UPDATE 3/20/2018: In 2018, Farmers Oren Jakobson & Polly Dalton and the Field Notes Farm will become a part of Rising Sand Organics Cooperative Farm. The farm team will include 9 other people, many whom have worked with Field Notes in previous seasons.
The CSA program will remain almost identical to previous seasons (although with new offerings such as Market Choice and Micro shares). Rising Sand Organics Cooperative will continue to manage the current land of Field Notes Farm and will expand production to additional acreage on County Road I in Custer (just 1.6 miles from the current Field Notes Farm). For now, we are maintaining our current CSA sign up infrastructure. We will continue to communicate with our farm community as the transition takes place. Feel free to email/call us with any questions – polly@fieldnotesfarm.com OR oren@fieldnotesfarm.com. Happy Spring! – Polly Dalton, 3/20/2018
Rising Sand Organics Members —
Daniel McDowell
Danny Werachowski
Kelly Adlington
Corrina Wilson Rodriguez
Monica Endres
Fanni Bartnik
Lee Bartnik
Wes Vann
Logan Brice
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Oren & Polly worked together for the first time in 2011 when we started organizing the 2nd Student Initiatives in Sustainable Agriculture Conference at Lawrence University (where we graduated). Since then we have collaborated on a variety of projects and worked together organizing and building a community supported agriculture farm and outreach program at Riverview Gardens. In the fall of 2014 we decided to start our own farm and begin the journey now called Field Notes Farm. Here is a short introduction to each of us and our farm:
Polly Dalton
Polly’s love for food and the community it brings together stems from an overabundance of Food Network TV and kitchen freedom in her teenage years. In college, Polly found precisely the pragmatic community and food lifestyle she was seeking at the Sustainable Lawrence University Gardens.
Polly is willing to talk to anyone. Her ability to strike up a conversation with a stranger is a direct contradiction of every trend in social norms. At first glance Polly is relatively unassuming and non-threatening. In short order, just about everyone is a little bit happier and has a new friend! Polly has a knack for community building.
Farming provides Polly with a productive playground that is always ready for her contribution. The farm is also a story and foundation that Polly deftly integrates into the constant expansion of her social network and community work.
Oren Jakobson
Don’t confuse his fervent gusto for fury – it’s just his way of expressing a profound passion to make his life, your life, and our world a little better. Oren grew up as a reluctant gardener. When he transferred to Lawrence University and became involved in the Sustainable Lawrence University Gardens, he realized that farming had a lot to offer. Oren is a social farmer. He is as intensely interested in growing methods as he is in talking to just about everyone about just about everything. There is a fair chance Oren will ask for your opinion about some idea that he has. This is one of the reasons you are almost as likely to run into him at another farm’s market booth as our own.
Farming presents Oren with the variety of physical, social, and intellectual challenges he needs. He channels an immense amount of energy and the farm is a perfect focal point for his attention.
Field Notes Farm
Farming is never a perfected practice, and we’re willing to share our steps and developments along the way. Field Notes begins with our past 5 years growing together. Field Notes refers to the observations and reflections collected during scientific field study. Our website and our farm will be just that — plans, data collections, trials, and reflections of the things we learn as part of building our farm community. We’ve set out to do this work for ourselves and for our community. We have many seasons ahead of us. The only certainty is that they will all be interesting.