considering we planned it out on a whim.

My goal is UC Santa Cruz speed, last year at CASFS this job would have been done in an hour, two at the most most if we were lazy.

Farming at CASFS reminds me of the old adage while working in Colorado as a raft guide. You learn that you never have a crew as good as the one you train with….it makes a difference when everyone is learning and striving to perform optimally….most days!....or at least not trying to get dunked in snow melt rivers at 0800.

Damn funny how quality of workers skills and knowledge farming plays in production!

I can't write much more but just wanted to briefly remark on the birf'day of me mum, the anniversary of a bad break in life and our farming activities.

But you know life is like the river. Ride the wave trains, rest in the eddy's, then get out and do it all over again the next day.

It really Freak'n Rocks here!

Its beautiful, just beautiful.

Today was a fantastic farm day, plants were moved to market, the ground was tilled and bedded, tomorrow we transplant lettuce. Our 600 egg laying chickens are also testing new waters as pastured poultry for the second full day.

Chance permitted and I even got to spend some time off the farm at the Nursery and staked the layout for our 1/4 French Intensive garden. Even recruited a volunteer, first actually.

At the Farm Stand it was a good learning day to both stake out the garden and field questions from a customer interested in irrigation for her garden.

After a few farmers markets and events it is very obvious I am way more farmer than gardener.

But that is okay, I want to learn.

This year I intend to make my outside deck completely edible.

No, no there will be no Willa Wonka like snosberry flavored hand rails but instead a smorgasbord of heirloom tomatoes, diverse peppers, strawberries, leafy greens, and specialty products. Never done anything like this, but its important to understand both my products and customers demands.

Even met a neighbor today and talked about gardening his location.

For more integration yesterday I spoke with some folk from a local sustainability group who were making a short film for that Pepsi Refresh Everything Campaign about reusable food waste, composting and sustainable farming. Film and media is still not my thing, but I like sharing my experiences and reaching out to others interested in making the world a little tastier.

I also accepted an invite to dish out food by a local chef who will be serving frittata with eggs from our farm as well as our over wintered carrots at a very notable event. The extravaganza is called Napa's Backyard and will be a perusing of the finest food and wine dished out by many top chefs from across the world not to forget about fifty quality vineyards representing their delectable wares.

My booth mate for this event is also Miss Fitness Hawaii, should be fun. ;-)

So far what I have learned about the local culture is that they are dying for readily grown healthy food as well as to take full advantage of every outdoor activity known to man achievable from flat ground to the peaks of our lofty mountains.

With this in mind today while riding my bike I wandered towards the great mountains and discovered wonderful network of trails overlooking our farm stand. On the way out I saw a local skate park only a stones throw from my home, chatted it up with some local road surfers and even managed to carve a few bowls on my bike. Super Rad.

I have found in my line of life that integration and learning culture is easy if you use the right tools or bait. In Paris, my book Les' Miserabes lured them in, in Japan, well just being tall and American did it, Africa it was learning their ways and improving their food system, Mexico, well same as Japan but less taxing.

Here in Nevada so far I have found that right strategy is to grow food, share my harvests, and continue doing all the things I love that makes me, well me.

Things are immensely beautiful being nestled in the Mountains of the glory land.

Its good to have a home.

Peace.

p.s. Oh, I was even offered a winter job to run Horse drawn carriages and snow sleighs in Tahoe last week at the farmers market. Not bad eh? First week in Carson City, since Cinco de Mayo and I'm already making friends.

Damn good life, damn good life.

Its sunny, the world is waking up….the plants are awake and I try to imagine what it feels like to be a plant. A perfect harmony of function and beauty that consume, metabolize then create energy for themselves.

If I die tomorrow allow me to return as a plant. Oh to be even a blade of grass In fields such as the ones I have seen and worked would be bliss. To simply exist, plants do exibit behavior but who knows about consciousness. Personally it can be over rated.

A Life to simply grow, this brings tranquility even in my darkest hours.

Chime the ominous music……….The clouds cascading from the Sierra's begin to lower, a white blanket of dust signals the coming of the howlers; these winds drill through every stitch of clothing until the back spasms.

I mean every day is beautiful, my roasted cheeks and raccoon eyes are a testament to the suns magnificence; yet the temps never turn a shade over the mid 70's for more than a few days or a good week stretch.

Don't get me wrong the typical sunny day is nice….but come on man!!!

Minnesota already has everything in the ground.

let spring and summer start rolling in, my healthy plants are seeking new ground and thriving towards feeding rumbling bellies growing in back yard gardens.

Mine not withstanding!!

This climatic drivers ed course of on and off the brakes is killing my patience and our plants potential towards optimal growth!!!!

Damn.

But on the up side, it has allowed more time to be spent on the campaign to learn and manage a plant nursery production business, greenhouse, cover crops and 600 stupid chickens.

Interesting business, not easy, but rewarding.

Por lo ejemplo, take a big breath and say it fast…...

When I roam to other retail stands selling plant nursery stock I see color, big plants, low prices and lots of abundant varieties….Yet when one looks closer one sees plant health deficiencies….when one broadens the scope to gain the bigger picture one sees a wasteful mass production system dealt in volumes where thousands of plants perish only to be restocked equally as expendable with perfect clones…….…hasn't always been like this, neither has all the rest of stuff.

Sound like a bit of a rant.

It is I guess.

Its just that myself and team working at the farm put in long hours, pain staking attention and tender care ensuring a healthy environment for our plants, yet small nurseries constantly go under or growers are locked into a system similar to mass production of turkey's, chickens, etc...

Its not easy but with the right mix of constantly shuffling plants, watering, organic nutrient managed programs……... and prison fueled poetry; our plants head to our owners looking like they are ready for life, not reaching for it.

That is the difference.

Its intent, its love.

Seriously here I am with a team of inmates growing plants to feed others.

They even have a endearing nick name, the "pansy division"……..

Its not for our gardening, but on account of the pansies we grow.

"Pansy Division"…is the name of a very peculiar punk band too!

Our lil' plants represent a little freedom I guess.

Sunday after we Cleaned up the farm anticipating a farm tour we had some brat's, chips, soda's and looked at the photos of the work we have done as well as how sexy our plants look at the retail sites.

The guys loved it, me too, everyone should see where their art is hung.

I don't mean to rant earlier about big business in the nursery world, making money is sustainability, its just a lot of good plants never find homes and countless Jules of energy are expired for what end?

The other argument is that you know that whole tomato blight that wiped out the east coast tomatoes last year? It was started from a mass producing tomato plant nursery down in the South, Alabama or something like that.

Or how about the peanut contamination, or the "CALIFORNIAN" not Mexican tomato, pepper, or spinach/ ecoli' food blights of recent history.

Hello folk, if the bad stuff is in your food its in you.

Feed yo' mama the good stuff.

Farming in Nevada Rulz.

Time to pass out from exhaustion once again.

No season like farm season.

After a month of working at HMO and being promised a home for myself not to mention not being paid yet. Here I am.

Happy, loving life, and enjoying each growing day.

Agate Street, Carson City Nevada; my home is a two thousand dollar trailer with a two million dollar view. I have no table, tv, dressers, bed, couch, or night stand to hang my watch.

Instead I have a panoramic view of the Southern Range of the Sierra Nevada's, a trail head leading towards the snow peaked mountains or our farm stand down down yonder.

Yesterday I moved in half my belongings from Reno, slept on the floor, woke up and farmed away.

Today I woke up a little rigid, farmed the day away then moved in the remainder of my things from the boss's pad and talked shop over a beer. Afterwards unloaded, had a slice of cold pizza, a pbr, then off on the trusty old mountain bike.

Warms the heart thinking of the labyrinths and labyrinths of mountain track as well as all different the types of flavors to ride.

I have been scoping the scene and will hopefully be able to apply as mountain bike ranger near Tahoe. This practically equates to at least two days devoted towards shredding down them there mountains.

Back to the pad, we have signed a six month lease and will explore either moving up the chain onto the farm, or staying until the spring. In the mean time however I am going to test every scheme in the books to use my advantage the abundance of sunlight entering my home and my rad scenic deck.

On which I intend to test our farm products to grow decoration, food, and practical plants used for a common Nevada home.

Should be fun.

Ample space, good weather, awesome homegrown organic food, trails, trails, trails, and the happiest little puppy alive waiting for guests, hope to see many visitors this coming year.

Cheers.

I love farming.

There are many reasons to love farming, the serenity of a quiet farm, the animals, the thrill of seeing sprouts after planting, the harvests, the seasonal book ends of tasks, even the failures can be appreciated…..in time…;-)

Personally my joy sprouts from sharing my harvest with folk, sampling the diverse dishes they prepare, but most importantly seeing the light go on in a person when they instantly become addicted to food I have grown.

Like Mc'Donalds and Marlboro, my goal is to get you hooked, younger the better; kids are the most fun to work in farming, their curiosities are genuine and their questions are always the best.

Now I am working mainly with prisoners, sometimes like kids, but still fun.

Even on the best of days farming isn't easy, but it’s still a good life.

Currently I can call myself the farm manager for Hungry Mother Organics in Carson City, Nevada. Which literally is on the eastern Sierra's and Lake Tahoe. With a great team, I am working three sites, a 5 acre organic farm, a road side farm stand/nursery, as well as a 200 acre parcel of some of the most beautiful land my feet have taken me.

The 5 acre farm.

The farm is located on a prison ran by the Nevada Department of Forestry on the outskirts of town. We employ at any given time 7-10 inmates, some veterans, and grow an array of beautiful plant starts, eggs, and veggies. Our incarcerated farm is located on the Prison Ranch which includes a dairy, wild mustang adoption program, compost company, and our humble organic acres complete with worm composting, five greenhouses as well as 600 organic dumb ass egg layers.

Road Stand

Our intent is to work with locals and teach them how to grow, prepare, and store tasty food. We have all the wares to start an organic garden, high tunnels for production, nursery plants, food we grow, as well as a 1/4 acre French intensive garden inspired by my time spent farming in Santa Cruz in 2009. Trails lattice our surrounding mountains while 50,000 commuters drive past our stand per day. Not to mention there is not to big of a organic or local produced scene in town.

Our Future Farm.

Next year we will be shifting much of our production to the 200 acre farm located in Dayton, NV about a 1/2 hour from the farm stand. There currently is alfalfa, 5 acres organic (cover crops), horses and cattle. The property is encircled by a stream while the Carson River courses through the heart of the property. Though we are not biodynamic we respect its approach to "intent". Our intent is to make this an agricultural wonderland for farmer veterans or any like minded folk hell bent on making the world a little tastier or beautiful than how they found it to come live, and learn.

Sounds like all the ideals why one would go into farming doesn't it?

Though there are rough days, there is no place in the world, nor thing I would rather be doing in my life.

In a nutshell,

Now my life is to farm, enjoy food, play music, mountain bike religiously, and enjoy each passing day. Its been a long omnivore's odyssey to learn about food production, food security and how to best help train a new generation of farmers homegrown from veterans.

But what I have seen, done, and left for another location to learn all over again has been an education of a lifetime.

I won't lie, it wasn't easy getting to this point it took ridding myself of nearly all earthly possessions and setting my trail to an unknown destination. The first of stops was in the bush of Niger, West Africa.

While in Niger, I served with the FVC's founding veteran Matt McCue, after we both returned from the Peace Corps he took to farming, myself I continued my wayfaring ways and traveled countless times across the country. I charged Capital Hill, enjoyed 2 Farm Aids, and spent numerous nights for food film screenings, speaking engagements, or simply to play music with new friends. A well spent trip to learn food production ranging from northern Vermont to Southern Baja Mexico.

I have what my mother describes as "Chronic Volunteerism"

During high school I enlisted to serve in the Army Reserves and continued on through college as a medic; in the emergency rooms. My patients, primarily homeless, were veterans ranging from WWII all the way up to conflicts reaching up to my departure in May 2001.

Of the many things learned, the most important for veterans I took away was the need for a place to decompress and a chance to seek opportunity after service.

I cannot speak on behalf of a combat veteran but personally readjustment was very difficult after the Peace Corps. Luckily, working as a volunteer with the FVC was a full time endeavor that enabled me to expand my passion for farming, learn many new techniques of farming and taking my time to readjust.

Now I am farming in Nevada, who knows for how long. But what I intend to do is work diligently, treat others with respect and do my best to make my time here an effort to make the world a little more beautiful and tasty.

ear Farmily,

Since leaving Santa Cruz in October I have travelled across the States twice by a combination of plane, train, bus, and automobiles. Latest news is that I find myself ex-fiancé'd, living on the road, sleeping in my truck or wherever for that matter and living with a loyal dog at my side.

I am currently in Davis, but going to Santa Cruz next weekend.

Wayfaring is love.

Funding is in the balance but I am setting up the village farm in Minnesota, working for the Farmer Veteran Coalition, and training my Rottweiler/ golden retriever mix to become a service dog on the farm.

Aside from a month on the farm our current tally for this last month travelling is a cross country trip and a half of over (3,000 miles!!+).

Be assured that at every nook and cranny between here and there I have been on a soap box spouting the blissful propaganda related to clean living, good food, and building community….and yes working with veterans. ;-)

You guys are often in my thoughts on this journey to figure out the world of food and I am incredibly grateful for the influence you all have had on my travels. I even walked into Jessie B in davis last week :-)

I wanted to write you guys also to inform those of you in the area that the FVC is putting together a monster of a veteran food and farming career fair in Santa Rosa on March 5th at the Veterans Hall.

Any and all are invited to attend. Some perks are enjoying free lunch, Agadez my dog, and moi !!!

To add gravity to our challenges while speaking at engagements I often ask the groups. three things:

1. Have you or anyone you know been affected by the economy?

2. Do you know a current veteran or one from any war?

3. Do you have concerns about access to good, affordable, quality, food?

Do you think its time we tried something different?

In nearly every occasion roughly 70-75% of respondents answered to all three.

And nearly seem to ponder or nod rhetorically.

I firmly believe you all are catalyst to a beautiful change we can achieve to make the world a little better than how we found it.

If any of you are in the dAvis, bay, or santa cruz area please don't be a stranger….

Come to the fair, another is in LA June, if not; You all have a home in Minnesota….If I stay;-)

In Peace,

Joshua A.

Less than three weeks into working at the farm and this weekend we put together the largest orders Hungry Mother has ever put out for plant starts to our retailers.

The positive comments are that the sheen and turgidity of our plants have been mentioned as the best they have ever seen from HMO. Not to boast, but I have yet to see any better starts anywhere regionally.

I was proud to send these plants out but take only the credit for a short time managing, which equals really to watering, shuffling plants and people but lazer beam focus.

All truth be told our incarcerated farmers are to be thanked for organically starting the seeds to begin their journey.

I'm really liking this place, it could be a home for a while.

From me and the prison pansies.

Keep Growing.

Well I got a farm manager Job, its not the veterans village in Minnesota that I have been working on the last year. Serious bummer.

However I am working for a farm called hungry mother organics. They are a veteran ran farm operating on a 5 acre farm inside a prison. The farm produces plant starts, fresh veggies, and uses incarcerated veterans/good inmates for a little work.

This year they are starting a retail center for produce, plants, tools and such and are working to make this center both substantive in food production as well as education.

They also have a 200 acre farm down the road that they want to start developing, complete with house, organic land, and unlimited water. Best case scenario, I start managing the farm there while they focus on the other site.

I'm still so on for Minnesota, but have been getting bad juju concerning the place and our arrangements there. At any rate, if I go to Nevada, i will need to drive to Minnesota pick up my stuff and then drive through big sky country to arrive in NV. I'm actually really stoked about the drive, me my dog and open road. Awesome!

I have to admit it is a wonderful opportunity to get in with a group that is up and running.

Lets not forget Mountain biking! I'll be less than a half hour outside Tahoe and near many Holy, Holy, grails of trails. In fact the retail site is the trailhead for many of carson cities best single track....total bummer.

Anyone Wanna co pilot a cross country trip with a stranger and his dog and finish the trip with some awesome single track?

The pup shares space pretty well. ;-)

Moving is like smashing a mirror of your life then placing them back together as neat as possible.

I think when you move think of it like a mosaic art project.

Why not make the pieces in your life an art piece?

For a kid, its devastating to leave friends, yet invigorating to make new ones…….

…..adults, its new work, home settling and neighbors…….

....For a dog it would be difficult to conceptualize the complexities of say' Agadez the Super Pups thoughts but…….they would probably be something like……

Squirrel!!, squirrel!!!, squirrel!!!

Alas for me.

It means rediscovering everything I own in the world and functionally packing a 91 Chevy step-side/short bed truck with a custom wood box encapsulating my life along with a 60 lb puppy and enough bedding to bundle up in the truck on cold nights.

Like a Transformer "Autobot" when all packed, my truck "Red Fred" metamorph's into a brutal road assault vehicle aptly named "The Hobo Hatchback"

The cargo bay is packing bicycles (2), computer, tool box, farm tools, clothes, books, instruments, desk, office chair, 50lbs of dog food, cooler, kitchen ware, and various automotive fluids.

My arsenal for survival is my bow and arrow from childhood, a big harvest knife!, a 30-30 lever action rifle, and 6 quilts my grandmothers have made for me…..I even have two collections with me…all my rocks and minerals, along with my xmas ornaments since childhood. ……

………...just incase I have to hole up in a Cave and spruce it up.

I had no Idea I had so much stuff!

Yet it all packs down so nicely.

Currently I am in Minnesota to pick up more stuff, (mainly winter gear), recharge, and start the westward trail Thursday morning towards Nevada.

Seems I am going to farm in the desert once again.

Minnesota didn't pan out, right people, right project, wrong timing.

Starting a farm at this stage was unfeasible in timing and funding.

No, no…No spilled milk, the project is moving forward, will open, but the funding and timing just didn’t come along at the same pace.

Bummer.

However, I am signing up for a project equally exciting, challenging, funded, and actually up and running.

The farm is called Hungry Mother Organics based out of Carson City.

This is the 3rd year of production and is operated by a former Peace Corps/Army/Farmer Veteran on a 5 acre farm inside a prison. The farm produces plant starts, fresh veggies, and uses incarcerated inmates for a little work. They depend heavily on greenhouse and high tunnel production.

This year they are starting a retail center for produce, plants, tools and such and are working to make this center both substantive in food production as well as educational.

The farm on the prison has a river, Sierra Nevada mountains, and a herd of wild mustangs roaming the vast terrain. Not bad for a back yard eh?

Hungry Mother also has access to another wonderful 200 acre farm about 15 minutes out of town that is planned for village-farm development; complete with housing, organic land, good soil, unlimited water, mountains, trails and huge herd of deer…hence the rifle!

Best case scenario this year I get a grip on production, marketing, and overall farm planning, next year I really lay into doing exactly what I was going to do in Minnesota.

Even better case scenario is I put my wanderlust to rest.

My 3 year Omnivore's Odyssey is finally coming to an end.

A chapter of my life is closing, a new one begins.

My new life will be in proximity to Tahoe, Reno, the Mountains, and 2 hours away from the FVC Davis office.

One could say all the perks of California, without living in it.

Perfect.

A most rewarding opportunity to end my global farm and food apprenticeship.

Now its time to start putting the lessons to work.

This is cross country trip number 2 in less than two months.

Ah, Life.

Agadez says hi.

ANGRY bees attacked villagers in southwestern Niger, putting more than 40 in hospital and killing livestock

Gotta Love News from Niger.

The bees swarmed into Dake-Garka village after a gust of wind broke the tree branch that had held their nest for more than half a century, sending panic-stricken people fleeing into the bush, radio reports said.

More than 40 villagers, including 14 children, were admitted to emergency wards of the regional hospital in Birni-N’Konni, it said.

A horse and a donkey died of stings while 95 goats and sheep were left paralysed.

Hours after the invasion, many residents were still afraid to return to their bee-besieged homes, village head Chaibou Abdoulkarim told Anfani.

Hi guys, wanted to share this.

Cliff Figallo our media coordinator make this video for youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1UpXV3Q4jQ

copy and paste this address to watch.

I am shown in it a few times and speak briefly.

It was the first time I ever considered myself a veteran.

Wow how many things have changed since that time.

I love what I do!!

Our food and farming career fair was a smash success!

over 160 veterans came for the event.

Agadez the super pup was awesome.

We spent today in Sonoma County at a very swanky and horticultural paradise for a barrel tasting. It was beyond amazing.I even made freinds with the head farmer.

Brilliant stuff.

WEll I'm flying back to MO for about a month, coming back out to CA in the late of the month for a competive award. I'm making a project to hire vets on our farm and to use the funds to give them a 1,000$ stipend per month while covering room and board.

Can you believe I picked up 5 vets to come and work!!!

So pumped!

Cheers

Before arriving in California Agadez the super pup and I had put on 2,500 miles.

Add a flight to California, tally the day trips to Sonoma, Napa, and other locales then add on this weekend trip to Santa Cruz this weekend and it should total atleast if not more than 4,000 miles.

Whew! We are some worn out road pups.

Since being in Cali' we have been working tirelessly to pull together our first regional food and farming career fair for the Farmer Veteran Coalition in Sonoma County (NorCal). Total score, we have nearly 40 tables of veteran, food, and farming organizations in line to deliver some fantastic services, jobs, and educational opportunities.

We are unsure of how many veterans are going to come, but we already have 30+ of our regional farmer veterans who are looking to continue or begin their lives into the realms of agriculture.

Did I mention the event is only 8 days away?

Incredible! If not anything else, we are actually ahead of the bell curve.

A first for us.

Though we are not finished, there are some finishing garnishes to add to compliment the dish.

I could not be more thrilled. Life is SPICY!!

Now for news of NIGER:

As you can read after my last few posts; you will see that in the midst of all this traveling, Niger has suffered a coup as in the last week. At first glance before the gun smoke dissipated one (including myself) would have thought that this was one more step towards the precipice of chaos that Niger seems to be teetering towards.

However. Its looking like a little coup is good for democracy.

In short initial reports from Niger are speculating that the military junta that overthrew the president did so to preserve the sanctity of democracy and have pledged NOT to run for public office in the ensuing election that will sweep the country.

Apparently President Tandja was overthrown as a direct result of his failed power vacuum to extend his presidency beyond his mandated term limits. Beyond the crushing hand he has placed over his people with the world's finest military training and weapons America can offer; he even found time to dissolve the supreme court and parliament….and that's for beginners.

If anything, getting him out of power was a good thing, his wife even better.

Well, nuff said on this matter.

Its been mentioned by another blogger that I should write something on behalf of my own opinions. I normally would relish in the opportunity to speak my piece on Niger and the horrible direction they are being nudged towards to preserve their country through strong military rule.

But as things stand. Niger seems to be doing better as a result of this coup…..well at least for now anyhow. Where in the world has anyone actually heard of "pro coup" demonstrations across the country….and peaceful at that?

I love Niger, everything I am doing now as a farmer is because of what the proud saheliens taught me about living.

I'm broke, penniless, and have no idea how I'm going to make my living in Minnesota.

But this I do know. There are worst things to be than broke, being without resourcefulness is far, far, worse.

Folk, I'm doing just fine.

Agadez and I are just pooped.

That's life on the road.

Now I'm figuring out how to put the farm together. Who knows I might even come out of California with a few potential farmer veterans.

Oh how I relish in the opportunity to finally cook my own meals, pump some iron at the gym and meditate in the solace of my own farm.

Another downside of the road. Restaurant food and hotels. Geez I think I've put on 10 pounds since the beginning of the year. Agadez too! But good normal weight for a puppy; he's 'bout 50 lbs!!

Well Folk Be well, and keep on rocking in the free world.

And don't worry, President Obama is American born and doing his best to reform health care.

Put the petty partisanship aside. I think 8 years with an inept faux dictator and his kabal at the helm was enough of a setback for our country.

Move on, move forward, and plant some Acorns :-)

An article from BBC describing Niger's current Coup.

Interesting Coup to say the least.....

NIGER Characteristics from the World Bank:

Chronic poverty:

Population 14 million, 61% live on less than $1 a day

Resource rich:

Huge reserves of uranium, Chinese firms digging for oil

Politically unstable:

History of coups, assassinations and on-off rebellion by nomadic Tuareg people in the north

Niger junta bars itself from future elections

Salou Djibo, leader of the coup that overthrew Mamadou Tandja

The junta leaders have not yet set a date for elections

Members of Niger's military junta and the interim administration it is setting up will not be allowed to run future democratic elections.

Junta spokesman Abdoul Karim Goukoye reiterated that the coup leaders' priorities were to hold transparent polls and restore democracy.

President Mamadou Tandja was overthrown a week ago after a decade in power.

Col Goukoye said that Morocco had offered to shelter Mr Tandja, but this was denied by Rabat.

Mr Tandja and several of his ministers are still under house arrest.

Niger's main opposition party has called for Mr Tandja to be tried for high treason because of his decision last year to scrap limits on the presidential term in office, which went against a ruling by the Supreme Court.

Earlier in the week Mahamadou Danda was named as a civilian prime minister to oversee the transition to democracy.

The junta has not set a date for the new polls.

"I have asked for the necessary guarantees to be sure of committing myself in the process leading to a real restoration of democracy," AFP news agency quotes Mr Danda as saying in his first public comments since his appointment.

Niger has experienced long periods of military rule since independence from France in 1960.

But Mr Tandja's supporters argue that his decade in power brought a measure of economic stability to the poor West African nation.

Now for some terrible but not completely unexpected news from Niger…..

The BBC reports…..

Niger President Mamadou Tandja and his cabinet are being held by soldiers after gun battles in the capital, a government source has told the BBC.

Gunfire broke out around the presidential palace at about 1300 (1200 GMT) and continued for 30 minutes, says the BBC's Idy Baraou in Niamey.

State radio is playing military music - a similar pattern to two coups in the 1990s.

Tensions have been growing in the uranium-rich nation since last year.

Mr Tandja was widely criticised when he changed the constitution in August to allow him to stand for a third term.

Long-term tensions

Our correspondent says tanks have been firing and witnesses report seeing injured people being taken to hospital.

An unnamed French official told AFP that a coup attempt was under way.

"All I can say is that it would appear that Tandja is not in a good position," he told the news agency on condition of anonymity.

Soldiers captured Mr Tandja while he was chairing his weekly cabinet meeting, the government source told the BBC. AFP later reported an official as saying Mr Tandja was possibly being held at a military barracks about 20km (13 miles) west of Niamey.

A witness told the news agency that the bodies of three soldiers had been taken to a military mortuary.

The situation in Niamey remains unclear - there has apparently been no large-scale deployment of military personnel.

The government and opposition have been holding on-off talks since December - mediated by the regional body Ecowas - to try to resolve the country's political crisis.

Mr Tandja, a former army officer, was first voted into office in 1999 and was returned to power in an election in 2004.

Niger has experienced long periods of military rule since independence from France in 1960. It is one of the world's poorest countries, but Mr Tandja's supporters argue that his decade in power has brought a measure of economic stability.

Under his tenure, work has begun on the world's second-biggest uranium mine, and energy deals have been signed with Chinese firms.

Hello folks, I am sitting warmly in a public library in Saint Louis.

I arrived yesterday after about 17 hours of being in the car.

Straight Shot, well I took about a 5 hour nap after being up for over 24 hours and flying cross country, just to then pack all the stuff up and head back west to where I flew from.....whew!!!

Agadez the super pup is a marvelous road dog, but is a bit of a bed hog in the truck.

The first night spent in Louisville I spent on my back in the fetal position as wonder pup slept beneath my feet.

Why not put him on the floor board you ask?

I tried, but when he is determined to sleep somewhere its like trying to plug a leak in a damn with your finger.

I'm staying in Saint Louis until Friday and then moving on to Warrensburg, (old college town) then to KC for a week, then my farm for a week, then Sauk Center Minnesota for who knows how long....but I hope long. I need a home.

The road trip thus far has been awesome, I love traveling and experiencing the joy of seeing the diversity of our country and the people we meet along the way are not to shabby of a perk as well.

so yes, single, homeless, and without regular paychecks coming in does have its drawbacks; but this is the happiest I have been in the last couple years. And they have been good years spent all over the country doing the things I love; A life devoted to creating music, traveling, farming, and eating good food regularly sure is a tough way to go.

I am loving life greatly and appreciating the joys of having Agadez the super pup always at my side.

but damn, charlie, my other dog.......sheeeeeeeeeee is going to be pissssSSSSssed!!

cheers,

Did you know?

4, count them 4, companies control 83.5% of the beef market.

Another 4 own 66% of the hog industry.

And to mention evil reincarnate; 93% of the soybeans grown are under the control of 1, yes 1 company's patents.......Monsanto? Ever heard of them?

I don't have to say anything more about this, the numbers just say it all.

Not good. Nuff said.

Buy local, Buy from a farmer you know.

here is an article that speaks of many that work in our circles.

Nadia is the rock behind the Village here in Minnesota.

John Keith has faced his issues is doing well, and has started an online forum for veterans to speak with one another about VA issues and the high rates of suicides experienced by our current veterans. He is a definition of action hero, within two days he had thousands of people signed up.

Lastly I met Mary Ellen in DC during the summit to end Veteran Homelessness in 5 years. Good ole' irish gal if I ever knew one.

Pay attention to the last line of the article because it relates to even me.

I'm doing this practically for skittles.

Although Chaplain Fred Tittle left Vietnam in 1970, he only filed for compensation from the Veterans Administration in 2003.

"I never considered filing a claim; as a matter of fact, it was filed for me ... I'm not sure if I ever would have unless prompted by someone else, another combat veteran. This is one of the reasons I do the work that I do with injured veterans; I know how difficult it is to ask for help."

Tittle is a former combat-disabled Marine who is working as chaplain at Moffett Field, located near Sunnyvale, with combat-disabled veterans as well as active duty members. Most of the injured have traumatic brain injury and PTSD.

The last time I talked to him, he had just helped an Iraq veteran and his family who were living in a homeless shelter find "a more suitable, calm place to stay and get them connected with help and resources." The couple have a young daughter ,and the wife was about to give birth at any moment.

On a given day, Tittle will drive a soldier to her doctor's appointment, defuse a potentially violent altercation with the police and help a confused and frustrated veteran fill out his mountain of forms so he can get his disability compensation. He does not get paid for any of this.

John Keith, an Iraq veteran, was at the lowest point of his life when he e-mailed Nadia McCaffrey last year. McCaffrey's son, Patrick, was killed in Iraq in 2004, and she has since become an advocate and "kind of a mom" to many young veterans who have been flailing, utterly alone and desperate in the months and years after serving their country.

In physical and emotional pain, Keith felt like he couldn't keep trying to get his benefits, trying to deal with the VA, trying to find medications that wouldn't make him have black-outs. It was through McCaffrey's emotional support and practical guidance that he was able to regain his strength and start advocating for himself ---- and others. McCaffrey does not get paid for saving and rebuilding lives.

Mary Ellen Salzano started the California Statewide Collaborative for Our Military and Families because she saw the need to save lives by not only connecting the dots, but connecting the humans. She spends most of her waking hours helping people who are struggling with a myriad of issues and a sense of deep desperation, to get in touch with people who might be able to help them. She does not get paid.

The VA has seen a 26 percent increase in suicides, mostly among 18- to 29-year-old veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It's time to create a new kind of work force ---- of paid advocates.

Hello everyone...reporting from Sauk Centre MN.  

For those of you who may or may not know me, I am the farm manager of the Valley Forge Veterans Village.  I wanted to let everyone know that i have been up here on site for roughly two weeks now and have started laying the ground work for the very first installment of the village farm program.

Beginning modestly we will begin production by building a high tunnel to get a head start on the Minnesota seasons and grow high value vegetables such as tomatoes, cukes, peppers and eggplants in the summer.  This spirng we will begin a modest garden and begin production of cool season crops such as kale, spinach, salad mixes, raddishes, broccoli, turnips....yadda yadda yadda.

WE also will begin seeding the pastures for fertility and future animal use.  Though we are waiting for acceptance from city council our plans are to potentially begin getting into pastured poultry and begin growing birds for meat, eggs, and amusement. 

So far we are getting grants underway to modestly begin. I have also created a three year development plan to ensure our growth fits sustainably into our abilities; while laying the foundation agriculturally for another hundred years of wayfarers arriving to bask in the beauty, serenity, and bounty of this powerful place.

Its been a long road for all of us to get to this point, and I am thankful for all of your commitments to our mission.  The real work begins now.

With that being said, let me say this clearly. IF there is ever a time to start putting your shoulders to the grind stone the time is now.  Though we are opening officially in coming months, we are still in need of monetary donations for operational expenses, not to forget suggestions or help in grants, potential funding, sources, contacts, even equipment donations to better enable us to get this farm off to the best start possible.

Honestly I'd even take a stubborn ole Missouri mule if someone had one to lend or give.

Be well everyone and be rest assured this project is happening and will be one that brings hope, great food and opportunity to enable others to burn as bright as the sun for many years ahead.

Signing off for now,

your professional wayfarer and relentless goofball

Today's flight with the tiny but mighty super pup Agadez was a smashing success. He was granted carte blanche access, enormous hospitality, and even left a few souvenirs in the terminal as a tribute of thanks when the urge to not release was too much to bear.

So I am here safe and sound, its 2111 and I am bushed.

Last night I got 1-1/2 hours of sleep and then only a few cat naps during my flight.

Factors impeding my quest for a few quick zzz's on the flight were:

1st A super chatty stewardess who ran me through the escapades of every dog she has had. Grr!

2nd, Well who the heck can really sleep back with in masses in coach.

O'how I long for the days of traveling internationally 1st class on Air France!

Thank you peace corps!

Once you taste the good life certainly there is no joy left in coach.

Well not really, people are always much nicer in the back.

In fact a guy sitting next to me bought me a beer and I received some great advice from an interior decorator as to which color to paint the barn here in Minnesota.

I would have went with the traditional barn red, but perhaps a rich hue of royal blue accentuated with a creamy white along the borders could really be very stunning. Who knows?

Touchdown, Minneapolis!

Arriving in perfect timing, Jimmie our project director made a haul from Wisconsin and picked me up at the airport. Then two hours later I safely arrive to this stunning campus currently blanketed with about a foot or more of snow.

What a contrasting vision compared to the lush greenery of my earlier voyage here in May. The current temperature is soaring at -4F, and I must say with the right layers it didn't feel to awful bad.

My present hypothesis is that once the mercury dips to say below 10, it doesn't matter how cold it is. Its just cold. Apparently the natives mentioned it felt much better due to the lack of wind, which is not always the case.

Wind? Ah man, its usually windy here in the winter?…..grr!

That changes the game.

My first day and the security blanket of my thoughts to be able to withstand the cold has been already yanked from beneath me.

Worry not, I have not lost the faith.

Like Niger and everywhere else, you adapt.

A beneficial by product of my wayfaring ways and not living in regulated environments for extended times like cars, offices, and houses certainly has a pay off, that being my body acclimates rather well.

Moving on.

Relishing in the opportunity to take a walk and bask in the glory of this glorious place Agadez and I went on a night tour of the farm. We walked in knee high snow, followed squirrel and raccoon tracks leading from trees to hideouts, and from there to brush lines then fence rows, and looping back to the trees.

It made me appreciate the tactics, nature, and cycle of life in the north. As I observed the underground lairs of these scavenging species I received a darn good edu'ma' kation too; which can be best summed up as protect your nuts and dig in.

Taking the signs of the lesson to heart I know my charge to feed so many during these wintry months will be a considerable challenge. Similar to the squirrels experience, if harvests are successful then after the difficult winter months the pay off is emerging into the magnificence of another spring and living for another renewal of seasons.

Without the cold, one could never truly appreciate the opportunity to once again be embraced by warmth and another chance to procure adequate bounty in anticipation of the next winter. Its nature!

Despite the many challenges laying in wait, I'm feeling very eager to attempt the task at hand.

To teach others and provide sustenance is a duty, the ability to do so annually is learning and embracing natures truest art form; survival, above all others, this is my favorite form. Unfortunately not too many or enough in contemporary times are learning to wield the brush and peacefully create a masterpiece for themselves while striving to paint a portrait for sustainability.

Currently I'm looking out a window on a whole campus that resembles a blank canvas in my minds eye. Within my mind I envision an obtainable portrait, and if we work hard, plan precisely, and execute brilliantly then this place has the potential to be a true masterpiece.

Well its time to shut it all down, cuddle into my sleep sack and doze off to the delightful sounds of Agadez chasing the farm squirrels in his dreams.

Today was a day, tomorrow is another day.

They all add up to create a life.

Be well, and yes the view from my window and the hard comfort from my pallet on the floor here sure beats your fancy pants beds and the cubicles many of you are reading this from.

In the words of my father, Keep your powder dry!

:-)

Well today is the day.

My first month at my new home in Minnesota begins today.

Big grin here.

Flight travel begins in Charlottesville VA at 0714 and ends about 1330 in Minneapolis.

From there its about a two our drive with the boss man Jimmie Coulthard until we arrive at the campus.

It will be a big change coming from the mild eastern winters versus the rugged and burly -20 below temperatures of the northern plains.

Am I prepared?

Was I for Niger when the mercury rose to 130+ F?

Who is? But you have to literally "weather it out", take your lumps and get adjusted.

My feet are leading this dance, no need for control, I'm liking this number.

Will it be a feeling like Niger? When I arrived in my village for the first time it felt as it took 30 years to arrive at a place that had been waiting for me.

If I only had the time to mention all that I learned there.

They were my family, the village was my home.

I thrived, if anything, this is all I seek for my next journey.

Community.

What a lovely word.

Well its about 0115 in the morning, wake up is at 0600.

You do the math, I need sleep.

Bon chance!

Can you remember where you were a decade ago?

I remember hazily New Years Eve, the millennium, New Orleans, a young, inexperienced and frisky kid wandering the unknown french quarter, but intrigued. I guess at that time I was interested about the world enough, but not a clue where I fit into it. A week after New Orleans I shipped out with my Army unit to Osaka Japan to help run a health clinic during training operations.

Japan was my first time out of the United States it was a welcomed break from my first paltry academic performances at school. The Mark Twain quote comes to mind of "Don't let your schooling interfere with your education" Sounded like good advice so I took it. My month in Japan was one of the most defining moments of my life.

To say the travel bug bit hard would be an understatement.

Fast forward 10 years, 14 countries, 4 continents, and many journeys living, working, studying, and traveling abroad and domestically. No real goal comes to mind other than simply attempt to better understand the world and learn how to live meaningfully in my own right.

Geez, thinking of me as that kid makes me chuckle. Despite my experiences starting from that date hanging from the rafters of that glorious city off the big muddy, I am grateful to say I still don't have a clue about the world. But I sure as heck am still eager to learn.

If anything about what I have learned is this: If you follow your feet and passions it seems life has a way of taking care of itself or in my case bringing it all back full circle.

Me a farmer? It made my family laugh when I came back from Africa.

Farming is a multiple generational occupation within my family. Its part of why I joined the service before I graduated high school, college didn't appeal to me and farming was something I swore I'd never do.

Now its all I want to.

Monday, January 4th 2010 I leave from my current abode in Charlottesville Virginia and go to visit my new home in Sauk Centre Minnesota for a month. In tow with a mandolin, computer, some clothes, bedding and my new puppy I am very eager to get to the farm assessed evaluate the structures, soils, and growing spaces while also initiating the process of meeting the natives.

As far as my wayfaring ways are considered, they will never be done.

But for the immediate future, I am looking forward to the prospect of waking up for many years at one location and continue to learn more about the world while creating a home. Its a warm feeling to have a future shining as bright as the sun, nothing could be better than being the 1st farm manager and part of a team focused on redefining veterans services. that 21 year old kid 10 years ago never would have thought I would be helping to start an intentional community for military veterans.

This next portion of my life would not have been possible without the shaping and molding from my four amazing parents. The patience and wisdom of my grandmothers, the adoption of myself by many other mothers and families and friends around the world who have always seemed to be there to pass on and share their knowledge, food and homes to get me along while wayfaring along my merry way.

I am utterly in awe of the beauty and magnificence of this world. Not a day hardly passes where I am not taken by the earths plants, terrain, wildlife, humans, and wonderful little puppies like the one snuggling next to me. They all regularly fill my heart with joy and wonder at the diversity of creation.

Honestly I don't really care to know who or what created it. To know would ruin the surprise and mystique.

Besides what would happen if it was like some intergalatic hillbilly creator?

Like a cousin eddy from the chevy chase family vacation movies.

I suppose knowing might explain the wisdom in some of the worlds more peculiar creations. You know ones like the duck billed platapus and Rush Limbaugh.

Lastly so so so sorry for being out of touch on this darn blog for the last half year, a lot has occurred, way more than one could imagine. Maybe someday I'll write more reflectively.

Till then, ta ta for now and happy new year.

Hi guys I received this email today and thought it VERY appropriate to add the ole' blog archives. I won't hark on the evils of agribusiness, personally I do not find these poor souls evil as many would, but simply lost and needing of a new direction.

If you are compelled I highly recommend reading on, and if inspired please take the time to take action.

Chances like these are rare and though they are a step in the right direction the fight for good food on our tables is far from over.

Joshua.

ACTION ALERT!

This is the biggest opening in 30 years. The Department of Justice is on a fact finding mission about agribusiness and they need to hear from us!

Are you concerned about where your food comes from? Do you care about the working conditions of farmers and food workers? Is it inconvenient to get to the store? Do you have access to fresh produce in your neighborhood? Are you concerned about meat and poultry packing conditions that threaten your health and that of the workers? Are you worried that corporate giants like Monsanto control a large share of our seed supply?

The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are seeking our comments on consolidation in the food system by December 31, 2009. We have just five weeks to tell them what's wrong in our food system and make suggestions for how to fix it.

Please take the time to e-mail your comments to agriculturalworkshops@usdoj.gov.

Or you can submit two paper copies of your comments to Legal Policy Section, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 450 5th Street, NW, Suite 11700, Washington, D.C. 20001. All comments received will be publicly posted.

Please forward this e-mail to friends who may also like to submit comments. Thank you.

Five workshops will be held in 2010 in Alabama, Colorado, Iowa, Washington, D.C. and Wisconsin. But the best way to get your concerns heard is to submit your written comments.

For specifics about the workshops:http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/workshops/ag2010/index.htm#overview

Hi guys, it is with a heavy heart I am posting this article. It was taken from USA Today and goes into detailed account surrounding how Patrick McCaffrey was murdered in Iraq. He is the son of our Gold Star Mother and inspiration behind the Valley Forge Village.

By Scott Lindlaw, Associated Press

TRACY, Calif. — He'd trained as a combat lifesaver. Now Spc. Patrick McCaffrey lay gravely wounded, his blood pooling on a street in Balad, Iraq.

Eight bullets had found flesh between the heavy body-armor plates meant to protect the California National Guardsman's torso. They sliced into his lungs, liver and other organs and struck two vital arteries, including his aorta.

Lt. Andre Tyson sprawled next to him, a round having pierced his forehead. He was gasping for breath.

Despite medics' frantic efforts, McCaffrey, 34, and Tyson, 33, soon died. But with their deaths a strange subplot in the Iraq war was born — a legal case still quietly unfolding today, as the U.S. Army pursues a murder trial.

McCaffrey and Tyson were slain by enemies posing as "friendly" Iraqi national guardsmen, according to Army investigators. The Iraqis patrolled alongside the Californians, then betrayed them when they turned their backs, investigators say.

While the notion of "murder" in a war zone may be counterintuitive, the slayings of McCaffrey and Tyson were so brazen and brutal that the U.S. military has pursued a murder trial for almost as long as it has waged the war itself.

One suspect has been in custody since July 2005. But putting him on trial has thus far proven impossible amid the bloody chaos of Iraq. Prosecutors have been hampered by murky Iraqi allegiances, conflicting stories, inconclusive fingerprint evidence, and witnesses who have gone missing.

Operation Deliberate Action

It was the spring of 2004, just after the Abu Ghraib prison scandal ignited outrage in the West and across the Arab world. Tensions between the Iraqis and Americans were running high.

"We are constantly under attack by these people," McCaffrey, a father of two, wrote his mother in a May 16, 2004, e-mail. "I love the little kids though ... they remind me of my own, and I always give them food and water even though we are not supposed to."

Five weeks later, McCaffrey and the other soldiers of A Company, 579th Engineer Battalion, linked up with a unit from the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, or ICDC. Created by the United States, the ICDC was the country's main internal security force, meant to battle insurgents.

A supply hub known as Logistical Support Area Anaconda, 85 miles north of Baghdad, had been peppered with rocket and mortar fire for days, including an attack that killed two Americans and wounded 25.

Those attacks lent fresh urgency to the joint unit's hunt on June 22, 2004, for weapons stashed in villages, farmlands and woods.

"We're walking through brush neck high, trying to keep our footing, and hoping our next step doesn't land us falling in a canal," Tyson's driver, Spc. Chris Murphy, said later in a sworn statement to investigators. "'It's like Vietnam,' is the running joke."

Of the Iraqi troops being trained by Americans, he added: "I've heard on the news that they're more than ready to take over after we've left. But from what I've seen, they couldn't be more wrong."

Some of the territory the Guardsmen patrolled that day as part of "Operation Deliberate Action" was lush and ablaze with sunflowers. But the summer sun was infernal, and McCaffrey administered first aid to several soldiers for heat exhaustion.

"Patrick would burn the candle at both ends to get the job done," his father, Bob McCaffrey, would say later.

Patrick McCaffrey, who managed two auto-body shops in Palo Alto while he and wife Silvia raised two young children, had told his family that "something happened to me" on Sept. 11, 2001; the terror attacks summoned him to a new duty. In his journal, he wrote of waking up that night, seeing his sleeping wife holding their daughter in her arms, and thinking of "those fathers and mothers that were taken from their children (who) will never be able to hold and kiss their children again."

A month later, he was sworn in as a member of the California National Guard. Protecting the homeland was his aim, not shipping overseas — and when the call came he didn't want to leave. But, his father said, "he had signed up and given his word, and he always kept his word."

By 2004 he was fighting in Iraq, and aching for his family.

"I have sent a box home, and it has T-shirts for you, dad and Silvia and a teddy bear and hat for junior and Janessa," he wrote his mother in May. "I'll try to be home for Janessa's birthday, I have put in for leave for 15 days."

Tyson had just finished officer-candidate school and was managing a Costco store in Glendale when he was called up for duty.

This day, as ranking officer in the search party, Tyson decided to split his squad so his men could cover more ground. He, McCaffrey, Spc. Bruce Himelright, three or four Iraqi soldiers and an interpreter marched through fields and farm villages in search of weapons.

Shot from behind

As the Americans and Iraqis paused to get their bearings and locate the other American search party, Tyson worked the radio on McCaffrey's back while Himelright monitored the area for ambushers.

At 12:04 p.m., the Iraqi trainees pounced, according to American investigators.

None of the U.S. soldiers had a chance to fire back. Tyson's M-16 was still on the "safe" position when he fell. His comrades apparently never saw it coming: Multiple bullets struck McCaffrey and Himelright, most of them from behind.

"I recall the gunshots being loud and I started feeling them hit me in the back," Himelright told investigators. He never saw the shooters, but was certain it was the ICDC who had done the firing.

Himelright tumbled into a canal, where he discovered he was bleeding. "I started to get up and turn around when I felt that I was being shot again," he said. When the firing stopped a few moments later, Himelright crawled out of the canal and found his fallen comrades. Three ICDC soldiers had vanished; one remained, along with the interpreter, he said.

The Army swept into action, ringing the village with Humvees, interrogating any Iraqi man they saw — swiping several for gunpowder residue — and questioning local leaders.

After a headcount at the base, American officers focused on two ICDC soldiers who shared a common tribal name, Talib Kareem Musleh Al Hishmawi and Sabah Kareem Muhammed Al Hishmawi. The pair, who had been patrolling with the Americans, had not returned more than a week after the shootings. Moreover, a third Iraqi guardsman identified Talib as the shooter.

The Army's Criminal Investigation Command, known as CID, reported its official findings in September 2005: ICDC patrolling with the U.S. soldiers had shot the Americans.

CID found probable cause to believe a member of B Company, 210th ICDC "committed the offense of murder when he shot and killed Spc. McCaffrey during a joint U.S. Iraqi patrol."

The CID report continued: "The shooting occurred from within the patrol element." The suspect's name was redacted in a copy of the report reviewed by The Associated Press.

Not everyone agrees with CID's conclusion.

Sgt. Travis Nease, a medic who was first on the scene to assess casualties, believes Tyson, McCaffrey and Himelright were shot by off-duty ICDC troops who ambushed the Americans at close range, then fled.

Nease was on a sniper "overwatch" team assigned to protect Tyson's platoon and other units, monitoring their movements from atop a hill about 400 to 700 meters away. While he did not actually witness the shootings, he had seen the search party in the moments before and after. Given the positions of the Americans and the Iraqis, he disputes the CID account.

"The guys that were walking with them did not shoot them," Nease said in a telephone interview. Nease theorized that the assailants drove up in a vehicle, fired, and sped off, leaving little evidence such as shell casings, which likely dropped onto their truck.

Internal documents show Army investigators did find fresh tire tracks nearby, but rejected Nease's theory, because of Himelright's statements about the ICDC troops. "They were the only ones around prior to me hearing gunfire," Himelright told CID. He added that the interpreter told him the ICDC had shot him.

On the CID report, the cause of death for both McCaffrey and Tyson is listed as "murder."

Courts 'overwhelmed'

Thirteen months after the shootings, the Army captured a suspect without incident, said Lt. Col. Keir-Kevin Curry, spokesman for detainee operations in Iraq. Another was killed in a firefight with Americans, Nease was told. The military said it could not confirm that.

Curry declined to identify the suspect in custody, citing Army policies in keeping with the Geneva Conventions, which bar the use of detainees "for propaganda or other prohibited purposes."

Supporting the murder charge, military lawyers said, were ballistics tests that allegedly linked the suspect to the AK-47 used in the attack. U.S. forces had seized the weapon from a different Iraqi, and an Army criminal lab in Forest Park, Ga., said it tied bullets removed from McCaffrey's chest to that same AK-47. An ICDC ledger says the suspect was issued that weapon on the day of the killings, according to military documents. Fingerprint tests on the weapon were inconclusive.

There was not enough evidence to tie a particular suspect to the shootings of Tyson or Himelright, military lawyers concluded. Chris Grey, CID spokesman, said "no other positive forensic links made with any other weapons and victims" were confirmed.

But even the case of McCaffrey, who was promoted posthumously to sergeant, now seems to have sputtered.

The interpreter who witnessed the slayings disappeared after saying he'd been threatened by one of the shooters. Investigators have not tracked him down.

Other witnesses have also vanished and are being sought, Curry said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "It is anticipated their testimony would be critical in a criminal prosecution."

Although there was not yet enough evidence to go to trial, according to a Navy officer who serves as military legal adviser in the McCaffrey case, the case remains on the Long Term Threat List, "a compilation of exceptionally important cases which require further intensive investigative attention."

The case underscores the enormous challenges of prosecuting a murder case in the Central Criminal Court of Iraq, which has jurisdiction over terrorist and insurgent crimes.

The difficulty of meshing different languages, cultures and legal systems is magnified by the crushing case load, said Michael A. Newton, a former State Department war crimes lawyer who recently returned from his fourth trip to Iraq, where he has served as a legal adviser to Iraqi judges. Often, evidence must be gathered from Iraqi and American military sources who have since deployed elsewhere, he said.

"The reality is they're overwhelmed," said Newton, now a professor at the Vanderbilt University Law School. "What they've tended to do is take cases that are relatively clean, evidentiary-wise. The evidence is available, they know they can use it, and they get them done."

In just one case has an Iraqi soldier been convicted of murdering a U.S. serviceman, Curry said. Amir Alawi Owaid was convicted Aug. 30 of fatally shooting Marine Pfc. Brian M. Taylor and wounding another Marine.

Owaid was sentenced to life in prison.

There is a wise saying that "You can have food and lots of problems, but you don't have food, you only got one problem.

Though for many American's we don't think of hunger and food shortages in our land of plenty.

The solution isn't finding more means to fill food pantries, and hand outs; though greatly needed.

The solution is more farmers and gardeners to supplement diets, creating new work opportunities and strengthening the bonds of community through mutual work and experiences.

I have been on the road for a year and half getting my hands dirty and evaluating the needs of communities and those specifically of veterans who are in need of work, and time and places to decompress after deployment.

Please read the following article and please remember hunger and famine is not only confined to remote developing world communities.

Report: More Americans going hungry

By Amy Goldstein

Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, November 16, 2009; 3:14 PM

The number of Americans who lack dependable access to adequate food shot up

last year to 49 million, the largest number since the government has been

keeping track, according to a federal report released Monday that shows

particularly steep increases in food scarcity among families with children.

In 2008, the report found, nearly 17 million children -- more than one in

five across the United States -- were living in households in which food at

times ran short, up from slightly more than 12 million youngsters the year

before. And the number of children who sometimes were outright hungry rose

from nearly 700,000 to almost 1.1 million.

Among people of all ages, nearly 15 percent last year did not consistently

have adequate food, compared with about 11 percent in 2007, the greatest

deterioration in access to food during a single year in the history of the

report.

Taken together, the findings provide the latest glimpse into the toll that

the weak economy has taken on the well-being of the nation's residents. The

findings are from a snapshot of food in America that the U.S. Agriculture

Department has issued every year since 1995, based on Census Bureau surveys.

It documents both Americans who are scrounging for adequate food -- people

living with some amount of "food insecurity" in the lexicon of experts --

and those whose food shortages are so severe that they are hungry.

"These numbers are a wake-up call for us to get very serious about

food security and hunger, about nutrition and food safety in this country,"

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said during a briefing of reporters.

The report released Monday is the first produced during the tenure of

President Obama, who pledged during his campaign for the White House last

year to eliminate hunger among children by 2015, a goal that no previous

president has set.

The administration has not produced a full-fledged plan

to meet that objective, but White House and Agriculture officials said in

recent interviews that they are developing policies.

Among the first is a decision to use $85 million freed up by Congress as part of a recent appropriations bill to experiment with ways to get food to more children

during the summer, when subsidized school breakfasts and lunches are

unavailable.

Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack attributed the marked worsening in Americans' access to food primarily to the rise in unemployment, which now exceeds 10 percent, and in people who are underemployed.

"It's no secret. Poverty, unemployment, these are all factors," he said. Vilsack acknowledged that "there could be additional increases" in the 2009 figures, due out a year from now, although he said it is not yet clear how much the problem might be eased by the measures the administration and Congress have taken this year to stimulate the economy.

The report's main author at USDA, Mark Nord, noted that other recent

research by the agency has found that most families in which food is scarce

contain at least one adult with a full-time job, suggesting that the problem

lies at least partly in wages, not just an absence of work.

The report suggests that the main federal programs intended to help people

struggling to get adequate food are only partly fulfilling their purpose.

Just more than half of the people surveyed who reported they had food

shortages said that they had, in the previous month, participated in one of

the government's largest anti-hunger and nutrition programs: food stamps,

subsidized school lunches or WIC, the nutrition program for women with

babies or young children.

The government's next significant forum for debating how to improve access to food is likely to come next year, when Congress is scheduled to renew the country's main law covering food and nutrition for children. In the meantime, the White House has been convening frequent meetings with officials from several federal departments --

including Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban

Development, in addition to Agriculture -- that deal with youngsters'

well-being.

Last year, people in 4.8 million households used private food pantries,

compared with 3.9 million in 2007, while people in about 625,000 households

resorted to soup kitchens, nearly 90,000 more than the year before.

Food shortages, the report shows, are particularly pronounced among women

raising children alone. Last year, more than one in three single mothers

reported that they struggled for food and more than one in seven said

someone in their home had been hungry -- far eclipsing the food problem in

any other kind of household.

The report also found that people who are black or Hispanic were more than twice as likely as whites to report that food in their home was scarce.

Poverty and food shortages are linked but are not the same thing, according

to the report. Just half the households in which food is scarce have incomes

at or below the official poverty level, the data show, while most of the

rest live at less than twice the poverty level.

Around the Washington area, the extent of food shortages varies

significantly.

In the District, an average of 13.7 percent of households between 2006 and 2008 have had at least some problems getting enough food,although the problem in the District is not as severe as it was from a three-year period a decade earlier, according to the report.

In Virginia,the prevalence of food shortages also has fallen in the past year to less

than 9 percent. In Maryland, the problem has grown slightly worse,

increasing to an average of 9.6 percent the past three years from 8.7

percent a decade before.

Overall, the data show that people who do not consistently have enough food

experience the problem repeatedly, but not all the time. On average,

households with such scarcity had the problem seven months out of the year,

while about one-fourth said the problem occurred almost every month.

In the survey used to measure food shortages, people were considered to have

food insecurity if they said that answered "yes" to several of a series of

questions.

Among the questions were whether, in the past year, their food

sometimes ran out before they had money to buy more, whether they could not

afford to eat nutritionally balanced meals, and whether adults in the family

sometimes cut the size of their meals -- or skipped them -- because they

lacked enough money for food. The report defined the degree of their food

insecurity by the number of the questions to which they answered yes.

November 19, 2009

Last night I heard wind of this news in Niger and it breaks my heart because once again the Peace Corps is shutting down specific zones where we have operated for decades. Currently PCV's from the Konni region have been evacuated and forced to either call it quits and return home or be reassigned to another region to continue their service.

My heart really goes out for those there now. As a volunteer who had to leave post due to being badly injured (broken back) and never having the chance to say good bye to my village is a deep void in my heart that will certainly never be filled...well until I return.

Without further adieu the State Department memo on the events that transpired.

The Department of State alerts U.S. citizens to the risks of travel to Niger due to threat of kidnapping, and recommends against all travel to Niger at this time. This Travel Alert expires February 28, 2010.

On December 14, 2008, two United Nations officials, former Canadian diplomats, were kidnapped by the terrorist group Al Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) while returning to Niamey after a visit to a Canadian-operated gold mine.

On January 22, 2009, four Europeans were abducted by AQIM operatives along the Mali-Niger border as their tour group returned to Niamey from a cultural festival in the Malian town of Anderamboukane.

On November 14, 2009, heavily armed individuals attempted to kidnap U.S. embassy employees in Tahoua.

In addition to the threat of kidnapping posed by extremists, a State of Alert is in effect for the region of Agadez, including the cities of Agadez, Arlit, and Iferouane.

The State of Alert means that all travelers require Government of Niger permission for travel in and around these cities, and are liable to be stopped and held for questioning.

Moreover, the Nigerien military has the authority to hold individuals for questioning, without cause, beyond the standard 48 hours that local law enforcement is authorized to hold an individual for questioning before rendering charges.

Conditions of insecurity persist throughout northern and western Niger, and armed groups operate with relative impunity throughout these border regions. In addition, conflict zones in northern Niger are strewn with landmines, further impeding travel.

Please note that due to security concerns, U.S. government employees and official visitors are not permitted to travel outside of Niamey at this time.

The Department of State urges U.S. citizens traveling to or remaining in Niger despite this Travel Alert to take responsibility for their own safety and security. American citizens should keep abreast of local events, monitor local news sources, and maintain heightened situational awareness at all times.

Greetings, my name is Joshua Anderson I have served America twice, once as a medic in the Army, then secondly as a agriculture extension agent for the Peace Corps in Niger, West Africa. Until recently I was working and traveling full time as the veteran coordinator for the FVC. Currently, I am studying organic agriculture as a farm apprentice at the UC Santa Cruz: Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, or CASFS for short.

I am writing to broadly outline my experiences as a farm apprentice for the last three months and paint a portrait of how this experience will mold my future endeavors while connecting more veterans to agriculture opportunities.

The CASFS experience is a 6 month 360 degree learning environment spent living with 39 other apprentices in tents and surviving on the food grown onsite. Fellow apprentices consists of farmers, chefs, policy wonks, as well as many other food related professionals devoted to improving the state of community food production and accessibility.

At the farm our studies and activities are divided rotationally into 6 week blocks in which we work at different sites and scales of production for "field" vegetable production, cut flower and gardening, greenhouses, and orcharding. Furthermore within these 6 week blocks are sub rotations in which we manage daily chores and operations to keep the plants healthy and the farm viable. Aside from farming we also learn about marketing, business management, and applied botanical, biological, and earth science concepts related to agriculture.

CASFS is well respected not only for its curriculum but the quality of work its former apprentices achieve after graduating. After 35 years of operation, this "Harvard of horticulture" is considered by many as one main cradles of modern American organic agriculture.

My personal aspirations at CASFS are to become a better farmer, teacher and manager. With this in mind the post CASFS plan is to begin an international farming project called the Valley Forge Village or VFV for short in Sauk Centre Minnesota. Working in conjunction with our sister organization, the Patrick McCaffrey Foundation www.patrickmccaffreyfoundation.org our determination is to set the national standard for veterans services related to personal wellness, occupational training, and village scale food production

When developing the site at VFV, agriculture production will be focused on sustainably producing food for ourselves, the local community, and the larger region. To achieve these goals the farm will use a diversity of approaches such as education, vocational training, and horticultural therapy by modeling an apprenticeship program based on the principals of CASFS.

Currently the VFV is aiming to begin farming next season, as future farm manager my expectations are that we will need between 10-20 veterans working in the capacities of structural remodeling and building, equipment operation, animal husbandry, orchards, vegetable-fruit production, marketing, and food services.

Living in Niger as a subsistence farmer taught me that my strengths are rooted in patience, adaptability, and creativity when challenged to a task. Since returning both the FVC and CASFS have equally been instrumental in making myself a more well rounded farmer, food fighter, and professional.

This is simply a summation of a farmer vets' past few months, if any of these thoughts reach out to you or someone you know please enlist in our efforts, I assure our mission is simply nothing short of a movement to best enable the next generation of American farmers and our nation's next era of sustainable food production.

Wheew!

Wheezed the farm apprentice.

Break Week? Said another.

Break Week, said the first "wheezing" farm apprentice. (me)

I love farming, farm school is still going well, I just finished my second rotation in the field. But I am pooped.

Farm school is a full contact sport with 39 other apprentices, and though the climate is not extreme, it is nice to break from the outdoor life and settle in some artificial climates.

For instance, last night I slept on the floor of my boss's apartment and enjoyed a ceiling fan….. "A fan"…..I know its not much, but it is all I can handle considering artificial climates.

Hey, it’s a start, running the AC would likely be a little to much too soon.

Anyhoo!

Next week, my rotation in the down garden begins and from there its going to be flower power pandemonium.

Literally.

Though my focus is on growing food for folk to eat, working with flowers and making countless bouquets however has given me a great appreciation for enjoying the aesthetic nature of flowers and the intoxicating beauty they posses.

So now I am currently in Davis, CA.

Apparently its hot here, I have heard of temps reaching over 105 F daily, I can't wait, I miss the heat.

Santa Cruz is beautiful, the ocean, mountains, Mediterranean climate, and great food culture is definitely a perk. But its foggy till noon everyday,while the mercury seldom creeps over 85F at its zenith.

As a result there is a missing season for my first full year back in the States. Summer.

Ah summer, the heat, canoe trips, camping, humid nights, entire days worth of booming Midwestern thunderstorms, outdoor concerts, Shakespeare in the park, and the food……

Its August and I just had my 1st bite of sweet corn, peppers are following soon, as well as tomatoes.

August!

Just now sweet corn, no peppers, no tomatoes. Don't get me wrong I’m eating very well, but the dog days of summer are incomplete without the seasonal treats mentioned above.

No salsa, no homemade tomato sauces, grilled sweet corn, "forgetaboutit". Nope.

So here I am in Davis, about to enjoy some of the summer days of sun, potentially I will be seeing a few Peace Corps friends living in the area.

But aside from that my role for the week will be working with the FVC to lay the groundwork for some future events such as fundraisers, veteran recruitment, and planning for Farm Aid in October.

Well that's about it, keep panting off the heat

Cheers,

by HARRY HANSON

 STAFF WRITER

  There are signs of prog­ress in opening the Valley Forge Village project on the former Minnesota Correc­tional Facility campus. The project is part of the Patrick McCaffrey Foundation. Mike Weisser, Vice Pres­ident of the Patrick McCaffrey Foundation, explained the lat­est happenings to citizens and city officials of Sauk Centre in moving ideas towards actions in a meeting Wednesday.

Weisser and others brought forth reports of 'nay saying' from some Sauk Centre resi­dents questioning an influx of persons into the community who might be 'unsavory,' an increase in taxes, and taking over jobs now held by local citizens. Apparently there are some around who feel appre­hensive about helping to bring the project into fruition, feel­ing this is sham for securing some individuals a chance to make a lot of money.

  “We shouldn't feel this way about our veterans who may have fallen on hard times through no fault of their own,” stated Weisser, and reinforced by others. “This is a time when immediate help is needed for that group of Americans, and we have immediate access to the finest property in the en­tire country for the variety of opportunities which could be­come a reality.”

  The project will be funded in total by donations to open the facility and will be fully self-sustaining within two years by income from vari­ous sources. A case study and business plan substantiates this projection as determined by experts in their fields.

Without naming names as yet, there are several activ­ists with money resources and political clout who are not only showing interest but also nudging others to come forth. “Hopefully this will ex­tend to the Presidency and Congress to take immediate action through the stimulus package,” he said.

Weisser handed out a 7-minute DVD to those in at­tendance, gaining input as to how to best distribute them.

Suggestions were made to have a showing on the Sauk Centre Herald stage during the Stearns County Fair and at the Interpretative Center.

The video is also on You­Tube and can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=7wSYD84y--g

“There are people know­ledgeable and capable enough to coordinate the many facets required in getting the proj­ect underway,” cited Weisser, who explained some of the pluses for the campus besides its having buildings already in place.

The entire project would be monitored by Larson-Al­len, a world-class C.P.A. firm that specializes in nonprofit organizations. They would set all salaries based on local pay standards and provide controls and audits over local contrac­tors, which will provide ser­vices and products.

  The veterans who would come to the facility are not those in need of extended care such as provided by the Vet­erans Administration. Instead they would be single, married, even with families, who may not be able to find a job, and in need of educational oppor­tunities required in the present societal framework.

  “Many veterans would come to the village who have been diagnosed with PTSD or TBI and just need a place to decompress before trying to fit back into society,” said Weisser.

 

  These veterans are not victims but are returning war­riors who fought to keep our country free and now have earned the right to have the training and rehabilitation necessary to lead a produc­tive life in society and with their families, according to Weisser.

 The grounds and loca­tion have much to offer.

  “For instance, there are 35 acres of farmland ready for organic farming to be taught by persons steeped in that area,” said Weisser. “A Minneapolis organic food coop is already on board to purchase all the crops from the site. A barn already built could house horses used for equine therapy for residents and their families.”

  There can be an innova­tive wellness program for the vets, which would be moni­tored by two doctors from the Mayo Clinic in Roches­ter who have a great feel for such a veterans program and its centering on body, mind and spirit.

  Sauk Centre, being in the center of the state, also has easy access from three highways systems moving through the city, I-94, State Highway 28 and US High­way 71. The city is close enough to eight colleges and technical schools within easy bus distance. Alexandria, Willmar, St. Cloud, Staples and Wadena are cities with such institutions.

Weisser went on to stress Valley Forge Village would be a nonprofit, privately­ run national institution with some financial and other aid from government. “Hopefully, within two years after its inception it would be financially manage­able on its own,' said Weis­ser. 'There are available op­portunities to initially house as many as 250 persons with a staff around 75-100, de­pending on the needs of the veterans.”

Valley Forge Village: (VFV) An intentional community for veterans and their families.

I can't get the link feature to work, simply cut and paste on address bar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wSYD84y--g

This short film conveys the urgent need for funding a well-grounded vision of rehabilitation and healing for predeployed and returned service members. At Valley Forge we share a common vision and understand intimately the need for a facility such as this, but need to generate more awareness and funding to make this vision a reality.

The primary focus of the VFV will be offering veterans an opportunity to readjust back after deployment in the form of opportunities for introspection, counseling, job training, as well as rest and relaxation.

Healing our veterans goes far beyond their physical bodies; wellness encompasses the body, mind, and spirit. Monitored by the Mayo Clinic the village wellness model will offer veterans a place to reinforce happiness and fulfillment while readjusting back into community after experiencing war.

The Valley Forge Village is nestled along the shores of Sauk Lake, located on the northern city limits of Sauk Centre Minnesota (population 5,000). The campus is centrally located within the state approximately 100 miles northwest from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Twin Cities on interstate 95. The VFV is also in close proximity to local institutions of higher education as well as VA medical facilities.

Some examples of vocational and job training will be in the areas of agriculture, green technologies, civil service, manufacturing, restaurant services, retail management, artisan craftsmanship, as well as many related skills essential for success.

When developing the agriculture aspect of the VFV, production will be focused on sustainably producing food for ourselves, the local community, and region. To achieve this goal, the village farm program will utilize a diversity of approaches such as: education, apprenticeships, and horticultural therapy, as well as for profit production business ventures.

Military service is deeply engrained within the fabric of our families and communities, if you are a veteran or know someone who is, send them this letter and link to youtube. Click on link below.

If you are inspired to donate, participate, or learn more about this unique opportunity, then please feel free to contact us anytime.

In Peace,

Joshua Anderson

Farm Manager- Valley Forge Village

National Veteran Coordinator-Farmer Veteran Coalition

Army Medic & Agriculture Extension Agent, Peace Corps Niger

joshua@farmvetco.org

816-260-1568

For those of you who have been tuning into my life since the conception of this blog, or before then, then you would know that I picked up the mandolin late in 2006 merely months prior to leaving for Niger and it has never been more than arm reach since.

Be it traversing a mountain, canoeing a river, or trudging through the Nigerien deserts, or continuing on my omnivores odyssey "ah" mandolin has never been more than arm reach away, hopefully, that's how its going to be as long life courses through my veins.

The mandolin influenced portion of my life began when my good friend and music mentor Rich Berry (a delta acoustic blues player) told me to play mandolin instead of guitar.

Bewildered my response was….What the @$&%! is a mandolin?

Prior to leaving for the walkabout in Niger my music genesis began by playing with and learning from friends or folk whom I would meet along the way. Not to mention the countless hours meticulously picking apart the music pulsing from the stereo.

Though I am no professional, if not for the likes of my immediate mentors the mandolin would never have crossed my path and altered my life. Here are a few of my most immediate influences.

Barty Crawford: 82 years young, A bluegrass hall of famer, mandolin player, teacher, fiddler, historian, and former cohort to the greats such as Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley and the list goes on and on and on.

Niger: Patrick (last name and age unknown)

AKA-Le Viper,("le vai-pie'aire") graan-PA! and rastaman.

Born Togolese, adopted Nigerien; Patrick was a farmer, musician, humanitarian, mentor to all Nigerien musicians coming up through the ranks as well up to the last day my very good friend.

RIP, bless this soul.

Rob Nold: mid 40's life long musician teacher since age 9, deeply rooted in Appalachian style playing, fiddle, guitar, luthier as well as damn good carpenter and fiery son of a bitch after a few snorts of whiskey.

Lastly, but not beastly there are also my indirect music guides to the likes of David Grisman, Bill Monroe, Sam Bush…the names go on and on, you know the type of Icons whom all aspiring pickers dream of playing like, playing with, or becoming one day.

In this case particular lets focus on Grisman, the one whom I aspired most to play with.

Formerly a member of Old and in the Way, best friend and music partner to the late Jerry Garcia, David "dawg" Grisman is nothing short of a mandolin virtuoso and though he has aged as all things naturally do, the dawg he has never ceased in his abilities to expand the influence of the mandolin into broader diversities of music genres.

The first time I listened to the dawg after picking up the mandolin my first thought was, some day I will find a way to play with him!

Life has a funny way of marking off those life "to do" things along the way, especially when you least expect it.

The Skinny

Last Saturday after a full day of reading and leisurely landscaping the parcel of turf around my humble tent I casually strode up the hill armed to the teeth with my mandolin and with no ambition other than allowing the natural course of events to unfold for a night.

The final performances were mandolin players of all skill levels who shelled out about a thousand clams to learn from some of the masters of the Mandolin world and then later perform with them on stage at the closing gala.

After the individual and group performances they invited all mandolin players to come up stage and perform two numbers in a full mandolin orchestra.

So myself and another fellow farmie from the apprenticeship went up with our mandolins stood in the back unknowingly stealing the earned spots of two paying pickers apparently part of the rhythm section.

Unbeknown to us the whole group had been practicing throughout the week and even had sheet music and assigned soloist etc etc.

Playing practically "air mandolin" we were struggling to even play anything remotely close to the practiced pickers, but having a ball all the same.

At the end the player next to us mumbled "helps if you come to practice before the performance"

My reply was, how could we have done that, we just got here!

Squinty eyes, you could feel the hairy eyeballs glaring.

At this time the conductor of the performance announces a post party at the commons center.

We look at each other…...Why not? Lets go.

Committed to the night, a trio of our group including the stage storming cohort and one of our awesome "2nd year" apprentices stayed behind after the rest of the farmie gang returned to home base to retire.

About an hour after the performance and closing ceremony many of the players, professors, and family members began trickling into the commons center, Brazilians, Czhech's, Germans, Americans. You name it This is the dAwg's mandolin symposium, its internationally accepted that if you want to learn from the best, this is where you come, but its gonna cost some serious $$$$

Much to my chagrin the festivities were complete with wine, beer, sausages, cheeses, and all the other delectable treats found at an event such as this. So reluctantly we indulge, and thank god my guilty conscious didn't slow me down! It was nearly midnight and I had only a small breakfast way earlier in the day.

The soiree started as all social engagements begin; modest, refrained, then later WHOOSH!

The Brazilians cut loose, outside dozens of folk are dancing, laughing, and commenting on the Brazilians' contagious charm and their amazing skills as musicians.

By this time the cat is out of the bag, nearly all know we have crashed the party, but somehow we are accepted and forgiven. Our rap is that we are farmers who have been supplying all of them with the fresh cut flowers, salad mixes, assorted veggies " and such and that as a result we were too busy to come up earlier or partake in the event formally".

"Though I have been planning on crashing this party since I made the connection between attending CASFS and knowing the symposium was here about two years ago!!"

The gentlemen who growled at us for playing on stage is a computer programmer from Sonoma County, he has a few kids involved in 4-H, they even raise some heritage breeds of turkeys, he sought out our advice in some farming techniques.

We gave him some input, cost him a beer.

Needing a respite from the excitable influence of the Brazilians especially (Danilo Brito) check this man out!!! He was voted pretty much best musician in Brazil, really nice guy, imagine Django Reinheart but with all his fingers, anyhow I was needing a break so I went inside and was swept away by an entirely different party.

Sitting on couches there were kids aged about 8 (much better players than I) and all other aged folks playing blues music to the que of one of the mandolin facilitators whom I befriended named Rich Delgrosso who specializes in blues mandolin, and does it damn well.

Immediately myself and fellow stage storming cohort grab our mando's and sneak into two open chairs front and center of the circle and then quickly started owning the circle for what its worth….

Then it happens,minding my own bidness, focused intently on my own playing I take a lead here and there, play rhythm, add my flavor of chops, before we know it the whole room is up singing having a blast to old school blues "You got me up, down, all around……"

I look up and there he is….the….the….the dawg, Mr. Grisman himself…. JAMMING!

WITH US!!!!

My eyes light up, my picking intensifies what do you do when the music legend and personal music hero sits across from you?

Well you smile back, try not to go into hyper #1 fan ever mode then JAM to the music like jesus himself is leading the sermon.

The song ends he looks at me, gives a nod, a smile, and then gives me his mandolin to play.

Seriously, can I be 13 year old girl here, OMG! OMG!

For what seemed like an eternity but lasted only about an hour or so the songs keep coming; the dawg takes a lead, we take some, the masses of onlookers grow, myself and cohort are on cloud 9, all other life on the planet ceases to matter (except Cat' I wish she could be there) but really could this night be better?

The answer is no, but it certainly didn't get any worse, Mike Marshall approaches, we play a finale "Sitting on Top of the World" he forgets the chords….eh, I guess it even happens to the pro's.

After the jam we continue to shmooze, then I get to talk with Mr. Grisman,

David! Mr. Grisman! Big Fan, since playing…….lived Niger……lost desert w/ mandolin…listen all the time…...returned….travelled OMG! OMG!

Fucking # 1 fan mode, I felt like those pesky Michael Jackson fanatics you see crying uncontrollably.

Totally embarrassing.

Well he might think I was a little hyper excited and one of the millions….but you know how often do you get to lose it in front of your idol?

Well I don't know, but I'll let you know after life throws more of them in my path.

Wrapping up, we go back outside the Brazilians are even more charged then before but the party is closing its nearing 0300 in the morning, we say our good byes we are walking away and we hear

"HEY FARMERS!!! Thanks for crashing our party" all laugh.

The next morning I’m up at 0800, immediately I pinch myself, did last night really happen?

Did I really go to bed at 0500 and already up ready to keep picking?

At our encouragement from the evening festivities a few of the mandolin teachers including "Mike Marshall none the less seemed to have heeded our advice and spent some time walking the farm before shoving off"

Welcome to paradise, our farm, we are simply muses here to grow food and offer a little music on the side.

What a wonderful weekend.

Thursday marked the beginning of a rock star weekend.

June 25th I celebrated my birthday by cooking for the fellow farmers; breakfast, lunch, and dinner. From 0600-1900 the humble servant was night held inside the kitchen. Well it wasn't that bad, I had some PBR's listened to good music and enjoyed the company of another apprentice.

Friday was devoted towards celebrating and knocking another notch on the birthday belt. Best of all, oddly enough, this year there are three other apprentices who share the same birthday as moi.

So in remembrance to the king of pop, we boogied the night away in the Farm Center to all the MJ classics.

The next day I decided to tap into my creative center and then I spent the better part of Saturday transforming my barren campsite into a creative place of zen.

After a honest attempt at beautification the result was a nice redwood shag carpet for a front lawn and some foraged lawn ornaments doubled as chairs, tables, and art…all in the form of chopped up trees!

No hubcaps but plenty of empty mason or moonshine jars (depending geographically) ….though there is no 'shine to fill the jars I chose flower bouquets.

Who would have thought I had a knack for making floral arrangements?

So after the landscaping, a leisurely hot outdoor shower, and cold frosty oat soda; I mustered enough steam to trudge up the hill on campus and watch the closing night for the David Grisman mandolin symposium being held on at the auditorium.

From there I am going to cease this blog entry. But weary not I am going to devote an entirely fresh entry to mark the evenings festivities.

I will say nay but this.

That whole life checklist thingy…put a big freak'n red check mark on it.

31 Years young.

June 25th 1978 between the hours 0800-0900 my mother brought me into this magical world.

I have been kicking and screaming every since. "-)

On my birthday I woke at the butt crack of dawn and made breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 45 fungry farmers. Yes fungry, part fun, part hungry.

A day well spent listening to music, talking with loved ones, having a PBR here and there and sharing the kitchen with a mad English born-"Irish adopted" ole' gent.

Kevin is from County Clair and aside from being a rad guy he can also be considered the worlds leading expert in native variety Irish orchard trees.

Seriously dialed in, damn good teacher, much better friend.

June 25th carries many distinctions as a historical date.

Did you know my birth day also coincides with:

North Korea invading South Korea:1950

The patent of barbed wire 1830ish

The day General Custer was served his last pie…

And now…... the dubious distinction of the day Michael Jackson and Farrah Faucet perished and took their new journey into the unknown.

To celebrate MJ-FF lives as well as the living-we are rejoicing with three other people here who have the same birthday, and two of those are twins!!

It’s the day after the event and what a grand regal time complete with disco ball, free flowing libations, dancing, merry jubilation as well as lovely fresh picked blueberry pie from the farm as well as the greatest happy birthday song ever sang to me.

Bless my fellow farmers.

Many blessings to all,

Thanks for reading, keep on keep'n on.

Greetings guys, just realized today between transplanting flowers that I have neglected to keep you all up to date on much information…for that I am sorry, totally forgot about blogging!!

Last night I gave a presentation to our "farmies" talking about the FVC and the future farm project with the Veterans Village.

This weekend Cat' is flying in, its going to be so so so so so so lovely to have my little kitten purring next to me in the tent.

In addition to Cat coming official FVC beckons, potentially meaning her and I attending a film screening of a new documentary named "fresh".

"welcome to California" I see the big sign overlooking the hill "FOODYWOOD"

Everything is going swimmingly,

Sorry about forgetting about having a blog.

TOTALLY forgot , my sister was fertilized with eggs today, maybe I'm a uncle!!!

Fertile thoughts, Fertile thougths.

Greetings guys, all is well just returned from a long strange journey into the hinterlands of America, the Minnesota prairie, the Wobagon trail. My future farm/ nay our future farm.

Here is an article about my lovely woman in the VEGA Alliance newsletter.

VEGA is described as:

Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance

is the world’s largest nonprofit consortium

dedicated to promoting economic growth in

developing and transitional nations.

She's a wonderfully talented creature and I look very forward to sharing the experience of Minnesota with.

Each year National Volunteer Week presents an opportunity

for nonprofits to commemorate their volunteers.

In 2009, this week took place from April 19-

25. This year’s theme was“Celebrating People in Action.”

Last year, during National Volunteer Week, VEGA

recognized volunteers from VEGA and Member

Organization projects by awarding them the President’s

Volunteer ServiceAward (PVSA) and the

VEGA Service ImpactAward.

The awardees submitted photos from their

volunteer assignments in a VEGA photo contest.

The winner, Cathryn Kloetzli, is a Winrock International

volunteer who was recognized for her

specialized technical assistance in agricultural development

and pest management.

She provided assistance to farmers in Kyrgyzstan and

Nepal. In Osh, Kyrgyzstan,she worked with small-scale garden and

fruit tree farmers belonging to Water User's Associations.

WUAs are a selfmanaging group of community

members who manage, maintain and operate

the local water supply to ensure a fair and

equitable distribution of this resource to reduce

conflict and build social stability. She helped increase

yields and profits by streamlining farmers’water use and production

techniques and conducting trainings in disease management,

alternative pesticides,fertilization and soil health.

In Pokhara, Nepal, she introduced Integrated Pest

Management (IPM) techniques for greenhouse tomato

production. Training in IPM techniques addressed

problems resulting from lack of crop rotation

and fallow periods.

The use of these techniques will improve yields

and profitability and protect the farmers from significant

crop loss due to pest damage.

Member Organizations who would like to recognize

their volunteers by awarding the President’s Volunteer Service Awards

can visit the website below.

www.presidentialserviceawards.gov

Greetings Wayfarers

Well here I am resting in a BED!!!

Its been a long trek across the country and my travels have left me in a hotel room near Minneapolis, Minnesota.

climate control, bountiful fast food, hot water, BUT most importantly ….

…….h-h-h-HOT TUB!!!!

Honestly wandering back in the civil world from the farm and tent life feels kinda reminiscent of coming out of the bush back in Niger.

What? Where? How?

Wasn't I just in Santa Cruz?

All valid inquires.

Here is the skinny. I’m here in MN to meet the local agriculture community, participate in a fundraiser for the Veterans Village, but most importantly do an production evaluation for the potential future farm.

Very Exciting!!

The wayfarer inches further down the rabbit hole

Last night I spoke at the "Food Fight" screening at the Santa Cruz film festival, in attendance were approximately 300 farmers, foodies, and freaks who rolled up the proverbial red carpet for a spectacular extravaganza which outlined our nations current food "insecurity", the military industrial "food" complex as well as the epicenter of America's local food movement….chiefly being San Francisco.

In earnest, not my most riveting address, I'll leave that to exhaustion, unpreparedness, and the fact that I gulped about a liter and a half worth of water during the film without relief.

The night prior to the screening I was fortunate enough to meet and spend the night slugging down a couple pints with Chris Taylor, the wonderful director of the film. In attendance at the pub was my good buddy, who is also an Iraq veteran and perpetual surf bum living in his van.

Without trepidations our trio delved into the conversational realms of veterans affairs, historic and contemporary models of civilizations' successes and failures due to food production, and least but not forgotten the creation of a new advocacy group dedicated to stopping continental drift.

I'll be a monkey's uncle if I’m going to allow France's western beaches to invade our beloved eastern seaboard!!!!

"Stop Continental Drift!!" ….."Stop Continental Drift!!!"

We invade France, not the other way around.

Anyhow, it was an incredible opportunity to make a new friend out of Chris Taylor, as a director he is socially conscious, attentive to detail, and witty in his story telling. As a person I consider him an exceptional human being and I remain all the better for having the opportunity to meet such a dynamic person.

Lord knows, at the beginning of this omnivore's odyssey there were no preconceived ideas of where the breezes would blow me, speaking to 300 folk at one of our nation's epicenters of quality food is not one of them…

So here I am in Minnesota one step closer to my end goal. Start a "farmily" Village, but most importantly working sideways to take down.... "The Man"

His food taste like poo!

Well its about 0200 I’m wiped and ready to decompress,

Kwana da Alhieri!!

"Sleep with Peace"

SANTA CRUZ -- Pioneers of the slow food movement are joining chefs, farmers and other supporters of the UC Santa Cruz Farm to raise money for a plan to construct cabins for apprentices who live in tents while they learn the fine points of organic agriculture.

Berkeley's famed restaurant, Chez Panisse, created by sustainable food guru Alice Waters, is among the businesses hosting benefits this month to raise money for the six-month-long Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture, which has trained more than 1,200 organic farmers since the 1970s. Locally, Gabriella Cafe and Ristorante Avanti are among those donating a portion of sales to the Grow a Farmer campaign to keep free housing for students. Most students could not afford to rent a place in town.

"If I had to pay for housing while I was here, there is no way I could have done it," said Wisconsin farmer Claire Strader, a 2000 graduate of the program who was a top vote-getter for the online competition at WhiteHouseFarmer.com allowing her to propose the White House hire a full-time farmer.

Although she learned beekeeping and orchard management at the farm, the experience that has stuck with her the most was the communal cooking, eating and overall sense of camaraderie built among fellow students.

"That was a big piece for me," said Strader, who visited UCSC last weekend to speak on an environmental panel during Alumni Weekend.

The university has approved plans to build eight four-room tent cabins to accommodate 32 apprentices near the site of the tents, which sit on one side of the 25-acre farm. Apprentices have been allowed to pitch their own tents for two decades, but now the university wants the farm to complete its 10-year plan to build permanent housing.

"For many reasons, most of which involve the health and safety of the participants, the campus informed representatives of the apprenticeship program that its residential housing needed to be upgraded," UCSC spokesman Jim Burns said.

Burns said several campus departments -- Physical Planning and Construction, Environmental Health and Safety, the Fire Department and the Division of Social Sciences -- decided the tents had to go after this year. And he noted that part of the project includes new parking for participants with disabilities and other accessibility improvements.

Ann Lindsey, apprenticeship development coordinator for UCSC's Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, is delighted by how quickly supporters have come to the farm's aid. She said graduates and other backers have planned events in Los Angeles, Portland and elsewhere.

"The outpouring of support for this project has been so heartening," she said, adding that she has received money from small-scale farmers who "I know don't have any money."

Chez Panisse will donate a portion of proceeds raised Wednesday to the campaign. Iron Chef competitor David Kinch of Manresa in Los Gatos has donated dinners for four to the campaign's two highest individual donors.

In the Santa Cruz area, Ristorante Avanti will donate a portion of proceeds raised Monday and Gabriella Cafe will do the same May 13. New Leaf Community Markets will donate 5 percent of profits from all five of its stores May 28.

Cindy Geise, who has co-owned Avanti's with husband Paul for 22 years, said she is glad to help the farm.

"We have grown more and more to rely on local farmers for our produce and some of our meat needs," she said. "We're getting things picked hours before that never went into cold storage or traveled hundreds of thousands of miles, burning up fuel, to get here."

The final fundraising push to build the 22-feet-by-22-feet cabins -- to be built with milled redwood from campus trees felled for construction projects -- began in December. Lindsey said $160,000 has been raised, but another $100,000 is needed. The cabins will cost at least $487,000 to build, and the program itself has already kicked in several hundred thousand dollars collected from students fees and farms sales.

Interest in the program is at an all-time high, with a record 152 applicants vying for the 38 positions in the 2009 program. In the 1970s, during the first few years of the program, apprentices stayed in tepees, which were later taken down and replaced by tents furnished by students.

Current apprentice Jessy Beckett, 25, of Santa Cruz, said, "I don't think there is one person here who could pay for rent in town and do this program. It's absolutely vital that we live here. It would make this a program that would make it accessible only to the elite."

Beyond just providing free shelter while paying more than $4,000 in tuition, on-site housing allowed Lindsey, a Colorado native who took the program 20 years ago and stayed, to be "in tune with the land" by "walking through the land you're working on."

Farmer Joshua Anderson agreed, having arrived to take this spring's course from the small Missouri town of Avalon with just a couple of bucks in his pocket. He said communing with the land and other farmers is the best part of residing on the hill.

"Being able to live in the tents, you are constantly engaged by the environment," he said. "You hear the pests, predators -- bobcats and owls. A farmer really needs to take the time to understand the landscape as much as he does trying to grow food."

FOOD FIGHT!!!!

Normally a rebel yell for many lunch room- anarchist, protagonists.

But not this time. Now its from your local wayfaring farmer.

Or more so in this particular instance it’s the name of a documentary that will be showing in Santa Cruz on May 12th and an event in which I have been asked to be a speaker and participant at for the screening and post screening soiree.

To summarize "Food Fight" it is a look into how the California "local food" movement has created a counter revolution against major agribusiness and how those who believe in the sanctity of producing safe, delicious, and wholesome food from someone you know pull off the revolutionary magic that they do.

For brevity sake I'll leave it at that, but if you wish to fully explore the website listed here, COPY AND PASTE, please do.

http://www.foodfightthedoc.com/foodfight.html

Since arriving back in America nearly a year ago. My omnivore's odyssey has expanded well past any expectations well past my imagination and the rabbit hole is only getting deeper.

On May 12th, myself and hopefully as many of my fellow 39 farm apprentices from UC Santa Cruz will march down in our farmer duds to the theater for the screening and post screening soiree of "Food Fight" to energize the localvores and fellow food industry professionals that not only is a new generation of farmers, entrepreneur's, educators, writers, chef's, and food industry professionals in attendance; but that we are ready to mobilize a food movement within our own communities and also take the fight to the fat cat's who pull the strings on our food supply...

Hopefully their days are numbered!!!!!

When I attended Farm Aid last year, the only thing I understood from my Grade A "prime choice" seats was that I was witnessing an American food revolution from the front row. Still, some months later here I am, still front row, studying horticulture and organic production not only at one of the first and most revered organic training centers in America, but also underneath the tutelage and within the circles of some of the local- organic movements most prolific organic farmers and activists.

I regularly mention that it took 29 years of my life to get to Niger, once there, they gave me the tools to continue on afterwards. The village of Dan Saga, Niger taught me how to fight the bare knuckle fight against hunger and how to ascend towards village food security.

Currently I'm slotted to start a Veterans Village in Minnesota, and its only square 3 or 4.

( think of it like hopscotch).

Without the lessons from my sorely missed village in Niger I would be wandering, lost, asleep at the wheel so to speak. Instead my life unexpectedly made me a farmer and by continuing to live by wayfaring peacefully my life has become dedicated towards feeding folk, teaching veterans how to farm, and most importantly impacting communities at ground zero…..the dinner table.

Be well, eat well, and send me beef jerky.

P.S. Trapped in the blueberry patch last week I stomped a ground squirrel to death and ate it. Many of the vegans, vegetarians, and PETA spokespeople were a little grossed out but many of the other normal omnivores enjoyed its flesh just fine.

Personally I prefer Missouri squirrel.

Greetings folk, today is a chilly mid 40's kind of day here in paradise. A stark climatic contrasts considering taking a field reading of about 96 F last week.

Under the blistering sun, many complained, but right at home was this former sahelien farmer gliding through the glorious grunt work of bed prepping, transplanting, direct seeding, and laying irrigation.

We had a action packed weekend off the farm, on Friday we had a house party complete with all the party normality's; a little dancing, some regurgitations, some more live music jams and many many laughs.

Though it should become a joke myself an Irishman, Iranian, and a Native American from the Hopi nation went to the near by Cabrillo farmers market to shill out plant sale brochures for our program.

After the farmers market we rallied again to participate in a day long celebration to raise money for the tent cabins which will replace the time tested and apprentice approved tents. On the menu was home made pizza, locally produced beer, and a little more bluegrass jam to spread evenly over the party which added a certain hint of locality and joviality.

So here I am minding me own on a Lazy sunday afternoon writing in preparation for my upcoming trip to Minnesota on the 16th of May fundraiser and seeing my potential veterans farm.....OH MY GOD!!!!

I just took a call, the Farmer Veteran Coalition was donated $130,00!!!!! Oh my, Oh my, Oh my!!!

Okay, gotta go, I"ll write more about this one very soon!!

One week deep into training, my journey begins with thirty nine fellow apprentices/future friends.

I am eye balls deep in manure, literally, and I love it.

The past week has been a unique opportunity to spend time and meet with many like minded young professionals trying to make their own way within the food industry.

Many are farmers, some are writers, a couple are chefs, but most commonly have incredible experiences and global educations dedicated towards making the world a little greener and tastier for its inhabitants.

Santa Cruz's environment is embraced by a cool Mediterranean climate which potentials towards extended growing seasons, but water restrictions and fungal pressures keep this location from morphing into the garden of Eden it could be. Many within the community embrace local food production which adds a flavor of community but unfortunately falls short on sustainability in respect to the perimeters of sustainable living.

The male population of Santa Cruz work a range of jobs, but remain surfers mainly, but jacks of all trades none the less. The female population of Santa Cruz are professional, tanned, and thoroughly enjoy beaches and time to themselves during surf season.

In respect to my first week it was really good, but sorry this week seems to be looking even better. We begin classes, field work, as well as the whole organic vegetarian locally produced enchilada!

Today I made hamburgers "Nigerien Style" minus all the flies and larvae, very tasty!

Well there is so much more I could write about but…..I don't feel like it.

I just wanted to surface, say hello, and remind you that packets of Gatorade, tuna, and beef jerky would be as appreciated as they were in Niger.

Breaker! Breaker! What's your 20? Over!

Well, after a few wonderful months back in Virginia, 20+ acres of vineyard pruning, mandolin playing, rigorously training and studying in preparation for farm season, 2 New Jersey trips, 1 trip to Capital Hill, numerous meetings, discussions, outreach, and many memorable moments gained with my very lovely one.

Its time to go.

UC Santa Cruz Farm School is over a year and half in the making, and will last six months. Tomorrow I'm once again on the move. After the program Cathy and I are working on a deal to erect a Veterans Village in Sauk Centre Minnesota.

I will manage vegetable farming, field crops, and animals. Cat will manage green houses, flower production, and specialty crops. In essence we want to create a community enriched by agriculture, where food is grown from door step to field, and our community as well as neighbors will have a sustainable local food source.

Pruning for these last few months has given me ample time to digest the last two years of my life. "my omnivores odyssey" if you will.

Niger was the height of thirty years of life coming full circle. Since childhood my dream was to move into the African Bush and simply live. I can't explain it but this goal has always given me purpose in how I strangely move through life.

Niger was the culmination of this life achievement, but also the starting place for the next journey of my life. To become the farmer my villages taught me to be.

To become a farmer, and working with veterans is a merging of two parts of my adult life. The military and the Peace Corps. Each experiences drastically altered my perceptions of the world and impacted my life profoundly.

Leaving for this new journey I am once again nearly penniless and moving to a new place with literally nearly everything I own packable enough to ride on an airplane.

Being without money seldom worries me, I learned over the last two years that there are worst positions to be in, being without resourcefulness is one of them.

During the financial meltdown many kinds of folk from all types of classes are having to relearn how to live again. I think a possible solution to this equation is getting back to the roots (literally) and grow food.

The business of food and the structure of community has largely been eroded from our lifestyles. Food is more that sustenance, it is about people, building community, relationships, and learning how to care for our world.

Though I have lost nothing in the crises, my life has had everything to gain. Traveling has given me ample opportunity to observe, and learn how to create, not destroy.

Ultimately the greatest contrast between my Army and Peace Corps experiences.

I am exactly at the place and time I should be in.

As you can see over the last few months the blog has been neglected and my writing has waned for a short spell. Preparations for farm school also met ducking out of the world for a while to gather my thoughts and digest my experiences.

But this new journey now means recommitting to the little people…..

Y'all, my readers. I'll do my best to keep up on the goings on's

Thanks you all for the support, taking the time to read my blog, and most importantly many of our friendships.

Love Wastefully, 4-10! Over and Out!!

Josh the Farmer

Thanks to Cathryn for sending me an email about NPR wanting to connect with people changing careers into Agriculture.

I wrote a member of NPR's show "All Things Considered" spoke of our project and our vision for veterans villages, and post war reconciliation and the result was them following up with the Farmer Veterans Coalition and running a story about the project and interviewing one of our veterans in San Diego currently managing a farm and training other vets.

It really was nothing more than hello...poof!

This is why our government needs to continue funding our public radio and television stations.

Public media is a major contributor to accurate information, entertainment, but most importantly painting a mental picture for private citizens to conceptualize events in our own backyard and global community.

Last night after listening to Barrack Obama and him hinting this week that a definite plan for pulling troops out by late 2010 from Iraq is very real. My mind has been racing, there is no time to waste, thousands of young vets will be coming home.

Also sobering is the fact that roughly two million citizens are now military veterans who have served in Iraq total.

When they come home they are going to need opportunities, as well as places to decompress.

Why not retrain young veterans with years of experience beyond their age to become community farm mentors in local communities. Many of these young folk need viable job skills, but already possess leadership, and a determination to set the example for others to follow in public service.

There is my rant, I am wiped out from my New Jersey and Virginia Tech trip, but I am going to go work out now.

Its farm season, one must be in shape.

Peace!

So Cat' and I drove to Blacksburg VA about 2-1/2 hours south of Charlottesville. Last night we drove about 7 hours from New Jersey after attending festivities for her sisters wedding engagement party.

Today my lovely one was invited to give a presentation for the Virginia Tech Horticultural students and faculty talking about her international experience as an agriculture extension agent working in Niger, Egypt, Central Asia, and Nepal.

She knocked it out of the park and I'm very proud of her.

Prior to the event I met some awesome horticulturalist who have been all over the world collecting specimens, establishing farmers markets, and teaching.

I made a possible connection today and will hopefully meet with a gentleman who is working developing the cause of reconciliation and agriculture. Though we have not met, apparently he began this course in his life after his wife was tragically slain during last years Virginia Tech shootings.

I firmly believe this crazy notion that we can create mutual understanding between warring cultures by working together and breaking bread over mutually created food.

Tomorrow is one baby step closer to learning how to initiate this process.

All is well, keep on keep'n on folks.

Today was the first day for the rest of the year for me.

These were my thoughts holding a pair of pruning shears, a well known well worn institution of hand tools. Felco's, I'm going to either love or hate the son of a bitches.

I started a new job at a vineyard called Keswick Vineyards near Charlottesville Virginia. They took six Virginia Wine Governor Cups last year.

Speaking with My grandma today, I spoke with her about my work, and mindlessly spoke "Grandma, a farmer needs more than know how to only raise hogs, or plant a row of beans." She comes from a long line of life long farmers.

(not taking away from their noble work **pig-bean farmers**)

But I was relating this more towards a much more needed trend in agriculture where farmers are needed desperately to diversify talents, learn new techniques, and broaden the production of farms into a poly-cultured landscapes.

Until I leave for Santa Cruz in April, my duty will be to prune twenty acres of gnarly vines in a vineyard, learn production, and hopefully establish a place to send veterans to for the Farmer Veterans Coalition.

Twenty Acres. By hand.

Fun, Sun, and weather from here on out.

Just like my farm in Niger.

Many Blessings to my village in Niger, The Noble Dan Saga,they prepared me well.

Nazifi.

(My name in Niger/My alter farmer ego)