The magazine of Peter Gillhams Natural Vitality

JULYAUG 2009JULYAUG 2009

ConnectionsOrganic

Daniella ChaceNutrition as Therapy

Stephanie VanceGetting Heard in Washington

Quillisascut Farm SchoolConnecting Field and Table

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In this issue

Life isnt always neat. Just ask any parents with young children. But theres nothing inherently wrong with that. Nature doesnt come in just one size or one color. Neither do people. English poet William Cowper once said, Varietys the very

spice of life. Do we want to revel in natures bounty or see Earth become one giant clean room?

Weve been heading down the clean-room path for many years. The supermarket brought us widely distributed produce. The trade-off was limited variety, chemical sprays and lack of taste. If our health suffered due to nutrient loss and highly processed foods, the doctor and drugstore were close by to give us a chemical prescription for our pains. But apparently thats not enough. We are now facing genetically engineered and irradiated foods grown from genetically engineered seeds on farms worked by machines and agri-industry farmers.

What will our collective future be? Will man or machines (and those who run them) have the upper hand?

At halftime, it seems the game could go either way. A large percentage of the population are dutifully watching their TV news and taking prescription medications. On the other hand, boutique wineries and artisan cheeses are increasing in popularity, farmers markets are appearing in more and more cities, sales of natural and organic products continue to grow, and people are turning to

alternative natural health practitioners in greater numbers than ever.Who wins pretty much depends on which side is more deter-

mined and invests more energy. Certainly the chemical, agricultural and pharmaceutical industries are putting in overtime (the pharma-ceutical industry alone has about 2,500 lobbyists working Capitol Hill). Back in 1994, a million citizens bombarded Congress with communications to secure the passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA). This secured our free access to vitamins and minerals. Congress stated that there may be a positive relationship between sound dietary practice and good health, and that, although further scientific research is needed, there may be a connection between dietary supplement use, reduced health-care expenses, and disease prevention.

Fifteen years later, DSHEA is under attack with media articles appearing almost every day. Appropriately, in this issue, we feature citizen advocate Stephanie Vance with data about how to get your voice heard in Washington, DC. The world we and our children will live in will be determined by what we do now.

Ken Whitmanpublisher

Celebrate diversity ormandate uniformity?

4 Daniella ChaceNutrition therapist and author Daniella Chace looks at the nutritional challenges facing us, talks about her Nutritionist Approved program, and offers some healthy recipes.

7 Stephanie Vance The Advocacy Guru, Stephanie Vance, gives surprising insights into how the legislative branch works, along with practical tips on how you can make your voice heard on Capitol Hill.

Quillisascut Farm Lora Lea Misterly, co-founder of the Quillisascut Farm School of the Domestic Arts in Washington State, has a mission to connect field to table and does this by bringing chefs, students, nutritionists and others out to the farm for education, hands-on farm work, cooking and, of course, eating.

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Organic Connections is published by Peter Gillhams Natural Vitality

2530 N. Ontario Street, Burbank, CA 91504-2512

Editorial Office 323.664.1755 www.petergillham.com

For a free e-subscription, visit www.organicconnectmag.com.

A portion of the profits from the sale of

Natural Calm and Organic Life Vitamins goes to our

Natural Revitalization environmental action initiative

addressing global warming, which helps fund

Conservation International (www.conservation.org) andRemineralize the Earth (www.remineralize.org).

organic |r ganik|

denoting a relation between elements of something such that they fit together harmoniously as necessary parts of a whole: the organic unity of the integral work of art characterized by continuous or natural develop-ment: companies expand as much by acquisition as by organic growth.

11

Statements made in this magazine have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Products mentioned are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. 2009 Peter Gillhams Natural Vitality. All rights reserved.

7

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4 or g a n i c c o n n e c t i o n s

Nutrition therapist Daniella Chace brings considerable expertise to the tableboth literally and figuratively. A masters degree from the esteemed Bastyr University in Seattle, Washington, has been followed by 13 years of clinical experience. She has specialized in medical nutrition and coun-seling for a wide range of health conditions including cancer, diabetes, heart disease, eat-ing disorders, parasitic and fungal infections, hormonal imbalances, metal and chemical toxicity, weight loss, digestive disorders, food allergies, autoimmune disease and age-related degenerative conditions.

She hit the best-seller lists in 1998 with her book Smoothies for Life, co-authored with Maureen Keane, and followed it up in 2007 with More Smoothies for Life. Those delicious concoctions were created initially by Chace for cancer patients at the Cancer

Treatment Centers of Americas facility in Seattle, Washington, when she was looking for a way to increase protein, antioxidants, minerals and essential fatty acids in the patients diets before and after treatment. Many of them had lost their appetites or had mouth sores, which prevented chew-ing, and smoothies provided the perfect vehicle for the nutrients they needed.

Daniella Chace is the author of numer-ous other books addressing specific health

issues with nutrition, and she has two moreThe Xeno Diet and The Nutrition Minute: Grocery Guide for Your Optimal Healthscheduled for release this year.

Along with the extensive range of her many activities, Chace continues to formulate ad-ditional smoothie recipesand in fact has just created several for the new products from Peter Gillhams Natural Vitality, NutraRev!and Osteo Calm (see page 6).

Finding Specific Nutrition

If youve ever been working your way through a health food store wondering how particular items might help you, or perhaps even what they are, you may find Daniella Chaces new program of interest. Not long ago, seeing the need for consumers to fully understand what types of food would best assist them with various health issues, she decided to put the considerable research she had amassed to work on a broad scale and launched a program called Nutrition-ist Approved, Inc. (NAI). The goal of NAI is to empower people to improve their health with science-based nutrition infor-mation, she told Organic Connections. We position easy-to-understand, science-based point-of-sale interventions near appropriate food items where they are likely to influence healthy purchasing behaviors.

Chace decided to provide a service to health food markets by which vital

nutritional information was placed on shelf talkers (signs located beneath specific items on shelves) so that shoppers would know which products provide what benefits. The NAI shelf talkers, called NutriSigns, cover every department in the store, including whole foods (produce, bulk items, meat, seafood and dairy), wellness products, natural cosmetics, supplements and envi-ronmentally friendly cleaning and paper products. For example, a NutriSign placed

in a wine section reads, Wine tannins fight viruses. Tannins found in grapes and wine have been shown to have antiviral effects. Another, posted on the yogurt case, states yogurts benefits in helping combat GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease).

The information on these NutriSigns is de-rived from a comprehensive database of sci-entific research collected worldwide, known as the NAI Nutrition Knowledge Stream.

Retailers such as grocery stores purchase the NutriSigns for their stores because they help answer shoppers questions and assist consumers in identifying which whole foods, food products and supplements meet their individual needs, said Chace. Nutrition information placed at the point of purchase dramatically increases the sale of the prod-uct it addresses. Retailers benefit, as their sales increase, and shoppers benefit, as they receive free nutritional information in the form of prevention and nutrition therapy.

As part of the program, Chace is this year publishing The Nutrition Minute: Grocery Guide for Your Optimal Health, an A to Z reference for shoppers, organized by health condition, to give them access to many of the studies and dietary recommendations that are used to create NutriSigns.

Nutritional Challenges

Daniella Chaces second book scheduled for release this year is entitled The Xeno

Diet. This book covers food politics, genetics and nutrition, she explained. It is primarily bringing awareness to the sci-ence of epigenetics [the study of influences on genes caused by environmental or other factors not part of the underlying natural genetic structure] and includes a prescrip-tion for using this information to increase health, improve energy and support weight loss. Our food contains countless bioac-tive substances, many of which are new to

N Daniella Chace Nutrition as Therapy

ONE THING WE DO KNOW IS THAT bETWEEN 1994 AND 2000, THE SAmE TImE GM foods

FlOODED THE mArKET, allerGic reacTioNs More ThaN doubled.

Daniella Chace Nutrition as Therapy

nature, which provide unique information or messaging that is translated to the cell through complex biochemistry, leading to alteration of gene expression and thereby altering the cells function in response to the message. Some of these food-derived messages are beneficial to our health, while others are detrimental.

Modern industrial farming, as well as food manufacturing practices, has intro-duced new-to-nature molecules, examples of which are high-fructose corn syrup, unusual fat profiles in livestock and farmed fish, preservatives, artificial colors and sweeteners, genetically modified foods and much more. These molecules invariably send food-derived messages that are nega-tively altering our cellular signaling sys-tems, and the resulting epigenetic changes represent the origin of many of todays preventable diseases.

One area of new bioactive substances that Chace is particularly concerned about deals with genetically modified produce, known in scientific circles as GMOs (genetically modified organisms). In my opinion, ge-netically engineering food crops, and now animal food, is a brazen and irresponsible move in consideration of negligent lack of real safety testing, said Chace. Genetically modified or genetically engineered fruits and vegetables grown for human consump-tion are big business on an insidious world-wide scale. Backers of genetic modification believe it to be the only viable way to feed a growing global population without deplet-ing natural resources. Critics of GM farm-ingand I am one of themconsider it eco-tampering and a threat to biodiversity.

It is important to keep in mind that most countries of the world have been much more cautious and have not allowed this kind of broad control of the food supply to be given over to corporations. We now know that genetically modifying foods is not an exact science and that we end up with unexpected effects; the two greatest we have sustained from this experiment have been the loss of nutritional value and the increase of chemical residue in the foods.

6 or g a n i c c o n n e c t i o n s

No one knows the full extent of what can or will happen when GM fruits and vegetables are consumed for several years or generations. One thing we do know is that between 1994 and 2000, the same time GM foods flooded the market, allergic reactions more than doubled. Specialists are reporting a significant rise in the number of patients suffering from multiple food allergies.

Another nutritional challenge that Chace is addressing deals with the need for supplements due to the loss of trace miner-als and nutritional value in our food today.

According to recent research, the average vegetable in the US supermarket is any-where from 5 to 40 percent lower in miner-als, such as magnesium, iron, calcium and zinc, than those harvested 50 years ago, she stated. This loss of nutrients is due to

genetic dilution from selective breeding to increase crop yield, resulting in the disap-pearance of traits such as amino-acid and mineral levels. Secondarily, commercial agricultural methods, which include a dependence on agricultural chemicals and improper land management, have led to nutritionally depleted soil.

To make up the difference, she advocates the use of supplementsbut is quite choosy in those she recommends. I use only a small handful of products in my office that I learned to trust while I was interning at both the Bastyr Center for Natural Health and the Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center in Seattle, as well as in my private practice, said Chace. I really pay attention to feedback from clients when I send them home with supplements, to be sure they are

getting long-term benefits. In addition, I rely on lab results, looking at lab work be-fore and after mineral supplementation, to verify that my clients are at optimal levels.

Continuing Excellent Work

Daniella Chace continues her research, writ-ing, consulting and clinical practice in the direction of helping us all to be aware of how specific foods can assist us in living healthier lives. In a world rife with chemically treated crops and genetic modification, the time has certainly never been better!

To find out more about her work, visit her personal website at www.daniellachace.com. For more information on NAI programs, please visit www.nutritionistapproved.biz.

Lemon Drop (serves 1)

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Electrolytes are minerals that are essential to carry electrical currents in the body to keep our physio- logical functions going. When we are low in these mineralscalcium, magnesium, potassium and sodiumwe can become fatigued, have irregular heartbeats, feel depressed and experience muscle weakness. Replacing these minerals corrects the problem instantly, giving us more energy.

Cherry Icy (serves 2)

Use your favorite dark berries in this recipe, as they are all delicious.1 cup ice1 cup sparkling water2 cups frozen dark cherries1 tsp sweetener1 Tbs cherry juice concentrate1 capful NuTrarev!

Watermelon Pomegranate (serves 2)

This juicy icy is sweet and just a little tart.1 cup ice1 cup seedless watermelon1 cup sparkling water cup pomegranate juice1 tsp electrolyte powder1 capful OrgaNIC LIfe vITamINs

Breakfast Blend (serves 1)

This classic combination is a favorite daily smoothie to support the immune system.1 cup milk cup orange juice1 frozen peeled banana cup cottage cheese1 tsp honey (optional)1 capful OrgaNIC LIfe vITamINs

Even if you dont love cottage cheese, try it in smoothies. Its high in protein and low in calories and so creamy that it is hard to detect once blended.

smoothie recipes by Daniella Chace

As weve experienced with the current economic crisis, what happens in Wash-ington can have a very real effect on our personal lives. Along with the economy, there are many other critical issues involving health, farming practices and the environment that are currently on the table in the nations capital. How are we

as individuals, or small interest groups, to play a role in determining our fate, with the pharmaceutical industry, for example, maintaining a stable of about 2,500 lob-byists to push their interests? Fortunately for us, as citizens, we have a voice that can be heard over the money and influence of giant corporations. To learn more about how things actually run on Capitol Hill, we turned to an expert.

Stephanie Vance, known in Washington, DC, as the Advocacy Guru, began her career working for various members of Congressand what she saw during this time caused a change in her career path. While I was working on Capitol Hill for different mem-bers of Congress, I had many people come

advocate at me badly, Vance told Organic

Connections. People would come into our office and it was clear that they didnt really understand the power they had as constitu-ents. I realized that someone needed to tell them how to do this, and if I did, they might get more of what they wanted out of govern-ment and everybody would be happy. That was really my inspiration.

Vance began by publishing a book in 1999 entitled Government by the People: How to

Communicate with Congress. She then started assisting individuals and groups through seminars and training on working the advo-cacy system in Washington. Her assistance is now some of the most sought after in the capital, and she has also just released a new bookCitizens in Action: A Guide to Influ-encing Government. She recently sat down

with Organic Connections to provide some advice on dealing with our political system.

A Day in the Life

A congressional office is an intensely busy place. A members day usually begins around seven or eight oclock in the morning with a breakfast meeting or event. At 8:30 or 9:00 the office staff gather to look over the votes

Stephanie Vance Getting Heard in Washington

o r g a n i c c o n n e c t i o n s 7

AS SOrT OF A New TreNd IN WASHINGTON, DC, Grass-rooTs adVocacy IS

ACTuAlly More Powerful ThaN direcT lobbyiNG.

A

8 or g a n i c c o n n e c t i o n s

that will be on the floor that day and decide what recommendations they should make to the member about these votes. At 10:00 there are usually two or three different hearings for members to attend and there might be four or more bills being debated. Throughout the day, there are many other types of meetings that both members and staff must make, includ-ing luncheons, and members must also be in attendance on the floor of Congress in order to do their jobs.

I would say every hour there are probably about 5, 10, 15, sometimes even 20, different demands on a congresspersons time, Vance stated. There was a time when I was work-ing on the Hill that my boss said hed received 50 requests for constituent meetings on one particular day. I had another office just tell me lately that they had 200 requests in for the day. Its always non-stop busy, and in the midst of it all they have to go down to the floor to vote. Its pretty chaotic all day long.

So, given those kinds of statistics, can we really be heard? Do petitions really work? What happens when you e-mail your senator? Would a personal visit really be worthwhile?

The answers to these questions become clear in understanding communication priorities within those offices. It is frus-trating when people think they cant make a difference, because they really can, said Vance. While Congress on average receives well over 500 million e-mails per year, there is actually a sort of triage system they utilize that is to your advantage.

The first level of separation of communi-cation comes with isolating those e-mails or letters that emanate from the members

district or statethat is, from that members constituents. Traffic not from constituents gets forwarded to the proper elected officials. For that reason, Vance always advises only to communicate with officials to whom you are relevant.

Next sorted out are form communications. For example, a website is set up by a special interest group that allows one to simply click and send a pre-written e-mail to an elected official, with a form message. While those are received by the offices, they are not given the same priority as personal communications.

Which then brings us to the most impor-tant type of message you can send. The ones that really rise to the top are those personal-ized communications that tell a story about how a particular federal or state policy will impact the person who is writing, Vance said.

When you are part of the members constitu-ency and are asking for something specific that that person can do, its actually going to capture the legislators attention.

What about petitions, then? I dont want to tell people not to do things like petitions or form e-mails, because I do want people to be communicating, Vance said. However, if they want to be most effective, they can sign a petition but they should really follow it up with a personalized communication. Ive seen several examples where just three letters or three phone calls from individuals in the dis-trict who have real stories about something that impacts them have inspired a legislator to introduce legislation, to co-sponsor a bill, to really get involved in a particular issue. And its those personalized communications that make the difference far more than a peti-tion or form communication.

In this digital age, e-mails are actually more effective than physical letters. Since the anthrax scare of several years ago, all physical mail must be routed through New Jersey to be irradiated and arrives six weeks late. Hence, e-mails or faxes will arrive in a timely fashion and have a chance at making a difference.

And, believe it or not, so will personal visits. While there is tremendous lobbying power in Washington, even a lobbyist has a better chance of being heard by using the constituent touchespecially now. As sort

of a new trend in Washington, DC, grass-roots advocacy is actually more powerful than direct lobbying, Vance remarked. I think direct lobbying is an important component of any government relations campaign; but any good lobbyist will tell you that when they walk into a legislators office they had better have a lot of infor-mation about that legislators district, and they will be far more effective if they can actually bring a real live constituent in with them. In fact, there have been studies from the Congressional Management Foundation

that show that in-person visits from con-stituents are the number one way of influ-encing legislation. So I really believe that grass-roots advocates, individual citizens, have much more power than they recognize.

Of course, such a visit should be very well planned. You may only have five to ten min-utes to get your point across, so you have to be prepared, Vance explained. You have to know what youre asking for and have your personal story prepared, as well as your expla-nation of why youre relevant to the legislator. And I think you also have to make sure that you are ready to do follow-up. Seven minutes in Washington, DC, once a year is really not going to get you that relationship you need to have for a legislator or staff person to be on your side.

Such follow-up consists of getting to know the staff of the congressional mem-ber you are dealing withsomething thats more valuable than you might realize. Its great to shake a congresspersons hand and say hello, but if you want to move forward on your advocacy, get to know the staff, advised Vance. They are the ones who are going to do a lot of the day-to-day legwork. Theyre going to be advising the member of Congress on issues; theyre going to be bringing issues that are affecting the dis-trict to his or her attention. I cant tell you how many times, when I was working as a lobbyist, that we achieved legislative objec-tives without ever having met that member. If members are going to pay attention to anyone who is contacting them on a day-to-day basis, its going to be their own staff. If you can get their staff on your side, then

they almost become mini-lobbyists for you within the offices and they become the ones that are really pushing the issue.

Influencing Government Agencies

Unlike Congress, there are government agen-cies such as the USDA and the FDA that pass regulations and make decisions that arent influenced by voters. Is there a way we can have a compelling effect on them?

Federal agencies arent required in any le-gal or constitutional way to be responsive to

WHEN yOu ArE pArT OF THE mEmbErS coNsTiTueNcy AND ArE ASKING FOr

soMeThiNG sPecific THAT THAT pErSON CAN DO, ITS ACTuAlly GOING TO caPTure

The leGislaTors aTTeNTioN.

individual citizens, said Vance. So, what I suggest is seeing if you can utilize some of the folks in Congress to help you get to the agencies, because the agencies have to be responsible to Congress. Congress determines agency budgets, so agencies are pretty much going to be paying attention to what Congress has to say. If you make a good enough case to your congressional offices, they will be willing to help you in having a meeting with the agency person-nel; or if you have a congressional staff per-son whos really interested in the issue, they might sit down with the agency regulators and talk about the issue. If worst comes to worst and the agencies are running out of control, Congress can always introduce legislation to pull them back. So, while you might want to get involved in the rulemak-ing process at the agencies and respond to any requests for comments, going through your congressional office may have the most impact.

Dealing with the Complexity of Bills

You may have heard how complex congres-sional bills can beand its true. They can be hundreds of pages long and are written in legal language. How could a member of Congress, with such a busy schedule,

possibly be well enough informed to vote on such things?

People tell me that they cant believe their congressman didnt read some 500-page bill, Vance related. I ask them, Have you ever read a bill? The actual bill language reads something like, Take out the semicolon at the end of paragraph 673 of code 2742 and insert the following sentence . If you arent sitting there with the original code and comparing it, it doesnt make any sense. So the staff who are writing the bill, as well as independent counsel, provide summaries of the legislation explaining exactly what the bill does. People in the lobbying community also have lawyers who pore through the bills and compare them to the codes and explain them. That is the material that the members and the staff really need to read, and they do. Reading an entire bill is not a good use of a members time.

In addition to a members overloaded schedule, there are a lot of bills to get through, discuss and vote on. In every session of Congress, there are about 10,000 bills that get introduced and only around 4 to 5 percent of those get passed, Vance explained. So almost 96 percent of the bills dont go anywhere. A lot of people hear those figures and think, Well, geez, that Congress is pretty inefficient! And theyd be right; it is inefficient. But if you actually thought about it, its an institution thats designed to be totally and completely inefficient. The Founding Fathers, when they set it up, were coming off a monarchy that they werent too fond of. They wanted to set up a system of government that didnt simply pass legisla-tion; the stress was primarily on arguing and fighting and deliberating about legislation, which Congress does a really good job with.

The Bottom Line

At the end of the day it is your government and, despite its flaws, was designed to be that way. Following the advice of someone like Stephanie Vance who knows the rocks and shoals can greatly help in getting your issues heard. You can find out more about Stepha-nie and her books, and read her articles, at her website: www.advocacyguru.com. Her books are also available at organicconnectmag.com and many other outlets.

1 0 or g a n i c c o n n e c t i o n s

I rEAlly bElIEvE THAT

Grass-rooTs

adVocaTes,

iNdiVidual ciTizeNs,

HAvE Much More

Power THAN THEy

rECOGNIzE.

We are stardust We are golden

And weve got to get ourselves Back to the garden.

When these high-flown words were penned by Joni Mitchell all the way back in 1969, there was a romantic notion shared by a few that they had to get back to the land and live their lives raising and existing off their own food. At the time it might have been dismissed as a hippie dream; but today, with a close examination of our industrialized food production cycle, what was once impractical may chart the route to our future survival. While society at large has been uninvolved with food creation, soils have been depleted (it is estimated that in the past 100 years, mineral content in the worlds farmland and range soil has decreased by an average of 85 percent), food has lost its nutrition (between 15 and 75 percent), and destructive chemicals used in farming have found their way into water tables.

Fortunately, there are ever growing numbers of concerned consumers, as well as food retailers, distributors and chefs, who are working to bring connection between field and table a little closer to home, knowing that if we dont take a hand in seeing that our own food is wholesomely produced, no one will.

It was this mission that was taken on by Lora Lea Misterly and her husband, Rick, back in the 1990s. Having successfully run their Washington State Quillisascut Farm, providing goats milk cheese to numerous restaurants and outlets throughout the state, they found that while European

chefs had a great understanding of food production and the importance of the connection between the farm and the table, American chefs did not. As we grew with our cheese and with the new chefs that

were coming on line, we realized that newly trained American chefs were frequently disconnected from the earth, Lora Lea Misterly told Organic Connections. We thought it would be great for them if they could have that understanding, and that somebody should come up with a way of

teaching them. Well, usually if you come up with the idea of someone doing something, pretty soon you realize that no one else is doing it and maybe that someone should be you. And thats how our idea of starting the school here on our farm began. We wanted to bring chefs out to the farm, have

them spend some time here and really get to learn how to grow things, find out what goats are like, learn how to make the cheese and how to incorporate all those things into their menus.

Thus began the Misterlys first farm teaching program, Chefs on the Farmand the chefs that visited during those initial programs never forgot them. Four years later, Chef David Blaine of Latah Bistro in Spokane, Washington, is still reaping the rewards. I think the focus for me was that

o r g a n i c c o n n e c t i o n s 1 1

Bringing Conservation into Focus Quillisascut Farm School Connecting Field and Table

WE WANTED TO brING chefs ouT To The farM, HAvE THEm sPeNd soMe TiMe

HErE AND rEAlly GET TO learN how To Grow ThiNGs, FIND OuT WHAT GOATS

ArE lIKE, lEArN HOW TO mAKE THE CHEESE AND HOW TO iNcorPoraTe all Those

ThiNGs iNTo Their MeNus.

by bruce boyers

its not just about where your food comes from, its about how you handle it as well, Blaine told Organic Connections. There are many layers to this system, and that sense of interconnectivity was the biggest thing I got from it. I feel a lot less isolated standing in my kitchen right now. I feel those tendrils of connections to all of the other people that make these plates of food possible.

Since that time, the types of students attending the Quillisascut Farm School of the Domestic Arts have broadened considerably. In addition to chefs, the Misterlys now host courses for new farmers, culinary students, nutritionists and nutritional students, youth groups, high school students, high school culinary arts teachers and family and consumer science teachers, and there is even a weekend for parent-and-child teams. With bunkhouse-style lodging, participants spend several days learning to work the farm hands-on and how to prepare food that has just come from the field or the barnyard. They milk goats, make cheese, help care for farm animals, transplant vegetables, and harvest produce from the gardens. Included in the program are visits to neighboring organic farms to hear presentations about honeybees, grass-fed meats and composting. Then dinner is a time to feast on the bounty of the farm, as students prepare their evening meal from each days labor.

Sustainable Farming

Part of what visitors and students are taught at the farm school is sustainable farming practices. These encompass the raising of healthy crops without poisons, the use of nutritious composts, natural fertilization (in their case, with plentiful goats), and the natural address of weeds.

Lora Lea sums up sustainable farming with an interesting use of modern terminology. I like trying to work within natures operating system. Changing the mindset of the farming that is out there and that has the money and the power is a really big job. So all I can do is my piece to educate people and myself about what is health and what is healthy for the soil,

and look for those farmers who are working on that path as well.

It all begins in the soil, and the area around the Quillisascut Farm has abundant minerals. It still needed more, though. The soil wasnt growing a lot of plants when we first moved here because it required food. When we put compost and bedding on it,

it ate them up quickly. There were plenty of minerals in the soil, but it needed the other side: it needed the fertility; it needed to be fed. Our main solution to this has been raising goats that increase the fertility of the soil, that regenerate the earth.

On the point of weeds, Lora Lea made an interesting suggestion. Some of the weeds in

1 2 or g a n i c c o n n e c t i o n s

WErE AbOuT INDuSTry. WE CrEATE mACHINES TO DO Our jObS. HOW DO WE GO bACK TO

beiNG huMaN WHEN WErE CONSTANTly bEING puSHED TO bE mOrE mACHINE-lIKE?

CrEATING rElATIONSHIpS WITH PeoPle, CrEATING rElATIONSHIpS WITH THE earTh

THOSE ArE WAyS THAT WE CAN prACTICE bEING More huMaNe.

o r g a n i c c o n n e c t i o n s 1 3

our gardens are very delicious, she laughed. Take, for example, dandelions. How many people are out there spraying their yards with herbicides to get rid of dandelions? You could eat all of these plants; then you wouldnt have the problem, and youd be savvy. Youd love your neighbors dandelion crop that is going over to your yard to reseed it, and youd have some fresh greens in the spring that are really nutritious and are actually good to eat. Maybe you just need to learn how to cook them, how to prepare them so that they taste delicious.

Sustainable farming also includes utilizing seeds from crops that have been raised in a healthy manner. I think were in for a

change in the whole seed system, Lora Lea said. The large corporations are buying up the big distribution companies. So, even if youre purchasing from a company that sells seeds to home gardeners, the seeds that you are buying are grown by a farmer but the distribution system is run by a big corporation. I believe the next revolution is really learning how to save our own garden seeds and shared seeds, and looking for people that are growing seed and making that connection ourselves instead of through these other systems. I expect were going to start seeing more models like Seed Savers Exchange. They have many people growing seeds for them in safe conditions.

Why is this important? Its one way to preserve the seeds that we want instead of the seeds that we get. Its also the diversity. Twenty years ago a lot of different seeds were disappearing and we were just getting those industrialized seeds that were being developed for commercial agriculture, even for home gardens. So, whos growing the seed for that delicious tomato? Nobody. Seed Savers Exchange did a marvelous job of the renaissance of heirloom tomatoes, with the abundance of colors and varieties that are now available, getting the message out, and organizing them in a cohesive way so that everybody has access to them.

Lora Lea is also involved with two additional projects to educate others. As part of Slow Food Upper Columbia, she has helped teach people about reconnecting to the land and the delicious rewards that can be had. Periodic potlucks are held, utilizing produce from local gardens, and education is provided at the same time. Contributing to Northwest RAFT (Renewing Americas Food Traditions), she has assisted in bringing back to life local fruits and vegetables that have not been grown since Native American times, forgotten after the advent of commercial food systems. These include huckleberries, choke cherries, elderberries, camus root, Oregon grapes, Inchelium garlic, and the Ozette potato.

From the Farm to the Table

In a sense, Lora Lea wanted to share the fruits of her own upbringing through the Quillisascut Farm School. I was raised on a farm in Leavenworth, Washington, she related. My parents milked cows and sold milk and eggs. My mom made cheese with the summer milk surplus. I remember the taste of fresh curds, real creamed cottage cheese and butter. It is a taste that isnt duplicated in anything found at the local grocer. I learned my love of country living and homemade cheese and country lifestyle right from them.

She never lost that love. After she married, Lora Lea and her new husband started working the land he already owned while looking for more. She had begun making cheese and saw that there could be a market for it. It was all really from the idea that we wanted to be self-sufficient, she said.

Lora Lea eventually found that she wished to bring to others the same satisfaction that she had experiencedor at least to be able to educate them about what it was like.

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People today are very disconnected from the sources of their food, she stated. Theyre not even seeing that there are people behind it. Who are they? What are their lives like? If youve never been on a farm, if youve never participated in any part of growing the food for the table, then everything thats coming into your kitchen has already been processed by somebody elses hands. And people just dont make that connection.

Neither does society at large realize the damage thats been done by the loss of that connection. I think we have this myth that food is cleaner and safer if you get it at the grocery store and its wrapped up in plastic, said Lora Lea. But science is starting to come through and say, Hey, you know, this is not better. It doesnt have higher nutrition. Plastic packaging creates its own condition for bacteria to grow in.

Mounting concern is also developing over genetically modified crops. While European countries refuse to import them, our regula-tory agencies have awarded them generally recognized as safe status, so no labeling is required to alert consumers of what theyre buying. I think genetic modification is scary, Lora Lea remarked. I dont really believe its the answer for the future. We already have naturally genetically modified crops out there that weve ignoredcrops that nature and generations of people who have worked with them have createdwhich achieve these changes in the safe system that we have. Maybe we need to look in a different direc-tion. Were looking to science and universities for those answers, and we have corporations trying to find the answers so that we can have

a marketable product. Instead we should look to some of the peasant farmers around the world who have been growing wheat and grain and corn for centuries and have plants that are drought tolerant.

The news, of course, isnt all bad. Farmers markets are becoming in-creasingly popular and individuals on their own are starting to realize that there is a correlation to be made. I think people are beginning to make that con-nection between the farm and the table with the farmers market movement. The people that are growing their foodthe farmersare ecstatic to have these rela-tionships with those who are buying their food and watching their families grow. Its really about learning each others stories and reconnecting on a human level.

Chefs on the Farmthe Book

After they had been running their school for a time, Rick and Lora Lea found that many who attended wished they could in some way take a bit of the experience home with them. As well, the Misterlys wanted a method by which they could export the experience and interest others in it. These factors resulted in the creation of the book Chefs on the Farm: Recipes and Inspiration from the Quillisascut Farm School of the Domestic Arts. The book describes the seasonal workings of the farm and the experiences of chefs who have attended, and also contains 65 farm-fresh recipes.

Back to the Land

In addition to teaching people from all walks of life about the relationship of the farm to the table, Lora Lea is hoping to help others start their own farms. There are a large number of young people who would like to be involved in farming and are so disconnected that they dont know how to go about it. How do they get land? How do they gain the skills for farming on a diversified farm when even the universities are teaching agribusiness?

You can take a broader look and ask, what would be needed for small farms to feed us?

Actually, it would require recolonizing the countryside with small farmers. So, some of our work is offering introductory farming classes to help people do that.

Our society has industrialized, Lora Lea concluded. Were about industry. We create machines to do our jobs. How do we go back to being human when were constantly being pushed to be more machine-like? Creating relationships with people, creating relationships with the earththose are ways that we can practice being more humane. We really need to get back to more basic kinds of eating, closer to the earth.

Woodstock, by Joni Mitchell, 1969 Siquomb Publishing Corp.

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