Grow your own… pizza?? Pizza Farm takes agriculture to a new level
August 9, 2008
What is a pizza farm, you ask? It’s a small chunk of land (about half an acre) that is divided in 8 in a circle, similar to a pizza. It grows ALL the ingredients needed to make… you guessed it, a pizza.
• Goats: ”You are petting living cheese,” Gregory said.
• Pigs: Can you say pepperoni?
• Cows: “This wedge is ground beef, and we have a little bull in there. Cows eat grass and hay. The only reason Midwest farmers feed grain to a cow is to get rid of their excess corn, which we won’t have this year. Corn creates white marbling in the meat, which removes all fatty acids, which prevent cancer.”
• Chickens: “These are Silkies, a French bird. I wanted them because they are good mother hens. We don’t use these chickens. I’ve got meat birds on another farm.”
• Grain: “We have eight or nine grains. I’ll grow chick peas in here. Best pizza dough I’ve ever made in my life.”
• Peppers: “We have seven kinds of sweet peppers. I do not grow hot peppers in my garden. I had a third-grader break a hot pepper and get it in his eyes. I had two hours of hell out here.”
• Tomatoes: Can’t have a pizza without tomato sauce!
• Herbs: “We normally have 90 herbs, but the herb garden this year has been especially pathetic because of the spring.” Herbs give pizza that special deep flavor.
The Pizza Garden first originated when Darren Schmall was looking for a way to teach “city folk” about the importance of farming and agriculture. He started out by volunteering at local schools to give talks about farming, but when he saw the kids’ eyes glaze over or stare at the ceiling, he knew he had to change tactics. Thinking quickly, he asked them what their favorite food was, and the answer was overwhelmingly: Pizza! With the suggestion of a teacher to make things more interactive, he decided to create the first pizza farm… a farm that could literally grow pizza, so that anyone could visit and see firsthand what agriculture can do.
Now Schmall is licensing his pizza farm idea to anyone that wants to grow their own pizzas. This is an amazing idea. It’s one step closer to being independent on providing your own food instead of buying highly processed, waste-intensive products. Schmall does not use chemical fertilizers, saying that growing organically is better for the soil, vegetables, and the people that eat them.
Imagine if we had more farms like this… Dishes like spaghetti, roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and rice, and cold cut sandwich heros could be “farmed” in a similar way. It could be a whole new way of doing business, while remaining organic, green, and not needing any other ingredients to be shipped to you via dirty trucks and highways.
If you’ve been looking to start a new business while remaining green, I couldn’t think of a better opportunity. Let me know what you think of this idea in the comments section.
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