Help Take Zinniker Farm into the Future!
Dear friends,
Some of you may not realize that a major focus of my consulting work involves fostering the success of biodynamic farms, each of which I consider to be a precious, irreplacable anchor and amplifier for those forces of healing so needed at this time by the earth and by human communities. The story of one of these farms is described below, which I am sharing with you a) because they have immediate financial needs that I am hoping some of my readers will consider helping with and b) because I believe the innovative model we are developing there could have relevance for the many other organic and biodynamic farms struggling with succession issues at this time.
Zinniker Farm in East Troy, Wisconsin, is the oldest continuously operated biodynamic farm in the United States, and a place of extraordinary beauty, history, and soil fertility. Besides being a source of amazingly nutritious food for thousands of people in the Upper Midwest, the farm has also served as a key locus for the growth of the biodynamic farming movement, through field days, festivals, biodynamic preparation making, and through the ongoing training of young farmers. Today this amazing legacy stands in question because Mark and Petra Zinniker, the third generation of Zinnikers on the farm, are ready to retire, and their children do not wish to be farmers.
I am pleased to share, however, that over the last two years, a remarkable group of friends and loyal customers have come together to forge a pathway into the future for Zinniker Farm. Through the efforts of this group, with a little consulting support from yours truly, a new kind of social-economic entity has come into being called the Zinniker Farm Stewardship Association or ZFSA, which we believe is a model that could be replicated to help hundreds if not thousands of other farms in the future.
Among other accomplishments, ZFSA has:
Created a long-term sustainable budget for the future of the farm
Renovated an old cottage on the farm to create farmer housing
Found an amazing young couple who want to become the new stewards of the farm, who are already now living and working on the farm!
But we still have a long way to go—by which I mean, we need your help!
Our new budget for the farm requires seed money for the first three years to get the new CSA to the breakeven point and this year we need to raise $110,000. These funds will make it possible for Aidan Benkowski, the new farmer, to quit his full-time job, devote himself to growing the new CSA business, and learn the arts of biodynamic and organic farming from Mark and Petra Zinniker. We have thus far raised $80,000 which leaves us with just $30,000 that we need to secure in the next month.
To raise the remaining $30,000 we have launched a crowdfunding campaign, and I would be so grateful if you would consider a donation toward this effort.
You might also want to check out the new Zinniker Farm website that Aidan and his wife have created here.
We can offer tax-deducibility on gifts of $1,000 and above through our fiscal sponsor the Biodynamic Association in the United States. If you are interested in this option, please let me know so we can arrange for your gift to go directly to the Biodynamic Association rather than to GoFundMe. Anyone who would like more information about the work of ZFSA and our vision for the future is also welcome to contact me. Independent of this campaign, a few people have also offered unsecured loans, which we are also open to consider, so let me know if this is of more interest to you.
I also want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been reading and supporting my new Substack this past year. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to be a part of your life and your social and spiritual striving.
Warm warm wishes for your holidays and your New Year!
Robert