Food Safety Bill: My Letter Senator Merkley
As you may or may not be aware, there is a Food Safety Bill that’s been going through Congress for the past year or so. The Bill’s objective is to create tighter regulations for food safety in the US, which is an excellent idea given the almost weekly new “outbreaks” of contaminated food ranging from peanut butter to spinach. Oddly enough, when you trace the food from table back to farm, you find that most of the food we buy from the supermarket changes hands often, resulting in many potential avenues for contamination. It comes as no big surprise that these regulations will be stiff and costly, and only the “big Agribusiness” conglomerates will be able to afford them. While many organic food companies and farms such as Cascadian and Stoneyfield are owned by large Agri-Corporations, (and thus will be able to absorb the costs of the regulations), the small farmers that operate through direct-marketing and CSAs will likely not be able to conform to the regulartions. Read the rest of this entry »
Organic, Grass-Fed Beef in Trouble
The USDA has listened to the people before, they can do it again! Read on to see how you can help make your voice heard. The following comes from the Organic Valley Co-op of Family Farmers. Please take a moment to read and support the cause for Organic, Grass-Fed Milk and Beef: Read the rest of this entry »
Kudos to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack!
Backyard chicken farmers and small-scale livestock farmers across the world are breathing a sigh of relief now thanks to the courageous demonstration of true leadership by US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Read the rest of this entry »
Today Only Special on Beyond-Organic Mandarins!
A few days ago I received this box of mandarin oranges from the generous folks at Chaffin Family Orchards. Besides being amazingly pure and beyond organically grown, they are the most delicious mandarins I’ve ever tasted! We have been enjoying these simple treats as a healthy dessert, topped on a delicious salad, and cooked into some lovely dishes. I am working on perfecting a crock-pot Mandarin Shrimp recipe (I’ll post it early next week after my “test crew” weighs in). I am also saving all of the wonderful pesticide-free peels so that I can make candied orange peel and to dehydrate for use in baking as orange zest! I am also going to use some of them to make lacto-fermented marmalade; a super-delicious source of probiotics and vitamin C.
These oranges are seriously the best I’ve EVER tasted. We had some store-bought ones served at our Thanksgiving dinner (we weren’t home) and they came no where near. You can tell by the deep orange color of the flesh and the juice that these are something special.
I remember hearing about people growing up in the Great Depression who were so delighted just to receive an orange at Christmastime. These oranges from Chaffin would truly be gift-worthy! I’m usually not that big of an orange fan because most oranges available commercially are obviously not locally grown and besides they taste–I find— is nothing to write home (or blog!) about. But these…..my, oh my!
Chaffin is a diversified Family Farm with beyond organic practices located in Northern California (which still sorta qualifies as “local” for this Oregonian).
The great news is that Chaffin is running a special for two days!!! Free shipping and their normally $39.99 box (for 15 lbs) is selling for $33.99!!!
Chaffin is also an excellent source of high quality, organic, locally made, extra virgin olive oil! Please go HERE to order Chaffin’s mandarins! Order today for a fantastic deal on a delightful, organic, and healthy treat that makes a fantastic gift!
And stay tuned for my recipe on crock-pot Mandarin Shrimp that is coming down the pike in a few days!!!!
Halloween: There’s a Monster at the End of this Month (and a few tips for how to survive it)
Seriously. I feel like Grover in the book “There’s a Monster at the End of This Book”. I feverishly want to scream at every parent; “Don’t turn the page! Don’t come to the end of the month! Don’t add an hour to your clock! Put your kids to bed at 5 pm, tell them that Halloween isn’t happening this year due to budget cuts, and wake up on November 1st happy and NOT in a sugar coma.
Kellogg’s Propaganda on Children’s Nutrition
Look at all those happy, healty kids. The Kellogg Corporation wants you to believe that by eating a processed carb and sugar-laden breakfast, these kids will be more “alert” in school and that their products build optimal nutrition. This is marketing genius at its height, folks. I know my readers will have enough saavy not to be fooled by the claims of such propaganda (which appeared in my Sunday paper this week), but I just couldn’t let this go.
Food Roots: Resources for Planning a Winter Garden
This week it has been over 100 degrees for the past several days and it’s been too hot to even have my hot laptop on my lap, so I’ve retreated into “paper blogging” and have been doing lots of reading. Thank goodness for our public library; I’ve been putting all kinds of gardening books on hold and just reading them constantly. I feel like I’m in grad school again!
Food Roots: Teaching our Children
Kids and corn grow fast. Thankfully, the corn grows faster. I snapped this pick of my dear daughter standing next to the corn she planted with her own hands about 6 weeks ago. She’s so proud of her corn, and so excited that it’s getting taller than she is!
Suburban Backyard Farming
What could be more Organic & Thrifty than growing your own food??!?!? It doesn’t get much fresher than stepping outside and harvesting dinner! Gardening has so many levels of fulfillment, and anyone can do it! From roof gardens to containers to community plots, the opportunities abound for local, organic food to grow.
Sharon Astyk, (author of Depletion and Abundance: Life on the New Homefront) says of the future of suburbia:
“…without the arable farmland we turned into suburbs transformed into gardens, forests, and food producing areas, our kids and grandkids will starve. So we must find some way to make suburbia sustainable” (pg. 147)
Well, here it is, folks. The model we will have no choice but to adopt in the coming years as the cost of oil will soon drive up the costs of shipping food up from California or flying it in from Chile:
I’d love to hear from folks who have already ripped up their laws to farm their suburban plot. How is it working? Are the trade-offs worth it? If you haven’t, what’s prevented you from doing so? And would you be open to allowing someone else come in and farm your front/back yard? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Perrenial Vegetable Gardens
Over the years I’ve been increasingly interested in not only growing my own food, but looking at the perrenial edible plants that grow naturally in the Northwest. No doubt I love my my home-grown basil and tomatoes, but let’s get real: Portland ain’t the Mediterranean. Over the years all this talk about local and sustainable has got me asking myself: “What would natives to my region would have eaten?”
