Long-term thinking; act now!

Below is a request for support that was sent to a list I'm on. It speaks to something very important to all of us. I encourage you to get involved; what we eat depends on it.

Hey folks,

I’m writing to ask you all to support a new piece of legislation to support beginning farmers for the next 5 years. Though not “directly” an organic issue, beginning farmers are twice as likely to be certified organic, and many very small beginning farmers fall under the $5000 threshold, meaning they are organic but exempt from certification (but not from following the rules) under the NOP.

In any case, 70% of US farmland is expected to change hands within the next 20 years, and we need a new “crop” of environmentally and socially conscious farmers to take their place. We (myself, as a representative of Michigan Organic Food and Farm Alliance, and other organizations who are part of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition) have worked hard to craft a piece of legislation that promotes beginning farmers, and allows access to federal programs for those wishing to start diversified organic operations, instead of favoring 5th generation conventional corn farmers or CAFO’s.

But WE NEED YOU TO CALL Your SENATORS and your Congresspeople. Especially important will be calls to Senator STABENOW’S office. You can leave a message at her DC office by calling  202-224-4822, or call and speak with (or leave a message for) her State Ag. Liaison, Kali Fox in her Lansing office at 517-203-1760, or e-mail her atkali_fox@stabenow.senate.gov. 

Sample Message: I’m calling to urge Senator Stabenow to co-sponsor the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity Act of 2011. This legislation is being introduced in the House and Senate next week.  It will help new farmers get started in agriculture.  It’s a jobs creator and a cost effective smart investment.  Can I count on Senator Stabenow to be a co-sponsor?

To learn more about the bill you can see the post at www.beginningfarmers.org HERE:http://www.beginningfarmers.org/beginning-farmer-opportunity-act-ask-your-legislators-to-co-sponsor-today/

Please call today or Monday!

Thanks Much,
Taylor Reid
MOFFA Policy Committee
Www.beginningfarmers.org

Vegan Diet - a primer

In anticipation of our guest blogger, Kat Barry of Kat's HOT Cakes, next month, here is a quick primer on what it means to eat according to a vegan diet. Kat will be blogging about how to eat vegan on a budget.

Not totally local, but totally wonderful

 

October 14 there will be a wine tasting here in Harbor Country. It will be an event that has a long history and promises to be a lovely, tasty and interesting evening. (In the spirit of full disclosure I work on Sundays for the firm - Wine Sellers - that is hosting it.) Below is the press release. 

Autumn Bacchus Festival Returns!
 

Union Pier’s Wine Sellers, Inc. announces their Twelfth Annual Autumn Bacchus Festival will be held Friday, October 14, 2011, from 7:30 until 10:00 P.M., Eastern Time. Guests will have the opportunity to sample more than 80 wines from all over the globe at this walk-around tasting, to be held at the Marina Grand Resort, 600 West Water Street, New Buffalo, MI.

Wine industry professionals will be on hand to facilitate and answer questions that arise.  Chef Jenny Drilon of the resort’s Bentwood Tavern has designed a specifically paired tasting menu of seasonal foods for the evening. Special programming that evening will feature Black Star Farms, Michigan’s award winning winery, located in Suttons Bay on Leelanau Peninsula. Recently, chef Mario Batali called the Black Star Farms Arcturos Cabernet Franc, "the best Michigan wine ever."

Additionally, publisher, Victoria Brenneman of Edible Michiana will be on hand to introduce the new publication to attendees. The magazine is part a nationwide group of locally published magazines. Edible Michiana is dedicated to the growing local food movement in northern Indiana and southwest lower Michigan

All wines poured will be offered at a significant discount that evening only. Reservations are highly recommended, as space is limited. The fee is $52 per person. Call 888-824-WINE for reservations and information.

What's in a name....really, what is?

This morning's Good Guide email had a squib from their Blog talking about the battle brewing over a  food-based version of the memorable past discussion about what "is" is....in this case, the meaning of the word "sugar." It may seem obvious, but it's more than semantics....it's about what and how we eat and who's calling the shots.

Read the entire article.

PS - the chemical compounds above are all sugar, glucose, galactose and fructose...

Sharing news from RegionalFoodSolutions.com

The information below is from an email I received from Patty Cantrell at Michigan's RegionalFoodSolutions.com organization. Hopefully it's a step in the right direction for Michigan and its residents....

Governor Draws Health, Wellness Lessons from MI Good Food Charter

In an address last Thursday, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder shared his ideas for improving health and wellness in the state. In developing a number of his recommendations, he drew on the Michigan Good Food Charter, a policy platform for leveraging the power of Michigan food and farming to improve public health, grow jobs, build social equity, and protect the environment.

Highlights from Gov. Snyder’s plan include:

• Working with schools to increase physical activity and health education and to adopt healthier nutrition standards.
• Improving access to healthy, local foods in partnership with food manufacturers and food retailers.
• Strengthening the farm-to-school network in Michigan.

The governor did not drill down, in many cases, to specific needs spelled out in the Charter, such as building farms' capacity to supply more local foods to schools. Yet the top-level direction he provided was clear: Make the healthy food connection with Michigan agriculture, and make it work for the state’s economy and communities.

Keith Creagh, director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture, told Lansing’s Channel 6 news it’s all about access to healthy foods.

“One of the programs that we'll spend more time, energy and effort on is something called Local Food Hubs, and that's marrying businesses and consumers and farmers to make sure you have that integration of systems to supply food locally," said Creagh.

Full text of Governor Snyder’s address on Michigan health and wellness is available here: http://www.michigan.gov/snyder/0,4668,7-277--262254--,00.html

Simple Beauty

At the farmer's market last weekend there were some amazing flower arrangements. Artfully crafted and whimsical. Using local items, appealing to the locavore, upscale shopper. The type of thing you would see in a Martha Stewart magazine and which would cost more than might easily be justified for something so transitory as flowers. I just about passed them by, justifying my action as logical because, certainly they wouldn't last.

Fortunately I was corrected. Not only would they last because they were made with that in mind, but they also represented the best of why I left the city. The person who made them had consciously priced them to reflect the reality of her life, not what the market could "bear." They were not only beautiful, but affordable. The base was perfectly good cabbage that had been burned during the recent hot spell and so couldn't be sold to picky consumers (despite the fact that if the burned leaves were peeled off they were fine). So they were virtually nothing and saved from the compost pile. The arrangements were from the fields and yards nearby. Nothing exotic. Just simple beauty made from what is available.

Now that's a perfect example of the wabi sabi life I love!

Savoring Summer's End

A picture is worth 1000 words.

Smarter Shopping - maybe...

Because of some work I do I receive an enewsletter from "the Supermarket Guru" every day. I've occasionally shared tips or news from it. Today's edition touted a new iPhone app to help make cooking and shopping smarter and less costly. Sounded good and I'm sharing it in the spirit of promoting better eating.

However, a warning first. The application was developed in partnership with ConAgra Foods which is one of the largest, processed food conglomerates in the US. It has had its share of critics for its various activities including support of GMO products. Caveat emptor - or in this case, free iPhone app user, beware...

Reprise...

Found the entry below on a blog I started several years ago that didn't make it. Do you think the situation has changed?

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Why We Eat The Way We Do

Although I haven't fully gotten my arms around the issue, it more and more seems to me that when we began the agricultural revolution after WWII that incorporated chemical fertilizers and the use of all things corn in our food products (the beginning of raising food that was not so labor intensive and thus "expensive") we started down the road to cheap food. Cheap by the world's standards - Americans spend less of their income on food than those in other countries. At the same time we started down the road to cheap food of another definition - food that was less nutritious and as we've come to see, made with ingredients that have caused us to become a fat nation. 

At the same time we lost the connection to the seasons and the understanding of where food comes from we also stopped cooking, relying on fast food or prepared food for many if not all meals. Yes, I know not everyone does this, but so many do...a majority I think. We've lost the ability to say "no" to things that occupy time and steal it from cooking the way I remember growing up. I still cook that way - mostly. But so many don't.

And we've assumed that we don't need to plan for the future - even next week. We decide what we want to eat on the way home rather than thinking through menus, working with leftovers and sometimes, eating what we have, rather than what we want. Of course I'm talking here about the people who can afford to do this. They don't eat so well. Neither do those who can't afford fresh food and have to rely on fast food or lots of carbos and sugar.

So we are a country where those who have the money to eat healthy don't (in theory) have the time, and where those who don't have the money to eat healthy, probably don't have the time either. And then there are all those who don't even know that they aren't eating well.

Sad state of affairs...

Labels: cooking, eating well, food