Mother Earth Farm at the White House

note from Kelda: okay i admit it, I posted that thing about 'eat the view' but i didn't even vote on it. BUT I will actually vote for this. Carrie is one of my heroes, i'm crossing my fingers I can be her assistant at Mother Earth Farm this coming year, and she would kick ass so totally, so permaculturally, at the white house. It's a long shot, but I'm going to vote anyway.

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Pierce County's very own Carrie Anne Little is in the running, along with nineteen other farmers nationwide, in a campaign called "Eat the View!", which will urge the Obamas to plant a large organic Victory Garden on the First Lawn, and to appoint an official White House Farmer.  The White House Farmer would be responsible for plowing up the existing lawn and planting and maintaining an organic garden, which would serve the White House kitchen as well as local food banks, as well as promoting organic and local farming nationwide.

Carrie Little is the owner and proprietor of Mother Earth Farm, located on 8 acres of farmland in Orting.  She and Mother Earth Farm have been working with Emergencv Food Network since 2000.  The entire production at the farm is given to local food banks.  In 2007, Mother Earth Farm provided more than 162,000 pounds of organic, locally grown produce, herbs and honey to our neighbors in need.

I encourage everyone reading this to follow the link and vote for Carrie – she epitomizes public service, and deserves to be recognized for all her hard work on behalf of those less fortunate among us.


White House Farmer: http://whitehousefarmer.com/?page_id=119

Emergency Food Network: http://www.efoodnet.org/

Mother Earth Farm: http://www.efoodnet.org/mother_earth.htm

Mother Earth Farm on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mother-Earth-Farm/46596853423

 

and Holy CRAP! She has the most votes right now. It's hardly I ask folks to vote for something for me. Now is one of those times though.

More about how she kicks ass that the email didn't say:
PERMACULTURE
*she is actually growing polycultures on a 'feed the masses' scale. they're simple polycultures, but she's always experimenting with them and expanding.
*she gets her field tilled in the spring by horses.
*she fertilizes with horse poo from a nearby stable (not a pre-mix out of a bag)
*her seed-saving collection is massive and the biggest i've ever seen from a farmer who feeds the masses.
*she has an orchard & bees & lots of herbs alongside the veggies, and Really rotates fallow land (i'm just saying that not all organic farmers do...)

SOCIAL JUSTICE
*somehow she manages to stay so frikkin involved as an activist. gave packets of seeds away at the anti-wto protests, goes to georgia every year to protest the war-mongering School of the Americas, and i've met many of the most progressive radicals in this county through her
*purdy women's prisoners come out to work her fields. women can have their daughters come out and see them while their weeding/harvesting
*is that like slave labor? Carrie has pushed through a program at the prison that allows her women to get credit from UCSantaCruz from working at her farm! they leave prison with Real skills they can use to better the planet
*oh Yeah! all the food goes to food banks, not only that, she's made educational resources for the food banks so that everyone can learn how to cook kale, sunchokes, etc.

WHY SHE'D KICK ASS AT THE WHITE HOUSE
*the most revolutionary thinker disguised as the gentlest most lovable woman.
*she'd feed the obamas, and the housekeepers, and the foreign dignitaries, all this awesome food.
*she wouldn't let them get away with any bullshit on her watch, this may be Very important, i'm just thinking of barack thinking "hm, what would carrie think of such and such plan? I'll go out and ask her."

Well well, I heard Obama's actually going to do it!
Then I get this email:

Dear Family and Friends,

Just a note of deep thanks for all your support.  I am incredibly overwhelmed by the love and connectiveness you all have shared to help make a little voice known from Pierce County.  Please share my gratitude to your families and friends as well, for if it were not for the branches of the trees and the deep, spreading roots, this would never have happened.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Below is the joint statement that myself and Clare Strader produced in response to the election.  I think you'll agree that it's the 'cause' that needs to be brought to light.  Please help us by writing our President, Congressional Representatives and our Senators to move on this action.

Deep peace and love of the emerging seed,

Carrie (Anne) Little

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It is a great honor for us to be recognized by our communities as potential candidates for the first White House Farmer.  We are thrilled by the possibility of converting a portion of the lovely White House lawn into a lively vegetable farm.  As vegetable, fruit, and flower growers, we know that a well-managed organic farm can be at least as beautiful as a lawn and certainly more engaging, productive, and inspirational.



The fact that so many farmers were nominated for the White House farmer position and that so many individuals voted in this unique "election" speaks loudly to our combined interest in local, organic agriculture.  As is made clear in each farmer's nomination, there are many skilled growers who contribute significantly to local food movement throughout our country.  We are all unique.  We all have a somewhat different focus be it Community Supported Agriculture, or emergency food relief, or youth empowerment.  Still, we share the common cause of feeding our local communities with the freshest, cleanest, most healthy food we can coax from the soil.



Taking personal responsibility to a new level by addressing the core issues of the Obama administration's focus, this farm could be the example for the nation.  It would clearly address economic insecurity, fuel conservation, climate change, and healthcare issues in a very tangible way.  Collectively, this effort could be the center of the cultural shift needed to highlight the imperative that we need to eat locally and think globally.



Together we are working toward a new future of agriculture in our country.  We believe that future is grounded in small-scale, organic food production that meets the nutritional needs of people within reach of the farm and is not shipped from coast to coast at great cost of fuel, freshness, and nutritional value.  With the support of more and more eaters in our communities, that future is coming nearer.  A White House farm and a White House farmer will be powerful symbols for this future of agriculture, not to mention a delicious resource for the DC community.  No matter who becomes the first White House farmer we stand in support of the White House farm project and would be honored to bring our spades and worm castings and hula hoes to join in the effort!



Claire Strader              Carrie (Anne) Little                   

oh yeah, she got it.

(but really 'got it' don't mean much. I mean Obama never said he was really looking for a farmer. It's like applying for a job without that position being open.)

We'll see. We sure would miss her, but she would totally rock it.

Any news on whether this is gonna actually happen?