People in other countries are so hospitable to Interplast when we travel. We try to return the hospitality when our partners come here, but when Dr. Shankar Man Rai (our Nepalese director emeritus who was here receiving an honor from the Dalai Lama) asked to see a farm, we were not quite sure where to turn.
We called Flea Street Café in Menlo Park because they are known for their devotion to organic food and the local food movement. If anyone would have some good ideas, they would. The manager, Julianna, graciously encouraged me to contact Fat Cabbage Farm in Pescadero. We really appreciate her kindness and efforts to connect us.
With less than a day’s notice, Fat Cabbage Farm welcomed us to tour their new organic farm. It was a wonderful experience. The farm partners Miranda Roberts, Paul Richeson and Brian Coltrin took time out of their busy day to show us around their beautiful acreage in Pescadero. They answered the numerous questions Shankar had about farming in the United States.
As Shankar grew up on a farm in Nepal and comes from a long line of farmers, we all discussed the differences and similarities between organic farming here and subsistence farming in Nepal, where farming is primarily done by the very poor and uneducated who have not changed their methods in generations because the risk of failure is too great, i.e. their family might not eat for a season.
It was good to be able to do something nice for Shankar, who devotes his life to the poor in Nepal. We are very thankful to Fat Cabbage Farm for creating this experience for him. We are also very thankful to Jesse Ziff Cool and Drew, who kindly welcomed us to tour another CoolEatz garden/farm in Palo Alto that evening.
It was a special day, filled with great people doing great work---and I suspect it will be one that we all remember for awhile.
Visit our flickr.com set for more farm photos.
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