Hopes for a significant reform in the 2007 Farm Bill were dashed when the U.S. House of Representatives voted to continue most of the same old same old subsidies to agribusiness. But, as this excellent editorial from The Nation, points out, we can still make our voices heard through our Senators. So read this and then write your senators to let them know you think it's time to do more for local agriculture.
Farm Bill Showdown
by JOHN NICHOLS
[from the August 27, 2007 issue]
The 2007 farm bill, as approved by the House on the eve of the August recess, is as shambolic a piece of legislation as will ever be OK'd by a chamber that frequently endorses the incomprehensible and the indefensible. But what is truly frustrating about the House's version of the five-year, $286 billion blueprint for everything from agriculture and food policy to trade and energy development is that this complicated mess of a measure cannot be easily hailed or condemned. On the plus side, it makes significant new commitments to encourage sustainable farming practices, fund the conversion to organic farming, strengthen food-safety protections and expand nutrition initiatives that are the essential food-policy components of this omnibus legislation. On the negative side, the House bill proposes to open gaping loopholes that would allow environmentally destructive factory farms to qualify for funding intended to help family farmers conserve the land; maintains corrupt practices that stifle competition in the livestock industry; and fails to endorse basic health-and-safety moves like banning the practice of blasting spoiled beef with carbon monoxide to make it appear wholesome.
Hovering above all the good bits and nasty pieces of the measure is that it would do little to change our corrupt system of paying subsidies to some of the wealthiest nonfarmers in the world. Nor does the House address the fact that the bulk of the money intended to maintain diverse and competitive family farms would go to a handful of Southern states that overproduce crops like rice and cotton.
The best that can be hoped for now is intervention by the Senate, where Agriculture Committee chair Tom Harkin says, "We can't afford to settle for an extension of the status quo--not in terms of budget, and not in terms of policy." But for that to happen, we need to broaden the public discussion at a time when, as Representative Rosa DeLauro says, "too many Americans know too little about the farm bill and its impact on our lives."
The fact that debate about farm and food policy plays out on the margins of the national discourse, thanks to media that treat rural America as a punch line, makes it too easy for politicians and interest groups to distort the discussion. For instance, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi can get away with her absurd claim that the House bill is "reform" that "takes America's farm policy in a new direction." Not true. The Speaker chose the status quo over innovative proposals by author Michael Pollan, chef Alice Waters and savvy policy groups like Food and Water Watch and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy to stop pouring federal dollars into the coffers of agribusiness, establish a real safety net for working farmers, protect the environment and encourage the production of healthy foods. But just as Pelosi is wrong to dub herself a reformer, so too are the editorial writers and Washington think-tank gurus who grumble about the rejection of their favored "reform." The plan so beloved by those so distant from rural America--a scheme by Representatives Ron Kind and Jeff Flake to establish the farming equivalent of the "individual retirement accounts" promoted by those who would destroy Social Security--failed because farm and consumer groups saw through its false promise of "market solutions."
Rejecting real reform as well as false promises, Pelosi backed a "Christmas tree" measure, which offered something for everyone--from agribusiness to Congressional Black Caucus members seeking long-overdue justice for minority farmers to consumer groups that want country-of-origin labeling on meat--then played on the fears of urban House members who know less about countercyclical payments than about crop circles. To maintain their House majority, Democrats voted for a bill Pelosi told them would re-elect vulnerable farm-state Democrats--including nine freshmen on the Ag Committee.
That may be shrewd politics. But it's foolish policy. So now it falls to Harkin to cobble together an alternative measure that can pass the Senate, survive a messy reconciliation of House and Senate plans and then overcome a threatened presidential veto. That's probably too tall an order. But Harkin recognizes what needs to be done. He's a passionate supporter of nutrition and conservation programs, he wants a tight cap on federal payments so they don't go to millionaire "farmers" and he recognizes that the United States should do away with direct subsidies that fail most farmers, consumers and the environment. As he shapes the Senate version of the farm bill, Harkin should embrace the proposal of three dozen farm and rural groups--led by the National Family Farm Coalition and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy--and their labor, religious and environmental allies. They want to replace subsidies with a federally defined price floor that would in effect be a minimum wage for farmers and to reinstate strategic grain reserves to stabilize crop prices. Harkin should listen to Iowa farmer George Naylor, who serves as president of the farm coalition and who says it is still possible--and politically smart--to forge a farm and food bill that "will benefit family farmers by giving them a fair price for what they produce instead of continuing with ineffective subsidies that have failed rural America."
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Monday, August 6, 2007
Food that Travels Well...from the New York Times
In today’s New York Times (August 5, 2007), James E. McWilliams has a fascinating op-ed piece on why imported food might be more environmentally “friendly” than locally grown food. Several paragraphs are reproduced below to whet your appetite. What do you think of his argument?
Food That Travels Well
THE term “food miles” — how far food has traveled before you buy it — has entered the enlightened lexicon. Environmental groups, especially in Europe, are pushing for labels that show how far food has traveled to get to the market, and books like Barbara Kingsolver’s “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life” contemplate the damage wrought by trucking, shipping and flying food from distant parts of the globe.
There are many good reasons for eating local — freshness, purity, taste, community cohesion and preserving open space — but none of these benefits compares to the much-touted claim that eating local reduces fossil fuel consumption. In this respect eating local joins recycling, biking to work and driving a hybrid as a realistic way that we can, as individuals, shrink our carbon footprint and be good stewards of the environment.
snip….
But is reducing food miles necessarily good for the environment? Researchers at Lincoln University in New Zealand, no doubt responding to Europe’s push for “food miles labeling,” recently published a study challenging the premise that more food miles automatically mean greater fossil fuel consumption. Other scientific studies have undertaken similar investigations. According to this peer-reviewed research, compelling evidence suggests that there is more — or less — to food miles than meets the eye.
It all depends on how you wield the carbon calculator. Instead of measuring a product’s carbon footprint through food miles alone, the Lincoln University scientists expanded their equations to include other energy-consuming aspects of production — what economists call “factor inputs and externalities” — like water use, harvesting techniques, fertilizer outlays, renewable energy applications, means of transportation (and the kind of fuel used), the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed during photosynthesis, disposal of packaging, storage procedures and dozens of other cultivation inputs.
Food That Travels Well
THE term “food miles” — how far food has traveled before you buy it — has entered the enlightened lexicon. Environmental groups, especially in Europe, are pushing for labels that show how far food has traveled to get to the market, and books like Barbara Kingsolver’s “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life” contemplate the damage wrought by trucking, shipping and flying food from distant parts of the globe.
There are many good reasons for eating local — freshness, purity, taste, community cohesion and preserving open space — but none of these benefits compares to the much-touted claim that eating local reduces fossil fuel consumption. In this respect eating local joins recycling, biking to work and driving a hybrid as a realistic way that we can, as individuals, shrink our carbon footprint and be good stewards of the environment.
snip….
But is reducing food miles necessarily good for the environment? Researchers at Lincoln University in New Zealand, no doubt responding to Europe’s push for “food miles labeling,” recently published a study challenging the premise that more food miles automatically mean greater fossil fuel consumption. Other scientific studies have undertaken similar investigations. According to this peer-reviewed research, compelling evidence suggests that there is more — or less — to food miles than meets the eye.
It all depends on how you wield the carbon calculator. Instead of measuring a product’s carbon footprint through food miles alone, the Lincoln University scientists expanded their equations to include other energy-consuming aspects of production — what economists call “factor inputs and externalities” — like water use, harvesting techniques, fertilizer outlays, renewable energy applications, means of transportation (and the kind of fuel used), the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed during photosynthesis, disposal of packaging, storage procedures and dozens of other cultivation inputs.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Beautiful Bountiful Berkshires Harvest Dinner
Invites are going in the mail and raffle tickets are now on sale.
Fabulous prizes, delicious food, all to support local food and farms.
Fabulous prizes, delicious food, all to support local food and farms.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Food and Farm Bill Updates
http://www.farmpolicy.com for news updates
http://www.farmandfoodproject.org/
http://www.farmandfoodproject.org/
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Farm Bill Update
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/21/2676/ news on farm bill
http://www.environmentaldefenseblogs.org/healthyfarms/
This is a blog called "The Ruminant"
Read the post, "The Grass Should Be Greener," he's angry.
Explore: http://www.msawg.org/
Sustainable Agriculture Coalition's Farm Bill Action Center
Sorry these aren't links, you'll have to copy & paste them into your browser.
http://www.environmentaldefenseblogs.org/healthyfarms/
This is a blog called "The Ruminant"
Read the post, "The Grass Should Be Greener," he's angry.
Explore: http://www.msawg.org/
Sustainable Agriculture Coalition's Farm Bill Action Center
Sorry these aren't links, you'll have to copy & paste them into your browser.
Food and Farm Bill
http://www.nesawg.org/2007/01/2007_farm_bill_resources.html
For more resources on the Farm Bill, please copy the above and paste it in.
http://www.farmland.org/news/pressreleases/071907nrHouseAgFB.asp
American Farmland Trust is encouraged by the direction the House Agriculture Committee took this week, to read their comments go to the website listed above (you'll have to copy and paste it into your browser).
http://www.ewg.org/node/22122
Whereas Ken Cook of the Environmental Working Group is quoted in the NYTIMES on 7/20/07 as more critical.
The Environmental Working Group made a splash in the press with their database on who is receiving the subsidies for farming. Copy and paste this address and discover a wealth of information at this site: http://www.mulchblog.com
For more resources on the Farm Bill, please copy the above and paste it in.
http://www.farmland.org/news/pressreleases/071907nrHouseAgFB.asp
American Farmland Trust is encouraged by the direction the House Agriculture Committee took this week, to read their comments go to the website listed above (you'll have to copy and paste it into your browser).
http://www.ewg.org/node/22122
Whereas Ken Cook of the Environmental Working Group is quoted in the NYTIMES on 7/20/07 as more critical.
The Environmental Working Group made a splash in the press with their database on who is receiving the subsidies for farming. Copy and paste this address and discover a wealth of information at this site: http://www.mulchblog.com
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Farm to Pantry/Share the Bounty - We need volunteer drivers
Make a difference this summer:
If you can pick up fresh vegetables from a farm that has extra and transport the food to a pantry, we need you.
Please contact Jan at ogden01201@verizon.net or buylocal@berkshiregrown.org
Thank you!
Let us know what times you are available and in what geographic areas you can help, and how to contact you, best times, numbers, e-mail.
If you can pick up fresh vegetables from a farm that has extra and transport the food to a pantry, we need you.
Please contact Jan at ogden01201@verizon.net or buylocal@berkshiregrown.org
Thank you!
Let us know what times you are available and in what geographic areas you can help, and how to contact you, best times, numbers, e-mail.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Environmental Tips From ll Over
Environmental Tips from All Over
Appliances
Unplug “dormant” electrical gadgets—all those lights that are on use up a lot of energy.
Wherever you have a lot of appliances plugged in, get a surge protector that can handle all the plugs—then turn the surge protector off when you’re not using those items.
Some believe that turning off the computer and restarting it uses more energy than putting it to sleep. Others think it doesn’t hurt to turn your computer on and off to save energy.
If you’re on a municipal water system, install low flow water heads in the shower, low flow faucets in sinks, and low flow toilets.
Use Energy Saver appliances.
Don’t have a hot tub.
Car stuff:
Use the Sierra Club guidelines when buying gasoline. Their study determined that BP and Sunoco are “better,” that Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, Valero Energy Corporation, and Citgo are “bad,” and that ExxonMobil and Conoco Phillips are “the worst.”
Plan trips and errands to be most fuel efficient, keep tires properly inflated, and change oil and air filters regularly.
Fill your gas tank early in the morning or late at night since gas evaporates more in the heat of the day (who knew??).
Drive an electric or hybrid car. Or, as one friend says, “Get a Prius. With snow tires.”
Walk, don’t drive. Or bike. Or carpool.
When the urge to own an SUV or any other oversized vehicle assaults you, suppress it.
Housekeeping
Wait to do full loads of laundry and dishes.
See if you can wear clothes more than once, and if you can do more of your laundry with cold water. (When one family’s hot water heater broke last May, they learned that much of their laundry doesn’t need hot water.)
As we all probably know, hand dishwashing is much less efficient than by machine.
If you don’t have that many dishes to wash, see if your dishwasher has a top-rack-only option (mine doesn’t). Also see if you can turn off the heated drying cycle.
If you have pots and pans that need to soak, put them in the sink and use old water from the tea kettle to fill them.
And water plans with old water from the tea kettle, too.
Use stainless steel water containers instead of plastic.
Use white vinegar to clean glass, bathrooms, refrigerator, floors.
Use hydrogen peroxide instead of fabric softener, and as an anti-bacterial agent.
Use brown or natural coffee filters, toilet paper, paper towels.
Use only “environmentally correct” home cleaning products.
Stop having clothes dry cleaned. (Check out Dry Cleaner’s Secret)
Don’t flush the toilet every time you use it.
Never use plastic or throwaway paper plates or silverware.
Stop using paper napkins. Cloth ones are better.
Yes, yes, now there are recyclable eating utensils that can replace plastic or paper ones. Eschew them for the real thing.
Forego the clothes dryer and dry your clothes on a rack or a line.
Limit showers to 5 minutes.
Recycling
Remember that compost reduces the waste stream a lot. Recycle or compost everything you can.
The Japanese (and maybe the Chinese) import our recycled cardboard and make “new” recycled liner board. (Paper is a growth stock; invest now!).
Get the “wall warts” out, and reduce quantity.
Compost yard waste that doesn’t attract critters.
Shopping
Buy local. This saves fuel for shipping goods across the country, and contributes to your local economy.
Every item here in the U.S. (well, almost every item) comes heavily packaged, and rarely is the packaging made from recycled material. Try to take the packaging off whilst in the store and hand it back to the manager with the admonition that they should dispose of it. If enough of us do this, perhaps management will alert manufacturers to consumer dissatisfaction with excess packaging.
ALWAYS carry your own bags to the grocery store. The “plastic or paper” issue is pointless; neither does the environment any good. So when the bagger asks “Plastic or paper?” just reply smugly, “I bring my own bags.” Added benefit: some stores give the eco-conscious bag-bringer a few cents off the total bill.
Food and cooking
Buy local.
Check out eatlocal.net and consider “joining the challenge” of eating within 100 miles of where you live.
Host a “localvore” pot luck dinner where all the food is grown locally. (Hint: this is easiest in summer and early fall.)
Boycott corn and corn products unless they’re organic.
Boycott food from China.
Grow your own food or join a CSA.
During the “season,” shop at your local farmers market.
Eat meat once a week or less. Meat is the most “expensive” user of energy, far more so than are vegetables.
Do not buy bottled water. Just fill a thermos with your own tap water. And buy a soda siphon to make sparkling water.
Try not to buy heavily packaged or plastic wrapped food.
While you bake a cake, roast some beets on the bottom shelf.
Lawns and gardening
Convert parts of your lawn to groundcover or meadow.
Check out Edible Estates for reasons to make your lawn into an edible garden, and suggestions for doing so.
Do not use pesticides. Instead, try older methods such as using lady bugs to clear up aphids.
Plant trees. And try not to cut the ones you’ve got. And if you do cut them, try to use them in your efficient wood burning stove.
Don’t burn brush, tree tops, or yard waste. Instead, make elegant living quarters for wildlife out of them.
Mow your lawn as infrequently as possible.
Install rain barrels for garden watering.
Major environmental home investments
Consider windmills for the house, rooftop solar, and geothermal units, which provide long-term payback.
If building a new house or putting on an addition, consider radiant heat.
Ditto a compost toilet.
Install triple insulated windows.
Replace large water heater with smaller one using solar power.
Build a root cellar.
Erect a greenhouse, and if it’s of any size, use radiant heat.
Web sites, books, and articles
To save paper, read your newspapers and magazines online or at a library.
Go to Live Earth website (liveearth.org) for their list of environmental tips (all of which have links to more information).
National Geographic’s Green Guide (thegreenguide.com).
To change your lawn to an edible garden, definitely check out this website: fritzhaeg.com/garden/initiatives/edibleestages/main.html
Alternative energy blog at Alt-e.blogspot.com
Measure your carbon footprint at carbonfootprint.com
Website for a great magazine, “E,” emagazine.com
Good information at energybulletin.net
Check out greeenpeace.org/usa
It sounds frivolous, but you might like groovygreen.com
Try livenatural.org
This one’s self-explanatory: saveourenvironment.org
Helpful site with lotsa links: envirolink.org
We all know about nrdc.org
And about environmentaldefense.org
Try realclimate.org
Real Progress has a nifty site rprogress.org
If you’re up for a challenge, look into lowimpactliving.com
The International Herald Tribune has some good information at iht.indexes/special/green/index.php
So long as you subscribe to the New York Times or buy Times Select, take the opportunity to check out the archives of the Times’ energy collection. nytimes.com/ref/science/earth/energy.html
Home Energy Saver offers hes.lbl.gov
I like the title of this site—inspiredprotagonist.com
Who could resist treehugger.com
Try timesonline.typepad.com/eco_worrier
Friends of the Earth provides suv.org
And then there’s worldchanging.com
The World Wildlife Foundation produces For a Living Planet at panda.org/news_facts/publications/living_planet_report/index.cfm
Go to salon.com and search for “Shopping for Carbon Credits,” by Katherine Ellison (published July 2, 2007)
A highly praised and well reviewed book we all must read is Low Carbon Diet: A 30 Day Program to Lose 5000 Pounds, by David Gershon
A fun site that will send you a daily “hot tip” is idealbite.com. .
Local organizations to support
Join Berkshire Grown to insure their continued support of local farms and agriculture. Eating locally is one of the most important and most personal acts of eco-consciousness (berkshiregrown.org).
Buy native plants wherever you live. Here in the Berkshires, buy them from Project Native (projectnative.org).
Become a member of local environmental groups. In the Berkshires, that list starts with Green Berkshires (greenberkshires.org). And now includes Berkshires for the Earth.
Become a member of your local land conservation group. If you’re in the Berkshires and your town doesn’t have one, join Berkshire Natural Resources Council (bnrc.og).
If this were an ideal world:
Don’t drive as much.
Use public transportation for neighborhood, short haul and long haul travel.
Go to sleep when the sun goes down, wake up when the sun comes up.
Compiled by Widow in the Woods, July 9, 2007
Appliances
Unplug “dormant” electrical gadgets—all those lights that are on use up a lot of energy.
Wherever you have a lot of appliances plugged in, get a surge protector that can handle all the plugs—then turn the surge protector off when you’re not using those items.
Some believe that turning off the computer and restarting it uses more energy than putting it to sleep. Others think it doesn’t hurt to turn your computer on and off to save energy.
If you’re on a municipal water system, install low flow water heads in the shower, low flow faucets in sinks, and low flow toilets.
Use Energy Saver appliances.
Don’t have a hot tub.
Car stuff:
Use the Sierra Club guidelines when buying gasoline. Their study determined that BP and Sunoco are “better,” that Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, Valero Energy Corporation, and Citgo are “bad,” and that ExxonMobil and Conoco Phillips are “the worst.”
Plan trips and errands to be most fuel efficient, keep tires properly inflated, and change oil and air filters regularly.
Fill your gas tank early in the morning or late at night since gas evaporates more in the heat of the day (who knew??).
Drive an electric or hybrid car. Or, as one friend says, “Get a Prius. With snow tires.”
Walk, don’t drive. Or bike. Or carpool.
When the urge to own an SUV or any other oversized vehicle assaults you, suppress it.
Housekeeping
Wait to do full loads of laundry and dishes.
See if you can wear clothes more than once, and if you can do more of your laundry with cold water. (When one family’s hot water heater broke last May, they learned that much of their laundry doesn’t need hot water.)
As we all probably know, hand dishwashing is much less efficient than by machine.
If you don’t have that many dishes to wash, see if your dishwasher has a top-rack-only option (mine doesn’t). Also see if you can turn off the heated drying cycle.
If you have pots and pans that need to soak, put them in the sink and use old water from the tea kettle to fill them.
And water plans with old water from the tea kettle, too.
Use stainless steel water containers instead of plastic.
Use white vinegar to clean glass, bathrooms, refrigerator, floors.
Use hydrogen peroxide instead of fabric softener, and as an anti-bacterial agent.
Use brown or natural coffee filters, toilet paper, paper towels.
Use only “environmentally correct” home cleaning products.
Stop having clothes dry cleaned. (Check out Dry Cleaner’s Secret)
Don’t flush the toilet every time you use it.
Never use plastic or throwaway paper plates or silverware.
Stop using paper napkins. Cloth ones are better.
Yes, yes, now there are recyclable eating utensils that can replace plastic or paper ones. Eschew them for the real thing.
Forego the clothes dryer and dry your clothes on a rack or a line.
Limit showers to 5 minutes.
Recycling
Remember that compost reduces the waste stream a lot. Recycle or compost everything you can.
The Japanese (and maybe the Chinese) import our recycled cardboard and make “new” recycled liner board. (Paper is a growth stock; invest now!).
Get the “wall warts” out, and reduce quantity.
Compost yard waste that doesn’t attract critters.
Shopping
Buy local. This saves fuel for shipping goods across the country, and contributes to your local economy.
Every item here in the U.S. (well, almost every item) comes heavily packaged, and rarely is the packaging made from recycled material. Try to take the packaging off whilst in the store and hand it back to the manager with the admonition that they should dispose of it. If enough of us do this, perhaps management will alert manufacturers to consumer dissatisfaction with excess packaging.
ALWAYS carry your own bags to the grocery store. The “plastic or paper” issue is pointless; neither does the environment any good. So when the bagger asks “Plastic or paper?” just reply smugly, “I bring my own bags.” Added benefit: some stores give the eco-conscious bag-bringer a few cents off the total bill.
Food and cooking
Buy local.
Check out eatlocal.net and consider “joining the challenge” of eating within 100 miles of where you live.
Host a “localvore” pot luck dinner where all the food is grown locally. (Hint: this is easiest in summer and early fall.)
Boycott corn and corn products unless they’re organic.
Boycott food from China.
Grow your own food or join a CSA.
During the “season,” shop at your local farmers market.
Eat meat once a week or less. Meat is the most “expensive” user of energy, far more so than are vegetables.
Do not buy bottled water. Just fill a thermos with your own tap water. And buy a soda siphon to make sparkling water.
Try not to buy heavily packaged or plastic wrapped food.
While you bake a cake, roast some beets on the bottom shelf.
Lawns and gardening
Convert parts of your lawn to groundcover or meadow.
Check out Edible Estates for reasons to make your lawn into an edible garden, and suggestions for doing so.
Do not use pesticides. Instead, try older methods such as using lady bugs to clear up aphids.
Plant trees. And try not to cut the ones you’ve got. And if you do cut them, try to use them in your efficient wood burning stove.
Don’t burn brush, tree tops, or yard waste. Instead, make elegant living quarters for wildlife out of them.
Mow your lawn as infrequently as possible.
Install rain barrels for garden watering.
Major environmental home investments
Consider windmills for the house, rooftop solar, and geothermal units, which provide long-term payback.
If building a new house or putting on an addition, consider radiant heat.
Ditto a compost toilet.
Install triple insulated windows.
Replace large water heater with smaller one using solar power.
Build a root cellar.
Erect a greenhouse, and if it’s of any size, use radiant heat.
Web sites, books, and articles
To save paper, read your newspapers and magazines online or at a library.
Go to Live Earth website (liveearth.org) for their list of environmental tips (all of which have links to more information).
National Geographic’s Green Guide (thegreenguide.com).
To change your lawn to an edible garden, definitely check out this website: fritzhaeg.com/garden/initiatives/edibleestages/main.html
Alternative energy blog at Alt-e.blogspot.com
Measure your carbon footprint at carbonfootprint.com
Website for a great magazine, “E,” emagazine.com
Good information at energybulletin.net
Check out greeenpeace.org/usa
It sounds frivolous, but you might like groovygreen.com
Try livenatural.org
This one’s self-explanatory: saveourenvironment.org
Helpful site with lotsa links: envirolink.org
We all know about nrdc.org
And about environmentaldefense.org
Try realclimate.org
Real Progress has a nifty site rprogress.org
If you’re up for a challenge, look into lowimpactliving.com
The International Herald Tribune has some good information at iht.indexes/special/green/index.php
So long as you subscribe to the New York Times or buy Times Select, take the opportunity to check out the archives of the Times’ energy collection. nytimes.com/ref/science/earth/energy.html
Home Energy Saver offers hes.lbl.gov
I like the title of this site—inspiredprotagonist.com
Who could resist treehugger.com
Try timesonline.typepad.com/eco_worrier
Friends of the Earth provides suv.org
And then there’s worldchanging.com
The World Wildlife Foundation produces For a Living Planet at panda.org/news_facts/publications/living_planet_report/index.cfm
Go to salon.com and search for “Shopping for Carbon Credits,” by Katherine Ellison (published July 2, 2007)
A highly praised and well reviewed book we all must read is Low Carbon Diet: A 30 Day Program to Lose 5000 Pounds, by David Gershon
A fun site that will send you a daily “hot tip” is idealbite.com. .
Local organizations to support
Join Berkshire Grown to insure their continued support of local farms and agriculture. Eating locally is one of the most important and most personal acts of eco-consciousness (berkshiregrown.org).
Buy native plants wherever you live. Here in the Berkshires, buy them from Project Native (projectnative.org).
Become a member of local environmental groups. In the Berkshires, that list starts with Green Berkshires (greenberkshires.org). And now includes Berkshires for the Earth.
Become a member of your local land conservation group. If you’re in the Berkshires and your town doesn’t have one, join Berkshire Natural Resources Council (bnrc.og).
If this were an ideal world:
Don’t drive as much.
Use public transportation for neighborhood, short haul and long haul travel.
Go to sleep when the sun goes down, wake up when the sun comes up.
Compiled by Widow in the Woods, July 9, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Tasty Food Books
Food as a pastime--food as a way of life--food as an obsession came to fruition in the 1980’s. We lived in New York City then, and were educated by columns from Molly O’Neill, whose tenure as a food writer at The New York Times coincided happily with the emergence of chefs as the new superstars. A comment she made at a panel for the New York City chapter of Culinary Historians in the 1990’s made quite an impression on me. O’Neill pointed out that in Italy, a fiercely class-based society, everyone eats the same food. Yet in America, a vociferous proponent of equality, one might say “Tell me what you eat and I’ll tell you where you are in the pecking order.” She said, “When McDonald’s starts serving salads with balsamic vinegar, it will disappear from fancy restaurant menus.” How very prescient.
At some point O’Neill seemed to disappear and I missed her. Now, though, you can meet up with her again in her autobiography Mostly True: A Memoir of Family, Food and Baseball, a perfectly splendid book. It’s a treat to read her account of growing up the elder sister of five boisterous brothers, one of whom is former Yankee star Paul O’Neill; of her development as a chef in Northampton, Provincetown and Boston; and, of course, the time she spent covering New York food as it exploded with creativity and snob appeal. It’s not just food that she writes about so convincingly. Reading about her life as a burgeoning feminist in Northampton is hilarious in a time-warp way.
After being absent from the literary scene for far too long, O’Neill seems back with a vengeance since about a year after her autobiography came out she edited American Food Writing, an anthology extending from colonial times to the present. We don’t see much of her in the book, but we get the benefit of her well-developed food sensibilities in the choices she made for excerpts. Unlike her autobiography, one wouldn’t sit down and read this volume straight through. But it’s fun to keep on the nightstand, to read it in small bites instead of one huge gulp.
Right after reading Almost True I read Thomas McNamee’s biography, Alice Waters and Chez Panisse, a thoroughly delightful romp through the history of one of America’s most famous, and certainly most iconic, restaurants. Luckily, for those of us with a penchant for the salacious in biographies, McNamee satisfies with sundry stories of the sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll that accompanied the establishment of Chez Panisse. I particularly liked the meaty descriptions of the many chefs who cooked there, of the ethical dilemmas Waters and her staff dealt with, and, to be sure, details of the foraging sorties that led to the current emphasis on “buy local.”
Over the weekend I read Russ Parsons’s new book, How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor From Farm to Table. Parsons is the food editor and chief food writer for The Los Angeles Times, whose name you might recognize from the occasional article the Berkshire Eagle publishes in its food section. Like his earlier book, How To Read a French Fry, this one provides well written and interesting information about sustainable farming. And like the earlier one, there are about 100 recipes.
This being a book on fruit and vegetables, Parsons divides it into the four seasons, with botanical and culinary information on a wide variety of produce we all eat (or should eat). I took an immediate fancy to the book because the very first entry is on artichokes, a food I love to eat but am terrified to prepare. He made it seem so easy that I’m thinking it’s finally time to relax enough to learn to make them. In each entry, the reader learns where the produce is grown, and how to choose, store and prepare it.
One aspect of our food system is made very clear—more than half of American produce comes from California. Internalizing that fact is sobering. I need to think it about that, and figure out what it means in terms of “buy local.” If, as in our case, “local” is 3000 miles away from the major food source.
Food as a pastime--food as a way of life--food as an obsession came to fruition in the 1980’s. We lived in New York City then, and were educated by columns from Molly O’Neill, whose tenure as a food writer at The New York Times coincided happily with the emergence of chefs as the new superstars. A comment she made at a panel for the New York City chapter of Culinary Historians in the 1990’s made quite an impression on me. O’Neill pointed out that in Italy, a fiercely class-based society, everyone eats the same food. Yet in America, a vociferous proponent of equality, one might say “Tell me what you eat and I’ll tell you where you are in the pecking order.” She said, “When McDonald’s starts serving salads with balsamic vinegar, it will disappear from fancy restaurant menus.” How very prescient.
At some point O’Neill seemed to disappear and I missed her. Now, though, you can meet up with her again in her autobiography Mostly True: A Memoir of Family, Food and Baseball, a perfectly splendid book. It’s a treat to read her account of growing up the elder sister of five boisterous brothers, one of whom is former Yankee star Paul O’Neill; of her development as a chef in Northampton, Provincetown and Boston; and, of course, the time she spent covering New York food as it exploded with creativity and snob appeal. It’s not just food that she writes about so convincingly. Reading about her life as a burgeoning feminist in Northampton is hilarious in a time-warp way.
After being absent from the literary scene for far too long, O’Neill seems back with a vengeance since about a year after her autobiography came out she edited American Food Writing, an anthology extending from colonial times to the present. We don’t see much of her in the book, but we get the benefit of her well-developed food sensibilities in the choices she made for excerpts. Unlike her autobiography, one wouldn’t sit down and read this volume straight through. But it’s fun to keep on the nightstand, to read it in small bites instead of one huge gulp.
Right after reading Almost True I read Thomas McNamee’s biography, Alice Waters and Chez Panisse, a thoroughly delightful romp through the history of one of America’s most famous, and certainly most iconic, restaurants. Luckily, for those of us with a penchant for the salacious in biographies, McNamee satisfies with sundry stories of the sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll that accompanied the establishment of Chez Panisse. I particularly liked the meaty descriptions of the many chefs who cooked there, of the ethical dilemmas Waters and her staff dealt with, and, to be sure, details of the foraging sorties that led to the current emphasis on “buy local.”
Over the weekend I read Russ Parsons’s new book, How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor From Farm to Table. Parsons is the food editor and chief food writer for The Los Angeles Times, whose name you might recognize from the occasional article the Berkshire Eagle publishes in its food section. Like his earlier book, How To Read a French Fry, this one provides well written and interesting information about sustainable farming. And like the earlier one, there are about 100 recipes.
This being a book on fruit and vegetables, Parsons divides it into the four seasons, with botanical and culinary information on a wide variety of produce we all eat (or should eat). I took an immediate fancy to the book because the very first entry is on artichokes, a food I love to eat but am terrified to prepare. He made it seem so easy that I’m thinking it’s finally time to relax enough to learn to make them. In each entry, the reader learns where the produce is grown, and how to choose, store and prepare it.
One aspect of our food system is made very clear—more than half of American produce comes from California. Internalizing that fact is sobering. I need to think it about that, and figure out what it means in terms of “buy local.” If, as in our case, “local” is 3000 miles away from the major food source.
Friday, June 15, 2007
What’s a Book-Loving Local Food Fan To Do?
Even faster than you can read them, publishers are producing well-written, thoughtful books on the virtues and pleasures of local food. Following the excitement generated last year by Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” look for Barbara Kingsolver’s “Animal Vegetable Miracle” and “Plenty,” by Vancouver journalists Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon.
I’ve been a Barbara Kingsolver fan since reading her first novel “Bean Trees” some years ago. Originally drawn in by her story-telling talent, I later found myself really hooked as her fiction demonstrated her obvious connection with food.
“We came from Bethlehem, Georgia, bearing Betty Crocker cake mixes into the jungle. My sisters and I were all counting on one birthday apiece during our twelve-month mission. ‘And heaven knows,’ our mother predicted, ‘they won’t have Betty Crocker in the Congo.”
Thus begins her introductory chapter on Leah Price, the main character in Kingsolver’s runaway bestseller “The Poisonwood Bible.” Betty Crocker. The Congo. What a concept!
In “Animal Vegetable Mineral,” Kingsolver tells us that she and her family began their year-long quest of eating locally in early spring, defined as when the first asparagus came out of the ground. And thus by late March on their farm in Virginia, their grocery list included only goods produced locally, not those available just because they’d been shipped in from who-knows-where. The family grew a large amount of their food with a huge garden and some animals. They bought or bartered fresh food from neighbors, and spent endless hours preserving food at harvest time.
Each month gets its own chapter, which it shares with Kingsolver’s observations and research on a large variety of agricultural, economic, political, and sociological aspects of the 21st century food system. And most chapters have sidebars written by Steven Hopp, Kingsolver’s husband, an environmental studies professor, and her older daughter Camille, a Duke University student. Camille provides recipes the family used during their year of eating locally. Although I haven’t yet made any of them, I licked my lips as I read them.
Although Pollan’s “Omnivore’s Dilemma” set the gold standard for contemporary books on local food, Kingsolver’s is more accessible, and easier to read, in fact, than one or two of her most recent novels. Not only did I learn a lot from her book, but I had a hard time putting it down. It’s just plain fun to read.
The second eating local book I read was “Plenty” by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon, who defined “local” as grown within 100 miles of their small apartment in Vancouver. Unlike Kingsolver’s family, who granted themselves “exceptions” to their local diet (e.g., coffee, chocolate, wheat), Smith and MacKinnon made no allowance for the unavailability of items most of us wouldn’t think of abandoning, no matter how devoted we are to eating locally. (If you can imagine life without olive oil, you’re a better localvore than I.)
Just as Kingsolver’s book involved extensive commentary by her husband and older daughter, Smith and MacKinnon solved the dual author problem by alternating chapters. MacKinnon begins, I guess, because he was the one who proposed the idea. And he is certainly the more enthusiastic of the two throughout the year. Although both are good writers, I found Smith’s quizzical participation in the project something of a turnoff. But the book is a useful and undoubtedly more realistic counterpoint to the bucolic setting of Kingsolver’s Virginia farm.
The Kingsolver and Smith/MacKinnon books fall within a new paradigm of “eating locally,” or the “100-mile diet,” or, more simply “localvore.” Within the last year or two, dozens of chapters of Localvores have sprung up across the country, typically hosting one-week “eating local challenges” at various times of year.
For example, the Mad River Valley Localvores, headquartered in Warren, Vermont, held its first “challenge week” in September 2006. One hundred fifty-five people signed up, promising to eat only locally grown food. Well, it was September, so the challenge wasn’t too daunting. But they ran another challenge in late January, which, to be literal, was a far greater “challenge” than the one during harvest season. Yet 133 people signed up and fulfilled their pledge to spend one week eating locally.
The Mad River Valley Localvores gave their participants five “freebies,” foods which aren’t local but are considered necessary for psychic, if not physical survival—coffee, chocolate, wheat, tea, you get the drift. They also allow the “Marco Polo exception,” meaning you can use anything that sailors on a long voyage might have used: e.g., salt, pepper, spices.
I happened to be in Mad River Valley during the winter localvore challenge, and came back to the Berkshires determined to figure out how to introduce the concept here. If you’re interested, please let me know. Here at the Berkshire Grown Blog.
--Laury Epstein
Even faster than you can read them, publishers are producing well-written, thoughtful books on the virtues and pleasures of local food. Following the excitement generated last year by Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” look for Barbara Kingsolver’s “Animal Vegetable Miracle” and “Plenty,” by Vancouver journalists Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon.
I’ve been a Barbara Kingsolver fan since reading her first novel “Bean Trees” some years ago. Originally drawn in by her story-telling talent, I later found myself really hooked as her fiction demonstrated her obvious connection with food.
“We came from Bethlehem, Georgia, bearing Betty Crocker cake mixes into the jungle. My sisters and I were all counting on one birthday apiece during our twelve-month mission. ‘And heaven knows,’ our mother predicted, ‘they won’t have Betty Crocker in the Congo.”
Thus begins her introductory chapter on Leah Price, the main character in Kingsolver’s runaway bestseller “The Poisonwood Bible.” Betty Crocker. The Congo. What a concept!
In “Animal Vegetable Mineral,” Kingsolver tells us that she and her family began their year-long quest of eating locally in early spring, defined as when the first asparagus came out of the ground. And thus by late March on their farm in Virginia, their grocery list included only goods produced locally, not those available just because they’d been shipped in from who-knows-where. The family grew a large amount of their food with a huge garden and some animals. They bought or bartered fresh food from neighbors, and spent endless hours preserving food at harvest time.
Each month gets its own chapter, which it shares with Kingsolver’s observations and research on a large variety of agricultural, economic, political, and sociological aspects of the 21st century food system. And most chapters have sidebars written by Steven Hopp, Kingsolver’s husband, an environmental studies professor, and her older daughter Camille, a Duke University student. Camille provides recipes the family used during their year of eating locally. Although I haven’t yet made any of them, I licked my lips as I read them.
Although Pollan’s “Omnivore’s Dilemma” set the gold standard for contemporary books on local food, Kingsolver’s is more accessible, and easier to read, in fact, than one or two of her most recent novels. Not only did I learn a lot from her book, but I had a hard time putting it down. It’s just plain fun to read.
The second eating local book I read was “Plenty” by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon, who defined “local” as grown within 100 miles of their small apartment in Vancouver. Unlike Kingsolver’s family, who granted themselves “exceptions” to their local diet (e.g., coffee, chocolate, wheat), Smith and MacKinnon made no allowance for the unavailability of items most of us wouldn’t think of abandoning, no matter how devoted we are to eating locally. (If you can imagine life without olive oil, you’re a better localvore than I.)
Just as Kingsolver’s book involved extensive commentary by her husband and older daughter, Smith and MacKinnon solved the dual author problem by alternating chapters. MacKinnon begins, I guess, because he was the one who proposed the idea. And he is certainly the more enthusiastic of the two throughout the year. Although both are good writers, I found Smith’s quizzical participation in the project something of a turnoff. But the book is a useful and undoubtedly more realistic counterpoint to the bucolic setting of Kingsolver’s Virginia farm.
The Kingsolver and Smith/MacKinnon books fall within a new paradigm of “eating locally,” or the “100-mile diet,” or, more simply “localvore.” Within the last year or two, dozens of chapters of Localvores have sprung up across the country, typically hosting one-week “eating local challenges” at various times of year.
For example, the Mad River Valley Localvores, headquartered in Warren, Vermont, held its first “challenge week” in September 2006. One hundred fifty-five people signed up, promising to eat only locally grown food. Well, it was September, so the challenge wasn’t too daunting. But they ran another challenge in late January, which, to be literal, was a far greater “challenge” than the one during harvest season. Yet 133 people signed up and fulfilled their pledge to spend one week eating locally.
The Mad River Valley Localvores gave their participants five “freebies,” foods which aren’t local but are considered necessary for psychic, if not physical survival—coffee, chocolate, wheat, tea, you get the drift. They also allow the “Marco Polo exception,” meaning you can use anything that sailors on a long voyage might have used: e.g., salt, pepper, spices.
I happened to be in Mad River Valley during the winter localvore challenge, and came back to the Berkshires determined to figure out how to introduce the concept here. If you’re interested, please let me know. Here at the Berkshire Grown Blog.
--Laury Epstein
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Berkshire Grown Restaurant Week June 10 -14, 2007
Berkshire Grown’s Restaurant Week 2007 features 25 Berkshire Grown restaurants. Berkshire Grown restaurants offer a three course prix fix dinner menu or lunch special featuring locally grown or produced foods for $20.07 a meal. This promotion is offered exclusively to Berkshire Grown members at the following restaurants:
North County: Café Latino • Gala Restaurant and Bar • Gramercy Bistro
The Williams Inn
Central County: Baroods Restaurant • Café Reva • Chez Nous •
Church Street Café • Gateways Inn • Pittsfield Brew Works • Rouge Bistro • Spice • Wheatleigh (lunch, must call for reservations) • The Williamsville Inn (Sunday Only)
South County: Allium • Baba Louie’s • Castle Street Café • Jack’s Grill •
John Andrews • Pearls • The Old Inn on the Green • The Red Lion Inn • Route 7 Grill • Stagecoach Tavern • Uncommon Grounds (lunch only)
Each member of Berkshire Grown is able to dine out with a guest for the crazy price of $20.07 a meal at any of the participating restaurants. This is a member benefit, as well as an enticement for new members to join. Anyone who wants to join Berkshire Grown can actually join at a participating restaurant during Restaurant Week, or call Berkshire Grown at 413-528-0041.
North County: Café Latino • Gala Restaurant and Bar • Gramercy Bistro
The Williams Inn
Central County: Baroods Restaurant • Café Reva • Chez Nous •
Church Street Café • Gateways Inn • Pittsfield Brew Works • Rouge Bistro • Spice • Wheatleigh (lunch, must call for reservations) • The Williamsville Inn (Sunday Only)
South County: Allium • Baba Louie’s • Castle Street Café • Jack’s Grill •
John Andrews • Pearls • The Old Inn on the Green • The Red Lion Inn • Route 7 Grill • Stagecoach Tavern • Uncommon Grounds (lunch only)
Each member of Berkshire Grown is able to dine out with a guest for the crazy price of $20.07 a meal at any of the participating restaurants. This is a member benefit, as well as an enticement for new members to join. Anyone who wants to join Berkshire Grown can actually join at a participating restaurant during Restaurant Week, or call Berkshire Grown at 413-528-0041.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Don't miss our:
FERMENTED FOODS TASTING EVENT!
Come taste and learn about the benefits of these
traditional foods! Learn about ancient food-
preservation techniques and enjoy the cultures cap-
tured at this event. Join Seth Travins of Hawthorne
Valley in a conversation about the history and future
of fermented foods in our region. Tasters & fellow
fermenters welcome! We look forward to seeing you!
Fermented Foods Foment Event
Tastings offered by
Real Pickles,
Hawthorne Valley Farm,
Katalyst Kombucha,
South River Miso,
Gould Farm,
Berkshire Mountain Bakery,
Berkshire Blue cheese,
West County Cider
THE NUTRITION CENTER AT 94 WEST AVE.
Great Barrington, MA 01230
For more Information,
please call (413) 854-2593
Sat. May 19, 2007 from 1pm-5pm
Welcome to Berkshire Grown's Blog!
Berkshire Grown is an exciting organization based in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Our new Executive Director is Barbara Zheutlin.
As spring arrives here in the Northeast, check our web-site, www.berkshiregrown.org, for Farmer's Markets, CSAs, and other ways to find fresh seasonal foods and flowers, as well as the establishments that serve them.
As spring arrives here in the Northeast, check our web-site, www.berkshiregrown.org, for Farmer's Markets, CSAs, and other ways to find fresh seasonal foods and flowers, as well as the establishments that serve them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
