Faux real: Couple plants seeds in classroom, at home- Fall 2007 Wartburg Magazine - Wartburg College

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Faux real: Couple plants seeds
in classroom, at home

by Karris Golden ’98


Drs. Rob and Tammy Faux raise a variety of wildflowers on their organic farm west of Tripoli, Iowa, and have 5-plus acres of organic vegetables.

Do you know where the lettuce in your salad came from? What about the tomatoes? And those cucumbers?

Saying the produce is simply “from the store” isn’t good enough for Drs. Tammy and Rob Faux (pronounced “fox”). At mealtime, these organic farmers serve up pesticide-free veggies and an education about issues related to ecology and social justice.

Organic farming was a hobby that turned into a community-based business for the Fauxes. After raising flowers using organic methods, the Fauxes bought an acreage west of Tripoli, Iowa, and expanded to vegetable farming.

In summer 2004, they committed to expanding their organic farming enterprise to include myriad varieties of tomatoes, bell peppers, squashes and other produce. Today, they run Genuine Faux Farms and raise a vast array of vegetables and free-range turkeys and chickens.

“We typically start lettuce, radishes, spinach and peas in early April,” explained Tammy, assistant professor of social work. “We don’t use any chemical pesticides, fertilizers or herbicides. It’s hard

Dr. Tammy Faux pulls weeds growing near one of her many rows of bell peppers.

work; it means pulling weeds by hand, … and sometimes we lose some of the crops. Deer are one of our worst enemies! We do a lot of research to find things that will protect the crops naturally.”

A less back-breaking method of pest management is called “companion planting,” explained Rob, senior lecturer in mathematics. “We plant potatoes and beans next to each other. The bean beetles don’t like potatoes, and the beans repel potato beetles.”

The mission of Genuine Faux Farms is:
“We believe in the importance of being good stewards of our environment and good citizens of our community. We strive to work in harmony with nature to produce good-tasting foods (using no pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers) to support the health of our neighbors and our local economy.

“Through Community Supported Agriculture, we seek to build enduring partnerships with shareholders. We hope to support our community’s need to access fresh food and local products and to provide an alternative to long-distance food distribution and to reduce potentially destructive land use practices.”
It’s a mission Tammy takes into the classroom. “How we get our food and where we get it from is a social issue,” she said, noting that much of the produce consumed in the United States travels at least 1,500 miles and is often imported. “If you consume locally produced food, you cut down on the use of fossil fuels that were used to transport it. You cut down on the times it has to change hands. And if it’s local, it probably tastes better, because it was picked when it was ripe, whereas the produce you often get in grocery stores ripens on a truck.”

The Fauxes rely on organic methods to ensure the food they eat and sell doesn’t contain harmful chemicals. They also are interested in dramatically cutting the distance food travels from producer to market to your fork.

The couple eschews genetically modified and hybridized vegetables as well. “People have actually become used to caring about what tomatoes look like more than about what they taste like,” Tammy said. “They want a perfect, round, red tomato with no blemishes, and they don’t care if it doesn’t have any flavor.”

The Fauxes sell produce at farmers’ markets in northeast Iowa and through a community supported agricultural (CSA) program, which several Wartburg faculty and staff members belong to.

CSA program members purchase a share in the season’s crops. Each week, the Fauxes deliver members their share of the crops harvested that week. Members also understand that if the crops don’t fare well, dividends will be smaller.

CSA deliveries begin as early as late May, and the amount of produce increases as more crops come in. Delivery for the year ceases in mid-October.

Genuine Faux Farms is partially certified organic farm, which requires compliance with several regulations. They will gain full organic certification in 2009, when all of their fields have been out of conventional production for at least three years.

For more information and recipes, go to www.thefauxden.net/GFF/index.html