Alexis and Eric in front of their house. (David La Spina photo for the New York Times Magazine)

Chirstine Muhlke’s profile of Soul Food Farm for the New York Times Magazine just came out this past Sunday, on Thanksgiving weekend. Titled “Field Report: Learning about Community Supported Agriculture the Hard Way,” it focuses on the dismal economics of a small farm like Soul Food, and how something like a comparatively minor fire can almost kill a farm.

From the consumer’s point of view, Soul Food Farm looks as if it’s raking it in: eggs cost up to $8 a dozen, and meat retails at about $6.50 a pound. Outsiders aren’t afraid to voice their opinion. After the fire, an online detractor wrote that the farm should have more than enough cash to rebuild.

If people think that farmers are driving home from the market in BMWs, Koefoed said, “they should go visit the farmer and see how hard they’re actually working.” Even before she laid off two of her three employees after Eric lost his civil-engineering job, the mother of three was rising at dawn and working late to tend to her 8,000 birds, which roost in houses dotted around the scrubby land. Until she bought an egg-washer last year, she cleaned 1,800 a day.

Soul Food Farm operates on razor-thin margins. To bring in extra money, Koefoed is concocting a lavender-products business with a neighbor; plans for a cooking school are in the works; and she began a pilot project in which others raise her meat birds on their land. In October, she started a C.S.A., or community-supported agriculture program, selling her produce to people who might not be able to afford it in restaurants. Cutting out the middleman means she’ll get all of the much-needed proceeds. “This romantic vision of the poor farmer needs to be thrown out!” she said emphatically. “It’s not romantic to be poor. It’s a struggle.”

Naturally, Koefoed would like to struggle less. She’d also like to see the day when people realize that cheap food is a lie, and values have shifted enough so that those who pay $8 for a six-pack of beer or thousands for a plasma TV won’t “gripe about paying $8 for a dozen eggs.” Those dollars go back into the community, she said, not to some corporation raising robo-chicks. “This should really matter, because it’s going into your mouth and fueling your capacity to get through the day,” she said. “Food is the bottom line: we all need to eat every day. Then ultimately aren’t farmers the most important resource we have in this country?”

The article has goosed CSA sign-ups, so quite a few readers seem to agree with her. So did Andrew Simmons, in a warm post over at the SF Weekly blog.

The Soul Food Farm Raffle will be held live at the party at Pizzaiolo on Sunday, Oct. 11, admission is $14 and includes one entry in the raffle. Bidding has started on the separate silent auction connected to the event; winners will also be announced at Pizzaiolo.

You do not have to be present to win a raffle prize; all winners will be notified by email.* Raffle tickets are $5 each, or five for $20. Everyone who has donated money to Soul Food Farm already via PayPal will get one raffle ticket as a thank-you.**

Raffle prizes

A list of all the cool raffle prizes we’ve been offered follows. I think we have enough now — thanks everybody! Your generosity is truly breath-taking.

• A16 restaurant: $150 gift certificate and signed A16 cookbook
• Adesso Wine Bar: $75 gift certificate
• Bar Jules: $100 gift certificate
• Bici: One free bike tuneup
• Blue Bottle Coffee: $25 gift certificate good at any location or cart
• Boulette’s Larder: $50 gift certificate
• Camino restaurant: Gift certificate
• Novella Carpenter: Signed copy of her hilarious and inspiring Oakland memoir, Farm City
• Cafe Gratitude: $100 gift certificate
• Chez Panisse: Signed copies of hardvocer Chez Panisse Desserts with illustrations by Wayne Thiebaud, signed (by Lindsey Shere) hardcover Baker’s Dozen cookbook, and two signed books by Charles Shere, Roman Letters and Mostly Spain cookbooks
• Chronicle Books cookbooks gift pack
• CUESA: Ferry Plaza Farmers Market tote bag with cookbooks and market goodies
• Delfina: $75 gift certificate
• Dopo restaurant: $75 gift certificate
• Dona Tomas: Gift certificate & signed cookbook
• Flatland Flower Farm: A flat (16 plants) of herb and vegetable starts
• The Gardener: $50 gift certificate
• Gialina Pizzeria: Gift certificate
• Gioia Pizza: Two $25 gift certificates
• Ici Ice Cream: Two $25 gift certificates
• Kermit Lynch: 2 magnums of Domaine Les Palliéres Gigondas 2004 and 2005 (separate items)
• Let’s Be Frank: Party pack of dogs, wrappers, sauce and sauerkraut
• Manicaretti Foods gourmet treats gift basket
• Massa Organics whole-grain brown rice, 20-lb bag, and 2 jars of crunchy almond butter ($60 value)
• Meatpaper: Magazine subscription, Meatpaper tote bag
• NOPA: $100 gift certificate
• McQuade’s Celtic Chutneys: Gift basket of locally made chutneys with Havens Bouriquot and Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam cheese
• Oliveto: Gift certificate
• Omnivore Books: $25 gift certificate
• The Palms: Two pairs of two tickets to any concert at the hall in Winters, CA
• Pascal French Oven in Danville: $25 gift certificate
• Piccino Cafe: $100 gift certificate
• Lori Podraza of Goulash Designs: Retro handmade bag and retro handmade apron (separate items)
• Ritual Roasters: Two 12 oz bags of coffee, a mug, and a certificate for 2 free drinks
• Rancho Gordo: Two gift boxes of farmer Steve Sando’s signed cookbook, Heirloom Beans, and beans
• SPQR: $100 gift certificate
• Summer Kitchen Bake Shop: Three of gratin dinners and membership in our Supper Club, which allows guests 10% off all food and drinks including lunch and dinner and 10% off Wine at Vintage Berkeley on College. $75 value
• Tartine bakery: Two $50 gift certificates (separate) and signed Tartine cookbook
• Tartine Bar: $75 gift certificate
• Terzo restaurant: $100 gift certificate
• Yes We Can: 1 case canned dry-farmed and San Marzano tomatoes
• Zuzu Napa: $100 gift certificate

Thank you to all of these generous individuals and businesses!

*If you win a raffle item but don’t live here, we will not be able to ship it; you can opt to donate your prize to a Bay Area friend or let us draw another entrant.

**I will mine the PayPal donation log to get names and email addresses to enter you; ‘fraid I can’t do so with check donations. If you donated by check and want to be entered into the raffle, email me.

Several restaurants like Il Cane Rosso are holding fundraisers, but we also wanted to do something  affordable for all the other generous but cash-strapped fans of Soul Food Farm, like the kitchen crews of various restaurants.

Baby chicks at Soul Food Farm

The Soul Food Farm party at Pizzaiolo will feature:

• special guests Alexis and Eric Koefoed, Soul Food farmers, and five Soul Food baby chicks that are going to be auctioned off for would-be backyard poultry farmers. (Mixed breeds, including with the Aracanas that lay the green/blue eggs)
• free wine & beer donated by Folio, Cakebread, Verge, Kendric Vineyards, Larkmead and others
• hors d’ouevre and sweets made by chefs and cooks from Chez Panisse, Pizzaiolo, Lalime’s, Oliveto, Bar Tartine, Bakesale Betty, Ici Ice Cream, and other volunteers using produce donated by Full Belly Farm, meats from Devil’s Gulch Ranch, Becker Lane Pork and Prather Ranch, and cured meats and patés from Fatted Calf and Salumaio Christopher Lee
• a live raffle drawing for some really great stuff (see list and buy tickets here)
• announcement of the winners of the Soul Food Farm online auction
• live Brazilian and folk music by Felipe Ferraz (Guitar, Voice), JoAnne Craig-Ferraz (Voice), Marty Holland (6-String Bass), and Andrew Epstein (Percussion)

Tickets are just $14,* which also gets you one free entry into the raffle drawing (buy more of the $5 tickets here). It’s our way of saying thanks to everyone, while hopefully raising a little more cash to meet the $25K target we need by November to get the farm safely back on its feet. We’re expecting it to sell out fast, so don’t wait too long!

Go to Brown Paper Tickets >>

Want to help cook, pour wine, or wrangle chicks at the event? Email me.

*Those donating items to the raffle and auction, and/or who worked at the farm last weekend, will be offered a complimentary ticket to the event. Email to come with instructions on how to claim yours, or email me.

About two dozen people got up at the crack of dawn yesterday and today and made the trip up to Soul Food Farm to wield screwguns, nailguns, and plain old hammers in the hot sun. They had heard about the farm’s fire on Facebook, various San Francisco blogs, Twitter, and Slow Food’s newsletter; some were neighbors in surrounding Vacaville. Saturday’s crew of semi-professionals blew through the work so fast that Eric decided to go for four chicken houses instead of the two they needed immediately, to replace the two destroyed in the fire. Six hundred baby chicks arrive at Soul Food every week and these 32-by-12 foot hoop houses — with doors that lower into ramps so the chicks can go outside during the day and be closed up tight against predators at night — are their homes until they move into the teenager meat-bird corrals after a couple of weeks.

We built the components to erect all four houses. This represents a HUGE savings of time and labor for Eric and the farm. Sunday’s crew took the 32 blanks that Saturday’s team had started and added the doors (with hinges and latches) and the end pieces, headers, etc. Then we loaded up the components for one whole house, took it into the front pasture and put it together so that one was ready to go for the baby chicks arriving this week (once the hoop struts arrive and the plastic roof can be put on).

And while all THAT was happening, a whole other crew of folks were gathering and washing eggs (in the automatic egg washer and by hand), getting the laying houses ready to withstand the coming heat wave ( with big water troughs and fans), scrubbing just about every water can and chicken feeder on the property, and even shredding dried lavender for a little side project Alexis is working on with pet beds. Meanwhile, master blacksmith Jefferson Mack, who met Alexis at an 18 Reasons farmer-dinner a few months ago, turned what was once the information booth for Slow Food Nation last year that Alexis bought several months ago into a workable and exquisite office for Alexis. Jefferson and his two lovely kids campe out overnight to finish this huge pro-bono welding job in a mere two days. Amazing.

A big thank you to all our worker bees before I crash for the night:

Saturday’s team: Contractor Joe and Erica Howard, Chris Bjuhr, Paul Fielding, Hannah and Super Kirsty, Bart Nagel, Levy, and Kelly and the Nutrition Shoppe folks (who donated and delivered lunch for us hungry workers)
Sunday: Cameron and Anita (check out the full Flickr slide show), Arthur Perley (of Slow Food Berkeley and Vino), Bart, Elanor, Sandy and D (who both came last weekend too!), Molly (who saw the workdays on a friend’s Facebook page and came), Karimah and Ed, Nanda, and sweet Sara the neighbor who made a pasta salad for everybody.
Hope I haven’t left anybody out. You guys were amazing. Our hearts are full.

Lots more pictures after the jump! (Click image to enlarge; photos by Bart, Anita, Elanor, and Bonnie)

I’m very in love with this farm, every tree, every inch of pasture, all the crazy chickens and all the space to make new dreams.

We have had ourselves buried in work all week but have read every email, every letter, and listen to every phone message. It amazes me that so many people knew about it. It never occurred to me how far our eggs and chickens had traveled. Sometimes, it is overwhelming to me how much people love Soul Food Farm.

Our good neighbors Bill and Fern, who own Sunny Slope Farm, are helping us set up some quick irrigation in the olive orchard , and Matthew and Terces who own Be Love Farm are lending their new seed driller and irrigation pipe to get us back on track. I see waves of grass bending in the breeze very soon, and hungry chickens pecking away. And to make it even better (at least to me),  I’m learning quite a lot about seed depth, pounds of seed per acre, and how to operate this new equipment. And to bring it all full circle, the seed comes from Laura Trent , who farmed off of Pleasants Valley Road. Laura was an amazing farmer and somehow, even though she died two years ago, manages to keep helping me out.

Eric is working nonstop, Today he will make a hundred trips to Ace Hardware to find all we need to fix the pumps and irrigation line and get that water flowing to the olive field. Next is organizing the plans and purchases to buy materials to rebuild the chicken houses that burned down. We have a workday planned for next weekend (see Bonnie’s post below), and I for one will be happy to see other faces here besides our own.

Soul Food Farm belongs to everyone now, and people working and helping and eating together will make it all seem more hopeful.

We continue to do our everyday chores, and I appreciate the routine. New baby chicks arrived on Friday. Two very loving friends did the egg deliveries this week. We are moving the remaining meat birds over to the front of the farm and redesigning our layout to accommodate all these birds at the front of the property.

Thank you to everyone for all the help you are giving to two very tired farmers, who for one brief moment thought they were finished. Now, with so much concern extended to us, it would be selfish to not get back up and try again.

My dear friend Kathryn wrote to me, “Feet on the ground, chin up.” That is our new motto.

About 15 people have already emailed me to say they are willing, but that was before we had the actual dates. People who are comfortable with power tools and who can bring at least some of their own tools (hammer, screwgun) would be ideal. We could also probably find work for any less-handy significant others who want to come along, such as general chores like egg collecting and egg washing that Eric would normally be doing if he weren’t building chicken houses.  There is plenty to do around there — it’s a farm.

We will start early, before it gets too hot. And be warned: It will probably be quite hot. Please email me if you are interested in helping for one or both days and I will send you directions. Do not just show up without an OK from me, as we’d like to hold the total to about 15 people for each day, preferably. More than that and we might get chaos.

Lunch: The Nutrition Shoppe in Vacaville, right around the corner from the farm, has kindly offered to provide sandwiches and salads for lunch on one of the workdays.  I’m trying to scare up a lunch sponsor for the other day — if someone in the East Bay is willing to do so, I’d gladly pick it up the day before and bring it up to the farm when my husband and I head up there with our pneumatic nailers and compressor!

We had a frank talk about what Soul Food Farm needs to survive. Primarily it is cash. Like most small farms, they were operating without a safety net. The Soul Food Farm Fire Fund via PayPal has received a wonderful number of donations,  more than 60 so far, ranging from $5 to $200. Every little bit counts, so thank you. (You can donate by clicking this link to PayPal; those who dislike PayPal can also mail a check made out to Soul Food Farm to 6046 Pleasants Valley Rd., Vacaville, CA 95688.)

Here are the most pressing farm needs, in order:

Irrigation equipment installation: As nearly all of the back pastures used for raising the meat birds are now charred to pieces, Eric and Alexis need to move the remaining birds and get prepared for the chicks that are at various stages of pasture-readiness. They have pasture at the front of the property but it is currently quite dry and needs irrigation. To get that set up will require an immediate investment of sprinklers, pumps, hoses, etc. If anyone has a contact at a local agricultural company that might be willing to donate such equipment, or give a discount, great, or if you’ve installed irrigation systems before and can volunteer labor, let me know and I will put you in touch with Eric, who knows what Soul Food needs.

Chicken house building: Two burned down and others were damaged. The chicks are in temporary houses and as they grow, will need to be moved to make room for the next batches coming through. (Soul Food receives 600 chicks every week.) Alexis estimates that they will need to build at least two houses within the next two weeks at a rough cost of $2,000 each. They could definitely use skilled volunteer labor (particularly those who own their own tools) in addition to cash for materials; providing lunch for hte work crew would also be appreciated. Email me if you would like to help (put Soul Food Farm in the subject line), and I will let you know when the work days will be. My husband and I will be there for them with our pneumatic nailers and screwguns.

Income shortfall makeup: The 1,000 meat chicks Soul Food lost in the fire represent half a month’s lost income. In about 6 weeks, all the birds currently on the farm will have matured and been harvested and the next ones won’t be ready for two weeks. This a considerably amount of money the farm will not have to cover ongoing feed and labor expenses. It will be crippling. In addition, the fire has traumatized the laying hens and egg production is naturally down and will remain so for a while. The best way for us to tackle this is through bigger fundraisers than the PayPal fund. We need to get these scheduled and start selling tickets to them right away.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

Assist with the fundraising benefit dinners: A couple of dinners are in the pipeline, with chefs/venues in San Francisco and Berkeley. We have someone wanting to organize one in Solano County who needs a restaurant venue. Here’s what else we need for these:

• Local produce/meat/etc. donations: Farmers, we can work with your seconds, anything you can spare.
• Wine/beer/spirits: Local producers, we’d love any and all donations. Give us your messed-up labels, your discontinued lines.
• Labor: Do you work in a restaurant and are willing to be a volunteer prep cook or server? Or are you super organized and can help me wrangle volunteers? Get in touch.

Donate items for the auction and raffle: Chef and local-food-pillar Samin Nosrat and I are planning at least one associated auction for one of the benefit dinners and an effort-wide raffle. Everyone who has donated money or products/services will be eligible for the raffle, and we will also be selling tickets to the general public. Here are some of the items we are hoping to either auction or raffle off:

• Special high-value items to auction: For example, personal chef services, private winery tours, photography & Web design services, cooking & butchery lessons, hotel stays, lunch with celebrity, etc.
• Gift certificates to restaurants, stores, farmers market stands
• Subscriptions
• Signed copies of cookbooks
• Cooking equipment
• Be creative — if you’re not sure what you have to offer, email me!

Thanks, everybody. That’s it from me …  for now.

—Bonnie (Alexis’s friend and soon-to-be CSA manager)
bonnie@bonniepowell.com

As the day wore on so many friends and family called and emailed to say how much they cared, and what love they had for us and the Farm. I have never understood until now that Soul Food Farm meant anything to anyone else except us.

All these offers of love and help and food are so uplifting and are the energy and motivation we need now to keep working and clean up our farm. And how wise of so many of you to know that food would be the balm of so many worries, and all the good wishes and encouragement the balm for our soul.

In spirit you have all become a very meaningful part of Soul Food Farm and I hope you will all consider it a little bit of yours.

Today we have picked up the pieces of the burned chicken houses, buried animals, extended some corrals out of the burned pasture and watched firefighters continue to parole the hills. One of our angels showed up to check on us and we were so glad to see him. I found out his name is Nate, and his other friends are Justin and Jeff…… Wild boys that jumped in a burning chicken house to rescue the birds, chased baby chicks away from the fire and Justin drove a tractor to make a fire break even as flames encircled him. He pulled out just as flames were encircling him and we all screamed for him to jump of that damn tractor. He come back towards us and calmly said ” I’m fine”

We battled the fire with our meager water supple and a tractor with a flat tire for 45 mint. before the fire department showed up. And I wonder, How does a fire start like that in the middle of the night out in the country?

Our neighbors fruit orchard was spared and our other neighbor and friend stood on his porch as the fire raced towards him. The firefighters formed a human wall and fought down the fire and saved his house. All in all there were six trucks , over 100 firefighters and at least 60 juvenile offenders who worked in the manner of the old chain gangs and created a firebreak around the farm and the chicken corrals.

Morgan, I found out later, had led the firefighters around the farm showing them all the access points , in the dark with a flashlight. and the reason they finally crossed the creek to help us was because Morgan explain there were six people battling the fire on there own. They had no idea there was anything on the other side of the farm… The fire crews rushed to help us and we were all very relieved to see them standing there next to us.

Justin, our son, was brilliant and I must say I never saw him move so fast in his life… he grabbed full buckets and started to pour water around chicken corrals and moved around each situation doing everything he could to help. He never lost his cool and keep going for a full 18 hour before he finally allowed himself to sleep…

Eric twisted his ankle as he ran across the farm but never once falterd. running to grab the tractor and maneuvering it around the front of the fire to scrap back the dried grasses and create a fire break… Fearless really. the flames were high and moving fast and he was just as determined. He really did manage to scare the hell out of me as those flames moved closer.

Morgan later was allowed to come to the back of the farm and she didn’t miss a beat. Made sure our dogs were safe, poured water on still burning trees, grab chicks, and all the rest of the day helped on the farm.. This from a girl of 16! level-headed, brave and tireless.

Me, I’m tired……

[Bonnie posting from email from Alexis. Photos sent by Mark Shaw of Shaw Ranch and Jon Scott]