TRADITION AND ADAPTATION

Will Allen, Milwaukee, WisconsinWill Allen is the Director of Growing Power, a national not-for-profit organization supporting the development of community food systems. Allen, a Wisconsin farmer and community food systems educator and trainer, is dedicated to supporting small family farmers and bringing healthy affordable food to the urban areas. 

Erika Allen, Chicago, Illinois

Erika Allen is Projects Manager for Growing Power. Will Allen's daughter, she has a small farm agricultural background and experience. She spent her formative years involved in all aspects of farm management from transplanting seedlings to managing farm stands and farmers markets.

Elizabeth Beggins and Ann Yonkers, Pot Pie Farm, Whitman, Maryland

Elizabeth Beggins and Ann Yonkers grow fruits, vegetables, and poultry on this 9-acre organic waterfront farm on the Chesapeake Bay near St. Michaels, Maryland. A crusader for farmers markets, Ann is the president and co-director of FRESHFARM markets, which runs six farmers markets in the Chesapeake Bay area. Pot Pie Farm sells seasonal vegetables, garlic, onions, herbs, and cut flowers at the St. Michaels FRESHFARM Market.

Don Bustos, Espanola, New Mexico

Don Bustos is president of the Santa Fe Farmer's Market Institute and an active farmer as well. On less than four acres of land, Bustos grows over 20 different varieties of peppers. He also uses innovative solar heating to get the most from his land, producing crops throughout New Mexico's mild winters. Bustos lives on his farm with his wife Blanca, his children Amilio and Anna, and his grandson Angelo. He writes a monthly newsletter and lectures widely.

Moie and Jim Crawford, New Morning Farm, Hustontown, Pennsylvania

Moie and Jim Crawford run New Morning Farm in rural Pennsylvania. Jim Crawford began farming on rented land over 30 years ago, and has today expanded to a 95-acre farm that grows over 40 different crops. They have always marketed their produce in Washington, D.C., a wonderful opportunity, they say, to not only sell in a more lucrative market but also to enjoy the city's cultural life.

Leslie and Jeff Harper, Cass Lake, Minnesota

Jeff and Leslie Harper are Chippewa wild rice harvesters. Their mother Judy Harper, a cook with Head Start, introduced wild rice into the school lunch program. The Harpers live in northern Minnesota, home of the true wild rice, the seed of a wild grass. For the Chippewa, harvesting wild rice is part of the cycle of their year.

John and Sukey Jamison, Jamison Farm, Latrobe, Pennsylvania

John and Sukey Jamison raise some of the finest lambs in the country, at least according to such gourmet chefs as Emeril Lagasse and the late Julia Child. The Jamisons came into farming accidentally, buying a centuries-old farmhouse that just happened to come with 65 acres of land. They raised lamb as a hobby until the late Jean-Louis Palladin tasted some at a Pittsburgh fundraiser and began recommending it to his friends.

Nova Kim and Les Hook, Albany, Vermont

Nova Kim and Les Hook are wildcrafters in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. They make their living selling wild foods to restaurants throughout upper New England. Specializing in wild mushrooms, they regularly supply 69 varieties to their customers.

Tzaxe and Ying Lee, Fresno, California

Tzaxe and Ying Lee farm approximately 130 acres of specialty vegetables and 230 acres of grapes at Cherta Farm in Fresno. Both Hmong immigrants from Cambodia, they have been in business for over 20 years, and are now the largest Hmong growers in the United States.

Mike Pappas, Eco Farms, Lanham, Maryland

Since 1995, Eco Farms has been providing fresh, organically grown vegetables, herbs, and flowers to the high-end restaurant trade in the Washington metropolitan area. Eco Farms is rapidly becoming a premier supplier of fresh, organically grown vegetables, herbs, and flowers in the metropolitan Washington area year round!

Harry Records, Exeter, Rhode Island

Harry Records grows authentic Rhode Island flint corn at his Harry Here farm. He explains, "I combine the old with the new. Indians grew flint corn, high in starch and low in sugar, before those three boats ever arrived in Plymouth. The Indians used it as barter with the traders." Harry takes painstaking care of his seed stock so that it remains "pure and retains its distinctive flavor, different from any other corn on the market."

Rodale Institute, Kutztown, Pennsylvania

Jeff Moyer, Farm Manager

Kerry Callahan, Managing Editor

Eileen Weinsteiger, Head Gardener

April Johnson, Horticulturist

Matthew Ryan, Research Technician

Maria Pop, Training Coordinator

Paul Hepperly, Research and Training Manager

John Haberern, President

Joel Salatin, Swoope, Virginia

Joel Salatin is the acknowledged expert in both pastured poultry and multi-species grazing, in which chickens and cows harmoniously share pasture space in anticipation of the space they will harmoniously share in the stomachs of satisfied gourmands. He is also the author of, among other books, Pastured Poultry Profit$ and $alad Bar Beef. Salatin grew up on a Virginia farm that his father, an accountant, ran in his spare time.

Teresa Showa, Window Rock, Arizona

Teresa Showa is a corn farmer from Arizona, where she is a project coordinator conducting research to develop a marketing strategy for Navajo traditional corn. She is working with corn pollen, young ears of kneel-down bread, and neeshjizhi, a form of dried, steamed corn kernel. The goal of the project is to develop a strategy that will support growers and the cultural practices that depend on traditional Navajo corn.