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.

Related posts:

1. Urban farming – a world of possibility
2. Critical Food Literacy and a Sustainable Food Movement
3. The Food Curriculum Project (part V) “Lesson Plan 3″

Urban farming – what are its forms? Is it a reasonable means of food production? How is the individual and society at large affected by this growing agricultural movement? These are some of the questions to consider when we examine this trend in the local food movement and its roots in urban communities.

When I think about this question I picture a scale that ranges from big to small. At the top you have large-scale means of food production, think industrial agriculture. Currently, industrial agriculture practices monoculture farming (growing a single crop over a large span of land), which destroys the land, animal species and the general flow of nature. With monoculture farming pesticides are used. When farming only one plant there is no “circle of life” to prevent bugs and improve soil conditions, etc. All the problems of modern industrial agriculture come from this idea of planting large harvests of single crops each season. Ultimately, this means of production has devastated our top soil, polluted our water supply, depleted water sources, decimated animal populations and killed family farming.

In cities we cannot mimic this means of production because there are not hundreds or thousands of empty acres to plant crops. To feed the masses in the cities there is an idea known as vertical farming. Instead of growing plants on a horizontal plane, why not grow crops on a vertical one? Cities are composed of buildings, and some cities have really high buildings. What if some of these structures were full-fledged farms?!

Defying seasonality, these structures could possible provide all the whole foods available at Whole Foods.

This picture is one of many designs in the realm of possibility. As far as I know, in the United States nothing of this magnitude has been built, and yet I can definitely see us moving in this direction. With the reluctance of current politicians to take any drastic measures against climate change, I think we may have to consider this means of farming in the near future. Vertical farming on this scale is of great interest to me. The pictures I have seen that reflect the various forms of vertical farming are mesmerizing and rather fantastic. At the same time, when food production is in a building, I wonder if organic means are feasible. Clearly the food could be local, but would the constraints of the structure prevent sustainable crop growth? In this picture you can imagine the use of solar energy and grey water systems, maybe some sort of modern permaculture will develop to meet these needs.

In simple terms, permaculture is “a set of techniques and principles for designing sustainable human settlements” (see Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture by Toby Hemenway.) Another way to understand permaculture is as a landscape design that attempts to emulate the symbiotic relationships in nature between microbes in the soil, insects, birds and plants. If agriculture is modernity imposing his or her needs on nature – tilling the soil, planting non-native plants and disrupting the natural flow of the environment, then permaculture is the antithesis. People who practice permaculture understand the larger system that enables certain plants to thrive in a given environment. If this idea is harnessed properly, one can grow a multitude of foods in absolute organic method.

A smaller scale of urban farming that employs permaculture and feeds the masses is happening now. The man behind this remarkable venture is Will Allen and his farm is called Growing Power.  He also uses vertical farming techniques.

On 2 acres he's got a biodiversity of produce, livestock, bees and even fish, not to mention 25,000 pounds of compost a month!

As long as vacant lots are expensive I think the potential to expand on Allen’s ideas are limited. Nonetheless, I am highly optimistic of his model. One of my dreams is to recreate his farming model in Portland. If he can do this in the midwest where the winters are literally frozen, than surely Portland can practice his methods.

Allen is committed to food justice and his work reflects this passion. In the context of urban farming I do not know if the focus is on low-income communities, as they are less likely to purchase and eat whole foods when the cost is high. That said, I think the focus should be on low-income communities since their health will impact everyone else and vice verse. Thinking of this picture to the left, Allen wants to teach people how to fish(in the sense of empowering people to grow their own food,) and I think that is the future of localized food systems.

On that note, consider smaller plots of land dispersed in neighborhoods throughout the city and not just community gardens. I have nothing against community gardens, but as their popularity grows there will be longer lines to join the club and then less access to local food. I am intrigued by the potential of CSAs because if you cannot grow your own food, the CSA model seems to provide the best access to affordable whole foods. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is when an individual or family purchases a share of a farm’s product. For example, if you buy a winter share on a farm, you will receive x amount of produce every week for a set period of time. Everything the farm grows, you get a piece of. If you want to eat seasonally, I think CSAs are the way to go.

For the most part, CSA shares are provided by farms outside the city. In urban farming, this is a smaller and sustainable means of providing local and affordable food. In the urban CSA model there is a ceiling on growth, and ideally these “farms” could provide for the immediate neighbors. In Portland there are two examples I know of working in this direction: Shortcut Farm and Fruits of Our Neighbors Market Garden. Even as these two farms are at different stages of development, both are working towards CSA models for the immediate neighboring population.

Recently made beds at Shortcut farm. Here salad and winter greens will grow.

So we have gone from vertical farming in skyscrapers to vertical farming on 2 acre lots; here we have urban CSAs on single lots. Another form of urban agriculture, maybe the most prolific of them all is at home. Around the country people are returning to the act of gardening, no matter the size of their yard. Whether people garden on the land they have, build raised beds or attempt container gardening, these are all popular methods for growing your own food. And yet all of these methods require some amount of space outside the bedroom or kitchen.

For people in dense cities like New York City, even container gardening is an impossibility. But yesterday I came across a new direction to tackle this common obstacle. Consider the idea of a window farm!

Anyone with a window and a Do-It-Yourself attitude can participate in the new trend.

Yesterday I read an article on window farming on Civil Eats, one of the best blogs for commentary on food politics. The details of the technique are rather complicated, but I gather that the plants grow in 2 liter bottles and a slow-drip system is used to water the plants. Basically, this is vertical farming in the home on an individualized scale. Very cool. I don’t even live in a dense city but trying out this method would be quite the experience. Growing food like this definitely requires a sense of mechanical knowledge, but there is a great site devoted to sharing this skill set. To learn more about this gardening system, check out Window Farms. The site offers tons of information on how to build this structure. Since this means of food production is in the early stages of development, I think the site also serves as a place to discuss problems and solutions for the building process. Maybe this is the new and improved urban means of container gardening!

The possibilities in urban farming mentioned here are likely the tip of the iceberg. As populations grow and resources grow scarce, inventiveness will prosper. If anything, the future of urban food production will probably be vertical and hopefully embrace elements of permaculture. Different cities will require different means of production, but the goal will always be to localize our foods and to ensure accessibility and affordability.

For next time, I hope to consider whether or not these forms of urban agriculture are reasonable – can they feed the masses?

Related posts:

1. Urban Farming in Portland (part 1)
2. The Urban Farming Revolution
3. Introducing Permaculture

This morning, while munching on some granola (homemade and gluten-free and super yummy (everyone should make their own granola at least once)) my wife gave me a packet of papers and said, “Read this. I am curious to hear your thoughts on it.” Well, unbeknownst to her, I will be telling the vast world of internet peoples first, before we discuss the reading at dinner tonight.

The article is called “Access to Affordable and Nutritious Food: Measuring and Understanding Food Deserts and Their Consequences,” funded and published by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA.) As you might expect with any government-funded study, the report is humungous and this particular reading is just the introduction and first chapter. But before I say too much more, let me be the first to admit that I did not read the whole article. Why? You may ask. Well, to be honest, I was frustrated to see that the government spent x amount of dollars to study the obvious (common in policy and academic institutions.) That said, I suggest checking out the link above and reading beyond the first chapter. I intend on skimming this so I can pursue my passion for sensible ranting.

According to the Economic Research Service of the USDA,

This report fills a request for a study of food deserts—areas with limited access to affordable and nutritious food—from the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008. The report summarizes findings of a national-level assessment of the extent and characteristics of food deserts, analysis of the consequences of food deserts, lessons learned from related Federal programs, and a discussion of policy options for alleviating the effects of food deserts. Overall, findings show that a small percentage of consumers are constrained in their ability to access affordable nutritious food because they live far from a supermarket or large grocery store and do not have easy access to transportation. (I highlighted the term ‘food deserts.’)

The food desert. Do you live in a food desert? Do I live in a food desert? Although I have never heard the term, I like it and I think it makes perfect sense. The combination of food desert, low-income communities and sky-rocketing rates of type 2 diabetes and/or obesity is not surprising (in my opinion.) The USDA wanted to find out what the connections are between these factors and this study examined the many nuances to the situation. I am not going to summarize their findings; but I am going to complain; I am going to rant even. Please bear with me.

This study was funded by the USDA as part of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 aka the Farm Bill. I do not know everything about the Farm Bill, in fact I probably do not know very much. But what I do know does piss me off. For example, the Farm Bill provides the massive subsidies for corn, wheat and soy. These subsidies trickle into the consequential massive market of corn syrup and high-fructose corn syrup, both of which are incredibly unhealthy  (i.e. soda, candy and chips.) When subsidies are offered by the government (or anyone else) it provides an incentive for the producer to make that product. One of the many, many consequences of these subsidies is the proliferation of huge farms that only grow corn or wheat or soy. Overtime these 3 products have been transformed into many forms, like high-fructose corn syrup. So the government (via the Farm Bill) is “supporting” farmers with these subsidies and then this financial backing prevents other crops from being grown. Of course other plants are available but the scale and complexity of the corn market humbles the brussel sprout market.

What I am trying to get at is the utter contradiction in funding this report. On the one hand you have the USDA trying to find out why or how all these cheap and non-nutritious foods are affecting low-income people; and then at the same time, the USDA is funding farmers and factories to produce these problems. The very fact that these subsidies continue underlie the big issue of access to junk food. If farms growing a diversity of crops (ideally organic) were to be subsidized in the same way, you would see an explosion of cheap whole foods. If this were the case, I would not hear friends complain at the price of organic produce or farmer market prices. Instead we would complain of the high price of candy and other processed foods.

And with the abundance of cheap food, where do we sell it? In poor communities of course! They don’t know any better; in fact, times are so rough that if we make this “food” cheap we will be able to feed the masses! But if  we prevent all these people from binging on candy and soda and chips and all those products with unpronounceable ingredients – where would we put all this extra food.?  (Note my sarcasm and cynicism.)

The problem are the subsidies. Deep down under all the issues on nutrition, affordability and accessibility is the darker issue of subsidies. As long as companies are paid to produce cheap and unhealthy food we will have an excess of these items. As long as we have an excess, poor people will get sick and die from diseases that are preventable. The government is capable of ending the HUGE public health challenges like this but it does not. Why? You might ask. The only answer I have is that the Democrats (god bless their mediocrity and inability to fight for radical change) are the party backing the Farm Bill. So if you are a Democrat and you care about these issues, do some research and find out if your representatives voted for this devastating bill. I know I want to learn more on the last version of the Farm Bill so that I can rant some more.

To end my complaints and to preview more to come, let’s ask the following question:

• Will urban farms ever be subsidized?
• Will urban land usage ever be encouraged to grow food?
• What role do urban farms have in this complicated issue?

Share and Enjoy:

Related posts:

1. A Tax on Soda = Illogical Food Policy
2. Food Subsidies – Our Biggest Threat
3. Local Food Movement Gains Serious Support

Shortcut Farm - an urban agriculture project

Today I had the opportunity to volunteer with an up-and-coming urban farm in North Portland, Shortcut farm. Near the corner of Garfield and Shaver lies a once empty half lot of land, neighboring a large empty lot. In the last year or so this smaller parcel of land became a community garden. The land is owned by OSALT – Oregon Sustainable Agriculture Land Trust, a local non-profit devoted to preserving land for the use of agriculture, both rural and urban. As of recently a new project has taken shape on this piece of land, one that is also in conjunction with OSALT. This new ‘development’ is Shortcut farm.

The premise is simple: turn this otherwise empty neighborhood lot into a fully functioning urban farm, complete with apiary, fruit trees, permaculture designs and a rainwater catchment system. Today’s work was “part 2″ of the tilling, bed building and planting process. Here are some images to give you a sense of the space and its uses:

Crisscrossed raised beds dominate the front half of the lot.

The pattern of the beds is not only intentional but reflects some means of sustainable design. This simple layout prevents excessive runoff. Native plants will grow near the sidewalk to absorb the rain that is not absorbed by the beds. On the other side of the sidewalk sit strawberry and blueberry shrubs as well as another fig tree. Most of these rows have seeds already growing. Upon closer inspection you will notice various mustard greens, onions, kale, lettuce, salad greens. Along the right side lay gnarly raspberry bushes and other shading shrubbery.

Little baby greens are growing!

The bulk of the beds shown in these photos were completed a couple weeks ago. Today’s work included the construction of many more beds along the other side of the lot and all along the rear. The deep beds back there will be home to many root vegetables – turnips, rutabagas, radishes, potatoes as well as beans, brussels sprouts and other scrumptious veggies.

I volunteered for a couple hours and helped rake rows and build beds in the back. Many of the folks involved play an important role in the farm:

• Jes Larson lives next door to the land and plays the role of liaison for OSALT; she is also directly involved with the outreach and community building pieces of the farm.
• Gary Nash and Amy Bartholomew are urban farmers and farm other lots around the city, selling their produce to local restaurants.
• Ben Meyer is chef and co-owner of the neighboring restaurant, Ned Ludd. Since his restaurant will receive most of the farm’s produce he is extra engaged in the process of creating this wonderful place.

As far as I understand the setup, most of the produce will go to Ned Ludd and during the harvest parties, volunteers will also receive a portion of the product. Eventually (read next year) the goal is to create some CSA shares that are ‘bought’ through a work/trade agreement. In other words, starting next year those people who can volunteer 3 hours a week will receive a full CSA share. It is correct to assume that I hope to be one of those people! Though, who knows, maybe other exciting food sources will also develop in the coming year. But as someone who helped build this farm I would surely enjoy harvesting even a little bit of the fresh food.

The fruit of today's labor.

From under the cherry tree and facing the back wall of Ned Ludd.

What excites me the most about this whole project is the opportunity to learn and experience urban farming. Today I found myself musing on the idea of subsidies for urban farms. It seems like one big obstacle is the cost of land. I wonder if one day cities will be willing to subsidize land use when it is devoted to food production. As someone who believes that oil will one day go dry, I cannot ignore the possibility of incredibly high food costs for conventionally grown food. One day there will be a grand awakening regarding the importance of local food systems. And when I say ‘local’ I mean within one’s neighborhood!

The prospect of urban agriculture is of great interest to me. I look forward to documenting the growth of Shortcut farm and sharing my knowledge and thoughts on this new and expanding food system.

Related posts:

1. Urban farming – a world of possibility
2. Grow(ing) Your Own Food
3. The Urban Farming Revolution

I really want to pickle the cauliflower!

Only in the last couple of years have I entered the world of gardening. Our first garden was in Seattle and we planted a whole mishmash of herbs and veggies. Over time my interest in cooking affected my investment in growing. Once I learned what herbs I liked most or what veggies were most used, I wanted to focus on those. And now with my food passions at full speed I want to plant everything! I can see the use of so many herbs, veggies and fruits – one day I may just have to start a mini-farm to stock my kitchen with all these desires.

Here in Portland there is a collective buzz around growing one’s own food. It is fairly common to see people intentionally killing their lawns so they can plant food. Personally, I find this inspiring. I want to think that such behaviors can spread across the nation, but the bubble that is Portland may not influence the actions of others. At the same time, once the cost of oil continues to climb and food costs continue to soar, I think folks will have to catch on to the gardening trends.

An important piece of the puzzle is accessibility. By this I mean the ability to grow food – to have the space to grow. For many urban folks, millions and millions of people have minimal room to grow food. And yet, there are still possibilities. I am no expert but I want to share some of the different ways of growing one’s own food. Consider the size of your home or space and maybe some of these options will work:

• Container gardening: If you don’t have a yard but maybe a porch or a large window sill this option may be best. The goal is what you might imagine – to plant flowers, herbs, produce, etc in containers. These containers could be boxes, buckets or boots. The link I provided is just one of many online, but I thought this one provides a good introduction to the art of container gardening.

• Raised-bed gardening: This is my new favorite kind of gardening. When we lived in Minneapolis we had a large backyard, and more than half of it had become a garden. Here in Portland our “backyard” is more a gravel lot that has been converted to a ‘green space’ for us tenants. As far as I understand, this method of gardening is best when your soil is not so great. By building a raised bed you can determine just how much space you want to devote to the planting process – how wide, how long and how deep. As you can see with the picture above and the picture below, we have built some raised beds for ourselves.

Gotta have them salad greens.

In this picture you can see two rows of spinach (on the far left), one row of lettuce and two rows of mixed greens (on the far right.) In this bed, unlike the other picture, we planted the crops from seed instead of starters. Another great aspect to this gardening technique is the control you have over weeds. When your crop base is so contained it is far easier to weed out the unwanted plants. When we lived in Minneapolis with a large standard garden, weeding becomes a huge part of the maintenance. If you are lazy or short on time, I highly recommend building and planting in a raised-bed setup.

• Gardening: For those of you with land this is the most conventional method I know. Again, the link I provided seems like a good resource but I’m sure that millions of other sites too. My thought is that if you have the land and good soil then gardening is your best bet. If you have bad soil and limited land use, then you should consider raised-beds or container gardening.

No matter the circumstance I do believe that growing your own food is the way to go. For most of us, we cannot grow everything we want to eat. But once you identify your favorite plants, why not try to plant just those? The more you cook the more you will want to grow.

*

In the case that growing is impossible or its impossible to provide yourself the diversity you want, do consider a CSA share. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. The premise is simple: for ‘x’ amount of dollars you purchase a share of a farm’s product. Most CSAs provide produce, but nowadays you can find some that provide dairy products, meat, flowers and honey. An excellent resource for finding a CSA near you is Local Harvest.

Related posts:

1. Urban farming – a world of possibility
2. Introducing Permaculture
3. Urban Farming in Portland (part 1)

I know that we can buy our meat and eggs directly from the farmer. I mentioned in other posts that we joined a ‘meat buying club’ and will now be buying all of our grass-fed and pasture-raised animal products from a farm in Corvallis, OR – Afton Field Farm. A number of friends and acquaintances have mentioned dairy cooperatives that run similar to the meat buying club. In short, I order ‘x’ amount of milk containers or pounds of butter and then I meet the farmer in someone’s driveway to make a friendly exchange. Though in the past, I have learned that these transactions are more costly than I desire. At this point in my life I seek out milk that is sold in a glass container, one that I return after use to receive a small deposit. The buying clubs I have encountered charge something like $7-8 for a half gallon of milk, when we easily pay half that at the coop.

I can’t say that I am dissatisfied with the dairy products we currently purchase. The Rose Valley Butter that is sold in the coop and grocery store in our neighborhood is the kind I want to buy. The cows eat grass and hay in the winter and the butter is healthier for it. Plus, purchasing the butter supports a cooperative of Oregonian dairy farmers which is also great. Speaking of which, we are getting some tasty milk at the Alberta Coop. But to end my fix on shopping at the store I really will have to make the extra effort in finding the right diary club to fit our needs.

The next question is grain. I have decided that I want to create a spreadsheet that outlines all of the grains, beans and nuts that can be bought in bulk. For example, I am considering black beans, polenta, brown rice, polenta, peanuts, maybe some other beans, cornmeal, and some flour for my wife (as I am gluten-free.) All the other grains, beans and nuts can either be avoided or rotated in and out with each passing shipment. The question becomes, how much do I order at once and where do I store all of it? To be honest, I have no answers yet on the dry goods factor.

Fruit is easiest. Since fruit doesn’t really grow here in the winter I can rely on what we have frozen, canned, jammed or dried. After last year’s winter of no fruit, I know not to expect fresh fruit in January (unless we are visiting family in Hawaii.) And lastly are the vegetables. I really like eating seasonally. I love the foods of the fall and winter. The main problem is storing them so that I can buy them in bulk. I want to research the winter storage of beets and carrots. I have heard that both require a wet sand mixture and I think I may be able to put that together. I definitely intend on buying a big box of onions and potatoes and maybe some bags of garlic and shallots to help us too. In our own garden we will have some hearty greens growing all winter long. And if other plans work for us, we will be volunteering weekly at a new urban farm to earn our full share of a CSA! That would be the icing on the cake.

Maybe with a little foresight and some planning we can really eat all or meals from farm to plate with no middle men in between. That is my goal and I think we can do it.

Related posts:

1. Good-Bye Grocery Store (part 1)
2. Living off the grid
3. A Failed Experiment

There are 5 people in the world of food that I consider heroes. Today I want to share these fine individuals with all of you. Some of them you may know or have heard of and some of them may be complete strangers. But these are the people I admire and mention in conversation more than most others. And so, in no particular order, my heroes in food:

1. Michael Pollan – Writer, journalist, professor, and top-dog advocate for seasonal and local eating habits (among other important concerns.) He is the end-all guru in food politics (in my opinion.) Or maybe I should say, he is my guru in food politics. Everything he writes is damn good. More than anything, he takes complicated issues and writes in laymen’s terms (most of the time.) His writing is very accessible, no matter your literacy on the matter. He is most well-known for The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. (Though at this point he may be known for more recent publications.) I cannot speak highly enough of this book. If you are at all interested in anything related to current food issues you have to read this book! Don’t be the person who says “I’ve heard of it” or “I know what it’s about.” Just buy it or get it at the library of do what you have to do to get a hold of it – and read it! I promise you it will change your life.

2. Joel Salatin – Once you have read half of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, you will know this guy. Pollan is fascinated by Salatin and what he has done for pasture-raised animals. In short, Joel Salatin is the farmer leading the pasture/grass-fed animal movement. Salatin is a farmer in Virginia who runs Polyface farm. On his farm the the animals work together in symbiotic relationships to fertilize the land and produce diverse and healthy pastures for future livestock. His farming method (which is explained in great detail in Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma) is truly sustainable, truly healthy for the animals, and truly healthy for those people that eat his animals. Over the last year I have become a huge advocate of grass-fed meat (which I will extrapolate on a lot down the road) and Salatin’s farming method is one to trust.

3. Will Allen – Like Salatin, Will Allen has been farming for years but the recent explosion in food politics has given him some national fame. Winner of the “genius” MacArthur Award for his work in urban agriculture, Allen (like Salatin) is changing the way we think about sustainable food production. He is the founder of the non-profit Growing Power in Milwaukee, WI. He has taken 2 acres of land in urban Milwaukee and created a MASSIVELY COMPLEX urban farm, complete with 6 greenhouses, an apiary with 5 beehives, 3 poultry hoop houses, outdoor pens for livestock, and numerous other facilities for growing sustainable food systems. As someone who is eager to develop urban food systems, this guy is amazing and a recent hero in my book. One of my goals is to mimic his work in Portland – to create a small yet intensive sustainable farm for low-income folks to gain access to sustenance and knowledge at the same time, in the same place.

4. Mike Braucher – Compared to these other folks, Mike is a grain of sand in a huge dune at the beach. Nonetheless, in the Twin Cities of Minnesota he is a hero to me and my friends there. He is one of the less well-known farmers utilizing the Salatin method and providing healthy and affordable meat to people throughout Minneapolis and outside communities. Befriending him as a member of his CSA connected me to this beautiful food chain of sustainable sustenance. For those of you who live out there in Minnesota and do not know of this farm, please do yourself a favor and join his CSA! Sunshine Harvest Farm

5. Mark Bittman – As far as I understand, Bittman joined the action from a different angle than these other folk. Mark Bittman is a cook, a chef I suppose. He writes for The New York Times, he has published many books including my personal kitchen bible – How to Cook Everything. I received this book of his when I graduate from college and as I became more comfortable cooking, this is the book that provided that comfort. His philosophy is that a) anyone can cook and b) cooking can be simple and delicious. I think I feared cooking for so long because I assumed that fancy cooking dominated the world of food. Bittman helped me realize that each vegetable, fruit, grain, meat, egg, etc can stand on its own on the dinner plate. I highly recommend this particular book of his to anyone that wants to start cooking more often. I will provide links to his blog, http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com.

Note: I recognize that none of these individuals are women. I do admire Alice Waters, Julia Child, Sally Fallon, Molly Katzen and many others. I intend to post more on other activists that inspire me.

Who are your heroes in the kitchen?

Related posts:

1. A simple menu (weekly menu 2)
2. The Grass-Fed Manifesto (Part I)
3. The Grass-Fed Manifesto (part 4)