2013p r e s e n t s

Meet members of the pennsylvania association for sustainable

agriculture, working to bring fresh, delicious food to local eaters

raw power

Raw milk has many

virtues — so what’s the

controversy?

why we farm

PASA members

share their passion for

farming farm futuresvillage acres farm found a future for their farm in the next generation, but other farmers are having to get more creative

2 | PASA | 2013 FARMBOOK

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No food may seem more basic to any mammalian species than milk, and yet nothing sparks a com-bination of curiosity and controversy so much among humans as the question of whether or not to consume milk in its raw form. In fact, given all the strong rhetoric on the subject, it’s perfectly normal to feel totally confused about what to do.

Not so many decades ago raw milk could be bought directly at farms and pasteurized milk was a value-added option for the general public to buy at the corner store. Admittedly, pasteurization was necessary to reduce health risks in many areas of the country, since mass produced cow’s milk carried the risk of shoddy production and contamination with tuberculosis and other foodborne diseases. From that perspective, pasteurization was in-deed the miracle process we all learned about in school.

However, throughout this “pasteurization era” for milk, there were farmers — mostly working on a smaller scale — who continued to cultivate a high-quality, raw product by reducing risk in other, less technological ways. In so doing, they avoided two major pitfalls of pasteurization: incidental damage to the nutritional content of the milk, and not-so-incidental profit-taking by corporate middlemen who handle processing and distribution of most dairy products.

The result has been a split of the dairy industry. There are farmers shipping milk to the mass market infrastructure — the end product

being “anonymous” milk” — and those serving con-sumers as directly as possible, through locally and regionally based food systems. Some farmers will say that the milk passing through the contrasting channels represents two entirely different prod-ucts and, in many cases, they’re right. But for con-sumers, the important difference is often whether or not they’re able to speak directly with farmers about the methods used in producing the milk or other dairy products.

There is no such thing as risk-free food for anyone, so I suggest reframing the debate from “raw vs. pasteurized” to “anonymous vs. identity-

preserved” milk. These aren’t synonymous categories, since some identity-preserved milk is raw and some pasteurized. But qualities instilled by farmers, like organic, pasture-raised and grass-fed, can make a bigger difference for the consumer than the raw/pasteurized question. The challenge to the consumer is choosing milk — or really any food — that has maintained its identity. We always recommend knowing where your food comes from and how it was produced, in order to make the best possible decisions on behalf of your own and your family’s well being.

brian snyder, Executive DirectorPASA (Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture)pasafarming.org

A Tale of Two Types of Milk

from PASA’sexecutive director

Your neighbor’s our farmer.

4 | PASA | 2013 FARMBOOK

But the 100-acres weren’t always dedicated to grass-fed, sustainable dairy production. Be-fore Lopez, a bovine veterinarian by trade, took over the family farm and opened Wholesome Dairy in 2008, his uncle was running a “heavy metal” dairy operation. “That’s where you have sick cows, and dead cows,” Lopez says. “Cows in

a commercial dairy must be milked as hard as possible because the profit margin is so low.” Farmers will sell their milk to one manufactur-er, where it’s mixed together before being sepa-rated into various components and processed into dairy products like milk, cheese and yogurt. In these operations, cows are also commonly

fed grain, not grass, so they produce more milk. A grass-fed cow — like those at Wholesome Dairy — will produce half as much milk com-pared with a corn- or soy-fed cow, says Lopez, but the product will taste much better.

Having grown up drinking raw, unpasteur-ized milk from his grandfather’s grass-fed cows, the return to this practice seemed natural for Lopez, who says he made the change because he wanted the best for his animals. While de-veloping a raw milk dairy hasn’t been easy (five years later the business is finally stabilizing), Lopez recognizes the value in his product — one produced on a small scale that has traceability and the unique identity of coming from his farm. Today, as federal agencies continue to dis-courage raw milk consumption, even in states like Pennsylvania where the practice is legal, that identity is increasingly relevant. Whether consumers are looking for raw or pasteurized products, local food advocates argue that it is understanding where one’s milk comes from that is most important to ensuring the prod-uct’s safety.

T equila, coco and jellybean may not seem like children’s names, but to Mark Lopez, they might as well be. “These cows are like family to me,” he says, standing in the pasture of his 100-acre Wholesome

Dairy Farms in Douglasville, Pa. One of 163 raw milk dairies in Pennsyl-vania, the farm has seen many changes since Lopez’s grandfather began raising cows there in the 1930s. ¶ “Back in the ’40s and ’30s and such, rotational grazing was most of the way it was done.” In rotational grazing, the cows are regularly moved from pasture-to-pasture, giving the grass time to re-grow. Lopez has returned to that same system, dividing his land into a circuit of paddocks, or enclosed sections of pasture, that takes the cows two weeks to complete. With grants from the Natural Resources Conservation Services, he has also added a solar-powered watering system and a walkway and stream crossing for the cows to reduce erosion and habitat loss.

got raw?for raw milk fans, it’s pasture versus pasteurby liz pacheco & kristen mosbrucker • photos by albert yee

r a w m i l k ,c h e e s e ,y o g u r t , k e i f e r

w H o L E S o M E D a I r Y

d o u g l a s v i l l e , p a

PASA | 2013 FARMBOOK | 5

What’s in your glass? Most milk available for sale in Pennsylvania is pasteurized — heated to 161° F for at least 15 seconds to destroy potentially disease-causing bacteria. Many raw milk-drinkers say the un-pasteurized product is fresher and full of en-zymes and nutrients that are destroyed when heated. The Center for Disease Control coun-ters that the nutritional impact of pasteuriza-tion is limited to slight decreases in levels of thiamine, vitamin B12 and vitamin C. But as the pasteurization process continues to evolve, higher temperatures are being used to increase shelf life and the greater impact on nutrient content is unknown.

While more than half of all states permit some kind of raw milk sale, Pennsylvania is one of only eight states where the sale is legal everywhere. Regulations in other states can include place of sale and quantity limitations, as well as a variety of other restrictions. Some even require that customers have a doctor’s note. In Pennsylvania, the state Department of Agriculture requires regular testing of raw milk, just as it does of the pasteurized product. Raw milk farmers self-test through state-approved labs for a variety of pathogens. Coliform — bacteria found in animal feces — is tested for twice a month, and the state requires testing for salmonella, E. coli and other diseases every six months. Results are sent to the Food Safety Di-vision. “We have a lot of dedicated staff who go out every single day,” says Lydia Johnson, direc-tor of the Bureau of Food Safety and Laboratory Services in Pennsylvania. “We are tasked with a very important job to keep Pennsylvania safe.”

Johnson stresses that the department fully supports local farmers, although she is hesitant to call raw milk products safe. “Pasteurization is the kill step, so raw milk is definitely a product that we try our best to regulate,” she says. “How-ever, it’s a snapshot, so one day the milk can be fine and the next there could be contamination.”

Lopez can attest to the state’s attentiveness

and says that surprise visits are common. But in addition to the tests required by the state, Lopez does his own each week to monitor his product. Even with these extra precau-tions, he knows there is always risk for contamination. “[The customer has] to have a lot of trust when they’re drinking raw milk. Because they don’t really know what’s happening on the farm. They hope that things are being held up to the stan-dard that they’re supposed to, but [contamina-tion] could happen anywhere.”

The ongoing relationship between farm and consumer is critical in building and maintain-ing that trust. For Lopez, this means keeping an open door policy and inviting anyone to visit his farm and see the dairy operations. Despite this openness, Lopez is surprised at the ques-tions customers ask. “I get ‘Are you organic?’ ‘Do you feed [genetically modified organisms]?’ ‘Do you use pesticides?’ ‘Are there antibiotics in the milk?’ ‘What do you do when the cows get old, do you kill them?’ It’s always sort of like hot-button issues.” Instead, Lopez advises customers to ask questions about the milk’s cleanliness. “Never once have I gotten, ‘What are your bacteria counts?’ ‘What’s your somatic cell count [how much inflammation a cow’s ud-der has]?’ And I think I would ask that. ‘Have you ever had any kind of issues with contamina-tion?’” To date, Lopez has had no contamination problems.

a Dairy DilemmaIn addition to raw milk, Pennsylvania has also legalized the sale of raw milk cheese aged at least 60 days. Kristian Holbrok, a former chef who now manages Doe Run Dairy in Chester County, explains that the difference between the cheeses is in the bacteria. The raw milk already has the bacteria necessary to make

Food safety is an issue whenever people eat anything. It’s not just a milk issue.”

Opposite: Mark Lopez (left), farmer at Wholesome Dairy Farms, with kitchen and farm manager Rebecca Seidel, who is responsible for everything from milking to making the cheese and yogurt.

6 | PASA | 2013 FARMBOOK

cheese whereas the pasteur-ized milk needs bacteria added. But the 60-day aging require-ment means any raw milk soft cheeses are illegal.

“If we could make raw milk soft cheeses there is much more of a flavor difference,” he says. “It’s just not the same.” Holbrok still makes raw milk soft cheeses for his own enjoyment, specifically va-rieties that were once imported to the U.S. from around the world, before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned interstate trade two decades ago. His favorite is Reblochon, a French cheese which literally translated means “to pinch a cow’s udder again.”

Further regulation of products like raw

milk cheese, may be on the horizon, a develop-ment that Holbrok says will be difficult for small farmers to accommo-date. “We just don’t have the money left over like that,” he says, explain-ing his concern about the FDA’s new Food Safety Modernization Act. Passed by President Obama in January 2011, the act is expected to af-fect all farms selling food

directly to the public, not just raw milk farms, and could include additional fees and regula-tions for food production. Currently under pub-lic review, the act’s final implications are still to be determined.

Holbrok isn’t the only cheese farmer feeling pressure from the FDA. Emily Bryant Mont-gomery, cheesemaker at Calkins Creamery in Honesdale, Pa., originally made her Brie-style Noble Road cheese with raw milk. Despite the cheese’s popularity, Montgomery couldn’t shake the fear of FDA regulations. Recently, she started using pasteurized milk instead.

a relationship of trustLopez is very open about the risk of producing and selling raw milk. “To address the raw milk

cleanliness issue — that’s real … People can get sick if the milk gets contaminated. People can get sick if the spinach gets contaminated, or the peanuts, or the hamburger, or any food. It’s a real issue. Food safety is an issue whenever people eat anything. It’s not just a milk issue.” Despite this, raw milk dairy farmers tend to face a higher level of scrutiny at the federal level than other food producers.

When Lopez started Wholesome Dairy in April 2008, he knew his cows were healthy, pro-ducing a clean, delicious product. The challenge was not to convince consumers of his milk’s safety, but simply to tell them his products were available. After two years — and almost shutting down the farm — Lopez was finally able to tap into the raw milk demand. “I almost feel like a celebrity sometimes. It’s really gratifying to show up with my trailer and some milk and the response is like, ‘Yeah, Mark’s here!’” Today, Wholesome Dairy products can be found at 15 stores and markets throughout the region.

“I can’t tell you how many times people have said, ‘I’ve had different kinds of raw milk and your milk is the best I’ve ever had,’” Lopez says. “That makes me really proud to hear that, but that’s not an accident, you know?” Choosing to grass-feed his Ayrshire cows makes the differ-ence, he says. “That to me is what really sepa-rates us, not from the commercial milk that’s in the grocery store, but from any other raw milk in any other store.”

I can’t tell you how many times

people have said, ‘I’ve had

different kinds of raw milk and your

milk is the best I’ve ever had,’”

Lopez says. “That makes me really

proud to hear that, but that’s

not an accident, you know.”

Above: Wholesome

Dairy sells raw milk in addition to

yogurt, kefir, and ricotta

cheese.

PASA | 2013 FARMBOOK | 7

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emily bryant montgomery PASA MeMber Since 2005Cheesemaker • Calkins Creamery • Honesdale, Pa.

farm favorite: “Our brie-style cheese. It’s just fun and buttery and light and it’s just so neat to see the milk go to curds in that way.”

farming isn’t easy. the hours are long, the work exhausting, and you never know what curve ball Mother

nature will throw next. so, why would anyone want to farm? We asked that question of some farmers here in

pennsylvania, and here’s what they had to say.

wHY wE FarM

“I grew up in a farming lifestyle ... And then once I went to college I realized the best thing for me to do was to go back to the farm and help sustain it. And it’s just

a beautiful place, it’s preserved and it’s where I get to raise my kids. Fresh air, fresh food — can’t beat it.”

I think working on an organic farm is a way of the future, to change

from monocultures and things like that. That’s probably why I farm, I believe in it, I think it’s good overall for the future.”

“Because I love producing nutritious food for people and healing the earth.”

tyler zajac PASA MeMber Since 1992Farmer • Tait Farm Foods • Boalsburg, Pa.

farm favorite: “I’d say kale; I like the greens.” tom culton

PASA MeMber Since 2005Owner • Culton Organics • Lancaster, Pa.

“My turkeys. Because they taste much different from other turkeys ... and they greet me every morning at the door. Yeah I’d say the turkeys are my fraises du bois.”

“That’s a tough one. Because I’m 10th generation and I didn’t have many options. That’s all I ever knew.”

josiah taylor PASA MeMber Since 2012Manager • Mill Hollow Farm • Edgemont, Pa.

“It’s probably tea herbs because I’ve been growing them the longest and I feel such a visceral effect when I make teas or when I use herbs.”

To provide my family and community with local, organic, healthy vegetables — with nutrient- dense vegetables.”

don hess PASA MeMber Since 2002Vegetable Grower • Dancing Hen Farm & CSA

• Stillwater, PA

farm favorite: “Kale. Because it’s so good for you … packed with nutrients.”

“I’ve always wanted to do it and my mission in life is to feed people. I don’t

care if I’m putting the food on the plates or I’m growing it or I’m promoting it or I’m writing about it — I just want people to have access to healthy food.”

sandra miller PASA MeMber Since 2002

Owner • Painted Hand Farm • Newburg, Pa.

farm favorite: “I’m a goat farmer, I love baby goats.”

“It’s an experience for my twin six year-old boys and for quality food for my family.”

al benner PASA MeMber Since 2006Owner • Old School Farm • Honesdale, Pa.

farm favorite: “I don’t have one. I like to do a little bit of everything … [But] my one son really likes the Icelandic sheep and my other boy really likes to collect the eggs.”

PASA | 2013 FARMBOOK | 9

I farm because I have a passion for good food and I particularly enjoy the

connection between producing and the people that are eating. And it’s a good

healthy lifestyle.”

“Mostly just because it’s fun and I just really enjoy living on a farm. We

recently moved to this farm and [my brother and I] both have taken up lots more responsibilities. Over the summer we do lots of work with our CSA.”

bill elkins PASA MeMber Since 1999Co-owner • Buck Run Farm • Coatesville, Pa.

“My cattle. My grasses and my cattle both – can’t separate one from the other.”

“I don’t know what else to do. I wouldn’t know what else to do.”

l i f e t i m e m e m b e r

chandler scott-smith PASA MeMber Since 2008Farmer • Village Acres Farm • Mifflintown, Pa.

“I really like the berries; we have blueberries and raspberries and blackberries. They’re really fun to pick and pack and it’s really fun to sell in the CSA.”

karen vollmecke PASA MeMber Since 1996Farmer/Owner • Vollmecke Orchards • Coatesville, Pa.

farm favorite: “The cantaloupes and watermelons in the summer time … nothing better than eating a good cantaloupe or watermelon, right?”

l i f e t i m e m e m b e r

“The allure of self-employment, self-reliance. The opportunity to work along side my wife and daughter are really the things [that make me farm]. And I think they feel the same way.” —Tom

“It’s a lifestyle choice. It’s about doing our gift, doing what we’re passionate about. Giving back, build-ing community ... oh my gosh, all those things!”—Tricia

“I am a breast cancer survivor and part of my healing process was a farm that we had bought four months prior to my diagnosis. It

was part of my heal-ing ... And now we’ve discovered the good-ness and richness of doing that, we’re doing it for our local community as well.”

sloane six PASA MeMber Since 2010Farmer • Quarry Hill Farm • Harleysville, Pa.

farm favorite: “Our lamb is just so mild and sweet and delicious. I’d say probably our lamb shanks. On the vegetable side, that’s hard. Dragon-tongued beans come to mind. I’d never had them before. They’re just really crunchy and delicious.”

l i f e t i m e m e m b e r

I farm because I like being connected to something so human and something that’s connected so deeply with nature, it brings everything together. And it’s fun and it’s hard work, and I like hard work”

nina berryman PASA MeMber Since 2008Farm Manager • Weavers Way Farms • Philadelphia, PA

farm favorite: “Hakurei turnips. They’re damn good. And they’re easy to grow.”

“Because this is the thing that makes me feel most like myself.”

margaret schlass PASA MeMber Since 2009Farmer • One Woman Farm • Pittsburgh, Pa.

farm favorite: “I like to grow root vegetables. Because they’re just so satisfying. You pull them out of the ground and it’s just like ‘rarrrrrr.’”

tricia Borneman, tom Murtha, Dakota

PASA MeMberS Since 2006Farm Manager • Blooming Glen Farm Perkasie, PA

farm favorite: “Kale!”

“I farm because I feel like it’s doing something good for the world. My parents owned the farm and it was

probably going to get out of the family after four generations and I wanted to be the fifth generation.”

kelly smith PASA MeMber Since 2011Farm Operator • Deep Roots Valley Farm • Morhsville, Pa.

farm favorite: “We do meat and eggs, but I say we definitely partake in the eggs the most. They are plentiful and healthy and perfect.”

10 | PASA | 2013 FARMBOOK

The romantic ideal of the family farm is a vision of several generations working the fields side by side, children growing and assuming the mantle from their parents. Such isn’t always the case in the contemporary world, where financial viability is a serious issue for any farm, and the prospects of a college education and more lucrative careers lure younger generations away. While there is no single way to go about it, succession planning has become vital for modern farmers hoping to see their work carried on.

easements Can make it easier“It’s been a struggle,” says Al Granger. “There aren’t that many young people that have an interest in that type of work.”

Granger, 80, owns Glasbern Inn, a Lehigh Val-ley bed and breakfast with an adjacent 130-acre farm. He’s been hunting for successors to the inn and the farm for five years, to little avail. A young farmer recently responded to the call and is in the midst of his first season at Glasbern, an arrangment Granger hopes will become more permanent.

preparing the ground for the next crop of farmers by shaun Brady • photos by albert yee

farm team

S everal minutes after his family had gathered at a round table in their large, timber frame FoodShed, the patriarch of Village Acres Farm finally arrives. He offers his hand along with what turns out to be a characteristi-

cally droll introduction. “Hi, I’m the late Roy Brubaker.” ¶ At 71, Roy Brubaker is, in fact, alive and well (if not always perfectly punctual). But he is a few years past what people in most professions consider retirement age. Brubaker and his wife Hope have recognized this and begun to think about passing Village Acres on to the next generation.

V I L L a g E a C r E S

m i f f l i n t o w n , p a

v e g e t a b l e s , b e r r i e s , m e a t

PASA | 2013 FARMBOOK | 11

Chip Planck and his wife Susan had better luck with their Wheatland Veg-etable Farms in Northern Virginia. In 2002, the couple took advantage of a “Ru-ral Hamlet” provision in their county’s zoning ordinance. Ten of their 60 acres were subdivided to become a small rural community for those desiring to live adja-cent to farmland. The remaining 50 acres were put under easement (meaning legally protected from future development) and divided into two parcels: one 40-acre plot which has all the farm infrastructure, in-cluding greenhouses, a worker kitchen and irrigation system, and a second 10-acre piece with a small house and farm-land but no infrastructure.

“It was more an effort to do what we thought of as appropriate rural planning than it was a succession plan,” Planck says. “We wanted to save the land, and if you’re saving the land you’re presumably assuming that somebody is going to be on it, but that wasn’t an overt goal.”

Knowing their two children had no interest in farming the land, the Plancks began to look for buyers within their lo-cal community. A young farmer whose parents and grandparents had been the Plancks’ neighbors bought the 40-acre farm in 2011; and a writer involved in DC-area farmers markets bought the 10-acre piece a year later.

“One of the problems with retirement is that one day you count and the next day you’re home and you don’t count,” Planck says. “We were fortunate to be able to gradually disengage ourselves but not disengage ourselves completely. We have no interest in going anyplace else in the world and yet we had no interest in picking squash and peppers all day long anymore either.” Now 72 and essentially retired since 2010, the Plancks still live on land neighboring their former farm and occasionally still do work for their successors.

raise your hanDsA key component of the Plancks’ succes-sion plan was investment; for 15 to 20 years they made the maximum contribu-tion to a self-employment account. “We can be retired on those investments with-out having sold a bit of this land,” Planck explains. “So we weren’t forced into deci-sions that were unattractive but necessary from a financial point of view. We didn’t have to sell the farmland to someone to put 50 ugly houses on in order to retire.”

Jim Crawford and his wife Moie of New Morning Farm in South Central Penn-sylvania were in the process of renovat-ing their home when a financial advisor warned them that investing too much money could increase the property’s

roy brubaker, patriarch at Village Acres Farm, and his daughter Debra have recently become

50/50 partners in a Limited Liability company to begin a more formalized succession process.

The Village Acres family (from left to right): Debra Brubaker, Hannah Smith-Brubaker, Hope Brubaker, Roy Brubaker and Julie Hurst, wife of Debra's brother and manager of the FoodShed and community events.

roy and Hannah Smith-brubaker,

Debra’s partner who helps with

chickens, eggs and marketing

for the farm.

12 | PASA | 2013 FARMBOOK

resale value to the point where it was too expensive to re-main a farmhouse.

“You go through your thirties and forties and you never consider the fact that you’re ever going to get old,” says Craw-ford, now 68. “I’d never considered the fact that I was going to have to think about these assets being saleable to someone else who we hope would farm. As I got older I realized more and more that I didn’t want to be the last generation to farm this land. That was a huge revelation to me.”

Knowing that their children wouldn’t take over the farm, the Crawfords focused on making New Morning economical-ly viable in a way that would be attractive to a potential buyer. “Your kids are a lot more likely to put up with whatever id-iosyncrasies you’ve got built into your operation,” Crawford says. “Whereas somebody who’s not in your family is going to look at it from more of a cold, hard business perspective: Is this going to be a way for me to make a living and support a family in the long term? So that attitude is the beginning part of having a good succession plan.”

Hire PowerHiring good employees and giving them enough responsi-bility to breed loyalty and dedication was also important to Crawford’s plan. He assumed that his successor might come from his pool of workers; what he didn’t expect was that it might be more than one of them.

For eight years, Crawford attempted a “farm-to-own” pro-cess; several farmers lasted one season before both sides re-alized the arrangement wasn’t a good fit. “The whole process demonstrated how difficult it is to find someone who can really step into your life,” he says. “Every farm is unique and structured on the personality and values of the farmer. It’s so much the opposite of generic that I couldn’t conceive of these people stepping in and living my life.”

A few years ago, however, two members of Crawford’s crew formed a partnership and stepped forward with a plan to take on the farm. At first skeptical, Crawford came around and last season stepped completely away from production, giving the partnership, since grown to include five employ-ees, a “dress rehearsal” that has so far proved successful.

HelPing Your CHildren SuCCeedAt Village Acres, a more traditional family succession has been underway, albeit in a particularly modern guise. The current plan for the Brubakers’ 30-acre farm in Juniata County, 40 miles outside of State College, involves their 31-year-old daughter Debra, the youngest of their four children. After leaving home for college and living in New Mexico for several years, Debra returned to the area in 2009.

“I don’t know how my parents did it, but all of us kids ended up somehow enjoying the work of the farm,” Debra says. “We come from a Mennonite heritage, so it was always very much in my upbringing that being a farmer is a calling. We have a responsibility to be stewards, to care for the land, to care for the ecosystem.”

However, it wasn’t always clear that the Brubakers would pass the farm on to one of their children. In 1997, their oldest daughter Angela began several seasons working alongside her father, but ultimately left to become a nurse practitio-ner in Austin, TX. “After a few rough years with a lot of bad weather and minimal profits, she decided to go on and get further education, which I was encouraging her to do,” Roy recalls. “She’s still interested in the farm and may cycle back to be a part of it someday. But when she left, I began to think that maybe some of our apprentices could become partners with us.”

Village Acres’ apprenticeship program began in 1992, when the Brubakers’ son came home from college for the summer with a friend in tow. The program became more formalized over the years, with three or four interns now working at the farm most years, many of whom have gone on to work their own land. As an early adopter of organic practices, Roy also serves as a mentor to many of the region’s farmers. Village Acres officially became certified organic in 1991, though many of those practices had been in place since the farm’s inception in 1982, inspired by Roy’s father’s own interest in organic growing methods.

Debra’s homecoming was at first tentative. She and her partner, Hannah Smith-Brubaker, are working to devise a work-life balance, while facing the sometimes daunting prospect of being a same-sex couple in a rural community — or even simply being female in a traditionally male-dom-inated field.

PASA | 2013 FARMBOOK | 13

“For me,” Debra says, “being a woman or being gay, it’s about being confident that you have an equal right to speak up. I have a long legacy of Roy Brubakers in my family to be in the shadow of. It’s just about finding your voice, which is a common female problem in rural America and beyond.”

In 2012, Debra and her father became 50/50 partners in a Limited Liability Company (LLC) in order to begin a more formalized transition process. Both father and daughter say the LLC leaves open the prospect of further involvement from the other siblings, whose perspectives are still taken into account. Physical evidence of their cooperative efforts can be seen in their newly-built FoodShed, a space where they host monthly breakfasts and occasional live music events, and which they envision as a multi-purpose com-munity gathering place. Roy scoffs slightly at the building’s pristine aesthetics, a requirement from his more image-minded children.

Roy has long incorporated his family’s vision for the farm into his own, even when they conflict. “In 1998, Angela want-ed to start a CSA, which she was very keen about and I was not,” he says. “She won the battle and it was a good decision. That wasn’t part of my dream, but I guess my dream was to follow the stream and see where it would take us.”

This willingness to adapt new practices and strategies has made Roy — and farmers like Granger, Planck and Crawford — able to see a future for their farms, even after they have stopped farming. While this future may not be what Roy initially imagined when he started farming, it’s proof that farm succession is a fluid process, one that requires flexibil-ity, innovation and perhaps most importantly, planning. Or as Chip Plank sums it up, “You have to think way ahead.”

Every farm is unique and structured on the personality and values of the farmer. It’s so much the opposite of generic that I couldn’t conceive of these people stepping in and living my life.”

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25 years of experience in producing locally grown, grass-fed beef from our Chester County Pastures

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www.buckrunfarm.com • 610.486.0789 or 610.384.6576

BUCK RUN FARM, COATESVILLE, PA

SMALL BUSINESSES . LITIGATION CONTRACTS . WILLS . NEGOTIATIONS

While serving our clients, we are Eco-friendly and tech-savvy,

creating lower costs and hourly fees

Environmentally

Conscious Attorneys

at Law

2917 Harper Street | Brewerytown, Philadelphia(215) 327-2900 | econsciouslawyers@gmail.com

Econsciouslawyers.compaperless/shared/home offices*e-faxes*tele/video conferencing

www.turningrootsfarm.com

Be Kind, Work Hard, Observe your world

Just one mile from the PA state line, we are Delaware's premiere

supplier of PA-grown organic and pastured foods.

7417 Lancaster PikeHockessin, DE 19707 | (302) 234-6779

www.HarvestMarketNaturalFoods.com

creamy non-dairy frozen dessert

www.kovfoods.com 610-649-3601

k -ovkosher • organic • vegan

Lindenhof Farm, LLC

All Grass-FedBeef, Chicken, Turkey, Pork and LambFree-Range Eggs

DELICIOUS, ALL-NATURAL, HEALTHY MEATS & EGGS

Lindenhof BC:Business Cards 1/6/12 11:55 AM Page 1

ORGANIC AGRICULTURE* NON-GMO ISSUES *

* HUMAN / PLANETARY POLLUTION ** FOSSIL FUEL / RENEWABLE ENERGY ISSUES *

Learn more at:

www.sustain101.wordpress.coman educational sustain-ability website

Walters Corner Greenhouse

1005 Lower State RoadNorth Wales, PA 19454

215.628.0122Our webpage is under construction.

PASA | 2013 FARMBOOK | 15

Fair Trade Supports Farmers

Find our coffee online or at area cafes and markets phillyfairtrade.com • 267.270.2563

(ours just happen to grow coffee around the Equator)

PFTR GRID banner ad Farmers.indd 1 3/19/13 1:03 PM

TM

Farmers’ Markets, Buying Clubs,CSA Support and Web Services

farmtocity.org

Hand Crafted Cheese from the Farm

Howard M. Field

www.farmfromage.comhoward@farmfromage.com • 717-314-1373

Farm Fromage

harvestlocalfoods.com

shop online for home delivery

see www.livinghopefarm.org for our organic plant sale dates

Harleysville, PA . 215-256-4400

JOIN OUR 2013 CSA SEASON / 24 WEEKS

Delivering farm fresh produce to offices, homes, and schools nationwide!

Try out our Regional TakeHome Case, sourced

exclusively from small family farms within 200 miles of

Philadelphia.

1-877-FRUIT-ME (378-4863) www.fruitguys.com/home*

877-387-4863877-387-4863877-387-4863877-387-4863877-387-4863

877-387-4863877-387-4863

shares are filling up fast!

For details:www.weaversway.coop

A CSA Partnership: Weavers Way Co-op Farms, W. B. Saul High School, Weavers Way Community Programs and Fairmount Park.

CSA

H

IGH VIEW FARM

609-758-6708

Sustainably Raised Pork & Lamb Border Collies, Horse Boarding & Turnout

A sustAinAble, AnimAl WelfAre Approved locAl fArm

Sustainably raised pork, lamb, & goat meat

Meadow-raised, natural-color

wool & yarn products

Horse boarding & turnout

166 Monmouth Rd • North Hanover, NJ 08562609-758-6708 • highview-farm.com

Kitchen table consultantskeeping small farms and food businesses

financially sustainable

www.kitchentableconsultants.com 610-324-6973

HMS Exclusive Variety Just one of over 600 certified organic varieties

of vegetables, herbs and flowers.

To request a free catalog, visit www.highmowingseeds.com or call 802.472.6174

Sunkist F1 tomato

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