Carol Deppe, The Resilient Gardener

But what about gardening in “not-so-good” times, when “ordinary trauma and minor disasters” like health problems and family needs trump the to-do list, or make it impossible to do the things our gardens need precisely when they need them? Or the “mega-hard” times that history proves deserve consideration – catastrophic drought, disasters (natural and man-made,) pandemics, energy shortages, economic instability, the ripple effect of war and terrorism?

“The Resilient Gardener: Food Production and Self-Reliance in Uncertain Times” is a personal revelation about “All-American food security,” and a clarion call to action. Author, plant breeder and scientist Carol Deppe offers a bumper crop of clear explanations about why resilience (“An ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change” – Merriam-Webster Dictionary) in even the tiniest backyard gardens matters, along with a ton of practical how-to information about growing, processing and storing food for optimal use. Today, Deppe says, “…we can produce better, more nutritious, more delicious food than anything we can buy,” and learning to reduce inputs like labor and water means “we spend less, waste less, pollute less, and are more sophisticated, efficient gardeners, in good times as well as bad.”

And since we humans need calories and protein, not just salads and herbs, “The Resilient Gardener” focuses on “the five crops you need to survive and thrive – potatoes, corn, beans, squash and eggs” – and presents step-by-step approaches to grow, store and use these vital crops.

Deppe offers a big-picture overview of the diverse “erratic-climate-adjusted style of farming” developed during the Little Ice Age and still seen as a “model for a maximally-resilient farming community,” then invites us to better understand the inherent resilience of our own backyards by exploring its soil, topography and traditional uses by Native Americans and pioneers.

She looks at diet and food resilience, sharing how resilient gardening can help with physical limitations, special dietary restrictions and other health considerations like food intolerances. There’s a real value to the foresight that leads to having a “stash” of staples for our families, “designed to primarily enhance the quality of our lives in ordinary times (and) also enhance personal and regional reliance in hard times,” she says. “The Resilient Gardener” details different growing and storage methods, including best temperature and humidity conditions for 49 fruits and vegetables that keep longer than two months. You may know about keeping apples and carrots, but what about celery? Garlic? Jerusalem artichoke? Kohlrabi? Parsnips? Sweet potatoes and (true) yams?

And any gardener who reads the chapter on The Laying Flock will come away with a lust for poultry (Deppe adores her ducks) that goes well beyond quality eggs, garden fertilizer and a handy (beaky?) outlet for produce leavings.

Deppe’s stated goal is to “encourage more gardening, and more growing of food, especially staples.” She urges us all to expand our knowledge and pass it on to nurture resilient neighborhoods, resilient communities, resilient regions and a resilient nation. “The Resilient Gardener” challenges us all to up our gardening game for maximum flexibility, satisfaction and self-reliance … just in case.

With family roots in the fertile Red River Valley of North Dakota, Lynn Torrance Redlin has been part of the Cooking Up a Story team for a number of years. An avid gardener and home cook, Redlin is also a voracious reader, and enjoys exploring new information and ideas about our food system.

Out of death new possibilities emerge…

Shot on location in an alternate universe between time and space, poetic moments of life are snapped into consciousness; the public market becomes a garden from which love springs forth.

Insalata Caprese: a simple salad from the Campania region in Italy.

INSALATA CAPRESE (12minutes)
Written & Directed by
Jesse Roesler
Executive Producer: David Matenaer
Starring: Matthew Amendt, Val Mudek and Barbara June Patterson

“Nature is the time keeper. It is nature that determines the tipping points beyond which change becomes irreversible. Unfortunately we can’t see the clocks so we don’t know much time is left” —Journey to Planet Earth, 2011

Map of Asia, click to enlarge

If history serves as any guide, from ancient civilizations that suddenly collapsed, our fate may rest upon the collective will to trust our advanced scientific prowess, and individual human strengths, to accurately decipher out of the earth’s daily signals, that an ominous pattern is unfolding. For some have come to believe that time is of the essence to act, and that we do not have the luxury of waiting until the signals become visibly obvious. For then, it will be too late.

In a nutshell, that’s the message that Lester R. Brown, scientist, visionary, and environmental writer spells out in his recent book, and now a PBS film with the same title: Plan B: Mobilizing to Save Civilization available for online viewing (the first 20 minutes) below.

Watch the full episode: through the month of April, 2011. See more Journey to Planet Earth.

As Plan B begins, the viewer learns that sea ice in the Arctic region has been melting at an astonishing rate in recent years. In a 1 week period of time alone, a mass of ice the size of the United Kingdom has melted away. But it is in the mountains of Asia, the glaciers in the Himelayas and the Tibetan Plateau where the effects of climate change are most apparent, and worrisome to some scientists. As these glaciers continue to recede, they are the principal source for feeding the major rivers of Asia during the dry season that run through China, India, and other neighboring countries. The Indus, Ganges, Yellow River, and Yangtse provide the necessary sources of fresh, irrigation water for food production to feed 400 million people.

Glacial Range Over Tibet

We learn that most civilizations that collapsed in the past did so because of a major reduction in their food supply. Brown theorizes that food may be the weak link that as more and more failed states arise, the tipping point between natural and political events leads to the collapse of human civilization; in such a collapse, a loss of 90% of humanity would likely result.

Climate change makes food production throughout the world more precarious, and lowers food supply levels. Today, the world’s food supply is at the lowest level in 45 years. For example, China now accounts for 1/4 of all the meat consumption in the world. As population continues to grow, more people in the developing world will move up the food chain ladder. In the film, scientists estimate that by 2020, there will be an additional 3 billion+ new people consuming meat. That places tremendous pressures on grain production, not only for human consumption, but also to feed the growing populations of added livestock populations. According to Brown, it’s not sustainable. It also places unbearable strain on western food supplies, especially US grain, fueling higher domestic food prices, and around the world. Poorer nations will have to do with less food, and this too will put pressure on governments to address the needs of their people, or like Chad, Sudan, Haiti, and other countries mentioned in the film—be added to the growing list of failed states.

The film outlines 3 competing trends that will increasingly vie for the world’s available food supplies:
Population Growth (current growth is 70 million per year)
Rising levels of affluence- more people move up the food chain ladder
Massive diversion of grain to fuel cars- the amount of grain to fuel a 25 gallon SUV is the amount of grain that could feed one person for a year.

One particularly moving portion of the film, Brown recounts an event in recent history that demonstrates the incredible resolve that Americans have shown under challenging circumstances. Pearl Harbor had just been bombed during WWII, and America had to face Japan, then the largest industrial force in the world. In order to effectively respond, President Roosevelt turned to the automotive industry, and summoned their energy and direction to do something that never had been done before—almost overnight—switch from automobile production to a massive production of wartime equipment: tanks, airplanes, ships, etc., which also meant, no new car manufacturing would take take place during those 2 years needed for factory production. In a matter of weeks and months, America responded.

This is the outline Brown presents for his plan B needed to restructure the global economy:
Cut CO2 emissions 80% by 2020
Stabilize population growth to 8 billion people-through a mixture of education, and economic opportunties
Eradicate poverty
Restore the world’s natural living systems

Will we come to recognize the threat in time, and be able to respond appropriately? That’s what makes this film so important to watch, to ponder, and to decide what each of us as individuals will do. If we get this wrong, and Lester Brown’s warning proves prophetic, no more pages will turn for our children.

And, it would be on our watch…

Q. Being a self-described child of Hippie parents growing up in rural Idaho, are you surprised that you now have your own farm?

I am but I’m not. Because of genetics and conditioning, it does make sense that we do often turn out just like our parents. Like most people, I struggled with that in my twenties, and tried to be anything but a hippie. But now that I’m 36, I’m getting a bit more comfortable with the idea that I just might be a “hippie”. I enjoy growing food and raising animals, eating with friends and family, and building community. If that’s not hippie, I don’t know what is. But I still refuse to listen to the Dead. You have to draw the line somewhere. 

Q. To date what livestock due you currently have, and what fruits and vegetables do you grow on a regular basis?

 I have three goats (two doelings, one milk doe), about six rabbits in various stages of growth, four chickens, and about 20,000 bees. It’s fall now so the main crops are greens like chard and collards, lettuce, and some remaining tomatoes. I love growing winter squash, carrots, beets, herbs, cucumbers, etc. I’ve raised pigs and ducks and geese, and will probably get ducks again, but Muscovies this time.

Q. Do you think you and Bill (Novella’s Boyfriend) will eventually leave “Ghost town”, by a nice house in a better hood and start all over?

Well, we’re squatting on the land where we farm so eventually we will be kicked off the lot and it will be bulldozed to build condos or something. Since I don’t like the idea of living right next to a construction zone, I’m sure we’ll move eventually, but a nice neighborhood? Doubt it. The neighbors would hate us! A friend of mine who was having troubles with her neighbors put it this way: “you’re a hero if you farm in a ghetto, but a public nuisance if you try to farm in nice neighborhood.” we fit in the public nuisance category, I think, because people with manicured lawns don’t like to see goats pooping. So we’ll probably head out to east Oakland when it gets bad here in west Oakland.

Q. I read that you were a student of Michael Pollan when you attended UC Berkeley.  What is the best piece of advice he’s ever given you?

He told me to go to New York City right after graduating from school. Just for a visit, to introduce myself to editors and meet people who might want me to write for them. I ended up getting a book deal. 

Q. What words of advice do you have for a budding Urban Homesteader?

Start small and simple, grow or raise things that you like to eat. For instance, grow some lettuce in some buckets if you like salad, or get some chickens if you like eggs. Don’t overdo it, though, I remember there was that urban farmer in Brooklyn who thought he should just get everything–plants, rabbits, chickens–and then we surprised when things got out of control. Learning to be a farmer doesn’t come instantly. 

Q. What’s more important to you personally, Local or Organic?

Those labels don’t really mean anything anymore so I don’t like to choose one over the other. Our society is so used to picking one thing over another, we’ve been told over and over again that to find happiness (or whatever) that we just have to make a consumer decision. This depresses me, and that’s why I’m into DIY (do it yourself) so you become empowered to grow your own. I can see the eyes rolling out there for people living in apartments, but there is an amazing amount of stuff in small spaces, or if you search out opportunities to get your hands dirty. Like community gardens.

Q. You’ve had your blog for a while in which we’ve been able to follow some of your adventures at Ghost Town farm, when did you decide it was time to write an actual book about your adventures?

The blog didn’t come before the book. I’ve basically been working on the book idea for ten years. I’m a writer, so as I farmed, I always thought the stories would add up to something bigger. I actually used to think blogs are frivolous, but now I look at my farm blog like a new version of an old farm tradition like the farm log or journal. Recording what I grew and how it did. I actually look back at old blog posts from years ago to remember what I planted or how I canned my tomatoes. Diaries and blogs are just a way to store memories. 

Q. What’s next for you? Another Book, a second farm?

I’m working on a proposal for a new memoir. I have a book coming out with Willow Rosenthal that is more hands-on. I’m pretty busy. I don’t have the time or money for a second farm, alas. 

Q. What do you think it’s going to take to get people to take a more active role in where their food comes from?

Pure boredom of the “normal” way of living, buying stuff is so unrewarding, and unsatisfying. Once you start growing stuff, it becomes addictive. We need better school garden programs in schools so kids will learn about growing food. Once that happens, it’ll spread like wildfire. 

Thank you Novella for taking time out of your very busy schedule to answer my questions, I certainly look forward to your next book and continued adventures at Ghost Town Farm. Novella has been on the road quite a bit promoting this great book.

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, and a recent guest on Martha Stewart’s radio program. Heather resides in Woodbine, New Jersey (population: 2800) 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.

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!

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”.

Shot in a cinema verité style, the audience is the unannounced guest at the table, in the kitchen, in the bathroom (thankfully, only the washing of clothes), and with Colin and his family as they weave in and out of their daily lives at home, and at work, and on short vacations—all within (or mostly within) the strictures dictated by their self-imposed journey into a no impact lifestyle.

Along the way, obstacles present both challenges and humor, and a certain level of misery one would expect as a result of certain deprivations. The surprise, of course, without giving away too much of the ending, they do make it through the year, the last 6 months without using electricity in their apartment, and manage not to get arrested by child services or become stark raving mad as a result of their odyssey. They do however end up on Nightline, Good Morning America, The Colbert Report, and a slew of other rapacious media outlets (that may represent its own peculiar form of madness), and come away with a healthy dose of realism, hope, and humility that their efforts will spur others to take their own actions to help save the planet.

That may be the biggest treat of all about this film. It’s got a great emotional story, the natural tension between two individuals, each trying to pursue their own dream, and making it a shared experience. Although, the No Impact Man is Colin’s dream, Michelle experiences her own form of transformation as a result of their journey. By taking personal action, to explore what it means to live without leaving an impact on the environment, they both must take a step back from life, and re-examine with fresh eyes their connections to the physical world, and their support for each other. Not looking for cheap answers, or pseudo, feel-good analysis, one of their friends, an organic gardener with a small plot of open land in the city, unflinchingly informs Colin about what he feels about his “no impact man” project:

Mayer Vishner:
My hesitation about your work, is that it enables people to fool themselves that all they have to do is change the lightbulb or recycle all their plastic bags, as long as they feel that way, no politician will pick it up.

Colin Beavan:
And I feel that it is completely true. It’s both. … If you have a political stance, then there is an tremendous integrity to living in a way that reflects that political stance.

Mayer Vishner:
At the risk of being too personal, it’s not, it’s just the facts. Michelle writes for Business Week. Millions of trees are cut down on a regular basis in order to promote the fully fallacious propaganda that America corporate capitalism is good for the people, good for you and me. If it’s your contention she makes up for it—that it evens out— because she doesn’t take the elevator in your fifth avenue co-op, I have to say, you are either dishonest or delusional.

In an odd, and perhaps wholly unexpected manner, this film begins to open up almost the most treasonous of notions, to question what it is to be an American, not based upon political ideology, but at an even more fundamental level: our role as consumers in the most capitalistic society on Earth.

To gain a sense of how long a road we must yet journey to achieve a life of happiness without causing harm to the planet, consider this. If every American family today became a “No Impact Man” for one year, as Colin and Michelle have done, our economy would sink sharply into an economic depression, no government could forestall. And yet, there is a large (and growing) body of scientific evidence to support the conclusion that we must find ways to live sustainably. The environmental toll of our continued consumption driven economy, not just America, but all the first world countries, and the developing countries that are beginning to emulate western economies, threatens the natural world and human civilization.

This small film takes one small step toward envisioning a sustainable world where there is a future. A world, we would like to achieve for our children, if we could just figure out how.

No Impact Man: opening in select theaters, September 11.
Directed by Laura Gabbert; Justin Schein
Edited by William Haugse, ACE; Mathew Martin
Music by Bobby Johnston

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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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.

Here’s some links to information on artichokes from various sites throughout the web:

“Virtually 100 percent of all artichokes grown in the U.S. come from California. Total crop value for the 2007-2008 crop year was more than $50 million.” California Advisory Resource Board

“The artichoke is grown as a perennial, and good varieties are propagated by sprouts that arise from the crowns of the plants in spring. The sprouts grow true to the plant from which they arise. The artichoke belongs to the same family as thistles, sunflowers, lettuce, salsify, chrysanthemums, and thousands of other species.” Plant Answers

“Native to the Mediterranean region, artichokes were brought to the United States in the 1800s and first grown in Louisiana by French immigrants and in California by the Spanish. Today artichokes are grown almost exclusively in California, which accounts for more than 99 percent of national production.” Agriculture Marketing Resource Center

See Related: Cooking Up a Story: Prepping Artichokes; and Artichoke Pesto

It is amazing to me the resources that are now available to those of us who want to do more with our backyards then just have the perfect lawn. The Backyard Homestead, edited by Carleen Madigan is just the primer you need to get started on turning that boring old backyard into an organic, sustainable, and bountiful homestead.

This book guides you step by step through the planning stages to harvesting; whether you are working with a patio garden or two acres of land, it is possible to provide some of your own food. The chapters begin with an overview on constructing the home Vegetable Garden, the first line in this chapter makes reference to one of my favorite gardening memoirs “The $64 Tomato” reminding you that you don’t need a landscaper to construct a workable garden. In this chapter everything from starting plants from seed to extending your growing season is covered. The next chapter covers Backyard Fruits and Nuts, blueberries, strawberries, various fruit trees, and a special section on grape varietals with instructions on making your own wine. My favorite chapter by far is the one on raising poultry for eggs and meat. When I was growing up my grandparents kept a few chickens in our backyard, oh how I used to love when my grandmother would bring in those beautiful brown eggs from the hen house every morning. I would love to give my own girls such a wonderful experience, but at the moment my husband won’t even consent to a puppy or kitten let alone chickens…so we’ll see about that.

Interspersed throughout are basic recipes for jams, preserves, and homemade bread along with sections on canning, drying herbs, making cheese and butter, you name it. The information found is this book is just so useful and the ideas are attainable. Nothing too high brow or over the top, just the basics told in a reader friendly way.

Keep in mind this book is just the tip of the iceberg in regards to Gardening and Animal Husbandry there are many more in depth guides available to suit your ongoing needs. However, this book is a perfect place to start and with just a quarter acre of land you too can harvest 1400 eggs, 50 lbs of wheat, 60lbs of fruits, 2,000 lbs of vegetables, 280 lbs of pork, and 75 lbs of fruits and nuts. So what are you waiting for? Put your backyard to work!

Next Time –Adventures in Bread Baking

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.

Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System, provides his analysis of recent riots relating to the disastrous rise in global food prices. In this video produced by Democracy Now, Mr. Patel offers his analysis of the recent riots taking place in developing countries most effected by “this perfect storm”, he attributes to the following causes: the US biofuels program that has led to increased corn prices; climate change that has produced a bad year for agriculture production; substantially higher oil prices, as modern industrial agriculture depends a great deal upon the use of fossil fuels to grow and distribute food; and the populations of China and India that are switching to more meat consumption, causing a big rise in the price of wheat diverted toward feeding livestock (instead of humans).

No one has a solution to this growing crisis, but it does beg the following questions: If biofuel production puts more CO2 into the atmosphere than it prevents, and does not help reduce reduce climate change, why are we pursuing this course? Since all three of the presidential candidates appear to support the biofuels program, where is Al Gore on this issue?

Related: Climate Change & Global Warming: An Interview with Philip Mote; Cooking Up a Story: Food News: Part 1: A Conversation with ‘King Corn’ Filmmaker Curt Ellis

Have you ever wanted to live in a tropical paradise with beautiful secluded beaches, and natural jungle? Would you also be willing to endure 4 1/2 meters (yes, 13-1/2 feet) of average annual rainfall, an occasional typhoon, and green tree frogs nesting in your toilet? Well, Cape Tribulation, population 40, may be just the place for you! In this video, an intrepid couple learn to grow exotic fruit, and achieve a level of self sufficiency and harmony with their surroundings. Produced by Overlander.tv, whose mission is to showcase not just some of the World’s top tourist destinations, but also the local inhabitants.