Food

Chew on this

Locals are finding ways to move away from food created by corporations

BY KATHY JOHNSTON

A quiet revolution is stirring in local kitchens. All over San Luis Obispo County, people are claiming their right to decide what goes in their mouths and their power to choose where it comes from.

CRUNCHY CHOICE Dan Melton picks out apples from a box he purchased that morning from Bellevue Sea Canyon Farms. PHOTO BY STEVE E. MILLER

Residents with various income levels are filling their forks with fresh food from local farms and fields as the local food movement gains ground. The Central Coast is among the easiest places for people to pack their plates with food from the community, rather than corporate commodities.

Eating fresh local food is moving beyond farmers, markets, and fancy restaurants. Today’s options include home delivery of just-picked fruit and vegetables from dozens of local farms; improved access to fresh, local produce for people with limited incomes; backyard gardens and chicken coops; a push to grow old-fashioned crops to meet local demand; even a new SLO City-owned farm.

“There’s definitely a shift away from corporate food,” said Caroline Ginsberg, on a break from picking ripe red apples from an orchard at SLO Creek Farms on a sunny afternoon earlier this month. She’s the volunteer coordinator for GleanSLO, a local nonprofit whose volunteers harvest thousands of pounds of excess local crops for distribution to hungry families by the SLO County Foodbank.

American Meat (2011)
Directed by Graham Meriwether
http://www.americanmeatfilm.com/

Last night [Dec 8, 2011], in Saxapahaw, North Carolina, I had the pleasure of attending a ‘film and feast’ viewing of the documentary “American Meat”, a film that addresses the many concerns of conscientious meat eaters as well as those Americans who understandably question the ethics or environmental impact of the choice to eat meat. The purpose of this documentary is to highlight the struggles of the conventional meat farmer, and to provide insight into the alternative models being developed in order to revolutionize the meat industry in our country.

Pass the horseradish, will ya?

Though the title may give one the impression that they’re heading into a serious horror flick (or perhaps a tacky porno), this wonderful documentary was incredibly balanced and informative while still being touching and inspiring. This is not a film that uses hidden camera footage and disturbing imagery to portray the industrial animal farmer as an evil, soulless animal abuser who profits from the exploitation of innocent creatures. Rather, the film documents several real-life farmers who are working extremely hard, against the odds, to provide meat to the American public in a way that keeps their heads above water, from a financial standpoint. These men are certainly not in the business to make money; they have been farmers their whole lives, and love the work that they do. More importantly, these men love their animals.

Read more at.... http://ancestralizeme.com/

To be screened 1/24 in Santa Barbara: http://www.hopedance.org/events/icalrepeat.detail/2012/01/24/5551

1/26 in SCruz: http://www.hopedance.org/events/icalrepeat.detail/2012/01/26/5553

in Feb in SLO at the Palm: TBA

F O R A G E R

unwrapping the old year

14 December 2011

An horticultural glance in the rear-view mirror is generally an opportunity to foresee the future. I did the pickles wrong, the chile peppers so-so and the corn not enough. I planted all the potatoes and onions at the same time, which naturally induced forced labor in order to save them all before they termed out. I have known the heirloom tomato deal is over with for more than a few seasons so next year I may listen to my genius instead of clowning around. I will save ground for better Butternut and sweeter Kabocha. I will email my seed planting schedule to my esteemed Los Angeles broker, Heath and Lejeune on the day I deliver the seeds to my esteemed certified organic transplant grower, Suncoast Nursery. I will grow more carrots and less rutabaga. Well, no rutabaga. I will seek out a warm weather spinach variety. No more Romaine late in the year and no more celery late-planted either. I will do broccoli earlier and later. I will grow cabbage like a Dutchman and do up a patch of pozole in the far north corner like the Mayan do. I will push the lettuce into the summer until the sun blazes like a blowtorch. I will do beets late and put my sweet potato starts in a starter bed in February. I will manage my arugula and bok choy for flea beetles and spray Neem on my tomatoes way before early bacterial blight shows up. I will have three rounds of watermelon, none late. I will have dry beans and okra, more flowers, fewer jalapenos and keep improving on my mechanical tillage. I will experiment in horticultural sectors I have left alone for a long time. I know how to grow watercress now.