Breaking news and developments, such as contaminated-food outbreaks, Farm Bill milestones, and how the farming community is faring around the world.

In-depth, offbeat, or thought-provoking features about aspects of SOLE food, from eating locally to farms marketing to methods of food preservation.

Posts by bloggers at both personal and nonprofit sites that you won’t want to miss.

Autumn is apple season in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere, an opportunity to taste apples at their peak and remember how good an apple can be. For many, the apple’s standing has been diminished by too many cardboard-like Red Delicious apples served as token pieces of fruit on airplanes or at other establishments. […]

This Digest is contributed by our friends at the Center for Rural Affairs.
Farm Bill TV: Oxfam and coalition partners have released a "Farm Bill Reform" television ad in which the hero of the 30-second piece is the American family farmer. The villain? A millionaire subsidy recipient. (YouTube)
Who you going to call?: "Mommy, are we there […]

I am not a wine connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, when it comes to wine, I can generally take it or leave it. I’ve nothing against it, mind you, and I’ve found that the right wine can often make a good meal even more blissful. But I can also leave a […]

Breaking news and developments, such as contaminated-food outbreaks, Farm Bill milestones, and how the farming community is faring around the world.

Never fear, I have plenty of corn puns left.

In-depth, offbeat, or thought-provoking features about aspects of SOLE food, from eating locally to farms marketing to methods of food preservation.

Posts by bloggers at both personal and nonprofit sites that you won’t want to miss.

My search for a supply of sustainable meat is now ended, successfully. Pictured below is a quarter of a pig that is now in my freezer.

I had been calling around town and emailing people, trying to find someone who raises pigs in a sustainable manner. I found a few expensive shops that I could’t possibly […]

I spent part of a beautiful sunny afternoon last weekend watching a documentary about a grocery store.
That’s right, a documentary about a grocery store.
Some of you might be thinking that I saw Robert Greenwald’s "Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price" or some other muckraking exposé. No, this was "Eat at Bill’s," an inspiring, cheerful, […]

Safeway’s O Organics brand jumps the shark, with — wait for it — certified organic bottled water.
I forgot to look where it was bottled. Betcha it’s filtered tap water with a squirt of organic citrus.  For $1!
Oct. 17 update: Commenter John W. says "this product is not associated with O Organics as a little bit […]

This multigenerational family farm, in business since 1866 (here’s the old part of the home[]http://www.flickr.com/photos/foodperson/1506163547/in/set-72157602305466561/], raises pastured chickens [http://www.flickr.com/photos/foodperson/1507022506/in/set-72157602305466561/]and turkeys (heritage [http://www.flickr.com/photos/foodperson/1506162945/in/set-72157602305466561/] and white[http://www.flickr.com/photos/foodperson/1506164151/in/set-72157602305466561/]…. [http://www.flickr.com/photos/foodperson/1506163279/in/set-72157602305466561/] Pendleton’s Country Market…. Not only do they operate a decent-sized diversified farm, growing everything from commodity crops (corn, wheat) to asparagus to bedding plants to cut flower, but they also are ceaseless promoters of local agriculture, including their own farm, of course, and active in 4-H…. [http://www.flickr.com/photos/foodperson/1506166281/in/set-72157602305466561/] Karen was in the “villa,” butterfly net in hand, to catch monarchs passing through weeks beyond their usual migration and pointing out the freshly deposited butterfly eggs and swallowtails’ defense mechanism.[ http://www.flickr.com/photos/foodperson/1507025320/in/set-72157602305466561/] Visitors also could buy bedding plants, pumpkins [http://www.flickr.com/photos/foodperson/1506166013/in/set-72157602305466561/ ] and assorted other items…. To top off the day, I went to a neighbor’s birthday party, which was catered by Local Burger (owned by another neighbor; I live a cool neighborhood), and had an elk burger (among the selection of local burgers offered) with meat supplied by a farm tour rancher, Rocky Hills Elk Ranch (no website; email credmonds /at/ yahoo), and some of those Wakarusa Valley Farms salad greens.

Breaking news and developments, such as contaminated-food outbreaks, Farm Bill milestones, and how the farming community is faring around the world.