Real Time Farms

I've always found that it's much easier to stick to my values at home than it is out "in the world." For instance, Josh and I only buy meat that was grass-fed, had no hormones or growth steroids, and was raised using humane and sustainable practices (Niman Ranch is a shining example). However, while we feel perfectly comfortable interrogating the butcher at our local specialty grocery store before buying $25 worth of steak, we tend not to be as aggressively questioning with the very friendly college student waitress when picking up a quick sandwich at a local coney island for under $8.

I'm sure some would argue that I have the absolute right (and perhaps even responsibility) to ask about the restaurant's practices and there's definitely validity in this viewpoint. However, at this point in time with high unemployment rates and the rising cost of living, the ability to be choosy about food sources is a privilege and I would hate to be perceived as uppity in asking about local sourcing and organic certification in the middle of the restaurant.I suppose one way around this would be to make a phone call or send an email to the restaurant to avoid the in-person confrontation, but that's one of those things that's so far down on my to do list that it probably won't ever happen. 

 

Luckily, there is this great online resource: realtimefarms.com. At the site, you can enter your zip code and find out which local restaurants are purchasing produce and other food products from local farms and food artisans. Each entry has a small profile, a sample menu, and some photographs. What's even better, however, is that you can also search the other way, identifying a single farm and finding out what restaurants use their produce. Again, every farm has a small profile and some photographs, giving users a better sense of the people, produce, and the production process.

I think sites like this are great localization tools because they provide easier access to information that consumers need to make informed decisions. By joining the site, both food producers (e.g. farmers) and food purveyors (e.g. restaurants) can show their commitment to a certain type of sustainable, local food system and in doing so, can send signals to would-be customers who hold similar commitments. While I might not question the origins of my convenient (and inexpensive) lunch, I certainly won't refuse the insight provided by this compilation into how I might better stick to my values outside the walls of my own home.

"The Femivore's Dilemma"

I was going through my much too large hierarchy of email folders yesterday and stumbled across a gem: "The Femivore's Dilemma," an article by Peggy Orenstein from the March 10, 2010 edition of the New York Times. It's entirely possible that I'm breaking some kind of unspoken blog ethics by simply reproducing an article as a post, but Peggy Orenstein said it better that I ever could. Enjoy!

The Femivore's Dilemma

By Peggy Orenstein

Reproduced from the March 10, 2010 edition of the New York Times.

Four women I know — none of whom know one another — are building chicken coops in their backyards. It goes without saying that they already raise organic produce: my town, Berkeley, Calif., is the Vatican of locavorism, the high church of Alice Waters. Kitchen gardens are as much a given here as indoor plumbing. But chickens? That ups the ante. Apparently it is no longer enough to know the name of the farm your eggs came from; now you need to know the name of the actual bird.

Human Empire graphic

All of these gals — these chicks with chicks — are stay-at-home moms, highly educated women who left the work force to care for kith and kin. I don’t think that’s a coincidence: the omnivore’s dilemma has provided an unexpected out from the feminist predicament, a way for women to embrace homemaking without becoming Betty Draper. “Prior to this, I felt like my choices were either to break the glass ceiling or to accept the gilded cage,” says Shannon Hayes, a grass-fed-livestock farmer in upstate New York and author of “Radical Homemakers,” a manifesto for “tomato-canning feminists,” which was published last month.

Hayes pointed out that the original “problem that had no name” was as much spiritual as economic: a malaise that overtook middle-class housewives trapped in a life of schlepping and shopping. A generation and many lawsuits later, some women found meaning and power through paid employment. Others merely found a new source of alienation. What to do? The wages of housewifery had not changed — an increased risk of depression, a niggling purposelessness, economic dependence on your husband — only now, bearing them was considered a “choice”: if you felt stuck, it was your own fault. What’s more, though today’s soccer moms may argue, quite rightly, that caretaking is undervalued in a society that measures success by a paycheck, their role is made possible by the size of their husband’s. In that way, they’ve been more of a pendulum swing than true game changers.

Enter the chicken coop.

Femivorism is grounded in the very principles of self-sufficiency, autonomy and personal fulfillment that drove women into the work force in the first place. Given how conscious (not to say obsessive) everyone has become about the source of their food — who these days can’t wax poetic about compost? — it also confers instant legitimacy. Rather than embodying the limits of one movement, femivores expand those of another: feeding their families clean, flavorful food; reducing their carbon footprints; producing sustainably instead of consuming rampantly. What could be more vital, more gratifying, more morally defensible?

Source: The National Gardening Association

There is even an economic argument for choosing a literal nest egg over a figurative one. Conventional feminist wisdom held that two incomes were necessary to provide a family’s basic needs — not to mention to guard against job loss, catastrophic illness, divorce or the death of a spouse. Femivores suggest that knowing how to feed and clothe yourself regardless of circumstance, to turn paucity into plenty, is an equal — possibly greater — safety net. After all, who is better equipped to weather this economy, the high-earning woman who loses her job or the frugal homemaker who can count her chickens?

Hayes would consider my friends’ efforts admirable if transitional. Her goal is larger: a renunciation of consumer culture, a return (or maybe an advance) to a kind of modern preindustrialism in which the home is self-sustaining, the center of labor and livelihood for both sexes. She interviewed more than a dozen families who were pursuing this way of life. They earned an average of $40,000 for a family of four. They canned peaches, stuffed sausages, grew kale, made soap. Some eschewed health insurance, and most home-schooled their kids. That, I suspect, is a little further than most of us are willing to go: it sounds a bit like being Amish, except with a car (no more than one, naturally) and a green political agenda.

After talking to Hayes, I rushed to pick up my daughter from school. As I rustled up a quick dinner of whole-wheat quesadillas and frozen organic peas, I found my thoughts drifting back to our conversation, to the questions she raised about the nature of success, satisfaction, sustenance, fulfillment, community. What constitutes “enough”? What is my obligation to others? What do I want for my child? Is my home the engine of materialism or a refuge from it?

I understand the passion for a life that is made, not bought. And who doesn’t get the appeal of working the land? It’s as integral to this country’s character as, in its own way, Wal-Mart. My femivore friends may never do more than dabble in backyard farming — keeping a couple of chickens, some rabbits, maybe a beehive or two — but they’re still transforming the definition of homemaker to one that’s more about soil than dirt, fresh air than air freshener. Their vehicle for children’s enrichment goes well beyond a ride to the next math tutoring session.

I am tempted to call that “precious,” but that word has variegations of meaning. Then again, that may be appropriate. Hayes found that without a larger purpose — activism, teaching, creating a business or otherwise moving outside the home — women’s enthusiasm for the domestic arts eventually flagged, especially if their husbands weren’t equally involved. “If you don’t go into this as a genuinely egalitarian relationship,” she warned, “you’re creating a dangerous situation. There can be loss of self-esteem, loss of soul and an inability to return to the world and get your bearings. You can start to wonder, What’s this all for?” It was an unnervingly familiar litany: if a woman is not careful, it seems, chicken wire can coop her up as surely as any gilded cage. 

Peggy Orenstein, a contributing writer, is the author of “Waiting for Daisy,” a memoir.

Instructions for Building a Raised Bed

Josh and I have found that, no matter how much you plan, you always have to improvise at least a little bit during any household project especially those that involve multiple tools. So, with that caveat, the following are some basic instructions for building a raised bed garden, Josh and Nicole style.

1. Assemble supplies & tools - For a rectangular or square raised bed, it's easiest to make all wood cuts at once so start with this while you have lots of energy (and patience). Once cut, bring your wood as well as your other necessary supplies over to your project area.

2. Scope it out - Define the area where the raised bed will go and mark accordingly (e.g. with scrap wood, string, line in the dirt). 

3. Prep the area - Remove any grass within the marked space. To do this without losing too much dirt, use a flat edge shovel to cut a straight line in the edge of the grass to be removed. Then, use a pitch fork to gently pull the grass up from the cut edge. Note: To save even more dirt, place lifted sod pieces into a wheel barrow or other container. Let sit for several days, allowing the dirt to dry. Then, when dry, remove as much dirt as possible, placing now dead grass into compost and dirt back into wheelbarrow or container for later use.  

4. Set your square - It is important to start by laying your first board level (i.e. both sides at the same height, not crooked) and square (i.e. parallel to something). To do this, begin constructing the bed by laying a wall that is parallel to something else (for us, the back board of the bed is parallel to the house, see diagram below). Measure the distance from your parallel object to the right side of the board and mark this distance in the dirt. Repeat on the left side of the board. With these distances equal, you can be sure that your first board will be square (and therefore the rest of the bed will be too!). 

5. Trench & post - Dig a small trench (2-3 inches) along the straight line where the board will go. Set the board so it is roughly level, adjusting trench depths as needed. For the most solid construction, plan board edges so that they alternate (see diagram). Dig a 6-8 inch hole where each post will go, taking into account how the next board's edges will meet with the current board.

6. Align next side & attach - Dig a small trench perpendicular to the current board where the next board will go. Hold the edges of the boards together and use the square and level tools to align and level. Have one person hold the board while another attaches the edges with 2 screws through one board and into the other. Once boards are assembled, attach both sides to the dug-in post (2 screws for each side).

7. Repeat! - Repeat steps 5 and 6 on all sides of the bed until complete.

8. Set weed cloth (optional) - Cut weed cloth to fit the bed and attach to ground using landscaping pins.

9. Lay pea gravel (optional) - Scrape just a few inches of top soil off the areas to be covered with pea gravel and place removed soil in the new raised bed. Lay a generous cover of pea gravel on top of prepped areas.

10. Fill & plant - Fill the bed with soil and plant seeds or seedlings as desired!

Of course, no project is this simple. And, I fully acknowledge the inadequacy of these "instructions," but projects are dynamic and often characterized by the be bumps and problem-solving required along the way. Some advice for success:

• Enlist a friend - two sets of hands (or three) makes the nearly impossible much more simple (especially if your friend has good spatial reasoning or experience with power tools)
• Take your time - plan at least a weekend and a half since these things always take longer than it seems they should
• Use props to visualize - when trying to figure out why a corner won't go together quite right or where to dig the next post hole, use extra materials to envision what you're trying to accomplish (e.g. have those friends hold the board edges together while you try the post placement and mark what works)

So, to conclude, a before and after sequence for our new, imperfect but lovely raised beds (and check back in June for photos of these beds filled with plants!).

Before

After

Building a Raised Bed

Raised beds are wonderful tools for any gardener, but perhaps especially for a vegetable gardener. Some highlights:

• Weed control is a piece of cake
• Soil temperature is all around warmer, meaning earlier planting, later harvests, and perennials that fair better during the winter months than their ground planted counterparts
• Good drainage so roots don't get water logged
• High quality soil (especially compared to the clay we usually have)
• Limited space so any soil amendments (e.g. compost, fertilizer) are more contained and less expensive

For these reasons and many others, this past weekend Josh and I added about 75 square feet of raised bed space to our side yard on the south side of our house. We chose this location because a) there was really nothing noteworthy there to begin with and b) because it's on the south side of the house, the beds will get great light all day long (the sun travels basically over the top of the beds from east to west). Because the space is almost 25 feet long, we chose to do three separate but connected beds with the middle bed taller for a tiered effect. For the small beds, we used eight inch boards and for the tall twelve inch. All of our materials cost slightly less than $200.

Raised Bed Plan

Materials

Lumber

For our beds, we used pressure treated wood. Pressure treating is a chemical process which slows down the rate at which lumber will rot when exposed to the elements. Some people don't like to use pressure treated wood for beds where food will be grown because the chemicals can be hazardous. After our own research, we decided that we were comfortable using pressure treated wood in our vegetable beds, but I note this as a suggestion for those building raised beds to do their own research.

In the end, we used:

• (5) two inch by eight inch by eight foot boards ("two-by-eights") cut into...
• (4) 6 foot boards
• (2) 4 foot boards
• (3) two inch by twelve inch by eight foot boards ("two-by-twelves") cut into...
• (2) 7 foot boards
• (2) 4 foot boards
• (3) four inch by four inch by four foot posts ("four-by-fours") cut into...
• (8) 10 inch pieces
• (4) 12 inch pieces

Note: You can by these materials in almost any length (4 feet, 6 feet, 12 feet, etc.). For our measurements, eight feet made the most sense (also our Ford Focus couldn't really haul much more).

Other  Supplies

• 3 inch exterior grade screws
• Pea gravel (13-15 half cubic foot bags)



Ready to Raise a Bed

• Top soil (25-30 forty pound bags)
• Weed cloth (*optional)
• Landscaping pins (*if using weed cloth)

Tools

• Circular saw (or have the store cut the wood)
• Power drill (plus extension cord if not cordless)
• Phillips head drill bit
• Counter sink drill bit (*optional, but definitely handy)
• Stiff garden rake
• Trowel
• Post digger (but a bulb planter also works!)
• Pitch fork
• Level (at least 2-feet long) 
• Large square

And so began our two-day project. Check back tomorrow for construction details...

Seed Starting 2011 - Round #3

On this snowy - yes, snowy! - April day in southeastern Michigan, I bring you a seed starting update.

On Saturday, May 16, I started the following seeds:

• Late/Storage Hybrid Cabbage
• Round Dutch Cabbage
• Italian Oregano
• Greek Oregano
• French Rosemary

Before I go any further, I've realized that it may not be apparent why I always leave at least a couple of cells empty. So, to explain: last year I did not achieve an adequate method for keeping track of which plants went where; I mean, I wrote them down, but when they trays were moved for watering, this system quickly fell apart. Therefore, this year I have once again drawn (and posted) an image of each tray, but I also kept a few cells empty so that even if the trays get turned around or reorganized, I'll always be able to figure out how the diagram applies to the tray. Pretty ingenious, aye?

Then, on Sunday, May 17 (after a trip to Downtown Home & Garden for more soil), I started:

• Cayenne Peppers
• Jalapeno Peppers
• Pepperoncini
• Hungarian Hot Wax
• Nardello Peppers
• Islero Peppers
• Giallo Peppers
• Blanket Flowers
• Echinacea (Purple Cone Flower)

Some notes about peppers: All the pepper varieties that I know of need consistently hot and sunny weather to produce in any reasonable quantity. That said, we've generally had the best luck with hot peppers (which is fine because we like spicy!), specifically cayenne and jalapeno varieties. In fact, our 6 cayenne plants and 7 jalapeno plants last year were so prolific that this year we're scaling back to 5 of each. Though they've given us trouble in the past, we're once again trying our hand in growing some sweet and roasting varieties, namely nardello, islero, and giallo.

With only two trays left to start, this seed starting business is well underway. Later this week, I'll post an update, rife with photos of the little tiny seedlings that are popping up everywhere. Until then, stay warm!

It's the Economy, [Friends]!

When Former President Bill Clinton was running his campaign, his strategist famously explained that the best tactic for winning the presidency was through a platform that focused on how he would bolster the economy. He said, and I quote, "It's the economy, stupid."

As most of my generation and those prior know, Clinton ended up winning that election and went on to win another four years later, so clearly there was something to this idea. In fact, the phrase became so prolific it spawned spoofs, books of the same title, and remains today a pop culture reference to the primacy of economics in the every day lives of the middle class. Though from my privileged position I'd like to think that money probably shouldn't be the central motivating factor in anything, it's hard to deny that economic arguments can be pretty darned convincing.

And so, today I share with you information from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) that demonstrates yet another reason why growing your own food just makes sense: not only is it an act of environmental stewardship, of localization, and of true gourmandise, it is also an act of frugality and economic sensibility.

Below is a graph which shows the food price index for the world's food from the FAO. I'm no statistician, but essentially what this graph shows is that the price of food is rising and looks like it will continue to rise in the coming months, years, etc. Even with inflation, it's pretty evident that food is becoming proportionally more expensive, meaning individuals and families have to commit a higher percentage of their income to eating now than they did 15 years ago.

From the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

In more concrete terms, the last time I was at a grocery store in Ann Arbor during the summer when eggplant was in season, the vegetable cost $1.99 a pound. Granted this may be a high price in some areas, in Ann Arbor it's fairly standard and, even if the price is reduced to $0.99, a pound, you can buy 4 eggplant seedlings at the Farmers' Market for around $3. With a little bit of effort and a patch of dirt to put them in, one plant can produce 5-8 pounds of eggplant meaning with 4 plants, you're getting at least 20 pounds of the fruits. Imagining you find eggplant for $1 a pound at the grocery store, conservatively your return on investment is approximately $15, and this return becomes even larger when you start you own seeds (buying a packet of 50 or so for $3).

That, my friends, is the economic sensibility of growing your own food that's hard to argue with. Of course, small-scale home gardening can't replace all food needs, but with vegetable produce from your own backyard, the less you need to rely on the grocery store. So even if you supplement your shopping list with a just couple of container tomato plants and a pepper plant or two, you're on your way to controlling your food cost in a time when food prices are on the rise.

And, in case you're still not convinced, check out how the numeric index has changed over the past 10 years in the table below. Until next time, shop smart!

From the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Seed Starting 2011 - Round #2

Dearest readers, it's been too long! I've been holed up with tracheitis (if you can believe it), but now I'm back in action and eager to share my latest seed starting shenanigans.

Paste, Cherry, Slicing

This past Monday (April 4), I started the following tomato seeds:

• Roma (paste)
• Polish Linguisa (heirloom paste)
• Gilbertie (heirloom paste)
• Chadwick Cherry (cherry)
• Bloody Butcher (cherry)
• Coldset (bigger than a cherry but smaller than a slicer) 
• Early Girl (slicer)
• Beefsteak (beefsteak heirloom) 

Some definitions:

• Paste tomatoes - very meaty, not a lot of seeds or juice; best for processing (canning, drying, freezing, cooking)
• Cherry tomatoes - small, juicy, flavorful, prolific; perfect for fresh eating and not bad in salsa or stews
• Slicing tomatoes (or "slicers") - fairly large, symmetrically round fruits that are good for - you guessed it - slicing
• Beefsteak - very large fruits with good meaty texture; great for flavor but not for slicing due to large protrusions and asymmetrical formation
• Heirloom - any of the varieties listed above can be "hierloom" which simply means that they are not hybrid varieties

So, because Josh and I do a lot of canning, drying, and freezing, a good majority of our tomato crop is made up of different types of paste tomatoes. Each has its own flavor and though we really like Romas, we're trying a few new ones this year (thanks father-in-law!). 

Tomato purpose practicality aside, there is absolutely nothing better than spending a July afternoon in a garden, half of the time weeding and half of the time eating cherry tomatoes off the vine. Because the fruits are so small, cherry tomato plants tend to have very heavy yields, so we always like to plant a few of them for sharing with neighbors. Also, when we have more than we can handle, we've found they make good salsa. 

And, finally, we plant a few slicers for good measure. We've found that Coldset do well in Michigan because they have a shorter growing season and, unlike other varieties, do not require consistent hot and sunny weather. The Early Girl tomatoes are a similar story, bearing fruits before many other varieties and acting as an insurance policy against crazy Michigan weather. The Beefsteak are tricky and often do not produce very hearty yields for us in part because of their longer growing season. But, the tomatoes we do get can be as big as 2.5 pounds which is a pretty crazy treat that makes it worth putting a few in the ground.

The are 42 individual containers in the type of tray I use. I blame it on the fever, but my math was way off, resulting in the crazy organization you see below:

Check back soon to hear how this weekend's pepper, cabbage, rosemary, and oregano starting go...