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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.