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I am woman, hear me store: Review of “The Complete Root Cellar Book”
Now that the farming season is winding down along with my energy levels, I find that I’m really grateful that the food preservation method I lean on most for the produce harvested at this time of year is the simple task of root
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Bean there, done that: A tour of Hodo Soy
Farmers markets are far more than a source of good food from small farmers and a place to build connections among the community. They can also serve as incubators for food businesses, places where new entrepreneurs can try selling prepared foods on a small scale or where experienced market participants
One sick chicken
With a few exceptions, the animals on my farm are not pets. My sheep and chickens have jobs to do -- eating grass and bugs, making eggs and meat and babies. If they don't do their job, they don't stay on my farm. My Buff Orpington in happier, healthier days. That isn't to say that I don't treat them
Farmers caught lying about produce origins and pesticide-free-ness
Rotten tomatoes: It had to happen. With demand for SOLE food surging, and farmers able to charge a premium for it, it's no surprise that some unscrupulous characters would see an opportunity to make a quick buck without getting their hands dirty. An NBCLA undercover investigation caught farmers at markets
Notes from a new farmer: Q&A with Michael Gallagher, Square Roots Farm
In every school, there is a legendary former student -- the one whose academic prowess knew no bounds. "Brilliant," people marvel about this student, even decades later. "That kid was brilliant." (Or, here in New England, you might hear: "Wicked smaaaaaht.") At my daughter's school, that individual is
Fish tale: Walmart’s sustainable seafood pledge has a long way to go
When big corporations make pledges to improve their sourcing practices, it's important to hold them accountable. After all, it's easy to hold a press conference pledging a new green policy; it's not so easy to fulfill the
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Grow vacancies: Gene Fredericks is thinking inside the city’s big box
They're the bane of urban and suburban areas alike: the vacant, boarded-up K-Marts and Home Depot Expos, squatting like concrete cowpies amidst a landscape of weedy parking lots. But where most people
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“Wise Guyer”: MA state rep plans CDC with agricultural focus
Denis Guyer, a state representative from Western Massachusetts (2nd Berkshire District) plans a community development corporation (CDC) that will foster "agrepreneurs." The proposed mixed-use space would include a combination of affordable housing, a cooperative food processing facility, retail space
Math lessons for Budiansky: Industrial concentration vs. local choice
On Friday, New York Times op-ed contributor Steven Budiansky challenged local food advocates to rethink their math, mainly about food miles. As it happens, I was already doing some food calculations that day -- but not of the sort
Hey USDA & DoJ: Ranchers want more competition in the cattle industry
Big hats carrying small sticks: The CEO of R-Calf, which represents cattle raisers, has been criss-crossing the country, exhorting people to get to Fort Collins, Colorado, on Aug. 27th for a federal-level workshop about competition in the cattle industry. He wants 25,000 to show up and "send a message
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Even fishermen suspicious of Gulf shrimp
Po' po-boys: Monday marked the opening of shrimp season in Louisiana. Federal officials say Gulf seafood safe to eat, but shrimpers themselves are dubious, reports the Washington Post. Some worry that the government's testing -- which has yet to turn up a tainted sample from the BP oil spill -- is inadequate,
Neophobia 101: When picky eaters confound Ethicureanish intentions
My four-year old ate a vegetable frittata the other day. Mind you, this hardly ranks among the most staggering of childhood achievements. It's not exactly up there with the 2-year-old
Cooking outside the zone: Agretti, paired with fregola
At last week's farmers market, one of my outside the zone choices (made in honor of National Farmers Market Week) was agretti (Salsola soda) from La
San Francisco set to approve zoning changes for backyard farming for cash
Summer of urban-ag love: The Bay Area is known as a bastion of urban farming and the local food movement, but "laws governing land use are still stuck in another era, one that frowned on farming in the city, especially in residential areas," reports Zusha Elinson. When Little
Foraging restaurant and suppliers adapt to new rules
Forage gleans a new strategy: When Forage restaurant opened in Los Angeles's Silver Lake neighborhood, they used produce from customers' backyards to supplement their normal produce purchases, paying for the backyard produce with food or drink from the restaurant and often noting the donor's name on
