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| Southern SAWG Newsletter,
Volume 4, #7 | July 2008 |
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| Dear Friends, Food is at the very heart of life. It is a necessity, a source of pleasure, and for many, a passion. In the world of sustainable agriculture and community food systems, the passion is expressed and fed by the innovative and hardworking farmers who provide this most basic of our needs, as well as the considerable pleasures of food at its best: fresh, healthy, and delicious. In this issue, we feature a family dairy enterprise in Georgia that has grown to include three farms and an artisanal cheese brand that garners acclaim for its outstanding products throughout the state, the Southeast, and parts north and west as well. We hope you find this farm story to be inspiring and informative. As always, we appreciate your feedback, your ideas, and the stories you have to share. Feel free to write to us. --Your friends at Southern SAWG |
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Southern SSAWG has received funding from the USDA Risk Management Agency's Small Sessions program to support a 1.5 day short course on farm financial decision-making. Taught by experienced growers Jim Munsch and Alex Hitt, the course will focus on the "front end"--the market, and "back end"--the product, for both horticulture and livestock enterprises. Topics to be covered include:
Featuring dance by Heather Maloney and a dinner of local, naturally grown food Come join us at Charlie and Miriam Maloney's Dayspring Farm for a day of celebration, beginning with a dance performance by choreographer Heather Maloney, followed by a delicious "locavore" dinner based on the bounty of the Maloneys' diversified, ecological Dayspring Farm. The event will also include a Silent Auction and a showing of one of Southern SAWG's Natural Farming in the South videos, which offer virtual tours of some of the South's most innovative family farms. Our aim is to offer you inspiration and nourishment in exchange for your support for the vital work of Southern SAWG in supporting family farms and promoting a sustainable, life-affirming food and farming system throughout the South. Funds raised at this event will be used to help limited resource farmers from Virginia and across the South attend Southern SAWG's 2009 Practical Tools and Solutions for Sustaining Family Farms Conference in Chattanooga, TN on January 21-24. Watch for additional details on this event in next month's newsletter, or visit our Events section. The National Agricultural Law Center, operated by the University of Arkansas School of Law, has added Local Food Systems to their online Reading Rooms, which provide comprehensive resources and articles for 33 agricultural and food law topics. The Local Food Systems Reading Room provides resources on an array of topics, including major statutes and regulations, as well as extensive listings of related publications and resources from the USDA and other agencies and organizations. To visit the Reading Room click here. The National Agricultural Law Center is the only agricultural law research and information facility that is independent, national and international in scope, and directly connected to the national agricultural information network. The Center has expanded its coverage to include food law as it recognizes the expanding scope of agricultural law and its convergence with food law topics. To learn more and read their publications, click here. It took twelve years for the Organic Farming Research Foundation to award its first million dollars in grants and only six years to award its second million. Steve Ela, president of OFRF's Board of Directors, emphasized the importance of the foundation's grants program. "While we have just scratched the surface of the research needs of organic growers, the projects we have funded have made important contributions to the improvement of organic farming methods," said Ela, a Colorado fruit grower. "With continued support from many farmers, companies, foundations and other generous donors across the country, the OFRF board will continue to increase our investment in grantmaking." OFRF passed the $2 million milestone this spring with a record $211,800 awarded in the first of its two annual grant cycles. One of the grants was awarded to Dr. Curt Rom of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville to study off-season organic blackberry and raspberry production in high tunnels. The project holds great potential to show more Southern growers that organic fruit production is possible in the region. OFRF's competitive grants program is part of its mission to foster the improvement and widespread adoption of organic farming systems. Growers and researchers can submit proposals by July 15, 2008, to be considered for a grant this fall. The annual winter application deadline is November 15, 2008. For more information and Requests for Proposals click here. To learn more about the Organic Farming Research Foundation, click here. At CCCC's sustainable agriculture program students have the opportunity to participate in the on-campus, organically run student farm starting with their first semester. The year-round CSA is student-run and student-managed. Additional sustainable production and marketing training opportunities abound in this region of North Carolina. Why wait to get your hands dirty? Fall 2008 registration is August 18; classes begin August 21. For more information click here, or contact Robin Kohanowich: 919.542.6495 ext. 229. CCCC's new curriculum in sustainable biodiesel production also begins this fall. For more info, click here. |
Sweet Grass Dairy is one of those success stories that makes people feel good--especially when tasting their award-winning cheeses. This family operation began with the vision of Al and Desiree Wehner, dairy farmers who left conventional methods behind in 1993 to create a natural and sustainable system at Green Hill Dairy, a 350-acre New Zealand-style rotational grazing dairy farm in Quitman, Georgia. In 1995 they purchased a second farm, Sweet Grass Dairy, now owned and operated by Jessica and Jeremy Little, Al and Desiree's daughter and son-in-law, and headquarters for the cheese making facility. Situated
on 140 acres in Thomasville, Georgia, Sweet Grass is about 30 miles
from Green Hill Dairy, and is home to the 200 multi-breed goats that
provide the milk for their Fresh Chevre; Georgia Pecan Chevre; Lumiere,
a soft-ripened cheese coated and layered with grapevine ash for
balancing; and Holly Springs, an aged semi-soft raw cheese. There are
also about 50 non-milking goats at Sweet Grass, as well as 20 sows and
a boar, and a few laying chickens.
The
Wehners own and operate Green Hill Dairy, where they graze 600 milking
cattle, predominantly Jerseys, plus bulls, and their new farm, Grassy
Flats Dairy, with 500 milking cattle. They have 440 heifers at a
separate 150-acre grazing farm. Most of the milk from these dairies is
sold to a dairy co-op, but some is, of course, sold to Sweet Grass
Dairy for their six cows' milk cheeses, including Green Hill, a rich,
buttery double cream; Asher Blue; Mediterranean Feta; and Thomasville
Tomme, a mellow aged raw milk cheese.
When the Littles moved back to south Georgia in 2002, there wasn't enough business in the immediate area to support the entire family. They explored ways to increase the production and distribution of their cheeses, and decided that marketing to restaurants that could appreciate the high-quality local flavor would be the key to their plan. Their first such customer was Star Provisions in Atlanta, owned by Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison, chef/owners of the renowned restaurants Bacchanalia and Floataway Cafe. Quatrano and Harrison are avid supporters of local food and farmers, and continue to buy large amounts of cheese from Sweet Grass. Demand and production have both grown substantially, and they now have many outlets for their award-winning cheeses, including numerous restaurants throughout Georgia and beyond that feature their cheeses by name on the menu. With backgrounds in marketing and restaurant work, both Jessica and Jeremy know how to talk to and work with chefs, a useful skill for gourmet cheese makers. They no longer take their products to a farmers' market in Atlanta, more than four hours away, but they do sell at two nearby farmers' markets. They have built a thriving online business, offering the cheeses, plus several styles of gift boxes that include cheeses, Georgia pecans, and Savannah Bee honey. An on-site retail shop allows them to maintain personal contact with their customers, and they wholesale direct to specialty stores and restaurants. They also now work with three large distributors.
Jessica points out that they are fortunate in south Georgia to have a climate that supports year-round grazing. This is only one of many points in favor of the vibrant young company that has made a big impact on the food and farm scene in a short time. Going on the adage, "What goes around comes around," the Wehner and Little family commitments to healthy, natural, humane farming, caring for their customers, and producing superb products, will reap continued success for Sweet Grass Dairy. Sweet Grass Dairy is featured on the Southern SAWG video, Artisan Cheese Production and Marketing, one of nine virtual farm tours in our Natural Farming Systems in the South series. The Artisan Cheese video was produced with funding from Southern Region Sustainable Agriculture and Research (Southern SARE). To learn more and view video clips of this and other videos in the series, click here. Sweet Grass Dairy is also featured in our Farm Stories section. Read their story here, and visit www.sweetgrassdairy.com. Jazz
and wine on the back 40? How about fresh, organic fruits and
vegetables, or dark-chocolate pecans? In this era of change, Oklahoma
farmers and ranchers are branching out--trying new crops and marketing
options. The best of these innovative farm enterprises will be featured during the "Future Farms 2008: Planning for Change" conference, August 5 and 6 at the Bricktown Convention Center in Oklahoma City. The two-day conference will offer one day of farm and ranch tours and one day of indoor presentations. "Our aim is simple--to help Oklahoma producers find success in this rapidly changing world," said Maura McDermott of the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture, sponsor of the event. For more info and to register click here. Registration deadline is July 21. For more sustainable agriculture events in the South, visit Southern SAWG's Events Page. |
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Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, Inc. (Southern SAWG) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in 1991 to promote sustainable agriculture in the Southern United States. |
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