Restorative Farming at The Anthill: Embracing Abundance & Diversity on Your Farm
The Anthill Farm
Honesdale, Wayne County
Thursday, August 26, 2010
10am - 4pm
$15 PASA members, $25 all others; lunch will be provided.
The Ballentine brothers, The Anthill Farm
Funds provided through grant support from the
US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA Region III)
Explore the diversity of The Anthill Farm! It’s a relatively new venture, began in the Upper Deleware Valley region by the Ballentine siblings in the summer of 2007. The Ballantine Brothers and their industrious crew are engaged in transforming an old dairy farm into a diversified quilt of cultivated and wild crafted crops, dedicated to producing nutrient dense foods for the people of the area – and beyond.
Everywhere you look, there is something happening: chickens, garlic, veggies, blueberries and fruit, nut and mushroom crops….. The diversity in production is mirrored by their diversity in marketing: farmers’ markets, CSAs, wholesale and direct to the consumers.
Come prepared - sturdy footwear and weather appropriate attire - to spend time out and about. Eusebius, Galen and Stephen and their crew will expand on their vision for their farm and their food production, and talk about the practices they are using in their stewardship of this environment. The farm is certified Naturally Grown, and is a GMO-free zone. They are employing permaculture management practices and wild harvesting as part of an integrated diverse ecology.
About the Presenters
The Anthill Farm is small family farm located six miles outside of Honesdale, PA. The Anthill began in the summer of 2007 when four siblings – Eusebius, Steven, Rebecca, and Galen Ballentine – collectively purchased an old dairy farm outside the town where we were all born and raised. It now consists of three vegetable fields, multiple greenhouses, renovated housing, a woodshop, a wild assortment of esoteric machinery, a walk-in cooler, about eight acres of fruit and nut trees, pigs, chickens, and honey bees.
The Anthill focuses on producing high-quality vegetables, raising critters, and establishing orchards for the future. Activities include building the soil of five acres of vegetables, which they market to farmers’ markets, CSA, and restaurants both locally and in New York City. The Ballentines currently produce garlic scape pesto for market, maple syrup for home use, and they are interested in expanding The Anthill's line of food products to include lacto-fermented products like pickles, saurkrauts and kimche.
The Anthill Farm's goal is to help create alternatives to the dominant model of industrial agriculture, which they believe is wasteful, toxic, unfair to small farmers, and creates scarcity instead of abundance. The Ballentines envision The Anthill as a model for the agriculture of the future, drawing on permaculture design principles, ancient farming practices, and the latest scientific research in order to create a balanced agro-system that is sustainable, plentiful, and inclusive.
Click here for directions, available on the Google Maps page.
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