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Most people who are working hard to eat well consume a lot of fruits and vegetables. One of the biggest issues folks are noticing with the Stockpile Challenge is getting enough produce in their diets.

It can be a major challenge when living from your stockpiled foods to get enough fruits and vegetables. This is dangerous because, without produce, your family can be at risk for nutritional deficiency diseases like scurvy and their immune systems will be compromised. A minimum of 5 servings per day is recommended, but during the long winter, how can you meet that goal with the contents of your pantry?

As well, many people these days generally eat a low-carb diet that is reliant on protein and produce. (You can get more info about stockpiling for a low-carb diet here.)

Supplying your family with produce that will provide the necessary nutrients that their bodies need to thrive is a twofold process. Not only should you preserve the summer’s bounty for the winter ahead, but you should also come up with ways to add fresh greens outside of the growing season.

Building a Stockpile of Fruits and Vegetables

When creating your produce stockpile, you have to look at what actually constitutes a “serving” for the people you will be feeding. It may not actually be the amount that you expect. For example, a child’s serving of green beans is anywhere from a quarter cup to a half a cup (depending on their age), but an adult’s serving is a full cup. So for a child, plan on 1-3 cups of produce per day and for an adult, plan on 5 cups of produce per day.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Hawaii’s existential choice: Tourism, food and survival

January 7, 2018

Hawaii’s existential choice: Tourism, food and survival

Hawaiians used to feed themselves quite easily on this island paradise. With the arrival of Europeans and Americans came European and American ideas about plantation agriculture. Hawaii became a producer of coffee, sugar, pineapple, papaya, rice and other plantation crops.

While destroying Hawaii’s diverse food system, the growers created a prosperous agricultural trading economy with mainland markets as customers. But competition from low-cost producers elsewhere has more recently devastated that economy. The last remaining sugar plantation closed in 2016.

The decline of the previously large sugar and pineapple industries now make Hawaii much more dependent on tourism as a source of income. Tourists are Hawaii’s largest industry. They spent $15.6 billion in 2016 on vacations there representing about 18.5 percent of the total economy. That certainly underestimates their importance as many additional support services are needed to maintain the businesses that service the tourists.

As tourism has grown, land used for agriculture has declined by 68 percent since 1980. Some of the former plantation operators have turned themselves into land development companies to take advantage of the tourism and real estate boom.

The result is that Hawaii—a lush, fertile group of islands with the ability to grow crops year round—now imports 90 percent of its food.

Importing food is not a problem in and of itself. It turns out that some of the world’s top food importing nations such as China, the United States and Germany are also top food exporters. They choose to specialize in what they grow most efficiently and export some of it, while importing foodstuffs which other countries are more efficient at growing by reason of climate, soil, water availability, labor costs and other factors.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Principles For Designing a Holistic Food System

December 12, 2017

PRINCIPLES FOR DESIGNING A HOLISTIC FOOD SYSTEM

Most people have an unconscious feeling that we can´t continue down the path we´re currently on. The supposed abundance witnessed on the shelves of our local grocery store might seem promising, but deep down we know that we can´t continue to outsource our need for food to a system that is so deeply indebted to the quickly depleting reserves of oil and other fossil fuels. We know that something needs to fundamentally change, and most of us understand that this change will most likely require us to get our own hands into the soil to begin to supply at least some of our own nutrition needs.

Before we get into the basics of how to grow your own food, it´s important to reflect on the importance of design. Growing your food in a sustainable way is much more than simply taking some seed, putting it in the ground and hoping something will grow. How we set up our gardens and fields and the principles behind our actions will largely determine if we´re successful growing an autonomous food supply.

PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN

The following principles of design are important when it comes to maintaining the fertility of the soil that grows your food:

– Whatever you take from the soil, you must put back.
– Implement cover crops, mulch, and green manure.
– Rotate your crops on a yearly basis.
– Grow a diversity of plants, not all for food.

Let´s look at each of these design ideas individually:

Whatever you take from the soil, you must put back.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

A fistful of beans, enough for a meal

December 2, 2017

A fistful of beans, enough for a meal

On my mother’s relentless frugality which makes her life harder, but the world a better place.

All photos taken by yours truly

In November 2010, I paid a visit to my mother’s home town in Çanakkale, Turkey. The waters Helen of Troy bathed in. The coast Alexander the Great battled for. Land of ancient gods, witness to countless myths of love and war.

My childhood summers passed in this Aegean seaside village. Our tradition was to visit the fields after a dip in the turquoise waters. We would pick sweet green peppers and blood red tomatoes from the vine. My uncle would crack open a watermelon right then and there. I would bury my face in a giant slice, lick the sweet and the salt of the Aegean off my cheeks.

After migrating to the US, I skipped one too many of these summers in Çanakkale. For other experiences. Going back, everything that was same old felt better than anything shiny and new.

No more watermelon in November, of course. But on this lucky trip, I caught the tail end of the olive harvest.

Aegeans speak of olive trees like people. Like gold. The joy and pain they bring to families. The stories of the trees freezing to death. The mourning of it all. The decades it takes for that first fruit to come. The many generations involved. The precious seed. The medicine in each drop of olive oil. The benefits for the skin. Hair masks and soaps.

Pure magic.

Mom put us to work. We shook the fruit off the branches, filled our baskets with mixed green and black olives, ready to be seasoned.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Government Has Been Meddling in Food and Nutrition for a Long Time

November 28, 2017

The Government Has Been Meddling in Food and Nutrition for a Long Time

For over a century, the federal government has had its hand in shaping what we eat in a multitude of ways, usually to bad effect.

Government intrusion is often obvious. We know when government taxes our income, stops us from using our drug of choice, or when they kick down our door and throw us in a cage. But sometimes, government actions are more subtle and confusing. It is often tempting to blame industry alone for the failures in the market and to ignore the substantial – but often less visible – role that government plays in regulating different markets. From the housing crisis and its relationship to banking to healthcare and sky-high costs, this tends to ring true. When it comes to food, nutrition, and its impact on health, blame is often allocated to the market by the uninformed individual.

The average person tends to vaguely understand the issue. They probably know a bit about farm subsidies, taxes, and the Food Pyramid. However, they most likely don’t understand the level at which government regulates our food. There is a long and storied history of government agriculture policy, import tariffs, food quotas, shoddy science guidelines, and regulation, all of which gets passed over for more obvious scapegoats such as the market and corporations.

Regulatory Agencies

The USDA was started under Lincoln in 1862.

There are two main agencies that regulate food in the U.S; the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA.) Both are charged with overall food safety nationwide. But the distinction in jurisdictions is often incredibly confused, with both agencies regulating different aspects of the same foods. For example, the FDA manages the feed chickens eat, but the actual chicken facility falls under USDA jurisdiction.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The hidden power of food: Finding value in what we eat

November 25, 2017

The hidden power of food: Finding value in what we eat

Ideas

Project Manager Adrianne Lickers and her mom Kitty R. Lynn Lickers run Our Sustenance, a community garden, greenhouse and farmers’ market at Six Nations of the Grand River. (Filmed and edited by Stephen Daag www.stephendagg.com)

In Canada we waste about a third of the food we produce. And yet four million Canadians experience food insecurity. In partnership with the Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph, we hear from Dawn Morrison whose work focuses on Indigenous food sovereignty and Bryan Gilvesy, a long-horn cattle rancher who puts sustainability first. Part 2 of a 2-part series.

“If you can feed yourself, if you can grow your own food and gather your own food, that gives you the power to be self-governing. There’s an inherent power to know you are safe.” — Kitty R. Lynn Lickers, Six Nations of the Grand River.

Beyond the basic nutrients and calories we ingest, there’s a hidden power behind the foods we consume.

Dawn Morrison has been working with Indigenous communities across the country for the past decade to understand concepts around Indigenous food systems and food sovereignty. One of the things that comes up repeatedly as a theme is the power of food in fostering relationships.

“We’ve never stopped observing the deep understanding of the way we relate to the food and one another,” says Dawn Morrison. “That power — that’s the basis of our economy. Ours is a giving economy. In ecology there’s a reciprocal relationship. It starts with giving to the land.”

The power of that reciprocal relationship is something that long-horn cattle rancher Bryan Gilvesyidentifies with.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Why We Love Farmers Markets

November 20, 2017

Why We Love Farmers Markets

They are relatively free of federal regulation, and that’s what makes them great.

Almost every small and medium-sized town has what are called farmers markets. We love them. Some are seasonal. Some open only on weekends. People shops under tents and pay vendors cash. It’s all very charming, a nice alternative to superstores.

I just returned from one. I came home with a 4-pound Red Snapper, oversized Brussels Sprouts, beautiful red potatoes, fresh cheese made in the Mexican style, and tubs of spices – all for less than half what I would pay at a regular grocery store. Plus I enjoyed looking at foods and ingredients from all over the world. So delightful, and so smart financially.

You simply would not believe the fish counter. You would think it was Greece or Turkey.

However, there were no tents and no farmers taking cash. This was a permanent building with regular hours of operation, unified checkout lines, and all the necessary technology to take credit cards. Enough of the products there were direct-to-consumer to justify the name ‘farmers market’ but it’s also a big business.You simply would not believe the fish counter. You would think it was Greece or Turkey. Fresh fish (yes, with heads and tails) were everywhere, on ice, all selling for half the price of the frozen stuff at the local store. It was dazzling. And the action! People from all over the world were grabbing tickets (you had to get in line), shouting demands, and piling their carts high.

It was just beautiful, if you like this sort of thing, which I do.

Better Groceries

Still, there is something puzzling about these markets. I have friends who visit or move from foreign countries. I’ve always been proud of American food markets, but these typically denounce what they find in stores. They think our food is terrible: processed, fake, tasteless, boring, expensive.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Future of Urban Farming

November 16, 2017

From left, Nataka Crayton-Walker, Greg Bodine, and Bobby Walker at a City Growers microfarm in Dorchester. | Photo by Leise Jones/City Growers

The Future of Urban Farming

Some sights in the neighborhood were so common that I had stopped noticing them; but then one day they came into view. While driving down Harold Street on the way to my cousin’s house, I noticed a vacant lot on my left and then, just a block down, I saw two large vacant lots on my right. At the end of Harold Street—right before Howland Street—stood a huge half-acre vacant lot. This area had been labeled the “H-block.” It was a tough neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, known for the significant number of shootings that occurred—which primarily were gang related. It also was a neighborhood with beautiful housing stock, long-term residents, and strong community leadership. Later that week, intrigued at the amount of vacant space, I walked the streets and tallied approximately 1.5 acres of land sitting vacant among the homes and apartment buildings.

Not long after that day, in the commissary kitchen of my company—City Fresh—the staff was preparing meals for one of the summer camps in session. The team members were cutting heads of lettuce that had been shipped in from across the country, and a question occurred to me: Why couldn’t we be growing this lettuce closer to home?

In answer to that question, I—along with a small group of community residents—founded City Growers. It was the spring of 2007. We set out to convert vacant lots—primarily located in the Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan neighborhoods—into intensive micro farms: to put our community idle hands to work and supply fresh, local, organic produce to the growing and insatiable market for local and sustainably grown food.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Food as Medicine

November 14, 2017

Food as Medicine

Hippocrates said “Let food be they medicine, and medicine be thy food.” At the doctor’s office for my annual checkup I was asked to list any herbs I take and I thought “this should be interesting.” Sure, I take herbal supplements but what about all the fresh or dried herbs I cook with or drink as tea? What about Mediterranean herbs in spaghetti, garlic in hummus, basil in pesto, chamomile or mint tea? What about carrots, sweet potatoes and squash in navy bean soup to boost our immune system and fight off colds? I asked the doctor if I should list basil in pesto and was told “No, that’s food!” (along with a look that said I must be an idiot). Well isn’t that the point, that our food is our medicine!

I was watching T.V. and listening to the warnings of side effects from the medicine being advertised, and wondered why people consider the risk worth taking the medicine! Many food and drugs sold seem to cause health problems. There’s a phenomenon called ‘prescription cascade’ where one prescription causes side effects that require another prescription, which causes side effects that require another prescription, which causes side effects…. and well, you get the idea. Nice profit for drug companies and doctors who control the prescriptions.

Our industrial agriculture and food manufacturing practices are making food with lower nutritional value. Fresh minimally processed ‘whole’ food contains nutrients important for our health such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, beta-carotene, vitamin B-complex, vitamin-C, vitamin-A, and vitamin K, antioxidants, soluble and insoluble fiber. Processed food has nutritional supplements added back in along with preservatives and artificial color and flavors, and many other food additives. We no longer think of food as medicine, or expect it to be medicine. We are more often concerned about the negative aspects, avoiding the unhealthy foods we shouldn’t eat. Plants have provided our medicine for most of human history.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Our food system – a health hazard

November 11, 2017

Our food system – a health hazard

People get sick because they work under unhealthy conditions.
People get sick because of contaminants in the water, soil, or air.
People get sick because specific foods they eat are unsafe for consumption.
People get sick because they have unhealthy diets.
People get sick because they can’t access adequate, acceptable food at all times.

A recent report from the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems identifies these five mechanisms whereby the current food system makes people sick.

The report calls for a reform of the food and farming systems to be made on the grounds of protecting human health. Many of the most severe health are caused by core industrial food and farming practices, such as chemical-intensive agriculture; intensive livestock production and the mass production and mass marketing of ultra-processed foods. They are in turn stimulated by the deregulated global trade.

Because of all interconnections in the complex food system it is not possible to always ascertain exactly the causes of a particular problem, but we know enough to act, according to the report. Even if the industrial food and farming model is not the only cause of the problems, it has clearly failed to provide solutions to them. The health effects are strongly linked to environmental effects and social issues.

It is all too convenient for the industrial food system to place the responsibility of dietary choices with the consumers, when in reality they are the choice architects and they constantly influence consumers to consume highly processed foods made from a limited range of industrial raw materials. In addition they influence both research and policy for their own benefits.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Saving Farmland for Future Generations

November 8, 2017

Saving Farmland for Future Generations

Image courtesy of Beccy Strong

Imagine a farm where you are welcome to walk in its fields. You hear birds singing and see wildflowers blooming. The cows in the meadows are grazing and the children in farm school are learning-by-doing, collecting eggs from free-ranging chickens and picking fruit from orchard trees.

Welcome to community-owned Huxhams Cross Farm set on the rolling hills of south Devon on the edge of the Dartington Hall estate. Secured by the Biodynamic Land Trust (of which more later), its 34-acres exemplifies human-scale farming in a world increasingly dominated by industrial farming.

Huxhams Cross Farm needs your investment and here’s why. In the UK and Europe, small farms are increasingly swallowed up by neighbouring industrial farms – 3% of farms own 52% of EU land.

The UK currently imports over half the food it consumes with about a quarter coming from the EU. As for fresh produce, the UK imports 80% of its fresh vegetables and 40% of fresh fruit. The need for the UK to produce its own food is ever-more pressing post-Brexit. Coupled with a falling pound and potential tariffs, there could be significant price rises according to a joint food report from Universities of City, Cardiff and Sussex.

Food growing is made harder in the UK due to land prices. It takes a farmer up to 20 years to pay back one hectare of land in the UK (compared for instance with nine years in the Netherlands and six in France). Because UK land is used as a financial safe haven, its prices have become inflated, putting farmland beyond the reach of farmers growing food. The Biodynamic Land Trust is working to de-commodify the land and return it to community ownership. Since being founded in 2011, the Biodynamic Land Trust has secured over 300 acres of land for five farms including Huxhams Cross Farm in Devon.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Manure: An Overview of This Shi…ning Addition to the Garden

October 20, 2017

MANURE: AN OVERVIEW OF THIS SHI…NING ADDITION TO THE GARDEN

Organic gardens really benefit from manure, and that is no mystery. However, it’s important to be aware of what kind of manure is at your disposal because they are not all equally desirable. Some manures, dare we say, are choice garden additions, while others take a lot of coaxing, a slow and patient cook, from composting gurus. Chicken manure is vastly different from cow manure, which is largely different dog manure.

Understanding some of the subtleties of manure, even in the most basic of ways, can make a huge difference to how, when, and for what you are using a particular pile. For those of us who aren’t connoisseurs of manures, it’s important to get a grasp of which ones we’d most like to get our hands on (or in) and which ones aren’t necessarily best suited for growing our food but could be useful elsewhere. So, with no further puns, let us dive head first into the wonderful world of animal excrement.

MANURE IS MAGNIFICENT

Firstly, it seems useful to know why it is that manure is such a valuable commodity. In the garden, it does two things very well: amends the soil and fertilizes the plants. Dry, well-rotted manure is great for retaining water and very useful in sandy soils, whereas the same thing goes along way in lightening up dense clay soils. In either case, fast-draining or compacted soils, manure helps reduce runoff and nutrient leaching. As far as fertilizing, manure carries a good punch of nitrogen (The type of manure changes the levels) and other nutrients, both of which release it slowly (Again, the speed changes via type) to the plants. It’s also full of microbes, which up the amount of soil life, thus fertility, in the garden.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Hornshurst Forest Garden – growing food in a forest clearing

October 16, 2017

Hornshurst Forest Garden – growing food in a forest clearing

As many of you know, permaculture will often have you disappear down a rabbit hole, if not an entire warren. Or, in permaculture-speak, will take you off the well-beaten track to explore those infamous edges.
The Hornshurst Forest Garden is one such edge. It is an acre site, deer and rabbit fenced, within a much larger 160 acre wood. I have been designing it for the wood owner, Doro Marden, for about 3 years.

We are lucky to have relaxed time frames, allowing us to take a very slow and low-risk approach, doing things incrementally and also letting the design emerge over time – especially the people aspects. It is on a north west facing slope and is literally a clearing in the forest.

Trying to grow fruit trees on a newly cut pine plantation (a.k.a – an ecological desert) was never going to be easy and we certainly have had challenges to overcome. I now have some things to report that I hope will be of interest and help you.

Managing the Acidity

With an initial soil acidity of pH 4.1 in our clearing, I can now report localised changes – in some areas we have readings of neutral (pH 7).

How did we get there?

A number of elements have been working towards the function of neutralising the acidity.

What I call my ‘mulch-making’ machines. Several young deciduous trees that had been growing amongst the tall pines were purposefully left. Sweet chestnuts, birch, rowan and oak have been shedding their leaves for three seasons. (Literally feeding the soil some salad leaves for its acid indigestion).
Localised sprinklings of lime – in the major growing sites, about twice a year.
Some localised addition of well rotted cow manure.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Outstanding Onions

October 11, 2017

OUTSTANDING ONIONS

Onions (Allium cepa L.), being the most extensively cultivated species of the Allium genus, are a root crop that nearly everyone has heard about, seen, or eaten. However, don’t let their perceived commonness lull you into thinking they’re uninteresting. Onions are quite a fascinating garden vegetable that has some remarkable characteristics.

ONIONS OF OLDEN TIMES

It’s thought that for well over 7,000 years the onion has been consumed or used medicinally by humans. While the first onions used were from wild sources, the cultivation of onions is thought to have started around 5,000 years ago. There’s debate on where the onion originated, some believing it first came from central Asia, while others believe it was from Iran and West Pakistan. Although the origin of the onion is debatable, the onion is known to have been used by many ancient cultures such as the Sumerians, Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. These cultures believed the onion had magical qualities that could be used in the afterlife, as well as healing properties to be used to treat ailments such as digestive issues, sleeplessness, poor vision, general aches and pains, and to enhance and fortify their overall health.

As the middle ages rolled around, Europeans, both rich and poor, were consuming large amounts of these vegetables. They too used them for medicinal reasons, such as to soothe and cure headaches and snakebites. Onions were even thought to have been used as gifts and payments in some areas. As the Europeans ventured to the Americas in the 17th century, they brought with them the onion. However, they found the Native Americans were already making use of the wild onions that grew there.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Cost of Food Insecurity

October 3, 2017

THE COST OF FOOD INSECURITY

In many developing countries, undernutrition is a recognized – and well documented – crisis. However, with increasing urbanization, another health concern is beginning to emerge as people choose to consume foods of convenience rather than exert the effort it takes to grow their own produce.

While nutritious foods are still readily available in rural areas, the industrial urban systems involved with food processing and supply means these healthy foods are being replaced by cheaper alternatives. High in carbohydrates and sugars, these are often very energy-dense but lack the nutritional value of traditional foods.

Studies have revealed that income is a major factor when it comes to nutrition. Since lower-calorie foods that contain higher amounts of nutrients (including fresh produce) is generally quite expensive, populations who earn less money turn to the less healthy options, which are usually more affordable. A good example of this is whole wheat bread, which costs anywhere from 10 to 60 percent more than nutritionally-lacking white bread.

“Access to good, healthy food is what the urban poor need for a more productive and longer life,” said Jonathon Crush with the African Food Security Urban Network (Afsun), noting that there is a need for government interventions to provide increased access to more nutritious foods.

However, with the option of purchasing low-cost produce, fewer people will recognize the benefits of growing their own food. And while they may be able to acquire fruits and vegetables for a smaller financial investment, the cost to their health remains a concern. When you’re not growing your food yourself, you’re blind to the methods of production.

“Low prices at the grocery store give us a false sense that our food comes cheap,” the paper continues. “The higher yields of industrial agriculture have come at great cost to the environment and the social fabric – costs that are not involved in the price of our food.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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