Here is an update from the Weston A. Price foundation, an amazing “watchdog” and protector of small farms who are producing food the “right” way (organic, biodynamic, pasture-raised, etc.):

UDATE ON FOOD SAFETY LEGISLATION

Agribusiness shows its true colors!

Last week, the Senate voted 74-25 to move to consideration of S.510, the Food Safety Modernization Act.  After thirty hours of debate and behind-the-scenes negotiations, the Senators released a final Managers Amendment that includes a compromise version of the Tester-Hagan amendment.  Thank you to all our members who have called and written over the last several months to help protect local foods!

But even though an agreement was reached on the Tester-Hagan amendment last week, the issue is still not over.  The final vote on the bill has been delayed until Monday, November 29, due to disagreements over amendments relating to the health care bill and a ban on earmarks.  And, in the meantime, Agribusiness has shown its true colors.

For over a year, the big Agribusiness trade organizations have supported passage of S.510.  From Agribusinesss perspective, the bill was a win-win: they could absorb the costs of the regulations because of their size; theyd gain good PR for supposedly improving food safety practices; and the competition created by local food producers, which is rapidly growing, would be crushed by the regulatory burdens.

This was only speculation until now.  But when the Senators agreed to include the Tester-Hagan amendment in the bill, to exempt small-scale direct-marketing producers from some of the most burdensome provisions, twenty Agribusiness trade organizations fired off a letter stating that they would now oppose the bill.

The letter from the Agribusiness groups states: [B]y incorporating the Tester amendment in the bill, consumers will be left vulnerable to the gaping holes and uneven application of the law created by these exemptions. In addition, it sets an unfortunate precedent for future action on food safety policy by Congress that science and risk-based standards can be ignored.

http://www.unitedfresh.org/assets/files/Letter%20on%20Passage%20of%20S%20%20510%20and%20Tester%20Amendment.pdf

What science and risk?  No one has produced any data or evidence of any widespread problems caused by local producers and marketed directly to consumers.  All of the major foodborne illness outbreaks have been caused by products that went through the long supply chains of Agribusiness.

Agribusinesss real concern about the Tester-Hagan amendment isnt food safety, but the precedent set by having Congress recognize that small, direct-marketing producers are different, and should be regulated differently than large Agribusinesses.

Agribusiness is trying to convince the Senators to pull the Tester-Hagan amendment back out.  While the amendment is currently part of the Managers Package  the amended version of the bill agreed to by six bipartisan sponsors  nothing is certain until the actual vote.

ACTION TO TAKE

This Thanksgiving week, please take a moment to call or email your Senators to tell them to hold firm on KEEPING the Tester-Hagan amendment part of the bill. 

You can call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 or go to www.senate.gov to find their website (if the phone lines are busy, the best way to reach them is through the Contact Page on their website)

So here is my letter to Senator Merkley, urging him to retain the amendment. I urge you to take 5 minutes (copy, paste, and modify mine if you wish) to contact your Senators as well:

Dear Senators:

It has been very refreshing to see that you have voted to add the Tester-Hagen amaendment to the Food Safety Bill.  As a Nutritionist in Oregon and also an urban dairy goat farmer and avid gardener, it is important to me to be able to source fresh food from farm-to-table without compromise.  The small farms in Oregon have saved my family’s life, in that we are indebted to the fact that Oregon has allowed these farmers to grow their foods freely without immense and costly regulations.  I urge you, despite what the Agribusiness conglomerates want you to belive, to hold firm on KEEPING the Tester-Hagan amendment part of the bill. 

Thank you so much for your commitment to food safety.  It is important for the large suppliers to be subject to these regulations.  Spinach, hamburgers, peanut butter, and all the recent e.coli outbreaks have not come from small, local organic farms.  They have all been a result of the careless practices of agribusiness.  However, the small family farms that for generations have taken great pride in their product should NOT be subject to regulations that could potentially put them out of business.  Standards for food safety? Of course.  But when the consumer can trace their product back to a specific farm, that is motivation enough for the farm to enact high standards of quality control.  A family-owned, direct-marketing farm would not stay in business very long at all if its customers were constantly sick from contaminated food.

Meanwhile, the corrupt and under-regulated meat-packing, dairy, and large-scale conventional farm industries get away with gross abuses of their employees, their animals, and their land.  I think it’s clear where the real problem lies, and I thank you in advance for your committment to protecting the constitutional rights of every American to chose from whom they purchase their foods.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Carrie Thienes, BS, MA, NTP

Stop Genetically Engineered Alfalfa and Protect Organic Food!

The USDA recently released a draft of its Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on Genetically Engineered “Roundup Ready” Alfalfa, and if we don’t speak up, it’s clear they intend to approve its commercial use. We can’t let this happen.

You may not think about alfalfa much when you’re drinking organic milk, but organic alfalfa is important to organic farming, as a nourishing animal feed that’s also a nitrogen-fixing soil enhancer. Once GE alfalfa is introduced, its contamination of non-GE plants – including organic – is all but inevitable. And because alfalfa is fed to dairy cows and other livestock, contamination puts organic dairy and meat at risk, too!

In their EIS, the USDA states “There is no evidence that consumers care about GE contamination of organic alfalfa.” We know that you do care. Let’s not be Monsanto’s guinea pigs!

Now is your chance to be heard. Tell the USDA to protect organic food and farmers from GE contamination, and NOT TO APPROVE Monsanto’s GE Alfalfa. Comments are due by February 16, 2010.

You CAN make a difference. Tell the USDA that you care about GE contamination and your right to GMO-free organic foods.

Learn more and get talking points on our website. Then take action at the Center for Food Safety, or submit comments online to the USDA directly.

After you write, let us know at rootstock@organicvalley.coop. We’ll post some comments on our website to inspire others to speak out.

Thanks for all your support for family farmers and a sustainable organic future for all!

Sincerely,
The Farmers and Staff of Organic Valley Family of Farms

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.

According to The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconson-based organic watchdog group:

“The USDA’s announcement to fold their tent on the current NAIS proposals is an all too rare victory of the nation’s family farmers over the political power of corporate agribusiness. 

Secretary Vilsack, in this case, definitely listened to the will of the people.  The decision by the USDA to regroup, and withdraw current rulemaking, was made after a series of spirited national meetings with vocal farmers.”

  

    Here’s the official press release from Washington:

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5, 2010—Agriculture Secretary Vilsack announced today that USDA will develop a new, flexible framework for animal disease traceability in the United States, and undertake several other actions to further strengthen its disease prevention and response capabilities. 

    “After concluding our listening tour on the National Animal Identification System in 15 cities across the country, receiving thousands of comments from the public and input from States, Tribal Nations, industry groups, and representatives for small and organic farmers, it is apparent that a new strategy for animal disease traceability is needed,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.  “I’ve decided to revise the prior policy and offer a new approach to animal disease traceability with changes that respond directly to the feedback we heard.”

    The framework, announced today at the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) Mid-Year meeting, provides the basic tenets of an improved animal disease traceability capability in the United States.  USDA’s efforts will:

• Only apply to animals moved in interstate commerce;
• Be administered by the States and Tribal Nations to provide more flexibility;
• Encourage the use of lower-cost technology; and
• Be implemented transparently through federal regulations and the full rulemaking process.

    “One of my main goals for this new approach is to build a collaborative process for shaping and implementing our framework for animal disease traceability,” said Vilsack.  “We are committed to working in partnership with States, Tribal Nations and industry in the coming months to address many of the details of this framework, and giving ample opportunity for farmers and ranchers and the public to provide us with continued input through this process.” 

    One of USDA’s first steps will be to convene a forum with animal health leaders for the States and Tribal Nations to initiate a dialogue about the possible ways of achieving the flexible, coordinated approach to animal disease traceability we envision.  Additionally, USDA will be revamping the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Animal Health to address specific issues, such as confidentiality and liability.

    Although USDA has a robust system in place to protect U.S. agriculture, with today’s announcement, the Department will also be taking additional actions to further strengthen protections against the entry and spread of disease. These steps will include actions to lessen the risk from disease introduction, initiating and updating analyses on how animal diseases travel into the country, improving response capabilities, and focusing on greater collaboration and analyses with States and industry on potential disease risk overall.

    More information on USDA’s new direction on animal traceability and the steps to improve disease prevention and control is available at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/traceability.

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!!!!

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.

Sometimes I think I beat this whole sugar thing like a dead horse, but there is really no other time I feel like ranting and screaming then when it comes to Halloween: The Great Feast of Sugar.  I know, it’s fun for the kids. It’s only once a year.  You mostly throw all of the candy away anyway; they don’t eat all of it.

I guess I’m just more sensitive to the insidious nature of giving copious amounts of candy to children because I recognize what a stronghold sugar had over me for most of my adlescent and young adult life, and how difficult it was (but OH SO REWARDING!) to give it up for good. 

Now studying nutrition, I see the unequivocable facts about the physiological consequenses that refined sugars have on our health; including cancers, diabetes, oestoperosis, heart disease, and tooth decay (not to mention the common cold and the flu).  And to think of the TRILLIONS of dollars that are spent in health care on the aforementioned ailments which could SO EASILY be prevented through a diet free of refined garbage.  But tell that to the American people who are eating, on average, 170 lbs of refined sugar per year, per person!  That’s not to mention refined wheat and grain products, whose ultimate fate in our digestive system is their conversion into glucose.

But what is really so bad about glucuse, don’t we need it for our cellular energy? (Warning: About to Nerd Out on Biology Here)

Sure, our cells can produce ATP from glucose, but the transfer of glucose into our cells requires insulin.  Our cells can also produce ATP from fatty acids, which freely pass (by “simple diffusion”) right through the cell membrane into the mitochondra, where they can be used very efficiently to make energy.  By the looks of the basic anatomy of a cell, it seems very clear that our cells *were made* to run on fat. 

It’s hard to see in the picture, but the diagram is of a cell membrane.  The orange circles which comprise the outer layer and the inner layer of the membrane are made of fatty acid cells known as the “lipid bilayer”.  Fat cells readily pass right through the cell membrane without any special “transporter” into the mitochondra. (Picture source).

Glucose, on the other hand, is a secondary form of fuel. I believe it was intended to be used for emergencies when fat supplies were exhausted.  The reason why glucose is such an inefficient form of fuel, compared to fat, is for the following reasons:

1) First off all, the cells need fat.  Fat is a fuel as well as a building block for the structural integrity of the cell.

2) Insulin is required to transport glucose into the cell.  The problem with insulin is that it is a hormone that signals our body to store fat This makes sense, because if we are in an emergency situation of starvation and we need to be fueled by glucose, then our body would need to respond by storing as much fat as possible so that eventually it can covert back to running on fat, which it prefers.

What’s wrong with insulin? Isn’t it supposed to help lower our blood sugar?

Yes, but that is not the primary role of insulin. That’s a side effect of it, since it’s primary role is to transport glucose into the cells!   Insulin is the only hormone that our body produces to lower blood sugar.  Never before in the history of mankind have we had a need to lower our blood sugar, until the modern advent of refined carbohydrates.   We have 3 hormones in our bodies that work to raise blood sugar, which is a survival mechanism as well.  Glucagon is the main hormone that raises blood sugar when we are low. 

The basic, in-a-nutshell problem with insulin is that every time it “fires”, so do our adrenal glands, which contain all of our stress hormones.  When insulin fires, it’s a signal to our adrenals that we are under stress (because we are suddenly needing glucose rather than fat, so we must be in an emergency!). Often insulin must work hard to bring down our blood sugar because in the Standard American Diet we typically eat an abundance of high-glycemic foods which spike our blood sugar very quickly, and the insulin has to act fast to process it out of the blood. Our blood really can only handle about 4/5 tsp of sugar at any given time.  If you want to fancy math to prove it, check out Dr. Michael Eades blog post here.

OK, so back to Halloween.  So according to Dr. Eades calculations, you get 1 piece of candy before your body starts going all insulin crazy on you, activating your adrenals, suppressing your immune system (which is really a convenient thing to have happen right smack in the middle of Swine Flu season. Ever wonder why “flu season” is the highest during the “holidays”?), and depleting your chromium, zinc, and B6.

Not to mention the fact that sugar is just plain addictive.

So, is it possible to go through all of the festivities of Halloween, be it harvest parties, mall trick-or-treating, or braving the elements in the neighborhood, and eat just one piece of candy?

Maybe, and hopefully if you’re involved in candy-pushing, er I mean Halloween, in any way this year you’ll keep some of these points in mind.

So what can we do to curb the effects of a Halloween Binge?

So if you are set on indulging just this once, okay, I still like you and am not judging you!  But beware that if there are children in your life with compromised immune systems, this is not a good idea, given the immune-suppressing effects of the overtaxed adrenal response to insulin.

Here are a few tips for indulging responsibly (if you must) on Halloween:

1) On the day of Halloween, feed your kids healthy meals throughout the day (fill your kids up on veggies, wholesome meats and eggs, and good fats such as coconut oil and grassfed butter).  Absolutely NO refined carbs. You are saving your “allowance” for later.

2) Drink Kombucha, which is a cultured beverage that actually feeds on white sugar and turns it into beneficial vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. It’s also full of beneficial probiotics, essential for gut health!  If you must eat candy, chase it down with some kombucha (with my kids, I make it a rule. If you eat something sweet, you must have a shot of kombucha to chase it down).

3) Drink coconut water kefir (you can make your own or if you are local to Portland, you can buy a great product locally at Whole Foods and People’s called CultureBiota. It has many of the same positive effects of kombucha mentioned above, with a different taste and nutrient profile.

4) If you have time, prepare your own nutrient-dense treats and celebrate the season’s Harvest and talk about the ill effects of refined junk food.    Serve locally-grown Honey Crisp apples with cinnamon and almond butter. Make date-nut balls, snack on cacao nibs or dried fruit, or dark chocolate.  All of these foods are pretty self-limiting because they contain a lot of fiber, unrefined sweets, vitamins and minerals, and healthy fats.  I plan on making some simple, delicious pralines out of pecans, raw honey, and grassfed butter.

5) Ration the candy and keep Dr. Eades’ reccommendations in mind. Limit to one piece per day AFTER a healthy meal is consumed.  If the healthy stuff outweighs the junk, chances are the body will prefer the healthy food over the junk.

6) Use the candy collected from trick-or-treating as “money” . My neighbors give their kids cash for each piece of candy they collect, and they donate the candy to a food bank (or toss it?) and the kids get to go purchase a treat for themselves that won’t rot their teeth. Pretty cool idea!

7) Drink plenty of pure water with the candy to dilute the sugar’s potency and to help the body detoxify.

Overall, be aware that sugar suppresses the immune system and with swine flu floating around out there, an onslaught of candy might be all your body needs to tip the scales and fall prey to swine flu.  Please eat candy responsibly, and at your own risk!

But whatever you do, DON’T ……….TURN……….THE………PAGE!!!!!

This post is my attempt to encourage the world to become a Food Renegade and ditch the sugar!

To see the entire “campaign” for Children’s “Nutrition” by Kellogg, you can click through the pages here, but the website doesn’t give justice to the colorful, multi-page insert that came in the paper.  The document starts off by showing Tony the Tiger giving a “Thumb’s Up” sign, surrounded by boxes of Frosted Flakes, Apple Jacks, Pops, and Fruit Loops.  Yeah, the healthy stuff. They don’t even pretend to promote the Raisin Brain here; it’s straight to the sugar cereals.

Rev up your day with Kellogg’s™ Fuel for School™ program. Starting the day with a balanced, great-tasting breakfast can put you on the fast track to good nutrition. Many kids and adults forget this important first meal. And nutritious snacks from Kellogg allow for easy-to-pack lunches and after-school snacks! So the next time you head to the grocery store, plan ahead and you’ll have the right snacks on hand with the nutrients to balance your family’s diet. At Kellogg, we have great snacking options all through the day.

Ok, let’s examine these “nutritous breakfasts” and their components:

Fruit Loops: SUGAR; CORN FLOUR; WHEAT FLOUR; OAT FLOUR; PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL (ONE OR MORE OF: COCONUT, COTTONSEED, AND SOYBEAN) †; SALT; SODIUM ASCORBATE AND ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C); REDUCED IRON; NATURAL ORANGE, LEMON, CHERRY, RASPBERRY, BLUEBERRY, LIME, AND OTHER NATURAL FLAVORS; RED #40; BLUE #2; YELLOW #6; ZINC OXIDE; NIACINAMIDE; TURMERIC COLOR; BLUE #1; PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6); RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2); THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B1); VITAMIN A PALMITATE; ANNATTO COLOR; BHT (PRESERVATIVE); FOLIC ACID; VITAMIN D; VITAMIN B12.
† LESS THAN 0.5g TRANS FAT PER SERVING.

Wow, Kellogg. You’ve really outdone yourselves!  A bowlful of sugar, processed grain flours, and artificial colors (oh, and don’t forget the partially hydrogenated vegetable oils!)  This looks like a really nutritious breakfast for my child!

The website claims that this is a balanced breakfast.  Remember when they used to say “this is part of a complete breakfast” showing eggs, bacon, orange juice, and a side of processed cereal? Well, apparently now Fruit Loops is considered balanced all by itself. Nice.

Question: What makes this balanced, again?

Oh, it’s not.

And then, there are Pop Tarts. Do people actually believe these are healthy breakfast options for kids?!?! I’m not trying to be snarky…I’m just really curious.  A junky dessert, maybe, but seriously, a breakfast? Really Kellogg’s????

Oh, and don’t forget Eggo waffles! I’ll spare you the ugly nutritional details, but if you are interested, you can see all the ingredients of their products on their product website. 

Enough about breakfast. What about snacks?

How about “Yogo’s Bits” or Morningstar Farms “Chik’N Nuggets”.  If you ever wondered what a “Chik’N’ looks like, here you have it:

TEXTURED VEGETABLE PROTEIN (SOY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, WHEAT GLUTEN, WATER FOR HYDRATION), WATER, ENRICHED WHEAT FLOUR (FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), BLEACHED WHEAT FLOUR, CORN OIL, CORNSTARCH, CONTAINS TWO PERCENT OR LESS OF WHEAT STARCH, SALT, METHYLCELLULOSE, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, DEXTROSE, AUTOLYZED YEAST EXTRACT, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS FROM NON-MEAT SOURCES, SUGAR, MALTODEXTRIN, DISODIUM INOSINATE, SOYBEAN OIL, HYDROLYZED SOY PROTEIN, ONION, PAPRIKA, DRIED YEAST, INULIN FROM CHICORY ROOT, CARAMEL COLOR, TAPIOCA DEXTRIN, XANTHAN GUM, SODIUM ALGINATE, SPICES, YELLOW CORN FLOUR, PAPRIKA EXTRACT FOR COLOR, ANNATTO EXTRACT FOR COLOR, BAKING SODA, GARLIC, TOMATO POWDER, CELERY EXTRACT, WHEAT FIBER, LACTIC ACID, SAFFLOWER OIL, BARLEY EXTRACT, CITRIC ACID, NIACINAMIDE, EGG WHITES, NONFAT DRY MILK, SUCCINIC ACID, DISODIUM GUANYLATE, IRON (FERROUS SULFATE), THIAMIN MONONITRATE (VITAMIN B1), PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6), RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), VITAMIN B12.

Ok, I have another question processed food manufacturers: Why the heck do you use so many billions of ingredients to make one product???? Is the extra tapioca dextrin really necessary?

So what are the alternatives? Are there ways that busy moms getting kids ready for school can send them off with a nutritious breakfast on the go?

Check out my 5 day breakfast meal plan for busy moms for some kid-tested, real nutrient-dense foods that can be made ahead or on in 10 minutes or less!

Other than making your own food, you can Fight Back against the propaganda by:

1) Ignoring it and making informed choices for Real Foods.

2) Writing to companies like Kellogg’s.  Take a moment to let them know that there are consumers who want Real Food.  It’s is possible to package and provide nourishing convenience foods, but companies have to know  there’s a market for it.  I personally wrote to Kellogg’s at what a disgrace I think it is that the food they are promoting for children is linked to childhood obesity, type II diabetes, and weakened immunity.

3) Vote with your dollar and use your hard-earned money to support local farmers and distributors of local organic products for nourishing breakfast foods.

4) Get informed on all the Real Food news at Real Food Media and check out what the other Food Renegades are saying this week on Fight Back Friday!

One of the most interesting books I’ve been reading is Steve Solomon’s Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades.

This book is very interesting and informative, and it’s certainly not for the faint of heart. But since it’s one of the only books I know of that deals specifically with our particular climate and soil, not to mention the fact that Mr. Solomon has years and years of “take it from me” experience, I’ve been happy to sit at his feet (so to speak) and glean all that he’s learned.

Anytime you open an expert book on gardening, you quickly realize what you’ve done wrong and right.  Surprisingly, there are a few things I actually did right (on instinct!) and other things I’m now happy to know about, like his recommendations for a complete organic fertilizer.  I had always thought that compost was enough, and he very logically explains why that is so just about everywhere else in the US except  for the Maritime Northwest.  Interesting. But that would totally explain some of the soil problems I’ve noticed in spite of really, really good compost applications.  Not that compost is bad, but it’s simply not enough to restore the mineral deficiency in our native soil.  Luckily, there’s an easy recipe for a really good, organic, natural fertilizer that’s pretty darn thrifty if you purchase the components in large quantities:

Complete Organic Fertilizer

4 parts linseed meal
1/2 part agricultural lime/dolomite blend
1/2 part bone meal
1/2 part kelp meal

In anticipation of the excruciatingly hot days this past week, I went to the very awesome Urban Farm Store in SE Portland on Sunday afternoon and purchased the components listed above.  I “side-dressed” my plants in hopes that they would get the nutrients they needed to survive the week of intense heat.

I digress…..

So this book has been informative and inspiring, particularly because it outlines a way to “extend the season” by growing vegetables all year long!  I never really thought that was possible in rainy, mild Oregon, but through further research into my Oregon State extenstion service as well as other resources, it seems that growing a fall/winter garden is totally possible!

Why grow a winter garden?

Well, not having any real experience doing so yet, I’m going to just assume that the reason is obvious: you have access to fresh, organic (free) food throughout the winter.  Now we’re not talking cucumbers and tomatoes, here.  If had known all of this a few weeks earlier, I might have had time time to plant more than I will at this point, but it even so, it looks like with the right timing I can enjoy fresh salad greens, spinach, kale, chard, scallions, broccoli and other brassicas throughout the winter.  Plus, I might be able to enjoy some “overwintering” varieties that will perk up for me in early spring!

This article was a very helpful guide in showing me dates for planting specific fall and winter veggies. The Oregon State Extension Service also has a helpful guide.

All this excitement has got me in major research and planning mode. From what I’ve read, the execution of this idyllic situation involves impeccable planning and timing.

I’m in the process of researching the most thrifty way to build a cloche or cold frame.  Here are some really great articles I’ve found that have been very helpful:

Grow All Winter in a Cold Frame talks about how to make one from completely recycled materials (I love the sound of that!)

Good old Mother Earth News has done it again, this time with an article sharing all you need to know about growing in cold frames.

Earth Easyhas some simple, cheap, downloadable plans for how to build your own portable garden cloche, which allows you to both extend the season and get a jump on things early in the spring.

And if you don’t want to pay, the Oregon State University Extension Service (the angels that they are) give a comprehensive, step-by-step guide: How to Build your own Raised-Bed Cloche.

According to Mother Earth News (in the article referenced above) you can easily grow arugula, broccoli, beets, cabbage, chard, chinese cabbage, green onion, kale, lettuce, mustard, radish, and spinach in a cold frame. These can be sown in late winter under a cold frame. 

I don’t know about you, but I like the thought of fresh food in January! Without solid numbers, I estimate that I could ideally save about $20 per week from my produce bill if I had all of these veggies at my disposal in the winter!

I’m still working through all the details; I’ll post my progress in these area. Right now I’ve made a scale map of my garden and am planning exactly where everything will be sown for fall and winter.  This past week, I sowed broccoli, cauliflower, more lettuce, and mustard.  I plan to sow more scallions, arugula, radishes, and kolrabi.  I am very curious to try asparagus too, and am going to research the best time to put this in.

Oh so many veggies, so little space.  I’m using 244 square feet this year, which is actually quite a lot.  I have dreams of asking neighbors if I can use their yard in exchange for veggies, but I’m a bit of a wuss. I’ll try to work up the nerve. Some folks around the corner have this ideal plot of land; it gets like 10 hours of direct sun. It’s currently being used for absolutely nothing; it’s just this abandoned plot and it’s just calling out for me to put several raised beds on it and grow all the sun-loving veggies next summer. 

I guess I have a few months to butter them up…..what would you do?

For more inspiring reflections on local food and sustainable gardening, please visit this weeks’s edition of Food Roots at Nourishing Days.

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!

As a child, I can’t say I really had the benefit of fully understanding the “seed-to-table” concept.  Tomatoes came in a can, spinach was a frozen mass in the shape of a square, and lettuce was white, and came sealed in cellophane from the grocery store.  It wasn’t until I was older, and spent time at my grandparents’ house, that I actually saw how things grew from plants. 

Food from plants.  I get that.  I get that apples fall from trees and that celery stalks are edible.  But the missing piece always involved getting the seed to grow into something fruitful. 

It’s exciting that now, after many months of hard work and cultivation in our maritime region, we are finally starting to see the fruits of our labors.  Lettuce and zucchini abound, as well as broccoli and beets.  These dear plants that my sweet daughter spent many-a rainy afternoon patiently “helping” me plant into egg cartons– and watering in the “greenhouse” each day, are finally producing something recognizable as food!

There are so many ways for children to participate in the process of growing things.  This past year, my daughter has “incidentally” learned that vegetable scraps get fed to the worms, who eat what we don’t, and then make a stinky mess of things that mommy gets so excited about putting into her garden.  Compost.  The smelly stuff that makes our food healthier; how ironic.  My daughter loves to feed the “wiggle worms”, to plant seeds, and I love that I can tell her “go outside and pick a handful of parsley” and she knows exactly what I’m talking about.

As of late there’s been quite a bit of buzz about “nature deficit disorder” among adults and kids alike.  As I type this, in fact, I’m cloistered inside a darkish living room while the sun vibrantly shines upon the outside world. (Jonny, my 2-year-old is napping, to justify). At any rate, we are natural beings who need more outdoor time among nature, and it’s amazing to see the multitude of ways in which children can be taught by the natural world.

As an educator, I am keenly aware of “teachable moments”, and integration of subject matters.  Planting seeds provides so many of such moments.  Counting and sorting seeds provide arithmetic practice.  I always have my daughter write (or at least trace) the names of each seed on each egg carton or 4″ pot that we plant.  She loves to create and decorate “plant tags”, which are still proudly announcing where the radishes and carrots grow to this day.  I can’t think of a better kindergarten curriculum!

No matter what our personal gardening expertise, (and mine is very much “trial and error”) we can learn alongside our children, and hopefully give them a greater respect for the work involved in producing food. Moreover, we can allow them to experience the wonder and almost magical aspect of taking something so small and inexpensive, and with water, food, light, heat, patience, and a lot of God’s grace— food is made.

This blog post appears on this week’s Food Roots at Nourishing Days.

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!

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?”

Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE my avocados, almonds, and all manner of California-grown produce (and thankfully, I’m not that far away from Cali) but as we move toward a more localized food system (hopefully, anyway) I am trying to envision what kinds of nutritious meals could be built around native sustainable foods.

As for meat and cheese, that’s simple. Oregon is ideal for pasturing animals with its lush, year-round green grass. Lamb, beef, pork, poultry—- all do very well here.  Because of this, we can also enjoy ultra-local milk which can be made into delicious artisan cheeses, cultivated with “grass-fed” cow or goat milk.  Eggs are also a no-brainer; chickens thrive here in the Northwest.  In earlier times, salmon was plentiful, but now it can be a little harder to procure, but nonetheless within an hour’s drive of Portland there are abundant oysters, shrimpmeat, and Oregon wild-caught tuna, halibut, and red snapper.  Buddying up to a local fisherman is not a bad idea!

So that pretty much takes care of the protein and fat requirements, but what about the obviously lacking vegetable component?  Sure, we have abundance from about May through October from produce, most of which is farm-cultivated.  But what about the notion of foraging edible plants year-round?  Are there plants native to Oregon that can replace some of our time-honored favorites on our salads?

Recently I came across an article in our local paper, The Portland Tribune, about such a concept!  A Northeast Portland couple has done this very thing; they have transformed their front yard into a perrenial vegetable garden. This requires no year-to-year planting, no weeding, and no fertilizing.  Resources are conserved and ecosystems are able to flourish.  You can read about their endeavors on their blog, although be forewarned that these folks are extreme hunter-gatherer types (i.e. they have been known to eat squirrel, which I do not judge them for, but just be warned!)

I don’t know if I’m ready to hunt squirrel (although they are abundant here around my home!), but I am very intrigued by their permaculture model. They sell starts and given classes on what they are doing, and I hope to learn more. I’ve always had this strange feeling, when weeding, that perhaps I’m destroying something that grows well here and perhaps there’s something beneficial about it.  When I really start to look around me, I see all kinds of vegetation that at first glace doesn’t seem edible, but I have always thought “one man’s weed is another man’s oregano”.

Here are just a few perrenial vegetables that the couple, Thomlinson and Latoski, grow:

rhubrab, violets, marshmallow, comfrey, daisy, perrenial lettuce, wapato, cattail, horseradish, licorice, dandelion, wolf berry, milk thjistle, fennel, chicory, rorrel, ;peppermint, lemon balm, asparagus, garlic, chives, and sunchokes, just to name a few.  The list goes on and on. You can read the entire article here.

Recently, Vern Nelson wrote a similarly inspiring article for the Oregonian on “Harvesting the Unexpected” (which for some odd reason isn’t showing up anywhere on a google search—luckily I clipped it!) showing some of the unlikely parts of typical garden plants that are edible, such as radish leaves and turnip stems, to name a few.  These are other interesting ways to extend the growing season and get the best “bang” for your buck.

In an upcoming post, I will be making a hypothetical week-long menu plan of only locally grown ingredients, utilizing some of these odd perennials listed above. I want to move in that direction in terms of my garden, and I will post updates for those plans as they are underway.

For more sustainable gardening talk, visit Shannon over at Nourishing Days for more talk on “Food Roots”.