Pennypack Farm, Horsham, PA

Published on June 8, 2010 by John in Farms

Pennypack Farm was my first farm stop on the NY City to Philadelphia trip. After 65 miles of riding I pulled up to the farm early in the afternoon in the midst of a little farm drama. They had been experiencing some vandalism at night, one of the difficulties of being a suburban farm with grumpy neighbors. After the police took their report and drove out of the gravel driveway people realized there was a funny looking guy with a loaded bike and in bright colored jersey.

Everyone at the farm was very inviting and very supportive. I had a place to stay, offers of food, and found out there would be a keg of Yard’s Beer from the Philadelphia Brewing Company on the farm that evening left over from a recent wedding. I couldn’t be happier.

Over the next few days I found out a lot about the farm and even attended the farmer’s market in West Philadelphia with Pennypack.

Who is Pennypack?

Pennypack Farm was started in 2003 by a group of folks that was looking to start a CSA Farm and do it responsibly. In the beginning they had about 90 CSA shares on 5 acres of farm.

Today Pennypack has 330 shares on 15 acres and they’re adding another 4-5 acres very soon. They have five farmers, 1 educator, 3 interns, and lots of volunteers. What they farm differs a little from year to year, but it’s always a lot.

One of the things that I appreciated about Pennypack was their opinion about being certified organic. The farm isn’t “certified organic” even though all their practices meet or exceed the regulations. They feel that there is no need for them in particular to pay someone else to say that they are doing things properly. Consumers can come directly to the farm and see for themselves and ask the farmers about their practices. There is more of a stress of things being local than being certified by a governing body.

Some of the ways they are striving to exceed the organic standards are providing their workers with a livable wage, and extending medical benefits to their workers.

CSA

For Pennypack’s 330 person CSA, they don’t use boxes or bags of pre-sorted vegetables, they give their members some flexibility, and they require some work for the farm as part of the share. Members come to the farm on pick up day and choose their own vegetables from the harvest bins. If it is a good harvest they can choose more of one item if they wish.

Each member is required to do at least 4 hours of service for the farm. Whether it’s weeding, harvesting, writing an article, or creating a newsletter. For lower income members there is an option to either buy a half share, or volunteer more hours on the farm in exchange for food.

Farm As An Education Tool

The Farm operates as part of the College Settlement of Philadelphia. “The mission of CSC is to offer summer camp programs for economically disadvantaged children ages 7-14 from the greater Philadelphia area. CSC also runs The Outdoor School (March – May and September – November) which serves many schools in the Philadelphia area, providing residential environmental education.”

Having the Farm as part of the camp allows the kids to see how food grows, and put their hands on fresh quality produce. Education encourages smart eating habits!

Pennypack also educates adults as well. They have cooking classes, knife skills, and even a wild edibles class.

Full Cost Accounting

When I asked Farm Manager Andy Andrews, “Why should someone choose organic produce when conventionally grown produce is easier on the wallet?” He talked to me about “full cost accounting.”

At Pennypack there is no net erosion of the land, no side effects of pesticides (including but not limited to run-off into water systems poisoning local water sheds, poisoning wildlife, poisoning workers, or trace amounts on vegetables at supermarkets), no side effects of chemical fertilizers, and less heavy machinery. They are paying the full cost of what it takes to grow food without negative effects on people or planet.

Our political system is set up where, in most cases, conventional farmers do not have to cover the costs of erosion, poisoning, run-off, etc…

Organic and sustainable farms like Pennypack are producing food that is better for us, at a higher cost to them. They’re not getting rich off the cost of their food. It is their hope as well as mine that eventually those political systems currently working for conventional food will switch to aid farmers who are producing healthy food and practicing proper land stewardship.

One last point to total cost accounting is the health of us as people. Which is going to make you gain more weight a box of Twinkies or a bunch of swiss chard? You can’t completely blame obesity, heart disease, and diabetes on food, but what we eat does play a HUGE part in those epidemics plaguing our country.