Carole Morison
One of the most compelling segments of the Academy Award nominated documentary Food Inc. featured Carole Morison as she defied her contract and kept her chicken houses unsealed and then proceeded to lead a film crew around her farm while describing her experience of industrial chicken farming. The sense that she'd had enough of all of it was palpable - and you knew with dead certainty that her decision to open up her farm like that had taken her beyond some point of no return.
In fact, after exposing the food, labor, and environmental damages exacted by industrial farming, Morison lost her contract and no longer farms. Now, as co-founder of the Delmarva Poultry Justice Alliance, she works as an agricultural consultant specializing in local food systems, advocating for the rights of family farmers. And she's coming to the Bay Area April 19 - 24.
Morison's visit is a result a recent trip to Soul Food Farm in Vacaville where she met Alexis Koefoed, another feisty chicken lady. The two might come from very different farming cultures, but they more than met in the middle over their dedication to farming. Koefoed organized the upcoming week of public events to bring attention to community supported agriculture programs and other ways farms and communities work together to heal the local food system - and to give Morison the opportunity to add her valuable perspective to the discussion of sustainable food.
“After 23 years raising chickens, Soul Food Farm is the first place I saw chickens raised on large pastures without cages, antibiotics, or environmental damage,” said Morison. “Just as inspiring was seeing the surrounding urban area participate in the success of a farm through programs like Soul Food Farm’s CSA; it gives me hope that the benefits of sustainable farming can be enjoyed by more consumers, workers, and communities.”
Morison’s schedule in the Bay Area includes one stop in San Francisco.
Inside the Hen House: panel discussion introduced by Michael Pollan and moderated by Anya Fernald
Participants: Carole Morison, Norman and Aimee Gunsell of Mountain Ranch Organically Grown
Date: Tuesday, April 20
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Place: SF Ferry Building
Reservations: www.brownpapertickets.com
Additional events include:
April 19, 6:00 p.m. – Camino Restaurant in Oakland dinner featuring Soul Food Farm pastured chicken and eggs. Carole Morison talk. Reservations
April 21, 7:30 p.m. – An Evening with Extraordinary Farmers Panel discussion, moderated by author Lisa Hamilton (Deeply Rooted). Participants: Carole Morison; Tony Malmberg, from Union, Oregon; and farmer Jered Lawson, founder of Pie Ranch. UC Berkeley Campus, 101 Morgan Hall. $5 donation. Reservations
Earth Day, April 22, 4 to 6 p.m., Benicia High School, Hayley Horn Auditorium, 1101 Military West Rd., Benicia. Come one, come all.
April 24, 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. – Developing Local Farm Systems, a talk by Carole Morison, sponsored by Slow Food, Solano County Chapter, Winters Community Center. Reservations
Morison also plans to meet Soul Food Farm CSA members at the Oakland and San Francisco farmers markets.
For more information:
Under the direction of Alexis Koefoed, founder of the Solano County chapter of Slow Food, and Eric Koefoed, a former engineer, Soul Food Farm produces pastured chickens for meat and eggs on a 55-acre ranch in Vacaville, California. It also runs the Bay Area’s only chicken-and-egg-only community supported agriculture (CSA) program and hosts a cooking club featuring Bay Area culinary artists. Soul Food Farm protects community land use, supports workers' rights, and guarantees the humane treatment of animals — sustainable practices that represent the true cost of feeding people.
Comments
im sure farm raised is very nice but one thing it wont be is cheap too buy.
To Miss Carole Morison,
I'm not sure you will ever read this message. I am watching the film Food Inc. and am very proud of you for taking a stand for your beliefs. That had to be the hardest decision you have ever made. I will pray for God to bless you and keep you on your crusade. Thank you!
To Anonymous: That cheap food is way more expensive than you may think.. Just maybe not at the register.
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