Good Food is Everybody's Business
We attended one of Whole Foods Market™ Speaker Series events; this one titled “Consumer’s Conflict: The Cost of Fresh Picked Produce in the 21st Century.” The guest speaker was Barry Estabrook, author of Tomatoland – How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit. In the end, there was too much Whole Foods and too little discussion of the real cost of fresh produce and what to do about it. And we paid $40 to hear it…
At GoodFood World, we’ve introduced you to fishermen and farmers who are working hard to do the right thing. This documentary visits Newfoundland and Alberta to profile families trying to do the right thing too.
In this piece we connect Gary Paul Nabhan’s Terroir-ists Manifesto and the Lexicon of Sustainability – both focused on knowing your connection to the earth and to your food.
Jerry Pipitone, Pipitone Farm, Rock Island WA, talks about his part in the local food economy. He dries tons of fruit, for his own farm and for other farmers. And with the odd weather we’ve been having the last couple of years, farming is a little tougher than usual.
Lori Stahlbrand, Founder and President of Local Food Plus, talks about the potential for institutional procurement of local and sustainable food. Local Food Plus is committed to creating local sustainable food systems that reduce reliance on fossil fuels, create meaningful jobs, and foster the preservation of farmland – and farmers.
Food co-ops are different and they fit more comfortably into small towns and unique neighborhoods. Because they reflect the values and principles of their owners and members they can differentiate themselves more easily. We offer you a look at six very different natural food co-ops. Each one has its own personality and each one is committed to buying products from local providers.
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.
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.
