Paul K. Keene (October 12, 1910 – April 23, 2005) was one of the first

organic farmers Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product o ...

. He was the owner of Walnut Acres, in

Penns Creek Penns Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 8, 2011 tributary of the Susquehanna River in central Pennsylvania in the United States.Gertler, Edward. ''Keyst ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. There he produced various food products sold nationally in health food stores and via a mail-order catalog. The foods included free-range chicken; peanut, apple, and other butters; and granola. He was one of the pioneers of the idea of growing food without pesticides or chemical fertilizers. He was born in

Lititz, Pennsylvania Lititz is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, north of the city of Lancaster. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 9,370. History Lititz was founded by members of the Moravian Church in 1756 and was named af ...

. He earned an undergraduate degree at

Lebanon Valley College Lebanon Valley College (LVC, Lebanon Valley, or The Valley) is a private college in Annville, Pennsylvania. History Lebanon Valley was founded on February 23, 1866, with classes beginning May 7 of that year and its first class graduating in 1870 ...

and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. Before starting Walnut Acres, he taught mathematics at

Drew University Drew University is a private university in Madison, New Jersey. Drew has been nicknamed the "University in the Forest" because of its wooded campus. As of fall 2020, more than 2,200 students were pursuing degrees at the university's three scho ...

. He learned about organic farming from

Sir Albert Howard Sir Albert Howard (8 December 187320 October 1947) was an England, English botanist. His academic background might have been botany. While working in India he was generally considered a Pathologist; this more than likely being the reason for hi ...

while teaching in northern

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. When he returned to the US, he studied further at the School of Living, in

Suffern, New York Suffern is a village that was incorporated in 1796 in the town of Ramapo in Rockland County, New York. Suffern is located 31 miles northwest of Manhattan. As of the 2010 census, Suffern's population was 10,723.Mohandas Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

and the Indian independence movement. He also met his wife while in India. Her name was Enid Betty Morgan, and she was the daughter of missionaries. They were married in 1940; she died in 1987. His first big breakthrough in selling organic foods came when

Clementine Paddleford Clementine Paddleford (September 27, 1898 – November 13, 1967) was an American food writer active from the 1920s through the 1960s, writing for several publications, including the New York ''Herald Tribune'', the ''New York Sun'', ''The New ...

, the

New York Herald-Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...

food editor, was entranced by the farm's first product, Apple Essence, an apple butter. Walnut Acres was started just after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In 1994, it had sales of close to $8 million annually. Keene sold the company in 2000. It is no longer in business, but certain foods manufactured by the

Hain Celestial Group The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. is an American food company whose main focus is natural foods and botanically-based personal care products. Its products range from herbal teas, sold by its Celestial Seasonings brand to snacks offered through its T ...

, a natural-foods conglomerate, bear the "Walnut Acres Organic" label.

References

External links

* https://walnutacresproject.org/ * http://www.walnutacres.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Keene, Paul K. Keene, Paul Keene, Paul Farmers from Pennsylvania People from Lititz, Pennsylvania Lebanon Valley College alumni Yale University alumni Drew University faculty Organic farmers