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With the beginning of the 2014 Summer CSA session, Jubilee Farm unveiled its new kitchen space including triple wash sinks, stainless steel counter tops, and tools like food processors and knives for shredding and cutting. Members can now get hands-on coaching and food preparation advice on pick-up days from Terrie, Jubilee’s resident food guru. No more wondering, “What do I do with THAT?” 
Tsukiji Fish Market is a dizzying place offering over 400 unique types of seafood and sea vegetation every day. Any plant or animal from any body of water in the world that could be even remotely considered edible (puffer fish, stone fish etc.) is available. And for the right amount of money it can be yours! 
The ocean contains 97% of the planet’s water and covers 71% of the Earth’s surface. Stand on the shore and its expanse and distant horizon imply an endless source of resources. Now we recognize that the oceans are not boundless and the numbers of fish are not endless. It wasn’t until the late 20th Century that we understood the world production (harvest) of fish is on a downward trend and we will be out of fish by the middle of this century unless we take some drastic steps. 
Every year at Easter, ham takes the spotlight. A traditional slow roasted smoked ham with brown sugar glaze was my family’s favorite. Yet what about the “forgotten ham” – the uncured, fresh ham? Pick out a fresh picnic ham (shoulder roast) and you’ve got a delicious alternative for the holidays. 
By the time the first settlers reached the small spit of land that was ultimately to become part of Seattle Washington in 1850, the Olympia oyster population on the Pacific coast was already beginning to be over harvested. And in the early 1900s, poor water quality in Puget Sound threatened to finish it off. Puget Sound shellfish are at risk again. 
Many women in farming have had to develop their own production techniques, their own farming methods, and even their own animal breeds and bloodlines. And in the US, we’ve seen women become experts, teaching other young women to farm, and leading the food movement in small livestock production equal to or even beyond the contribution of academics with little or no field experience. We highlight four women farmers raising small livestock (one of whom has retired after 44 years of sheep farming) to recognize the commitments they have made to what is essentially “women’s work” – that is, small ruminant husbandry. 
Why would I make noodles when I can pop into my neighborhood grocery and get them for less than $2 a pound? And that question has a logical answer: Because if I make them, they are fresh, and I know exactly what goes into them. 
Erick and Wendy Haakenson, and their son David and his wife Kristin, are farming in a floodplain skirted by the Snoqualmie River. An active farm nearly for 25 years, Jubilee Biodynamic Farm is home to one of the largest and oldest Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs in the state. Jubilee is an intensively managed, diversified farm comprised of 14 acres of fruits, vegetables, and grains and around 35 acres devoted to beef cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens, and ducks. 
In a region that once supported 480 dairy farms and a rural agricultural landscape, now fragmented by 40 years of residential development, Nash Huber has pieced together 450 acres of rich farmland, almost all of it leased. Through the use of land trusts, restrictive zoning, conservation easements, and leasehold agreements, it has been protected from future development. 
Whether it’s the urge to start a small bakery to sell a better loaf to the community or just a wish to make and eat a better loaf of bread than that available at the grocery store, the poor quality and poor nutritional state of our daily bread sends hundreds to gatherings like the Kneading Conference West to learn more. |
 Sustainably harvested wild fish,
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