A Call to Farms (not arms)

I just got home from the Ecological Farming Conference in Asilomar. I haven't been for a while and I return refreshed and inspired. I attended workshops on soil carbon sequestration, community supported agriculture (surprise!!), biodiversity on farms and many others.

There are always many successful farmers at the conference and this year there was a pretty large population of young farmers. I felt hope for the future (there seems to be a lot of that going around) especially after meeting an enthusiastic young couple of California farmers. These two are excited to be starting up a new CSA farm in Solano County called Shooting Star Farm. The young man is a returned Iraq war veteran. He is filled with optimism and has this infectious smile. Farming is giving him this and he is sharing it with whomever he meets.

I also met a young woman who is a farmer and a film director/producer. She farms in New York's Hudson Valley and is full of creative energy. I am hoping to be able to present her film at Los Medanos College this year. She and her collaborators have a great blog called The Irresistible Fleet of Bicycles that can be reached at her film website. http://thegreenhorns.wordpress.com/Check it out, I think you'll understand some of my hope.

We need new farmers!! The population is aging and not many kids have been choosing farming as a vocation. These, and many like them, are taking up the call to farms.