The first official stop on the tour was Perkins' Wholesome Harvest Farm in Demotte, Indiana. Just last year, Dan and Julie Oudman-Perkins bought a 19-acre farm not very far from Julie's parents. Most of their time and energy so far has gone into renovating the farm house, where they hope to move soon with their not-yet-one-year-old son Harper.
Julie, who grew up in Demotte, said she'd never marry a farmer and she'd never move back to Indiana, though in the course of seeking to be faithful to the movement of the Spirit, she's done both. With Dan employed full time in the area of water quality, much of the work for the test garden has fallen to Julie and she's really enjoying the fruits of such labor, literally and figuratively, often with Harper on her back or "helping."
On our tour of the property, we enjoyed fresh sugar snap peas and met Chaco, the Australian shepherd who guards the tender spring produce from woodchucks and deer. We also saw the beautiful old milk shed, which is a simple building that seems to have captured Dan and Julie's imaginations as they dream about what its potential might be. A bakery, perhaps? It's incredible how four walls and a roof can beckon creativity and possibility.
The couple plans to start small next year with an organic CSA serving 10-20 area families with fresh, seasonal produce. They've begun the process for organic certification, even as they also attempt to heal the soil from years of highly intense farming that have stripped many of the nutrients. They've planted cover crops that can be turned back into the soil along with compost and manure to create a healthier medium for their vegetables.
After several years spent working for other farms, including Victory Acres CSA, the Oudman-Perkinses are relishing the opportunity to invest in a piece of land that may well represent their life's work. Dan, who grew up in Maine, was introduced to large-scale midwestern agriculture when he decided to attend Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa, which is where he and Julie met. Explaining his interest in farming, Dan said,
[I became involved] more on the political side of things--taking an interest in what was happening with water quality, the side peripheral effects of raising food in an industrial way, what some of the negative consequences were that were beginning to show up from an environmental standpoint. So then I kind of came to the conclusion that if I'm going to talk to farmers, engage farmers and institute any sort of change, I have to know what the life is like; I have to at least be able to speak with some authority that isn't just educational--like, I'm a PhD or I have a Masters or something--something that's a little more direct. So I started doing apprenticeships and that's kind of where I got stuck.
Toward the end of our interview and tour, Julie asked if we had dinner plans, leading to a spontaneous invitation to join the evening meal at the Oudman household, where Dan, Julie and Harper are living while their farm house is under renovation. We enjoyed great conversation, baby entertainment and tacos--with a side of fresh lettuce from the test garden, of course--before moving on for the first workshop of the tour at Bethel Christian Reformed Church in Demotte.
Thanks to Dan, Julie, Harper and the Oudman clan for their openness and hospitality! We look forward to seeing what grows at Perkins' Wholesome Harvest Farm and in the surrounding area in the coming years.
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