Mason puts the 'culture' in the word 'horticulture'. His holistic view of people and the planet is so thoughtful that we found ourselves getting lost in his story, as if his voice were lulling us into a trance. Many folks around the globe are doing something similar to Mason's role at Soltane Orchard, but his perspective on life and work makes him stand out in the best way.

When did you know you wanted to work in Food?

That takes me back to when I was a teenager and met Master Gardener Alan Chadwick, who opened my eyes to the beauty of the partnership between nature and our imagination. Quality food is a sum total re?ection of the environment and processes which created it. According to Alan, this includes our spiritual intentions. I think traditional cultures also understood this. Alan was often called a renaissance man because his perspective was so all-encompassing: science, art, and ethics were all part of the whole, and integral to our human experience.

Without having the words to express it then, I knew my path would always be multi-functional: social and environmental; artistic and scienti?c. This led me to study Agriculture and work in Biodynamics, Anthroposophy, Education and Rural Development.

Before my current position, I taught gardening, botany, and earth science at a Waldorf school where I created a two-acre garden and classroom for K-12 students to experience growing food, herbs and ?owers. I was able to practice multi-functional horticulture, integrating growing, crafting, cooking and education with students as an artistic activity for 13 years.

I love growing ?owers, fruits, herbs and more. I never cease to be amazed that seeds germinate, and buds open. It seems a miracle every time. When I plant a pepper, I pretty much know what to expect. Yet when you work with other people, something entirely new has the possibility to enter the world. This is something teaching gardening to children and young adults over the past 25 years has taught me: we humans constantly bring something new to the planet; both good and bad. Environmental and social issues provide ample evidence that the damage we are currently in?icting outweighs the good. But that doesn't mean we can't be good stewards, in fact it reemphasizes the necessity of our role as good global stewards and caring towards one another.

How did you get your current good food job?

In 2008, while still a garden and HS science teacher, during a parent conference, I heard about a community that was developing vocational and social enterprises for people with developmental differences, and that they could use some horticultural expertise.

Now I run Soltane Orchard and, although it covers less than 3 acres, our ambitions are great. Our products include: apple cider, apple butter, berry fruit spread, ketchup, salsa, spaghetti sauce, herb tea, cut ?owers, and more on the horizon. We sell our products at a bakery with a wood-?red oven, which is another food-crafting / training area of Camphill Soltane.

Our focus is putting horticultural skills within reach of people with developmental disabilities. We use sustainable, organic, and Biodynamic techniques, in combination with adaptive tools and techniques such as container gardening, appropriate tool choices, and espalier fruit growing to achieve these goals of growing both people and food.

Soon after joining Camphill Soltane, a colleague returned from a trip to Europe, and told me about a movement there called 'Care-Farming' where a farm or garden takes on multi-functional activities, not unlike the B-Corp social enterprise movement in the US, where in addition to sustainable production, human development and environmental values are incorporated into the core values and mission of an enterprise.

Soltane Orchard is one of ?ve work training areas at Camphill Soltane. We are a community that shares living, learning, and working together, while supporting people with developmental differences.

How did your previous experience prepare you for a good food job?

It seems every job I've had has pulled on all of my previous experiences, while calling forth more capacities. Earlier in my career, I had the opportunity to work with adults with developmental disabilities, leading and training a landscape maintenance crew. And in the Dominican Republic in 1983, I worked in a rural development program for 'Campesino' peasants teaching sustainable alternatives to slash-and-burn agriculture.

In the late 1970's I studied agriculture and soil science at a state college. While there, I felt that although they had mastered the science, they had lost the art and traditional values that once were common sense to land stewardship.

Back then, conventional agriculture took great pride in productivity, never mind the environmental and social costs, to the point that less than 3% of Americans were involved in growing food. Later, when I ran a CSA growing food for 85 families, I experienced the satisfaction that comes from knowing you're really feeding people. I thought, what a different culture we were, just a couple of generations ago, when a greater percentage of people knew that satisfaction of feeding others and the environmental stewardship behind that. It seems many had lost valuable, caring careers in feeding others, through the industrialization (and globalization) of agriculture.

What was the greatest obstacle you had to overcome in pursuing you Good Food Job dream?

I don't know if it was the greatest obstacle? but it seemed our culture went through a period when food was cheap in every sense of the word. Over-production created low prices and poor quality. I might be tempted to say: too much of a good thing; but it's actually too much of a bad thing. Until we started to rediscover the art of food, what I call 'putting culture back into agriculture' did we start to recover a certain part of our humanity that had somehow been relegated to simple utilitarian manufacture.

What can you identify as the greatest opportunities in food right now?

Urban and suburban multi-functional farming and gardening. Go where the people are, and start growing quality foods within their reach. This means: school gardens, community gardens, and food bank gardens. Non-pro?ts, B-Corps, and LLC's can be organizational vehicles for advancing this work.

Along with a new understanding there are new opportunities, interweaving the common ground between: well-grown food, health, education, peace/social justice, and environment, that was lacking years ago when I was just starting out.

I believe new careers, including the economic empowerment of disadvantaged communities, can be strengthened through good food jobs. But it takes initiative, commitment, and new partnerships. We need to become good stewards of capital, as well as our environmental and social resources.

Hunger is unacceptable anytime, anywhere. I am inspired by the Chester County Food Bank. They are engaging local resources to address local hunger. This is distinct from the more common practice of simply redistributing 'cast-offs' of bulk foods that just perpetuates an industrial food system that is hard on both the environment and our health.

Part of me was tempted to turn down this interview, as there are so many others doing good, if not better, work. I can think of a dozen such people nearby that ?t that category. And land-work takes time. We are planning construction of a new Nursery/Greenhouse facility, that will accommodate year-round work, with more adaptive tools and strategies for our work with people and plants. It's always a work in progress.

If you could be compensated for your work with something other than money, what would it be?

Well, I already am compensated in so many ways. But in our current information age, professional development is an on-going process. If one has the opportunity to keep growing spiritually, while serving others, than this is an invaluable form of compensation.