Here are some great shots of both Spring Lake Gardens where Andy Meek is starting all of our transplants for this Spring in his greenhouses as well as our container at Dekalb Market where we will eventually sell these very veggies, herbs, flowers, and prepared meals. Check it out.
A common obstacle for beginner (and even the most advanced!) locavores is finding ways to fit imported favorites like chocolate, coffee, and sugar into their strict dietary regimen. But fortunately for us here in the Northeast region of the U.S., we can cross sugar off the list. For we have the tastiest of cane sugar substitutes, two being honey and maple syrup. Or, at least that was until recently.
In latest news, we've seen a spew of articles about threats to these delectable sweeteners. Environmental News Network reported Thursday that within the past several years there has been an alarming decrease in bee populations and thus also honey production. ENN along with other news sources (NYTimes, Huffington Post) find common pesticides to be "a primary driver" in this population decline often referred to as Colony Collapse Disorder.
As for the fall in maple syrup production, reporters point to warm weather as its cause. Sugar maple trees depend on cool weather and freezing nights to produce sap, writes one reporter for the Washington Post. Because of this year's mild winter, syrup producers are expected to make anywhere from 25 to 70 percent as much as last year. And whether or not this drop in syrup supply has to do with climate change, it sure has us all thinking.
Many of us are going out of our way to use locally sourced ingredients these days. But for reasons that can be traced back to poor consumer habits (i.e. use of fertilizers, and the forever long list of reasons for climate change) we're losing local delicacies! To help save these endangered goods, we ask to please spread awareness of this topic and most importantly, to continue to support your local farmers!
To read the full article on Colony Collapse Disorder, visit http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/44200
For the news on maple syrup production, see http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/maple-syrup-production-plummets-with-w....
This week in Vermont, over a hundred different middle and high school students will compete in the 5th Annual Jr. Iron Chef Challenge. The competition is a demonstration of students seeking solutions for their own inadequate school meal programs. Provided with nutritious and farm fresh indegredients, students have 1.5 hours to create an award winning recipe. The twist: students are obliged to use at least 5 local ingredients in their dish. The competition runs from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm this Saturday, March 24. Guests are welcome! All proceeds go to Farm to School programs in the Vermont area. If you like the idea and don't live in the area, visit the Jr. Iron Chef website to donate.
Road-testing our first week's Spring-y menu for the Dekalb Market! Expect sparkling herbal/juice infusions as well! Cant's wait!
Interested in home design? Want more green in your life? This year make your space and edible place! Forget the time and resources it takes to water and mow your lawn. Instead, invest in a few edibles. After all, what could be more local than the crops that come straight from your own yard?
Though they're not always considered components of landscape design, fruits and veggies can have some serious aesthetic appeal. If you're not looking to start a backyard homestead, we recommend crops like cabbage, spicy peppers, collards, sunflowers, and grape vines that will blend beautifully into your landscape. For some fresh ideas check out Fritz Haeg's book Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn. Or, to learn from the edible landscape master, visit Rosalind Creasy and Rosalindcreasy.com.
And if your one of the many NYC residents that has nothing close to a yard, keep faith!
This summer, try some creative container gardening. If your short on space, go vertical. For those without access to a wood shop consider Instructables.com's hanging shoe basket garden. If you have many businesses in your area, talk to one of them about obtaining a wooden pallet to create Design Sponge's DIY vertical garden project.
Growing your own food can save you money, resources, and teach you a whole new respect for food. It's time you stop breaking your back over mowing the lawn and trimming hedges, and start reap the benefits of maintaining your house!
With all our focus on NYC greening and the U.S. food industry, we think it's about time to give props to fellow greeners around the world. One project that we've found particularly commendable is project Green My Favela in Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro. Green My Favela is a collaborative effort of social activist Lea Rekow, Rocinha’s Mundo da Arte, Alegria das Crianças crèche, and Visom Digital to renew vacant dump lots into edible green spaces and improve the food security of Rio de Janeiro's largest favela, Rocinha. In a letter from Ms. Rekow, we learn of the outrageously congested food desert that is Rocinha.
"Rocinha’s quarter of a million residents occupy less than a square kilometer of steep land in a dense labyrinth that has little drainage, planned runoff, and no sewerage system."
Determined to restore land and provide local access to healthy foods, Green My Favela volunteers set out earlier this year to clean out a local dump. After removing trash, tilling soil, and installing pipes for a clean water system, they now wait for soil test results to be able to grow edibles.
"Providing Rocinha’s children with creative purpose [and] real-world education," the project is "now fully maintained by the children of Rocinha under supervision by Tio Lino’s Mundo da Arte."
To learn more about the project visit their website: www.greenmyfavela.org.
To watch a video or see the photo gallery, check out:
and
It's been an easy winter this year in New York City. As reported in a recent NYTimes article, 80 percent of the past 90 days have been above normal winter temperatures. While trees are beginning to bloom almost a month ahead of schedule, many bulbs are already in flower. New York City's plant hardiness zone which was previously a 6 is now moving to zone 7. And although it's not every season that climate has changed this dramatically, many of us are wondering the same thing. Is this just an odd year, or do we have some serious evidence of global warming on our hands?
In any case, horticulturists are predicting adverse warming effects. With no snow or frozen ground this year, squirrels are digging up bulbs, says Lisa Foderaro of the NYTimes. And pests that are typically warded off by low temperatures are expected to increase in population.
"If there is a cold snap," adds Foderaro, "plants and trees are vulnerable to damaged blossoms and, potentially, a falloff in seed production." For New York state apple farmers, these possible freezing temperatures could similarly, kill blossoms and consequently, also apple production. And while trees and flowers are blooming prematurely, another worry is that their bee pollinators are not necessarily prepared.
This year's mild winter might be a walk in the park for some. But come harvest time, when high temperatures have displaced pollinators, increased pest population, and reduced seed production, we could see a more inconvenient truth: a loss in local food production. So whether or not you believe you have an effect on global climate change, believe that it's affecting you!
It's about that time to start planning for the summer garden. If you're feeling discouraged by last summer's harvest or if you just want to try something new, check out Organic Magazine's Top Ten Picks from the Test Garden.
They sent out a team of advanced gardeners to rural Pennsylvania to trial fifty or so odd flower, vegetable, and herb varieties. See their article to find out which varieties, both heirloom and hybrid, proved greatest and why. For more garden ideas, see also the Honorary Mention list. Happy planning!
According to the 2012 annual letter from Bill Gates, Americans today are spending less of their income on food than any other country in the world. And by the looks of the figure below, it’s not because of any expansion in self-sustaining farming initiatives. One variable that plays into our considerably low food spending is of course our government agricultural subsidies.
Political news magazine Mother Jones recently wrote an article in response to the 2012 Bill Gates report, giving a brief history of the decline in U.S. food spending. As the article explains, U.S. food subsidies were first granted in an effort “to help stabilize food supply and farmers' incomes after the volatility of the Great Depression.” During the Nixon administration of the early 70s however, agricultural subsidies turned into a push for maximum agricultural efficiency, a system that would produce low food prices while still returning a high profit to its producers. In effect, the agribusiness was born and not only did soy, corn, and wheat become cheaper, so became meat, eggs, and other products produced from subsidized grain such as soda and candy.
Nowadays, as subsidies persist, large-scale agriculture continues to dominate the food production industry. And according to plan, Americans are paying less for food. That is, seemingly less. One major fault in our current food plan, as local/sustainable food activists have argued for some time now, is that these super saver food prices only come at the expense of producers, consumers, or the environment. Like Mother Jones points out, we pay for what we save "in rising obesity rates, environmental degradation, lax safety measures, and disgraceful labor practices.”
So next time you shy away from the "high price" of sustainably and ethically sourced food, take into consideration the medical bills you'll pay after a lifetime of choosing the value menu over the organic apple. After all, even on the organic diet, Americans are still paying a significantly smaller percentage of their income than the majority of all other countries.
For more information on U.S. food prices and subsidies visit http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/01/america-food-spending-less
To see the 2010 Bill Gates letter, see http://www.gatesfoundation.org/annual-letter/2012/Pages/home-en.aspx
