Looking for that perfect gift?
Visit our online store to find that "perfect something" that will excite anyone's heart with laughter and glee!!!
There are plenty of items to choose from, including: short and long-sleeved T-shirts (youth and adult sizes), baby onesies and bibs, messenger bags and tote bags, aprons, coffee mugs, and much more!
Please visit our store and help support CEFS!
|
2010 Sponsors
Many thanks to our sponsors of the 2010 Seasons of Sustainable Agriculture workshop series!
Series Sponsor:
SARE
Visionary Sponsor:Braswell Foods
Additional Sponsors:
Sustaining
> Goldsboro Wayne County Travel and Tourism Department
Steward
> AgCarolina Financial > Cook for Good > N.C. Electric Cooperative > N.C. Farm Bureau Federation, Inc.
Guardian > Carolina Farm Credit, ACA > N.C. State Grange
Cultivator
> Wayne County Development Alliance Interested in becoming a CEFS sponsor? Sponsorship opportunities are still available.
Please contact Nancy Creamer at nancy_creamer@ncsu.edu or (919)
515-9447. |
Mission and History of CEFS
The Center for Environmental Farming
Systems develops and promotes food
and farming systems that protect the environment, strengthen local
communities and provide economic opportunities in North Carolina and
beyond.N.C. State University and N.C. A&T
State University established the Center for
Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) with the
N.C. Department of Agriculture at the
Cherry Farm facility near Goldsboro, N.C., in 1994.
These partners work closely with state and federal
agencies, nongovernmental organizations (for
example, Carolina Farm Stewardship Association,
Rural Advancement Foundation International,
Farm Bureau), farmers and citizens to provide
agricultural research, extension and education for
our state. The development of CEFS is a national
model for partnership, innovation and
interdisciplinary cooperation.To learn more about
CEFS, please visit www.cefs.ncsu.edu. |
|
Meet Our Wonderful (and Diverse) 2010 Summer Apprentices
During the off season, we decided to put a greater emphasis
on the apprentice program at the Small Farm Unit in 2010. Part of that emphasis
would be to reintroduce a marketing component that would provide experience for
the apprentices, provide a small income to the SFU and strengthen the fledgling
farmers' markets in the Goldsboro/Wayne County area. In addition to making programmatic
changes, we cast a much wider net to advertise the positions, resulting in a
large pool of very diverse applicants in terms of geography and interest. We
had interest from several continents and, interestingly, three middle-aged applicants.
After a tough selection process, we offered positions to four candidates. In this issue, they introduce themselves.
Left to right: Dylan,
Marisa, Margaret and Bob
Growing
on!
Steve Moore
Small Farm Unit Manager
|
|
Dylan
Atchley,
Missouri
I left St.
Louis after finishing up an AmeriCorps VISTA
position with Catholic Charities. Over the course of that year, I helped
establish after-school gardening programs for their city community
centers.
Before that, I had apprenticed on a small farm in middle Missouri. My
decision to
come to CEFS was another extension toward my aim of gaining the skills
and
experience I feel is needed to successfully begin my own operation and
to help
add to the revitalization of a locally focused community, preferably a
community close to my family.
Things are becoming too disconnected too fast, and by
reconnecting myself to the land and my food I hope to not only satisfy a
personal, innate drive toward wholeness but to also serve as an example
for
others who might wish to do the same. |
Marisa Benzle,
Ohio
Surprising to most
people I have met here at CEFS and in the
agriculture field is the fact that, prior to a year ago, my background
was
purely in the arts. I studied film and the fine arts throughout my
college
years at a small art and design school in downtown Columbus, Ohio. My
younger
upbringing was steeped in the arts as well. My father is a ceramicist,
my
mother has worked in fibers, and my stepfather is a German-style
glassblower.
Growing up, my
only connections to agriculture were the soybean fields growing
behind my house, the vegetable garden in our back yard, and the few
chickens we
kept, that were more like pets than livestock. I first decided to search
for
work in agriculture as a means to improve my skills in the garden.
Wanting to
be more self-sufficient, I figured a summer of working on a farm would
teach me
things I couldn't learn from the gardening books I had read. I took a
job at a
bio-intensive vegetable farm in rural central Ohio in April of 2009 and
was
soon hooked. At the end of that season, I could have chosen to return to
school
in pursuit of a new degree for a new career or continue working on a
production
farm, but I knew I wanted something different.
I decided that if I was truly
going to pursue agriculture, I wanted and needed to be in an environment
where
I would be surrounded by people knowledgeable in the field, have a
mentor who
was open to teaching me everything I was able to absorb, and be in a
hands-on
environment where I could experiment with new techniques and observe the
tried
and true. My parents had all worked in apprentice positions with master
craftsmen, and I longed to experience the same kind of in-depth
education in my
chosen craft. When I discovered CEFS and had my first interview with
Steve
Moore, it soon became clear that the CEFS apprenticeship was the kind of
opportunity I had been dreaming of. The combined experience, practical
skill
sets and academic knowledge at CEFS has far surpassed my expectations
and hopes
of learning from the best. Learning daily on the Small Farm Unit as an
apprentice
is much like being trained in the arts. The challenge of finding harmony
among
the endless variables asks of those working there a great deal of
patience,
creativity and hard work. Luckily, those are just the things I was
looking for
in my CEFS apprenticeship.
|
Margaret
Rossano,
Connecticut
Despite 30
days straight of rain and an outbreak of late
blight, my apprenticeship at a small, organic farm in Maine last year
convinced
me that I wanted to continue learning about organic farming. I was
attracted to
CEFS' combination of research, demonstration and production of food for
people
in the community, and I am especially interested to learn more about
growing in
high tunnels and bio-intensive production. I hope that my experience at
CEFS
will help direct my study of agroecology and food policy in the future. |
|
Bob Pellitier, Eastern North Carolina
Reaching
a body weight of over 400 pounds, I soon realized
that it was not a sustainable lifestyle, and my deteriorating health was
a
testament to that. At the age of 47, "Buffet Bob" as I was
affectionately
known, was practicing the Western art of total body abuse. I was on
multiple medications
for high blood pressure, was a borderline diabetic, and my cholesterol
was off
the charts. I knew by the way I felt, the end was near.
After
much research and good advice from a trusted friend, I
began a journey to reduce my body weight and began to eat the right
foods.
Within one year, I lost half my body weight and corrected my health
collision
course. I now eat mostly raw organic or wild foraged fruits, vegetables,
nuts
and the good grains, beans and rice.
The opportunity to participate as an apprentice
on the CEFS sustainable
organic farm in Goldsboro was the perfect fit to help me learn the
necessary
skills to start an eco-educational farm in Edgecombe County. The
facility will
function as a working, sustainable organic farm to educate area youth.
There is a working partnership with three
other landowners
in Johnston and Orange counties, and we have formed a nonprofit to
expand our
work throughout Eastern North Carolina. Our Web site is www.ecolearningfoundation.org.
I am now affectionately known as "Farmer Bob." |
|
Center for Environmental Farming Systems
Box 7609 - NCSU
Raleigh, NC 27695
cefs_info@ncsu.edu
919-513-0954
|
|
|
