Food & Water

Saving the oysters

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“We’ve had so many people come up to us and say, ‘I heard you’re closing,’” says Terry Sawyer, co-owner of Hog Island Oyster Co. “There’s just a lot of misunderstanding about what’s going on.” Despite the rumors, Hog Island is alive and kicking, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. With more than 100 employees, a thriving Tomales Bay oyster farm, two restaurants and a café, and additional projects in the works, Terry and his partner John Finger have turned what was once a modest dream into a Bay Area institution. But despite the farm’s success, Terry is worried about the oyster’s future, as are many farmers, marine biologists, ecologists, and bivalve lovers.

No guarantees

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In Agriculture: villain or boon companion, I argued that we sapiens have been cultivators since time immemorial, that a combination of foraging and cultivation is a sensible, durable way of life that has served us well, and that the “origin of agriculture” really is the intensification of cultivation that becomes visible in the archeological record.

Co-op Breweries: Craft beer in the new economy

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Fermented beverages of one sort or another have played a part in every civilization. The evolution of fermentation by human hands has been a diverse one, too. From what is arguably the first fermented beverage, mead, found in ancient Greek, Egyptian and even Sumerian records, all the way to today’s micro-brewed extreme barley-based ales like Imperial India Pale Ales and 21% abv Stouts. However, the next step in this evolution comes not in the changing of flavors or styles, but the organization behind its creation: behold the grand idea of Cooperative Breweries!

Survivor soul food

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African American culinary historian Michael W. Twitty interviewed by Gerri Williams on black crops, climate change, and safe seeds. K. Rashid Nuri from Truly Living Well urban farm in Atlanta, Georgia. Music by Mavis Staples ("Down in Mississippi") and Memphis Gold ("Mississippi Flatlands").

Pasture cropping: A regenerative solution from down under

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Since the late 1990s, Australian farmer Colin Seis has been successfully planting a cereal crop into perennial pasture on his sheep farm during the dormant period using no-till drilling, a method that uses a drill to sow seeds instead of the traditional plow. He calls it pasture cropping and he gains two crops this way from one parcel of land—a cereal crop for food or forage and wool or lamb meat from his pastures—which means its potential for feeding the world in a sustainable manner is significant.

Instead of trying to feed the world, let’s help it feed itself

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“But can we feed the world this way?” As we try to move humanity away from dominant power regimes and thoughtless extraction of the earth’s resources, toward a way of life that honors the earth and all of her creatures, I think this is the most maddening question we can be asking ourselves.

Growing sustainable citrus and soil

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Ken Olsen is not just growing delicious oranges and mandarins; he’s growing a healthy ecosystem. “It’s like paradise here,” the citrus farmer says of Olsen Organic Farm in Lindsay, 180 miles southeast of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. While conventional citrus farmers rely on chemical fertilizers and pesticides to maintain large, monocultural orchards, Ken sees his organic farming practices as an extension of his reverence for the natural world.

Garden as catalyst: the story of Crystal Palace Transition Town’s prize-winning garden

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Here’s a great story about the power of just doing stuff, from Crystal Palace in London. I heard recently that Crystal Palace Transition Town (CPTT) had won the People’s Food Garden Award in the Capital Growth Grow For Gold awards late last year, and I was intrigued to know more about their Westow Park Community Garden and how it came about.

Rebuilding the Foodshed: foreword from the book

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What especially impressed me in Rebuilding the Foodshed (though I could easily have tagged each page with a sticky note or more) is that Ackerman-Leist stresses the importance of being in a conversation with others, including those who are not necessarily like-minded, if change is to take place. Communities that manage to survive and prevail display a resilience that is ultimately based on the ability to have those conversations, to listen and speak and reason.