 Welcome. I am Aaron Schneider. I'm with the North Central Sare program and I also farm in Wisconsin. I'm excited to be here with you all today and doubly so to have Lauren McAllister with reflock farm. Join us for our this edition of farming matters which is a Sare video program that just really helps amplify and celebrate farmer rancher grantees share what they learned about their project and what they would offer to other farmers. And I could not be here or do this without the technical support from our communication specialist Marie Flanagan Marie. Hi. And yeah, I guess without further ado, I am going to toss it over to Lauren and then she is here to tell us about her farm and you know how and why she became interested in her Sare project. Lauren welcome. Like Aaron said, I'm Lauren McAllister thrilled to share with you how this process has unfolded and really something that I've learned from the very beginning is that Sare is really supportive. So I went into the Sare grant projects with privilege I've written grants before I've been awarded grants before your girl was an English major. Okay, not a problem. So that wasn't what scared me it was really just a scientific method I really wanted to produce something sound reliable, valid, all those good answers. So I'll start off by saying, Sarah did a great job of giving me all the tools being transparent about the projects and their budgets that helped me be successful in my grant application. Thank you to people, my husband and I, Brett, we run three flat farm in Ellisville, Indiana, we have 25 acres that we steward, not enough, but definitely closer to our goal, we're interested in shifting our small farm into a land trust that continues land liberation for black and indigenous communities. I partner heavily with the people's cooperative market. And from there, I sell all these mushrooms that came out of my no waste project. So thinking about circular economies. That's what comes out of a cooperative mindset. And so when I thought about how many coffee roasters and brewers we have a lot. It's a little and how much small business economy was built on fees right so they're paying tons and tons of fees, they may close. And so I was trying to figure out how we could get those nutrient then substrates out of the landfill. And interesting mostly because I was drinking a lot of coffee at the time and be I saw how it could benefit my farm just growing the coffee out there. My husband's grandmother had Alzheimer's and so dementia patients really benefit from line main mushroom cultivation. You're putting it together to have all this extra, which capitalism produces intentionally excess is what will happen. And I'm thinking how do I encourage my local economy, create something that can be fed to vulnerable communities. That's what people's market does in and of itself, and that can bolster my farm. Let's be honest, I want to be able to produce a product that has a high yield high profit margin. So I started asking questions from my coffee roaster my friends who grew great brew beer and what did they do with all this brain. So I googled it. And it was really clear that this was a question a lot of people were having but it wasn't framed with a small farmer in mind. So then I came to my question, could a small farmer benefit from building community by offering a way to relieve the fees coming from trash disposal, and to create a product that serve only vulnerable populations, especially in Indiana, which has one of the highest rate of food insecurity. Super exciting question, because it required me to ask right I didn't know I really didn't know I was just maybe it would work and I have tons of people who use the composting method where they put in coffee grounds but they don't know why. And then I have come to friends who are using in landscaping specifically who are using the brewers grain the spent grain, but they don't know why it works. So that became part of the question, what could we use so that mushrooms good grow and actually help soil remediation. There are in Indiana if you don't know clay is king. It's full of clay, you could literally dig down through some water and make a bench pod. So, it was a great question asked how can I put back in the knowledge I have about my ecology with using this waste product that coming out of our small town. And so there's already farmland to sell there. There are already farmers who have relationships there. And it's the big town for those of us who live out in the sticks. I knew it was possible because we had a farmers market. I knew that I could build relationships because I work with people's cooperative market and that is our essential goal to build more relationships in our food system to liberate food. And so we grew our own mushrooms for our coffee right so it benefited them from the beginning is the value of the product and it gave them a line into the farmers market that wasn't so price heavy mushrooms are pretty treat, and they have a long last, especially if you're making vegan products. We become a big enough town that vegan is a real need and so people often do vegan vegetarian and meat products here. And just speaking ethically, as a sheep rancher, we cultivate the meat. And so it was awesome for our farm to have a product that we could offer that wasn't meat based. And so I'm excited right coffee roasted like let's do this my friend to brew at home okay. And then I started sending out the survey of like what does that really mean, does anybody even want to do this for even found this their application I'm just asking this question. And so people keep telling me you know you should get research funding about this. I bet there is funding that you can find. Sure, right, Google. Someone tells me that Sarah is actually an national organization so it wasn't just I was thinking it was just an Indiana, or just in the Midwest. And that's what I need getting on and just be able to search the word mushroom cultivation get on and searching circular economy and just putting those few keywords into the project. I know that this was something people were interested in but not necessarily connecting the way that I was. So I'm excited about that, being able to use the website whenever I needed to, so that you get the information necessary to begin to build this project grant application. Again, I'm coming from a privilege point so I knew this was going to be a few weeks, but really the application wasn't that hard. So then I find the other projects and I'm like, I can do this, then I find the application like wow this is something I've accomplished with a lot of broad strokes and be able to really narrow down and ask a specific question I didn't want to find out if all roasters right wanted to participate are all brewers, but just ones in my community because they're the ones that are going to continue to pay higher trash disposal fees. So I'm finding projects. I'm looking at their budgets. I'm understanding what a midline application looks like I'm not asking for too much or too little. And then I'm starting to see a trend that all of these farmers ranchers are really trying to share important information. Right. So it's not again broad strokes became really specific I saw one about sweet potatoes I saw one about cleaning with hydrogen peroxide. Those help me articulate the scope of my project. I knew I needed a research assistant so that I could keep track of these sort of point zero point zero one measurements and I knew that I was going to have to dive deep into home sterilization. I got some resources from those project ideas, including a Paul statements book, which gave me the format of how to think about growing mushrooms not just some logs. Huge fan of growing mushrooms so once I started getting some evidence based research on how a lot of people are doing it in mass production. I was discouraged so much plastic. I couldn't understand it. I didn't understand why we were doing such a good job creating mushrooms and then growing them in plastic so then I found unicorn bags. Then I'm like oh this narrows my project right because I can use a unicorn bag without the fear of waste creating more waste with my project to measure against what I have at home. So I'm on a farm. We have fall jars. I drink coffee every day. So a French press. This is as simple as I got like, I don't want to make this part if somebody could do this as much as I do, which is too much right multiple cups of coffee a day, multiple dumping of these grounds. Then the amateur can have an entry point into my college even saying that my colleges come from a simple process of making my coffee in the morning, dumping it and then getting the right resource. A substrate knowledge along with the inoculation. Again, I was thinking this would be too technical to over my head. I would have to have a special lab. Okay, I wanted the white coats but beside that, I was not going to be able to afford a special lab with the right venting all that. What would happen if I just let it go. So I went to a local hydroponics and they were right the timing hydroponics just started really giving mass production and opportunity for any mushroom growers they were able to buy and bulk and then resell into the public. So I was able to get syringes full of oyster shiitake and lion's veins like $7. So, so it's like bringing down the cost of what this project would be, creating my budget from there was easy because I had a relationship with a hydroponics and a relationship with the coffee ground. I knew that I'd get all of these parts free. Once I nailed down the budget, I understood who my stakeholders were and what I was going to ask them. I submitted the application. Then I found out I could get half the funding ahead of time because I'm a farmer of color. And so that shifted it. I got so thrilled like this is incredible. And there are plenty of times where I had questions but the website really gave me 90% of the answers. When I think about growing mushrooms for community based health, that's where lion's vein come in. But when I think about oyster mushrooms that was just so that our farm could profit. I'm a huge proponent of soul fire farms, Sarah manual, right, a great way to incorporate low income or so many vulnerable populations into the food system. So I started asking those questions in that ceremony. I was like, I'm gonna format it this way so that it's easy to read. And I noticed that the worksheets and the documents were approachable. I could use simple language, and then I could just draw down on numbers and give a clear indicator to my fellow farmers that even if you don't get a flush from your mushrooms, you can still use the mushroom compost as a way to help slow remediation. So I, I guess I'm there's a couple of threads in here I'm really curious about. What did you learn that you really think are super important for other growers who wanted to do or try something similar. I love that question because I think it is a liberatory question right so how can I stand from this project. And what happens is that I got more visibility as a farmer. Right, I had something to offer I came to restaurants, coffee grinder, coffee roasters and coffee shops brewers home and you know one to run bars I have something to offer that wasn't just food from the beginning it was a relationship. I'm going to come and take your ways, make something out of it, and then see how it fits and integrate into their practice. I'm a huge advocate of local food I believe that food should be hyper local it shouldn't be more than a few miles away from where you are. And that's kind of a natural occurrence once you started saying that you actually knew your brother. This guy's like your friends, cousins, wife, you know, like it all started connecting in a way that made more sense for them also. So I saw other coffee roasters that I wasn't taking up from anymore, getting relationships with farmers, I saw more farmers growing for mushroom, and then I started seeing bold purchases from restaurants from local farmers, not just the mushroom right so now they built this into expanding into seasonal food and specialty items value added items that maybe farmers don't get to have in full purchases. In part because I think I was talking about this their manual funding, this is a question that I got money to answer. I gave a legitimacy to the work. And I think it really gave predation to my farm for someone to say well she's just looking for how to help us. I overheard someone saying that about my project. So it's just interesting how that can come out of it. And then talking to farmers about mushrooms as a profitable margin. Right that really surprised me they're like we had no idea you grow so much 350 pounds of coffee grounds every week from every roaster. Why that's an enormous amount that's not even the brewers great right which is tons and tons and tons compared to a big trash bag. So I think the big things that came out of that was just new relationships, not just mine but in my community, a real source and mutual aid understanding about how helping local farms help the economy, and just an overall feeling like satisfaction that the product was good. Right I didn't have any failure with the mushrooms in either substrate. We're at what else you would you love to share with anything that feels unset in your heart that you want to offer up to other farmers out there. I do that question, especially with the theme, you know, I'm excited that Sarah is so transparent. And I would like my episode to be hashtag black farms matter black farming matters. And it really, it gave me a lot of investment hang somebody ahead of time for work. Is it an investment that cannot underestimate I'm battling I'm wrestling people right now for grant money when they could just give me half upfront is something I say in a lot of I'm like well Sarah trusted me. They're invested in what I had you know so it's really significant to black farmers to get the upfront investment to say that we believe in what you're doing, and the proof is already there the credentials are already there not be questioned. Can you do this are you good at it will you manage that wasn't in your application process right I didn't feel like that was really at the heart of it, there was an assumption that we brought wisdom as a farmer to the project. So it's very rare. So it's a lead into that we definitely consider a three block farm this is a privilege is something that we inherited in terms of our wisdom from our parents are great grandparents and so knowing that that wisdom was honored, even in the process that the application is straightforward, the budget coming halfway early, and then knowing that I would have opportunities like this to talk about my word really shifted my trust and Sarah as an organization.