#2007-15: September 17, 2007 Catskills Farming Culture Discussion at The Catskill Center Please join us on Sunday, September 23, 2007 from 1:00 to 3:00 PM at The Catskill Center for Conservation and Development as Sally Fairbairn and Wes Gillingham discuss the past, present and future of Catskills Farming Culture. The two sessions will compliment the current Erpf Gallery exhibit, "Farming Culture", of paintings by Stu Eichel and Laura Hussey. In her discussion The Making of a Natural Farmer - Sally will center on her own development as a farmer and environmentalist, including some discussion of why her farm is not organic. She'll talk about the farm they are operating now and how it differs from what they used to do. She will discuss the ice cream project, WAC and how it has influenced what they do. The presentation will be punctuated with a few of Sally's original poems and she will talk about her recent piece in The Place You Call Home, the Northern Woodland magazine. Copies of this publication will be available free of charge. Wes will present A Half-Mile from the Road which is a brief history of Wild Roots Farm. Come learn about their farm and how it went from a cabin in the woods to a 150 member CSA. Learn how the CSA model builds community beyond vegetables. Learn the philosophical, political and practical choices we as a farm family have dealt with to build a business, contend with major flooding, having two children, and 7 years to build an ecologically appropriate log home. In addition we will learn about and discuss- Animals as part of the farmstead, creating a CSA, Looking towards the future- crops for tomorrow, and growing our own lifestyle Sally Fairbairn was born and raised in the Margaretville area. Her parents Morton and Emmeline Scudder owned Riverby Farm on Route 30. She loved growing up on the farm where she did her share of farm chores and learned she could do things she didn't think she could do. Among her favorite memories of her youth on the farm are the times she spent exploring all of the nooks and crannies including her patch of the East Branch of the Delaware River, the maple sugar bush, the Top Hill, various springs, rills and stonewalls, and the retired out buildings. She unconsciously absorbed many lessons in habitat and ecosystems. Sally attended New York University and majored in English intending to be a high school English teacher. One year of teaching convinced her that she really wasn't cut out to do that. She returned to her earlier-spurned farming roots, marrying local veterinarian Dr. John Fairbairn and running their Halcott Center dairy farm with him for many years. When farming conflicted too much with raising a family, she and John eventually retired from dairy farming. She raised sheep for a few years, moving to the Fairbairn clan's valley in Rider Hollow outside of Arkville during the late 1980's. She continued to raise sheep for a few years, and then started boarding dairy heifers for the grazing season. She had no idea that she was about to be brought back full circle to milking cows twice a day when her older son decided to become a dairy farmer. She has tried to combine farming and writing with only a minimum amount of success. While she freely admits to loving cows, no matter what their color, it is the land that draws her close. She grazes the herd's young stock as a way of making sure she is in the woods and pastures on a regular basis. She and John have traveled to the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand visiting farms and learning about land use and environmental issues on farms. She is a member of the Watershed Agricultural Council, a past president of the M-ARK Project and Writers in the Mountains, currently a Trustee of the Catskill Water Discovery Center and has served on the boards of other local organizations. Sally and John have three children Jaine Stegemoller, full time student and full time mom of Kingston, Jake the dairy farmer in Rider Hollow, and John III, the attorney who works at the Metnick Law Office; three grandchildren so far, Rain, Simone and Rune Stegemoller. Wes Gillingham, gained his love of the Catskills by spending every chance he could get in the woods near his home on the ridge above Livingston Manor He started working on a dairy farm next door as a "waste management specialist" for 90 cents an hour at the age of 12 and worked there until going to college. After college he started working for the National Audubon Society Expedition Institute and became an acting director in the field program. Wes taught at AEI with the belief that the best way to learn about the environment is to experience it directly. He led full semester programs in Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Newfoundland, Florida, Southern Appalachia, the Desert Southwest, the Pacific Northwest and Gulf Coast programs. During this time he gained a passion for and recognized the need for healthy local food. "The first time I spent time on vegetable farm in the central valley of California made me never want to buy from a grocery store again". Wes and his wife Amy have been growing organic vegetables and herbs commercially since 1997. Wes served on the Board of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York and the Sullivan County Farm Bureau. Over the last year, Wes and a coalition of partners launched the Catskill Mountain Keeper, a non-profit advocacy organization whose mission is to protect the ecological integrity of the Catskill Mountain range and the quality of life of all those who live there.