Dominick, notice of mismanagement, misrepresentation of NEFA mission

Dominick,
This is sent to you by Ahgamen (Peter) and Michelle Ann, as well as our family and community.  I hope this letter finds you doing well.  How is your farm work going?  How are your sheep doing?

The subject of this message is about mismanagement, greivous injustice, as well as a legal warning.  It has come to our attention that Kevin and others that he associates-with are in wrong conduct and being dishonest. The arrangement has been that Kevin speaks to you about the issues and concerns of operating the former-Maybrook.  The problem is that he is not able to function in that capacity without distortion and lying.  If he has made statements about us (Michelle and Ahgamen)  then he must be spreading lies and twisting all the facts.  He should not be trusted.  He is now known to be somebody who will sabatage his own self.

In fact, let's talk about the way he tries to run the operations.  He makes a horrible mess, a messy disorganized person. But he does make good rows of vegetables, I will give him credit.  However this messy chaotic method he displays is also affecting the way he attempts to manage.  First of all, he is not the manager of anything. I introduced the project to many new members who are great workers.  Yet what did he do?  He displayed a rude, nasty attitude and made a fool of himself and pushed them away. These people are the key to success, these are the farmers for access to the farm.

Kevin lies about the work we are doing.  We have worked since we arrived in April 2018.  What has he reported to you?  We both have done work and were told in mid-May that there would be a 100 week stipend starting in that week.  We have never been paid.  He also told this to Jennifer.  Now she has informed us that she is getting the 100 week stipend.  Why is that?  Is it because Kevin told lies?  We have been working and Jennifer was not even here in the beginning, she was working for our friend at his house, so we directly know all the days she was paid by him.  While she was there, we were working here!  Where is our stipend, our sweat equity for these hours?

About the leadership position, Kevin tries to, he attempts to, then he contradicts himself about managing.  He says "nobody is in charge", "I don't want to be the manager", "I'm not the Sherriff".  He is a disorganized, disjointed thinker, almost as bad as his friend Little Bear Alex.  We do not know if you heard the story about Little Bear, you probably didn't.  He was working here every other week.  I saw him and spoke with him many times.  I planted the potatoes with him.  Then he started to yell at me and slander me, for no reason; I did nothing wrong to him.  He then started to harass and yell at Andre and they had a heated argument leading to a potential physical fight.  He then ran into the house where Kevin stays. After that he departed.  Several days later he went to my friends house on the other side of Accord and he proceeded to get into an argument.  My friend had him remove him from his house because he became so nasty and vile.

Kevin cannot be trusted for his word and I can only imagine the lies he has stated about myself and my family.  It would behoove you to find out the truth.  We are good workers and have improved the land and structures here.  We are continuing to do so, even after the antagonistic conduct of Kevin, Little Bear, and his other associates.

My conclusion is that Kevin needs a lot of therapy.  He lost a relationship at Clove Valley and Sara W. who apparently was his partner, separated from him because of violence and other problems.  He always brings up this experience of his, especially with Michelle.  He tries to use Michelle as a therapist.  She did not ask for that, she told him to stop. Kevin needs mental treatment from professionals.

This is the recommended solution: Kevin should leave and go to New Jersey where he can better access the Staten Island market he wants to serve (Ganas et al.)  This project needs workers.  I have literally more than a dozen qualified people ready to go.  But they will not be able to do it with Kevin here. They are simple farmers and want to be close to the land and also repairing the infrastructure.  If this is implemented, there will be success.

This is the legal warning: NEFA has a declared mission.  If it is not followed, then it is clearly fraud.  They are collecting money, property, and investors to provide a system that farmers will access the farms.  Specifically, former-Maybrook was for housing of the farmers and Arrowhead was for main piece of land to farm.  I am doing that along with the group that is forming the cooperative.  If any party is to take any action to hinder or obstruct this, then it is grounds for a lawsuit.  Labor laws will be invoked at the Federal level.  ICE will be brought in.  Discimination is the major flaw here.  It can and will be proven by multiple witnesses and documentation.

You are responsible and culpable in anything that transpires here.  We are just a simple family with a lot of friends who want to be on the land and participate in a fair deal.  Would you just sit back and let this turn into a nightmare, when it can be a lucrative venture?  We hope that you will proceed in a way that is mutually beneficial to all parties.

Sincerely,
Michelle Ann, Ahgamen, family, and cooperative-forming

Land, the farms, the gardens and the people who are doing that

Give thanks for your life, it is good and precious.  We are following a philosophy of simple living and that includes at its core, the work of growing your own food.  Simple and direct and natural is the lifestyle. 

If any monied interests would like to come-along and "to mission-statement" that as a way to gain their comfy millions, then do so at the risk of karma.  You do not represent the common, simple farmer, those who are meek and being the salt of the earth.  Those are the ones who need access to the farms.  Those are the humnan beings going back to live on the land.  YET those are the ones who are being used and exploited.  In their name, the artificial feudal-lords of today are thrusting out their palms, in search for alms, big alms charity donations. 

We are the grass-roots consciousness. 

On WHY to communicate

Communication is the key to bring a group together in harmony.  So far, nobody from the other side of the group has decided it worth their while to communicate herein.  That's a shame, I think. This resistance to communicate is part of the problem with communities..  and surely it would be easier to build trust and familiarity through this gift of communicating.

If indeed all the other adults want to just be LURKERS and be silent, then that's their choice.  If the readers want to lurk and read without reciprocation, then so be it. 

I will continue to communicate my ideas and my experiences here, along with others who are willing and who find it useful and friendly to do so.

Update, all posts are being re-published plus more info

Update: in the beginning of July I was thinking of the complaints from Kevin (and who was possibly speaking for others, such as Nadette or other Ganas members)  They were complaining about this blog.  Yet Andre and Michael E. and Haum and Edmund as well as many others were interested to gain info and insight.
I put into effect a hiatus and removed the majority of the posts on July 8 (cf. that notice)  But now I am continuing with this blog, whose mission is to reveal facts and truth and foster community growth, as well as cooperation in all worthy progressive movements. 
What brought about this decision/ this reversal?  I just realized it is the right thing to do.  It is proper and true and will be done.  Whoever doesn't agree, then I appreciate your opinion.  We agree to disagree.  Thanks and that is the end of the existentiality.

nefa info

2 New Hudson Valley Projects Near Esopus Ag Center Added by NEFA

July 10, 2017 Leave a Comment

NEFA has announced two new projects in Kerhonksen, New York: the Maybrook Hotel (pictured above), to be used for farmworker housing and other purposes, and the 200-acre Arrowhead Farm. The proximity of both these properties to our Esopus Agricultural Center near Kingston increases the opportunities we can offer to support organic farming in this important Hudson Valley region. More about each:

Maybrook Hotel, for Farmworker Housing and More

In partnership with key investors, NEFA has purchased and begun renovations of the Maybrook Hotel, located in Kerhonkson, New York, one mile from the Arrowhead Farm, off of Route 209.
This 15-acre property with seven buildings is a critical piece in the work to create access to farmland by creating access to affordable housing within close proximity to the land.
The developing plan for this property is to not only create affordable housing stock, but also to leverage the meeting spaces and grounds to have common space for events and other activities connected with community and sustainable agriculture. In spring 2017, three months after closing and some considerable renovations, farm-worker families and individuals are currently living at the lodge, and there is genuine excitement around leveraging the space from community members.

Arrowhead Farm (in Development)

Northeast Farm Access, working with lead investors, is in contract to purchase the Arrowhead Farm (above), located in in the Rondout Valley on Route 209 in Kerhonkson, New York. This important third-generation family farm is a critical addition to NEFA’s work to date to expand access to mid-scale organic agriculture in the Hudson Valley.
The plan in development for this 200-plus-acre property is to transition to organic while bringing in farmer operators for a range of mixed-use activities, from haying to livestock to vegetables and of course the continued production of maple syrup. For the 2017 growing season, we are working with the current owner and farmer planting organic cover crops using organic practices.
The Arrowhead property will contribute to creating a critical mass of farmland toward our agroecology program, building and studying healthy on-farm ecosystems.
For more information about either project or other NEFA efforts, contact Bob Bernstein at (603) 209-2000, or email bob [at] nefarmaccess [dot] com.

Arrowhead Farm

Arrowhead Farm Agricultural Center, LLC (AFAC) purchased Arrowhead Farm in the Rondout Valley on Route 209 in Kerhonkson, New York, on May 18, 2018. This third-generation family farm is a tremendous addition to NEFA’s work to expand access to mid-scale organic agriculture in the Hudson Valley.
We have begun to transition this 271-acre former dairy to organic management practices, and bring in farmer-lessees experienced in raising everything from flowers to seeds, vegetables to livestock and maple syrup. For the 2018 growing season, former owner Peter Davis is planting a second year of cover crops in the transition to organic.
Infrastructure includes a fine, old tie-stall dairy barn, large newer free-stall barn, tractor shop, young-stock housing barn, commodity shed, woodshed, storage shed, manure pit and sugar house. A large farmhouse (with four bedrooms), an additional farmhouse (two bedrooms) and a wood-frame cabin located next to the sugar house provide farmer housing options on the property. The cabin is already under renovation.
More than 120 acres of Unadilla silt loam run along the Rondout Creek, with 100 acres of higher ground in pasture and sugar bush. There are many water sources, including 1.4 miles along the Roundout Creek adjacent to tillable land, a drilled well at the farmstead complex, two ponds and additional springs.

History

After purchase by the family in 1911, Arrowhead was a dairy farm that produced corn, soy, hay and grains. In June 2008, Open Space Institute and the Ulster County Farmland Protection Board announced the permanent protection of the 346-acre Arrowhead (Davis) Farm north of Kerhonkson on Route 209 in the Towns of Rochester and Wawarsing, Ulster County, New York.
There is a conservation easement on the land, and the soil quality is above average for the area. It is currently in use for haying and livestock production and the acreage for farmland is in a program of cover-crop succession.
Now Arrowhead Farm includes some of the Rondout Valley’s finest agricultural land. It sits in the center of the Valley, between the Catskill Mountains and the Shawangunk Ridge and runs along the Rondout Creek. Rolling hills and prime soils provide excellent drainage. Sweeping vistas and frontage along NYS Route 209 make the Davis Farm one of the most scenic and vital farms in Ulster County.
“In recent years, my family and I have received numerous offers to sell the farm for development, including plans to develop the property with hundreds of homes and commercial retail space along Route 209,” said Peter Davis.
With the funds from the conservation easement, the Davis’s turned their farm into a diversified agricultural business, so residents of the Rondout Valley had greater access to locally grown, safe, fresh and nutritious food, and ensuring that their family farm and heritage will be preserved forever.

Lessees

Acorn Hill Farm – Joyce Rose, Aleah Rose

Acorn Hill Farm is a small family farm and micro-creamery in the Mid-Hudson Valley/Catskill region of New York that produces a variety of goat milk cheeses, goat milk fudge and goat milk soaps using the milk of organically managed dairy goats.
Joyce and Aleah Rose’s small herd of Nubian goats is made up of around 35 whom they milk twice a day year-round. They care for their goats using natural methods, love, and respect. Joyce will bring fresh, sustainable goat dairy products to regional communities that feel that knowing where their food comes from matters.

Hudson Soil Company: Eileen Banyra

Hudson Soil Company was founded by Eileen Banyra and Noa Simons to distribute Community Compost Company compost. They produce their environmental, finished compost on farms in the Hudson. Their mission is to restore and sustain soil health by producing and selling quality compost. They collect organic material destined for the landfill and transform it into compost to reduce environmental impact, build healthy plants and more resilient communities. Eileen and Noa are passionate about developing an integrated local food and agricultural system to recycle resources.

Long Season Farm

Long Season Farm is a small, diversified, certified organic vegetable farm focusing on four-season production of high-quality vegetables for farmers’ markets, wholesale, and winter CSA in Ulster County NY.Erin Enouen and Sam Zurofsky utilize the main growing season to have a bounty of warm, loving crops from late spring through fall on Long Season Farm. In the “off-season” their high tunnels house cold-hardy greens and roots, while their cooler stores roots crops and cabbages. They embrace the seasons rather than struggle against them, so through the seasons they only select varieties that do their absolute best for the period they’re grown in.

Hudson Valley Seed Company: Ken Greene, Doug Muller

Ken Greene and Doug Muller, the operations manager, co-founded Hudson Valley Seed Company in 2008. For the early years, Ken was the lead farmer on the seed farm, and now he supervises all operations of the business. Ken founded VESSEL, the first incarnation of the Hudson Valley Seed Library and, ultimately, the Hudson Valley Seed Company, while working as a librarian at the Gardiner Public Library in Gardiner, New York. Having developed a keen interest in preserving heirloom seed varieties, he decided to add them to the library catalog so that patrons could “check them out,” grow them in their home gardens, and then “return” saved seed at the end of the season. The program was a small but successful endeavor–one of the first of its kind in the country. After four years of running the program at the library, Ken and his partner, Doug Muller, decided to turn the library into a mission-driven, homestead-based small business–which it still is today.

Treadlight Farm: Irene and Matt Dell

Irene and Matt Matt Dell started Treadlight Farm in 2015 in Bovina, New York, to grow specialty cut flowers and ornamentals. Their crop selection is curated by them and by nature. They grow what they think is beautiful, and nature whittles that down to what grows well in the cool seasons and rocky soil. Together, they have combined farming experiences of more than a decade.

Grazing Farm

Grazing Farm raises high-quality organic grass-fed pastured poultry, cattle and sheep through an intensive rotational grazing system. Bringing communities together through a healthier, safer food alternative and regenerating the land is their priority, and they strive to improve their pastures by using the best organic methods. New farmers Kurt and Asia Frederick of Grazing write, “Living in the Hudson Valley is a dream of ours. The land and views are absolutely beautiful. The environment and atmosphere is quite different from the city life we are accustomed to. It allows us to be still, present and focused on the land.”  Their primary goal is to provide a service to these areas by making food easily accessible all year-round. They want their consumers to know where and how their food is raised.

Updated policy

This blog is going on hiatus.  Due to the constraints for time on other projects.  Also in consideration of the misunderstandings of all those concerned.  If this blog was not beneficial then sincerest apologies. 

In the near future, the stories and blogging will be done in a much different way.  It will be a poetic style.

Until then, be well and live life, creating more good and interesting stories.