The Pepperfield ProjectSome Background on the Co-Founder:
David Cavagnaro is a professional horticultural photographer, author, teacher and organic gardener. He currently owns 145 acres of scenic rural land in Pleasant Township six miles northeast of Decorah. The land consists of five farm fields currently in the CRP program, 100 acres of woods, a quarter mile of Canoe Creek, and a tranquil five-acre valley where his home and extensive gardens now stand. It is his intention to donate this valley, including both the house and gardens, to the Pepperfield Project so they can be transformed into a living-example education center that will then serve as the Project’s main teaching facility. David’s passion for food and gardening is life-long, a love that was further enhanced by his eight-year tenure as Gardens Manager for the Seed Savers Exchange.
As the founder of this non-profit corporation, it is my desire to preserve the cultural heritage of food growing and preparation techniques that have been lost, during the last century, as our society has become alienated from its agrarian roots. Our plan is to create a non-profit organization and educational facility whose primary mission is to help reverse that trend.
Possibilities Abound:
As stated, one of the Pepperfield Project’s primary purposes is to develop collaborative associations with other organizations that embrace ideals and programs that are complementary to our own. To that end, we have already started relationships with a number of organizations and individuals in the Decorah, IA area that are interested in, and are indeed very excited about, our programs. One such organization is the Vesterheim Norwegian American Museum. We are currently in talks with them about being the recipients of an historic barn (Kroshus Bridge Barn) that they need to relocate. We would provide the land, access and maintenance for the barn and use it according to its original agricultural purpose in addition to its inherent use as an educational tool. Our intent is to add other historic buildings to our site is as well. David has been working closely with Paul Cutting on his efforts to locate, procure and preserve some of the last existing log homes in our area and we are interested in obtaining one or more of his buildings for our facility. The Kroshus Bridge Barn would then become, in this setting, part of an even larger sense of living history. Since our intent is to foster a 21st century agrarian role model, the addition of agricultural buildings of historic value offers us an opportunity to showcase a living connection to this area’s agricultural history. The Seed Saver’s Exchange, whom David has a long history with, offers many exciting opportunities to tie together the growing and eating of heirloom produce, which dovetails nicely with our objectives of reconnecting people with the agrarian practices of their immigrant ancestors. We will be meeting soon with representatives of the Northeast Iowa Food and Fitness Initiative to see how we might integrate our educational programs into the great work they are already doing and Luther College is looking to us for advice on how to include a more field to table, self-reliant approach for their foodservice operations.
Our facility has the extreme good fortune to be located within a localized neighborhood of like-minded and forward-thinking families. We have included many of them early in the project development process so that we might better understand what programs they would like to see us offer and to also take advantage of their generous offers of involvement. Incorporating their individual efforts as a part of the “larger whole” of our teachings is very important to our project. For instance, our food-related programs would incorporate agricultural products from the immediate neighborhood: organic eggs and produce from Barb Krause, free-range chicken and grass-fed beef from Bill Pardee and Cathy Rawitt, and lamb from Tom Beard, to name some of the closest sources. It would thus be possible to prepare food and teach about organic agriculture sourced almost entirely within walking distance. And the Spencer-Bergs have an historic barn, which they plan to renovate as a community-use performing arts venue. All of these endeavors serve to bring together the living example that we are trying to promote as a return to our common agrarian roots.