Five Questions for: Island Grown Initiative

There are 28 local farms on Martha's Vineyard, and Island Grown Initiative is a grassroots non-profit working to support local food and farming on the island. Martha's Vineyard has quite an agricultural heritage and people like Ali Berlow, our interviewee today, are working hard to keep the growing traditions alive. IGI provides both infrastructure and support to the farmers and helps to educate consumers about the importance of buying local.

1) Your organization has been working hard to promote the farms of the Vineyard. Are the local farms seeing any increase in participation by the community, whether through buying local food or other means?

IGI’s in its 5th year now! It’s always been remarkable how the smallest steps can make big impacts, like the mobile poultry processing trailer, school gardens and an observation hive, for example... and yes, to answer your question - I’ve heard that as a result of our Island Grown School program, which is farm-to-school – that kids who have eaten butternut squash from local farms, drag their parents into the farm stands and farmers’ markets looking for more squash!

We’ve also collaborated with the Sowing Circle – a group of women farmer activists – to start a gleaning programs. Volunteer gleaners are mobilized to harvest crops that would otherwise go unpicked, for lots of good reasons. So you have high school students, farmers and community members working in fields, harvesting crops and delivering them to school cafeterias, elderly housing, elder centers and even the jail.

2) Can islanders buy local produce in the winter time?

Yes! There’s a new winter farmers’ market which has been widely successful, held inside at the West Tisbury Agricultural Hall. And you can also find raw milk, meat and eggs year round from farmers and the local grocery stores. Cronig’s and Tisbury Farm Market, for example, do their best to source local eggs and produce. Scottish Bakehouse does the same, year round, they just don’t always label their menu as such - it would get to complicated!

3) What is the biggest problem facing our local farms in 2010 and what can we do to help?

Buying local produce, meat, milk, eggs, keep them in business. If you don’t see it on a menu, or a grocery shelf, ask for local, where ever you are.

Down the pike, we see food safety legislation a potentially big issue for small family farmers. Taking part in action alerts, being willing to call senators, writing a letter even, will be important as we prepare for the Farm Bill in ’12.

Also, support the Right To Farm bylaw that’s coming town by town.

4) If I have visitors coming to the island this summer, can I take them to any farms to see what goes on there?

There are two educational farms on MV – The FARM Institute in Edgartown and Native Earth Teaching Farm in Chilmark. And some farms have farmstands, open to the public like Morning Glory, Mermaid Farm (raw milk and produce), Allen Farm (meat, wool), the Whippoorwill CSA is a great to join – every week you pick up your share, you get to be on a working farm! [And The FARM Institute now has a produce CSA and a meat CSA - E.]

5) We're looking for some good books to read about farming and local food. Any recommendations to help us while away these chilly evenings?

For movies – see Food Inc., and/or Fresh.

For books – The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Mealsis a classic, by Michael Pollan. As is his The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World.

Morning Glory Farm, and the Family that Feeds an Islandis veritable eye-candy for the cook with great recipes using local produce. Temple Grandin’s Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals– she talks about the interactions of farm animals and pets with people.

101cookbooks.com is a lovely food/cooking recipe blog by Heidi Swanson

I’ve been going back to Thoreau’s Walden, and Changes in the Land, Revised Edition: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New Englandby William Cronon, thinking about landscape, environment and our impact.

And if you want something more political in the arena of the “local food movement” (I dislike the word ‘movement’ – and the word locavore) Just Food: Where Locavores Get It Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Responsiblyby James McWilliams is provocative.


Thanks, Ali, for some great food for thought! That last book in particular is going on my reading list. And if you don't live on Martha's Vineyard, farmers everywhere could use your support - check out your local produce options. And if you live on or are visiting the island, check out Island Grown Initiative's website to find the latest about our farms.

(Thanks also to Randi Baird, who took that great photo above!)

Stay tuned for the next Five Questions business, as we help small businesses get the word out in 2010!