"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."
- Mark Twain
Get Involved
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"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." - Mark Twain
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Get Involved
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August 28, 2008 | |||||||
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 Eat, Drink, and Make a Difference November 10, 2000 At the suggestion of one of our readers, we checked out the Tahoma Food System, a 3-year-old, non-profit organization in Tacoma, Washington that supports family farms, community gardens, and local hunger projects. They're preserving the beauty of an unpaved landscape, providing job training, and producing a variety of fresh food that's safe to eat. Community-based food projects like TFS are making it possible for small-scale agricultural operations to get their produce to market – while still managing to make a buck. Steven Garrett of the Washington State University Cooperative Extension and the Tahoma Food System tells us about the people who are still out there making a difference by working the land: When we lose farms to development, we lose more than open space and food. We also lose the knowledge of the land and its people that the farmers carry with them. Despite the development pressures and difficulty of farming, some families are still handing their farms to the next generation. One such family farm is the Engfer Farm run by Barbara, Fred and their son John, who is taking over the farm. Their Orting, WA farm has been in the Engfer family since 1912, when Fred's grandparents built the house. It uses marketing, labor, and production practices that not only harken back to a lost era, but also resonate with the public. One feature of the Engfer Farm is that they use no pesticides. They never have. They use ladybugs and other non-toxic ways to kill pests and most weeds. "It is going to take a lot to convince me to use pesticides," says Fred. He does not like the idea of using poison on his food. Neither does the public. Some surveys find that consumers' number one health concern is pesticides on their food. While some scientists find this concern misguided compared to the dangers of a high-fat diet, farmers are taking notice. Purchases of organically grown food in the U.S. are increasing at a rate of 20 percent per year. Rather than raise one or two crops for the wholesale market on their 55 acres, the Engfers raise many crops and sell them directly to their customers. This year they plan to raise tomatoes, cabbage, potatoes, sweet corn, green beans, peppers, pumpkins, gourds, squash, and Indian corn. They used to sell to the Associated Grocers, but they stopped a few years ago since it meant that they would have to drop many of their customers in order to supply the quantities AG needed. The Engfers also came out ahead financially, since they no longer have to pay for packing, brokers fees, or hydro-cooling (putting produce through a cold water bath). Their farm also uses no outside labor, which keeps their prices low enough to attract customers from as far away as Seattle (some 40 miles to the north). To the Engfers, farming is about relationships to people and the land, rather than being just a business. When asked why he doesn't certify his farm as organic and charge more for his crops, Fred said, "No, I couldn't charge what they charge in the supermarkets for organic produce. I wouldn't do that to my customers." LEARN MORE ABOUT IT Learn more about the Tahoma Food System and about farming families like the Engfers.
Join a Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) co-op and get fresh vegetables every week from a farm in your area.
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