‘We need to incentivize choices that take the longer view’
Richard Siemers
Audry Arner and Richard Handeen built a beach along Moonstone Farm’s retention pond, where friends and family often relax on Sunday afternoons.
THE LAND, SEPTEMBER 27, 2013
planting a variety of fruit and nut trees, and on the bush level planting currants, gooseberries, josta berries, seaberries, raspberries and more. To see all of this firsthand, guests can rent the Broodio for an on-farm stay. The Broodio began life as a brooder house, became an art studio, and is now furnished as a one-room cottage. It is rented out most weekends, even a couple times a month in the winter. During the winter, Arner consults with groups on organizational development — visioning, strategic planning, conflict resolution — drawing on her 17 years of experience organizing and leading activities for the LSP. Arner and Handeen continue to pass their vision on to a new generation. Their daughter and son-in-law operate a Community Supported Agriculture farm nearby. And they have had more than 20 interns work on their farm, all of whom have been screened for their interest in farming as opposed to simply wanting a rural experience.
Perennial polyculture requires more human labor, but it is a labor of love. And the couple makes sure there is balance so life is not all work. They have created a beach on their retention pond where family and friends spend Sunday afternoons. Both are members of performing music groups, and Handeen makes pottery. All of this variety sounds like a good life, but it’s not a way to get rich, is it? That depends on your definition. “We are rich,” Arner said. “It’s a different kind of wealth. If your goal in life is just to make money, then there’s a kind of agriculture (for doing so) that excludes a lot of people. But if the goal of living on the earth includes a quality of life that has balance in it, and pleasure, (there’s a kind of agriculture) that works with nature and enhances diversity.” Speaking of diversity, close to 90 species of birds have been identified on their farm. This approach is working for Arner and Handeen. Honoring those who
have gone before and working with extended family, they have drawn up long-range goals for Moonstone Farm. Those goals read in part: “We will cultivate a sense of self-worth among all, to contribute to the betterment of our neighborhood and community, and to be agents of change in fostering a sustainable civilization. We will live within our means and be able to pass on to future generations the gifts of Creation that have been passed on to us.” Long-range encompasses looking to the past as well as the future. Arner and Handeen recognize that their responsibility for this piece of the landscape is just “a blink of the eye” in its long history. They promote that outlook whenever the opportunity arises. “The key,” Handeen said, “will be that we as a society recognize that we have to incentivize those choices that take the longer view of the planet.” For more information, log on to www.moonstonefarm.net. ❖
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MOONSTONE, from pg. 14A to recognize how what we do, the way we do it, affects that basic ecosystem? So we try to take as long a view as we can.” There is a small creek that runs through their property, and they are able to see the improvement in water quality that has come from their management practices by comparing the color of run-off from their fields with that from tiled row crop fields. Both economic pressures and environmental pressures need to be considered. “Row crop farming right now is a very profitable enterprise, and it is also an easy one to abuse,” Handeen said. “We human beings have to recognize at some point that we are going to have to take steps that aren’t just driven by immediate economics.” That long-range view undergirds their approach to agriculture. They direct market their beef cattle to individuals and Minneapolis-St. Paul restaurants, and retail some from Bill’s Grocery in Montevideo, Minn., and their on-farm store, which also stocks meat, cheese and flour from area growers. Grass and alfalfa are not the only perennials on the farm. They have a vineyard and trees and bushes. “We still have about 25 acres in tree strips that are in the Conservation Reserve Program,” Arner said, “plus 15 acres that are no longer in CRP. We have over 7,000 trees, 42 different species, planted in what were corn and soybean fields, creating windbreaks and wildlife habitat but also that will have eventual potential for production of timber, fruit, nuts, ornamentals and medicinals.” About five years ago a storm blew down 200 older trees, opening up the canopy in their grove. Learning from permaculture design, they are making an “edible forest” out of the grove,
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“Where Farm and Family Meet”