Fall is in full swing and Winter isn’t far beyond, I’ve been enjoying local apples, squash and weekly pots of soup. While this time of year usually encourages folks to slow down a bit I hardly have a moment to myself but was thrilled when I was able to recently carve out a little time to read the book Farm City by Urban Farmer Novella Carpenter. And even more excited when Ms. Carpenter agreed to do a little e-interview for us here at Cooking Up a Story. Farm City tells the story of how Novella, a child of Hippie parents discovered her own inner hippie by becoming an Urban Homesteader in one of the poorest neighborhoods in (West) Oakland, California. Reading Novella’s book was truly an inspiration and affirms what I already know to be true, that education and knowledge are the keys to getting people to eat better and care more about where their food comes from and “if you build it (Community Gardens and Farmers Markets) they will come” and in Novella’s case they did.
Topic: Reviews & Discoveries
Novella Carpenter e Interview
Rice Harvest 2009
A Farmer’s View from the Field
Greg Massa, Organic Farmer-Hamilton City, California
I came across this little gem through twitter. You see, Greg Massa is one of those farmers who twitter while he works. Being limited by 140 characters or less, probably fits a busy farmer’s work schedule just fine. The tweet just said, “New video post on our blog: Rice Harvest 2009″ with a link to the video on his website. No explanation, just the video. Well, I wanted to know more, so I DM’d him – and this is what I learned:
A fourth generation farmer, his great-grandfather planted the first fields of rice in 1916 – so they are coming up on 100 years of rice growing. Quite a feat, considering so many family farms have gone under or exchanged hands over the years, let alone stay in the family and continue growing the same crop.
Massa is in the process of turning all 650 acres of rice into certified organically grown rice. Currently 170 acres are certified organic, with another 60 acres being added to this for next year’s planting.
That’s a lot of rice! Where does it all go? After being harvested, the rice goes to a dryer, um, to get dried! It comes from the field with a moisture content around 20%. In order to be stored, the moisture content needs to be lowered to 12%. Here’s how Greg describes the drying process: “with heat applied, drying takes a few hours. no heat, just air blown through bin, takes a week or more. Organic: no heat.” When it’s time, it goes to the mill, where the outside hard hull is removed to reveal the brown rice beneath. The non-organic rice goes to the commodity market and is co-mingled with rice from other growers.
The certified organic brown rice is packaged with the Massa Organics label and is direct marketed to restaurants and schools. In addition he sells the 2 pound and 20 pound packages at 12 regional farmers markets (in Northern California), where he gets to meet and talk to the actual buyer and eater.
Really, I don’t know where he finds the time to twitter, but I’m glad he does!
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No Impact Man: Movie Review
Michelle Conlin, Isabella and Colin Beavan
Let me make sure I have my facts straight: In the heart of New York City, a husband and wife, and their very young daughter, embark on a year long journey to transition into a lifestyle that leaves behind a zero carbon footprint? That means: no plastic bottles, no restaurant food, no coffee shops, no shopping for any new clothes or new products, no cars or taxis (mostly bicycle transportation), no elevators (they live on the ninth floor), and no electricity. Wait, there’s more: No laundry detergents, no laundry machines (yes, there is a substitute), no toilet paper, no shopping at supermarkets for food; am I getting this picture correct?
Colin Beavan is the mastermind behind the No Impact Man project, an author and magazine writer by trade, not a veteran of environmental causes, and his wife, Michelle Conlin, a senior writer at BusinessWeek magazine, who is very much a city woman, who loves to shop, drink good coffee, and assiduously sidestep “Nature”.
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Growing Local Campaign: From Field To Fork
From American Farmland Trust, a short video about what producing local food means to communities, and why it is so important a goal to accomplish. The American Farmland Trust is a non-profit organization that began with farmers and conservationists in 1980, whose central purpose is to protect valuable farmland from being lost. Working across Federal, State and local levels, they are involved in helping enact legislation, and implement programs to protect farmers, and the environment.
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Don’t Throw it, Grow It! 68 Windowsill Plants from Kitchen Scraps
I have to admit that when my husband and I first bought our home a few years back the last thing on my mind was gardening. I was mainly concerned with un-doing all the peach colored paint with gold flecks on the living room walls and what seemed like endless amounts of border and stencil everywhere else.
But the following year having re-painted every single room in the interior of the house I was now ready to focus on some gardening tasks. By the time I gave it any real thought it was too late for seedlings or to dig up a vegetable patch in the backyard but I have always been a fan of container vegetable gardening. It’s not super time consuming, it’s great for first time gardeners and besides who wants a boring old fern (no offense to all you Fern lovers out there) when you can grow your own sweet potatoes in containers. There are many container gardening books on the market as interest in the art has soared over the years but what a delight it was to stumble across Don’t Throw it, Grow It. I had mastered growing container herbs, tomatoes, and lettuce in galvanized metal tubs I was looking for another challenge, something different, and something fun.
In this book, author Deborah Peterson not only tells you how to grow more common food items like carrots, beets, or beans indoors but also exotic fruits and vegetables like Avocado and Chinese Star Apple. For instance, did you know that Sweet potatoes have small purple flowers that resemble morning glories, or that Chickpeas make great looking hanging baskets? With this book you will find indispensable little tidbits of information like that and so much more. So the next time you take a look around your living room and think I could probably use a nice potted plant in that corner of the room, think about growing your own little Pomegranate or Avocado tree for a change of pace.
I don’t know about you but when it comes to gardening I’m constantly trying to challenge myself to do more and this book is chock full of great ideas to help you do just that.
Next week: Who knew Starting a Farmers Market could be so hard? Updates on starting a community Farmers Market in my town.
Heather Jones is a wife, mother, freelance food writer, and graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. She has worked for Gourmet Magazine, TV Personality Katie Brown, and the New York based Indian-fusion restaurant Tabla. Heather resides in New Jersey with her husband and two daughters. She is a strong supporter of the Sustainable Food Movement and believes that education is the key to making a difference.
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Posted in Reviews & Discoveries Tagged beans, beets, book review, carrots, Deborah Peterson, don't throw it grow it, heather jones, indoor growing, plants Post a comment
The New Film: Food Inc.
CBS News Interviews journalist Michael Pollan, along with Food Inc. producer and director, Robert Kenner.
Tomatoes that don’t taste like a tomato (but hey, they also don’t bruise), cloned animal meats (really?), and a look behind the curtain of food production in America; this film presents a grim view inside our present food system. Michael Pollan has been a guest on our show before, and continues to draw the important connections between the cheap abundance of food, the increase in diet-related chronic diseases, and corporate mistreatment of food industry workers, and livestock.
This is an interesting interview; especially troubling, the meat industry would wish to prevent labeling of food that originates from cloned animals because that’s information consumers don’t need to know. Oh, really? Equally troubling, according to Mr. Kenner, much of the disturbing behind-the-scenes footage was intentionally edited out of the film. On a more optimistic note, it was encouraging to hear how these issues are not going away, and that as more consumers become aware, more people will speak out for change. If nothing else, Food Inc. demonstrates, when it comes to food, ignorance is not bliss.
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Posted in Reviews & Discoveries Tagged eric slosser, food films, food inc., industrial agriculture, michael pollan, robert kenner Post a comment
