Equinox Community farm is located in Waunakee, WI, just a few miles from downtown Madison. The farm was started in 2009 by John Binkley as a small CSA grown on less than an acre of land. It has grown to include the Farmer's Market and a much greater number of CSA shares with around eight acres under cultivation.
On the farm we practice sustainable agricultural practices, and although we are not certified organic we hold our methods to standards that surpass those required by the USDA for certification. Our produce is grown without the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, or other chemicals. We use techniques such as cover cropping, mulching, composting, and crop rotation to foster healthy soils and healthy produce.
Meet Your Farmer
Although he was born in 1985, John's farming career did not begin until 1989 or so when he could be trusted to be in the family garden without destroying the good plants. Since then he has been part of maintaining that garden, although for the first fifteen years with a distinct lack of enthusiasm in large part due to a dislike of most of the vegetables in the garden. Eventually his opinions changed and he took over running the garden and actually started to enjoy its produce.
Despite this background in gardening, the path to farming involved a few detours and extra steps. John took a hiatus from the garden from 2003-2007 while going to school at the University of Wisconsin - Madison where he received a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Spanish (clearly with the intention of farming in mind.) After graduation, and lacking any idea of where he wanted to end up and what he wanted to do, John spent a year working at a public library and again working in the garden.
It was this period of trying to find a direction for life, working in the garden, and reading a number of books by authors like Wendell Berry, Michael Pollan, and other similar philosophical types that the idea of gardening/farming as a career surfaced. Fueled by a desire to strengthen the local food system, provide healthy food to the community, and revitalize fading agrarian values, John decided to begin his quest to save the world, one tomato at a time.
With this rather modest goal in mind, in 2009 John's garden expanded from feeding one family to feeding eighteen. After this successful, and very educational, first season the farm is continuting to grow with about eight acres under cultivation in 2012.
In addition to working on the farm, John plays in an Ultimate Frisbee league during the summer and fall, likes to go ballroom dancing (although he still has a lot more learning to do), and enjoys cooking, baking, reading, cross country skiing, and is also attempting to learn how to make wine.