Crones' Cradle Conserve

Combining farming, community and conservation

Citra, Florida

"I think right now we're juggling about eight different businesses here at Crones' Cradle Conserve," Jeri Baldwin says with a smile. From workshops to market gardening, from retreat facilities to value-added products, Jeri's vision as owner and manager of the Conserve is to be an on-going "demonstration project," exemplifying how business can merge caring for the land, community and connecting people with quality food sources and education.

Located in Marion County in north central Florida, an area of increasing sprawl and development, Crones' Cradle Conserve today consists of 760 acres, which Jeri and her partner, Deborah Light of Sag Harbor, New York, grew over the last twenty years as various parcels of land went up for sale. Jeri returned to this area after leaving for a college education degree with the desire to help preserve the native Floridian's habitat amidst housing sprawl and development.

The Conserve, which is in a conservation trust to preclude future development, includes various ecosystems such as wetlands and mature hardwood forests. Jeri manages various restoration projects, including restoring wetlands by filling in human-made canals used for draining farmland a century ago to reforesting area formerly owned by timber companies with native, long leaf yellow pine. "Two sections of the Conserve are designated as wildlife habitat and are not entered at all to try to let nature restore itself and wildlife live in peace," adds Jeri.

While Jeri has always drawn inspiration from the diversity found in nature, she received a wake-up call in 1993 when a fire burned the Conserve's main building, which housed the bulk of activities and equipment. "I never wanted to be in that position again, so instead of rebuilding that one building, we built several smaller buildings that serve multi-functions. The kitchen and dining room also serve as a meeting room. There is a separate craft room, library, on-farm store and single-person rental cabin for retreats as well as an open sleep area that can informally accommodate up to twenty people in sleeping bags." Jerri also has her house and lives on the Conserve, which she runs with a full-time staff of six people, around seven part-time positions and various volunteers.

About two thirds of the Conserve's income comes from their organically-grown gardens and a variety of related value-added products. "We're what I call 'cyclical farmers,' meaning we try to use only things that have been produced on this land," explains Jeri. "The worms eat food scraps and their castings are added to soil nutrients, along with droppings from rabbits and chickens." About twenty acres are planted in an assortment of vegetables, including a half dozen different kinds of lettuce and a variety of green leafy vegetables such as kale, mustard, collard greens and Swiss chard. Produce is sold at a year round weekly market at the University of Florida thirty miles away, a produce stand at a nearby feed store, about six annual garden festivals and at the Conserve's on-site store.

The Conserve's produce sales are enhanced with a variety of value-added products produced at the Conserve, again focusing on utilizing things that are already growing on the land. "We've built a reputation for wild orange products," Jeri explains. "There are several hundred wild orange trees growing in our swamps that produce a very tart juice that adds unique flavor to foods. We are developing a cookbook for using wild orange juice in recipes for foods such as salad dressing, pound cake and drinks."

Wild native fruit such as elderberry and fox grapes go into the Conserve's jams and jellys and herbs are used for salves, tincture and teas. These processed products can presently only be sold from the on-farm store; however, Jeri is in the process of getting the Conserve's kitchen certified with the state of Florida so that these items can be sold at other storefronts and venues. Wood crafted items are made from scrap wood, including picture frames, small trays and utensils.

Workshops make up the remaining third of the Conserve's income, with about two to three dozen workshops annually, scheduled around farm activities and facilitated by independent contractors with a range of expertise. Most are one-day workshops and cover a range of topics, particularly oriented toward Jeri's feminist and environmental interests. "Part of my reason in starting this place here in Marion County is that I've realized many women can't leave this area. This was one way to expose and educate people about ecological and sustainability issues," comments Jeri. "Wild food foraging is a popular topic as people are fascinated that they can survive in the wild without a 7-11 store on the corner."

Organic gardening is another popular workshop topic, with emphasis on raising plants in Florida's sub-tropical climate that is prone to bug infestations. Other workshop topics include a variety of self-sufficient life skills, such as how to make baskets, soaps, quilts, candles and furniture, writing, outdoor skills and utilizing native herbs and tinctures. "A longer term project we're working on is a book on native herbs," adds Jeri. "This part of Florida is one of the most prolific in the country for native herbs and nothing exists to document these plants in a user-friendly fashion, so we're photographing the plants and writing identifications as we come across them."

Jeri's choice of name for her venture -- Crones' Cradle Conserve -- exemplifies both her passion for education and commitment to community involvement. "'Crone' comes from a reverence for our elders, particularly in Florida where retirees are too often ignored. Cradle signified that this is a nurturing, safe place," explains Jeri. Conserve refers to preserving and restoring the land.

However, with such an unusual name, Jeri has always seen the importance of creating a strong community presence to educate about who we are and what the Conserve stands for. This has led the Conserve to take on a variety of community projects, from sponsoring a local public radio show and story telling festival, to participating in garden festivals and help restore a local historic bank building as a museum.

The Conserve also produces a monthly newsletter with a 1,200 circulation, containing both information on upcoming workshops and events and environmental articles. Jeri writes a popular column in the newsletter entitled, "Then & Now," where she historically contrasts a topic, comparing how something was in the area when she was growing up compared to now. "The past provides me inspiration for not keeping all my eggs in one basket," explains Jeri. "From kitchen aprons to outbuildings, everything on farms from a generation ago served multiple purposes, a philosophy we try to live by at Crones' Cradle Conserve."