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News from Chris Phillips |
| Overview |
Fiacre Gardens Microfarm is a small, multi-campus organic farm in the Rochester NY area, and a small Catholic Worker agronomic university inspired by the teachings of Peter Maurin. We are associated with 2 CW communities -- the St. Joseph’s House of Hospitality, and Bethany House, both in Rochester. The hope is to build the microfarm business to the point that it can sustain a small intentional community of PRAYING FARMERS in a simple lifestyle with a healthily-balanced routine. That community would set out to grow enough surplus food to help our sister CW Houses, their guests, suburban food pantries, and other inner city meal programs enjoy local produce in a sustainable fashion. Beyond farming there is an emphasis on work & prayer, daily offices, and ongoing awareness practice. There is morning or evening prayer, or both, on a regular basis. We are considering ways to open up the house to share this routine with anyone from the community. The farmer and a few volunteers keep an ongoing discussion about our spiritual life and incorporating ceaseless prayer into the farm work. The farmer is Chris Phillips. The microfarm grows vegetables, herbs, teas, cutflowers, berries and tree fruit for a fluctuating group of about 30 households. Some are members of a CSA, others buy retail, and still others barter volunteer work for produce. We operate 12 months a year by growing winter greens under protection and by root cellaring. Without the means to buy land, Chris has made barter arrangements for garden space with supporters, and coordinates farm business and distribution from his house in the city. This is the location of the future residential community. Chris also adopts orchard trees in peoples’ backyards, over 30 to date. The microfarm team prunes and cares for the trees. In exchange the farm community receives a portion of the yield. We get together for a monthly study group on Peter Maurin and the Green Revolution. This year we will undertake our first few cooperative educational events on local food sufficiency – e.g. canning, pickling, cheese-making, making tofu, baking bread with fresh ground local grain, . . . The potential in this area is infinite, and the interest is strong amongst the microfarm's consumers and friends. We have begun brainstorming free local food cooking classes for the neighborhood guests of the soup kitchen, “Slow Food at Saint Joe's” with Peg Gefell, the chef at Savory Thyme Catering. We intend to hold First Monday Organic Farming Video Nights for social time and agronomic training. In all this we feel that we are embodying important aspects of Peter Maurin's vision for agronomic universities. The Ag U curriculum is broad. It pertains to all of us on the planet today. The challenges of the work are great, and its joys are many. The learning curve is infinite. But we can be thankful that the Entire Work is not up to us. We must simply fall in with the Great Teacher, abandoning our selves to God on a regular basis, and recommitting our work each day.
For more information contact Jo-Anne Wilson, 585-427-7711, |
We are in the midst of our 2nd annual Winter CSA. That stands for Community Supported Agriculture – a great new model of farming which is bringing farmers and consumers together across the nation to grow and share healthy, local produce, cooperatively. The Winter CSA runs twice a month from October through May. This year we have 6 members who receive almost 100 different kinds of winter greens, root crops, squashes, herbs, teas, and soup beans. These crops come fresh from the hoophouse (which is like a plastic greenhouse) and root cellar, or from beneath deep layers of straw mulch at one of the gardens in Rochester, Rush or Greece. And they come from summer crops we have dried and stored. I am taking registrations for next winter’s CSA now.
I’m on the prowl for more “adopted” trees for our virtual orchard. We give pruning and organic care to yard trees which people can’t keep up with. Owners get first choice of the improved harvest, and the remainder joins the pool of produce headed for consumer members of the Microfarm. We need to find more stone fruits – Peaches, Plums, Apricots, Cherries – as well as Quinces, Green Apples, late bearing Apples and Pears with good keeping qualities. Grapes and Berries are also an option.
As the Gift Garden grows larger we will be looking for volunteers to help pick and wash the Carrots, and to deliver them to the partner programs. We also hope to find volunteers with basement or garage space to offer for root cellaring the Carrots in very cool, moist conditions. This could extend the giving through the entire winter.