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Matthew is the executive director of the FARM Institute in Edgartown, and his mission is to bring that scene closer to your dining room table. Matthew is also a supporter of the Island Grown Initiative - IGI - an effort by Islanders to connect both residents and visitors to local farms and help support the sustainability of the Island. "Sustainability is making locally everything we need to survive," he says, his wooly beard and heavy plaids setting just the right tone. "We know we can't make everything for the Island, but we can come close, and maintain a connection to the land." The Initiative, a group of Islanders concerned with food sustainability on Martha's Vineyard, is devoted to educating Islanders about local foods available and the benefits, both nutritional and economic. "IGI is about supporting the local farmer and raising awareness for locally grown food products," says Ali Barlow, of Vineyard Haven, a key founder of the Initiative and National Public Radio personality who produces the weekly program A Cook's Notebook. "We want to have people more connected to what they eat, to step on the ground at farms to see that eggs actually come from chickens and not from a fridge in a supermarket," she says. "There is a trust between the grower and consumers when they can walk onto a farm and ask where the food comes from." The Island Grown Initiative began as a brainstorming feast at Ali's house in May 2005, a potluck dinner of 35 Islanders concerned with food production and agriculture on the Island. Ali invited grocers, farmers, writers, graphic designers, a representative from the food pantry, cookbook authors, and photographer Randi Baird to discuss ways of making the Island more self-sufficient. From that meeting a core group formed IGI and within two months printed its first map of the 28 food-producing farms on the Island, the first of its kind in a decade. "Our farm posters and map brochure is to identify and connect the sconsumer woth who is growing their food. The posters show farmers in their fields, what they grow ahd has a short history about the farm," says Randi, who for the last year has methodically documented the seasonal rhythms of local Island farms. IGI has been working cooperatively with other Island organizations to get a better picture of what needs to be done - and what they can do about it. She describes the all-volunteer group as being part of the "slow food" movement, a neologism referring to the opposite of "fast food." The slow food movement encourages local food producers to preserve agricultural traditions, small-scale food processing, and educating consumers about the hidden risks of international agribusiness. "We are one of many local campaigns in the country, part of a wave of greater awareness," says Randi. "More and more people are want to know where their food is coming from and how it is grown."
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Matthew Goldfarb hefts a pitchfork laden with lettuce and asparagus compost into his pen to the glee of two shin-high pigs, both of which snort with hungry delight. The air tastes like hay- sweet and inviting - and black and white cows like Oreo cookies graze in the nearby pasture. Another day begins down on the FARM.