WEBVTT

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♪♪

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[Debra Brubaker] From a very
early age, I was working

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in the fields
with my parents.

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My dad grew up on a farm
about eight miles from here,

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and his father
was an organic farmer.

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My grandfather kind of stayed
true to organic practices

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and very much influenced
my dad in that way.

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Everywhere you look, you'll see
the influence of Debra's

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father and grandfather
on these 75 acres of land.

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It's called Village Acres Farm,
and it's known in central

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Pennsylvania for being a leader
in sustainability.

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Today, the farm is run
by Debra Brubaker

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and her wife,
Hannah Smith-Brubaker.

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Debra's sisters,
Phoebe and Angela Brubaker,

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also run a commercial flower
business on the farm,

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making
this a true family affair.

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[Debra] We have crop land-
about five to seven acres of...

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of vegetable crops- as well as,
uh, doing pastured livestock.

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[Hannah] We grow about 50
different varieties of

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vegetables, um, and the breed
of sheep that we raise is

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Shetland, which is traditionally
from Scotland.

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They do a really good job
in everything from weed control

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to returning nutrients
to the soil.

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In the early days, Village Acres
Farm was a place

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where customers could pick
their own berries.

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At other times, the farm
offered Community Supported

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Agriculture, or CSA, boxes.

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Today, they mostly sell their
produce at local restaurants.

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Debra says she and her
siblings were raised by parents

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who believed that farming
was a higher calling.

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[Debra] I think it's the fusion
of my dad's real interest

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in farming with my mom's

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love of birds, flowers,
everything, to really kind of

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create a property
that really looks out for...

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for both food for humans,
as well as...

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as the natural environment.

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[Phoebe] We know that mom and
dad really wanted it to be

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a place that fed other people,

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not just food,
but also valuable relationships.

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And so, we've been
sort of, um, looking at

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how flowers are integrated.

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The flowers
bring in a new income stream,

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and just as important,
they're good for the crops.

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[Hannah] So, we've added
a lot of flowers to our farm,

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which is great because that's
a great enterprise,

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but at the heart of it,

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we can grow better vegetables
attracting the bees.

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The family has made other
changes to increase

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sustainability on the land.

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They planted 3,000 native trees,
creating a buffer

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along the creek.

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That buffer prevents soil
from washing into the creek

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when it rains.

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[Hannah] We want that soil
to stay in the fields.

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And so, we've been working
with farmers, um,

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for a couple of years
now to establish

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trees along the creek
on their farms,

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so that it's cleaner water when
it comes our way to our farm.

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[Debra] So, these are

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the paprika peppers,
two different varieties.

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[Hannah] For true
sustainability,

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we focus on three areas:

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people, planet
and production or profitability.

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When it comes to people,
we want to make sure

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that we have a good quality
of life here on our farm

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and that we're also

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economically supporting
our local community.

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In terms of the earth,
we want to make sure that we can

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continue to grow food
well into the future.

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So, we want to pay attention

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to things like soil
health and water quality.

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And then, profitability
or production.

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Well, in order to make it
as farmers,

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we have to be profitable.

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While Village Acres
Farm is notable

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for its sustainability
practices,

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they say there's something else
that sets them apart.

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[Debra] Well, honestly,
I think what's probably makes us

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most notable is that we're
a bunch of women on this farm.

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So, right now, all-
my mother, the three of my

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siblings, my partner, who's also
a woman, um, is...

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is sort of what identifies us to
the... to the larger community.

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[Hannah] In the end,
we're really a united force.

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We know that we want to feed
people, that we want to create

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a beautiful and ecologically
sound environment.

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And that takes all of us.

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♪♪

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Pennsylvania ranks third

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in the nation when it comes
to organic product sales.

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The state is consistently
in the top five states

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for organic mushrooms,
eggs, turkeys and dairy cows.

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That's contributed
more than $1 billion

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to Pennsylvania's economy,
with demand only increasing,

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fueled in part by the state's
close proximity to major markets

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like Philadelphia, New York
and Washington, D.C.