Ignacio Villa Email & Phone Number

Buffalo/Niagara, New York Area

I am happy to have joined a group of committed individuals dedicated to transforming urban food waste into rich compost: Farmer Pirates Compost. We embrace decay, feed the soil, and feed the people by promoting and sustaining an urban food economy.

Promoting collaboration among cheese makers to develop a Vermont Whey Fed Pig that is recognized in the market as special and unique because it is grown and marketed under strict standards. This is an experiment in geographical indication in the marketing of an agricultural product, and a way to diversify and add value to Vermont's "agricultural renaissance."

Von Trapp Farm in Waitsfield, Vermont is a small dairy farm that has decided to expand into the value added scene with the construction of a cheese house. Von Trapp Farmstead is the second company created to make the cheese. They work in collaboration with the Cellars at Jasper Hill, who age and market the cheese. My focus here is to help develop a Whey Fed Pigs program.

Huntsburg, Ohio

Hershey Montessori School has a farm campus for its middle school program in Hunstburg Ohio, where they apply Dr. Montessori´s teachings on working with the Adolescent. Staff work creatively to build a solid educational curriculum around every aspect of farm and community life. Everything from the care of a garden, animals and the forest, to the building and maintenance of the buildings, its water system, its waste water treatment, and the school community´s impact on the greater community is part of the the course of study. Besides sharing my native Spanish language with the students, I taught courses (called occupations) focused on the care of the various farm animals, including bees, goats, cows, pigs, and chickens.

At Tapestry Farm, we grew Pastured Poultry, Pastured Pork and Small Ruminants for local markets in North East Ohio. We were attempting to raise more of what we eat. I was helping my wife raise the three boys that were still at home, and preserving my sanity by keeping my hands in the soil and on the pitchfork. What I learned at Tapestry Farm, and my native language, Spanish, I shared with my students at the Hershey Montessori School, an adolescent program on a farm five miles from my home.

My task was to make a farm in Mesopotamia Ohio fit the therapeutic needs of adults with mental illness. We saw work on an organic farm as inherently therapeutic because it helped the person suffering from a mental illness become reconnected with people, with the source of nourishment, and with a sense of accomplishment. We started out with a small dairy operation, a big garden, and flock of sheep, and used management intensive grazing as a major tool for safely engaging our residents in the farm work.Unfortunately clinicians with less appreciation for these ideas took over the program and minimized the farming component of the operation, making my role largely irrelevant. It is still a model that works well in other settings, especially at Gould Farm in MA, where the model was established more than 90 years ago.

Ms, Resource Development

Bsc.(Agr), Crop Science