I have noticed that we have more than a few markets either on library property or within a very short walking distance around the country. This idea seems like a good way to link the two even more closely:
farmers/farming information
Certifications
The Chicago Green Market is adding a level of transparency to their markets. Starting this month, vendors will show their farm names, where they are located and what certification process they currently have passed. As many of you know, there is a wide selection of programs besides the USDA organic label that farmers can use. The Beyond Organic movement is growing, and it is quite possible that market vendors are more likely than industrial sector farmers to look for alternatives to organic; they have the ability to tell their own story to their shoppers which reduces the need for the complicated long work to get the USDA label.
And here are two points of view from the article that bolster my theory:
“GCM farm forager Dave Rand notes that it’s incredibly difficult, for example, to grow organic peaches in the Midwest because of pest and climate challenges. So a peach grower might opt for Food Alliance certification, which requires integrated pest management strategies that minimize pesticide use but allow it when necessary.”
“Three Sisters farmer Tracey Vowell said that she prefers the Certified Naturally Grown program because inspections are carried out by fellow farmers rather than certification inspectors. She finds this process fosters community and best-practices sharing rather than just requiring farmers to fill out paperwork.”
Calendar Intern needed
The National Young Farmers’ Coalition seeks a “Calendar Intern!”
They seek a “reliable, enthusiastic person to help fill the NYFC events calendar full of young farmer events, from coast-to-coast. It would require probably a few hours to start, and then no more than an hour a week after that. This is a super low-key and extremely helpful way to pitch in.”
Email lindsey@youngfarmers.org, if you’re interested.
Nashville food system work
Went to the 2011 Food Summit in Nashville this weekend, convened by Community Food Advocates. I drove there from New Orleans (just about the same amount of time to drive as to fly-about 9 hours each way) and so I was able to view some of the damage from the tornado destruction and to hear from folks along the way about the flooding of Memphis from the Mississippi and its tributaries.
The one day summit is the follow up from their 2008 Summit and shows just how much can be done in less than 3 years in one area. Over 300 people registered for this event and the breadth of the projects represented was impressive.
What is working is the deep commitment to social justice issues, such as racial equity and cultural barriers. The universities are involved, the neighborhood activists are involved and the food system fulcrums that already existed (like the Nashville Farmers Market) are there.
I am looking through their handout book “From Charity to Justice” which outlines the food insecurity in the Nashville area. Seems like a textbook example of using Mark Winne and CFSC’s Food Policy training, which means they will be successful.
I think the highlight for me was the taped video message from Mark to the Nashville folks (who he clearly has worked closely with):
“For God’s sake, don’t blow it.”
Community Food Advocates
Measuring success in community gardens
A speaker at the Nashville Food Summit: “Community gardens are more about the community then the gardening.” I agree that has been true in recent years but is that the future?
And then this morning saw this on the comfood listserve:
Community Gardens Win the Food Wars
Millions of pounds of fresh food and produce were raised during the World War II years—as much as 40% of all vegetables consumed nationally.
5,285,000 Victory Gardens in the United States
According to The War Garden Victorious, Indianapolis “estimated the value of its war-garden crop in 1918 at $1,473,165. Denver placed its yield at $2,500,000 and Los Angeles at $1,000,000. Washington, District of Columbia reached $1,396,5000.” Thanks to propaganda (“your garden is a munitions plant”) there were 5,285,000 victory gardens in 1918. The City of Rochester, New York alone had more than 15,000. The “estimated value of our war-garden crops for 1918 (was) $525,000,000! A half billion dollars!”
Important history for us to know and to use as an impetus for today. Speaking of today:
Thanks to the research efforts of Farming Concrete, we know the value and weight of produce created by 67 of the 500 community gardens in NYC:
* 67 gardens comprise 1,200 plots
* 1,200 gardeners (give or take) raised 39,518 plants
* 39,518 plants produced 87,690 lbs of food
* 87,690 lbs of food worth $214,060
But here is the statistic that really caught my eye. All this work, all this fresh food was produced on just 1.7 acres of land, or 71,950 square feet. The parking lots at suburban malls are bigger than that!
Check out Farming Concrete for their excellent resources to measure the benefits of urban gardens; the toolkit is very similar to the Farmers Market Metrics we are creating at the Farmers Market Coalition.
Therapy Garden
Thanks to Demalda Newsome, Executive Director at Newsome Community Farms Inc for sending me this great link:
Edible Selby via Tasting Table
Photographer Todd Selby helps the rest of us indulge in one of the most satisfying of all human pursuits: looking at other people’s stuff.
Now, in conjunction with his new column at T Magazine, the photographer has launched a sister website, Edible Selby, where he focuses his lens on chefs, chocolatiers, bakers and taco-shack operators, chronicling them celebrity-style with close-ups in their work or home kitchens.
Just a Dose Will Do — Emerging Ideas — Utne Reader
A bottle cap of fertilizer rather than spraying the entire field. Huh. Why does it take so long for us to see the small solutions?
Get to know the faces of the movement
Pam has been working on food and justice issues for many years, but quietly, as is her way. She has recently joined me on the Community Food Security Coalition board so now I get to see her regularly. Isn’t it odd that we organizers don’t give ourselves more time to just hang with our colleagues?
2 (green) thumbs up
All In This Tea takes us into the world of tea by following world-renowned tea expert David Lee Hoffman to some of the most remote regions of China in search of the best handmade teas in the world.
Hoffman is obsessed; during his youth, he spent four years with Tibetan monks in Nepal, which included a friendship with the Dalai Lama, and was introduced to some of the finest tea—that golden nectar with which we can taste the distant past.
Unable to find anything but insipid tea bags in the U.S., Hoffman began traveling to China to find tea for himself. In the process, he discovered the rarity of good, handmade tea, even in China, where the ancient craft of making tea has given way to mass production. This craft cannot be learned from a book, but has been handed down through generations of tea makers for thousands of years.
Hoffman tries to convince the Chinese that the farmers make better tea and that their craft should be honored and preserved. He drags the reluctant tea factory aficionados up a lush, terraced mountainside in their blue suits and bring them face to face with those “dirty” farmers. In an ironic twist, Hoffman reintroduces them to their own country and one of its oldest traditions.
All In This Tea trailer
Federal government spends millions on hoop houses – Yahoo! News
This sort of program can be combined with incentives for shoppers to increase “supply” and “demand” at the same time.
Federal government spends millions on hoop houses – Yahoo! News.
A take on the ‘Beyond Organic’ movement
I appreciate this point of view, but I’d like to know where she sells, whether its at farmers markets, through CSAs, a U-pick-em or wholesale.. By the way, the link is at the bottom…
I think what is not clear in this snippet is an explanation of why the move to one federally run program was deemed necessary, rather than leaving it the community-level organic certification it had been. I remember that when it became a federal certification in 2002 or so, that it benefited big farms and big retail outlets like Whole Foods, as they were ready to market their organic labels. It is also true that we need to reward more good stewardship of land among farmers, so programs that encourage that are a good idea. I am not so sure that is still true that the new laws still benefit the big guys and also wonder whether farmers now have more or less availability to sustainable practices because of the change.
Helping Farmers Markets Grow 