We arrived later in the day on Sunday, winding around country roads, taking in the surroundings until we came upon the cleanest, quietest, pristine farm - home of the Rodale Institute. Paula Hunker, the Communications Director, was kind enough a few months ago, to invite us to come and stay in the farm's 1827 farmhouse for a few nights to document what is being done there to research organic farming methods. We could not wait.
The Rodale Institute has been at the forefront of the organic movement since the 40's and has since created the seperate entity, Rodale Press, which teaches people about health and organic gardening in publications such as Prevention magazine.
We settled in for our first night - I, trying to imagine all of the people that had lived in the home in years past and trying to adjust to the fact that I have just been in the noisiest city - NYC and the quietest little corner of the earth all within a few days of each other. Wow - was I glad we went to NYC first and not the other way around!
Clair Wilson, our hero of the week, arranged interviews for us with the CEO of the Institute, Tim LaSalle, the farm manager, Jeff Moyer and the lead scientific researcher, Dr. Paul Hepperly.
Day 1 - From Tim we learned such amazing facts like only 20% of humans are willing to change their identity and try something different even if they know the change is the best thing for them - explaining for the purposes of trying to change the food we eat and why it can be so hard for us as humans to alter our eating and living habits - don't let knowing that fact stop you - be one of the 20%! He also spoke about how his emphasis at the Institute, global warming, comes into play with organic farming. Rodale has run tests and found that an acre of organic agriculture can consume as much as 7000 pounds of carbon dioxide in one year. If we converted all of the acreage being used for growing crops into organic practices, it would be the equivalent of taking 80% of our country's cars off the road! It is the most massive way we could turn our country into a carbon eating machine!
Day 2 - Jeff Moyer introduced us to two of the coolest things in the WORLD! The Farming Systems Trial has been taking place for almost 30 years. It measures corn production - both organic and conventional/chemically grown - side by side in the same field. They have found that in cases of drought or excess rain, the organic corn - no chemicals added - out performs the conventional corn amazingly. The stalks I saw looked almost 50% higher and they were definitely thicker too. The thing is that these crazy, non-optimal conditions occur all the time so the organic corn out-yielded the chemical crops 9 out of 10 years. Why the heck do we use chemicals again??
Then, Jeff mentioned in passing that he and a Mennonite farmer next door made a compost turner by themselves. Being near the end of a big day, Scott and I said we would take a look but that we didn't really have to film it, THEN Jeff walked us to the barn that housed this machine - holy crap! Maybe 30/35 feet long and 10 feet high, this machine can do the work of one front-end loader (which would take 13 hours normally) in TWELVE minutes. Absolutely astounded by the sheer magnitude of this machine, Scott and I asked him to, yes, in fact, bring 'er out and show is what she is made of. The compost (approx. 160 degrees inside) was being rotated and flipped and as steam rose of of her lush brown components, the pile fell back perfectly in pyramided place, turned like only this amazing machine could. While having something like this on a small farm may be overkill, Rodale creates enough compost that they need it. My inner 3-year old boy (do girls have those?) came out as Scott and I stood there in amazement - absolutely in love with a big, yellow machine.
Day 3 - I came outside of our little enchanted farm house wearing my pajamas, eating my Kashi (because that's how professional filmmakers role, people) when I was greeted by Dr. Paul Hepperly. While Clair had wanted us to meet him all along, he had been called off to North Carolina to spread his proverbial seeds to farmers, etc. I'll admit it, I was crushed at the thought of not being able to meet this amazing Fulbright Scholar, but he decided to come home that morning because we were there filming and he wanted to speak with us. Charming and beyond intelligent, I cannot thank my stars enough for Dr. Hepperly coming home to us. We met down in his office and he began to show us slides of the research he had done and collected from other places. He creates quite the argument for the importance of wiping pesticides and chemicals out of our food supply.
While we cannot include every element of the reasons for not wanting chemicals in food, let me just say that frogs becoming hermaphroditic, increased rates of young girls being born as opposed to boys in certain areas where highly chemicalized corn is grown as well as studies about children's ability to learn, retain information and live without behavioral problems is just where is begins. I left Dr. Hepperly's office with a memory stick loaded with his power point presentations. I literally felt like I was just given a copy of new Commandments to take with me.
We left Rodale feeling like our puzzle had been, if not completed, added to in such an immeasurable way, that we as a crew will be forever changed - ok, so Scott did get a hamburger at a chain restaurant within moments of leaving the farm (I am sure my turkey sandwich was not exactly sustainable either) but it is about baby steps and we feel like the lights within us burn brighter for having met this amazing team of people at the Rodale Institute. You are family now!
The Rodale Institute has been at the forefront of the organic movement since the 40's and has since created the seperate entity, Rodale Press, which teaches people about health and organic gardening in publications such as Prevention magazine.
We settled in for our first night - I, trying to imagine all of the people that had lived in the home in years past and trying to adjust to the fact that I have just been in the noisiest city - NYC and the quietest little corner of the earth all within a few days of each other. Wow - was I glad we went to NYC first and not the other way around!
Clair Wilson, our hero of the week, arranged interviews for us with the CEO of the Institute, Tim LaSalle, the farm manager, Jeff Moyer and the lead scientific researcher, Dr. Paul Hepperly.
Day 1 - From Tim we learned such amazing facts like only 20% of humans are willing to change their identity and try something different even if they know the change is the best thing for them - explaining for the purposes of trying to change the food we eat and why it can be so hard for us as humans to alter our eating and living habits - don't let knowing that fact stop you - be one of the 20%! He also spoke about how his emphasis at the Institute, global warming, comes into play with organic farming. Rodale has run tests and found that an acre of organic agriculture can consume as much as 7000 pounds of carbon dioxide in one year. If we converted all of the acreage being used for growing crops into organic practices, it would be the equivalent of taking 80% of our country's cars off the road! It is the most massive way we could turn our country into a carbon eating machine!
Day 2 - Jeff Moyer introduced us to two of the coolest things in the WORLD! The Farming Systems Trial has been taking place for almost 30 years. It measures corn production - both organic and conventional/chemically grown - side by side in the same field. They have found that in cases of drought or excess rain, the organic corn - no chemicals added - out performs the conventional corn amazingly. The stalks I saw looked almost 50% higher and they were definitely thicker too. The thing is that these crazy, non-optimal conditions occur all the time so the organic corn out-yielded the chemical crops 9 out of 10 years. Why the heck do we use chemicals again??
Then, Jeff mentioned in passing that he and a Mennonite farmer next door made a compost turner by themselves. Being near the end of a big day, Scott and I said we would take a look but that we didn't really have to film it, THEN Jeff walked us to the barn that housed this machine - holy crap! Maybe 30/35 feet long and 10 feet high, this machine can do the work of one front-end loader (which would take 13 hours normally) in TWELVE minutes. Absolutely astounded by the sheer magnitude of this machine, Scott and I asked him to, yes, in fact, bring 'er out and show is what she is made of. The compost (approx. 160 degrees inside) was being rotated and flipped and as steam rose of of her lush brown components, the pile fell back perfectly in pyramided place, turned like only this amazing machine could. While having something like this on a small farm may be overkill, Rodale creates enough compost that they need it. My inner 3-year old boy (do girls have those?) came out as Scott and I stood there in amazement - absolutely in love with a big, yellow machine.
Day 3 - I came outside of our little enchanted farm house wearing my pajamas, eating my Kashi (because that's how professional filmmakers role, people) when I was greeted by Dr. Paul Hepperly. While Clair had wanted us to meet him all along, he had been called off to North Carolina to spread his proverbial seeds to farmers, etc. I'll admit it, I was crushed at the thought of not being able to meet this amazing Fulbright Scholar, but he decided to come home that morning because we were there filming and he wanted to speak with us. Charming and beyond intelligent, I cannot thank my stars enough for Dr. Hepperly coming home to us. We met down in his office and he began to show us slides of the research he had done and collected from other places. He creates quite the argument for the importance of wiping pesticides and chemicals out of our food supply.
While we cannot include every element of the reasons for not wanting chemicals in food, let me just say that frogs becoming hermaphroditic, increased rates of young girls being born as opposed to boys in certain areas where highly chemicalized corn is grown as well as studies about children's ability to learn, retain information and live without behavioral problems is just where is begins. I left Dr. Hepperly's office with a memory stick loaded with his power point presentations. I literally felt like I was just given a copy of new Commandments to take with me.
We left Rodale feeling like our puzzle had been, if not completed, added to in such an immeasurable way, that we as a crew will be forever changed - ok, so Scott did get a hamburger at a chain restaurant within moments of leaving the farm (I am sure my turkey sandwich was not exactly sustainable either) but it is about baby steps and we feel like the lights within us burn brighter for having met this amazing team of people at the Rodale Institute. You are family now!
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