Organic farmers raise quality of dirt on their farm

Rochester Post-Bulletin

Saturday, May 16, 2009
http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=2&a=399768

Organic farmers raise quality of dirt on their farm

By John Weiss
Post-Bulletin

ELBA — Spring had warmed the land enough that Sandy Dietz could at long last return to her field to feel the cool, moist, life-giving soil on her fingers.

Dietz, an organic farmer, had happily searched seed catalogs all winter and worked in her greenhouse in late winter, but she had yearned to be outside, bending over and touching the land.

She needs that soil to grow vegetables to sell; that soil, in turn, needs her help to heal. The relationship she and her husband, Lonny Dietz, have with their land on a bluff near Elba goes much deeper than a living -- it's a way of life. After years of neglect, that land needs them to bring it back to life to produce lettuce, carrots, cabbage, tomatoes and other vegetables.

"I look at the ground as being alive, and we want to do everything we can to make it more alive," she said. "If you don't have the soil, the rest won't come."

The two are among hundreds who farm organically in this region, partly because it's a way to make a living, but also to improve the land itself. They get a premium price for their produce, meat or milk but also get the extra boost of knowing they are improving the earth. Some are certified as organic; others, such as the Dietzes, farm that way but haven't done the paperwork and inspections to be certified. Lonny Dietz calls it "biological" farming compared with conventional farming.

The couple own 136 acres on a Whitewater Valley blufftop on land that once had deep, rich, prairie soil formed over eons.

Layer of damage
That rich soil created a breadbasket for the first Europeans who came to the valley 150 years ago. Over decades, though, the Whitewater became an erosion basket case. Farmers plowed and grazed it the wrong way; erosion and flooding soon became threats with each rain.

The little town of Beaver, in the heart of the valley, had to be abandoned, and the state bought up much of the valley for the Whitewater Wildlife Management Area.

Today, only a few farms remain on the valley floor. Those farming on the blufftops are much more conscious of erosion, but past problems can still plague the soil.

When the Dietzes bought their land in 1991, "It was just down to clay," Lonny Dietz said. It rated 1 on a scale of 1 to 10, and its erosion-control structures had been plowed over.

A friend dug down and, at 6 to 8 inches, found a layer of white material that the three think came from chemical use and other past farming abuses.

"It didn't kill the roots, but it would deflect them," Sandy Dietz said. "The roots were always really shallow, which leaves it really, you know, intolerant to drought or anything like that. Or if you get a heavy rain, it's going to wash. It can't soak in."

Without organic matter, the Dietzes' first vegetable crop looked sick.

They were upset at what they found and set out to fix it. Healing the soil has become a passion, part of their spiritual connection to the land.

They also try to reach out to others to spread the gospel of not only stopping soil from washing away but putting new life back into it.

"It's like a religion with her (Sandy)," said Diane Leutgeb Munson, of Winona, who works at the farm. "She's the prophet of the soil."

'Obsessive' about the soil
Lonny Dietz agrees: "I think the best word to use is obsessive."

Sandy Dietz also is obsessive about working in the soil.

The couple once used a mechanical planter, but it sometimes put plants upside down or not the right depth. Worse, "I wasn't getting my hands in the dirt," Sandy said. "Sitting on a machine just going over, feeding the machine the plants and having the planter put them in the ground was even a disconnect for me."

When she and her sister, Ruth Bonow, of Altura, were out planting on that warm April day, they wore sleeveless shirts and pulled-back hair; by the end of summer, their hair will be sun-bleached white. Sandy Dietz has an ornate wedding ring but wears a simple band. It's a lot easier when farming, she said.

In summer, everything centers on the farm, the land, as it does for any other farmer. The couple can't walk away -- the land, the crops, the work is all around them.

"You're a slave to the farm and you always are, especially in summer," Lonny Dietz said. "You don't get away."

He quickly added that there is pleasure in doing that work by hand, selling directly to consumers, seeing the land heal, feeling the cool, life-giving soil.

Dependent on the weather
While Sandy is obsessed with the soil, on that first day of planting outside, she was more obsessed with the weather.

Frost is only a foot below the surface, said Lonny Dietz. The couple needed a warm rain to liven the soil and melt the frost, his wife said.

Sandy knew they were pushing the planting a bit, but they have customers to satisfy, and the first farmers markets in Rochester and Winona were May 2. Like all farmers, the couple plant and take their chances.

That the two became farmers, worrying about weather, is a story of serendipity and chance.

Sandy Dietz grew up in Rollingstone but loved the farm. "I always knew I wanted to be out in the country and do something."

Lonny Dietz grew up in Glencoe, a city boy, but one who loved parks and the outdoors. "I thought farming would be the last thing I would be doing."

The two met in 1977 at a Jaycees convention and married a year later.

"My mom always told me when I was a kid that I was going to have to marry a farmer," said Sandy. "I didn't, but we converted him."

The two came to this region a few years later. Sandy worked for the Farm Service Agency in Lewiston; Lonny was a service writer for Sears Automotive at Apache Mall in Rochester.

They knew they wanted to live in a remote area. They happened to see land for sale on Calico Hill Road and bought it. They soon began to realize that soil is more than just dirt, it's a living, breathing, organic thing, something they had to nurture.

"Actually working with the land rather than trying to dominate the land, we don't feed the plants, we feed the soil," Sandy said.

Soil needs bacteria and other tiny things so plants can take up minerals. It's all very complex and wonderful, Lonny said.

The Dietzes decided to use organic methods because they feel it's better for the soil, better for the food they grow. They also get a premium price for their produce because many consumers also believe the food is better nutritionally or will have fewer or no pesticides.

With conventional farming, "They don't pay attention to the actual life and the trace minerals and everything that plants actually need," he said. "We have taken so many minerals out the soils. The only things plants can take up now is what we've put on for fertilizers."

Many farmers adopting green measures
Lonny also said many local farmers are adopting new methods, such as adding green manure, that are good for the soil. He understands why conventional farming is as it is.

"I can't blame them for what they're doing or how they're farming because that was the big push -- everything has to be more efficient," he said. "It used to be that farming was a way of life, and you could make a living doing that. And they took out the way of life and said, 'No, you're dealing with a lot of money here, you have got to run it like a business and like a corporation.' That's the way it is now, it's more a business than anything else."

The Dietzes have become leaders in organic farming. Sandy Dietz serves on Land Stewardship Project's southeast office steering committee, advises the community-based food systems program and the Winona County Economic Development Authority's local foods subcommittee. Lonny Dietz has been statewide president of the Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota and is now the southeastern chapter's co-president.

"They are committed to issues of community and social justice and the roles they can play as farmers. They contribute mightily to our community -- in good food, yes, but also with their hearts," said Caroline van Schaik, of the Land Stewardship Project in Lewiston.

When the Dietzes bought their land, they soon began to raise vegetables, first ones Sandy liked. When they began selling them, customers asked for others. Sandy became a fanatic about finding new and interesting vegetables to sell at farmers markets, through community-supported agriculture or wholesale to restaurants. Her specialty is carrots of many colors and flavors.

Today, with green manure and time, the patient soil that took eons to build is in much better shape, rising past the 1-out-of-10 ranking the Dietzes gave it when they first bought it.

"I would think we are about 5 right now," Sandy said.

"I would say 6," Lonny said.

"We've got a ways to go yet," she said.

"We've come a long ways, but it's slow," he said.

Glossary

Topsoil
Rich topsoil is loaded with a complex of invertebrates, fungi, bacteria and microorganisms that prey on each other and break down plant residue.

Organic farming
Land may be certified 36 months after the last application of any prohibited material. Organic crops must be grown on land managed to reduce erosion and improve soil quality and fertilized with non-synthetic nutrients. Most synthetic herbicides and pesticides are prohibited. Weeds, insects and other pests are controlled using such practices as crop rotation, variety selection, biological control, mulching and tillage. Organic farmers may not use genetically modified seed.

Organic livestock
All organic livestock must eat organic feed and pasture. They must be raised in conditions that allow them access to the outdoors.

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