Nowadays, I’m considering a return to traditional locavorism with a slight twist.

As to be expected, eating locally also means cooking from scratch. It means no coconut milk or ginger or citrus fruit. No condiments (unless made locally from locally sourced ingredients), no fancy imported wine, and of interest here, little use for the modern-day grocery store.

This time the rules will be a bit more flexible. Our location – Portland, OR – is also far more receptive to a local eating challenge. The weather is mild year round, there’s an abundance of meat and seafood, and there are lots of fruit varieties to chose from.

The goal is to eat local and source most, if not all of our food from the source. Aside from toilet paper and other household items, the grocery store/food coop will also serve as our source of grain.

Put differently, we hope to shop at the grocery store once a month. We will continue to receive our meat from Afton Field farm. We will begin a dairy delivery with Noris Dairy (delivered right to our door no less!) Our produce will come from a variety of places: farmers markets, our garden, other people’s gardens, and hopefully a buying club. In fact, I just learned today about a new buying club starting in our neighborhood, one focused on produce and coffee. All that’s left is grain and condiments!

Between now and June 1st we will slowly stock our pantry with beloved grains; cover our fridge with preservation ideas; love our garden, and make the arrangements with the buying club and dairy. As you might imagine, I am very excited about this new project!

The planning stages are upon us and I hope to share this process with all of you.

Consider this an introduction.

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For some, it’s the morel or the fiddlehead or the elusive ramp. For others, its the beading red-head of the radish, the curls of the first salad greens or the herb garden taking a stand. No matter you stance, for me, when I think of spring … I think of salad.

Now, I do love hunting morels and ramps and fiddleheads, but as an urbanite I must also consider the domestic versions of warming weather and flowering edibles. After a long season of mashed root vegetables and braised meat, it is truly refreshing to fix myself a plate of fresh greens to accompany the meal (or eat as the meal.)

Depending on your palate’s personality, you may go the simple route and consume strictly greens. Or maybe you want a little bit, but just a little variety and throw in some herbs, like mint or chives or tarragon. If you seek a more filling salad you may venture into the world of crunch. Maybe some raw beets or carrots to accompany the greens? Perhaps some shredded radish and toasted sunflower seeds to contrast the baby spinach? Maybe you’re a vegan and salad is your staple, then you may overwhelm the bed of greens with a wide variety of treats. (Note: non-vegans can find delight in crazy salads too.)

But then we must also consider the dressing. The transparent or opaque cloak that covers the plate of freshness. Again, one’s palate will often make that choice before the salad starts. Want something sour, go for a lemon dressing. A spicy kick, throw some chili pepper in the mix. Or maybe a little luxury in the lunch break, and bring out the good ol’ creamy stuff.

The combinations are endless. As there are many, many options for the salad itself – which greens, which herbs, which seeds, which veggies, etc. And then, there’s salad dressing. The simple balsamic vinaigrette or the homemade blue cheese? Or maybe some of the creme de la creme, Annie’s Goddess dressing. Wowza! That stuff is goooood.

No matter your preference, remember to celebrate the new season with some freshly picked garden edibles. And before I forget, what are your favorite salad dressings? Homemade or store bought? Please share with me and other readers. All of us salad-hungry citizens seek new ideas!

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I love you so much and you leave me so soon. It feels like yesterday when you arrived out back on our raised bed. And now you look so frail, so overly-eaten and enjoyed. It’s only a matter of time before we consume you completely and await your return in the early winter. I know we could spend our lives together. I know you grow year-round, but there’s something about you that screams “winter.” So forgive me for skipping over your summer season. Consider it an act of joy and appreciation that we feast upon you all week long!

To wine and dine with you, here’s is what I’ve decided:

• Lamb dogs with corn pudding and kale
• Pasta with kale and parmesan
• Butternut squash gnocchi with brown rice and kale
• Coconut braised beef with a veggie side dish – kale perhaps?!
• Soup!

Given our supply, this could be our last wintry week together. For all our good times together, I thank you. See you in the cooler weather, my dear friend. Adios!

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When we talk about sustainability, especially in the context of resourcefulness, permaculture is way of the future. For philosophical, practical and environmental reasons, my wife and I decided to attempt some of permaculture’s ideas in our backyard.

We currently have 3 raised beds in the backyard and each of them is equal in size – 4 x 4 x 8. Over the fall and through our (current) mild winter, we planted kale, chard, greens, cauliflower and a few other hearty crops. All the while we’ve had time to ponder over this year’s garden. We are excited to try something different.

Instead of following neat rows of plants, we tossed seeds all over the place. In what felt like Darwinian-guerilla gardening, we scattered 5 or so plant varieties all over the bed. The technique we used is called polyculture gardening. The goal is to combine two similar gardening practices and create a plant environment that maximizes the plant’s natural inclination, while also improving the quality of the soil. The two interwoven techniques are interplanting and companion planting.

• Interplanting – combines crops that minimize the competition for sun and nutrients.
• Companion planting – blends plant varieties that enhance one another.

Following the belief that plant ecologies are dynamic rather than static, polycultural planing provides an environment where plants function as they would “in nature.” What seems like competition between varieties is actually a productive ecology of different plants. Simply put, polyculture suggests growing more plants together in a given space.

…in more sophisticated polycultures, the plants themselves tune their environment to the best conditions for their growth. Given the chance, heat-shunning lettuces will snuggle for protection under a leafy canopy of cauliflower. Slow-germinating wildflowers will bide their time in the moist shade of an early-leafing currant bush…

We can create gardens in which plants nestle together in minimally competitive patterns, bolster each other with beneficial interactions, and shift their composition to ecological succession, all combining to provide lengthy and varied harvests of food, blossoms and habitat.

To contrast, when we think of gardens that utilize a row structure, we see a “clean” and understandable garden. We employ our math skills and create an easy-to-maintain, means of food production. Mainstream agriculture values efficiency over health – in this case, the health of the Earth.

There are two things that strikes me about polyculture permaculture. On the one hand, we sacrifice an efficient means of food production for healthier soil, plants, insects, etc. The second aspect that challenges us, is the fact that we are planting seeds in a way that mimics plant systems in nature. What seems like a chaotic scatter of plants, will actually develop into a dynamic and plant-intentioned (not human-intentioned) grouping of plants.

Assuming is works, the sustainability piece comes each season. The choice of crops on our part, combined with the plant’s ability to resume its natural inclinations, creates a soil that is rich in nutrients and ready for the next set of crops. In a system that mimics nature, the cycle is born and recycles itself. Thus, when these plants die and decompose in the soil, their nutrients will “pave the way” for the next set of plants. I suppose we could say that the ‘circle of life’ in the garden begins with permaculture. And so we begin a new way of life too.

(By the way, most of this post and analysis was gleaned from reading Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture by Tony Hemenway)

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When I saw this slideshow a couple days ago on grist.org, I knew I had to share it with my readers. Even though I don’t live in a overwhelming metropolis like New York City or Paris or Tokyo, I am constantly inspired by the innovation of other people who want to grow their own food. Many, if not all of the images, remind me that size is no longer an issues when we talk about urban farming. Sure, if you want to raise chickens or grow a dozen different varieties, you may need more room. But for the simplest of foods to grow – like salad greens – these ideas are really awesome.

The industrialization of food has led many to believe that healthy food means processed food. Stickers and marketing ploys provide the nutritional data needed to eat healthy. And yet, nothing shines more of healthiness than a real, live head of lettuce. Or bush of berries. Or vine of cucumbers and tomatoes. Pretty pictures and flashy packaging may suggest healthy choices, but having food plucked fresh from the dirt transcends anything bought at the store.

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A recent article in the Washington Post paints a striking picture of this paradigm shift. Check out Raquel Maria Dillon’s “Urban farmers fight nationwide to sow green biz,” I recommend the piece, but for the sake of this entry let me summarize:

A woman in Los Angeles converted part of her yard to an organic flower garden, growing enough to sell at the local farmer’s market. To the chagrin of her neighbors, the “dusty pots, steaming compost, flies and a funky aroma on her tiny cul-de-sac” are not fitting for the community. Thus, these disgruntled neighbors called the zoning department, complained and won the suit. – This story and the larger issues at hand form the whole of the article.

A number of interesting conflicts arise in this growingly-common urban problem:

• On a macro level, climate change and global warming are gaining attention. Within cities, suburbs and rural communities families and individuals find themselves interested in changing their lifestyle. Some start eating organic food or shopping at farmer’s markets, others bicycle more or buy energy-efficient light bulbs.
• Meanwhile, as the economy crashes and folks lose their jobs, some find this dramatic change for the better, and see this as an opportunity to start something different. Some of these folks turn to urban agriculture while others buy land in the country and setup shop there.
• And yet, for all the people that want to change they way they live, they way they interact with the world, there are plenty of other people who don’t want all this change. This is especially true at the most local level. The home. The neighborhood. The community at large.

Consider this paradox of the American dream: Some folks seek self-reliance by growing their own food and not relying on outside forces to dictate the health of their home. The neighbors of these Thoreau-philes also seek personal equity. Folks who dislike the “grow your own food” mentality do not want the property values to slump. For all the sustainability of composting and urban animal husbandry, others simply see smelly trash and undesired animal sounds. It seems our overly-American idealism has split the population against itself.

And who will win this fight? No surprise here but I’d put my money on the smelly, hippy urbanites. As much as some don’t like the smell or the sight, this is the future of our economy – a stronger, localized economy. Everyday people growing, creating and raising sustenance for themselves and the good folks in the community. Who’s side would you rather be on?

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Fir Ridge is another SUN Community School and the site coordinator there has a strong interest in gardening and food education. She is also passionate enough to write and receive a substantial grant towards these important topics: gardening, land conservation and nutritional education.

Enter Jared Goodman (Good Man Eats)

Through Scott (the SUN coordinator at FLMS), I was recommended as a food educator. The next thing I know I am discussing my curriculum and finding out a way to bring my educational workshop to her school. Fast forward a week and I am sipping tea with the gardening educator. I learn from him that the school has 18 raised beds of an 8×4 size! For those of you who don’t know this – THAT IS HUGE! The amount of food that can be grown in that space is really tremendous.

• We could start a CSA for the community…
• We could sell produce at the farmers market…
• I could teach food preservation classes or provide more cooking classes to the youth…
• We could donate food to places in the community…
• Throughout this amazing process, the students are creating, planting, harvesting, cooking and possibly selling the fruits of their labor.

As you can tell, my excitement is boiling over. I am thrilled by the wonderful possibilities of food education AND the long-term goals of sustainability. If the garden takes off, we can sell produce to raise money that can go into making the project larger and “greener.” I am so lucky to be a part of this new school project. All of this makes my work and teaching so much more meaningful and powerful for the students and the community.

Food revolution – here I come!

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Now that the momentum is strong, the next best step is to distribute valuable resources. Many people have the dream of a school garden, be it an elementary school teacher or a college professor. With that in mind, I am happy to share an awesome article recently posted on Civil Eats, titled “School Gardens Across the Nation, and a Resource List for Starting Your Own.”

Suffice to say, this is an important article to read if these thoughts are on your mind. For those of you in need of this info, please read this and pass it along!

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“In Lation Gardens, Vegetables, Good Health and Savings Flourish,” by Patricia Leigh Brown

As the title suggests, a foray of good things have grown (pun intended) out of the raised beds in a rough-and-tough neighborhood in San Jose, CA. The article explains how a non-profit in the community has changed the lives of low-income Latino families by teaching them how to build gardens and grow their own food. For families of new immigrants who are used to fresh foods, the food movement brings a sigh of relief. When so many of these neighborhoods have become “food deserts,” it is a welcomed change in pace for home-grown vegetables.

As expected, the consequences of this “grow your own food” movement are multifaceted, especially in a community like this one. For example, access to whole vegetables saves money, brings the family together (in the garden and at the dinner table), provides nutritious foods, and brings a sense of pride to members of the neighborhood, not to mention brings neighbors together.

In this one example of communities connecting to food, I can’t help but imagine a broader movement towards a reality like this one. For those cynics that claim gardening a “rich person activity,” maybe they should visit this neighborhood and see how non-wealthy people thrive in their backyards.

As I begin to create a career in food, specifically food justice here in Portland, this article gives me a sense of hope for the change we all can bring to the world (if we want to.)

Please read the article and enjoy the good news!

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Imagine that as a young and desperately poor Mexican man, you had made the dangerous and illegal journey to California to work in the fields with other migrants. There, you performed stoop labor, picking lettuce and bell peppers and table grapes; what made such an existence bearable was the dream of a better life. You met a woman and had a child with her, and because that child was born in the U.S., he was made a citizen of this great country. He will lead a life entirely different from yours; he will be educated. Now that child is about to begin middle school in the American city whose name is synonymous with higher learning, as it is the home of one of the greatest universities in the world: Berkeley. On the first day of sixth grade, the boy walks though the imposing double doors of his new school, stows his backpack, and then heads out to the field, where he stoops under a hot sun and begins to pick lettuce.

This is the opening paragraph to Caitlin Flanagan‘s new essay, “How school gardens are cheating our most vulnerable students.” Her thoughtful and provocative writing was recently published in the  The Atlantic, an American magazine that focuses on politics, the economy and cultural trends. As you might expect, this article caught me by surprise. How (and why) would she make the case against school gardens?! Well, to tell you the truth, she makes an interesting argument. I don’t completely agree with her but I think she has some valid points.

Let me begin with a summary of her context and main arguments. Flanagan lives in Berkeley, California – home to the local food movement and its generous benefactor and prominent spokesperson, Alice Waters. Unlike the rest of the nation, California is flooded with “edible school yard” programs, which are ostensibly gardens at schools. Flanagan provides this statistic to emphasize the popularity of this garden program, “by 2002, 2,000 of the state’s 9,000 schools had a garden, and by 2008 that number had risen to 3,849, and it continues to grow.” At the same time, she points out that Hispanics makeup 49% of the student population in California schools.

By now most people recognize that this large Hispanic population is due in large part to the agriculture industry in California. There’s a reason why the rest of the country gets summertime produce year-round. Immigrant labor is clearly exploited to construct this multi-billion dollar industry. So, on the one hand, Flanagan’s argument is that most of the students in California’s public schools are Hispanic and most of these students come from families that work all day (or have worked) in the sweltering fields, orchards and vineyards. Thus, why would they want their children to go to school and harvest foods? Isn’t going to school about gaining the knowledge and skills to go to college, argues Flanagan.

Another important issue is the disproportionate graduation rates, let alone access to careers that will support an individual for life. For example, in California Hispanic and African American students pale in comparison to Whites and Asians in literacy and math skills. If these populations are obviously at risk of graduating and going to college, why are they subject to planting vegetables throughout the year?

To summarize, Flanagan claims that although school garden programs intend on improving the access to healthy foods for urban youth, they also impact the quality of the education these student receive. In today’s world students must have coursework in reading, writing and arithmetic; this is what colleges want and such skills will enable students to compete in the “real world.” Consequently, she believes that these school garden programs adversely affect the very population they intend to help.

My response to her various arguments are varied. On the one hand, I do believe that as a culture, even as a nation, we have completely lost touch with food – what it is, where it comes from and how to use it. This knowledge is cultural, it is passed down from one generation to the next. Sadly, our American way of life does not have time for this knowledge. Our fast-passed, work work work lives tend to neglect the importance of growing and/or consuming whole foods. I would make the counter point, that

a) statistically, children of immigrants are more likely to face obesity, type 2 diabetes or heart disease. Studies have shown that new immigrants eat like they did in their own country and do not rely on processed foods, thus maintaining a healthy way of life. Their children on the other hand, are more likely to assimilate into our unhealthy way of life. Therefore, it is important for youth to learn these skills before they graduate because, once assimilated, no one will teach them thereafter.

b) in general, the test-focused curriculum offered in pubic schools, especially in California, is truly awful. Is it better for students to spend all year training for a test that measures very little, or should schools attempt to integrate general academic studies into a school garden program? Flanagan notes that school reform in America is manic. It’s very common for our schools to pick up one idea, ride it for a couple years and then drop it; only to pick up another reform model.

Is the school garden program the best? Maybe, maybe not. I think the interdisciplinary model it offers is really exciting and has great potential. It does lack the serious academic focus, but again this is just middle school! I would also argue that Flanagan’s craze against this garden program seems to reinforce the mindless “teach to the test” culture our schools currently inhabit.

As education in this nation grows more obsessed with standardized testing, it is inevitable that we will lose touch with any notion of a liberal arts education. Sure, upper-middle class kids are “well-rounded” because they have the resources for numerous extracurricular activities. Schools with strong test scores tend to be schools with more resources, i.e. technology, smaller teacher to student ratio, textbooks or educational materials, etc. These students will do just fine. They’ll pass high school, go to college and get a job.

But all those families who lack the resources to afford after-school soccer practice, swimming lessons, studying abroad, or foreign language lessons, etc. where should they go to experience new opportunities? If schools don’t offer gardens (most do not), and continue to emphasize math, science and literacy, what sort of extracurricular opportunities will these youth experience?

In the end, I’d rather live in a society where young people study the world – its cultures, history, art and food – rather than learn how to recite multiplication and periodic tables. I believe that public schools have the responsibility to promote critical thought. This goal is far more attainable when students interact with their world, rather than when they mesmerize it one day and forget it the next.

Share and Enjoy:

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