We missed picking our farm share up this weekend because we were out of town so I went late this afternoon with Toby. I was expecting to just run into the farm shop, grab a few veggies, and then head off again – but then I saw on the “you pick” chalkboard that the raspberries were ready. So with Toby strapped onto my back with his little sunhat on, we marched to the far end of the farm.
The good news is that it was a beautiful morning at the farm and I returned home with my tote bags heavy with vegetables. I picked up some gorgeous fennel bulbs (which a fellow shareholder gave me a good tip about grilling), an enormous zucchini, some carrots, beets, cute little pickling cucumbers, lettuce, kale, and for the first time this season some sweet corn!
The bad news is that like many farms in the area, Brookfield has been stricken by the potato blight. The disease lives on live tissue/vines so Farmer Dan and his crew mowed the potato fields. They’ll leave the potatoes underground for a couple of weeks in hopes that the potatoes will be salvageable, albeit small. (Little potatoes are better than no potatoes.) The extra sad, heartbreaking news is that it’s likely the blight will spread to the tomatoes. Folks at the farm say it’s probably only a matter of time but I’m trying to remain optimistic.
While I am disappointed about the potatoes, as I’m sure many other shareholders are, I can’t imagine how the folks who work at the farm are feeling after all the hard work they have put into making these crops grow and prosper. I spoke with one very crestfallen intern today.
So, join me in sending a little prayer to Mother Nature. May our potatoes be safe from the rot, tucked in their underground beds, and may they continue to grow. And may our tomatoes be strong enough to resist the blight. And may the farm workers know that we still greatly appreciate them even when things don’t go right or seem downright disasterous.
The New York Times hits another home run with their great slide show on “food fighters.” In the piece they profile 7 groups of young people who are challenging us to think about our food in new ways, and putting the structures in place to connect thought and action.
I was particularly struck at the intersection in most of these profiles between writing and action. Many of the projects are spearheaded by at least one author. I love the way these folks are connecting the power of land and language.
Check out the slide show at the New York Times site.
On October 7th, the New York Times published two separate articles that explored the connection between food, farming and community. The two articles, published in two different sections of the paper (NY Region and Food & Wine), are interesting for the fundamental differences in the stories they tell.
Published in the NY Region section of the paper, “Sweat Equity Put to Use Within Sight of Wall St.” by Jim Dwyer profiles a small community farm project in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The article describes Red Hook this way: (more…)
We all know that green is the new black. It goes with everything: Green Jobs, Green Business, Green Homes, Green Cars, Green Cloths, Green Gadgets…. Most the these green affiliations are shallow marketing attempts to ride the wave of environmental consciousness that is slowly becoming a cultural meme. This shallow greening of everything, and the hip connotations that accompany this trend, have converged with America’s longstanding affinity towards consumptions and abundance creating some interesting cultural tension as a new meme is taking hold while the old worldview has not yet faded away.
This conflict seems to mirror the contradictory images of smoking in our culture. Through years of research, marketing, legislation and public education smoking has been demonized to the point that for large portions of society smoking is no longer cool. And yet, the images of smoking in Hollywood and elsewhere point to the fact that there is still an ingrained association between smoking and hipness. Similarly, we Americans still love our cars and our speed while we are growing to hate petroleum and lament our carbon footprints. Within these points of tension exist a profound potential for change. The question is, what kind of change? (more…)
What the World Eats
The Dong family in the living room of their one-bedroom apartment in Beijing, with a week's worth of food. © 2005 Peter Menzel from 'Hungry Planet: What the World Eats'
Thanks to EatingIthaca (http://twitter.com/eatingithaca) I stumbled upon a project from 1995 called Hungry Planet by Peter Menzel. Menzel is the author and photographer behind Material World in which he traveled the globe and photographed families with all their worldly belongings spread out infront of their home.
(Read more and see more photos below)
This is just a quick shout out to a new project that a friend of mine recently launched with a bunch of friends. It is a recipe blog (http://veggieproject.blogspot.com), but with a particular focus on philosophy guiding it. The blog pulls together six people who are spending the summer experimenting with cooking and creating vegitarian meals for their families with local produce. Some are members of local farms, others are farmers market fanatics, some just shop local at their neighborhood grocery.
Unlike some recipe blogs out there (who will remain nameless) these writers offer not just ingrediants and instructions, but also a bit of reflection and inspiration. The recipes are introduced and described, the writers talk about where the food comes from and how they found it, and the blog reads like a conversation with amongst good friends. It treats food as an experience and honors the whole path from the ground to the gut.
Here is how they describe their effort:
We are a group of Boston-area families committed to cooking with local vegetables. During the summer of 2008, we each plan to try new vegetarian recipes with produce from local farms. We will use this blog to share information about the recipes we have cooked, and hope to inspire others to cook more locally.
So far there is only a few recipes to enjoy on the blog, but I encourage our readers here to go check it out. Try some of the recipes yourself and add your two cents to the comments section. I hope this is not just a summer project and that it continues through the winter, perhaps exploring how to can, preserve, and put local food away for the months when local food is not so easy to get your hands on in New England.
I was first introduced to these two traditional songs via the Nields, who were featured in our last Food Songs post. Notice how food in these songs is taken out of the purely human context and interwoven with the surrounding environment. So much of our food is removed from the natural world around us, these songs are good reminders of the nature of our meals.
Oh, John the Rabbit
Traditional American Folk Song
Oh, John the rabbit, Yes, Ma’am
Got a mighty habit, Yes, Ma’am
Jumping in my garden, Yes Ma’am
Cutting down my cabbage, Yes Ma’am
My sweet potatoes, Yes Ma’am
My fresh tomatoes, Yes Ma’am (more…)
In the beginning, organic was radical. Not long ago authors and foodies, environmentalists and farmers, took up the mantle of organic as a key principle in our fight for healthier communities, healthier diets, and a healthier environment. It was a way for small farmers and local businesses to compete with an increasingly super-sized economy made up of industrial agriculture and big box stores. The organic label allowed small farmers to compete and distinguish their products on the store shelves and a combination of factors coincided to make organic not only good for our health, but hip too.
However, if there is one thing capitalism is profoundly good at, it is subsuming counter culture ideas just when they are getting hot, and using them to make a profit. Before long every retailer from the local grocery store to WalMart had organic products on their shelves, and the idea of organic, while still serving as a sort of moral and health compass began to get increasingly watered down. As big box stores began to mass-produce organic versions of all their products, we saw that the industrial economy could be applied to organic food as well. (more…)
Erica and I have seen the Nields play a number of times and we love their music and the great local songs they write. This one is off of a wonderful album they put together of the songs they sang with the family when they were growing up. The title seems fitting for this blog (All Together Singing in the Kitchen) and the songs are a good fit too. Enjoy.
Plant an Even Row
by Nerissa Nields, Peter Quince Publishing
I am planting an even row
I am planting an even row
I am planting an even row
Every day
I am planting an even row
Pulling up the stones as I go
I am planting an even row
Every day (more…)
