Archive for the ‘agriculture’ Category
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010
Meet Yer Eats will be a great way to reconnect with what grounds you.
There’s so much to do in Central Virginia (and online) this September! Looking at just the first half of the month, here are some options for you, your family and friends to endeavor in before fall is officially here:
Monday, September 6th (10:00am-4:00pm): MEET YER EATS!
This 2010 Farm Tour, hosted by Market Central and largely sponsored by Whole Foods Market, will take those who want to be introduced to the farmers (and farms, of course) behind their food to a series of self-selected locations in the state. Tickets are available here. Or, save a bit and gain some experience by volunteering for the event instead. More information is available through Market Central online.
Thursday, September 9th (2:00pm): Building a Business in Specialty Foods Webinar Series
This day marks the beginning of a webinar series (three-months in all) that focuses upon businesses that centered on the production and sales of specialty foods. Participation is gratis; you can simply follow this link immediately before each session to sign in. Join in as a guest, type in your name, and “walk” into the “room.” That’s it! Listen, learn, speak, and enjoy!
Friday, September 10th (7:00pm): “Climate Change, Peak Oil, and the Economic Crisis: Why You Should Think About Them (Though We’d All Rather Not)”
Bring your children, if you have one or some, to this talk at Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church. Childcare will be available, so way not take advantage of the opportunity to hear more about the issue from Sharon Astyk, author of three published works? Read more about her here.
Saturday, September 11th (10:00am-4:00pm): HERITAGE HARVEST FESTIVAL
The website welcoming interested individuals to this year’s Heritage Harvest Festival starts off strong. “Experience the genius of Thomas Jefferson while celebrating one of his great passions – the garden. Join us for the annual Heritage Harvest Festival, a celebration of gardening, sustainable agriculture and local food, held at Monticello, the mountaintop home of our third president,” it says. And, with an enticing description like that, which Virginian wouldn’t want to attend?? Don’t forget to stop by the Blue Ridge Network Permaculture table while you’re there. The team is truly dedicated (and very, very knowledgeable) on the subject of sustainable gardening! This event is pre-fall must, if I may say so myself.
-Serena
Tags: agriculture, buy local, eat local, Economy, Environment, food, gardening, local foods, sustainability, virginia
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Wednesday, September 1st, 2010
Chefs. I’ve heard they have a lot of ego. And if you watch the ones on tv, it seems many even think they are God (sorry Gordon Ramsay but you DO NOT rule the world). Maybe that’s why they’ve decided to play God and take up the task of growing ingredients. A hot trend right now in the restaurant world is rooftop gardening with chefs taking command of the hoe. The Baltimore Sun recently reported on area chefs and restaurant owners who are taking advantage of outdoor square footage to cut costs and expedite the procurement of the very freshest ingredients by raising the roof – the roof’s potential that is. Some chefs have even invested in starting their own farms to provide for their restaurants. They say the venture is time consuming but worthwhile, even giving them a new sense of purpose and energy. “Being out there in the daytime and pulling a beet from the ground, knowing that you’re going to cook it that night, you feel kind of energized,” Jamie Forsythe, chef of b restaurant, said to the paper. “I come back so ready to cook, really just charged up to do it.”
And of course, these chefs want ” locavore bragging rights. In an era when the provenance of nearly every ingredient is promoted on menus, when house-made charcuterie, house-cured bacon and the like have become de rigueur, why not house-grown produce”? I gotta say, who can blame them. Putting insanely fresh, local foods on the table at low costs is something which is worth bragging about. If it makes their ego bigger, fine by me. More power to you, just keep up the good work.
-Jess
Al Morstein, owner of Regi's American Bistro in Baltimore shows off his 55 rooftop tomato plants for the Baltimore Sun.
Tags: baltimore, buy local, eat local, local foods, local ingredients, locavore, maryland, restaurants
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Monday, August 16th, 2010
‘Tis the season to devour colorful, fresh fruits! Every once in awhile, what you want is the same as what you need; at this time of year, the healthful sweets are exactly that. And, lucky you: here in Virginia (and elsewhere, of course), there are many ways to go about slicing that (extremely local) banana.
This past Saturday, many headed to Monticello in Charlottesville for a Summer Fruit Tasting upon Mr. Jefferson’s hallowed garden grounds. Attendees received a short history, updated education, and mouthfuls of several of the species grown atop this famous hill.
Or, take the casual way out by making your way over to Chiles Peach Orchard in Crozet. The location is beautiful AND unusually flat for this region, making picking your own in the heat of the day much more bearable for both you and your family. Then, head on into the shop for some relief and local food fun. I ended up taking home two-dozen peach cider donuts and a block of peanut butter walnut fudge. (Silly me, I forgot the peaches!)
If somehow you dislike fruit altogether, then you can still acquire a taste of the summer goodness with a glass of Chateau Morrisette Winery’s Sweet Mountain Laurel. Believe it or not, this wine from the Floyd location tastes almost exactly like Concord grape juice— with a kick.
-Serena
Fruit! Eat, Drink, and Experience it This Summer
Tags: buy local, charlottesville, eat local, fruit, local foods, locavore, summer, virginia, wine
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Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
Floridata has an abundance of information on which types of dahlias are grown where.
I have to say: I love that buying local has encompassed the flower world as well. While purchases of bouquets may not ever reach the magnitude of food and beverage buys, the floral industry still deserves to be recognized as one of importance in terms of sales, and the impact that consumer choices have on which types of flowers are grown and sold where. For instance, I’d bet that most American buyers—even those who attempt to purchase locally and organically grown edibles—have no idea that the majority of flowers that they take home are sprayed down with pesticides and then shipped thousands of miles and to get to their area supermarket. While I understand that what one consumes takes priority over what one experiences visually, with a bit more knowledge, perhaps those purchasers would begin to think about the provenance of other household items as well… (A quick aside: could organic, local food be the gateway drug to other similar products like organic, local body products and clothes and now, flowers? I very much think so.)
Roughly said, awareness is the key. If you eat well and treat your body well, consider putting a bit of thought into where that gift of floral loveliness is coming from too. Some farms these days are hosting pick-your-own flower days just like orchards do with peaches. And, like Virginia’s Culpeper County is doing later this month, some areas are now hosting local flower festivals. If you’re around, perhaps make the Great Dahlia Festival your stop on the last two weekends of August. Admission is free and even if you don’t take any of the award winners home, you’ll be able to enjoy and get educated on the prizewinning flowers of Central Virginia.
-Serena
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Thursday, July 15th, 2010
The USDA’s publication on Local Food Systems is worth a read.
Now that CSA boxes are in the height of their abundance, why not step back a bit and read about how directly supporting local farms benefits the system? After having been given a weekly share from Innisfree by a friend who was going to be out of town, I remembered how thrilling and simultaneously satisfying it is to experiment with fresh, usually left-alone produce. (While garlic scapes are good, how often do you really buy them from the grocery store to bring home and mince into a dish for dinner? To be quite honest, I didn’t even recognize them in their full form when I saw them!) Luckily, Innisfree had provided several recipes with ideas on how to cook the different kinds of vegetables, root foods, and generally hefty herbs that it had included in that week’s box. The whole experience of discovering, cooking, and taste-testing new, locally grown items was entertainment and an education in itself, and I have my traveling friend and Innisfree farm to thank for it. And, more than you or I may know, maybe our government is also increasingly to thank. Glancing over a recent publication by the USDA, “Local Food Systems: Concepts, Impacts, and Issues”, I noticed just how much D.C. is doing to rally the public (and respond to the revolutionaries) regarding this eat well-be well cause.
-Serena
Tags: buy local, community support agriculture, eat local, Economy, Environment, food policy, food politics, government
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Monday, July 5th, 2010
via AquaBounty Technologies
The FDA is getting eerily close to approving the first genetically-modified fish – a salmon that can grow at twice the rate of a natural one. The company behind the salmon, AquaBounty Technologies, claims that this won’t make massive fish, just fish that reach the target weight in about half the time.
While this might not worry some (we are already eating GMO plants), it would be huge to scientists and factories out there trying to put genetically altered animals on our plate. This would open the door for Mad Cow-resistant cattle and pigs whose bacon is healthier for us. Scary. Plus, there’s the question of if the FDA will even require these GMO animals to be labeled. EVEN SCARIER.
Hold on to your seats for this one. The FDA is reviewing and regulating these GM animals in the same manner that they do veterinary drugs, and are using the rules as they for those drugs. AAHHH!
And what many are worried about, including me, is that the FDA’s review process does not allow full assessment of the possible environmental impacts of genetically altered animals, something that along with all health risks, will not be known for years to come.
I’m terrified and hope to not see any GM animal products crossing my path (and plate!) anytime soon. Anyone else?
-Jess
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Monday, June 28th, 2010
A Round-up resistant weed, courtesy of the NYT.
Just in time for this weeks’s Healthy People, Healthy Places webinar, I’ve come across a New York Times article regarding the near-necessity for farmers these days to herbicide and pesticide their crops to obliteration, and to little avail. Both the webinar on June 29th, from 2:00-3:00pm EST, and the past write-up will focus on the need for environmental policy change. Though the webinar itself will be predominantly about the relationship between race and the environment, it is nonetheless pertinent to how corporations are affecting the way that our country grows food. Ever thought about how environmental pollutants tend to run-off into the lowest income areas? Or, how big business seeks out the poorest parts of the U.S. to plop their factories? Correlations abound. Learn more by listening, and reading, on.
-Serena
Tags: agriculture, buy local, eat local, Environment, local foods, locavore, new york times
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Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010
The Charlottesville City Market—and most farmers markets, for that matter—is a magical place. Where else would be a one-stop-shop for locally made jewelry, award winning desserts, and unusual types of well raised meat? In thinking over my past few trips to the Saturday morning bazaar, I realized how strikingly bizarre my purchases had actually been. After one visit, I came home with a handmade necklace by Erin McDermott and some Sweet Italian lamb sausage links by Pair-a-dice Farm in Lunenburg, Virginia. A few weeks later, I was eating the “Best Key Lime Pie on the Planet,” courtesy of Free Union Produce & Gourmet Edibles. According to the pastry chef herself, said pie had won countless awards and had been deemed by many to very well be the best key lime pie ever. (To her credit, it’s true. Trust me.) Then, for dinner, I made beef liver from Poindexter Farm in Henrico County—bought that very same Saturday as the pie. Standard grocery stores may be known for their variety but in my opinion, shopping just doesn’t get any more high quality or quirky than at a small town market.
-Serena
This necklace made me picture beachy locations and tanned people…
At the lamb stand: meats and more.
Can you taste the crumbly, creamy goodness?
At the Poindexter Farm booth, a local chef was also purchasing meat.
Tags: american made, buy local, charlottesville, eat local, farmers market, handmade, jewelry, local foods, locavore, made in the USA, virginia
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Monday, May 10th, 2010
In the past few years there have been numerous movies aimed at educating people about the environment, the foods they eat, etc – now here’s another one to add to the mix: Pig Business. This British film examines the big business that is pork. While people generally first think of cattle and their plight, pigs in commercial farms are no where near hog heaven. Many of the issues in both the pork and beef industries (and don’t forget the chickens!) are the same, but it’s worthwhile to see it from another perspective, if anything, to see how widespread this problem is – it’s not just an American issue. It’s becoming a global one, affecting not just Americans health and that of our animals and environment, but of the world.
Check out the website above, buy (for cheap) the movie for screening, or donate to the cause.
-Jess
Do you know the cost??
Tags: buy local, eat local, Environment, locavore, movies
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Friday, April 30th, 2010
If green beans have you visualizing vegetables, think again. The Green Bean of Downtown Greensboro, North Carolina is a coffee house, community center, and general hotspot. When driving down Elm Street for the first time, The Green Bean caught my eye right away as the type of place I’d like to stop by. From the outside, authentic and artsy; from within, quality coffee (and all of the accoutrements)— all the way. After dinner at Natty Greene’s Brewing Co., I walked the block over to The Green Bean for some dessert. All of the baked goods looked decidedly different and homemade, with some packaged, vegan options also for sale.
While waiting to pay, I picked up a copy of the local chapter’s edible magazine. Edible Piedmont was a joy to read. Though the Piedmont region isn’t much farther south than the Blue Ridge one that I pertain to, the articles derived from it were very South-centric, in my mind. Perfect reading for any Locallectual out to truly discover the workings of a new town.
-Serena
Tags: buy local, eat local, local foods, locavore, north carolina
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