Sunday at the Market

I finally made it to the Dupont farmer’s market yesterday. It was my first stop and it was a beautiful day in Washington, DC. I spent a good portion of my Saturday evening looking through a cookbook that I checked out from the library. I copied out a few recipes and figured that I would make whichever ones I could find the ingredients for at the farmer’s market on Sunday. Since I didn’t make a list nor did I write down the recipes this become my most expensive trip to the farmer’s market.

It’s just a fun place to go. I always run into people I know. The farmers are so nice and there are tons of samples to try as you walk around. By the time I left the market I had bought:

1. Broccoli
2. Cauliflower
3. Dill
4. Sweet Potatoes
5. Tomatoes – I was really excited to find bright red tomatoes
6. Spinach
7. Red onions
8. Carrots

It was great. Then I went to Safeway to pick up a few other things that they didn’t have at the market. The Safeway was not nearly as crowded as the farmer’s market, but it also wasn’t as social. People don’t meet at Safeway and wonder around together. I got everything I needed but it was dark and had narrow aisles.

Then I got home and I made Broccoli soup and this pasta dish from the cookbook.

I can enjoy of the fruits (and vegetables) of my farmer’s market experience all week- mostly because I cooked enough for a large dinner party and its only me for dinner.

 

Quick Fixes- Is Organic One?

Everyone is looking for simple things they can do to stop global warming and save the world. I think that these little things will help. Every little thing helps. But to really make progress we are going to have to make major changes to our life styles.

Until that day comes I encourage everyone to do the little things that we hope will make a big difference. Tim LaSalle, CEO of the Rodale Institute has been active the last few weeks trying to get his message out. The latest research from the Rodale Institute confirms switching from conventional farming to organic farming that we will make a huge leap forward toward a reduction in Greenhouse Gases. He can explain the Institutes findings better than I can.

TreeHugger  Guest Post

OrganicNation.TV Video

I couldn’t embed the video- don’t let the extra click scare you away.

USDA’s Merrigan Hosts Live Chat on Facebook

Yesterday Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan held her second live chat on Facebook. The topic was of the chat was getting food from farmers to local schools, what has become known as “farm to school,” part of the necessary groundwork for improving the cost and quality of school lunches. Merrigan ran into a few technical problems in the beginning of the session, but she filled the time by talking about her recent trips to schools and universities around the country.

Once her computer started working again, Merrigan started taking questions from the people attending the Facebook chat. She answered questions about what schools she plans to visit next semester and about regulations schools have when purchasing food.

Overall the session was very informative and Merrigan appeared to be having fun with it. She was personable and brought props. She was realistic with her answers and she explained her position on the issues.

I learned that schools are now starting to purchase their food for the 2009-2010 school year and that this is a problem for increasing the amount of food school districts purchase from farmers. Small, local farmers are not able to guarantee that they can produce two tons of blueberries next fall. The weather could be terrible and result in poor yields. People selling canned blueberries are not impacted the same way.

Another interesting point that she made was that it would be great to put a calorie maximum on the meals served in schools but this would also take away from the amount of fresh foods purchased from local vendors. Since kitchen staff would prepare more food the portions and measurements would be less exact. Therefore it would be near impossible that every tray served during lunch had the exact same number of calories. For this reason, Merrigan is walking a tight line to balance these two sides.

One of the attendees asked about kitchen equipment.  Most school kitchens do not have a lot of equipment to make food. Most schools right now don’t make food, they heat and serve food. Merrigan understands that there is a lot of great equipment out there, but most of it is not in the budget right now. She feels that a salad bar is a great solution to this problem. Salad bars do not require any expensive equipment but they enable schools to service students with fresh fruits and vegetables every day.

I look forward to attending her next Facebook chat in December.

If you missed this discussion or her first one in October please visit Obamafoodorama to see the video.

Also the Twitter hashtag is #kyf2

Another Reason to Own Goats

When I was a kid I went to a petting zoo. I tried to feed the animals and a goat came up and started eating my denim skirt instead of the handful of goat food I was holding in my hand. I was very upset about the chewed up food that the goat left on my skirt. From that day forward I hated goats and skirts. My animosity towards goats subsided when I was in college. Many of the requirements to complete my Animal Sciences degree forced me to spend more time with farm animals than I had ever expected to. And mixed in with those farm animals were goats. My first semester I took Animal Sciences 101, which had a lab at the Universities barn. Later on I took Lamb Watch were I helped ewes in labor. In Anatomy we dissected a goat- but at least this once couldn’t eat my skirt. My feelings towards goats softened as time went on.

Then I learned that the demand for goat meat is growing in the United States. As more people of Middle Eastern dissent immigrate the amount of goat meat consumed annually is increasing. My dad says meat for a living, so I called him and explained what I thought he should start raising goats. The Florida climate would be suitable for them. I presented my case very clearly with statistics and all and he rejected my idea. I didn’t even bother pitching it to my mom. She does do farm animals and she would have made a joke about having to keep them in the pool.

While I have resigned myself to never actually raising goats- it’s a running joke between my dad and I. Last time I was home, I convinced my uncle, my dad’s brother that the goats were a great idea. My dad was still not sold.

Then today I was catching up on my Google Reader reading and I stumbled across an article from TreeHugger titled: Rent-a-Goat. The article talks about how people are using goats to clear land because they are browsers. There are rent a goat companies in Arizona and North Carolina.

So of course I called my dad and told him that goats were amazing and not only was the meat valuable but he could rent them out too! He then started talking about how it makes sense that people are renting out goats to eat excess brush … like I didn’t know. This time he even pretended to be interested. He said I could look into it.  (Be careful what you wish for : ) )

Goats have many advantages:

They have a low impact on the environment due to their cloven hooves.
They are natural climbers and love steep slopes and uneven terrain.
They can go where machinery and other modes of brush removal are not allowed to go.
They are cost effective in many situations.
They are walking fertilizer factories.
People love the goats! They bring communities together and make people happy.

Know Where Your Food Comes From

Everyday there are new reasons that it is important to know where your food comes from. This phrase is generally used to encourage people to buy locally and directly from the farmer. It helps everyone. It helps small farmers make money. It helps consumers become aware of the impact their food decisions can have. It is becoming less and less socially acceptable for consumers to turn a blind eye to companies that treat their animals inhumanely.  Pretending like you don’t know that your chicken came from a farm that stored thousands of chickens in a room with poor ventilation, no sunlight and barely enough room for the birds to touch the ground is not okay. Ignorance is not an excuse.

Buying locally helps local farmers and the economy and helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation. But there are other issues at hand. Maybe the environment is not your issue. If that’s the case I am not sure how you got to my blog- but welcome. Knowing where your food is coming from can also help support farmers that pay a living wage and hire legal employees and do not hire children under the age of 12.

“The Department of Labor levied fines totaling more than $36,000 against eight growers in Michigan for violations of migrant housing and child labor laws — including an allegation of a 6-year-old picking blueberries — and retailers have already discontinued doing business with some of the companies.”

Hiring young children to work in the fields is not just a problem in other parts of the world. This is happening today, in the United States.  According to the article, Tony Marr, general manager for Adkin Blue Ribbon, said that Adkin Blue Ribbon has policies in place to protect young children so he does not know how this happened. Marr also said that with the weakened US economy and the hire unemployment rate Adkin Blue Robbin is not experiencing a labor shortage. He also said that the schools that most of these child should have been attending were closed this week because of swine flu.

But even if these children were supposed to be in school and since school was closed had no where to go while their parents worked that does not explain why they were carrying buckets and seen picking blueberries in the field. They were not running around and playing in the fields.

By going to farmers markets and talking to farmers or joining a CSA you are helping prevent children from having to work until 9 p.m. in the fields picking berries. Even if you don’t think the environment is worth the extra money, maybe a kids childhood is worth it.

Is Progress Happening?

I want to know if people really are changing their habits. There have been several articles published this week about how Americans are demanding safer food and that the marketing tactics for 2010 will include simplier food. That many of the big producers are now cutting the number of ingredients in their products. Couple that with the number of farmers markets and the apparent size of the environmental movement and one would think that the world around us was revolutionizing and making great decisions for the enviroment and for our health.

But I am not convinced. I do not see this change happening in the people around me. I live in DC and I am not perfect. I do not buy as much as I could from the farmer’s market or local farmers. I leave my lights or tv on when I walk into another room and I don’t always recycle every piece of paper I come across. But my friends and family seem imperiable to these issues. I have friends that leave their lights on all day long, because they don’t pay for electric. Others that drive to dinner, when walking is an option, because they like their cars. And others that eat summer squashes in the fall – and I love fall squash!

I hope I am not being to critical. And more importantly, maybe I am not being critical enough of myself. I know that research states that peer pressure is a strong motivater in having better environmental practices. But I don’t want to be a nudge. I don’t want to bother my friends all of the time about these issues. I try to educate them when possible. Mostly, I talk about my compost box a lot or my weekly trips to the farmers market. Or I feel like I justify not serving enough meat when people come over for Shabbat meals.

If my friends that live in DC and are in their 20s are not willing to change their habits I am confused as to who is. I guess I could see young mothers trying to protect their families. And I understand that food costs are higher when you eat local, organic or fresh foods. I also now that I like cooking more than most people. If my friends and family are part of these changing trends then who is?

Nature Out Smarts GMO Squash

Scientists at Penn State conducted a three year experiment to determine how a new GMO squash stacked up against a wildtype squash. The results of this experiment were very interesting. The GMO squash is resistant to three different types of viral infections. However, over the three year experiment it did not out-perform the wildtype.

The GMO squash was more susceptible to a bacterial infection caused by cucumber beetles. The beetles carry the bacteria. When the beetles feed on the leaves they create cuts in the leaves, which make the plant more susceptible to infection, much like a cut on your skin. Then the beetle leaves feces, containing the bacteria on the leaves, near the open wounds, as a result the plants get sick.

The reason the GMO squash did better, was because they started off healthier, since they were resistant to the three common viruses that squash plant encounter. The beetles are able to determine which plants are healthier and they feed on those plants. Since the GMO plants did not get sick from the viruses the beetles spent more time feeding on them. As a result they were more likely to get sick from the bacteria.

The balance of nature never ceases to amaze me. I would never have expected the virus to actually protect the plants that were able to survive it. The plants that are strong enough to survive a viral attack now have a type of immunity (not complete immunity) from the cucumber beetles and the bacteria that they carry.

Once again, nature has proven to be much more logical and complicated than humans ever expected. We are not able to see all of the consequences of our actions.

And once again, GMO plants cannot be the silver bullet to solving our food concerns for the growing human population.

To read the full article, visit Penn State University.

American’s are willing to spend more on food

Everyone knows that Americans spend less money on food than any other country in the world. But a study on affluent shoppers showed that they would be willing to spend as much as 10% more for food to ensure that it was safe, moral and environmentally friendly. I think that American consumers are greatly underestimated. Liking in expensive things and being thrifty is not a bad thing. And before recently the way our food was grown/raised and the conditions for the workers was not a national topic. People didn’t know where their food came from. But that is changing. People have started to care and this study proves given the facts, the risks and the concerns Americans are willing to step up and make educated decisions.

 

• While respondents confirmed that low price is a major influence on most food purchases, 60 percent said they would pay up to 10 percent more for food they think is healthier, safer or produced according to higher ethical standards, and 14 percent said they would pay a premium greater than 10 percent.
• According to the report, 57 percent of respondents said they were “definitely” or “very concerned” about the safety of the U.S. food supply, with another 39 percent “slightly” or “somewhat” concerned.” Only 4 percent said they had no concerns about food safety.
• The September 2009 online survey included 600 working adults between the ages of 20 and 64, equally representing women and men living in major U.S. markets. Almost all of the respondents had at least some college education, and 64 percent had earned a college degree or higher. Fifty percent had a yearly household income of $75,000 or higher.

While this shift may not be fast enough for everyone, I think it is great that Americans have started to speak up and demand higher quality products and better treatment of the land, animals and workers.

I will be interested in seeing the data for household’s with incomes un $75,000. I know we think of organic, free range and natural products as part of the upper class diet, but a surprising number of middle and low income families purchase these products.

 

Stats from: http://www.progressivegrocer.com/progressivegrocer/content_display/supermarket-industry-news/e3i7a4f853fe57e4c0be46ea6c41936d228

Coral Reefs Need CO2 Limit- $172 billion at stake

Coral reefs are beautiful and filled with life and for me that is a good enough reason to protect them. But not everyone shares that sediment with me. I also believe that massive losses of coral reefs and marine life will have unforeseen consequences on the natural world as a whole. However, the extent and implications of this damage can not be defined right now. So, for many people the potential collapse of ecosystems is not enough to change out habits.

Maybe money and the overall health of the global economy will encourage people to change their habits. If you believe that we should save and protect valuable things then maybe a report by ecological economist Pavan Sukdev, from the UNEP and lead author of The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity that states that the world’s coral reefs save us $172 billion per year. That works out to each hectare being worth $130,000-$1.2 million per year due to the economic value of fishing and other services dependent on the reef, plus the value reefs have in protecting coastlines in storms.  These numbers were derived from 80 different studies conducted over the last 15 years.

And maybe the environment nor the enviroment matter to you, but feeding the world population does. An estimated 500 million people depend on coral reefs for food. Most of these people are located in Southeast Asia. While these 500 million people will be devasted by the death of coral reefs they are not the ones causing the reefs demise. Coral reefs can not survive if the atomospheric carbon dixiode levels excess 350 ppm. Setting an atomsopheric limit on carbon dioxide will be discussed by world leaders when they meet in Copenhagen. Many scientists believe that 450 ppm is sufficent, but it will lead to the death of coral reefs around the world.

350.org is organizing a global day of action this Saturday, October 24th. To learn more about this day of action or to register an event please check out their website.

Source:

TreeHugger

New Online Sustainable Agriculture Community

Along time ago I talked about starting an online community where people could talk about sustainable agriculture. Well, I have finally done it. I built the community using Ning. I have talked to a few people that really like Ning recently. So, I took the next step.

My goal for this community is to give us a place to talk about sustainable agriculture online. I encourage you to post photos, videos and blog posts about anything interesting in the world of sustainable agriculture.

I have also activated a chat feature. It is located on the main page. This feature allows you chat with other members of this group while you are online.

Please invite other people and link your blog or website to this webpage.

The more people and conversation we have the better. I hope this becomes an educational place.

To join visit: http://sustainableag.ning.com/

Please share this link!