When gearing up to start Clear Creek Organics, my wife and I spent a great deal of time trying to figure out what to name the farm. We knew the importance of the farm’s name as a first impression to future customers, so we made lists and asked for input from other people. Should we have a name that is playful that reflects our own personalities? Should we simply name the farm after our last name and call it the __ Family Farm. What words did we want to use to convey what we are doing? Farm? Acres? Organic? Family? We hope to work with a few high end restaurants, so should the name be one that would look good on a fancy menu? We went round in circles for what seemed like months trying to come up with the perfect name for the farm.
During one of our “let’s try to come up with the farm name” conversations, Lauren was calling out names, hoping that one would stick. We were walking along a greenbelt trail that journeys along the banks of Clear Creek. At one point she said, “What about Clear Creek?” We live a block from the trail, and we can walk a few miles along it to come within blocks of the farm. Also, the irrigation ditch that will water the fields at the farm is drawn from Clear Creek. I was recognizing more and more how significant this creek is for us. The concept of “place” has become increasingly important to me over the last decade as I’ve been influenced by the writing of Wendell Berry. Berry writes, “Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you.” And a more lengthy quote, but one that gets the the heart of the idea of community being rooted in a particular place:
“Community, then, is an indispensable term in any discussion of the connection between people and land. A healthy community is a form that includes all the local things that are connected by the larger, ultimately mysterious form of the Creation. In speaking of community, then, we are speaking of a complex connection not only among human beings or between humans and their homeland but also between human economy and nature, between forest or prairie and field or orchard, and between troublesome creatures and pleasant ones. All neighbors are included.”
As we walked along the Clear Creek trail, the notion of “place” in my mind, I felt drawn to the idea of a name that centers around the place in which we live.
I was drawn to the name Clear Creek Organics after that. Adding the word “Organics” gave a distinction to what we are doing. My entry into agriculture was through organic production. The first farm I worked for was a certified organic farm. Organic production is what I know and believe in. The basics of organic production are restoring biodiversity, utilizing biological controls for pests and weeds, avoiding GMOs and the use of biosolids, and improving the soil. Some folks don’t like the fact that the USDA controls the use of the word by deciding the rules for who is “certified organic” and who is not. I like the fact that the word Organic has a specific meaning and that it’s a great way for people to recognize our farming practices as it lines up with their beliefs. We are hoping to be certified through the Colorado Department of Agriculture this year.
Our farm’s name holds a lot of significance for me. I hope you find significance in it, too.
Field and Table 