 My first-ever crop of homegrown potatoes may have become someone’s magic mushrooms. I eagerly started out as a gardener with a patch of Ohio clay I turned over by hand. The potatoes I planted grew nicely all summer long. I cut the tops down when it was time but when I dug up my harvest what I found hardly resembled potatoes. They were tiny shriveled bits of spud mockery. They must have grown only slightly toward potato size before curling in on themselves in a remarkable imitation of exotic dried mushrooms. After they sat on my back porch for a few days in the sun, taunting me, I thought I’d take them to show my father. He grew up on a farm. Surely he could tell me what had gone wrong. Or at least get a good chuckle at my gardening abilities. I put a handful of that “harvest” in a plastic baggie on the passenger seat of my car. On the way to my parent’s house I stopped at work to pick up my check and lingered a bit to chat with co-workers. When I got back to the parking lot I discovered that my car had been broken into. Strangely they’d taken nothing. But by the time I got to my parent’s house I realized the thieves had stolen something after all. The baggie was gone. Perhaps my potatoes-gone-wrong provided someone with an unexpected trip. Perhaps a less than wild ride that left them longing for colcannon, pierogis and knishes. This year I’m planting potatoes again. I read a wonderful post about growing potatoes in containers last fall at Living the Frugal Life. Here’s our attempt, step-by-step, with some modifications. I’ll update at harvest time. First, obtain food grade buckets. The bakery department at the grocery store in town saved them for us. They get frosting and mixes in these buckets (the ingredient list still on the label is enough to horrify even a die-hard processed food eater). I'm not a fan of growing or storing in plastic, but I'm comforted to realize that at least we're repurposing these containers.  We have 22 of these five gallon buckets. That seems sufficient for the 2 lb bag of certified organic Rio Grande Russet seed potatoes I have on hand. Drill drainage holes in the side or bottom of each bucket. As an experiment, I drilled 6 to 8 holes in some and fewer in others.  Shovel clean stone in a thin layer on the bottom of the bucket for additional drainage. You may not find that necessary. We usually have a very wet spring here in Northern Ohio.  I understand potatoes like to grow in sandy, loamy soil. That's something we don't have. And because I think of dirt as full of life, I'm not about to trot off to buy sterilzed potting soil. So I'm planting these potatoes in what we have in plentiful supply around here---well rotted cow manure. It may be too rich or unbalanced in some important way, but for these potatoes, it's what's for dinner.  I fill each pail about a third to a quarter full, then tuck a seed potato in each bucket down the requisite three inches. Being me, I offer up encouragement to each potato as it's patted into the soil. Then I soak up water from the pond to thoroughly dampen each bucket, something I'll be doing every day it doesn't rain around here. Now if I understand potato-growing correctly, as root nodules sprout the plant needs to be covered by additional layers of dirt. This stimulates more root growth, resulting in more potatoes. It also protects growing potatoes from the sun, which can make them inedible. So I’ll continue adding loose soil, nearly reburying the growing plant each time. Eventually the bucket will be topped off with dirt, the plant will be growing right out of the top and the bucket will be brimming with potatoes. I think I’ll keep encouraging my potato plants too. I’ve read estimates of 10 to 25 pounds of potatoes per pound of seed potatoes. Commercially grown potatoes are listed by the Environmental Working Group as one of the top foods to avoid unless purchased organically due to pesticide residues. It’s hard to find organic potatoes around here. I hope to find more space in my ever-growing gardens for other varieties of potatoes, planted for later harvest. But for now, I'm happy to see those pails in the sun behind a little barn, like merry tubers-in-waiting. Magic Mushroom painting courtesy of kaijakat We Don't Eat Raspberries in the Winter 01/30/2010
 We don’t eat raspberries in the winter. It’s simple. They don’t grow the in the winter. We eat locally as much as possible, so that means if we haven’t canned or frozen raspberries from last summer’s harvest we’ll wait until they ripen again. Eating locally isn’t a trend. It’s a return to a way of life that makes sense. Why is it worth the trouble? 1. Save energy and reduce your carbon footprint. Food travels an average of 1,500 miles before reaching the consumer's fork. Combination foods travel even farther. One study found that the sugar, yogurt and strawberries in fruit yogurt traveled over 2,200 miles. Buying locally can slash these numbers by more than 90 percent. It isn't hard to buy local yogurt, honey and fruit to mix up a homemade snack. This also cuts down on global warming gasses, making the end product more sustainable. In fact, the World Watch Institute reports that a typical North American meal uses up to 17 times more fossil fuel than a locally sourced meal. 2. Preserve flavor. Because today's crops are grown to be shipped long distances, growers plant varieties that will survive transport best. That means the peaches are not grown for flavor but hardiness, the tomatoes are chosen for their thick skins and standardized size. Growers pick produce long before natural ripening. The taste suffers even more during cold storage and shipping. As a result, who really wants to eat the cardboard-like fruits and vegetables available most of the year at the supermarket? Few of us know what straight-off-the-vine grapes taste like, not many of us have ever tried freshly picked sweet corn or cherries still warm from the sun. But when you buy locally, you get a powerhouse of flavor. Farmers can pick the fruits and vegetables at peak ripeness because their customers are an hour or two away. The taste will convince you that buying foods in season from local growers is the only choice worth making. 3. Gain nutrients. According to USDA data, random samples of fruits and vegetables show 26 percent less calcium, 36 percent less iron and 29 percent less vitamin C compared to 1975. Not only do food crops need to reach peak nutritional levels by fully ripening on the plant, recent studies have shown that organic farming methods lead to improved nutrient levels. A four year, 25 million dollar study conducted by researchers at the Tesco Centre for Organic Agriculture at Newcastle University, United Kingdom found that organically grown foods contain higher levels of cancer fighting and heart healthy antioxidants. The study concluded that, compared to standard commercially grown fruits and vegetables, organic produce has on average 40 percent more antioxidants. Other studies have shown similar results for animal products. Consult Eat Wild at (http://www.eatwild.com/) for similar results pertaining to pastured, organic milk, meat and eggs. 4. Preserve family farms. For every dollar spent on food, approximately a dime goes to the farmer. The remaining 90 cents has a lot to do with profits made by corporations when wholesome food are converted into high calorie, low-nutrient products. Local growers who find direct sales for their products with restaurateurs, farmers' markets and grocers can get full retail price for their food, meaning they can afford to remain on the land. This maintains the bedrock lifestyle that formed this country. Only one percent of Americans now farm as their primary occupation. Get to know the farmers who grow your food when you join a CSA, buy on the farm or see the growers week after week at market stands. You can ask questions about how your food has been grown, find out how to prepare it and learn what it takes to support non-industrialized food in this country. 5. Help your local economy. Money spent on processed foods and products produced elsewhere does little to sustain your local economy. One study followed the funds spent on food as it persisted in the local economy. It was found that a dollar spent at a supermarket was less than half as valuable in local reinvestment as one spent with an area grower or producer. You also build an invisible economy of connections, people to people, when you are committed to buying locally. Once you are a regular customer at a locally owned bakery, participate in community gardening, and meet up with the same folks each week at a farmers' market, you'll get to know people who live by similar values. These ties support and sustain communities. 6. Understand ecosystems. By voting with your dollar for locally and often organically grown foods you are swaying the marketplace towards sustainable agricultural practices. Such practices include erosion control, cover crops, windbreaks and habitats for natural pollinators. You are proactively making a difference in supporting viable land use. When you begin to eat seasonally rather than making do with tasteless raspberries in December you are learning to reconnect with natural rhythms. Other than food they preserved, our ancestors ate exactly what came from the surrounding area. Once you eat local foods you begin to cherish the short time that blueberries are ripe, and may master the art of making jam. Winter may find you enjoying root crops and sturdy grains. Our bodies seem to be more in sync when we live in concert with the seasons. 7. Save genetic diversity. While commercial agribusiness relies on a limited number of seed varieties, often genetically modified and patented, local farms can grow any of thousands of varieties passed down for generations. These hardy stocks provide more than flavor and disease resistance, they also are genetically diverse. The potato famine in Ireland taught farmers to use diverse varieties to prevent tragedy. The new seed varieties of agribusiness do not permit diversity nor seed saving. Heirloom varieties are natural insurance for a changing climate and altering global conditions. They also give us a gift of wonderful taste since we are accustomed to the same few varieties. Ever try Wren's Egg beans, Noir des Carmes melons or Tolman Sweet apples? There are literally thousands of heirloom fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains grown on small farms. How does one get started? The concept may seem daunting at first. There's no need to jump in full force. Rather than an all or nothing approach, do what you can and increase your commitment as your comfort level grows. 1. One product at a time. If you are accustomed to a diet of convenience foods then take it in moderation. Every time you shop, replace a category of food on your list that is provided by a distant corporate entity with a local provider. If you normally buy bread from a corporate conglomerate, start buying it locally or make it yourself. In another week or two when you are at ease with that change, make another change. Eventually your shift to local food will be complete without disruption or difficulty. 2. Try something new. Explore farmers' markets, the offerings from ethnic restaurants and new ideas from slow food cookbooks. Oftentimes if you are a member of a CSA, you'll find yourself with an abundance of something you haven't used before. A bumper crop of butternut squash will help you discover curried soups and casseroles you hadn't imagined before you had to deal with this nutrient-packed treasure. 3. Preserve. When you have extra you'll find it worthwhile to freeze, can or dry. You'll notice it is also helpful to double recipes so you can make your efforts worthwhile. Try getting together with friends to make spaghetti sauce, chutney or pies. The results can be an excuse for a party or give you plenty to use later. 4. Share the pleasure. Join or create a network of others who appreciate local food and/or slow food, (www.slowfoodusa.org/) . 5. Proceed wisely. Become acquainted with growing times and growers. Once you are familiar with ripening schedules for raspberries, tomatoes, eggplant and your other favorites get to know local growers by visiting farm stands, farmers' markets and orchards. You can get better prices by buying in bulk, going to pick-your-own farms, asking for seconds (smaller apples, oddly sized potatoes, etc) and bidding at produce auctions. To find local farms, Community Supported Agriculture and stores selling locally produced crops consult Local Harvest at (www.localharvest.org/) . 6. Garden. Homesteaders have been eating local food for years and community gardeners haven't been far behind. If you don't have the space for your own garden, locate one near you through the American Community Gardening Association, (http://www.communitygarden.org/) . 7. Curl up with a book. A number of books on the concept of local eating have sprouted on the bestseller lists. Try "The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating" by Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon, "Coming Home to Eat: The Pleasures and Politics of Local Foods" by Gary Paul Nabhan, or "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver. Buying local food brings the solution back home. It doesn't assume that corporate or political answers will provide the solution. Polls show a majority of us care deeply about the environment and health. Now our day-to-day decisions are beginning to reflect this consciousness. Each time a choice is made to eat healthy, locally grown food we put sustainability on the menu.  Creative Commons images www.flickr.com/photos/benstephenson/22016712/commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Raspberries_(... Gates Funds Green-Washed Green Revolution 10/23/2009
 Big money gathers eagerly around short-sighted concepts, never bothering to notice the long-term suffering it can cause. Or maybe that’s an easy way to see the messy collection of hubris, lofty goals, corporate influence and cultural ignorance behind the announcement that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are calling for a second Green Revolution. They are donating $10.4 million to alleviate hunger using methods including the promotion of genetically modified crops. The first Green Revolution was not regarded as a success by those “lucky” recipients of First World largess. Their carefully cultivated (often perennial) plantings were torn up and traditional methods well suited for local conditions (rocky hillsides, monsoons, lack of irrigation) ignored. Farmers were provided hybrid seeds which produced astonishing yields on test plots using high quality irrigation and modern intensive farming methods. But these seeds could not be saved to replant the next year. These crops had to be coddled with petroleum-based fertilizer and pesticides. The farmers needed to use equipment no one could afford to repair or fuel. This first Green Revolution was considered a success by much of the First World. But it failed because it didn’t address, perhaps made worse the larger issue. As Food First explains, the Green Revolution imposed industrial farming methods without addressing unequal access. In South America per capita food supplies went up 8% while the number of hungry people increased 19%. Today yields continue to improve around the world. As Sharon Astyk notes in her brilliant blog Casaubon’s Book,“We presently grow enough food to feed 9 billion people. That’s an astonishing realization for most people – that the world produces about double the number of calories we need.” Yet people starve while grain rots in warehouses and famine-struck regions export food. Why? Because it’s not as much about the volume of food as it is about who controls it. Now, another Green Revolution. This time it’s not just hybrid seeds but genetically modified (GM) crops. These crops are highly profitable to Monsanto, DuPont and other mega corporations. Typically they require the timed use of specifically matched herbicides and pesticides. But the extra cost of these seeds (and their chemical companions) are a waste because they don’t increase crop yield, despite what the slick PR might allege. Let’s repeat. GM seeds are not the hope of the hungry because no they don’t magically make more food than the seeds nature designed. The Union of Concerned Scientists “…reviewed two dozen academic studies of corn and soybeans, the two primary genetically engineered food and feed crops grown in the United States. Based on those studies, the UCS report concluded that genetically engineering herbicide-tolerant soybeans and herbicide-tolerant corn has not increased yields. Insect-resistant corn, meanwhile, has improved yields only marginally. The increase in yields for both crops over the last 13 years, the report found, was largely due to traditional breeding or improvements in agricultural practices.” In fact, organic farms produce consistently high yields with good pest resistance. And big surprise, traditional farming methods are much more suited to the areas where they've been used. Maybe, just maybe respecting methods that honor the life of the land makes more sense than imposing industrial agriculture. You’d think we humans would have noticed the We Know Better Than Nature approach hasn’t worked out too well. A paper in the African Journal of Food and Nutritional Sciences noted, "Viable agro-ecology models have been reported in widely disparate places like the United States and India [20]. In the United States, a landmark study by the prestigious National Research Council found that “alternative farmers often produce high per-acre yields with significant reductions in costs per unit of crop harvested, despite the fact that many federal policies discourage adoption of alternative practices”. The Council concluded that Federal commodity programs must be restructured to help farmers realize the full benefits of the productivity gains possible through alternative practices [20]. In South India, a 1993 study was carried out to compare “ecological farms” with matched “conventional” or chemical-intensive farms. Ausubel found that the ecological farms were just as productive and profitable as the chemical ones [21]. He concluded that if extrapolated nationally, ecological farming would have “no negative impact on food security,” and would reduce soil erosion and the depletion of soil fertility while greatly lessening dependence on external inputs." One would think the world's richest man might put money into solving world hunger through equal access to justice, education and cultural understanding. The Beauty of Repurposing 08/26/2009
"Repurposing" is a strangely awkward word. Our ancestors didn't need a name for the frugal and often creative uses they found to reuse objects. My grandfather set a door across file cabinets for a work table. When making repairs he did calculations on an old piece of cardboard. Then he fished used screws and bolts from neatly labeled tin cans, chose from coiled loops of wire and string hanging from hooks, and proceeded using tools his own father once used. My grandmother was a talented seamstress who reworked clothes until they were no longer functional, then took off the buttons and used the fabric for anything from hooked rugs to dust clothes. She made do with everything she came across, from leftovers to plant cuttings. My parents carried on in the same way, although by the sixties and seventies such traditions were regarded as eccentric, even bizarre. They tore junk mail into notepaper, saved wrapping paper to rewrap, used bread bags and even foil over and over. When our hot water tank had to be replaced my father kept the old one in the garage. He cut metal from it for years to use in various projects. These tactics were a source of amusement to their children, except when our chores included polishing silver using the soft cloth of tattered men’s briefs or some similarly embarrassing task. As an adult I take a particular delight in repurposing. A wine decanter holds mouthwash in our bathroom and geodes collected by my children are our toothbrush holders. I’ve tucked plants into worn workboots and cracked mixing bowls, made children’s pajamas from their father’s flannel shirt, and take special delight in wrapping presents in something reusable. Here’s a little stuffed guy made from a child’s sweater:  And here are two baby toys made from socks:   After my mother died we were left with many beautiful things, but it wasn't bearable to toss out the broken beautiful things. So I incorporated them into a bit of yard art. My husband and son cut a large piece of iron into the shape of a crescent moon and welded it on a post. Then I made a mosaic on it using broken plates, bits of bright glass, even bisque amputee dolls. Here it is, with two wonder dogs Jedi and Cocoa Bean posing underneath:  Now my husband has made another of his handcrafted sinks out of repurposed materials. He took apart, reglued and recoated an antique kitchen table. Into it he affixed an antique copper candy-making vessel to serve as the sink. A leaf from the table provides a mount for the faucet and the drawer still works. Our friend Rebecca has this for sale in her store, Planet Green Goods which offers locally made products, earth friendly cleaners, organic apparel and more.    It feels good to save sweaters, broken plates and old tables from the landfill. It feels even better to make something from them to serve a new use. Repurposing is liberating. It frees us from the oppression of wanting, opening us to a greater freedom. Journeying god, pitch your tent with mine so that I may not become deterred by hardship, strangeness, doubt. Show me the movement I must make toward a wealth not dependent on possessions, toward a wisdom not based on books, toward a strength not bolstered by might, toward a god not confined to heaven. Help me to find myself as I walk in other's shoes. (Prayer song from Ghana, traditional, translator unknown) A Moment in the Great Turning 04/01/2009
 On the counter where I expected to find space to make soup and cheese there are books and unidentifiable metal objects. As soon as I clear the counter my sons will surely appear, insisting that those parts were arranged in some inscrutable order necessary to fix, reassemble or create something. As I get carrots, cabbage and other ingredients from the refrigerator I notice it happens to contain plastic bags filled with dirt balls called dorodango, part of an ongoing project my kids’ friends. And while I drain the whey off cheese made from this morning’s milking, I look at the new comments written on the wipe-off surface of the world map on our kitchen wall. Everywhere around me are signs of my family’s lively engagement in the moment. Don't be Afraid of the Dark This is a dark time, filled with suffering and uncertainty. Like living cells in a larger body, it is natural that we feel the trauma of our world. So don't be afraid of the anguish you feel, or the anger or fear, for these responses arise from the depth of your caring and the truth of your interconnectedness with all beings. To suffer with is the literal meaning of compassion. Dare to Vision Out of this darkness a new world can arise, not to be constructed by our minds so much as to emerge from our dreams. Even though we cannot see clearly how it's going to turn out, we are still called to let the future into our imagination. We will never be able to build what we have not first cherished in our hearts.. Roll up your Sleeves Many people don't get involved in the Great Turning because there are so many different issues, which seem to compete with each other. Shall I save the whales or help battered children? The truth is that all aspects of the current crisis reflect the same mistake, setting ourselves apart and using others for our gain. So to heal one aspect helps the others to heal as well. Just find what you love to work on and take joy in that. Never try to do it alone. Link up with others; you'll spark each others' ideas and sustain each others' energy.. Act your AgeSince every particle in your body goes back to the first flaring forth of space and time, you're really as old as the universe. So when you are lobbying at your congressperson's office, or visiting your local utility, or testifying at a hearing on nuclear waste, or standing up to protect an old grove of redwoods, you are doing that not out of some personal whim, but in the full authority of your 15 billions years. How to Celebrate a Cow’s Birthday 02/04/2009
 | Laura
Perpetual idealist, subversive cook,  ArchivesApril 2010 CategoriesAll |
RSS Feed.jpg){kind=link}