by Amy Bruckner

An issue that I'm sure is near and dear to CSA members is sustainable agriculture. The National Campaign For Sustainable Agriculture is an organization dedicated to educating the public and shaping national policies to foster a sustainable food and agriculture system that is economically viable, environmentally sound, socially just, and humane. The National Campaign supports a network comprised of hundreds of national and grassroots organizations working on agricultural issues such as farm profitability, farmland preservation, minority farmers, rural development, farm workers' conditions, consumers' rights, animal welfare, food access, food quality, food security, and of course, ecological health.

They have a great website at www.sustainableagriculture.net which contains the latest information on current issues. You can also sign up for their mailing list and Action Network to get periodic alerts on sustainable agriculture issues.

The National Campaign works on national policy in four primary ways, with the greatest amount of effort going towards new Farm Bill initiatives:

• Development and promotion of new Farm Bill Initiatives, and as needed, support of key existing programs and conservation programs.
  
• Organizing collaborative efforts among diverse partners on proposals for Targeted Issues, which currently include: National Organic Standards, Agricultural Biotechnology, and Sustainable Livestock Production.
  
• Coordinating work on federal agricultural Appropriations, in support of funding for priority policies and programs.
  
• Through education, information exchange and action alerts, adding value to Complementary Positions or policy initiatives developed by other groups.

Organizations like Maysie's Farm Conservation Center support the National Campaign's work by signing on to letters to representatives. For example, Maysie's Farm signed on to support a letter written to Senators in support of the Conservation Security Program. This Program represents a new direction in agriculture conservation policy that will reward all types of farmers and ranchers for the real conservation and environmental benefits they provide to society by being good stewards of the land they actively farm (as opposed to most previous USDA programs which coupled good stewardship with removing the land from production). Sam attended the National Campaign's Annual Meeting in February in Washington, D.C. and has responded to their "Action Alerts," calling Senators' and Congressmen's offices to add our support to the issues the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture clarifies so efficiently for us.

Wish List Looking to get rid of any of the following items? Maysie's Farm will put them to good use! Garden hoses Straw bale chopper Picnic table Nyger thistle birdfeed Manure spreader Stackable, sealable, Tupperware-like containers for storing seed packets Cordless, electric lawn mower Rechargeable AAA batteries Please contact Sam at (610) 458-8129 or sam@maysiesfarm.org if you can donate any of these items.

Reminder Have you signed the kids up yet for our one-day Down to Earth Gardening Workshop? They are being held on July 16 and August 6 for ages 6-10, and on July 18 and August 8 for ages 11 and above. All youth workshops run from 8:30am ­ 2:00pm. Also, tell any teachers you know about our two-day "Understanding Agriculture" workshops on July 9 and 11 or July 30 and August 1 from 8:30am ­ 3:00pm. They include 13 hours of Act 48 credit! To register for any workshop, call (610) 458-8129 or visit our website www.maysiesfarm.org.

By Kevin Thrun

Next time you're zippin' around Ludwig's Corner and you get caught behind that beat-up pick-up ever so slowly luggin' its way up the hill, take a closer look before you do that 55 mph left-of-center blow-by. That bumper sticker, "Save Farmland in Northern Chester County," will be a sure temptation to shout out something to the effect of: "We'll save farmland if you save that jalopy for the farm and get it off the road!" The smiling short-haired lady in the driver's seat will patiently endure your breach of etiquette. However, you'll remember that smile, and when you see it again on the face of that kind and helpful Maysie's Farm intern during your weekly produce pick-up at the farm, you're going to feel really bad.

Jeanine Connolly, the first intern to arrive for the 2002 season, first met Sam Cantrell in February at the annual conference of the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA). Immediately after the conference, Jeanine returned to Maysie's Farm with Sam to learn more about his Chester County CSA. After Sam's trademark informational tour of the farm, Jeanine set right to work...in "the trench." And she worked in that trench for close to a whole week, clearing it and deepening it and widening it, getting it just right to lay out the water and electric lines to the new greenhouse location just above the Church Field beds. "The trench" was a thankless job, and quite a difficult introduction to life as a farm intern, but Jeanine, with her tremendous patience and endurance, made it out of the trench, and made it out smiling. Now, assuredly, she also has a smile of appreciation every time she turns on the hose in the greenhouse to water the seedlings, knowing full well that the water isn't flowing magically, but only as a result of hard work.

Such is the lesson of life on the farm. "Farming is about so much more than just planting stuff," Jeanine often says as she tackles one of the jobs that seems to have nothing at all to do with vegetables, like fighting with hundreds of yards of garden hose, endlessly tangled from its winter storage. "There's so much work just involved in the preparation," she observes as we cut back sod out of the asparagus beds, make improvements to the greenhouse tables and pick up countless rocks of all sizes and shapes from every field on the farm. Throughout all this work of preparation, however, Jeanine never loses sight of the goal. As we're mulching and composting and raking and weeding, Jeanine looks around at the beds and the distant fields, imagining how they will all look at the peak of the growing season. "I can't wait to see it all alive," she says.

This joy and excitement for the mystery of life that is gardening seems central to Jeanine's appreciation for the daily work on the farm. The first seeds she planted on the farm were some trays of onions. She watched those trays so close for so long, just waiting and waiting for some sign of life from them. One morning she stepped out of the greenhouse with the biggest glow on her face, yelling to me, "The onions are up!" That first sign of life in the greenhouse was a real cause for celebration.

Not surprisingly, Jeanine's appreciation for the beauty of life stems not just from her work on the farm but also from life experiences before interning with Maysie's Farm. After graduating from New Paltz SUNY in 1999 with a degree in Sociology, Jeanine worked with AmeriCorps for ten months. AmeriCorps took her to seven different states in the Southeast, helping to fulfill her strong desire to travel and do some constructive work helping others. In Alabama, she worked with Habitat for Humanity. She educated teens in South Carolina about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. Her most inspiring work with AmeriCorps was in a children's hospital in Arkansas where she worked with the children in the waiting rooms, playing with them, talking with them and just being present for them during difficult times of emotional and physical struggle. Reflecting on her experience, Jeanine said: "AmeriCorps wasn't just the work but the experience of being in community with like-minded people all trying to do something good."

After AmeriCorps, Jeanine returned to her native Long Island, New York, where she taught special ed for a year. Last fall, she was teaching special ed in Arkansas and planning to go back to school for a Master's degree in special ed this fall. Although she was accepted, and in fact courted by the grad school at New Paltz, she decided to finish out the season on the farm and reconsider her future plans. "Maybe I'll teach and have a school gardening program," she says.

Right now, however, she's appreciating the work at hand and soaking up the beautiful environment around her. Standing up straight to stretch her back after hours of raking beds in the Church Field, Jeanine looks out over the sunny spring sky, examining the fields in their different states of preparedness for the coming season. "It's really good to be here," she says.