Sunday, Aug. 02, 2009

Pizza Farm: Any way you slice it, Walt Gregory is into organic food

Walt Gregory spends much of his time showing children how food is produced on his organic farm and teaching them the importance of a healthy, chemical-free diet.

But first he has to get their attention. He does it with pizza.

His R Farm in Dow, northwest of Godfrey, has a 150-foot-diameter, pizza-shaped agriculture exhibit. Each wedge represents an ingredient: whole grains for crust, tomatoes for sauce, goats and cows for cheese, pigs for sausage and other vegetables and herbs for toppings.

The produce is grown without pesticides, and livestock are allowed to graze freely instead of being cooped up in small cages and fed corn.

"Kids, listen to me," Walt told about 40 children and adults on a recent tour. "You will never see Walt Gregory eating a hamburger at a fast-food restaurant because it's cattle raised on corn."

The tour group included about 25 children from a summer camp at Bethany Lutheran Church in St. Louis. Some had never set foot on a farm.

Walt noted chickens have a wedge because he likes barbecued chicken on his pizza. He also explained how he was bottle-feeding a calf with a life-threatening case of diarrhea.

But it was his 400-pound, Vietnamese pot-bellied pig that generated the most excitement.

"That's a big pig!" shouted Araimani Wade, 9, of St. Louis, rushing to the wire fence to get a closer look.

Araimani was clutching a bunch of beets, still caked with dirt after being pulled from the ground. Most of the leaves were gone. She had fed them to a goat in the next pen.

After the tour, the group sampled Walt's cheese and pepperoni pizza in a log home that serves as farm headquarters. He got several thumbs up.

"I think it's cool because I've never been any place like this before," said Kirston Wilkins, 13, of East St. Louis. "You get to see things grow, and you get to feed the pets, and he tells you what's good and bad about the ingredients."

Sharing the harvest

Walt and his family operate R Farm and its educational subsidiary, R Pizza Farm, near Illinois 3 and 109 (the "R" is short for "our"). The 55-acre property includes 30 tillable acres with the rest wooded.

Family members grow organic fruits and vegetables and sell them along with meat and home-baked goods at outdoor markets in Ellisville and Ferguson, Mo., Swansea and Mascoutah.

They also provide in-season produce to 168 "subscribers" in St. Louis through the farm's community-supported agriculture program. Some subscribers also get hamburger, chicken and eggs.

"We will take you all around the farm, and you will not find any chemicals," said Ron Root, 36, who is married to Walt's daughter, Diana. "The only thing you'll find is gas, oil and diesel (to run machinery), and I'd like to get rid of that and go with mules."

Ron and Diana were in the basement kitchen, where pizzas are cooked and fresh produce is divided for subscribers each week.

The Roots were being assisted by Ian Steiber, who filled 60 blue cloth bags with corn, cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, carrots, eggplants, potatoes, lettuce and herbs.

Ian, 50, is an organic consultant from New York who joined the R Farm staff two months ago to help increase production. He met Walt at The Nature Lyceum, a school for environmental horticulture in Westhampton, N.Y.

"When I see the criminality in our food supply, when I see babies at 3 weeks old with brain cancer, and I know it's directly related to our diet, that's what motivates me (toward organic farming)," he said.

Like Ian, Walt doesn't mince words when giving farm tours or talking about the use of chemicals in food production.

He calls pesticides "poison" and rails against companies that genetically modify seeds. He argues that pasteurization removes beneficial bacteria and enzymes from milk and that cost-saving practices in giant livestock operations cause people to get sick.

"All the corporations care about is making money," Walt told the recent tour group. "They couldn't care less about the moral aspect of food."

Environmental steward

Walt comes on strong for a 63-year-old grandfather with white hair and a white beard who has been compared to Santa Claus and Papa Smurf. But he thinks it's necessary to shake consumers out of complacency.

Walt even uses the Bible to make his case, saying unnatural methods in modern agriculture go against God's teachings.

"If the soil life is healthy, there's no need for chemicals," he said. "Farmers are supposed to be good stewards of the land. I know so many people who call themselves farmers, and they're not."

Walt was an insurance company manager until he retired early at 49. Today, his work on R Farm is guided by the philosophy of his mentor, a black organic farmer he met 50 years ago near Alton.

The farmer advised him to study plants, animals and birds, mimic nature as closely as possible and keep a Bible handy to help with ethical questions.

Walt created R Pizza Farm six years ago. He patterned it off a similar educational program in California.

The recent tour group included family and friends of Mich Hancock, 45, of Hillsboro, Mo., editor of Spirit Seeker magazine. She had interviewed Walt for an article.

"One of the things he said that struck me is, he farms with God," Mich said. "He doesn't do anything against God by using chemicals."

Her friends, Andy and Carrie Anderson, already are following Walt's advice that families with yards build raised garden beds and grow their own fruits, vegetables and herbs.

The Andersons also buy organic food in the supermarket whenever possible.

"We're doing our best, but it's so expensive," Andy said. "You're forced to buy the processed foods and genetically engineered food."

Subscriptions for the community-supported agriculture program at R Farm cost $650 a year for produce and $750 a year for produce, meat and eggs.

R Pizza Farm tours are available by appointment April through October. The fee is $7.50 per person, which includes two slices of pizza and a drink.

The farm hosts R Acres of Terror on Friday and Saturday nights in October. Visitors follow a wooded path with scary Halloween scenes. For more information, call 466-5950.