Click on the headline (link) for the full text.
Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletin homepage
The Economist on victory gardens
The Economist
Digging their way out of recession
Allotments by any other name
IN 1943 Eleanor Roosevelt encouraged a return to the “victory gardens” that had become popular during the first world war, when the country faced food shortages. Mrs Roosevelt planted a garden at the White House; some 20m Americans followed her lead, and by the end of the war grew 40% of the nation’s vegetables.
Now a grassroots movement wants Barack Obama to plant another White House victory garden. The new secretary of agriculture, Tom Vilsack, announced recently that his department would create “The People’s Garden” out of a paved area outside their building. And he won’t stop there. Mr Vilsack wants there to be a community garden at each of the department’s offices around the world.
Click here to find out more!
Margaret Lloyd, a researcher on victory gardens at the University of California at Davis, finds many reasons for this new national trend. The recession is one; but people are also worried about food safety, want to eat more healthily, and are bothered about climate change. This may be a way to make a difference.
(26 February 2009)
Jellyfish sushi: Seafood’s slimy future
Caroline Williams, New Scientist
It’s a Friday night in 2050. It’s been a long week at work and even if you could be bothered to cook, there’s nothing in the fridge. So what fast food will you pick up on your way home? How about some squid and chips? Perhaps an algae burger? And don’t forget the crunchy fried jellyfish rings on the side.
One thing’s for sure: unless something changes soon, familiar favourites such as cod, haddock, hake and plaice will be off the menu. In fact, if we’re not careful, an assortment of exotic alternatives will be all the ocean has left to offer us.
This may seem an extreme vision of the future, but marine biologists are alarmed by the imbalances that are appearing in marine ecosystems. The ocean is changing fast – too fast, it seems, for us to reliably predict the combined effects of overfishing, pollution and climate change. What is clear is that the changes, by and large, are not good news for our bellies.
(4 March 2009)
Related articles at the original. -BA
Eric, Farmer
Sharon Astyk, Casaubon’s Book
When I gave up my dreams of an academic career, recognizing slowly, painfully that I (like most people) couldn’t “have it all” Eric and I fell into a pattern. Eric would work (since his job provided things like stable income and health insurance) and provide care to children and animals. But the farm was largely my project – his job was to temper my optimism, and note when my ambitions jumped over our budget or our energies. He jokingly calls himself “the farm serf” – if I say “would you help me dig a hole here” he’s happy to do so. He’ll clean out the barn. But he doesn’t read books about agriculture, relies on me to figure out how to adjust the goat’s diet for pregnancy, doesn’t plan the garden or our crop rotation, doesn’t want to pick out the varieties of tomatoes. He’ll gladly help with the work, but the planning and organizing, knowing what to do with it, that’s my job.
Except that we’re not really sure if Eric will be keeping his job at SUNY. He is not tenured (this was intentional – a tenure track job would have been a larger commitment than we wanted, and since his primary interest is teaching, the small schools he would have been attracted to – the kind that actually care about teaching – are mostly places we worried would go bankrupt in a crisis), and while his department is very much committed to him, if a broad cost-cutting measure demands that all non-tenured faculty in his category be laid off, he’ll be laid off. And odds are, he’ll be laid off late enough in the year that there’ s not much we can do about it – too late, probably to find an academic job for the following year. Right at the moment we’re cautiously hopeful that the work his department chair and others are doing to ensure more stability for Eric may work – but realistically, they may not. We played the odds, made a set of choices, and we may pay a price – and we’re prepared for that, if not enthusiastic ;-). Given the same set of choices, we’d probably still do what we did.
… So imagine my shock when, while discussing this with Eric, Eric very calmly pointed out that *he* could reopen the CSA and be the primary farmer. I was, ummm… gobsmacked. I pointed out he’d have to read some books about farming. He nodded, and asked me for a reading list. I hope I can be forgiven for my expression, since I’d been trying to get him to read these books for the last 8 years.
I noted that farming wasn’t quite as easy at it looks. He rolled his eyes at me, and pointed out that he knows this, but has a consultant on site. I observed that he said he didn’t much like to garden, and now it would be his primary job. He said that would be fine – and that he’d do what it takes to feed our family.
(16 March 2009)
Recession spurs millions of new gardeners
Jeff Ishee, News-Leader (Central Shenandoah Valley, Virginia)
A recent survey conducted by the National Gardening Association confirms that vegetable gardening in the United States is on the rise.
Officials with the organization say they expect 7 million more kitchen gardens in 2009, up 19 percent from 2008. This anticipated increase is nearly double the 10 percent growth in vegetable gardening activity from 2007 to 2008 as more people seek to grow their own food.
… Highlights from the survey include:
- 43 million U.S. households plan to grow their own fruits, vegetables, herbs and berries in 2009
- 11 percent of households already active in food gardening plan to increase both the amount and variety of vegetables they will grow in 2009; 10 percent also said they will spend more time gardening this year.
Among the other reasons respondents gave as to why their households are growing their own food:
- 58 percent said for better-tasting food
- 54 percent said to save money on food bills
- 51 percent said for better quality food
- 48 percent said to grow food they know is safe
(15 March 2009)
Suggested by Bob Shaw (aka “totoneila”, aka “Have you hugged your bag of NPK today?”). Discussion at The Oil Drum.>.
Related from Greg Jeffers: Recession Gardens
Small Farm Renaissance
Chuck Burr, Culturequake
The petrocollapse and the economic crisis have a bright side; they will be the catalyst for the rebirth of the local small farm. These will be the kinds of farms that we need: diverse, educational , and organic.
Diversity is the Key
The new generation of small farms will be more diverse than the previous generation. During the era of cheap fuel and other inputs, large-scale farms were profitable. However input prices are rising and commodity or crop prices are falling. Corn and soybean prices per bushel have fallen 30 to 40 percent in the last year respectively. Milk prices have plummeted 35 percent in the last two months. Right now the price of milk barely covers the cost of feed alone.
Diversity in niches not competing with big agribusiness is the key to success. Here are a couple examples of this new model. The Seven Seeds Farm in Williams, OR grows certified organic vegetables, fruits, berries, seeds, sheep for wool and lamb, and poultry, offers Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares, and the owner, Don Tipping is one of the leading educators in the region.
… I highly recommend that anyone interested in learning some farming skills to take their PDC. Read Permaculture Activist magazine to find a PDC in your area. The current issue No. 71 has a wonderful related article by Laura Donohue, Gardening Lessons from Past: Forest Gardening Communities in Cascadia: Then and Now.
Permaculture will teach you how to build soil and diversity using indigenous cultural practices. Perennial polycultures including fruits, nuts, and berries are combined with beneficial plants such as nitrogen fixers or nectaries using the forest as a model. You learn how to create a low maintenance edible landscape around your home.
The local food scene is changing. Produce buyers are making an effort to buy local, CSAs like the Village Farm in Ashland, OR are using new models that lower annual member dues through work exchange, and at farmer’s markets you are starting to see more diverse products such as mushroom spawn and even worm culture.
(10 March 2009)
