Turner Farm: Rooted in the Community 

By Mary Casey-Sturk

Building connections. That’s an ongoing theme you will quickly notice with a visit to Turner Farm. Connections with food, farming and people.  By permanently preserving Turner Farm and Meshewa Farm, it has protected and added to a rural heritage. As their mission statement shares, it seeks to “build a positive future, demonstrating that local, organic, low-impact food production grows healthy communities and healthy ecosystems.”

It builds connections by providing educational opportunities that aid in learning the importance of being stewards of the land, ourselves and the community.

Turner Farm is rooted in the community, for the present and the future.

As one of only two working farms left in the village, it has been in operation since the 1800s and continues to grow. In 1994, it became a devoted organic farm. Home to a variety of plants and animals, the land is a mix of meadows, pastures, gardens, woods, streams and hedgerows all of which are permanently protected from development.  The legacy of Bonnie Mitsui, who led the charge locally for organic farming, remains strong.  Mitsui, who spent part of her life living in Marin County, California, wanted to get involved in the food movement. Robert Edmiston, Turner Farm’s Executive Director shares, “She (Mitsui) reached out to me, as a lawyer, to help set up Turner Farm as an educational foundation. She was an amazing woman, and she casts a long shadow, she not only set up this organic farm, but she was also very supportive of the local food movement. She supported a lot of people behind the scenes, farmers and others who wanted to learn more about organic farming.”  Mitsui passed away in 2013.

Why the name Turner Farm? “It goes hand in hand with what we’re doing here, to give credit where credit is due, we call it Turner Farm because that’s what it was. It belonged to the Turners, one of the original homesteaders in the community” states Edmiston.

Today, Turner Farm offers a farm market, scheduled events, and provides the opportunity for others to hold their own events in the Barn Studio/Teaching Kitchen. For larger affairs (such as weddings), the historic Meshewa House is available.  Turner Farm offers a very popular CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program that currently has a waiting list as well as a flower CSA. And what to do with the organic food now in your kitchen? Turner Farm has you covered there too, offering cooking classes. Edmiston shares, “We took a structure dating to the 1870s, slowly dismantled it, and then put it back together to build a state-of-the-art teaching kitchen. Why produce this food for people if you don’t have the opportunity to teach them how to cook? We have an excellent chef (and have had others before) and we talk to the community about taking ownership of their health and wellness. That’s what organic farming is all about.”

Cooking classes recently offered included a vegetarian-friendly class preparing Chickpea Curry with house-made Garlic Naan along with Basmati Rice, Pie Crust Boot Camp, and a workshop on making and managing your baby’s food and lunch. Creative classes include creating seasonal wreaths, centerpiece and flower arranging.

First and Foremost: An Organic Farm

“With an amazing board and staff, we are first and foremost an organic farm, the largest organic farm in the area, and we support other organic farms. We also have livestock, sustainably raised and managed, including cattle, hogs, chicken, and sheep.”  Edmiston continues, “in doing this, we are focused on creating community; we try to be welcoming and embracive.”  Edmiston gives a shout out to the volunteers and interns who also contribute to their mission.

“Organic farming is all about the soil, you have this microbial system of billions of organisms delivering nutrients.”

Some days on the farm, you might catch the draft horses plowing using traditional methods, see a school tour learning about farming, view a barn cat on duty, or witness someone picking flowers from their CSA to design charming arrangements for a nursing home.  The draft horses are the same ones that deliver Santa Claus every year to the Annual Village Christmas Party at the Little Red Schoolhouse.

But the farm doesn’t end at the fence line, Turner Farm has worked with communities to create urban community gardens in areas that have limited (or no) access to fresh foods. Community gardens allow neighborhoods to benefit in many ways, including building a stronger connection to your neighborhood, learning growing techniques, and encouraging healthy diets. Currently, there are gardens on Eastern Avenue, in East Price Hill, Winton Terrace, Millvale, and East Westwood.

Through their membership in the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative, an international association of teaching kitchens with most aligned with medical schools, Turner Farm collaborates with organizations in our community including UC’s Osher Center for Integrative Health and Cincinnati’s Children’s Hospital. One aim is to teach medical students and medical professionals about nutrition, something that is often missed in formal education and an important part of everyone’s overall health.

Being a Better Steward of the Land

Indian Hill Living asked Edmiston how we can all be better stewards of our land. “Subscribe to an organic diet. If you’re avoiding supporting conventional agriculture, that’s a first step. Conventional chemical-based agriculture is poisoning everything, killing the soil, with run-off from the chemicals  feeding algae and suffocating fish”. Adding, “You don’t need to become an organic farmer, but realize organic farmers are trying to help the environment by feeding the soil with cover crops, crop rotations, and more to assist in avoiding the use of chemicals.” Edmiston also urges everyone to support and enjoy their local park systems and get outdoors often.

For more information about Turner Farm, visit http://www.turnerfarm.org