Exit for organics along I-80
Last things first in regard to our trip across the country...
On our way west toward Colorado last month, we noticed a sign for L.T. Organic Farm Restaurant outside of Des Moines. I can't recall why we didnt stop -- maybe we'd already eaten or stopped too many times in those first few hours. In any case, I circled the exit and we said we'd stop by on the way back to Illinois.
It's so good that we did.
L.T. Organic Farm is a small, family-run operation in Waukee, Iowa, that is managed by Ahilia and L.T. Bhramdat. The farm offers certified organic produce and chemical-/hormone-free livestock and livestock products. Seasonal vegetarian and non-veg meals are offered at the farm's restaurant, which also serves as a meeting place for those interested in learning about organic agriculture, natural medicine and the couple's East-meets-West Indian cuisine (Mr. Bhramdat hails from Guyana).
When we visited, we sat down to a meal of curried potatoes and beans, mixed greens and rice served with raita (a cucumber-yogurt dressing). Oh-so-good, oh-so-fresh... particularly satisfying after a couple of days of propane-prepared meals next to the tent. I enjoyed it so much, I didn't think to take a picture.
Anyhow, the farm operates as a CSA (community-supported agriculture), which means that local residents pay an upfront fee and receive fresh produce each week throughout the growing season. L.T. Organic Farm also donates food to low-income families through Iowa's Local Foods Connection program.
Before we ate, we walked around the farm with one of the Bhramdats' sons. He explained their farming methods: three-to-four-inch trenches dug the length of the acreage, with grass paths in between the rows to abate muddiness; catch-crop plants (weeds) allowed to grow alongside and into the rows so that insects can eat those plants instead of the food crops*; manure, mud and leaf-cover mulching; container-watering (the pole beans, for example, emerged from old steel cans that kept water close to the plant); and dense interplanting (two or three different vegetables grown all together in the long rows).
After we ate, we walked around a bit more and eventually talked with L.T. himself. He was quite happy to explain how and why he and his wife had undertaken this venture, leaving their work in professional health care to start a rural farm. The basic story is summed up in this article, Fresh Vegetables Beat Medicine:
"The Bhramdats moved to Iowa from Chicago seven years ago in search of a safer place to raise their growing family. He was a cardiac medical specialist at the time and she was a nurse. The longer they worked in hospitals, the more compelled they became to wage a war against what they believed to be the source of many people's conditions: the food they ate."
At one point during our discussion, Mr. Bhramdat looked toward the nearby subdivision and commented about how people have cultivated disease and imbalance around their homes, with their flat, manicured (and to the point) chemically treated lawns. Aside from the health effects that chemical fertilizers and pesticides pose, the fact that so many people don't use their land to grow food was astonishing to him. Those same people's ancestors, say in New England, he said, would have never had a flat, empty lawn because of the toil required to clear and maintain land in that state --and because it would've been used to provide food for themselves. We mentioned the widespread use of land for family agriculture that we saw in Korea, and our own bemusement at seeing vast areas of suburban development on what had been farms.
Earlier, Mr. Bhramdat's son had mentioned (and I'd just recently read myself) that one hundred square feet of garden space can provide enough food to sustain one person. So imagine what could be done with an acre.
Most of the Bhramdat's property was lined with beds, with pens for ducks, a goat or two, and a large show turkey to the sides. In the front, there were also box gardens for tomatoes, peppers and other herbs. It was an unmowed but well-managed dream to me -- but apparently it's an irritant to some of the neighbors, who moved to that part of the area for suburban homogeneity, not to see goats and clover and thistle. Fortunately, the agricultural zoning for the Bhramdat's property is grandfathered, so that space, at least, will retain its productive and Earth-nurturing qualities.
L.T. Organic Farm is located four miles west of West Des Moines at the Waukee/Booneville exit, #117, on Interstate 80. The address is 3241 Ute Avenue, Waukee, IA, 50263. Phone: 515-987-3561 or 515-987-9599. Email: ltfoodheals[at]msn[dot]com or llt[at]aol[dot]com. The restaurant is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. between Mother's Day and Thanksgiving.
* I forgot the footnote again: My Lady Friend just told me about a farmer profiled in Michael Ableman's "Fields of Plenty" who planted his crops among established groundcover. This gentleman had discerned that more-or-less undisturbed fields had better soil health than cleared and cultivated fields. He planned to get to a point where he didn't even seed his crops, but instead let them self-seed along with everything else.
On our way west toward Colorado last month, we noticed a sign for L.T. Organic Farm Restaurant outside of Des Moines. I can't recall why we didnt stop -- maybe we'd already eaten or stopped too many times in those first few hours. In any case, I circled the exit and we said we'd stop by on the way back to Illinois.
It's so good that we did.
L.T. Organic Farm is a small, family-run operation in Waukee, Iowa, that is managed by Ahilia and L.T. Bhramdat. The farm offers certified organic produce and chemical-/hormone-free livestock and livestock products. Seasonal vegetarian and non-veg meals are offered at the farm's restaurant, which also serves as a meeting place for those interested in learning about organic agriculture, natural medicine and the couple's East-meets-West Indian cuisine (Mr. Bhramdat hails from Guyana).
When we visited, we sat down to a meal of curried potatoes and beans, mixed greens and rice served with raita (a cucumber-yogurt dressing). Oh-so-good, oh-so-fresh... particularly satisfying after a couple of days of propane-prepared meals next to the tent. I enjoyed it so much, I didn't think to take a picture.
Anyhow, the farm operates as a CSA (community-supported agriculture), which means that local residents pay an upfront fee and receive fresh produce each week throughout the growing season. L.T. Organic Farm also donates food to low-income families through Iowa's Local Foods Connection program.
Before we ate, we walked around the farm with one of the Bhramdats' sons. He explained their farming methods: three-to-four-inch trenches dug the length of the acreage, with grass paths in between the rows to abate muddiness; catch-crop plants (weeds) allowed to grow alongside and into the rows so that insects can eat those plants instead of the food crops*; manure, mud and leaf-cover mulching; container-watering (the pole beans, for example, emerged from old steel cans that kept water close to the plant); and dense interplanting (two or three different vegetables grown all together in the long rows).
After we ate, we walked around a bit more and eventually talked with L.T. himself. He was quite happy to explain how and why he and his wife had undertaken this venture, leaving their work in professional health care to start a rural farm. The basic story is summed up in this article, Fresh Vegetables Beat Medicine:
"The Bhramdats moved to Iowa from Chicago seven years ago in search of a safer place to raise their growing family. He was a cardiac medical specialist at the time and she was a nurse. The longer they worked in hospitals, the more compelled they became to wage a war against what they believed to be the source of many people's conditions: the food they ate."
At one point during our discussion, Mr. Bhramdat looked toward the nearby subdivision and commented about how people have cultivated disease and imbalance around their homes, with their flat, manicured (and to the point) chemically treated lawns. Aside from the health effects that chemical fertilizers and pesticides pose, the fact that so many people don't use their land to grow food was astonishing to him. Those same people's ancestors, say in New England, he said, would have never had a flat, empty lawn because of the toil required to clear and maintain land in that state --and because it would've been used to provide food for themselves. We mentioned the widespread use of land for family agriculture that we saw in Korea, and our own bemusement at seeing vast areas of suburban development on what had been farms.
Earlier, Mr. Bhramdat's son had mentioned (and I'd just recently read myself) that one hundred square feet of garden space can provide enough food to sustain one person. So imagine what could be done with an acre.
Most of the Bhramdat's property was lined with beds, with pens for ducks, a goat or two, and a large show turkey to the sides. In the front, there were also box gardens for tomatoes, peppers and other herbs. It was an unmowed but well-managed dream to me -- but apparently it's an irritant to some of the neighbors, who moved to that part of the area for suburban homogeneity, not to see goats and clover and thistle. Fortunately, the agricultural zoning for the Bhramdat's property is grandfathered, so that space, at least, will retain its productive and Earth-nurturing qualities.
L.T. Organic Farm is located four miles west of West Des Moines at the Waukee/Booneville exit, #117, on Interstate 80. The address is 3241 Ute Avenue, Waukee, IA, 50263. Phone: 515-987-3561 or 515-987-9599. Email: ltfoodheals[at]msn[dot]com or llt[at]aol[dot]com. The restaurant is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. between Mother's Day and Thanksgiving.
* I forgot the footnote again: My Lady Friend just told me about a farmer profiled in Michael Ableman's "Fields of Plenty" who planted his crops among established groundcover. This gentleman had discerned that more-or-less undisturbed fields had better soil health than cleared and cultivated fields. He planned to get to a point where he didn't even seed his crops, but instead let them self-seed along with everything else.
Exit for organics along I-80
mr damon, 01:00
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