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

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.

Over the Labor Day weekend, I visited one of my favorite farmers at her Barton Organic Farm and talked to her about the ups and downs of organic farming while helping harvest seeds for next year.

Shopping at the farmers market gives consumers a chance to talk to farmers about their products, see how a farm changes across the seasons, and gain a better understanding of the challenge of farming. It’s a big improvement over a sterile grocery store where the origins of fruits, vegetables, eggs and meat are unclear, […]

Insightful and informative features we think Ethicurean readers will enjoy.

[Updated on 9/22 to include positive sentiments from farmers about farmers markets]
Just as I was thinking that the Bay Area is enjoying a golden age of farmers markets, with a multitude of farmers markets bringing fresh, local food directly from the farm to the consumer, reality drops in: farmers markets can be an inefficient […]

A roundup of news about farming and rural areas.

Delighted by her love of cheese, Anthony and his wife Kelli, who makes the cheese from the raw cow and goat milk produced on their farm, invited the Cheese Baby to the Estrella Family Creamery cave christening, held Saturday night…. Samuel OK’d our request after warning us not to let the buck pee on us. We limited our visit to the mama goats and their kids, which must be bottle fed, guessing by how enthusiastically they greeted us. We returned to the party and found Anthony among friends in the garden…. Kelli said a few words of thanks before the family’s pastor offered a blessing, and then Chef Roy Breimann of the Salish Lodge conducted the christening, opening the champagne with a saber and a blessing of his own, which he credited to Napoleon: “in good times you deserve it, and in bad you need it.”… These ceremonies were succeeded by a remarkable feast, including roast veal, spit-roasted baby goat, grilled salmon, mussels, heirloom potatoes, farro salad with root vegetables, and of course a selection of Estrella cheeses, the cheese table having been moved from the garden to the light-string- and candle-lit supper tents by tractor…. We thus finished our meal with two Estrella creamery products that we can’t buy at the farmers’ market: whipped cream, which isn’t available because the cream usually goes into the cheese, and butter, which isn’t available because it’s illegal to sell unpasteurized butter in the state of Washington.

A round-up of the most important news & commentary regarding SOLE- and anti-SOLE food issues, farming, policy, etc. that we think Ethicurean readers will want to know about.

A round-up of insightful and informative features we think Ethicurean readers will enjoy.

The day I became a farmer was not, as one might imagine, the cool April day I started work as an intern at Guidestone Farm in Colorado. Nor did I not think of myself as a farmer the day I learned how to milk a cow. Getting up before dawn to pick peas did not make me a farmer; neither did bucking fresh bales of hay until the stack reached above my head. Farming is hard work, but hard work alone does not make one a farmer.

A round-up of the most important news regarding farm and rural America. Contributed by our friends at the Center for Rural Affairs.

I have been so busy gardening and cooking and enjoying the last few weeks of summer that I never got around to writing "Vermont Diary - Part II", the thrilling sequel to "Vermont Diary - Part I." Contributing to my negligence was a short trip to Maine, highlights of which I will include in this […]

Still, Jennie did try, since you can’t keep farm animals on your Seattle lot unless it’s 20,000 square feet or larger —and who has nearly half an acre in the city?… A distant neighbor who had never seen the goats overheard her talking about them at a party —and turned her in. When the inspector told her she couldn’t keep her goats, Jennie approached city councilmember Richard Conlin and asked whether he could help her persuade the city’s Department of Planning and Development to allow her to keep the goats.

A special Farm and Rural Digest contributed by the Center for Rural Affairs.