Let's Fill the Barns with People!

Will you join us by donating today? 

We have a dream of filling our barn spaces with thousands of visitors each year! However, our historic barn roofs still leak and our safety upgrades have not been made, and thus we’ve had to curtail the size of educational and social gatherings in our lofts, due to safety concerns.

People Ask

Since the Kickstarter campaign Barns are for People, Too! ended in February, 2013, many people have contacted me (Farmer John) and asked how they can make a pledge, or shared that they still want to make good on their Kickstarter pledge. Moreover, three generous donors have since pledged a $20,000 challenge grant for you and all the other crowdfunding backers – you double your giving power as the donors will match dollar for dollar your gift and others up to a total of $20,000. 

The Right Kind of Splash

Make a pledge today so that we can repair the leaky barns and fill the barn spaces with people eager to gather at and learn from the farm. 

The Angelic Organics Learning Center, our nonprofit educational partner, will especially benefit from ongoing access to a lovely, historic loft for their programs. I want to make sure that the Learning Center has a space that will adequately host their events, such as the very popular Farmer Training Program (more than 1/3 of all CSA farmers serving Chicago are graduates) and the on-farm experiential programs for youth and adults (serving several thousand each year). 

Loyola University Students, Learning Center Staff and Farm Staff in the Community Loft 

Additionally, as a Community Supported Agriculture farm, we want to offer our shareholders and other friends of the farm access to our main barn loft, which we now refer to as the Community Loft. When not in use for programs, we envision the Community Loft as the farm hospitality center from 10 a.m to 7 p.m. seven days a week, where friends of the farm can relax and socialize over tea or coffee, read books from the library, access the internet, contemplate the fields, sketch, journal, and imagine. The loft is the hearth of the farm. 

The Wrong Kind of Splash

Leaky barn roofs are the wrong kind of splash. The lofts went drip, drip, drip, splash, splatter, splash during this spring’s relentless rains – and we will not be able to host youth, adults and families under these conditions.

Recently, a portion of the ceiling of the Milkhouse attached to the Main Barn collapsed due to water damage. Roofs that don't leak are a most important preventive measure for preserving our barns' structural integrity. Solid roofs are the first step in our project. These repairs will give us time to re-group to determine how we can move forward with the other needed barn projects that will provide a safe, functional, and beautiful extended campus at Angelic Organics for thousands to enjoy.

Farmer John's Lifelong Mission for Social Life and Social Spaces on the Farm

I shared my ideals for social life on the farm and how to enhance farm social life through the design of social spaces in an all day presentation in the Community Loft last November, titled  "Awakening to the Social Organism of the Farm," as part of the national bi-annual Biodynamic Conference. The presentation was somewhat of a retrospective of 45 years of my work in facilitating farm social life, with an emphasis on the design of spaces. If you are especially interested in the underlying inspiration behind our social upbuilding at Angelic Organics, read a synopsis of the presentation here, as published in "Stir" magazine.

Our Farmstead over the Years

Corn Crib (left) and Main Barn, 1970’s

As with plants that grow and wither, the buildings on our farmstead cycle through periods of degradation and periods of rejuvenation.

Part of our Main Barn, including the Community Loft pictured at the very top, has fortunately been roofed in the past few years, as any further delay on those repairs would have completely doomed the barn. Still, a large swath of barn roof and the whole Milkhouse roof need extensive infrastructure repair and re-roofing. The barn is currently a mix of decaying hovel and pristine sanctuary.

Below is an example of the transformation of a farmstead building. It's not a barn; it's the Peterson Farmhouse, but it still gives you an idea of how the resurrection of our buildings is an ongoing commitment on our farm.

Peterson Farmhouse in 1995

Farmhouse in 2000

Farmhouse in 2005

We're very excited about what we've accomplished in building up social spaces over the years, and challenged by what is left to be done. To see the evolution of our two barns from near ruins into transformed social spaces, and to see examples of what still needs to be done, check out Metamorphosis of The Peterson Farmstead. It chronicles my work with our barns from the 1970's through today.

I recently showed these photos of Metamorphosis of The Peterson Farmstead to Primo, the farm’s resident builder, who has helped extensively with these renovations for over two decades. Primo gasped when he saw the photos, especially the graphic before-and-after photos. Primo isn't the sort of person who gasps.  

Can Do

We can repair the roofs of the two barns in jeopardy with $30,000. If you make a donation, along with many of the others who pledged to our Kickstarter campaign, the roofs will be repaired. (If less than $30,000 comes in, we’ll stretch the roofing funds as far as possible.) 

Matching Funds!

Three generous donors to the Angelic Organics Learning Center have offered to match the funds given to Fill the Barns with People!, up to $20,000, in order to install crucial safety features in the Community Loft, including two emergency exits and emergency lighting. In other words, for every dollar contributed to our roof campaign, these donors will match your contributions dollar for dollar up to $20,000, to provide essential safety upgrades to the barn loft. This offer will make your donation go twice as far towards our barns' upgrades. 

Your Pledge

Please make your pledge here on Indiegogo.

Although this campaign will benefit the Angelic Organics Learning Center and other nonprofit organizations by providing them with very affordable use of the facilities, your pledge is not tax deductible, because Angelic Organics farm, which is the recipient of the funds, is not a tax-exempt organization. 

However, if you'd like to give and you are restricted in your giving only to nonprofit organizations, you can make a gift via the Angelic Organics Learning Center, a 501c3 nonprofit and our campaign partner. To give via the 501c3 nonprofit, please click here. 

If you were a Kickstarter Backer…

If you were a Kickstarter backer, the same rewards from that campaign are available on this page. You may choose a different reward from before, the same reward, or no reward.

How the Funds will be Used

Work will be done in fall of 2013, winter of 2014, by Jesus “Primo” Briano and Eduardo “Pollo” Casique, supervised by Farmer John.

Primo (left) and Pollo, saving the Community Loft, Fall, 2011


$30,000 for Roofing from Indiegogo

$17,400 to replace the part of the Main Barn roof that has not already been repaired

$9,100 to re-roof the Corn Crib

$3500 to replace the Milkhouse Roof

$20,000 for Safety Upgrades from Matching Funds

$11,800 for interior staircase

$7,200 for emergency exit: barn deck and staircsae

$1,000 for emergency lighting 

Want to Know Even More about Angelic Organics & Farmer John?

The farm and I were filmed for 50 years, and the footage was turned into a feature length, 31-award-winning documentary seen by millions of people, The Real Dirt on Farmer John. Available on Netflix or download from Amazon.

Thank You

We at Angelic Organics – from the beginning farmers and school kids in our on-farm programs to the CSA farm crew and Learning Center volunteers and staff -- will be profoundly grateful if you help us out with our dream to fix our barns and host thousands more each year. 

Sincerely,

Farmer John Peterson and everyone here at the Farm and Learning Center

P.S. Remember, act now to fulfill your pledge and help us reach the challenge grant!