Back to nature: Hume couple shuns processed food, producing their own

[Guest guest]

http://www.citizenet.com/news/articles/060205/people1.shtml

 

By Don Del Rosso - Staff Writer

 

Harvey Ussery wrinkles his nose in disgust.

 

About 15 years ago his wife Ellen bought him a red Mantis two-cycle,

gas-powered tiller to lighten the workload.

 

The couple keeps two vegetable and flower gardens in their Hume

backyard off Route 688.

 

The machine initially served him well.

 

But before long, he grew to disdain it.

 

" It's noisy, it's stinky, it vibrates and it wears me out! " Mr. Ussery

explains in a thick North Carolina accent, his brown eyes wide open

and glaring.

 

Three years ago he gave it to a neighbor on " permanent loan. "

 

" I don't miss it a bit. "

 

In its place, Mr. Ussery turns the soil with a broadfork.

 

The switch to a hand implement seems only natural - and inevitable -

for the Usserys, hardcore proponents and practitioners of a lifestyle

that shuns modern conveniences they believe spoil the environment and

their bodies and minds.

 

They consume no processed food or few meals prepared outside their

tiny kitchen, except for an occasional piece of designer chocolate or

when they celebrate their wedding anniversary at The Inn at Little

Washington.

 

" I used to be a chocoholic, " Mr. Ussery confesses. " If there was

chocolate in the house, I would binge on it until it was gone. I would

scarf it up. "

 

The couple subsists on naturally produced food.

 

In many instances, " it goes way beyond organic, " Mr. Ussery says.

 

The Usserys, both previously married, produce much of what they eat.

For example, they buy unpasturized, or " raw, " milk from Rucker Farm in

Rappahannock County. They buy or barter for meats, organically

produced locally and elsewhere.

 

Known in some quarters as the " chicken man of Hume, " Mr. Ussery

sometimes trades birds for things he cannot or has no desire to

produce.

 

By his estimate, he raises up to 150 chickens per year, most of which

the couple consumes. They keep some as replacement stock and give some

to others to raise their own chickens.

 

The Usserys, who met at a Buddhist monastery in 1980 in upstate New

York, moved to Hume 21 years ago.

 

Their home, a two-story clapboard built in the late 1700s, stands on

about 2.5 acres. The place needed plenty of work.

 

Mr. Ussery, 60, had visions of turning the property into a

" traditional homestead. "

 

In a 13-page paper, he describes " independence and community " as the

" twin pillars " of homesteading.

 

" Food independence was a necessity, since purchasing food from distant

markets was not usually an option, " he writes. " The dependencies that

did exist were with other homesteaders close at hand. "

 

Mr. Ussery believes people no longer can be assured that food stores

will always be adequately stocked.

 

He paints a gloomy picture.

 

" In an age of terrorism, just-in-time deliveries, widespread power

outages and control of the food supply by four or five

mega-corporations, anyone who assumes that his access to the food on a

supermarket shelf is secure is deluding himself, " Mr. Ussery writes.

 

Homesteading offers an option, according to him.

 

" The closer our food is grown, the more secure it is. "

 

Mrs. Ussery, 62, says of processed food: " What we're eating now is

cooked up in some lab in New Jersey. It's all chemicals. "

 

Evidently, Mr. Ussery practices what he preaches.

 

Besides chickens, he raises duck, geese and guinea hens.

 

In 2003, they bought range-fed turkey for Thanksgiving from a Loudoun

farm. The 12-pound bird cost $50, a little to rich for their blood.

 

But they liked the flavor so much, Mr. Ussery will try his hand at

breeding turkeys this year.

 

In the fall of 1985, the Usserys bought two goats. They bought

chickens, partly because his daughter from his first marriage wanted

them.

 

After about 10 years, the Usserys got rid of the goat when they became

vegetarians. They abandoned that lifestyle after their health suffered

and returned to a diet that includes meat, starch and fat.

 

They drink only unpasturized milk. Mrs. Ussery uses it to make cottage

cheese, sour cream and kefir, a yogurt-like product.

 

In joining the Rucker Farm raw milk program, the Usserys bought the

equivalent of a share in a Jersey cow named Susie for $80. They pay a

$90 quarterly fee to the owner to cover Susie's boarding and feed

costs.

 

For the quarterly fee, which includes the cow's medical expenses, the

Usserys get a gallon of milk per week, which they pick up each Friday

and store in glass jars.

 

It costs them $6.92 per gallon.

 

" It's a little more expensive than store milk, " Mrs. Ussery says. " But

it should be. "

 

Mr. Ussery grows most of their vegetables and flowers from seed,

making extensive use of a 20-by-48-foot greenhouse.

 

Flowers serve two purposes. They enhance the landscape aesthetically

and attract " beneficial " insects, says Mr. Ussery, a scrappy 6-footer

a gray mustache and chinstrap beard.

 

" Beneficial " insects control the bug population that, left unattended,

would damage vegetables and fruits.

 

They grow a dozen or more herbs at a given time, two varieties of

celery, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, four

kinds of squash, three types of tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, escarole,

radicchio, endive and on and on.

 

In the backyard, they maintain a small grove of apple trees, including

Jonagold, Albemarle Pippin, Winesap and Yellow Delicious.

 

They can nothing, freezing only a small amount of produce.

 

Mrs. Ussery, Philadelphia born, preserves dried tomatoes in premium,

extra-virgin olive oil, which she says go well with homemade cottage

cheese.

 

Fresh, seasonal food governs their diet, they say.

 

Throughout the winter, Mr. Ussery grows leafy, green vegetables. They

store winter squash, onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes and garlic.

 

They keep recipes simple.

 

" No fancy sauces, " Mr. Ussery says.

 

" Our food is pretty plain, " his wife agrees. " But it's incredibly

flavorful. "

 

They admit it would be hard for most to equal their level of

natural-food production.

 

Neither works. Mr. Ussery retired from the post office five years ago.

 

But most people can make a series of small changes over time.

 

" It's incremental, " Mrs. Ussery says. " That's how we got started. I've

always been interested in health and food. All my adult life I have

been concerned about it. "

 

Her husband offers a few tips.

 

Educate yourself about " food production and the nature of food, seek

locally produced food " and start a backyard garden, he says.

 

" Hook into a (natural-food) network, " Mrs. Ussery suggests.

 

" Find kindred spirits, " he adds.

 

Mike Focazio and Bridgit Chisholm of Hume believe in organic food.

 

" We like to support local farmers and we like to eat whole foods as

much as we can, food that's not processed, " says Mr. Focazio, who

works for the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston. " It's fun to do. "

 

And the healthy way to go, he says.

 

" To me it's just common sense. You eat off the vine and you get higher

nutrient content. "

 

Mr. Focazio and his wife keep a big garden and raise chickens, geese

and turkey on their nearly five-acre plot.

 

For working parents - they have an 11-year-old daughter - the

enterprise can be demanding.

 

" We try to squeeze it in as much as possible, " says Mr. Focazio, who

telecommutes twice a week. " We supplement what we cant' grow. We still

go grocery shopping. "

 

Though purists when it comes to food, the Usserys aren't Luddites, Mr.

Ussery insists.

 

They both drive cars. Horses and bicycles would be impractical modes

of transportation, he says.

 

Prefering DVDs, he watches no network or cable television.

 

Mrs. Ussery watches TV sparingly.

 

" I like 'Seinfeld', " she says. " I lived in New York. Harvey didn't get

it. "

 

Both read voraciously and listen to National Public Radio.

 

The couple will continue to practice their " homestead " ways as long as

they can.

 

What happens when age or disease gets the best of them?

 

" This is my nightmare, " Mrs. Ussery says with laugh. " They'll stick me

in a nursing home and feed me this crap. I'd rather have cyanide. We

don't have a plan. "