Transitions
Inspiration for Organic: A Q & A with Transitioning Farmers Michael Conner and Marcie Boettger own and operate Sarahsway Farm in Gilbertsville, PA. They farm 280+ acres of hay and are currently transitioning to organic. By Michael Conner and Marcie Boettger
Can you tell us a bit about your operation? Michael: We started this operation in June 2013. We started leasing the farm, just the land and the barn initially. We tried some wheat and rye and didn’t have success with it but that’s because we didn’t know then what we know now. We didn’t like the fact that you had to use the conventional way of chemicals; burn it down, spray this, plant this, spray it again so we just stopped doing it. We didn’t like that and didn’t feel comfortable with it so we quit. We then just grew grass and hay. We were doing hay all along but then just stuck with making hay. We specialize in making really good quality horse hay that’s dry. We don’t usually have people come back with any mold or dust issues because we take the time to get it dry. We don’t spray hay with a drying agent.
What is your inspiration to become certified organic? Marcie: The way I look at it is that you need to work with nature and not against it. I am all about the birds and the bees, the butterflies and the bats, the worms, and the microbes in the earth. We should all be working together. What’s been ringing in my head the last couple days is a Joni Mitchell song, A Big Yellow Taxi. There’s a line in it about “farmer farmer put away your DDT. I’ll take spots on my apples. Leave me the birds and the bees please.” That’s the way I operate. I am the type of person that when there is a spider in the house I put it in a cup and carry it outside. Michael: The motivation is similar but then there are some differences. For me, I just didn’t understand why we had to keep spraying Roundup on a product to then plant it and then spray Roundup on it again. I didn’t feel comfortable with it. I
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just chose not to grow those items because I didn’t feel right inside for signing on to that method. The reason to transition and become certified organic…the fact is that we all know there’s a movement but on top of that, through this process of learning, I learned that you don’t have to do that (use chemicals). I didn’t know that before. I had to get educated. The education of going to Rodale and learning about cover cropping. And now listening to Rick Clark, innovative no-till farmer, and his scientific tests of cereal rye and how if we wait a little longer it has all the nitrogen that it needs. That’s what’s gotten me fired up. Let’s do this thing and let’s change the planet. Marcie: My little motto in life is: Learn, grow, mature. Even before we started growing our own crops, it was: How can you justify putting something in your body that’s been sprayed with round up? People wonder why they have so many health ailments, it’s probably because of that.
What has been the biggest stumbling block to certification and how are you working to overcome it? Michael: The hardest stumbling block was the lack of education that was out there about how to become certified. I fell victim to the rumor mill and I had heard guys say for years that “it was $20,000 to get certified and you have to do this and that.” I just listened to the misinformation instead of finding out for myself. The information needs to be more widely available with the details that it’s very inexpensive. If I had known this I would have searched this out a long time ago. I didn’t do my due diligence and I have learned my lesson. With everything we are now doing our due diligence on our own. We listen to people, but then we will go verify and not just “drink the kool aid.”
What advice would you give another farmer considering transitioning to organic? Michael: Read the Lancaster Farming. Read the back of a
www.paorganic.org