World's Largest CSA Gives Up Some 'High-Church Ethics' to Make 50K Weekly Deliveries

The time is now to join a CSA. If you procrastinate, you may miss out and have to wait until the next growing cycle to buy a share.

I'm sure that's why this Denmark operation, Aarstiderne, is getting attention these days from places like the Huffington Post and American Farmland Trust.

The company delivers weekly boxes to 45,000 families in Denmark and another 5,000 in Sweden.

To meet that kind of demand and grow, Aarstiderne's founder Thomas Harttung says he's "had to give up some of the high-church ethics of a CSA and adopt a more ecumenical approach."

Harttung says "to really change things, we cannot preach to a very small congregation. We must deliver a message about organic food to a broader audience."

New Biz Teaches Families How to Eat Organic on a Budget

Nice story in the Portland Oregonian about an eco-conscious cook who is on a mission to prove that eating healthy and organic doesn't have to break the family bank.

Chris Musser tells the paper that she spends $530 a month to feed her family of four a diet of grass-fed meats, organic veggies and legumes.

She's such a believer that she's opened a new edu-venture Lost Arts Kitchen, which provides classes on how to get families on the right healthy living track.

The business offers classes on meal planning, food storage and kitchen organization...like establishing a real pantry to limit trips to the grocery. You can also follow on outside of the Pacific Northwest by checking out Musser's blog.

Farmgirl straw hat tip to @foodbizstartup.

Will Illinoisans Take Their Chance to Make Zero Waste a Reality?

Thanks to Vital Information for directing me to former lawyer Melissa Graham's blog, Having Company.

I was especially taken with Graham's latest, information-packed post on zero-waste practices and why Illinois is so far behind the curve when it comes to composting.

She explains how dated concepts and bureaucratic red tape make getting composting permits next to impossible to get and certainly not worthwhile for a small organization.

Graham also introduced me to state Sen. Heather Steans, who is pushing legislation (SB99) that would allow food waste to be commercially composted by amending the Illinois Environmental Protection Act to reclassify food scraps as compostable material instead of garbage.

The legislation is slated to come before the Senate Environment Committee tomorrow, Feb. 26, so Graham wanted to be sure that readers call or email their senators to support the effort.

And helpfully, she includes a script for both phone and email and the link here to find your local senator.

Love this photo from KateMcP's Flickr photostream of a Mount Rushmore-like sculpture made from a compost heap. Brilliant.

A Social Network For Livestock Farmers Too

After I posted an update yesterday on the Farmers for the Future social network, Alpaca Farm Girl recommended another new media network: CattleGrower.com.

You'd think from the name that the site is for cattle ranchers. But it's more general than that. The site provides ways for all livestock farmers to connect.

The think I like most about social networks, and the Internet community in general, is how willing folks are to mentor and be helpful.

I was checking out the latest forum posts on CattleGrower and one young Pennsylvania Farmgirl had a question about a ewe which had given birth, but not fully passed the placenta. There were loads of suggestions and words of encouragement.

My favorite answer was this one: "I know this sounds gross but are you 100% sure she didn't eat it. I have a couple that have done it before I got out there to remove it. It is just a thought."

Ewe is right. Clearly, I'm not ready for livestock management.

I didn't see that the Pa. Farmgirl heeded any of the advice, other than to keep administering antibiotics. But there seemed to be an appreciation for the support when she posted again that the ewe passed the placenta and was fine a few days later.

What a great site. Alpaca Farmgirl says she's on the site more than Facebook. Good to hear that there are resources like these developing for the small ag community.

"Ewe Looking at Me" photo from Jules's Flicker photostream.

Future Farmers Takes Root on the Web

I'm thinking that Future Farmers for America had their expectations set a bit too low when they launched their social networking site last October.

The goal, as the founders would have us believe, was to have 100 members by year's end. I got an email recently and saw this piece from Medill Reports that the membership has grown to more than 1,100.

The site - www.farmersforthefuture.com - has members in all 50 states and 74 countries. I'm still trying to figure out if the site works for me, but since I'm not a real farmgirl yet, I'm not as desperate to connect.

I'm pulling for the network's success though because it's so important for young farmers to not only connect with one another, but to also make connections with veterans. That's why it's been particularly heartening to see old timers plugging in too.

Producing Food Without The Land

After four days of battling fever and all the other icky stuff that goes with stomach virus, we'll be glad to go home today.

Thankfully each day was saved by regular doses of Tylenol and lots of water.

There wasn't much to excite a Farmgirl at Disney. I didn't even see the resort or parks pushing Florida oranges, which was a little surprising.

The big exception was The Land at Epcot. We took the boat tour through the exhibit. While the take on farming was decidedly BigAg (sponsored by Nestle), it was fascinating to float through the experimental gardens, where hydroponics and aeroponics were on full display. So cool seeing tomato trees and enormous melons hanging from vines four feet off the ground.

I will say that if it's true that much of the produce grown there is served on the resort, as claimed, I'm suspicious of the flavor. In general, the resort food was pretty bad.

I'm glad we brought much of our own food. It'd be better for the parks to outsource their food to fast-food restaurants. I would have given anything for a Taco Bell at the Mexico exhibit at Epcot or a real McDonald's at Magic Kingdom. A nasty hot dog and fries just wasn't at all satisfying.

But I digress. Back to The Land.

Ironically, the greenhouses are attempting to invent a system of agriculture that doesn't actually need The Land. A prime motivation is to grow food with as little environmental impact as possible.

One of the other goals of the greenhouses is to produce food without soil and, indeed, without atmosphere, so that food can eventually be cultivated in space. No surprise then that part of the research is sponsored by NASA.

You don't have to travel to Disney or be an astronaut to see some of the early research results. You can experience the technology with an AeroGarden, a consumer product in which you can grow herbs and veggies, sans potting soil, indoors.

Mickey-shaped pumpkin from Living with the Land greenhouses at Epcot. Photo from Wikipedia.

Sewing a Little Family History

The other night, we were prepping for our trip to Florida. I was mending a significant tear in Future Farmgirl's beloved blankie.

I'm no seamstress. But at this age, my children think I'm a marvel because I can thread a needle. The repair was shaky and in a slight zig-zag pattern. Still, they told me I was doing a great job. That's actually what they say as they cheer me on, "You're doing a great job mama."

When I demurred, my Future Farmboy volunteered that if Aunt Margaret was here, she could do an even better job.

Indeed. And I'm so pleased that her memory lives in my children. FFB was born the week that Aunt Margaret died, so I'm especially happy that our memories of this Farmgirl Hero have had an impression on him.

Of course, he remembers Aunt Margaret as a seamstress because we have her sewing basket and an antique Mason jar filled with wooden thread spools and another filled with thimbles. Every time I dig into one of these containers, I talk about Aunt Margaret.

As a parent or teacher you wonder if anything you do actually makes an impression. Clearly, even the little things do.

Heading South for at Least Part of the Winter

This week, as we set our sights and feet on the Sunshine State, where mockingbirds sing and the state flower is the orange blossom, I thought I'd focus on the current state of Florida agriculture.

The state's agriculture commissioner, Charles Bronson (would not want to mess with that guy...oh wait, probably not the Death Wish Bronson), made it easy for me.

The state of agriculture in Florida is strong.

That's according to an interview with Bronson in the Fort Myers News-Press.

Still, the news isn't all good. While the market value of sales hit a record of $7.8 billion in 2007, net earnings have fallen 40 percent between 2005 and 2007.

What does that mean? Farmers are working harder for less return.

So what happens when it's not worth it to farm anymore?

Florida orange grove photo from glen202's Photostream.

Checking Out Healthy Food on a Tight Budget

Sunday was the first day of Food Check-Out Week. I had never heard of it before, but the Farm Bureau program is in its 11th year.

[I love that the program was started in the mid-90s in South Carolina (one of my favorite states) and had its inaugural national event in Chicago in 1998.]

The idea this year, with the theme "Stretching Your Food Dollar with Healthy, Nutritious Food," is to promote healthy eating on a tight budget.

I hear all the time that eating healthy is for the elite and more expensive than the junk food that brilliant marketers have trained our bodies to crave.

So I was especially interested to read this tidbit in a small Tennessee paper, the Daily Post-Athenian:

A March 2008 USDA report favorably supports the economics of healthier eating. Recent food price data show that prices for unprepared, readily available fresh fruits and vegetables have remained stable relative to dessert and snack foods, such as chips, ice cream and cola. Therefore, as defined by foods in the study, the price of a "healthier" diet has not changed compared to an "unhealthy" diet.

The Farm Bureau has some tips about buying healthy on a budget, including planning meals before heading to the store, and buying produce fresh and in season.

I'd say that advanced meal planning has been the absolute key to us being able to not only serve balanced meals that all of us can eat, but to eat together as a family, even after a busy day.

Food week runs through Feb. 21. I'd like to pull together some shop-healthy-on-a-budget tips of my own by the end of the week to post. So if you have ideas to share, please do.

An 'Eco-Friendly' Potato On the Way?

Following up on my Tater Tot Delight post, I had to also point out some actual potato news: The Scottish have developed what agricultural geneticists are calling an eco-friendly spud.

The BBC reports that the new potato comes in a handy oval shape attractive to grocers. But the ec0-friendly part is that the new potato variety requires less water, less fertilizers and results in higher yields.

The Vales Sovereign potato was developed by the Scottish Crop Research Institute.

Children gathering potatoes on a large farm, vicinity of Caribou, Aroostook County, Me. Schools do not open until the potatoes are harvested. Oct. 1940 photo is from the Library of Congress Flickr photostream.

Totally Craving Tater Tot Delight

The other night, when I had an extreme craving, the iFarmer came through with a new invention. At least it was new to us. I'm calling it Tater Tot Delight.

I suppose you could even do this in some organic fashion if you could find organic tater tots. All we had on hand were alphabet tater tots, so we had Alphabet Tater Tot Delight:

Ingredients:
Tater tots
Shredded cheddar cheese
Sour cream
Green onions

Directions:
Cover baking sheet with tater tots. Bake as directed until crispy. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Bake until cheese melts. Serve topped with sour cream and chopped green onions.

Yum. Unfortunately, we're out of tater tots, so no dice on Tater Tot Delight during Tropic Thunder.

Where to Sign Up for a CSA

The Washington Post reminded me that this is just about time to start lining up a CSA for the summer and fall harvests.

If you're in the DC area, the Post article has a nice guide to local CSAs. Too bad the Trib's brief of the WashPo story didn't have a similar guide.

Lucky for us, there are several good options. It helps that this urban jungle is in the middle of the bountiful heartland.

Around Chicagoland, here are a few CSA's that have come recommended:

Angelic Organics
Caledonia, IL
John Peterson and Bob Bower: 815-389-2746
Prices range up to $690 for 20 weeks, mid-June through Oct.
Pickup at numerous Chicago-area locations

Genesis Growers
St. Anne, IL
Vicki Westerhoff: 815-953-1512
Prices range up to $760 for a large share.
Pickup at Chicago-area locations and the Oak Park Farmers Market

Sandhill Organics
Grayslake, IL
Matthew and Peg Sheaffer: 847-548-4030
Prices range up to $895, from May to December.
Pickup in area suburbs, including at the Buzz Cafe in Oak Park

Irv & Shelly's Fresh Picks
[This is a 3rd party CSA]
Shelly Herman: 847-410-0595
Prices range, but requires a minimum $15 for a one-time order; Year round
Drop off at delivery address

To find a CSA in your neck of the woods, check out Local Harvest and select CSA in your search.

It's Never Too Early to Become an Environmentalist

If you're on the hunt for books that inspire your kids and your friend's kids to get into the wild, check out Green Sugar Press. Lots of Chicagoland connections at this company.

And I like their mission:

Green Sugar Press exists to ensure that our future leaders understand Cheerios don’t come from a box, milk doesn't come from a plastic bottle, water doesn't come from the tap and gasoline doesn't originate at a pump.

I'm going to check out at least one of their titles.

I'll report back once my kids have had a chance to review the book, An Environmental Guide from A to Z.

A Little More Orchard Than I'm Looking For

While reading up on developing a fruit orchard at The Farm, I came across this very detailed story about a couple who six or so years ago took over Musgrave Orchard north of Bloomington, Ind.

The article in Bloomington Alternative is a soup to nuts account of Farmgirl Amy and husband Andy's life during peak apple harvest and cider season. The 15-hour days don't sound all that attractive. Neither does doing all this work simply to feed the community. Admirable. But I think I'd want to see some profit for all that sweat and tears.

I'm pulling for them to get their not-for-profit status so they can continue to turn their CSA operation into an education enterprise. Sounds like they already do an enormous amount of orchard education there. Plus they're going organic, which has to be a big change for an entire orchard.

And kudos to the previous owner, Robert Musgrave, for having the foresight to bring this couple in as apprentices, then sell it to them on contract.

Excellent way to transition without selling entirely to developers. Looks like the orchard was divided at some point, so the farm is getting an urban feel.

Note: The couple's website is pretty out of date. The links lead to CSA signups from 2006.

No. of Small Hoosier Farms Increased by 79%

Wow. I couldn't believe the headline in the Muncie Star Press.

Here it is in black and white:

The number of Indiana farms smaller than 10 acres increased from 5,436 in 2002 to 9,720 in 2007.

Many of these new farmers hold full-time jobs outside of agriculture and run small farms while off the clock.

But just as small-scale farms are on the rise, so are large scale farms. In 2002, there were 990 Indiana farms with more than 2,000 acres. By 2007, that number rose to 1,285.

This story in the Journal Gazette, "Cash Crop: Industry shifting toward large, million-dollar farms," paints a stark picture of the large getting larger.

The losers? Mid-sized farms.

"It's just like all the other politics in the world," the Star Press quotes Greg Preston, Indiana director of agriculture statistics. "The middle class or the middle-size farmers seem to be the ones that are shrinking. So you either have to get larger or shrink down."

As much as I like to see an increase in small farms, it's not good to see the middle get squeezed.

Off-The-Clock Farming on the Rise

In the New York Times over the weekend there was this story, "Farm Living (Subsidized by Job Elsewhere)."

If you know a farmer, you likely know someone with a dual income. There's the job that pays benefits for the family and has a steady income, then there's the lifestyle that accompanies farming.

Very few farmers can really make a living off the land. It's a sad reality. The NYT notes this stat: "The percentage of farmers who had off-the-farm jobs increased to 65 percent in 2007, from 55 percent five years earlier."

The article focuses on Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack and what, if anything, he can do about the issue.

Whether he can or not, I don't see much relief coming for farmers running small, family-centric operations. Increase ethanol production doesn't seem like the answer to me.

Still, I did learn about Midwest Farmgirl Jennifer Miller, who after three years of working to raise meat goats on a 15-acre farm in Sidney, Ill., is on the verge of turning a profit selling meat directly to consumers.

Sunny Orchard Dreaming on a Late Wintery Day

The weather reached a balmy 50 degrees today. And even though the ground is still frozen, it's not too early to start thinking about spring planting.

So what's new on the agenda at The Farm? Fruit trees. It's been something I've been hoping for, so I was excited that Hoosier Outsider asked me for some faves to plant.

Off the top of my head, I could see living off of apple and apricot trees. Both bear incredibly versatile fruits for canning and drying.

There's also a plan for more berries, which is just as exciting. Now I just need to get my butt down there so I can help with some of the heavy lifting/digging.

Apricot tree blossoming in Indiana. Photo from Badger 23's Flickr photostream.

Are Foodies Promoting a 'Dangerous Strategy?'

I just read a fairly disturbing op-ed in the Chicago Tribune, even though it's barely labeled as such online.

The column, "Gourmet activists: Food for thought," is an apparent rebuttal of the fairly impressive grass-roots effort to get President Obama to name a White House Farmer, plant an organic garden on the White House lawn or otherwise make local, sustainable food systems a priority.

The author, David Martosko, isn't identified in the piece. But he's director of research for the Center for Consumer Freedom, which appears to primarily be an answer to so-called snobby foodies and granola-do-gooders. [The group also has gone on a major offensive to counter reports of high mercury levels in fish. No. 1 on its fearmonger list is the Chicago Tribune.]

He broadly paints all those who are pushing for local, sustainable food with the same elitist brush. Martosko condemns all of us, namely Michael Pollen and Alice Waters, for wanting to know where our food comes from.

Here's my favorite part:

Pollan, Waters and others may be happy to pay $7 for organic milk. That's their right, of course. But asking the White House to lead a revolution against 'cheap food' is a dangerous strategy when so many Americans are struggling to feed their families.

This is hardly, to me, a revolution against cheap food. I'm all for affordable, healthy food and supporting our rural economies.

How is this is a "dangerous strategy."

Faking it Until Spring

It's been a while since I've had a chance to curl up with my Bon Appetit.

In fact, I missed all of last month. But I'm diving right in to March. It's a great issue...I may even attempt the caramel banana bread pudding, New Orleans style.

But potentially my favorite part is this new sustainability-focused foodie blog, Conscious Cook.

I loved this advice for getting through the dreary winter months:

Fake it. Start an indoor garden and just pretend it's May.

Sounds like a fantastic idea. I was just thinking I need to get some herbs going in a window somewhere in the house. In the post (only one so far), I learned about these super cute Rice Hull Gardens...a complete biodegradable container garden in all sorts of aromas and flavors.

I'll add Conscious Cook to my VFG list when there are more posts.

New Local Favorite: Moonglo

I had a meeting tonight at Marion Street Cheese. It's been way too long since I've been there, so of course I had to go on a tasting binge.

And because I put the cheese server through so much trouble, it wouldn't have been polite to leave without buying something.

My choice was Prairie Fruits Farm's Moonglo, a raw milk tomme-style goat cheese with a pungent, but slightly fruity, aftertaste.

I probably engaged in some sort of culinary sacrilege because I bought it specifically to grill with smoked turkey and sharp cheddar on a panini.

Yum.

I would definitely do that again. It's perfect for grilled cheese.

I will also definitely get Moonglo again. But what I really crave is Little Bloom on the Prairie or Red Dawn. I can't wait until those kids are born this spring and those Nubians get ready for milking.

My Inspiring Handmade Homes

The pix of my friend's historic barn-turned-modern Wichita home, plus this month's Mother Earth News and the feature "Inspiring Handmade Homes" had me thinking a lot about the traditional and nontraditional roofs I've had over my head.

When I was a kid, I thought it was cool to live in tents or in tent communities while my dad was off tree trimming or tree planting in Colorado and Wyoming.

My favorite traditional house growing up was in a San Juan Capistrano community. Why my favorite? We had a community pool.

My favorite nontraditional house? It's a toss up.

This one ended up being a close second:


It was a greenhouse and was still standing, though in disrepair, about five years ago when I took the iFarmer and Future Farmboy for a visit.

Pictured here is my "godfather" Frank Walker and Ukiah. Photo by Hoosier Outsider.

My favorite though was this beauty:


I helped mix the adobe with my bare feet. I also built my own mini wood forms to craft and sun bake bricks for a Barbie-sized adobe. I think that's Hoosier Outsider in the above pic.


I never saw it in this form, with its second floor. We lived in the library while the rest of the house was under construction. And it burned down after my father moved out and before I could see it completed.

I'm going to have to take the kids to the area soon. They can't quite grasp what it's like to live with and sweep dirt floors.

Why Do We Need a White House Farmer?

The fascination over who will be the Obamas' pick for White House chef or personal barber or the lucky dog picked to keep Sasha and Malia company can be cynically cast aside as an outgrowth of our culture's celebrity obsession.

I mean, who really cares?

Well, the choices for these minor roles in the lives of the First Family say something about who they are and what they value.

Take, for instance, their pick for chef. The Obamas actually kept on the White House executive chef. But filling a vacancy on the staff is Sam Kass, a private chef who cooked for the Obamas in Chicago. Besides bringing to the White House an intimate knowledge of what the Obamas like to eat, Kass brings attention to HIS values...healthy, fresh food from local sources. So says the New York Times and a number of other news orgs and bloggers, etc.

Buzz matters.

I suppose this is why I'm so excited that nearly 56,000 votes were cast in a grass-roots lobbying effort at White House Farmer to get the Obamas to pick a First Farmer.

As much as I've read about the locavore movement and small, sustainable farm operations, I have never heard of the top three vote-getters:

1. Claire Strader, Troy Community Farm, Madison, WI

2. Carrie Anne Little, Mother Earth Farm, Puyallup, WA

3. Margaret Lloyd, Home Farming, Davis, CA

They're on my radar now.

If the Obamas take this call seriously, these and many other Farm Heroes, will be on the world's radar, getting the attention they richly deserve.