Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
•Solar development absorbing Calif. farmland
•A Free, Pick-Your-Own Orchard Takes Root in Los Angeles
•New Report Shows Inextricable Link Between Food, Water and Energy
•’Progaganda Gardening’ at Incredible Edible Todmorden
•Dairy Farms Suffer in US Shale Gas Fracking Boom
Join the kids at Farm Camp! You’ll watch them care for turkeys and rabbits, listen to a harvest season story, and cook up applesauce. Campers have fun growing and preparing food and, best of all, eating the results. They raise veggies from seed to harvest and take field trips, like the Camp Pizza kids who visit a cheese maker. It all started because founder Laura Plaut wanted her son to have joyful food experiences. “We do [this] because it feels good. It makes us happy, takes care of the planet, [and] takes care of communities.”
This past weekend I made a trek out to central Wisconsin to speak at the state’s annual grazing conference, which typically draws farmers from all over the Midwest. This was the second time I’d been invited to join these folks, and I remembered it fondly from back in 2009, when the conference center was packed, the trade show was hopping with farmers talking about livestock genetics, raw milk, grazing plans, and fencing systems, and the sessions were filled with optimistic faces, eager to bring sustainable changes to their land and good food to their communities.
An imaginative and exciting scheme was launched to provide would-be smallholders with affordable land and low-impact dwellings. But then it was blocked by a local council, and has now gone to appeal. The story highlights how our planning process can frustrate so many ‘good life’ dreams.
We may be able to agree that much of our food system is broken, but how we begin to fix it is much harder to understand. Wenonah Hauter, director of Food and Water Watch, takes on this challenge in her new book, Foodopoly: The Battle Over the Future of Food and Farming in America.
The world produced 2,241 million tons of grain in 2012, down 75 million tons or 3 percent from the 2011 record harvest. The drop was largely because of droughts that devastated several major crops—namely corn in the United States (the world’s largest crop) and wheat in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Australia. Each of these countries also is an important exporter. Global grain consumption fell significantly for the first time since 1995, as high prices dampened use for ethanol production and livestock feed. Still, overall consumption did exceed production. With drought persisting in key producing regions, there is concern that farmers in 2013 will again be unable to produce the surpluses necessary to rebuild lowered global grain reserves.
On Dec. 10, 2012, hundreds of Detroiters lined up outside of The East Lake Baptist Church, braving the cold for the last of a series of public hearings on “the Hantz Woodlands deal.” At stake was the “largest speculative land sale in the city’s history”: 140 acres comprised of 1,500 lots of city land. Local multi-millionaire John Hantz wanted to turn this plot into a large timber farm that would be, as he promised, “Detroit’s saving grace.” But the hundreds of residents waiting outside had another idea of what saving the land could mean: They wanted the city to sell individual vacant plots at affordable prices for people to plant community gardens.
I’ve been experimenting recently with growing my own oyster mushrooms, and as you can see from the photos, I’ve met with some success. I was motivated to explore mushroom cultivation partly because I’m a vegetarian and want to produce my own high-protein alternatives to meat; but I was also interested in using so-called ‘dead space’ to grow food (either inside or down the shady side of the house). Oyster mushrooms tick both these boxes, and they are also ridiculously tasty.
What I experienced instead was the realization that E. B. White and I had so much in common. His litany of tasks and thoughts and expressions of worry or concern were exactly the same things I experience as I wend my way through “working the farm” every day. I said out loud, to nobody but the cats and dog, who gave me a concerned look, “This is exactly how my day is!”<
“Changing times calls for changing lifestyles.” says Brian Kerkvliet. “So [we’ve] put more energy into the land… The more you get your fingers in the soil, the more endorphins rush through your head. You get excited by all of that.” Using permaculture and biodynamic practices, Brian’s family is endlessly experimenting and innovating to find what works. His wife Alexandra and daughter Rosalie introduce us to the goats, pigs, and cows who are essential players in their farm’s web of life. Don’t miss the outdoor shower with water heated by microbes in the compost pile! (Episode 226).
Like most Transition projects, it started with a ‘Why don’t we … ?’ conversation. This one during a tea break at The Oak Tree Low Carbon Farm, the CSA on the edge of Ipswich, which itself grew from a similar conversation. Inspired by the efforts of Greener Fram[lingham] another Suffolk Transition group who had organised a Local Food Challenge the year before, and others such as in Fife, Tweed Green and the New Forest, a small group of us started planning in the autumn of 2011. Almost immediately we were joined by Transition Woodbridge, our nearest neighbours. Both realised the benefits of working together – especially as numbers in our original organising group shrank as the months went by.
This week’s entry in the How to Live Sustainably series: How to build a chicken run in 157 easy steps. Note that everyone is different, and not every step might apply to your situation.
