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Thanks to 60 people with voracious appetites and also to very generous vendors at Fair Food Fight Night, we raised $706.50 to benefit Ames Farm in Watertown, Minnesota. Known for their amazing single-source honey, Ames Farm also produces a huge variety of heirloom apples and pears. Sadly, their orchards got hit with a devastating hailstorm last week, and the financial damage may be insurmountable for owner Brian Fredericksen.
Here’s a recap of what’s going on at Ames Farm from Yogagirl who lives at Ames Farm.
I can’t begin to tell you how difficult it has been to see the apples and pears on the ground this past week [see pic above] and know what a financial burden this is to Ames Farm. Farming is a risky business and this was a one in 100 year storm that wiped Brian out. It is heartbreaking. Here is a man who truly loves growing apples and keeping old and mostly forgotten varieties of apples going. And now in the wake of the carnage, he is considering getting out of the orchard business altogether. If you have ever had a taste of a fresh or dried Sweet Sixteen or baked a crisp or a pie with a Prairie Spy, then you know how important these heirloom varieties are. He is the only one I know of that cares enough to keep these more obscure apples going.
My understanding is that Brian has lost the fruit from three of four orchards. If that’s the case, seven hundred bucks won’t even be a band-aid, of course, but we all hope it gives Brian a dose of love and encouragement from his many friends in the Twin Cities who treasure what he does for us.
HUGE thanks to Jim Grell of The Modern Cafe and Scott Pampuch of Corner Table for donating the lion’s share of that $706 from food sales at Fair Food Fight Night. Big love to Nature’s Prime Organics for the meat raffle, and to winner Rick Edwards who bought about 90 zillion raffle tickets.
It makes me extremely proud to be part of the Twin Cities sustainable food community and to see the various forms of support from many folks who have helped us out in what has turned into our farms biggest struggle for survival since we established the business in 1995.
My worst fears of honey production being damaged has come true as little to no honey has been produced in the storm zone since 7/17. I’m still hopeful that August and early Sept will turn around and provide us some manna from heaven in the form of nectar for our bees. I’ve learned that making your living off the land is sometimes based around the law of averages and often when the pendulum swings one way hard it comes back to average things out.
I especially want to thank Scott Pampuch, Jim Grell, Rick Edwards, Natures Prime Organics, John Mesko, Will Winter, and Mill City Farmers Market for their generousity and/or thoughtfulness. You guys walk the talk! I hope I can be there for you all if the tables are turned someday.
Brian – Ames Farm
p.s. YogaGirl you’re my queenbee!