CT Green Scene

Does overfishing really it's mean not sustainable?

Before you fire up that grill this Memorial Day weekend, consider what you cook. While many of us will hungrily devour burgers and dogs, there will be plenty of us who grill a nice piece of fish instead. In yesterday's New York Times, Ray and Ulrike Hilborn collaborated on an Op-Ed about the sustainability of overfished species. (Ray is a professor of aquatic and fishery sciences at the University of Washington while his wife, Ulrike, is an organic vegetable and dairy farmer.)

Just because some fish have been red listed--as in the case of Whole Foods removing some of the red listed fish from their stores--doesn't mean the stock of fish can't be rebuilt. That's where appropriate seafood labelling comes in. There's a difference between overfishing and the sustainability of the species that are naturally being replenished.

The point? Be an informed consumer. We should be paying close attention to those fisheries that are actively trying to replace what they fish. That way, the cycle of life continues as does the species itself. 

Know your food. What are you putting in your mouth? Where did it come from? What kind of an impact is it making on the environment and are you partially contributing to the environmental decline by purchasing it?

See the excerpt below.

Honey Tasting at Red Bee

Slow Food Metro North (SFMN) presents:

The Ark of Taste ~ Honey Tasting at Red Bee Apiary

at the Red Bee Apiary in Weston, CT

June 23, 2012

1:00-3:00 pm

 

Beekeeper, author and founder of Red Bee Honey, Marina Marchese, will present a tour of her Red Bee apiary with an artisanal honey tasting of The Ark of Taste five US honeys in danger of extinction.

 

The tasting of the Ark’s endangered honeys is the first event of its kind in the US. SFMN members and guests will be treated to an educational afternoon learning about how honey bees make honey and how honey is harvested all while tasting these coveted honeys and gaining a finer understanding of our traditional foods. Marchese will also discuss the vital importance of the role honey bees play in our food chain.

 

The Ark of Taste is an international catalog of foods that are threatened by industrial standardization, the regulations of large-scale distribution and environmental damage. In an effort to cultivate consumer demand—key to agricultural conservation—only the best tasting endangered foods make it onto the Ark. Not surprising is the reality that all five honeys named by the Ark are all harvested in the US, a sobering fact that reminds the public that we must do more to preserve these honey plants, our biological diversity and our culinary heritage.

 

Marchese is the president of the Back Yard Beekeepers Association in CT. She studied the sensory analysis of honey tasting in Montalcino, Italy and has presented her signature Honey Tasting Laboratory Workshops at top shelf NYC venues like Murray’s Cheese Shop, Artisanal Premium Cheese Center and Eataly. Slow Food Metro North will be honoring Ms. Marchese with a Snail of Approval award at this event.

 

WHEN: Saturday, June 23, 1-3 pm, 2012

RAIN DATE: Saturday, June 30, 1-3 pm, 2012

Tickets: $35 per person. 25 guest limit. 

 

To learn more visit www.redbee.com

 

To learn about Slow Food Metro Norht, visit: www.slowfoodmetronorth.org

Wholesome Wave presents The Whole Hog

On May 24th, from 6:30-10:00 PM, Wholesome Wave is celebrating its New England roots and love of local food with some of Connecticut's most celebrated culinary artists at Clark's culinary showroom in South Norwalk at this year's Whole Hog! 

The Whole Hog fundraising event will bring together Wholesome Wave's co-founder and President, internationally renowned chef, author and owner of The Dressing Room Michel Nischan, along with fellow chefs Tim LaBant of the Schoolhouse at Cannondale restaurant in Wilton, John Barricelli of SoNo Baking Company in South Norwalk, Bun Lai of Miya's Sushi in New Haven and Joe Wolfson, the new executive chef of Terrain Garden Café in Westport.

Working with nontraditional cuts of local free-range pork, each chef will surprise guests with their unique interpretations featuring locally grown ingredients. 

Tickets for The Whole Hog are available for purchase online.

More Eggs Than You Can Shake a Stick At

Here's the thing about raising chickens in your backyard: You'll have more eggs than you know what to do with. Do they taste better? Yes. Are they more wholesome for you? Of course. Will you have enough at peak laying season to sink a ship? Surely.

(In fact, we discussed this issue back in 2009 with a previous article on this site.) 

See an excerpt from today's New York Times about raising hens and how the trend has grown, particularly as a result of the economic downturn. The organic food movement hasn't hurt the trend, either. Here's what some people have been doing with the excess.

Straight From the Home Coop
By JULIA MOSKIN
Published: April 3, 2012


FOR newly hatched chicken enthusiasts, the first egg from your own hens is a small miracle. “You want to dip it in gold,” said the writer Susan Orlean, who keeps nine hens at her home in Columbia County, N.Y.

Then comes the second egg: enough for a triumphant breakfast.

But when the whole coop starts laying, she said, the supply of eggs quickly turns into an “I Love Lucy”-style conveyor belt scene, bringing absurd, unmanageable excess. Ms. Orlean scrambles them into a pile for brunch or dinner, sprinkled with Indian spices, slivered almonds and unsweetened coconut. “People will eat three and four eggs at a time that way, without blinking,” she said.

It’s not unusual for food lovers to toy with the notion of adding chickens to a thriving garden or building a rooftop coop. Now the novelty has become reality: despite coyotes, foxes and the occasional cage-break, many urbanites and suburbanites are raising their own eggs.

And many small farmers who supply restaurants with produce have been expanding into poultry, making farm eggs ubiquitous on restaurant menus. The eggs that were once scrubbed from the standard American breakfast over concerns about cholesterol have made a triumphant return as high-end appetizers, served atop anything and everything.

To read more, click here.

Image courtesy of MotherEarthNews.com. 

A Decade of Saving Connecticut Farmland: Connecticut Farmland Trust Looks Back and to the Future

By Chris Watts

A lot's happened over the past ten years. Republicans and Democrats swapped control in Washington and in Hartford. Wars started and ended. Housing and land prices went up and then crashed back down. The stock market went for a ride up and down and is now back up. It seems things are always changing. But for the last decade, one constant has been the efforts by the Connecticut Farmland Trust to save the dwindling number of farmland acres in the State of Connecticut.

The core of what would become the Connecticut Farmland Trust (CFT) had its beginnings in 2001 when a group of concerned citizens got together, with the help of the Hartford Food System, to urge legislators to support the state’s fledgling farm preservation program. Through this effort the group discovered that while the State’s program worked well – some farms were not qualifying.

“What we found was that the state was able to preserving large tracts of land and larger farms, but smaller family farms were not qualifying under the formula,” says Gordon Gibson, an original board member of CFT and its first president. “These smaller farms are just as important and often were one of the few remaining working farms in a particular town, but there was no way to find funds to save them. Then some of us got the idea that maybe it was time for us to start our own land trust to help target these smaller parcels.”

That idea led to the incorporation of the Connecticut Farmland Trust on March 1, 2002. With just a board of directors and no permanent staff or office space, the group started to create the state’s only statewide land trust with the specific goal of saving the smaller working farms that would fall under the state’s radar.

3rd Annual Connecticut Food for Thought Expo

On Saturday, March 31st from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Fairfield Warde High School will again be the site for the third annual Food for Thought Expo. Sponsored by the Fairfield PTA's Fuel for Learning Partnership, a non-profit organization that promotes healthy food and nutrition for school lunches, the event will feature cooking demonstrations, workshops, and a number of local vendors offering fresh produce, meats, groceries, and ready-made foods.

There will be children's activities and movies to keep the wee ones occupied. Want to learn how to garden? No problem! This is the place for you. You can also find out how to join a local CSA and talk to nutrition experts. There's something for everyone!

Michelle McCabe, Fuel for Learning Partnership's Chairperson, said that eating healthy foods has become a top priority in this country. Americans have an increased level of weight gain with sedentary lifestyles. Over the last several years, we have also seen an increase in tainted food.

“Today, healthy food and good eating habits are more important than ever,” says Michelle McCabe, Chairperson of the Fuel for Learning Partnership. “Just look at our nation’s epidemic of child obesity – with the related health risks – and the scandals around tainted food!  Along with Michelle Obama, everyone is thinking about how they eat.  Making sure that our families eat healthier has become a priority in Fairfield, in Connecticut and across the country.”

The FFLP encourages the greater community to reach a common goal of serving safe, high quality, nutritional meals to the students of Fairfield. FFLP encourages positive change in how we eat by implementing healthy and sustainable eating practices.

The event is free and open to the public. Fairfield Warde High School is located at 755 Melville Avenue. For more information, call 203-362-7169. 

 

The Seeds of Spring!

By Elizabeth Conrad

An unusually warm winter has turned into an early spring, and lately I find myself day-dreaming about warm sunny days, deck parties with friends, and swimming in cool Maine waters. At our house, my husband is the gardener AND the cook, and over the past year, his interest has piqued regarding heirloom varieties. Our commitment to preserving food diversity and security drove us to seek out as many resources as we could. In fact, we found so many great on-line and print catalog sources for organic and heritage seeds and plants - complete with instructions - we thought it nice to share with our readers. 

One of our best discoveries this year was purely accidental. Last weekend a Sunday drive led us to Old Weathersfield, Connecticut - an amazing place that has been producing seeds for New England gardeners since 1811.  Comstock, Ferre & Co. offers 250 varieties of open pollinated non-GMO seeds. The floors were old wide plank with rows and rows of paper seed packets.  I think there must have been 50 different varieties of tomato seed alone - and we came home with enough seeds to keep us in vegetables for ten years!

In addition to Comstock Ferre & Co. , we have a surprising number of great resources are right here in New England including the High Mowing Seeds located in Wolcott, Vermont  and Fedco Seeds  of Waterville, Maine.   Another Maine based seed company, Johnny’s Selected Seeds, has a large selection of heirloom and organic seeds available. 

igI am sure that I have missed many other worthy enterprises here in our region, so look around and see what might be available right in your community! 

Check www.permacultureactivist.net/seeds/SeedResrcs.htm for an excellent list of heritage and open pollinated seed companies. In addition, the Seed Savers Exchange in Iowa is an excellent resource for anyone interested in the preservation of our seed heritage. Happy planting!

 

Elizaebth Conrad is co-founder of Common Good Market, a New England (Virtual) Town Square Market for the 21st Century offering an outstanding selection of high quality sustainable and eco-friendly products for the home made by New England artisans and crafts-people. Common Good Market believes that buying locally made products helps build more resilient local economies, leads to improved environmental outcomes for our region, and a better future for our children. Visit Elizabeth's blog to read more. 

Shiitake Mushrooms and Your Health

by Dr. Amy Wiesner

Shiitake mushrooms have been used for thousands of years in Asia for both cooking and medicine. And when it comes to cooking, they are the second most popular mushroom in the world. They are also becoming more prominent in the alternative health care market. There has been some research done on them to see how they can be best put to use.

Nutritionally, shiitake mushrooms are a good source of B vitamins, iron and other minerals, protein, vitamin D and fiber. They are also low in calories and are very tasty either lightly sauteed or even dehydrated.

Their most known health use is in the treatment of cancer. Lentinan, a polysaccharide found in shiitake mushrooms, has been shown to be both anti-cancer and to improve  the quality of life with several types of cancers. The most common way to take it is in pill form, but most of the research is on when it is given intravenously.

CT Bill seeks GMO labels on products

An Associated Press report cited on the Wall Street Journal noted that a Connecticut bill seeks to add appropriate GMO labeling on foods. While there has been much debate over whether or not GMOs are actually harmful to one's health--the FDA says yea; anyone with a brain says nay--the point is to have the opportunity to choose or not choose foods with GMOs in it.

Fairfield Green Food Guide's Analiese Paik, a past contributor on this site, testified in favor of the labeling saying, "The burden of proof is on the FDA to prove that it's safe."

See the excerpt below from yesterday's posting.

Conn. bill looks to add labels to engineered food
FEBRUARY 22, 2012, 6:35 P.M. ET
Associated Press

HARTFORD, Conn. — Consumers at Connecticut grocery stores would be able to know if genetically engineered foods are in the merchandise mix under a bill state lawmakers are considering to require the labeling of such foods.

Neither the federal government nor any state currently has a labeling requirement that applies to all genetically modified foods. Connecticut is among nearly 20 states considering a labeling mandate amid health concerns that supporters of the legislation have raised about such foods.

Connecticut's legislation would require clear labeling on any food sold in the state that is completely or partially produced with genetic engineering.

Rep. Richard Roy, D-Milford, said he introduced the legislation due to public concern over the issue. Roy co-chairs the state Environment Committee, which heard from supporters and opponents of the bill at a hearing Wednesday.

Roy said his bill has gained bipartisan support, and he expects the committee to pass it, although its fate after is unclear.

"We're not taking a stance on whether GMOs (genetically modified organisms) are good or bad," said Roy. "What we're saying is that we have a right to know what we're putting in our bodies."

To read more, click here.

Image courtesy of ActivistPost.com. 

Happy Friday: Seafood Choices You Can Be Happy About

By Kate McLaughlin, Blue Ocean Institute

Kate McLaughlin has studied fish all over the country—from herring in Massachusetts’s rivers to Steelhead Trout in northern California.  She is currently Blue Ocean Institute’s Seafood Program Director.

Eight conservation groups in the U.S. & Canada teamed up to get the word out about ocean-friendly seafood.  The message?  Look for ocean-friendly seafood choices that you can be happy about.

Why should people Be Happy about their seafood choices?

Seafood can be a great addition to any family’s menu.  Who doesn’t want a low-fat, high omega-3 addition to their dinner plate? 

And just as you’re thoughtful about other environmentally-responsible choices you make (like recycling, or buying farmers market vegetables), you can be thoughtful about your seafood choices and be happy with the results. 

People can go to www.facebook.com/BeHappyFish to learn more about ocean-friendly seafood, find family- (and ocean!) friendly recipes, , and show support for the ocean by signing a pledge to support ocean-friendly seafood or posting a pic of your best fish face. 

What are some ocean-friendly choices that people can be happy about?

Farmed mussels are a great choice.  Mussels can filter 10-15 gallons of water a day, eating microscopic plankton they strain out of the water.  Since mussels filter their food from their surroundings, we don’t have to catch wild fish to feed to them (as is the case with some farm-raised seafood, like Atlantic salmon).

Other great choices are U.S. farmed catfish, farmed Arctic char, wild Alaskan salmon, and Pacific cod.  You can find recipes for all of these fish on the Be Happy Facebook page.

In the above list of ocean-friendly choices, there’s a mix of farmed and wild fish.  Should people be asking where their fish comes from and whether it’s farmed or wild?

Asking where your seafood comes from is a great first step in getting to know the fish you’re eating.  Next time you’re at the store, look for signs in the seafood case that note whether it’s farmed or wild, and you’ll see there’s more farmed seafood out there than you might have guessed. 

(Did you know that half of the seafood produced globally comes from fish farms?)

Why is Blue Ocean involved with the Be Happy outreach effort?

Blue Ocean works with seafood lovers, scientists, and chefs to communicate the science of seafood.  And now we’ve teamed up with seven other organizations in the U.S. & Canada to help more people from coast-to-coast find seafood choices they can be happy about.

CT Farm Fresh Celebrates Four Years and Counting

By Eileen Weber


What if you could get farm fresh food delivered to your door exactly as you ordered it? If you’re Deb Marsden, you think that’s a great idea, too. In fact, that very idea is what inspired her to start her own business four years ago. Marsden’s CT Farm Fresh Express (CTFFE) is a delivery service that brings the farm into your home. This Saturday will mark their fourth anniversary.

In 2008, Marsden kick-started the idea in her home. Today, it functions on her property’s barn in East Haddam with a full 12-foot by 14-foot walk-in cooler to keep all those products and artisanal items super fresh and crisp. (The cooler was purchased along with a modern office space in the barn through grant funds allotted by the Department of Agriculture.)

Finally, a good school lunch

We've talked about school lunch before on this site. We feel strongly about what our kids eat, what we eat, and the quality of sustainable foods and farming. This site also reported on the topic a couple of months ago when lawmakers considered pizza a vegetable serving because of its two tablespoons of tomato paste per serving. 

Reuters reported today that the USDA has done a small overhaul of school nutrition to include more fruits and vegetables and skim milk. They have also mandated a child-size portion and lower sodium, among other things.

About time, isn't it? See the excerpt below.

More fruits, veggies in school lunch rules
By Ian Simpson and Lisa Baertlein | Reuters – 59 mins ago

WASHINGTON/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. school children, accustomed to a steady diet of pizza and French fries, will find more fruits, vegetables and whole grains on their trays under new government rules announced on Wednesday.

The new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rules aim to boost the nutritional quality of the federally funded meals consumed by roughly 32 million U.S. school children.

The rules represent the first major revision of school meal standards in more than 15 years and are intended to combat the nation's childhood obesity crisis -- nearly one in three children in America is overweight or obese.

The revamp comes just months after U.S. lawmakers protected pizza's status as a vegetable and killed proposed limits on weekly servings of starchy vegetables like potatoes.

Traditional Farming better for Biodiversity. Well, duh...

The Science and Development Network, a non-profit organization based in England and Wales, reported that research has shown traditional farming is crucial for keeping certain species alive. The research was conducted in developing countries as well as Europe.

It seems biodiversity is important to maintain the health and vitality of the land, the plants, birds and insects, as well as a host of other animals that feed off the land and call it their home. Industrial farming apparently harms the ecological bubble and depletes the natural habitats. Huh, go figure...

See the excerpt below.

Traditional farming 'can save threatened species'
Jan Piotrowski
22 December 2011 | EN

Traditional farming methods are crucial for protecting a number of threatened bird species in the developing world, including bustards, cranes, ibises and vultures, a study has found.

Livestock grazing and features associated with arable farming — such as hedgerows — create environmental conditions that certain birds currently depend on for food, shelter and breeding, the authors report.  

But as industrial farming methods eliminate these habitats, these species are threatened with extinction, said Hugh Wright, a researcher in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia, United Kingdom, and lead author of the study, published in Conservation Letters earlier this month (5 December).

Understanding Avocados

by Dr. Amy Wiesner

Avocados are a very poorly understood fruit. They got a bad rap due to their high fat content, both in terms of cholesterol and weight control. The only place you might find them would be your nearest bowl of guacamole. Until recently, it wasn't understood that the type of fat found in avocados is acutally “good” fat.

Avocados originated in Mexico as early as 7,000 BC. Later, it was determined they could be found in South America as well. It seems, however, that when they started cultivating them in California in the late 1800s, that they became more accessible.  

Because of the high fat content, avocados have a lot of calories. But, there is some good news. Not only are the highest levels of fat found monosaturated, but with all the other vitamins, nutrients, phytochemicals and fiber, eating avocados is actually GOOD for your health.

Farmageddon screening at Westport Cinema

Friday, November 18th
7:30 p.m.
Christ and Holy Trinity Church
75 Church Lane
Westport, CT

Americans’ right to access fresh, healthy foods of their choice is under attack. Farmageddon tells the story of small, family farms that were providing safe, healthy foods to their communities and were forced to stop, sometimes through violent action, by agents of misguided government bureaucracies, and seeks to figure out why.

Filmmaker Kristin Canty’s quest to find healthy food for her four children turned into an educational journey to discover why access to these foods was being threatened. What she found were policies that favor agribusiness and factory farms over small family-operated farms selling fresh foods to their communities. Instead of focusing on the source of food safety problems — most often the industrial food chain — policymakers and regulators implement and enforce solutions that target and often drive out of business small farms that have proven themselves more than capable of producing safe, healthy food, but buckle under the crushing weight of government regulations and excessive enforcement actions.

Farmageddon highlights the urgency of food freedom, encouraging farmers and consumers alike to take action to preserve individuals’ rights to access food of their choice and farmers’ rights to produce these foods safely and free from unreasonably burdensome regulations. The film serves to put policymakers and regulators on notice that there is a growing movement of people aware that their freedom to choose the foods they want is in danger, a movement that is taking action with its dollars and its voting power to protect and preserve the dwindling number of family farms that are struggling to survive.

The film is presented by Westport Cinema Initiative and the Westport Farmers Market. The event is sponsored by Whole Foods Market.

Hiring local? Not so fast

If you think hiring local is the answer to all our unemployment woes, you're not alone. Farmers across the nation are looking to hire. Not cheap immigrant workers, mind you, but local people who are unemployed and hoping to make ends meet. The problem is, nobody wants to do the manual labor even if they are out of work.

For years, we've lost valuable farm land to overdevelopment. Now, we have the opportunity to return to the land. But unfortunately, we're not.

See the excerpt below from The New York Times.

Hiring Locally for Farm Work Is No Cure-All
By KIRK JOHNSON
Published: October 5, 2011

OLATHE, Colo. — How can there be a labor shortage when nearly one out of every 11 people in the nation are unemployed?

That’s the question John Harold asked himself last winter when he was trying to figure out how much help he would need to harvest the corn and onions on his 1,000-acre farm here in western Colorado.

The simple-sounding plan that resulted — hire more local people and fewer foreign workers — left Mr. Harold and others who took a similar path adrift in a predicament worthy of Kafka...

Big Crop Loss from Hurricane Irene

by Eileen Weber

If nothing else makes it clear how difficult and tenuous farming is, the after-effects of Hurricane Irene should be a wake-up call. With 10 inches of rain or more, thousands of acres of crops were lost to flooding in New York, New Jersey, Vermont, and western portions of Massachusetts and Connecticut.

The vegetable delivery from my own CSA, Stoneledge Farm in South Cairo, NY, has been shut down for the rest of the season. With some portions of their crops under as much as 10 feet of water, the FDA declared it—along with produce from a number of other farms—a food safety risk and inedible.

“As much as we would like to keep delivering, our farm will abide with the FDA, NYS Ag and Markets and Cornell Cooperative Extension recommendation not to harvest the produce,” Stoneledge Farm posted on their blog. “Our farm needs to start to clean up and get back on track for next season. At the height of the harvest season, it is a difficult decision.”

Coconuts, Part 3: Eco-friendliness of Coconut Trees

by Dr. Amy Wiesner

In parts one and two of my series on coconuts, I introduced you to two of the ways coconuts are said to improve your health. In this part three of the series, I will tell you how coconut trees are extremely eco-friendly and economical.

Coconut trees are found mostly in the tropics as they need to be in full sunlight and have lots of water.  They are called “Trees of Life” in the Philippines because so many of their parts can be used in daily life.

For consumption as food, the following can be obtained from coconuts:

• Coconut water
• Coconut milk
• Coconut oil
• Coconut sap (a great sugar substitute!)
• Honey
• an alcoholic beverage called Arrack
• Heart of Palm

For use in daily life, the following can be obtained from coconuts:

• Rope
• Brooms
• Timber
• Furniture/House ornamentation
• Fuel
• Gardening
• Hair & skin cosmetics
• Paper

The above uses of the whole coconut tree are how it’s been used for thousands of years in the Pacific Islands. What makes the trees even more amazing is how they will be used in the future.

One company, Whole Tree, Inc., is finding ways to use the discarded products of coconut farming to make packaging products. Another company is researching ways to make car parts that are both eco-friendly and help indigent coconut farmers in Asia and the South Pacific.  It has also been used as a biofuel in the Pacific Islands, though that might not be environmentally or economically beneficial in the long run if used worldwide.  

Overall, the coconut tree is an amazing work of nature.  The whole tree can be used to support life both inside the body and in its surroundings.  More research needs to be done in both these areas to make the most of this extraordinary tree.

Coconuts for Health, Part Two: Coconut Oil

by Dr. Amy Wiesner

Coconut oil has recently gained a lot of attention. It is said to help with cholesterol levels, obesity and metabolism, for example. It is being touted as the best oil on earth, either incorporated into your cooking or taken as a dietary supplement.  So why is something that’s been used in Asia for thousands of years only becoming popular in the US now?

Coconut oil got its bad reputation because some studies were done on partially hydrogenated coconut oil causing high cholesterol, which is not the same thing as the virgin coconut oil that’s being celebrated, and discussed, today.  Though virgin coconut oil has the saturated fats lauric, caprylic and capric acids, saturated fats are needed in the body for proper cell membrane function.

Raw Foods for Better Health

by Christina Cioci

Glen Colello and Lisa Storch are co-owners of the café Catch a Healthy Habit in Fairfield. With a name like that, their customers know they are walking into a special place. Health conditions like obesity and heart disease, which can stem from processed foods, are running rampant in this country. It is a breath of fresh air to know that two people are trying to stop it. By educating the community on healthy food habits, Glen and Lisa are important members of the community for more reasons than one.

Every five years the USDA (United State Department of Agriculture) puts out a new guideline in which Americans should follow for optimum health, specifically nutrition. The usual time frame was interrupted due to the alarming rate of diseases linked to diet. Raw food in a diet is crucial for a healthier life. “Dietary Guidelines for Americans” embraced the value of plant-based diets. Vegetarian–style eating has been linked to improved health. “Lower risk of obesity, lower cardio vascular diseases and lower total mortality are a few of the big risks slashed when a person is a vegetarian”. Vegetarians are also connected with proof of generally lower BMI (Body Mass Index).

Watermelon: The new super-fruit

by Christina Cioci

Summertime and watermelon seem to go hand-in-hand. Biting into that piece of juicy goodness brings back fond memories of picnics and pool parties. This much loved fruit is more than just a juicy snack. According to Watermelon.org, “About 200-300 varieties are grown in the U.S. and Mexico, although there are about 50 varieties that are very popular.” 

Today there are about 5 common types we see in markets: Seeded, Seedless, Mini, Yellow and Orange. Watermelon is packed full of nutrition, hydrates and is also low-fat! It is a great source of vitamin A which contains antioxidants; Vitamin C which can heal and strengthen the body and B6 which helps convert protein to energy.

Organically vs. Locally Grown Food

by Dr. Amy Wiesner

Lately, I’ve been asked a lot about which is better: Buying locally or buying organically? It is an ongoing debate that may never be answered to anyone’s satisfaction. You just have to decide which is right for you. So, to help you decide, here are some facts.

According to the National Organic Program, which is part of the USDA Agricultural Marketing Program, “Organic crops are raised without using most conventional pesticides, petroleum-based fertilizers, or sewage sludge-based fertilizers. Animals raised on an organic operation must be fed organic feed and given access to the outdoors. They are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. The NOP regulations prohibit the use of genetic engineering, ionizing radiation, and sewage sludge in organic production and handling. As a general rule, all natural (non-synthetic) substances are allowed in organic production and all synthetic substances are prohibited.“

The Great Goji

by Dr. Amy Wiesner

Probably everyone has at least heard about the goji berry. They are popular in health food stores and are used in packaged baked goods.

So what is about them that makes them so great?

To begin with, they have been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for thousands of years, which indicates a profound amount of research!  The botanical name for the goji berry is Lycium barbarum, which is the reason it is also called lycium fruit in TCM. Also referred to as wolfberry fruit, it is the berry of a deciduous woody perennial plant that makes up the largest crop in China. They are also grown in Tibet near the Himalayas. Unfortunately, they also use a lot of pesticides, so it’s important to be careful of which brands you buy.

Special Delivery Right To Your Doorstep

By Eileen Weber

Kevin Staehly thinks he’s on to something. He launched a delivery service, The Simply CT Store, which provides fresh organic produce from his family’s farm in East Haddam. Along with baked goods from Gottas Cider Mill in Portland and handmade artisanal cheeses from Sankow’s Beaver Brook Farm in Old Lyme, he has a nice selection of tasty treats to choose from.

“It’s our take on a CSA,” said Staehly, who helps his parents run the farm. “But you can pick and choose what you want instead of just getting what’s planted.”

Much like Pea Pod through Stop & Shop, you can access an order form online and have it brought to your home. Deliveries take place three times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. And if you miss the cutoff for delivery, no worries. They still offer all of their products at their farm stand and at the farmer’s market in Madison.

Fresh and Fun: Lyme Farmer’s Market

by Christina Cioci

Christina is our newest summer intern. She comes to us with prior writing experience working at Kate Harrison's Green Bride Guide. Incidentally, Harrison has been a contributor to this site in the past. Christina also has her own blog, Green Gal. We warmly welcome her to the CT Green Scene team.

This year marks the 102nd Anniversary of Ashlawn Farm in Lyme, Connecticut. A rather idyllic place to visit, with open fields and friendly owners it is a perfect place for a bountiful farmer’s market. Chip and Carol Dahlke own and live on the farm that has been in Chip’s family since 1909. Each spring at the beginning of June the excitement grows in the surrounding towns for the Lyme Farmer’s Market. It is a place you can come for great food and company.

When the Lyme farmer’s market first began, it was unlike anything in the area. The combination of fresh, local products and the growing amount of people in southeastern Connecticut eager to buy was a perfect match. Cattle, horses and goats grazing are accompanied by the beautiful backdrop of luscious green grass, big red barns and stonewalls appropriate for sitting on.

COLUMBINES & COLORS: A SPRING AWAKENING CELEBRATION OF FLOWERS AND MEMORIES AT FORT HILL FARMS

Come celebrate the warm spring days and beautiful colors of spring flowers at Fort Hill Farms’ Columbines & Colors event in Thompson on May 14th and 15th from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. In addition to the thousands of blooms at the farms’ Quintessential Gardens, nature lovers, photographers and artists from all over are invited to come view and capture the landscapes and celebrate the riot of colors on display. Free guided Garden Tours by Kristin Orr will be given at 9a & 2p each day.

Sunday cheese tastings at Beltane Farm in May

Taste the First Cheeses of Spring!

The winter is over, the ice on the pond has melted and the baby goats are born and the new milk is especially sweet! Come sample a selection of the first goat milk cheeses of the season in our seasonal tasting room at the farm. Enjoy some punch and meet the new baby goats! Every Sunday during May. 11:00 to 3:00 pm.

May 1
May 8
May 15
May 29

Beltane Farm, 59 Taylor Bridge Rd. Lebanon, Connecticut  860. 887. 4709

Several local wineries within proximity – Direction to them available at the farm on Sundays. Also available – A full array of Artisan Goat Milk Soaps from Oak Leaf Dairy of Lebanon.

Raw Milk- Beltane Farm is producing raw milk again this year! Available in quarts or half gallons.

Visit their web site at www.beltanefarm.com

Beans, Greens, and Protein

by Brittany Shutts

Cutting back on the meat in your diet can take your palate on the road to new gastronomic adventures and help the environment as well. According to Worldwatch, livestock and their byproducts account for 50% of the greenhouse gas emissions in the world. Meat consumption in the United States, especially, is far from being sustainable. Studies show that the U.S. alone consumes almost 10 billion chickens, pigs, cows, and turkeys every year. The horrors of the livestock industry, the growth hormones, and the antibiotics are enough to kill even the heartiest appetite.
   
Going meatless just once a week will lower your risk of cancer, reduce your risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes, lower body weight, and prevent long-term weight gain. Eating beans and peas will increase your intake of other important minerals, such as protein, folate, zinc, iron, and magnesium. They contain less saturated fat and total fat.

CONNECTICUT FARM BUREAU ASSOCIATION HOSTS AGRICULTURAL PLANNING AND ZONING CONFEREnCE FOR MUNICIPAL LEADERS AND FARMERS

With a recent UCONN study showing Connecticut’s agricultural industry contributes over $3.5 billion dollars and 20,000 jobs to the state, the need for farmers and municipal leaders to work together has never been higher. A conference on March 31, 2011 organized by the Connecticut Farm Bureau Association will bring the groups together to discuss the fundamentals of municipal planning and zoning and help educate attendees on how they can work to support local agriculture.

“This is our second annual conference and those who attend will receive an overview of the fundamentals of planning and zoning and discuss effective strategies to encourage agricultural growth in municipalities,” says Joan Nichols, Government Relations Specialist at Connecticut Farm Bureau Association. "So much of Connecticut agriculture is impacted by local zoning regulations and decisions that it is critical producers understand how municipal zoning impacts their agricultural operation, and more importantly, what they can do to improve the local regulatory climate for agriculture in their communities.”

Losing Battle Against Monsanto?

by Eileen Weber

Last week, the USDA “deregulated” genetically engineered alfalfa, which means its use is unrestricted. The organization also called for “coexistence” between biotech companies, organic farmers, and non-organic farmers not growing genetically altered crops.

Gary Hirschberg, President and CEO of Stonyfield Farms, had a lot to say in a recent blog entry. He refuted the Organic Consumers Association's claim that Stonyfield Farms, along with Whole Foods and Organic Valley, “sold out” to biotech giant Monsanto and gave up the fight against genetically modified crops (GMOs).

“Not once did Stonyfield consider buying what Monsanto was selling – nor will we ever,” he said. “We have never wavered from our position in defending organic and opposing GE crops.”

Not only does the deregulation of engineered crops pose a threat to the environment, Hirschfeld said it limits the choices farmers and consumers have to make. Organic farming, on the other hand, has proven itself to be a much healthier choice for human consumption as well as biodiversity.

Running out of fish?

Like seafood? So does everyone else, apparently. We're running out of sustainable fishing in our oceans. We essentially have nowhere left to go. According to an article in ScienceDaily, the University of British Columbia in collaboration with the National Geographic Society has conducted a study on the spatial expansion of global fisheries. The study indicated the "no fish left behind" mentality of corporate-run fisheries. That mentality is exactly why sources like bluefin tuna (as per a previous article on this site) are disappearing at an alarming rate and running the risk of becoming an endangered species. See an excerpt below from ScienceDaily.

'No Fish Left Behind' Approach Leaves Earth With Nowhere Left to Fish, Study Finds

ScienceDaily (Dec. 3, 2010) — Earth has run out of room to expand fisheries, according to a new study led by University of British Columbia researchers that charts the systematic expansion of industrialized fisheries.

In collaboration with the National Geographic Society and published in the online journal PLoS ONE, the study is the first to measure the spatial expansion of global fisheries. It reveals that fisheries expanded at a rate of one million sq. kilometres per year from the 1950s to the end of the 1970s. The rate of expansion more than tripled in the 1980s and early 1990s -- to roughly the size of Brazil's Amazon rain forest every year.

Between 1950 and 2005, the spatial expansion of fisheries started from the coastal waters off the North Atlantic and Northwest Pacific, reached into the high seas and southward into the Southern Hemisphere at a rate of almost one degree latitude per year. It was accompanied by a nearly five-fold increase in catch, from 19 million tonnes in 1950, to a peak of 90 million tonnes in the late 1980s, and dropping to 87 million tonnes in 2005, according to the study.

"The decline of spatial expansion since the mid-1990s is not a reflection of successful conservation efforts but rather an indication that we've simply run out of room to expand fisheries," says Wilf Swartz, a PhD student at UBC Fisheries Centre and lead author of the study.

Click here to read more of the article.

Image courtesy of ScienceDaily.

S510: Much Ado About Nothing?

There was an interesting article in The New York Times on Sunday. It was Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser's review of what the Food Safety Modernization bill (S510) will actually mean to consumers. There has been much debate about the bill, especially how it will fare in the "lame duck" government we now have since the early November elections.

If the thousands of people affected every year from food-borne illnesses are any indication, food regulation is obviously a necessity. The question is can the FDA handle it? To some, as in Jim Prevor's article in The Weekly Standard today, the FDA is a slow-moving behemoth that won't do much more regulation than it already does and will simply increase costs for the average consumer.

The point of the bill is for the FDA to become a proactive agency, rather than a reactive one. Instead of waiting until people get sick, why not protect against the source of contamination before it becomes a problem? It's kind of like safe sex for food groups. Sounds good in theory, but can it be done? Only time will tell.

See an excerpt below from Pollan and Schlosser's article:

A Stale Food Fight
By MICHAEL POLLAN and ERIC SCHLOSSER
Published: November 28, 2010

"THE best opportunity in a generation to improve the safety of the American food supply will come as early as Monday night, when the Senate is scheduled to vote on the F.D.A. Food Safety Modernization bill. This legislation is by no means perfect. But it promises to achieve several important food safety objectives, greatly benefiting consumers without harming small farmers or local food producers.

Dirt! The Movie

by Eileen Weber

If you haven’t seen this movie, you should. On Wednesday evening, the Pequot Library screened the documentary Dirt! The Movie with a homemade pie auction and an awards ceremony celebrating local environmentalists afterward.

The event was sponsored by The Fairfield Organic Teaching Farm and emceed by Fairfield Green Food Guide’s Analiese Paik. The film, pardon the pun, digs in deep about all the things that happen to dirt—how we often disregard it, abuse it, ruin it, and fight over it. Produced and directed by Bill Benenson and Gene Rosow and narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis, it illustrates that what could be our most valuable resource is our most under-appreciated one.

The Organic Debate

by Susan Torres

These days, there are more health stores, organic markets, and natural products available to the average consumer. Many people question whether going organic is really all that beneficial or economical. A new study shows that it may very well be worthwhile. Your purchase power from the organic food aisle might just mean the difference between more nutritional food and an unhealthy meal for your family.

Researchers found that organic farms produced fruit that was more nutritious, flavorful, and had healthier, more diverse soil than conventional farms. The study focused on organic and conventional strawberry farms specifically in California because the state takes up 90 percent of the strawberry market in the United States. It compared 31 chemical and biological soil properties on 13 organic farms and 13 non-organic farms that used standard pesticides. Soil DNA, taste, nutrition, and quality were also examined, making this one of the most thorough and comprehensive studies of its kind.

Eggs-ceptionally Gross

The edible egg just got a whole lot less incredible. In this article from today's New York Times, some of the biggest egg producers in the country are shipping eggs out under despicable conditions. Excrement and vermin top the list. Getting your eggs from your local CSA may be your best option. Read the excerpt below...and weep.

Egg Farms Violated Safety Rules
By WILLIAM NEUMAN
Published: August 30, 2010

"Barns infested with flies, maggots and scurrying rodents, and overflowing manure pits were among the widespread food safety problems that federal inspectors found at a group of Iowa egg farms at the heart of a nationwide recall and salmonella outbreak.

Inspection reports released by the Food and Drug Administration on Monday described — often in nose-pinching detail — possible ways that salmonella could have been spread undetected through the vast complexes of two companies.

The inspections, conducted over the last three weeks, were the first to check compliance by large egg-producing companies with new federal egg safety rules that were written well before the current outbreak, but went into effect only last month.

'Clearly the observations here reflect significant deviations from what’s expected,' said Michael R. Taylor, deputy commissioner for food for the F.D.A."

Click here to read more of the article.

Image courtesy of the IncredibleEgg.org.

Another One Bites the Dust...

While this site has certainly placed an emphasis on farms lately, this article should not be overlooked. According to the Associated Press, a 378-year-old farm on the Maine/New Hampshire border is calling it quits. The eleventh generation now in its 60s has had enough of farming--and debt. See the excerpt below from today's post.

After 378 years, NH family farm goes up for sale

By KATHY McCORMACK, Associated Press Writer
Sun Aug 1, 3:25 pm ET

DOVER, N.H. – In 1632, John Tuttle arrived from England to a settlement near the Maine-New Hampshire border, using a small land grant from King Charles I to start a farm.

Eleven generations and 378 years later, his field-weary descendants — arthritic from picking fruits and vegetables and battered by competition from supermarkets and pick-it-yourself farms — are selling their spread, which is among the oldest continuously operated family farms in America.

"We've been here for 40 years, doing what we love to do," said Lucy Tuttle, 65, who runs the 134-acre farm with brother Will. "But we're not able to work to our full capacity any longer, unfortunately."

Tuttle added that she and her brother and their sister have done their best "to lovingly discourage" their children from becoming generation No. 12. "We would be saddling them with a considerable amount of debt," she said.

Click here to read more.

Image courtesy of Tuttle's Farm.

Aruba: The Next Urban Farm?

by Eileen Weber

Last week, I vacationed in a place I have never been: Aruba. Why a tiny Caribbean island only 20 miles long and six miles wide? Because every time I’ve had it up to here, it’s the furthest place I can think of when I get cranky. Naturally, I felt the need to spend a week there.

Touring the island, it quickly becomes clear that it’s a cliché: Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. Thanks to a desalination plant on the east side of the island only a few minutes drive from Oranjestad, the island’s capital, there is drinking water from the tap. But that doesn’t seem to affect their agriculture.

Organic Farm Gives Food to Cancer Victims, Needs Volunteers

Feeney Farm will be hosting its first in a series of three “Volunteer Days” at the Fairfield Community Garden (FCG) on Saturday, July 31st from 8 – 11 am. Volunteers will be weeding, digging and preparing the soil for swiss chard, kale, carrots and brussell sprouts. All produce will be harvested in the fall and donated to Fairfield cancer patients and survivors.
 
Feeney Farm, a start-up farm in Fairfield whose aim is to grow and donate vegetables to those in the community suffering from cancer, plans to provide  50-100 Fairfield cancer patients and survivors 50% of their recommended daily vegetables intake during the months of June through October. Feeney Farm officially starts in 2011, but will be growing produce in a plot at the FCG located in Drew Park in Fairfield.

If you’re interested in volunteering this Saturday, fundraising or getting involved, contact Margaret Feeney at  margaretmaryfeeney@gmail.com or visit www.feeneyfarm.org.

Image courtesy of Feeney Farm.

Potato and Corn Festival Highlights Local Farms

by Abbie Walston

Searching for some entertainment and family fun with plenty of food? Look no further than the North Branford Potato and Corn Festival on August 6th through 8th at Augur Farm on Route 22. For the last ten years, it has been a community tradition. The town’s agrarian character will be on display alongside the midway, allowing visitors to learn more about local farms. Local restaurants, farms, and businesses will offer a wide variety of food, including baked potatoes with toppings and fresh, locally grown sweet corn.

A Farmer’s Market will be held on Saturday and Sunday, hosted by the North Branford Agriculture Commission. Farms throughout town will provide fresh, seasonal produce including sweet corn, tomatoes and peaches for you to take home and enjoy. This is a unique opportunity to sample the best North Branford farms have to offer without visiting each farm individually. Proceeds will be used by the Agriculture Commission to promote local farms throughout the coming year, including printing and distribution of the town’s Agriculture Brochure. Weather permitting, hayrides will be offered each afternoon providing fun for the whole family. And for a taste of the truly rural, the Cow Chip Raffle on Sunday offers a grand prize of $2500!

Going Local

by Abbie Walston, founder of the Farmer’s Daughter blog

Abigail Rose Walston is mother to Joshua, wife to Ed, an environmentalist, teacher, and blogger. She was raised on her family’s 300 year old farm in Connecticut, where she learned to love animals and nature. She holds both a BS and MS in Biology and Secondary Education, and has taught Biology, Environmental Science, Botany and Forensic Science at the high school level for the last eight years. She’s adjusting to her new role as a nursing mother who also works. She supports sustainable living, shops from local farms, cooks from scratch, gardens, reads, writes, and crafts in her spare time, and blogs about it on her web site.

As part of the 12th generation on my family’s tercentennial farm in North Branford, I’ve been a supporter of Connecticut agriculture since I was a child. Now as an adult, I source food as locally as I can, from growing a victory garden to visiting farms and farmer’s markets. My family’s farm still supplies a lot of our produce, and my husband’s family raises most of our meat. But don’t worry, you don’t have to live on a farm or have agricultural roots to enjoy seasonal, locally grown foods.

Eating locally is good for your family, the local economy and the environment.  One of the best things you can do to provide healthy food for your family and connect with your food and the seasons is to start a garden.  It may be mid-July, but it’s not too late! Here in Connecticut, you can harvest cold-weather crops as late as November without any additional equipment! I’ve had success with peas, spinach, lettuces, scallions and carrots when I planted them in late August, and you can also try parsnips, broccoli, kale or radishes.  If they have a chance to start growing when it’s still hot and the days are long, their growth will slow as the days get shorter and you’ll have a great fall garden!  For garden help, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station is a wealth of information and advice, from identifying insects and testing soil to tips on varieties of tomatoes to grow. You can also visit the Connecticut Community Gardening Association to learn about community gardening, if you want to start a garden but don’t have the space.

The Clean Plate Club

by Eileen Weber

Whenever I take the kids out to a family restaurant, they never finish their meal. Sure, we can take it home and have it for lunch the next day. But too often, our plates are cleared and taken to the kitchen where the leftovers are thrown in the trash. That’s a waste of food and money.

LeanPath, an organization founded in 2004, has developed special software for big and small operations alike to track how much food is going out the door. For large food operations, there is an automated system with a touch-screen terminal called ValuWaste that tracks food on a 24-hour basis. This is ideal for high-volume foodservice operations. But for smaller restaurants, caterers, and other companies, LeanPath’s PC-based WasteLOGGER tracks the food in the same way as the ValuWaste but on a smaller scale.

Where the Tomato Plant Sleeps, the Late Blight Creeps

by Amanda DeMatto

Imagine having to pay five bucks for a pound of tomatoes. Or having to eat sweet potato fries or turnip tots when what you’re really hankering for is the good old-fashioned crinkle-cut French fries. 

Imagining life without tomatoes and potatoes hit a little too close to home last summer. Among the array of crimson peppers and forest green arugula that adorned John Gorzynski’s stand at the Union Square farmers’ market in Manhattan last summer, something was conspicuously missing.  “I lost all of my potatoes this year,” he said behind somber blue eyes and a bushy gray beard. 

The same fungal pathogen responsible for the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s devastated potato and tomato crops throughout all eleven states of the Northeast last summer. It’s called late blight. And in all of Gorzynski’s 39 years of farming in Sullivan County, NY, he’s never seen it so ruthless.

Late blight has already been detected on tomato plants in Connecticut this month. The looming possibility of another outbreak has roused some state government officials to draft and implement preventive strategies lest the cataclysm repeats itself.

Urban Ag

by Eileen Weber

Do live in a major metropolitan area? If so, you may have noticed a little bit of a phenomenon: Urban farming. In almost every major city, there are urban farms cropping up. New York City. Chicago. Detroit. Philadelphia. Boston. Even Long Beach, CA. In fact, they have 16 of them in only a four square mile radius from the center of town. With a population of over 35,000, that’s a lot of produce.

Here in Connecticut, a prime example of urban farming can be found in what used to be an abandoned florist. New Britain’s Urban Oaks Organic Farm sits on three and a half acres boasting luscious organic vegetables. They also have a farm stand on the premises and a CSA, although this year’s shares are all sold out. Based on a June 7th story from the NBC affiliate in Hartford, they employ eight people full time and have about a dozen high school volunteers during the summer. “They think a vegetable is ketchup from McDonald’s,” said Michael Kandefer, the farm’s general manager said of the volunteer teens. “When they leave, they know what a cherry tomato is.”

An Environmental and Moral Predicament for the “Plain People”

Located in different parts of rural Pennsylvania, the Old Order Amish and Mennonites, also known as the “Plain People”, have been farming and cultivating the land for centuries.  Their resistence to modern farming practices has in the past allowed them to adhere to their agricultural roots. However most recently, this resistence has caused the Amish some trouble with the Environmental Protection Agency. Worried about the pollution from runoff of manure in the Chesapeake Bay, the E.P.A. is attempting to enforce stricter regulations on how how the Amish and other farmers in Pennsylvania dispose of their animal wastes. The following article posted on June 8th in The New York Times discusses this issue and the ways in which both the Amish and the agency is trying solve it.

Amish Farming Draws Rare Government Scrutiny
By SINDYA N. BHANOO
The New York Times
Published: June 8, 2010

LANCASTER, Pa. — With simplicity as their credo, Amish farmers consume so little that some might consider them model environmental citizens.  “We are supposed to be stewards of the land,” said Matthew Stoltzfus, a 34-year-old dairy farmer and father of seven whose family, like many other Amish, shuns cars in favor of horse and buggy and lives without electricity. “It is our Christian duty.”

But farmers like Mr. Stoltzfus are facing growing scrutiny for agricultural practices that the federal government sees as environmentally destructive. Their cows generate heaps of manure that easily washes into streams and flows onward into the Chesapeake Bay.

And the Environmental Protection Agency, charged by President Obama with restoring the bay to health, is determined to crack down. The farmers have a choice: change the way they farm or face stiff penalties.
“There’s much, much work that needs to be done, and I don’t think the full community understands,” said David McGuigan, the E.P.A. official leading an effort by the agency to change farming practices here in Lancaster County.

To read more, click here.

Image courtesy of The New York Times.

Don’t Judge Organic Farmers Until You Walk a Mile in Their Crocs

by Catherine Monahon     

This summer, Catherine is working at an organic farm. Studying and working in nature as well as her previous work experience with organic and fair-trade businesses have made the environment one of her primary interests. She has grown up in a household that eats organic, recycles or composts everything from egg shells to nail clippings, and values fair-trade products. As a junior at Connecticut College with an inter-disciplinary major of American Studies, her academic focus has touched upon environmental issues within U.S. politics, NGOs, cultural movements, and marketing trends. Today's article highlights her recent farm experience.

Looking to learn about your local community, produce, or economy?  You can find all three at any local farm. From WWOOFers (individuals taking advantage of World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) to volunteers to the farmers themselves, each farm undoubtedly has a tightly-knit, complex family of workers behind it who not only know everything about your food from root to tip, but also constantly deal with the trials of operating a small business. When I visited Ryder Farm, an organic CSA just outside of Connecticut, I was not expecting to see any of this. I had set my hopes on simply working outside, learning a little farming, and getting out of the house.           

I expected to spend the day hunched over in a field, and prepared myself for mindless physical labor by hydrating, locating my sneakers, and putting on my game face.  I told myself that as a volunteer, I would probably be shunted to grunt work, and I wouldn’t want the other workers to think I was not capable. The night before I attempted a few push-ups that, in retrospect, could have gone worse.

Deadline Today for Farm-to-Chef Harvest Celebration Week

Farm-to-Chef Harvest Celebration Week, a new promotion initiated by the CT Department of Agriculture's Farm-to-Chef Program, will run Sunday, September 26, 2010, through Saturday, October 2, 2010. Open to all restaurants and foodservice businesses in the state, it invites participants to create and offer a separate Farm-to-Chef menu showcasing CT Grown ingredients and CT wines.

"While many Farm-to-Chef members source locally on a regular basis, we hope this special event will entice new restaurants and businesses to give CT Grown ingredients a try. Because it is only a one-week commitment, it is an easy way for chefs to try local farm products without feeling overwhelmed," said Linda Piotrowicz, Farm-to-Chef Program Manager.

CSA's: Get ‘Em While They’re Hot!

by Eileen Weber
 
Along with farmers’ markets and organic produce available in certain grocery stores, CSAs are relatively commonplace these days. So I probably don’t have to tell you that CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. You already know that it supports local farms. And, you know that it provides fresh produce for you and your family for (break it down, now) a fraction of the cost you end up spending at the supermarket.
 
Here’s what I can tell you: What’s still open. If you’re anything like me (and I sincerely hope you are not), you procrastinate like crazy. In fact, if procrastination were a disease, I would have slipped into a deadly coma and perished from it long ago.

Food Miles

by Courtney Dumais

Today, the agricultural industry looks nothing like it did fifty or one hundred years ago. The changes that have taken place have revolutionized farming and have transformed it into a scientifically manipulated, outsourced process.  According to Lester Brown’s Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, the world’s grain harvest has increased from 630 million tons in 1950 to 2 billion tons in 2008, with the help of science and a growing application of chemical fertilizers.

While each advancement made since the industrial age seems justified in attempting to address growing populations and increasing demands, consequences of the current system are evident in the environment and in human health. If valid, why have such developments contributed to environmental degradation and failed to adequately nourish the world? The current global food system produces enough food to feed the nearly 7 billion people living on the planet. However, World Hunger estimates that about one–sixth or a little over 1 billion people in the world are hungry or undernourished. There is a disconnect here and it is just one of the many mysteries of the current food system.

A significant portion of today’s American diet consists of foods grown or produced in other countries. Shifts in food production have transformed a once local and delicate process into the hands of a few large corporations. Most Americans fail to consider how pineapples, oranges, and asparagus arrive in their local grocery stores in the middle of winter in New England. We have grown complacent, accustomed to the availability of all types of produce regardless of the season. 

All in Favor, Say Goat

Goat farming. It seems to be contagious. According to The Hartford Courant yesterday, Suffield's Future Farmers of America set out to make a 40-foot bar of goat soap. It took 41 pounds of olive oil, 24 pounds of coconut oil, 14 poinds of palm oil, 12 pounds of lye, and 30 pounds of goat's milk with ice. To read more, click here.

In the Phllipines, goat farming is getting a boost from the country's Department of Agriculture. According to an article dated January 11, 2010 in the Phillipine Star, the animal provides enough protein from its milk and meat to choke a horse. Click here to read more.

Closer to home, we have one of many resident cheese mongers in New England. Laini Fondiller of the Lazy Lady Farm in Vermont makes goat cheese with such names as Tomme Delay, Barick Obama, and Fil-a-Buster. According to an article dated December 30, 2009 from The New York Times, Fondiller makes her cheese in the "French way" at her off-the-grid facility. When it comes to goat farming, she says goats are better than other animals. “They’re very nice little animals,” she was quoted as saying. “Cows don’t give a damn. Sheep can’t stand ya. Pigs? ‘Just feed me!’ And goats really do want to be around you.” Click here for the rest of the article.

If goat farming is something you've considered, take the amount of acreage you have and the kind of fencing you have installed. If nothing else, you can resort to The Invisible Fence. Some farmers report success using the collar system with their goat herd. Read this Q&A from KnoxNews.com in Knoxville, TN.

If goats farms are a nice place to visit but you wouldn't want to live there, consider agritourism. There is a growing number of farms in the Northeast that offer stay packages to learn how to farm. In this New York Times article dated August 25, 2009, Stony Creek Farm in Walton, NY, will help you learn how to bail hay, harvest a Brussels sprout or milk a goat. Click here to read more.

Who knew goats could be this popular?

Image courtesy of The New York Times.

The Truth Behind the Chicken

by Courtney Dumais

As the population continuously increases, consumer demand for meat, poultry, and fish increases simultaneously. These new demands have led to the adaptation of new methods of animal farming. In order to deliver the cheapest, most profitable product, hundreds of millions of animals are inhumanely tortured and frightened before they are killed. Historically, animals were raised on spacious farms, fed ample food, and slaughtered when physically suitable. Today’s farming practices are far from this ideal.

The average American consumes over 200 pounds of meat, poultry, and fish every year. While many like to believe that the meat they eat arrives on their plate as a result of the natural, painless death of an animal, this fantasy is far from true. The actual slaughter of the animal exceeds the most gruesome illustrations imaginable. Any animal with a heartbeat can become a packaged piece of meat in less time than it takes most people to drive to work. The excruciating pain and terror they experience before their imminent death is a fact we’d like to ignore.