By Cliff White
Staff Writer
    Richard Rudolph has a lot of ideas for how to do more with his farm. He said the $244,567 grant the farm’s Saco Valley Food Connections project (SVFC) recently received will help turn many of those ideas into reality.
    Rudolph has owned and operated Ripping Waters Farm, located at 55 River Road in Steep Falls, since 1991. Rudolph said he started the farm because he was tired of just talking about perceived problems and wanted to take action to solve them. He bought the 12-acre farm near the Saco River to put into action ideas promoting sustainable agriculture and the consumption of local, organic foods. The SVFC is the collection of those ideas.
    “We Mainers need to take more responsibility for growing our own food,” Rudolph said. “Maine used to grow most of its own food. Now 85 percent comes from out of state, and most of the food that ends up on plates in Maine has traveled more than 1,500 miles to get there. There is this huge disconnect between people and the food they eat.”
    Congressman Tom Allen announced the three-year U.S. Department of Agriculture Community Foods Projects Competitive Grant award in a statement last week, listing several reasons why Rippling Waters Farm secured the grant.
    “The Saco Valley Food Connections project is an exciting grassroots initiative which will promote greater local food security and combat hunger in the region,” Allen said. “It will increase the Saco Valley community’s self-reliance in providing for its own food needs by establishing school gardens, a greenhouse at a school site and community gardens at senior housing sites and on town-owned land.”
In addition, the grant will fund the Rippling Waters Farm’s education initiatives providing hands-on learning opportunities for students at Steep Falls and George E. Jack Elementary Schools and Bonny Eagle Middle School and Bonny Eagle High School.
The grant will also pay for a summer apprentice program designed to give intensive training to those interested in organic farming practices.
“The SVFC provides a remarkable demonstration of how modest federal investment can stimulate tremendous community action directed against hunger,” Allen said.
Rippling Waters Farm is certified organic by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) and has either joined or initiated several programs linking the farm to the communities of Standish and other towns in southern Maine.
In order to further what he saw as the mission of the farm, Rudolph transitioned the farm into a 501 (c) 3 non-profit in 2006. Programs the farm has become a part of include Maine’s Senior FarmShare program, food pantries including the Root Cellar Food Pantry in Portland, Maine Harvest Lunch and school lunch programs, the Community Supported Agricultural Project that allows members to choose when, what and how much they want of the farm’s organic produce, and MOFGA’s Farm Training Project.
Rudolph said in cases where he saw opportunities for the farm to further its cause where no established program existed, he created programs himself. These have included assisting gardeners who want to make the transition from conventional to organic gardening by offering instruction and organic garden supplies, and working in senior centers, schools and at farm stands to educate about organics, healthy eating and sustainable agriculture.
“We’ve been really trying to get out into the community to talk to people of all ages to instill a love for growing food. There are so many benefits that can come from a local farm – environmentally, health-wise and community-wise, but people have to become informed and hopefully, involved, in order to see those benefits,” Rudolph said.
Rudolph said he hoped to combat childhood obesity with the farm’s school-based programs.
“Obesity rates are high in Maine and the problem of childhood obesity is getting worse,” Rudolph said. “What we ultimately need to do is encourage young people to change their eating habits. What better way is there to do that than having them get involved in growing their own food and finding out through that process what good food is and where it comes from.”
Rudolph said he was also proud of the farm’s work with seniors.
“A lot of seniors could benefit from hearing about more up-to-date nutritional information,” Rudolph said. “We have taught seniors we have been involved with how to cook and enjoy new and healthy foods. And a lot of seniors are isolated from the larger community and so our visits help with making them feel a little more connected.”
Rudolph said he plans to expand the farm’s work to include more intergenerational projects.
“It’s great to work with each of these groups of people individually, because our work is to a degree specialized to each different age group. But to create interactions between all these groups would also be really neat and interesting.”
Rippling Waters Farm apprentice Christy McKinnon said she enjoys her work with seniors.
“Last week, we taught a group of seniors how to make basil pesto,” McKinnon said. “Some had never had pesto before! They had basil growing in a garden right outside their housing complex and most of what they needed to make the pesto was right there around them. Seeing the seniors taste pesto for the first time – that’s a really rewarding feeling.”
     McKinnon said an important part of the farm’s work is getting local residents involved in working on the farm. She said the farm hosts special events such as August’s Soil to Supper Festival and community planting and picking days, including the upcoming Potato Digging Day on Oct. 27 and the Nov. 17 Fall Clean-up Day to increase community involvement and teach volunteers how to grow organically and sustainably.
McKinnon said she appreciated the grant the farm had received because it was helping to fund her Americorps Vista internship at the farm.
    “I’ve been loving the internship because it has given me all sorts of cool opportunities to get people into organic food and local farming,” McKinnon said. “This is the direction farming needs to go to sustain a local food source.”
Rudolph, who eventually wants the farm to become completely self-reliant for funding, said he also appreciated the grant because it showed the work the farm is doing is valuable and worth funding.
“It’s going to be very helpful in continuing the projects we have become involved with,” Rudolph said. “I know the work we’re doing is only a drop in the bucket in solving many of the problems we’re trying to tackle, but hopefully, our farm can be looked on as a model for other farms who want to take on a similar mission. Projects like this, if they were replicated, would go a long way in raising awareness about what good food is and providing access to it.”
The farm’s Potato Digging Day runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 27, and harvested potatoes will be donated to local food pantries. Fall Clean-up Day is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 17.
For more information about the farm or to learn how to get involved, visit www.ripplingwaters.org or call 642-5161.