I Heart Farms

Eat Local Challenge 2006: Revving up

I'm gearing up for May, when the Eat Local Challenge is taking place. Once again, food bloggers and others around the world will be taking part in the event, which encourages people to eat within a 100-mile radius of their home. This 100-mile radius is called our "foodshed."

I'll have links soon, but as a preparation, I picked up some things at New Leaf grocery store (hey, guess who no longer carries any products containing any kind of hydrogenated fats. Pictured at left are some purchases, most of which will play a part in the May event. (Those are blood oranges from Brokaw, and I got them at the Saturday farmers market. They won't last a week here, bubba.) The butter is from Strauss, and it was on sale. I found Lundberg rice cakes: oh joy! For Logan: caramel corn cakes that smell like maple syrup. He snarfed, believe me.

I'll write more about the other stuff soon.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "What I'm doing is taking a lot of the local ingredients we have available here. I'm just using them in different ways than chefs like, say, Tom Colicchio or Jean-Georges Vongerichten or Daniel Boulud are using them. I happen to have chosen a more populist vernacular." —Mario Batali

Thanks for visiting.

A Proud, Proud Mother

Well, this has nothing whatsoever to do with farms, but I am crowing from the rooftop right now.

My amazing daughter, whose face I've blurred out at left, is the recipient of a Regents Scholarship to the University of California. This is their most prestigious award, and goes to only 1% of accepted freshman applicants. It is both merit and need based, and covers every conceivable expense for four years: books, tuition, room and board, transportation, everything.

She's been offered a full ride at dozens of colleges around the United States, but doesn't want to leave coastal California. As she told her paternal grandmother, who wanted her to go to Baylor "to learn that everyone doesn't think the way California does!": "I've been to Texas, and if that's the way the rest of the country thinks, I'm glad to live here. I like my nice liberal values, thank you very much."

So, my beautiful, beautiful girl: congratulations on this well-deserved honor and gift. I know you will continue to do your best work and continue on the path of excellence that you've been on since before you were even born. You are awesome, and everyone knows that. (And now, even more people know that.)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "I cannot believe that the inscrutable universe turns on an axis of suffering; surely the strange beauty of the world must somewhere rest on pure joy!" —Louise Bogan

Thanks for visiting.

"Got Milk?" + Tasty Tidbits

(Pictured here, Claravale Dairy: happy cows outside.)

The Cornucopia Institute has published something important for all of us who are truly interested in, and committed to, knowing where our food comes from, and supporting sustainable food sources. Their report card on the so-called organic dairy industry holds few surprises, though they left off one of the best dairies (that would be Claravale).

Also no surprise is that the horrid Heritage paid a $300,000 fine for abusing its farm workers. (Ah, you say, but isn't their milk carton attractive?) Talk about Orwellian language...since when it is "heritage" to abuse the land, animals, and your workers? Well, come to think of it, I guess it is the American way.

New Photos, Etc.

Pictured here: springtime tulips from Thomas Farm. Beautiful!

Just a quick note to say that I uploaded new photos in the albums for farms and the farmers markets, as well as one single photograph of Will Allen, who is going to be the subject of an upcoming feature on my blog. (That is his smiling face in the "Some Farmers I Know" album.)

I sent the piece off to Will for his input, and will post as soon as I get it back. Long story short: his organization and farm are one of the most inspiring I've ever encountered. He's a visionary, a leader, and a hard-working galvanizer. You'll love his story.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it." — Marian Anderson

Thanks for visiting.

Sunny Saturday: Almost Springtime

Today the sun was full and warm, and springtime is almost here. I'm adding some recent shots to the Farmers Market and the Beautiful Farms albums.

The advent of asparagus and green garlic connote springtime. As soon as the fava beans are here, it officially will be spring, no matter what the calendar says.

Happy day. Good day. Logan danced for about an hour to the Farmers Market String Band, and it's hard to say who appreciates whom more in that equation.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "We find delight in the beauty and happiness of children that makes the heart too big for the body." —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thanks for visiting.

Nina Planck: Second Helpings, Helping Farmers

(Pictured here, ten little piggies at TLC Ranch. Jim and Becky have already sold all their shares in this litter, and are expecting a delivery of fifty more pigs next week. It goes without saying that these are the cutest damn things I ever saw. Below, further down, are pictures of George and Weezy, the twin calves, and some of the new baby chicks.)

Nina Planck, at right (photo by Craig McCord), whose words appeared here two days ago, had more to say in conjunction with NYC's Greenmarket, from which she was fired, as well as offering up some tips to farmers in general. I had read the following first at a food forum that I used to support, and asked Nina's permission to share her words with a larger audience. Farmers might find this information very useful: at least, I hope so.

Read on.

"How New York’s Greenmarket Went Stale"

(Pictured here: one of the many wonderful cheeses offered at the FamilyFarmed.org Expo. This is Fleur de la Terre, from Traders Point Creamery in Zionsville, Indiana.)

Today's post was written by Nina Planck, and was originally published in The New York Times (April 24, 2004). I thought it fascinating when I read it two years ago, and Nina gave me her permission to publish in my blog. I'm sure farmers and non-farmers alike will appreciate her insight into the problems at New York City's biggest farmers market. (Visit Nina's website: she's the author of The Farmers Market Cookbook, and the upcoming Real Food: What to Eat and Why, due out June 13. I am a fan of her work!)

How New York’s Greenmarket Went Stale
By Nina Planck

In 1979, when I was eight, my parents sent me to sell vegetables at roadside stands near our 60-acre farm in Loudoun County, Va. I sold corn and tomatoes, zucchini and pumpkins. The coins went in a Danish cookie tin and the bills in an apron my mother made. We struggled to earn a living, and that winter my parents took odd jobs.

The next summer the first farmers market in the area opened, in the parking lot of the county courthouse. Swarms of people pounced on our beets and Swiss chard. Since then my parents have earned a living from “producer only” farmers markets, where all the food is local and you are allowed to sell only what you have grown.

Resources for the New Farmer

The FamilyFarmed.org 2006 Expo was a joyous and fascinating event for me. I'll cover more of the details soon, as well as post about the urban farm I visited in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Sunday.

This post is devoted solely to the resources presented from our panel, "The New Grapevine: Connect Your Farm to a Greater Community with New Media." I took some notes during the conference, and those thoughts are included in the information here.

First of all, I have not covered EatFeed's presentation on podcasting, which was extensive and fascinating). You can obtain information by e-mailing Mia Littlejohn, their marketing director. (She will perhaps post them at the EatFeed site. I'll let you know.) The host of Anne Bramley gave such a nice presentation—it was wonderful to meet her and hear her voice. EatFeed is offering a wonderful partnership for small farms to build a network via their site. (I'm sorry I can't post more details. Trust me: if you have a small farm, check it out.)

Today's farmers need to be versatile in their work: no longer is back-breaking hard work enough to guarantee the success of your small farm. Happily, however, technology that didn't exist a few years ago can help you promote your farm, by getting your name and brand and identity into the world. If you ask me, it's all about the faces and places. That, and that alone, is the reason I love farms so much, and the reason I blog.

As Paul pointed out, one thing to consider about blogging is that the effort you put into producing a newsletter could instead go into building a blog.

Newsletters are a one-way street. Blogging is collaborative: your customers can put their recipes into the comments section, and then you have built a body of work that sustains not only your clients, but yourselves, as farmers. Your clients can come and "visit" you, and you'll get some feedback that is instantly shared with your whole community.

Successful farming is requires community and networking. Blogs and Platial maps enhance the experience mightily. Read on.

TLC Ranch update

I'm sitting at the airport, waiting to go to Chicago. I saw Jim Dunlop at the downtown farmers market yesterday, and gave him a copy of yesterday's post. GOOD NEWS: he got a phone call from Ferry Plaza about participating in one of the markets there.

Oooooh, you San Franciscans better say your prayers that he gets in.

That's all for now. This keyboard is a bitch.

The Best Sunday Dinner Chicken You'll Ever Get Your Hands On

When faced with the opportunity to give an award in the 2006 Independent Food Festival for excellence to a single food item, I was looking at a crowded playing field. The instructions we received said: "You should feel very strongly and passionately that the recipient deserves the recognition and that the food you are describing is truly special."

I went through all my photographs and blog entries from the past year, to refresh my memory. (I recommend this. Go back through your blog and see all the wonderful food you've eaten. If you don't have a blog, use mine. Heh.) How could I pick just one thing from a list that included a Marin Sun Farms steak dinner on a foggy hilltop in Marin County, prepared by Chef Michael Tusk and the Quince staff; multiple meals and dozens of courses at Manresa, several trips to the Ferry Plaza marketplace, a chef's tasting lunch at Dévi in NYC, dinner at Blue Hill Stone Barns prepared by Chefs Michael Anthony and Dan Barber—or the figs, crosnes, cardoons and more that farmer Peter Jacobsen had handed to us during the visit to Jacobsen's Orchard in Yountville, where everything he grows goes into the kitchen at French Laundry? And what about that corn-lobster bisque I had at Theo's restaurant in my little village of Soquel, which was so good it brought tears to the eyes of Jasmine Roohani and Kirsten Roehler, the farmers who had grown the corn? And then there is that sandwich I get at River Street Cafe and Cheese Shop: Niman Ranch steak with a cognac-gorgonzola sauce, that I've recommended nonstop since I had my first one in December. Yow.

Not to mention the things my farmer friends grew: Cynthia Sandberg's Love Apple Farm heirloom tomatoes (145 kinds—though I didn't taste them all),  Rancho Gordo beans, Thomas Farm "Red Gold" potatoes, Dirty Girl Produce shelling beans or haricot verts, the yellow raspberries at Live Earth Farm, Happy Boy Farms' pattypan squash, the delicate pea sprouts from New Natives, Marina Di Chioggia pumpkins from Crystal Bay Farm, Swanton Berry Farm's strawberries, the amazing peppers from Everett Family Farm, the beautiful baby carrots that Ronald grows on Windmill Farms, or Betty Van Dyke's Blenheim apricots, so fragrant and flavorful?

This is not an easy choice to make.