About
I’m Erik Andrus, a farmer in Ferrisburgh, Vermont. Not a career boatbuilder by any means, though I have messed around with it a little bit. I’ve built all sorts of other stuff throughout the years from lutes to furniture to timber-frame houses. I live with my wife Erica and sond Julien (7) and Robin (5). I’m interested in low-tech approaches to food and energy issues. I like to reflect on how our forebears made do and how this could inform the present, if only we can resist the magnetism of the couch.
The Vermont Sail Freight Project originated out of our farm’s commitment to resilient food systems. Producing food sustainably is not enough. The other half is sustainable transport of goods to market and equitable exchange. A good portion of the damage conventional agriculture does to society and the environment is through our overblown, corporation-dominated distribution systems. The idea of a small, producer-owned craft sailing goods to market, perhaps even a distant market, is an alternative to this system, and one which has served our region well in the past.
At first, I started thinking of this mission more as a food related publicity stunt, and was considering building more of a kind of a raft than an actual boat. I thought I would carry tonnage of rice downstream and dismantle the raft and return by land. Over time the mission has been refined a bit, as I’ve gotten good input from others, including boatbuilders Douglas Brooks and Dave Zeiger. Now the project has a design that we aim to bring about, and a mission. After considering the project’s likely appeal to folks in the Lower Hudson who are eager for connection to real regional foods and its potential for long-term benefit to Vermont producers, I began to think the idea is too promising to approach it as a one-off.
Now the project is advancing as a partnership between my own farm, as the first of hopefully many participating farms, and the Willowell Foundation. This joint endeavor will benefit farmers and markets in the lower Hudson while providing an outstanding experiential education opportunity to Willowell students and volunteers.
You could sum the project up like this:
8 tons of grains, roots, wine, cider, and maple syrup.
300 nautical miles.
Port of Origin: Ferrisburgh, Vermont, on the shores of Lake Champlain
Destination: New York City
Please follow this blog as we work towards the launch of our model in fall 2013.
I heard your presentation at “Financing the Working Landscape” last week, and am stunned by the creativity and simplicity of your idea – it sounds fabulous, and please keep me in the loop as it moves along.
And what about returning from NY ? You don’t want to have an empty barge coming back, so are there things/food/whatever that you can ship on the return trip?
Using the northbound capacity is a must! There are several alternatives. The one I like most is a kind of fair-trade-import CSA, where the project would buy such things as olives, olive oil, sesame seeds, coffee, chocolate, sugar, dried tropical fruits, and so on. And there will likely be other less management-intensive approaches, say for instance freighting masonry materials from the coast to a retailer in Burlington, or to a specific waterside project. The project could probably match road freight rates on the northbound run.
HI there,
We are in the midst of forming a producer coop across the lake in Essex NY. We have been discussing the logistics of bulk ordering and distribution of fair trade goods as a part of our mission, the core of our work is processing locally grown ( our own grown and neighbors) into hotsauce, ketchup, mustard, pickled scapes, pesto etc. The coop will also have a media lab, sewing room, office equipment, bike repair, and house 2 non profit organizations. Our target for opening is March 1, 2013, with the first processed goods coming out in June/July. I read your article about the rice in Small Farmers Journal and tried to find your farm on my way down to the New England Farmers Union Meeting last week– then at our grange planning meeting Mac told me about you. He met you at the Maker Faire. Mac and I determined right then and there to come and visit you.
Here is what I have to offer: Radio interview. Short video production. Friendship and solidarity, liason with this new Coop of farmers, promotion through our network of 13,000 young farmers. Documentation for Farmhack.
http://www.thegreenhorns.net
http://www.farmhack.net
http://www.ourland.tv
http://www.heritageradio.org
Thank you for your delightful vision, full and honest opensource process, and bravery. Please let me know when is a good time for a visit. I’d have to be before Christmas, or else in early February, as winter conference season is carrying me away from home.
With admiration and thrills up the spine.
Severine v T Fleming
farmer @thegreenhorns.net
[...] corporation-dominated food distribution systems,” Andrus is working with boat builders to create a carbon-neutral alternative to bring “8 tons of grains, roots, wine, cider, and maple syrup” from Vermont to New [...]
[...] Another purpose of visit wholefoods, was to see Erik from Vermont sail freight project. [...]
[...] kickstarter campaign has begun for those who can’t donate time to the project. Read about the http://vermontsailfreightproject.wordpress.com/about/. You can follow the kickstarter link from [...]
[...] to Heritage Radio Network, Erik initially conceived the idea, called The Vermont Sail Freight Project, as a one-off demonstration to raise awareness about regional food and energy issues while also [...]
Erik,
fantastic work and we hope it is all progressing well? we are involved in a similiar project over in the UK. stay in touch? andy