Know a farmer, rancher, or “agricultural professional” trying to do the sustainable right thing? Remind them that they have until Dec. 6 to apply for $15K-$30K in funding — for projects to do with production practices, business development, or marketing alternatives — from the USDA’s Western Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. SARE […]

Seattle is a pork-happy town. I observed the local fondness for pork not long after moving to the city three years ago. In addition to sandwiches and burgers featuring bacon, which is to be expected, pork plays a prominent role in breakfast. “Of course,” some of you say, “ham and eggs for […]

On Sunday, Man of La Muncha and I headed south to our CSA, Helsing Junction Farm, for their annual Day on the Farm. We’ve been members of this CSA for three years now, but until this weekend we haven’t had the opportunity to actually visit the place where we get the majority of our summer […]

The Butter Bitch and I took delivery of our first shipment from the Crown S meat CSA Sunday. The meat was delivered to the house of Jenni, one of the co-organizers, who also hosted a barbecue and potluck dinner. Crown S provided beef patties, and several people brought salads and dessert. We […]

Another meat CSA has announced announced availability to Seattle residents. Williamson Farms will deliver their variety pack to Seattle residents on a weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly basis. They join Crown S Ranch in bringing sustainably raised beef to the Puget Sound region.
Not that we are keeping count, but the Bay Area still has […]

Earlier this week, Man of La Muncha and I met up with Jenni and Lisa, two of the co-founders of our meat CSA (meat countdown T minus 22 days!) to talk about our reactions to reading Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. We discussed our shifts in thinking and how eating sustainably, organically, locally, and […]

Late July is the beginning of squash season in Seattle and as our weekend began I realized that we had two pounds of squash from our CSA box, with a good chance of receiving more squash on Tuesday. I had planned to grill squash on the weekend, but work and the reappearance of rain […]

Man of La Muncha here: One of our readers, Jenni, is one of the organizers of the Montlake Meat CSA, which will share a beef purchase from Crown S Ranch. She writes about her field trip to the ranch earlier in July. Seattle-area readers who are interested in the meat CSA are welcome […]

Put your money where your steak knife is!
The Montlake Meat group is looking for additional members, according to our reader (and Montlake Meat book maven) Jenni. She also reminded us that we’ve been tardy about sending in our order form. Eep. (I hope she believes the excuse that it was too stained […]

One of the great things about contributing to a blog like this one is that people will email us, providing information, insights, suggestions, and other helpful tips. In the last couple of weeks, we here at Locavore Central (Seattle branch) received a comment from a local Seattleite. We corresponded a bit, and she […]

“Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. ” That is the thinking beind the monolithic meat and potatoes food culture that marked my first dozen years. More than two dozen years later, I still approach certain new foods with caution and an excess of butter to tame their strange flavors. While it […]

Washington State University has announced a new Major in Organic Agriculture, the first of its kind in the United States. It is not clear how closely the program will follow sustainable practices such as the ones promoted by WSU’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture & Natural Resources (CSANR), but it is clear that Wazzu’s decision was […]

Richard Huff tipped me off to a grassroots movement to preserve farmland and promote organic farming.
PCC Farmland Trust, a non-profit land trust and wholly separated entity founded by Puget Consumers Co-op Natural Markets, purchases land to be set aside for organic farming. The trust currently owns four farms in Washington totaling 532 acres. The farms […]