The USDA (rather belatedly) began tracking farmers’ markets in 1994. Although they’re still not very good at it (a check of their database shows exactly THREE in my hometown of Cincinnati which in reality hosts dozens every week) even with their limited knowledge of and connection with actual farmers (!) they’re seeing significant growth in number of farmers’ markets over the years.
Guest contributor Pamela Price is the founder of Red, White & Grew, a blog devoted to “Promoting the Victory Garden Revival and other simple, earth-friendly endeavors as bipartisan, patriotic acts in an age of uncertainty.”
Meeting people…really interesting people…is the most satisfying aspect of my blogging experience thus far. Among the many folks that I’ve met online is Susan Wittig Albert, a prolific and talented novelist based in Texas.
Many people contemplate a life well-lived in the country surrounded by books, beloved animals and rewarding activities like gardening, writing, and knitting. Albert has created just such an existence. Moreover, through her assorted web sites and blog, she covers a bounty of topics–ranging from her many bestselling books to cultivating herbs–for her devoted fans. Recently, she began chronicling the outcome of her decision to embrace the victory garden concept on her blog, which celebrates the ecologically diverse region in which she dwells.
But of all I’ve read of her work this summer it was a snippet in one of her weekly email newsletters, All About Thyme, that proved the most bewitching to me.
Planting seeds, starts or other edible living things in and around your home (wild yeast cultures or sprouts count too) are great ways to have fresh, delicious food on hand. Plus, it’s cheap. Seed packages start at less than a dollar, soil or compost can be purchased (or found) at pennies per pound, and water in the form of rain or out of the tap are both economical choices. Aside from an investment of time, growing your own food requires little else.
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Goats with spider genes. Pigs with worm genes. Genetically-engineered animals cross the lines of phyla and even kingdom with plants containing animal genes and vice versa. It’s no longer a question of can we do that. It’s crossed over the line of should we do that. And if we do, should we sell it for food? Without a label?
If it had a label, would you eat it? If it’s considered safe, then, why wouldn’t they label it? We have a right to know what kind of meat(s) we are eating, after all.
The answer for most of is no, we won’t eat it, which is why there likely won’t be a label required, according to the new FDA plan, unless the game of gene mix-n-match alters the nutritional content of the food. The FDA has a similar no label approach for cloned meats that are designated for human consumption. Read the rest of this entry »
Guest contributor Pamela Price is the founder of Red, White & Grew, a blog devoted to “Promoting the Victory Garden Revival and other simple, earth-friendly endeavors as bipartisan, patriotic acts in an age of uncertainty.”
A couple of weeks ago, I contemplated the role personality might play in how one approaches the creation and cultivation of a contemporary Victory Garden.
Because one reader expressed interest in a simple guide to creating a garden, I wanted to follow up with a couple of recommendations.
Keeping in mind the over-simplified contrast of messy vs. tidy (a contrast that I first started to contemplate by looking at these two books side-by-side!), allow me to suggest two very fine books for the newbie gardener’s shelf. Together with Heather Flores’ outstanding Food Not Lawns, they are my favorite go-to resources.
Foodies love to forage for new discoveries at the farmers’ market, often finding fresh produce booty at the booth of a new immigrant farmer. From gai cho, an Asian mustard cabbage favored by the Hmong, to epazote, a pungent Mexican herb, new flavors and possibilities can increasingly be found as these immigrant farmers grow in number.
But supporting these new immigrant farmers can go beyond unique produce experimentation. We currently don’t grow nearly enough produce in the United States to meet dietary guidelines domestically. This country desperately needs more farmers to raise fruits and vegetables. With only 2 percent of Americans still farming, even the Census doesn’t count agriculture as a profession anymore. With each of us, aside from Native Americans, having immigrant roots of some sort, supporting new ethnic farmers draws on that American pioneer sprit that the land can gift you with a livelihood. Read the rest of this entry »
Read them or not, the badges of virtue on everything from cereal to chicken to laundry detergent are bound to get more prevalent, and represent an attempt by many companies to find a niche in an ever-expanding food and food products market. Join me for a stroll down the aisles as we try to decipher what these insistent insignias truly stand for.
Let’s start with an easy one (please note the sarcasm, as it is surely merited) after the jump:
What is an former LA chef and B&B owner to do when midlife crisis hits?
Move to southern Oregon, buy a two-acre, defunct berry farm in need of lots of work and start a boutique, hand-made chocolate company of course.
First, you need to plant some fruit - gold raspberries, marionberries, boysenberries, purple raspberries, red raspberries, three varieties of strawberries, blueberries and four varieties of grapes - farm organically, make deals with a nearby sustainable-certified dairy, and source top-quality ingredients like organic chocolate couverture.
Then you start with amazing fruit preserves and work your way up to making chocolate truffles out of your home kitchen (legal in Oregon) and sell them at local farmers’ markets out of the back of your pickup truck. The rest is history, as they say.
Using a nifty technique called sub-irrigation, the folks over at Inside Urban Green have been growing all sorts of things, including two tomato plants that yield a half-pint a day, in a Rubbermaid container, or grow box. They’re doing so while conserving water and taking up very little space.
Anywhere there is sun, you too can have fresh tomatoes, basil, eggplant, radicchio, sunflowers, whatever your heart desires, for less than the price of ten* local, organic heirloom tomatoes at your local farmer’s market. And it’s organic if you want it to be. And please believe it’s local. And it’s damn convenient if you ask me.
Though their specific technique involves Rubbermaid and polystyrene, there are a number of different ways to put together sub-irrigation, or self-watering pots. Learn how after the break.
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