The age of agri-tourism: Small farms are increasingly diversifying into non-agricultural activities like farm tours, cheese-making classes, and photo safaris. The income from such activities often dwarfs their revenues from crops. New York Times
Idea ripe for U.S. implementation: The new Farmers’ City Market shop in south-west London aims to bring the farmers market indoors, while […]

This has been a pretty hard week for me.
You see, I’ve spent the last two or three years getting more acquainted with the environment and sustainable food sources, but I never really felt accountable to anyone but myself — and I was a pretty forgiving person, to myself at least. I tried to do […]

Last week I asked readers how they eat locally in winter. A few MidWesterners responded, and I decided to call Mom of La Muncha, who lives in Northern New Mexico, to see what local options are like in in the high country. Also, check out our guest post from Montreal.
Meanwhile, here in Seattle […]

Dairy Queen here: To me, one of the best parts of being involved in this blog is getting to read my five fellow Ethicureans’ points of view, hailing from different parts of the country and with varying preoccupations. In this case, I think, many cooks just makes for more interesting soup.
We would love to […]

I’m willing to bet that every conscious eater has a skeleton in his or her cupboard — a fetish for a particular corn-syrup-laced treat or microwaveable fat bomb. After all, we’re not nuns here. So I’ll confess first.
My processed-food addiction is to Goya black bean soup. It’s unbelievably thick and gooey, with whole black beans […]

Damn. John Birdsall, the East Bay Express’s restaurant reviewer, totally busted me on EBX’s blog for prematurely panicking about the disappearance of Hoffman Game Birds from the Bay Area, now that the elderly owner is no longer selling at the Ferry Plaza farmers market. Doing the homework that I should have, Mr. B. called […]

Before going to Pensacola this Christmas, I wanted to avoid some of the stress of previous visits having to do with meat. It was easier when I was a vegetarian, and my family eventually got used to thinking about swapping chicken stock for vegetable and so forth. But my “ethical carnivorism” of the past few […]

Which is harder to find, a pastured chicken or its eggs? In the Bay Area, there’s way too much demand for both.
The CUESA newsletter just alerted me to a sad, sad development: As of this week, Hoffman Game Birds will no longer be selling at the San Francisco Ferry Plaza farmers market. Ruth Hoffman, who […]

‘Tis the season to make year-end lists. In honor of the last day of 2006, here are my ten favorite local delicacies. Amazingly, I had never tasted any of them before this year.
1. Marshall’s Farm Marin wildflower honey: I used to think honey came in plastic bears and tasted sweet and nothing else. This amazingly […]

Apparently it’s squash-appreciation week here at the Ethicurean. (See the Butter Bitch’s and Omniwhore’s posts below.)
The above picture is more about the view from Granny Sweet-n-Sour’s deck than it is about the organic butternut squash, but still, ain’t it purdy?
I bought the squash from Ever’man’s co-op in Pensacola. There are several conventional farms around the […]

I’ve lost track of the post where the local mushroom CSA was discussed - oh, there it is, but I’ll give this topic a full post just the same.
Provisions Mushroom CSA is piggy-backing on Helsing Junction CSA Farm’s delivery system to provide mushrooms. Their information is not available on Helsing Junction’s web site, nor […]

Last weekend, I was making French toast for breakfast, and pulled out the carton of eggs we received with our last beef CSA shipment.  Upon opening the carton, I was surprised by how much smaller the eggs are now that the seasons have changed.  Where I would normally use two eggs, I used four.  As […]

“Guess what I found at the farmers market?” the Butter Bitch announced last Sunday. “Lettuce!”

Indeed she had, and she brought a head home as proof. The farmers cover the lettuce in the fields to protect their crop from the late autumn cold in the north. I’m surprised that the trick worked, but […]

Like it or not, the giving season is upon us. Today marks the start of Shop Local First week in San Francisco (and elsewhere), which culminates with a 40-vendor sale Saturday in Union Square on Saturday. The Mission Merchants Association is offering coupons, along with a downloadable retail map. If you’re searching for something special, […]

“I feel like a junkie in a strange town with no drug connection,” confessed Omniho to me a few days ago. I knew exactly what she meant.
My cousin-in-law and I, along with our respective spouses, have been spending the Thanksgiving holiday in the SOLE food desert of Phoenix, alternating large-group meals at chain restaurants […]