Farming is important to me because I love to work outside, I love working hard and I am committed to helping build a more environmentally and socially just future. I am part of the local-food movement: a social movement of people devoted to growing and eating from small-scale sustainable farms and increasing access to the most nutritious and delicious food available.

Reconnecting local food
In 2004, after spending a few years traveling and working on a number of organic farms internationally, I returned to North Carolina and co-founded Maverick Farms on the farm where I was born and raised.

Maverick Farms' mission is to preserve small-scale farming as a community resource and reconnect local food networks by training a new generation of young farmers. Our main goals are to showcase innovative ways of increasing farm sustainability, provide skills and develop resources about sustainable farming and food production, and bolster our local community's economy by growing and producing food. We offer educational programming and internships for young people and adults, and in 2007, we incorporated as a nonprofit organization to further our educational goals.

The power of CSA
As the social, environmental and health problems caused by the industrial food system become increasingly obvious, more people want to participate in building alternatives. One such alternative is "community supported agriculture," or CSA. In the last 10 years, CSAs have popped up all over the country, and in many ways they have proven to be stable and viable alternatives to the industrial food system for both consumers and producers.

At Maverick Farms, we operate a small CSA with 25 shares (some members split one share, so we have 40 member-families this year). In the spring, there is typically little or no farm income and lots of farm expenses (seed, fuel for plowing the fields). Similar to a magazine subscription, members pay for their share of a season's produce in the spring, and then throughout the season they receive an equal share of the harvest. This is an innovative way for consumers to share both the risks and benefits of farming, as well as to know exactly how their produce was grown and handled. Members of our CSA help out with work on the farm and share recipes and tips for unfamiliar vegetables.

Yes, even kohlrabi
Farming for me is not just about living off the land, it is also about actively seeking ways to make healthy, local food accessible to everyone -- not just those who can afford higher prices. One of my favorite activities at Maverick is our annual camp for "at-risk youth" -- teens and preteens with troubled backgrounds.

Most of these kids come from low-income families that tend to rely heavily on processed food, which delivers a powerful calorie jolt for a low price. I've drawn two lessons from these annual camps. One is that kids love freshly picked, healthy food (yes, even kohlrabi!) when they're exposed to it. The other is that they really respond to getting their hands in the dirt and connecting to food in a visceral way -- even the ones most obsessed with McDonald's and video games.