Good Food is Everybody's Business
How does one farm feed nearly a 1000 people? No, it’s not the miracle of the loaves and fishes; it’s the miracle of good soil, organic cropping, rotational grazing, and a community of busy hands. Jubilee Biodynamic Farm, Carnation WA, supplies 400 families with fruit, vegetables, and meat through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program – all from just 40 intensively-farmed acres.
Tom Winterrowd, who farms near Canby, Oregon, said that the minute he saw the announcement for the hog head cooking class he knew he’d be in it. Portland Meat Collective recently offered the class, bringing in Ben Meyer, the chef at Grain and Gristle Restaurant as the instructor.
There is a hydrological term for the end and next beginning of the flooding season wrapped around Summer. It’s called the “Shoulder Season.” The end of the shoulder season is the last flood in the Spring and the beginning, the first in the Fall. We are still touching shoulders with this past year’s season in Western Washington after what many feel is one of the worst flooding seasons we’ve ever had. Yet, the resilience of the farmers should amaze us all.
Have you noticed how conflicting news reports about water have been lately? Everybody wants it, we all need it, but no one seems to agree either on the relative availability of water into the future or how to manage it. One thing for sure, our food security depends on it.
Farmer Jane profiles twenty-six women in the sustainable food industry who are working toward a more holistic food system in America a system that ensures our health with wholesome natural foods, protects the earth and wildlife, treats farm workers fairly, and stimulates local economies.
I have a confession to make: on a bad day I can feel despondent and jaded when I consider the magnitude of change that is needed to rectify our country’s ubiquitous health crises. Then I remember that every positive action counts, one person can make a difference, and together we can educate, support, and really help each other live better and effect remarkable change.
Diane Morrison, owner and general manager, offers a specialty product line up of baked goods using only the finest all-natural ingredients and without preservatives.
Marcin Jakubowski is open-sourcing a set of blueprints for 50 farming tools that can be built cheaply from scratch. He calls it a “civilization starter kit,” instruction set for an entire self-sustaining village (starting cost: $10,000).
