Busy Times!

With spring on its way out the door, we are quickly entering early summer mode here in Northern California. For the past few months I've been busy pickling and canning everything that I got my hands on! While last year was the "year of the book," this is the year of doing things, of growing things, of putting seasonal splendor up for next winter, and of enjoying late nights in the kitchen with friends. My canning sessions to date always seem take longer than planned and it's a sure sign that I am truly a novice at the art. For example, a few weeks ago I was up until 3:00 AM waiting for the marmalade to get to the right consistency. Sometimes things take longer than planned.

In addition to all this food work, I have two new bee hives that I'm looking after along with my boyfriend's fabulous mom up on their farm in Sonoma County. My last hives disappeared suddenly a few years ago and it's exciting to get some going again. Bees take pollen (pure sunlight) and turn it into golden honey - a wonderful alternative to cane sugar that is also said to help with allergies.

In between food preservation, beekeeping, and some Farmer Jane events here and there, I've been looking for more stories to tell on the Farmer Jane website; especially the stories of women of color. Why women of color, you ask? Because, these are the stories that aren't being told as much as they ought to be. While writing Farmer Jane, I searched and searched but unfortunately did not have the right contacts to get in touch with more women of color. (Thirty percent of the book's stories fall into this category, but it's hardly 50 percent - the goal that I had set for myself.) So if you have any contacts of women that I should reach out to, please send them my way by emailing me at info@farmerjane.org. I would very much appreciate it!

In Celebration of International Women's Day, March 8

Tuesday, March 8 is International Women's Day! A day to celebrate all of the women in your life, and women that you don't know, that make our world a better place. Through our work in fields, advocacy and tireless commitment to community and future generations, this day unites women from all over the globe to recognize their contributions to peace, development and sustainability.

The day started in 1975 when the United Nations proclaimed March 8th as International Women's Day to celebrate women's global activism and peacekeeping activities. In the United States, women were first celebrated on the National Women's Day on February 28, 1909 after a women's garment workers strike. I don't know if women in oppressed countries know about this day, but on Tuesday, I'm going to be in solidarity with women everywhere who fight for justice, a clean environment, healthy food, and peace. I will be in the company too, with other women advocacy organizations such as Oxfam America. Below is some info about the event I will be at, but if you're not in the East Bay, look up an event near you or consider having women you care about over for dinner to dialog. Women, the world over, are making the change that politicians only promise.

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March 8th, 2011 marks the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day. Around the world, organizations and individuals will be celebrating this exciting historic landmark. From coast to coast, Oxfam America supporters will organize 100 events in 100 days, and you're invited! Join the Bay Area Oxfam Action Corps at a very special event called “Ending Hunger Starts with Women.”

Reception, Presentation and Panel Discussion...all FREE!
Tuesday, March 8th, 6:30 to 8:30 pm
The David Brower Center, Goldman Theater and Gallery, 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA

RSVP: oxfam.sf@gmail.com

6:30 to 7:10 pm: Informational networking reception in the gallery where guests can enjoy sustainable appetizers, organic wine and fair trade tea and coffee, while mingling with local luminaries and browsing informational tables featuring local non-profits.
7:10 to 8:30 pm: The evening will continue in the Goldman Theater with short films and a presentation from special guest Ms. Prak Souern, a rice farmer and community leader from Cambodia, followed by a panel discussion and Q&A with some of the Bay Area's pioneers for ethical change, food experts, and leaders in business and government.

This event is the beginning of a dialogue about food justice in its global dimensions. We don't expect to arrive at all the answers in one night, but it's urgent that we further the conversation. There is something drastically wrong when nearly 1 billion people in the world are chronically hungry. And most of them - 3 out of 5 - are involved in food production, either by farming, fishing or herding. Women are the majority of farmers in this context, and so shoulder the added burden of gender inequality.

There is something wrong when our US cities have pockets of so-called 'food deserts' where people of limited income cannot easily access affordable healthy food. And there is something wrong when the food we do eat today depletes our natural resources for tomorrow because of unsustainable practices.

But it does not need to be this way. We can embrace solutions and a smarter, fairer food economy. So join us, at what promises to be a fun, uplifting and enlightening event, and find out how we can choose better ways to eat and grow our food, and at the same time advocate so that people worldwide have the rights and the resources to do the same.

What this freakish weather means

It's February 6, 2011 and the fruit tree buds are breaking. A warm, mediterranean wind is blowing over the hills in the Bay Area and plants, animals and humans alike rejoice at the coming of an early spring. Almond, cherry, plum, apricot - all confused and coming out to show their pretty little petals. In all the farm fields of California, nature has been jump started by a good month into thinking it's really April and farmers are scurrying to get ahead of yet another hectic season of coaxing food from the soil. If a late freeze comes, which it probably will, the buds will freeze and no fruit will come. Some may choose to plant annual vegetables with less of a gestation period after the weather becomes more stable. Some will write it off as a bad year. Regardless, farming is at the whims of nature. As young farmer Zoe Bradbury (she's so quotable!) wrote in one of her posts in Diary to a Young Farmer, "When I signed up to be a farmer, I knew the small print: and ye shall accept without question, whining or self-pity the vagaries of the weather, over which you shall have no control whatsoever. Sigh. All I can do is keep an eye to the sky and try to work with it, around it, in it."

During this West Coast heat wave, New York, Chicago and other states to the East are slammed with snow storms so intense that many cities, such as Madison, Wisconsin, declare snow days. It's an ever-increasing trend that leads to celebration only when there's heat involved. But heat aside, it has become normal to have abnormal, more extreme weather. Despite some of the most brutal winters on record in some parts of the Midwest, heat is also being experienced and some growing zones have increased two notches in the last few years. Since the weather is related to climate change, all of us need to do our best to reduce our energy consumption. Here are some small steps towards tightening your global warming belt:

1) Unplug unused appliances, they are using electricity and electricity = coal/natural gas/etc., contributors to global warming.

2) Try biking to places within two miles from your home (where most car trips are used). Cars are huge contributors to global warming and declining air quality


3) Eat less meat. Especially red meat. Cattle are large contributors to global warming through the production of methane gas and are a major reason for deforestation in South America (the lungs of the world!). Vegetarianism is the best diet you can have for the planet, but if you can't eat veggies every day, choose organic white meats as much as possible and stay away from industrial meat.

4) Think about your water usage. Turning on water means using electricity as well as this precious natural resource that is on the decline.

5) Talk to your friends and family about what they can do. You may want to use Anna Lappe's Take a Bite website.

Women, Food and Ag Network: Women, Fixin' Food

What Farmer Jane continues to point out is that women have largely been behind (and in front of), the sustainable food and farming movement all along - something that the Women, Food and Agriculture Network has known since the organization's inception in the late '90s. Co-founded by a farmer in Iowa, Denise O'Brien, the network continues to thrive today with all the purpose in the world of connecting the growing movement of women that are coming forward to call themselves farmers. That's right. Even though women have been farming since the advent of modern day agriculture when people transitioned from hunting and gathering to staying in one place and cultivating the land, they haven't always considered themselves farmers. Nor has the USDA considered them as such. That's why women farmers are filing a class action suit against the USDA as we speak - because women were not given the same access to grants as men. Similar to the African Americans recently won battle, other classes of people are stepping forward to call out the injustice. The tricky part is that women farmers are having a challenging time getting "class" status to file.

Because women farmers have not been given the same access to information, resources, or networks as men have in the past, the Women Food and Agriculture Network is providing the great service of giving women a voice. And on January 29, the Network will convene for their annual gathering. In honor of this, I'm posting the contribution that Executive Director, Leigh Adcock, wrote for "Farmer Jane." This piece not only explains the significance of the Network, but also articulates in more detail why a Network for women and the movement of women in food and agriculture is as relevant as ever.

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D-Town Here I Come

If you've been following the enthusiasm for urban farming then you've read about what's going on in Detroit. With an estimated 110,000 vacant lots, 1/3 of the city's 138 square miles, and no grocery stores in the downtown area, Detroit organizations are working to solve their own food insecurity issues. Here are a few of the organizations working to make healthy food a reality that piggy tails on Grist's excellent coverage of the city gone rural.

“From Motown to Grotown”
No other city has contributed so much to American culture in the first half of the twentieth century as Detroit, and no other city has collapsed so entirely in the second half. Detroit embodies the entrepreneurial spirit of the United States as the birthing place of the automobile industry, and was home to scientific and cultural leaders such as Thomas Edison. Musicians have always thrived in the city as well. Perhaps it was the cold winters or the mundane work at the auto plants that busted out so many talented musicians. At the height of the “Big Three” – Ford, Chrysler and General Motors – it is said that at the end of the day, people poured out into the streets or to the numerous music venues of the city to dance. In the late ‘50s Motown Records was started by auto-industry worker, Berry Gordy, who produced some of the biggest names in R&B and Soul/Funk such as The Supremes, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and others. Pop, rap, techno and rock musicians have continued to come out of Michigan and the Detroit music scene and have included such influencing names as Madonna, Iggy Pop, Bob Seger, George Clinton, Kid Rock and Eminem.

“Right-Sizing” of Detroit
Alongside the musical and cultural revolutions that happened in Detroit in the ‘50s, the exodus of the city had also begun; a trend that only accelerated in the past five years since the bankruptcy of the automobile industry. The last Census Bureau analysis showed that Detroit’s population decreased from its peak at just below 2 million in the ‘50s, to 900,000 residents. City officials estimate that by the time the next census is completed that the number will have dropped to 800,000 as people who can leave, do. That’s why the present Mayor, Mayor Bing, is proposing to “right-size” the city.

Detroit is sprawled out over 138 square miles (88,320 acres), with an estimated 40 square miles (25,600 acres), 29 percent or roughly 1/3, that has been abandoned. This represents a huge challenge to the city as basic service to various neighborhoods becomes costly in such low population densities. In August 2010, Mayor Bing announced the creation of “The Detroit Strategic Framework Plan” that will work to centralize, or “right-size”, the city, the people, and the resources over the next ten years.

And tomorrow, I have the great fortune to travel to Detroit and to meet with some of the people making it happen, growing food old school style, to the funk of a different band.

The Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN) "is a coalition of organizations and individuals working together to build food security in Detroit’s Black community by: 1) influencing public policy; 2) promoting urban agriculture; 3) encouraging co-operative buying; 4) promoting healthy eating habits; 5) facilitating mutual support and collective action among members; and 6) encouraging young people to pursue careers in agriculture, aquaculture, animal husbandry, bee-keeping and other food related fields.

Since our inception, we have focused our energies in three main areas: urban agriculture, policy development and co-operative buying. A brief history of our efforts in each of these areas follows."

Earthworks Urban Farm
"Earthworks is a program of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, a human service organization of caring people inspired by the spirit of St. Francis and sponsored by the Capuchins of the Province of St. Joseph and concerned benefactors. Earthworks seeks to promote sustainable agricultural practices, nutrition and care for the Earth. We strive for peace, respect and harmony between Neighbor and Nature."

The Greening of Detroit
"Each year The Garden Resource Program supports over 200 community, family and school gardens, all producing food for Detroit neighborhoods. Marketing opportunities are available for these community gardeners under the Grown in Detroit® brand at a GRP sponsored booth at Detroit's Eastern Market and mini-Farmer's Market's throughout the city. These gardens are currently producing around 100 tons of food each year, and the program is growing on an average of 20% annually."

The Eastern Market
"The mission of the Eastern Market Corporation is to mobilize leadership and resources to achieve stakeholders vision for the Eastern Market District and make the Eastern Market the undisputed center for fresh and nutritious food in southeast Michigan."

With Gratitude

Okay, okay. So I missed the biggest day of the year to give thanks. But really, 2010 has been one heck-of-a year for all things sustainable and food-like. Keep your eyes peeled for a "Best in Food, 2010" list that I'm working on (unless Grist beats me to it!), and know that in addition to all of the farmers, eaters, food businesses and media mavens out there that are making this local food system explode, I am profoundly full of gratitude to the grandest mother of them all, Mother Earth.

Also, if you feel like sharing some of your gratitude, please post! For example, I'm also thankful for the expert mushroom hunters that I was able to hike alongside last weekend that scored the oyster, chanterelle and porcini mushrooms that were so delicious. For the wine makers (Wild Hog Vineyard) that made the best damned 2004 Zin that I shared at another meal with freshly plucked mussels from the beach. Ah... 2011 is sure to full of more good food, food initiatives to concern ourselves with and more ways in which we will learn to reshape our communities into places of abundance and opportunity.

Cheers!

Fresno - The Belly of the Beast

Fresno, California: The number one producing agricultural county in the entire U.S. also happens to suffer from some of the highest percentages of obesity and type II diabetes. One out of every three children and 70% of adults in the valley are obese despite the fact that fruits and nuts, vegetables and livestock are the top three products (respectively), that the county grows. The place, the people, the history of food production and the current situation is as much a demonstration of how awry the American food system has become, as much as it has the greatest potential for change. (It ain't the fruit that's causing the weight gain. It's primarily corn syrup and processed foods.) If Fresno can meet more of it's food needs locally instead of exporting all of its' products, if residents can grow more fresh foods and start reversing the detriments of industrial food on human health and land, then other parts of the country stand a chance too. No pressure Fresno. We're all rooting for you!

Thanks to all the great organizations here in Fresno that have invited me to come down, Fresno Metro Ministry and the Fresno Community Garden Coalition. USDA and CCROPP are also sponsors of the first ever, contemporary community gardening conference in Fresno. 'Contemporary' because I reckon that people used to meet all the time to talk about food when gardening was second nature.