Jeannie Williams wants you to know where your food comes from. And that's not all. The owner/operator of a community garden in north Hanford wants you to know the nutrient density, the growing technique and exactly what kind of fertilizers were added to the soil.
She wants you to learn a lot more about your food than you do by shoveling it into a shopping cart at the grocery store.
Personalized agriculture is the name of the game at Genesis Organic Farm, the three-acre co-op experiment she started last year on a 10-acre spread in north Hanford.
At first glance, it doesn't look like a cornucopia of organically-grown carrots, onions, potatoes, beans, squash, watermelon, cantaloupe and several other specialties.
The approach is down a gravelly road surrounded by dry, dusty fields of dirt. But then you spot a well, a "fertigation" tank and -- voila -- there's row after row of goodies sprouting in the soil.
The whole idea began as a backyard garden and grew into the idea of a co-op/community garden, where people enroll as members and get the opportunity to come pick what Williams calls "organic, nutrient dense produce."
There are organic products available in supermarkets, of course, but Williams is taking it a step further by mixing nutrients in a "fertigation" tank and sending the dissolved mixture into the soil via drip lines.
The result is produce that, according to Williams, has three or four times the nutritional value of conventionally produced food available at supermarkets.
And Williams is keen on the idea of her customers harvesting their own food.
"I think everybody should pull a carrot out of the ground," she said.
The whole operation is a bit of a shift for a woman who, a decade ago, was making patterns for clothing sold at Old Navy and the Gap.
Williams' interest in organic produce grew out of concern for her own children. She said she got tired of buying nutritional supplements.
Then she realized that, with 10 acres at her disposal, she could get others involved.
As Williams got into the idea of turning her backyard garden into a co-op, she ran into Mark Nakata, one of the founders of Beyond Organix, a Fresno-based company that advises growers who have gone organic or are in the process of doing so.
Going organic involves many changes compared to conventional agriculture. The most significant change is that farmers can no longer add artificial fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides.
"We want to grow products that are nutrient dense," said Nakata, adding that he thinks Americans "really are doing a very poor job of nutrition."
"What we've done is simply arm (Williams) with the information she needs to do a good job. I think that's reflected in the quality of her food," Nakata said.
Whole families have gotten involved in Williams' little enterprise.
Some homeschooling families in her church got their kids working in Williams' garden as an enrichment exercise, and it took off from there.
Several rows of crops in Williams' farm are "rented" by families for $50 a month. The families harvest all the produce from their own row, Williams said.
Dianne Brown, her husband Dave and daughter Amanda are one such family. Brown found out about Genesis Organic Farm through some homeschooling connections.
Now the Brown family harvests a dozen kinds of produce. If they can't eat it all, they'll process the rest and freeze it or give it away, Brown said.
The Brown row currently meets 60 percent to 70 percent of the family's food intake, Brown said.
Brown swears by the food's nutritional value. She said her family used to pop a lot of pharmaceuticals, but is off of them now.
"Actually, (it's) kind of like the old days, before you had to eat three apples to equal the nutrient value of one apple," Brown said.
Williams calls the rent-a-row part of her farm the "Discovery Garden." Because the process involves everything from planting to harvest, the next available rows won't open up until next spring, she said.
But this summer, anybody can walk into the public portion of the farm and buy gleaming vegetables "at prices below grocery store prices," Williams said.
"I could make more money probably working at McDonald's, but it's not about the money. There are a lot of people who aren't getting proper nutrition," she said.
Interested in organic farming?
Jeannie Williams, Genesis Organic Farm, 410-3607
E-mail:
jeannie@genesisorganicfarm.com.
The reporter can be reached at 583-2432
(July 18, 2008)
