Creating Vegan Safe Havens: Transforming Tragedy into Healing with Frances Gonzalez

Jasmin Singer: We have been so excited by the work that you're doing and we're just really, really looking forward to learning a little bit more about Little Logan's Farm and your other work. So thank you again so much for being here.

And I'd love to just start with that. Can you tell our listeners a little bit about Little Logan's Farm?

Frances Gonzalez: Yeah, definitely, Jasmin, Little Logan's Farm, we moved into our house. My kids were still not able to leave the house, let's just put it that way. There were no teens. So, when my daughter moved out, I decided to turn it into a farm because the place is too big for us, but I don't wanna sell it. I wanna leave it for them.

Then my son passed away. He was killed in gun violence, so I just took it as, okay, we're going to make this a safe haven for everyone, you know.

And it's just my way of balancing things too, as well.

Through the wine industry, I did learn about farming and that you don't need to use all these crazy things, animal products, all these fertilizers.

We started planting more, and I want to educate people about taking care of ourselves, and nature provides, you know, we don't have to put all the other stuff in it.

Jasmin Singer: Well, Frances, first of all, let me say I didn't know that about your son. I can't even imagine what that must be like to go through that and I'm so sorry. But what an incredible journey that you're using this to create a safe space and a space of healing. You are just an incredible human being, my heart goes out to you. Tell us a little bit about who your visitors are.

Mariann Sullivan: And also, I don't think you pinned it down. I know it's in the Hudson Valley, but can you tell us exactly where it is?

Frances Gonzalez: Yes, it's in Gardiner, New York, which is right next to New Paltz.

Jasmin Singer: Okay.

Frances Gonzalez: Right there, next town. We're like 18 minutes away.

Jasmin Singer: Mariann's Google mapping it right now and planning her afternoon trip.

Frances Gonzalez: Well, we are doing a retreat soon.

Jasmin Singer: Oh, noted.

Tell us a little bit more about who your visitors are, aside from Mariann.

Frances Gonzalez: So what we're doing now is we're doing the farm to table events with vegan chefs, but we are encouraging everyone to come. You know, I really try to push more on the non-vegan because that's who we're trying to focus on, showing them that the food that we're growing, and you know, telling them what we're putting in the soil, and then letting the chefs do their magic.

'Cause I can grow food, but I can't cook it. I'll be the first to admit it.

So it's a safe haven for everyone. I encourage everyone to come and visit us. And we're also, gonna become a hub for training veganic farms.

So definitely open to everyone.

Mariann Sullivan: You know what? When I hear the term farm to table. It kind of grates on me because it's so often exploitative of animals and just an excuse to like dress up animal agriculture to make it look like something it's not, and it's just so refreshing to hear a vegan take on it. So how, does that work in the community where you are?

What is the reaction of people around you?

Frances Gonzalez: Well, that's a good question because I am in a town that is a farming town. It was mostly cows and there's still some left. So I honestly want to show that people will still visit your farm and do your farm to table, but you do not have to use animals. People will love it even more.

So I'm also trying to push that in with our town itself. So I like to collaborate with them in some sort of way, but always bring my veganism into them. I think they're used to me by now and before they wasn't up to collaborating with me. Now they are. So I like that a lot.

Jasmin Singer: Yeah, we both Mariann and I lived in the Hudson Valley at some point, and you know, it was kind of shocking because in a way it was like another borough of New York City, like everyone from Brooklyn wound up in the Hudson Valley, but at the same time, there was that romanticizing of animal products and you would see it, especially if you were in like Hudson, New York where there would just be these quote unquote specialty items.

And then obviously there's Hudson Valley Foie Gras there and I would imagine it's a bit of a combative atmosphere sometimes. So I'm curious if that's been your experience in Hudson Valley and also like how you wound up in this part of the world in the Hudson Valley.

Frances Gonzalez: I didn't know about Gardiner, just like a lot of people. When I was moving back from Puerto Rico to the States, my partner told me about it and we looked at houses. I wasn't feeling it until we went to this neighborhood bar and everybody just felt like family to each other.

And we walk into any place and we're always talking about our veganism, you know, we don't care. So the owner was like, yeah, I make my own vegan burger. I was like, okay, babe. That's it.

So we ate and I loved it and that's how I moved to Gardiner. And then I started seeing things like I would go out for a walk and see what the farming was all about. We would talk with other farmers and like they were very strict on their ways, but I think it's a little bit about everything. New Paltz too is changing, believe it or not. We have a lot of vegans in our small town, and yeah, I was shocked too. We have like three vegan chefs in town and we started doing collaborations and we would get a lot of people, we started out with free events.

And then little by little we started getting known in the small town, which is great, you know?

Mariann Sullivan: Amazing and, and I, I'm sure you get a lot of credit for starting it. So you mentioned that most of your guest experiences now are for a sort of events or special weekends. Can you just walk us through a typical experience for someone coming and staying at the farm for one of these events?

Just so we get a taste of what it would be like.

Frances Gonzalez: We encourage people to arrive a little bit earlier, so they can settle in. We would give them a tour around our property and we have an indoor and outdoor farm, so we would do both. And especially depending on the weather, if it's cold then we'll just do the indoor. Then they would get to meet our rescue hens, and then I do a swap thrift. So you take something, you bring something, you don't have to. So that's also part that we encourage.

And then we get to know each other. And then the chefs will come out and we would set everyone down and it's all in one table, everybody. Honestly, I'm so grateful because everyone has made friends there. Everyone has left saying, I need your number. Yeah, let's do this. And I've had a lot of repeats and I have now people that are interested in learning about farming. So depending on the weather, if it's cold, then it's just inside the house and in our dome.

But if it's summer, they can get into our pool. They can, um, we found a big chicken of the woods in one of our trees and we didn't even know they discovered it with us. I'm like, you never know what food nature will bring to you, you know?

Jasmin Singer: Mm-hmm.

Frances Gonzalez: And I really feel that people are seeing the food, and there's nothing in it except, you know, green manure, which is no animal anything or harsh chemicals. And for them to taste it, like even have chefs that come in and they're like, wow, this tomato tastes amazing. This onion tastes amazing. So I feel like the fact that they get to taste it and they get to see it, and then they know it's good for them as well.

Jasmin Singer: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think there's such a different experience when you're there, when you're literally right there where the food is being grown, as opposed to like five steps away at the grocery store where it's lost so much of the taste. But with that being said, I might not even say this correctly, but can you just explain a little bit about what Bio cyclic agriculture is and did I say that right?

Frances Gonzalez: You did! Biocyclic, yeah.

Jasmin Singer: What is it?

Frances Gonzalez: So it's above organic and also no animal anything. We have the same, um, we also believe the animals that are used on the farm, even if they're still alive, it's still part of animal cruelty. So when they said that, I was like, okay, I love you.

And one of the things that they do on their classes, 'cause I'm certified with them now, is that we have lost touch with our food, so that's why we take so many vitamins. We should be getting our nutrients from our vegetables. And that's what they want to show us how to farm like that.

Back in the days when you don't have all these rows of tomatoes, it goes together, what works together, what grows together. And you'll see like squashes and cucumbers or something all put together and they growing beautifully. So it's just going backwards. Everything we try to teach is about going backwards and transparency 'cause then I feel like we're reaching everyone and we're not, you know, like sometimes non-vegan feel like we're offending them, but this way I feel like we can at least catch their attention and then go from there.

Mariann Sullivan: So let's talk a little bit about the food. 'cause it sounds amazing. I'm assuming you use the foods you grow on the farm in your events, and that's what you're serving to people. So can you tell us a little bit about what you grow and some of the dishes that you specialize in?

Frances Gonzalez: Yes, we grow pumpkins, squash, watermelons, little watermelon, mint, spinach. We have a banana tree in our dome. We have lemon tree in our dome, we have figs. So many figs. I don't even know what to do with them sometimes. We grow lettuce and a lot of greens. A lot of kale. And now we are growing blueberries because

Mariann Sullivan: nice.

Frances Gonzalez: Gardiner is the soil is perfect for blueberries, so that's why our logo has the blueberries with my grandson in it. We also grow cantelopes, potatoes, onions, peppers. Oh my gosh. We have so many peppers. Yeah, so we are growing a lot of things. We even have some peppers from Puerto Rico that we grow in the dome, and it actually survives.

Jasmin Singer: So cool. I love that. What are some of your favorite dishes? Do you consider yourself a foodie or No?

Frances Gonzalez: Oh, yes, definitely.

Jasmin Singer: I, I would think so, but like, so then speaking to a Luddite like myself, tell me about what some of your dishes are your favorite ones.

Frances Gonzalez: One of my favorite things is pumpkin steak. And actually watermelon steak, we have learned how to barbecue a watermelon, just slices and barbecue it, and it grabs the flavoring that you put in.

It's amazing.

Jasmin Singer: How do, wait, hold on a second. I have to stop you there. How does it have that like chewy texture? I, I would imagine like taking a watermelon, it would just, all the water would disappear and there would be nothing left. Like I, I'm so confused right now.

Frances Gonzalez: I was too when I first learned about it. But if you slice it up like a cauliflower steak, like something like that big and you season it and you let it sit and the seasoning and then barbecue it, it does not taste like a watermelon. And the texture too.

You don't think fruit, you really don't.

Jasmin Singer: Wow. I'm in

Mariann Sullivan: I know I wanna try this right now.

And it's like March. So it's not really the best weather for a barbecue.

Frances Gonzalez: Yeah, so even now, we're gonna do our first brunch in April. There's a chef that we partner with, his name is Chef Wego. So he cooks everything outside. Cooks everything like our ancestors. So what I love that he did is that he studied what ancestors there in Hudson Valley would do back in the days before any stoves, like any gas stoves or anything like that. So we are gonna have that brunch starting April 27th.

My thing is when the chefs come and we tell them, here's everything you guys put together the menu, this is what we have in season. And things that they come up with, oh my gosh. And like I just love going to the table and just trying all these things they put together, it's pretty amazing.

So.

Jasmin Singer: Wow. That sounds so cool. I love that. So tell us a little bit more about what your goal is for like, let's say a year down the line. Like where do you wanna see this go? What would your ideal story be if we were interviewing you in a year?

Frances Gonzalez: Ideal is to have people learn more about biocyclic. I believe in that so much. I think that awakening people about how we farm and vegan-wise, I've noticed that I had to step out of that and go back to educating people before I can throw any product in front of them, you know, and that's what I wanna do with Little Logan's Farm.

I want people to feel like they can come to our place and learn more about food and learn more how to be healthy. And even mentally, we are by the river. Go by the river, go do yoga, meditate. You know, it's your safe haven. Just get to know yourself and let us teach you what we know about farming, you know?

And then I have a farm in Puerto Rico, New York, and soon Greece, and that's where I got my certification for Biocyclics. I wanna do the triangle and a circle. We're gonna become the first USA hub. Biocyclic has been around for 20 years, my friend and I were the first Americans to step foot in their classroom.

And now we are talking about becoming the hub for education.

And then from there, whoever's interested, we will take them there and they can get certified themselves and then come back and we can partner and do more stuff on our lands.

Mariann Sullivan: Does biocyclic agriculture, is it related or similar to what people call veganic agriculture?

Frances Gonzalez: Yes, there is absolutely no animal products in it whatsoever. They're so strict, when we went to get our farm certified, we used Dawn for something on our farm, and they were like, Nope, you can't do that. And we were like, oh, well we thought it was fine 'cause that's what they used to wash the oil off the ducks. They were like, Nope, you, you can't do that. You gotta use these things. So it's veganic farm but also how to be the kindest to our soil because the soil, a lot of our soils are dead, and that's why we can't get our nutrients in our food.

So biocyclic is about putting back the nutrients into our soil.

Jasmin Singer: So just going back to the Dawn thing for a second. So what was the solution there?

Frances Gonzalez: There was another soap that we found I don't have the name but it's like more like house made kind of deal.

Jasmin Singer: I see. Okay. So it was just that it was like a very processed type of product. I see. Well, and speaking of processed and more specifically not processed, I understand that Vegan Wines, which you founded is transitioning into a new role in encouraging the use of vegan wines rather than marketing them.

Can you tell us about that?

Frances Gonzalez: Yes. So, the, the whole reason I got into vegan wines, it was not so much about selling the wines. It was more about when I found out they're not all wines are vegan. I was like, oh my gosh, I gotta like tell everyone about this. My heart was more in the educating. When I went to go into wine school, the wine school did not know what vegan wines was, and this was in 2016.

So I was like, okay, so I gotta learn from the farmers. I gotta learn from the winemakers themselves. So I would visit every winery, every vineyard that I would have in my portfolio. My partner does not drink, but the more he went to the wineries and the vineyards with me and talking to the farmers and the winemakers, he was like, Frances, they're doing this to the grapes.

Imagine what they're doing to our foods. And that's how we became veganic farmers. It was just like, I thought, oh my gosh, if a spinach is growing there, that means it's cool, it's fine. You know, I've been a vegan for over 30 years. I didn't see the depth of what we're eating, even if it's lettuce, until my journey with vegan wines.

And then I do feel that right now Vegan Wines is becoming popular, but it's again, the bigger commercial companies. So I figured, okay, I don't have any marketing money like that, so let me just go back, educate, and then let people choose. Because I feel like if you know what's in your food and what's in your wines, then you make what decision for yourself.

But if you don't know, how can you make the correct decision for yourself?

Mariann Sullivan: So, I know that you mentioned that one of the places you're located is in Puerto Rico, and I think actually as we're talking to you, you're in Puerto Rico, about which I am extremely jealous. But there you are also involved with the Veg Fest there, that's another one of your projects.

Can you just tell us a little bit, because I'm not at all familiar with the Puerto Rican Veg Fest.

Frances Gonzalez: Yes. so Hurricane Maria, when it happened, we took a plane into Puerto Rico three days after the hurricane 'cause my parents are here and I couldn't get in touch with them.

I saw a lot of people were leaving, doctors, and we couldn't get food because we import. What I did start seeing was that people were going back to herbal medicine. People were going back to eating plant-based because they were growing and making their own food.

So I was like, okay, I'm gonna take this opportunity to put together a vegfest. So I was like, this is gonna be my way in with veganism here in Puerto Rico, but in a way that people right now are open to it. And we did, and I had a hard time with municipal because I wanted it to be a free nonprofit and people couldn't get that. So it took me longer. But we had over 2000 people show up. It was a, it was nonprofit and we didn't even charge the vendors 'cause it was about just putting a community together. And a lot of people came and we were supposed to be going strong till 6:00 PM and by three ish we were sold out.

But my whole thing is always I wanted to do somewhere different in Puerto Rico but different towns, because I wanted it to become something like, okay, I'm gonna bring this to your town, and now I want you to continue it. That was my vision, but then we had Covid and you know, a lot of things that came in the way.

We did it in Isabela the last time it was a hit again, and it was a private property, a resort, and they had to turn people away. Because they didn't think that we were gonna have that many people coming, so they were like, oh, okay.

But we had to turn people away because their security couldn't handle so many people coming in. This year we're going to do it again in November, but this time... I'm part-time in Puerto Rico, a full-time person in Puerto Rico is going to be by my side as my co-founder because now we are reinventing it with what we've learned.

But everyone loves it. And I encourage non-vegan businesses to come, but they cannot have anything, not even honey, 'cause here people still think that honey is part of veganism. But they're welcome because I also wanna show them, Hey, you can do this. So it's been working out pretty well. It really has, I'm very grateful for it.

Jasmin Singer: That's amazing. Gosh, it's so inspiring. It's like you go into spaces and they're blank canvases, and then you paint these beautiful pictures and like leave them sporadically throughout the world. I love it so much. You're doing such cool work. How can our listeners support your efforts and follow your work?

Frances Gonzalez: Thank you. I feel for now it's with Little Logan's Farm. I have a grandchild. My grandson is the son of my son that was murdered, so he is our today and our future. So this farm is dedicated for today and the future, come and learn about how to farm or to take time out for yourself and just be in peace with nature. And I feel like when you take care of yourself, you are able to see things differently, and I feel like the support right now would be to follow Little Logan's Farm because we're gonna have so many amazing people partner with us. So it's just not Little Logan's Farm, it goes beyond that

Jasmin Singer: So how can people follow you on social?

Frances Gonzalez: Little Logan's farm on Instagram, Facebook, right now it's gonna be those two.

Jasmin Singer: Okay, wonderful. Well, Frances, thank you so much for spending some time with us. I hope you'll stick around for a few minutes so we can chat with you for our bonus content. But this was very exciting and I wish you all the luck in the world.

Please keep us posted on your delicious, delicious endeavors.

Frances Gonzalez: Thank you so much. I'm gonna stick around for sure.

Jasmin Singer: Fabulous. ​