A Day at the Poughkeepsie Farm Project
Posted 08/21/2010
On Tuesday, I had the pleasure of heading upstate to visit the Poughkeepsie Farm Project located on the Vassar Ecological Preserve in Poughkeepsie, NY. Heading up the winding highway you can’t help but notice the change from the big city to the mountains, valleys, and small town charm you encounter when you head up that way. Only about an hour and a half from Manhattan, the Poughkeepsie Farm Project is home to 10 acres of beautiful sprawling farmland.
PFP has a threefold mission: naturally grown CSA, food justice, and education.
PFP has a threefold mission: naturally grown CSA, food justice, and education.
The farm is based in community supported agriculture. They run a CSA in which shareholders can pick from an assortment of food (rather than an allotment system). There is also an opportunity to wander the fields to pick your own fruits and vegetables. They have everything from a variety of tomatoes to peppers to blueberries to kale. They even grow things like medicinal herbs, and they raise seeds. As a certified naturally grown farm, you can rest assured that your food has not been treated with any chemicals that are harmful to you or the environment. PFP also uses measures such as keeping bees to naturally pollinate and using protective cloths over young plants instead of chemicals to prevent insects and animals from disturbing them.
The majority of the food grown and harvested goes to the CSA members. But a portion of the food is made available to low-income families through a farmers market PFP runs where these people can pay with food stamps or other subsidized food programs. Another portion of the food is donated to emergency food places like soup kitchens. The goal is to make healthy food available to all people.
Everyone at Poughkeepsie Farm Project also wants to share their passion for farming with people in the community. Education is a big part of their mission. They run programs with schools, camps, and other youth groups to encourage healthy eating, the importance of agriculture, and sustainability. They have volunteer work hours where people can come and work on the farm, as well as community events discussing the politics of agriculture and food.
To paraphrase Irene Shen, one of the interns I talked to at the farm, by visiting the farm weekly and getting to know the farmers and the farm, people come to understand the growing process. This means that people realize when they get things locally and seasonally, they must come to terms with the fact that they can’t get everything they desire. But they’ll also be more understanding if there are problems with the crops such as low output due to drought or insect infestation.
Poughkeepsie Farm Project keeps the big goal in mind: providing healthy, affordable produce for all and changing the future of food one lesson at a time.
For more on the Poughkeepsie Farm Project, check out their website at www.farmproject.org.
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