Why Contribute to Winkelman Farm?

I was recently asked to set up a table to display Winkelman Farm at a charity bazaar in Switzerland. The point of the Bazaar is to raise awareness and fundraise for charities. I was asked to join because friends presenting at the Bazaar know that I also support Winkelman Farm.  I instinctively hesitated to participate because our cause of farmland conservation in Western New York State pales next to the other causes:  schools and orphanages in developing countries. 

Charity is about helping those in need, so Winkelman Farm is there to address a need in Western New York to keep farmland in farming.  Winkelman Farm is also about justice, that is, fair play and equity.  Is it fair that the farmer who takes care of the open spaces we all enjoy is not compensated for that service?  By “farmer” I mean the small family farmer that treats the land as the inheritance of her children.    This farmer stretches pennies to keep things working, to provide food for our tables, to ensure that crops are rotated for our drive-by viewing pleasure, and to conserve the spaces for wildlife to thrive in our watersheds and wooded areas.

In this case, charity is righting a wrong: it is an injustice that the people that work their backs off to feed us cannot afford to keep the land that we enjoy, open over generations.  They are not in a position, in their retiring years, to make gifts - even tax-deductible ones - to the public of scenic fields and forested land.  We, the public, do not pay enough for our food to give them this luxury, even as our food is transported further and further from the field to our tables.

Winkelman Farm addresses this injustice by using charitable funds to purchase conservation easements on farmland so that retiring farmers can comfortably hand the land down to their children, or sell it to another farmer, so that the land produces benefits for all of us forever.

So, no, I will not present Winkelman Farm at the charity Bazaar in Switzerland.  I will go and support the children who need help in Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Nepal and South Africa.  At the same time, I will continue to support Winkelman Farm because I believe that farming communities are important to our children’s future in Western New York.

 

 

I had to share this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21j_OCNLuYg

Jon is a farmer from northeastern Thailand. He founded the Pun Pun Center for Self-reliance, an organic farm outside Chiang Mai, with his wife Peggy Reents in 2003. Pun Pun doubles as a center for sustainable living and seed production, aiming to bring indigenous and rare seeds back into use. It regularly hosts training on simple techniques to live more sustainably. Outside of Pun Pun, Jon is a leader in bringing the natural building movement to Thailand, appearing as a spokesperson on dozens of publications and TV programs for the past 10 years. He continually strives to find easier ways for people to fulfill their basic needs. For more information visit http://www.punpunthailand.org

Our current project is 55 acres in Boston, NY. Have a look.

https://www.facebook.com/BuffaloNiagara/photos/pb.108283242531334.-2207520000.1440469746./1041324869227162/?type=3&theater

Eden

See what's happening just around the corner in Eden:


http://wnylc.org/land-protection/current-projects/eden-farmland-protection-program/

Response to Azaelia Banks' Hatred toward Farmers

Today it was reported that hip-hop performer Azealia Banks made a comment about "conservatives who live on their farms."  (I omit the “racist,”“white,” and “fat,” labels to make a simple point about the ill-informed use of “farms”.) Clearly, she was trying to paint mid-America with a broad brush.  Fine:  fight stereotypes with more stereotypes, but don't fight ignorance with ignorance.  Ms. Banks is obviously an intelligent and fearless woman who stands up to bigotry, albeit with language that is a bit offensive to the Midwestern mindset that she so flippantly calls “fat.”  If I am right about her intelligence, then she should appreciate a little edification on the farm-front.

First, farmers span the entire United States and cannot, despite urban sprawl, be so effortlessly shoved to the category of the “fat” of the “middle” of America.  Farmers are a vital part of America’s food system and the more we push them to the middle, the more our food will cost and the less healthy it will be.

Second, farmers are people too: just people.  Farmers cannot be painted into a corner of one political stripe or another.  If you were choosing paint samples, you’d be better off sticking to the red/blue map of party affiliation.  Geography has more to do with political beliefs than profession and (see the first point) farmers are everywhere (including rooftops in New York City).

Third, Banks is entirely correct that farmers LIVE on their farms, though the insinuation seemed less than complimentary.  Certainly, sitting casually is the last thing they do before going to bed at night, if you don’t count the hours sitting on a tractor or the proverbial milking stool.  Farmers are up before dawn, eat lunch in the field, and often take dinner after dark.  What we may not know is that they grab a few Z’s before evening chores so that they can stay awake to chop corn in the headlights of the combine long after dinner.  I can assure you that there is nothing in between the alarm going off and the alarm being set that is not LIVING.  Farmers experience life and death at regular intervals and have hours surrounded by the glory of nature to reflect on it. If anyone knows how to appreciate every hour he or she is given to live, it’s a farmer.

Finally, Azaelia Banks might take note of this post.  Perhaps we should all take note of her other points:  as a nation, we carry a weight per person that is disproportionate to our individual contributions; personal inflexible views about other people hinder the exchange of ideas for the greater good; and extremism crowds out all compassion.

More from NPR: farming is a labor of love

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/05/07/310399100/for-many-farming-is-a-labor-of-love-not-a-living

An Excerpt from the Winkelman Farm Baseline Report:

"Forest occurs on approx. 29.5 ac, or 26% of the Winkelman Farm.  The forest type consists of Mixed Northern Hardwoods, including the species of Sugar Maple, Black Cherry, Beech, Ash, Birch, and Hemlock.  The forested areas of the Winkelman Farm contribute to several conservation values.  This forest lies within the 18 Mile Creek watershed and helps to regulated hydrologic output through dispersion and filtration of surface water and precipitation and the forest cover keeps stream water temperatures low which is beneficial to aquatic life.   Wildlife habitat is created by the presence of the forest.  Animals seek shelter in the forest and forage or hunt for food that occurs there.  Beech nuts produced in the forest provide fat and protein rich mast and the Black Cherry trees produce fruit that is consumed by many species of wildlife.  The hemlock trees provide shelter from cold and wind during the winter months, and are a roosting site for many species of birds.  As the forest grows it is acting as a carbon sink accumulating carbon in the tissues of the trees through the process of photosynthesis, producing wood fiber that can be converted to valuable wood products. Periodic tending and thinning of forest stands generates the forest products which can then be turned into veneer, lumber, furniture, paper, and other commodities used by society. The forest also contributes to the scenic beauty of the area, provides recreational opportunity, and open, undeveloped space."  Dec. 2011