Organic Farm Tour

Nicole Faires and Family

"We are a young family from Canada who has spent the last year converting a bus into a sustainable home in preparation for the most amazing road trip. Nicole (the mom) is an author, and for her next book she will be visiting the best organic farms across North America and interviewing the farmers to find out their passions, their failures, their successes, and how they became who they are today." (Excerpt from main website)

World According to Monsanto

"There's nothing they are leaving untouched: the mustard, the okra, the bringe oil, the rice, the cauliflower. Once they have established the norm: that seed can be owned as their property, royalties can be collected. We will depend on them for every seed we grow of every crop we grow. If they control seed, they control food, they know it – it's strategic. It's more powerful than bombs. It's more powerful than guns. This is the best way to control the populations of the world." –Vandana Shiva

Genetically Modified Food: Panacea or Poison?

"The fact is, there has never been a single study on the human safety of these products. Any implication to the contrary is a pure fabrication. Make the corporate apologists produce a single study, and they can not. The important point is this. Among scientists, the scientific community is deeply divided as to whether these foods are safe or not, so the burden of proof is on industry. And so far, the corporations have failed to demonstrate the safety of these foods on humans through a single study." –John Hagelin, PhD

Food, Inc.

"There is a deliberate veil, this curtain, that's dropped between us and where our food is coming from. The industry doesn't want you to know the truth about what you are eating because if you knew, you might not want to eat it."

Food Matters

"Let thy Food be thy Medicine and thy Medicine be thy Food." –Hippocrates

The Future of Food

"They allowed the patenting of one of the genes responsible for breast cancer. And many researchers who had been working on a cure for breast cancer were no longer allowed to use that gene in their research because another company had patented it and charged them very very high fees. Some of the major pharmaceutical companies have gone into university laboratories and sued those laboratories and sued researchers who were using the genes that they own. This is probably the largest private takings of what should be the commons that we all own in common that you could possibly imagine and I think one of the most disturbing economic trends of our times."

Blue Gold: World Water Wars

"This is not a film about saving the environment; it's a film about saving ourselves. Because whatever one's environmental, political, or religious opinions; whatever one's race, sex, or economic standing; whomever of us goes without water for a week cries blood."

Flow - For Love of Water

"Thousands have lived without love, not one without water." –W.H.Auden

Sea-to-Sea Organic Farm Tour

A family in a bus interviews farmers across North America

The book will be an in-depth sourcebook for beginning organic farmers, and also a showcase of the most amazing farms in North America. It will have hundreds of beautiful photos, and it will give a voice to farmers who have a lot to say about sustainability and organic food. The book is going to be called The Organic Farmer’s Sourcebook and will be published by Skyhorse Publishing in spring of 2012 (Skyhorse is a trusted source for books on self-sufficient and natural living, including Back to Basics and Mini-farming: Self-sufficiency on ¼ acre). gatekeepers

We’ve sold everything we have and poured in a lot of blood, sweat and tears to be able to have this beautiful blue bus (The Albatross). We will be on the road for about 5 months, going through at least 28 U.S States and a couple of Canadian provinces and covering at least 8000 miles.

We are looking for more small organic farms to be featured in the book. We will be interviewing farmers and documenting what makes their organic farms successful. Farms will be featured with many beautiful photos and farmers will be able to express in detail what makes their farm great.

These are our tentative tour dates. This means that we may spend more or less time in an area, and those decisions will be made on the fly. Our schedule is very flexible.

April 15 - 20th : move into the Albatross full time

May: complete construction and tie up loose ends

May 30 - June 3rd : Salt Spring Island, BC

June 12th : Epic Albatross Launch Party

June 15th - 18th : Vancouver/Lower Mainland, BC

June 20 - 23rd : Okanagan to Kootenays, BC

June 25 - July 5th : Flathead Valley, MT

July 10 - 17th : North Dakota to Minnesota

July 17 - 24th: Wisconsin to Ohio

July 24 - 30th : Pennsylvania to New Hampshire

August 1 - 6th : Vermont to Massachusetts

August 7 - 17th : Washington DC and Virginia

August 20 - 26th : Tennessee (the 20th in Memphis)

August 28 - Septemper 9th : Colorado to Arizona

September 11 - 24th : California

September 25 - 30th : Oregon to BC

We are looking for farms that meet these criteria:

· The farm must be relatively well established and monetarily successful. ‘Success’ is a broad term, but the farm should be able to support itself.

· Farms must be organic and sustainable. Your farm doesn’t need to be certified but organic farming practices must be demonstrable.

· You must be willing to share information, from your business practices to your great chicken coop or greenhouse design. The goal is to share and help other organic farmers. It also gives you the opportunity to show off to your customers.

· We are looking especially for farms that are dynamic, efficient, unique, and picturesque. This book will be a showcase of some of the best and most interesting small organic farms in North America. We need you to let us know why you should be included.

Farms that are included will need to schedule with us to be part of our road trip. We will most likely spend a day at your farm, taking hundreds of photos, and asking many, many questions. You will have to also sign a release form so that we may use what you say and photos of you and your family in the book.

We are passionate about organic small farms and we are also privileged to be part of an amazing project. On the other hand, we are also a laid back family with kids travelling around in a bus. We appreciate you letting us in on your day and your willingness to share. If you are interested, please contact Nicole at n.r.faires at gmail.com. Please include a link to your website, and describe why you think you should be included. A photo would also be appreciated. (Excerpt from main website)

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