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PAUL F WESLEY
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PAUL F WESLEY
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PAUL F WESLEY
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PAUL F WESLEY
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PAUL F WESLEY
By Diana Cercone
Tony D’Orazio believes it is a human right to enjoy high-quality, nourishing food—no matter the size of one’s wallet or social status. Born with a moral compass, Tony, with his wife Amy, have put their money where their heart and humanitarian values are: In feeding as many people as they can with the best, organic produce and pastured-raised beef, chicken, turkeys and eggs they can grow and raise on their 388-acre Carversville Farm Foundation farm (CFF) on Mechanicsville Road in Solebury Township.
Tony didn’t come from a farmer family. He spent his formative years growing up in South Philly with his extended Italian family nearby. Nightly tables were laden with fresh, homemade food. No one went hungry. It wasn’t until his undergraduate years at Temple University in North Philadelphia that he first witnessed hunger. It’s also where he met Amy and later married. The two started donating what few spare hours they had to a local synagogue’s breakfast soup kitchen, and where Tony mastered the art of flipping eggs. It was the beginning of their commitment to giving back. Thirty-three years ago, the couple started Vertical Screen. The company, located in Warminster, runs background checks of job applicants for clients. As their company grew, so did the size of the checks they wrote to charities, worthwhile organizations and institutions—even becoming involved in some. Still, they wanted to do something that would directly address the hunger problem in Philadelphia and its surrounding area.
The idea of owning a farm where all its products would go to feeding the hungry seemed ideal. Plus, ever since he was six years old and visiting his Uncle Larry on his farm in Tullytown and his Grandmother Maria’s vegetable garden near his home, Tony had a romanticized view of farming. In 2013 Tony and Amy bought farmland in Solebury Township for their Carversville Farm Foundation.
Still, before a single seed was sown, he and Amy volunteered in soup kitchens and embarked on trips visiting farms in Vermont to California to find the best use of the farm in feeding the area’s food insecure. All their data pointed to an organic one with vegetables, cattle, chickens, turkeys and eggs. With no blueprint to follow except their commitment to do their part to fight hunger, business acumen, creative thinking, research and moxie, Tony assembled a team of experienced organic farmers as managers: Steve Tomlinson, Craig Haney and Adrian Galbraith-Paul. Before joining CFF as farm manager, Steve served as vegetable farmer for the farm to table restaurant Agricola in Princeton. Livestock Manager Craig oversaw the livestock at the famed Stone Barn Center for Food and Agriculture above New York City; and Field Manager Adrian managed Heritage Farm in Philadelphia where he sold vegetables to the city’s restaurants and provided food to families in need. Rounding out their teams are interns and volunteers.
Not only do the three have farming credentials in common, but like Tony, they also possess a deep passion and respect for taking care of the land, the vegetables they grow and the animals they raise—knowing that what they do is making a difference for not only what their partners’ clients eat but also to their health and dignity. And they are making a difference to the health of the environment.
Ninety percent of what they produce is donated—and delivered by them twice weekly—to their partners who have soup kitchens, food pantries and/or fresh markets in the Philadelphia area, such as SEAMAAC, the oldest and largest refugee-founded agency; Ronald McDonald House (RMHC); St. Christopher’s Foundation for Children; Face to Face in Germantown; and Cathedral Kitchen in Camden, NJ. Nearby Bucks County Opportunity Council (BCOC) picks up their own donations of freshly picked produce, eggs, chicken and beef, distributing them through BCOC’s Fresh Connect mobile market and through more than 70 food pantries in its network.
Erin Lukoss, CEO of Bucks County Opportunity Council, says, “BCOC feels quite lucky to work with CFF. Everyone there is just amazingly kind-hearted, engaged and genuinely cares about the people we serve.” Knowing that there will be CFF donations each week to BCOC’s Fresh Connect, says Heather Foor, Director of Client Services, family turn-out has increased by 40 percent. “Our Fresh Connect families love the quality, color and freshness. Being able to distribute food that was harvested so recently is amazing.”
For other organizations such as Heritage Farm and Philly Urban Creators, CFF donates thousands of starter plants and for Bucks County Audubon Society, CFF helps build and maintain a healthy habitat for its butterflies.
The other 10 percent is sold on the farm at their Carversville Farm Store, where 100 percent of its proceeds are plowed back into producing more for CFF’s partners.
It was never their intention to open a market, Tony says. At first it started with just a few community neighbors dropping by for CFF’s organic eggs—happily handed out for free. But as word spread of the variety of CFF’s organic products, community members asked for more, culminating in the store. It opened in June of 2020. It was also the beginning of Covid. The decision to go online ordering and curbside pick-up was made—and still holds today. (Disclosure: That’s also how I first found them—thanks to a friend of mine. And have been a loyal customer since.)
Since 2015 Carversville Farm Foundation has donated 130,000 dozen of organic eggs; more than 486,000 pounds of produce; 12,083 pounds of ground beef; 22,351 pounds of turkeys; and, since 2019, 44,273 pounds of chickens, with each year producing more of each. So far as of this past July, CFF donated more than 27,000 dozen eggs; 25,000 pounds of produce; and close to 10,000 pounds of chicken. And last year 250 turkeys were donated between families of the Ronald McDonald House (RMHC) and Cathedral Kitchen.
Says RMHC Chief Development Officer Chris Callanan, “Not only did Carversville Farm Foundation deliver the turkeys to one hundred of our former families but also all the produce for a complete Thanksgiving meal.” Serving CFF food to our families, he says, is akin to serving farm to table dining. RMCH’s Assistant Food Manager Chef Patrick Swartz adds, “It was great knowing that with the help of CFF, these families would have some food security during the holiday.” In addition, he says, “CFF’s donations have greatly helped us with a steady resource of high-quality food for our families. We look forward to every single week and it helps provide more variety in meals to our families.”
Turkeys also take center stage at the Farm Store when CFF holds its annual Thanksgiving Turkey Fundraiser. Preorders for their own bred Red Bourbon Heritage turkeys and broad-breasted turkeys are available now online with pick-up at the farm before Thanksgiving (www.carversvillefarmstore.org).
The first thought that comes to mind when you pass through the farm’s rod-iron gates and drive along its tree-lined driveway—a mix of sycamore, tulip poplar, red mulberry and Shellbark Hickory, some 250 years old, is that of a gentleman’s farm. But don’t be deceived by its pristine pastures and well-kept barns. It’s anything but. Hard work and long hours are sown here 24/7. “And not just manual labor,” Steve says. “A lot of research and creativity play a key role. Everything we do,” he says, “is to produce more food to feed folks in need. And they should have the best.”
That simple statement underlies the commitment the D’Orazios have made—and continue to make—to ensure that CFF’s partners’ clients do not go hungry. Since 2013 the D’Orazios have invested millions of their own money in the farm’s infrastructure with current operating costs running them close to two million.
They are continually investing, upgrading and expanding the farm’s infrastructure, i.e., building greenhouses for starter plants and hoop or tunnel houses for them when they mature; constructing a riparian habitat and buffer to ensure no water runoff seeps into the Paunacussing Creek Watershed; a self-contained composting system and waste-water management tank, where the nutrient-rich water is then used to water the plants and fields. A special washer, affectionately called “The Bubbler” was refitted to gently wash lettuces and greens. Another, a 10-foot-long steel barrel gently washes hardier vegetables like fall’s harvest of carrots, potatoes, eggplants and beets. In addition, there’s the state-of the-art poultry barn where baby chicks are incubated and cared for until they’re old enough to graze in mobile pasture coops, until finally brought back to the barn to be humanely butchered and air-dried on racks in a large, refrigerated room. “Air-drying before packaging them,” says Steve, “results in crisper skin and juicier chickens.”
Then there’s the mobile cattle corral which allows their Black Angus cattle to chow down on a mix of new, rich grasses every day. The corral even comes complete with a giant collapsible umbrella, which, when needed, opens to provide welcome shade on excessively sunny and hot days.
One of the oldest barns on the farm is used for whatever is needed at the time, such as, on this day, drying garlic bulbs. A much-prized ingredient as a flavor enhancer and for its medicinal qualities by chefs all over the world, it is the same for their partners’ chefs but even more so, says Tony. In the local markets and food stores, garlic commands a high price, he says, so it’s seldom among the donations CFF’s partners receive. Not so here. It is grown especially for them, Tony says. Same with many of the other prized and high-end priced vegetables such as shiitake mushrooms (which they grow on logs repurposed from a local nursery) and fingerling potatoes.
Just as in high-end restaurants, CFF’s partner chefs now have the luxury of ordering fresh food weekly. It not only helps them plan their meals, Tony says, but gives them an invaluable sense of security. Each week Steve sends out an order form to the chefs, listing what is available and their quantities. Come December he’ll meet with the chefs to plan what vegetables to plant in the coming spring. Special requests are always welcomed, he says, such as bitter melon, okra, Japanese eggplant, celery root and fingerling potatoes which they now grow regularly. Last year St. Christopher’s requested snacking peppers for its children. This year Steve delivered a bumper crop of sweet, nutritious, snacking peppers for St. Chris’s kids—as well as for kids of all ages.
And Steve’s aways trying something new that will help the chefs extend their pantries. This year, Steve will be freezing tomatoes. Tomatoes are at their most bountiful in August and September, he says, so donations are plentiful. By freezing a healthy batch of them to donate later, he says, the chefs can have organic tomatoes to turn into sauces, stews and soups come November and December.
Hunger Relief Coordinator for SEAMAAC, Inc. Jared Brooks, says “Donations of high-quality organic produce can be hard to come by, but vegetables from Carversville Farm Foundation are always fresh and in prime condition. The farm also provides us with dozens of cases of organic eggs which are in the highest demand by our food pantry clients.”
Over in Germantown at Face to Face (F2F), Chef Altenor Vaval and Assistant Chef Aidan agree that CFF’s donations have changed the quality of food served to their clients—both at F2F’s Our Dining Room and Fresh Choice Market. “To put it simply,” Chef Aidan says, “CFF donations have changed—and improved—everything about the quality of food we serve at F2F. Because of CFF’s consistent, reliable partnership we’ve achieved what few Soup Kitchens can: We serve fresh food every day.” Donation-based kitchens typically serve most of their meals based on shelf-stable/non-perishable ingredients, he says, which is a significant compromise to their dining guests’ health. “Canned foods prove reliable sources of protein but lack the vital nutrients and freshness to truly nourish the people sitting down to eat,” he says. “At F2F we simply do not have that issue, and it’s entirely due to our relationship and donations with CFF.”
To underscore CFF’s quality and freshness, the chefs shared a recent dinner menu: Organic chicken baked in celery, garlic and rosemary, accompanied by organic roasted red potatoes, organic kale salad with cherry tomatoes, beets and goat cheese. All ingredients for the meal came from CFF, they said.
“We are proud to be one of the many, many institutions and organizations striving to end hunger in this world,” Tony says. “We could buy yachts, Maseratis, Lamborghinis, etc., and to be sure we live well, but we would rather engage in direct action towards a world where everyone has consistent access to fresh, healthy food.”
So, does he still have a romanticized idea of a farm? To this Tony replies, “Yes and no. Running a farm that provides organic vegetables and pastured-based meats and poultry requires a great deal of hard work and brain power from a team of smart, dedicated farming professionals. My six-year-old mind could have never seen this. However, what has stayed the same is that farming is still very special and magical to me.”
For more information or to donate or volunteer, visit www.carversvillefarmfoundation.org. Carversville Farm Foundation Store is open for online orders with curbside pickup on Friday afternoons and Saturdays mornings, (www.carversvillefarmstore.org).
Diana Cercone is an area freelance writer who specializes in food, art and travel.