tagged w/ csa
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Our Locale is a social networking site dedicated to Local food run by 100% Volunteers. State administrators still needed in 43 states. One or two hours commitment per month max. The picture of of a cell phone that you can use to scan food items to check if they are local.
All are Welcome to join us.
http://www.ourlocale.comOur Locale is a social networking site dedicated to Local food run by 100% Volunteers.... more
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I grew up in Vermont, so I will forever have the image of an old white man in blue overalls and a John Deer tractor imprinted in my mind every time I think about farming. So when I met a young, fresh, and fashionably dressed farmer (oh, and did I mention female?) during my adventures with Sukkot on the farm, it made my head spin. The very fact that I was there camping out on farm should tell you right away that something was...well...different.
This is a different breed of farmers, many of them are first generation farmers, and see farming as a political statement rather than a family business. It’s not about dairy farms and tractors and big barns anymore. We’ve all read the headlines that farming is hard business and impossible with out government subsidies. The subsidy for this new brand of farmer is unexpected and includes yoga studios, art shows, hosting camping trips, using vending machines to distribute their produce, and renting studio apartments as a way to support their career/life style choice of farming. And just to clarify, in case you’re thinking what I’m thinking: these aren’t yuppies trying their hand at farming, these are people who have been farming for a living for ten years.
Steph and Paul of Green Oaks farm, explained the principles that guided their decision process around deciding if they should expand their farm:
They also explained that given that they share a well with another farm and neighbor, and that California is in a drought, they needed to start preparing for the future. So they demolished the old barn that was falling down, and rather than build another they took the wood and used it to make a community center where they plan to host yoga classes and community events.
Want to know and support your local farmer? Joining your local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is a great place to start:
A stone’s throw from this farm (literally) is Pie Ranch. Once again, there are tell tale signs that something is different. For starters, the farm has a website, a blog, videos on YouTube and sends it’s goods to Mission Pie.
Mission Pie: you know the one, the pie shop in San Francisco @ev from Twitter loves to RT.
Dorothy, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.
Along with being a bonified farm Pie Ranch has a mission:
to inspire and connect rural and urban people to know the source of their food, and to work together to bring greater health to the food system from seed to table. They also host youth from regional high schools to participate in farm-based programs and activities. Pie Ranch also works with educators and community collaborators in diverse urban, suburban and rural settings to help students apply what they’ve learned at Pie Ranch in their daily lives. An integral piece of Pie Ranch’s vision is to partner with youth around food & farming. Our main focus is on providing the opportunity for repeat visits rather than one-time experiences on the farm. We believe that repeat visits build upon themselves; youth connect to the land, to the staff, and to each other. Trust and respect grow as youth experience the cycle of days, weeks, months, seasons, and years.
Check out Farmer John talking about a day in the life Pie Ranch (you may now him from the documentary “The Real Dirt on Farmer John.”)
Craving a hay ride? Or perhaps you are craving fashion tips from your local farmer... joining your local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program is a great place to start!
Related links:
Farmers Use Vending Machines to sell produce: Mother Nature Network
Hot Organic Farmers (photos): Huffington Post
Farm Girls (video)I grew up in Vermont, so I will forever have the image of an old white man in blue... more
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leahl
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2 years ago
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"The decision whether to legalize the medical use of marijuana should be based on a dispassionate scientific analysis" claims Peter J. Cohen, M.D., J.D in a 70 page article in the 2009 Volume of the Utah Law Review. Cohen, who is an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University, writes a well-researched and comprehensive argument for the re-scheduling of marijuana based on unbiased scientific research.
http://my.nowpublic.com/health/utah-law-review-joins-ama-call-marijuana-rescheduling"The decision whether to legalize the medical use of marijuana should be based on... more
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brinna
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2 years ago
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You too can be a part of the food justice movement. I am scouting out areas of my city that can grow food and putting them together in a a letter to my city council. Getting involved on a local level helps out globally. On that score, Will Allen is a true inspiration.You too can be a part of the food justice movement. I am scouting out areas of my city... more
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Read this first before watching the video.
I promote people's health and the respect for our Nature.
Organic agriculture is supposed to encompass this with principles of biodiversity, biodynamic, sustainability and the rejection of GMO.
People and nature over profit, that's how it should be.
How can the current organic agriculture be improved?
I am sure we can create better and in the meantime we can do better.
But are the actual laws permitting this transition?
Are they promoting and financing better and organic agriculture?
The answer is: very little, too little!
Greediness is the antagonist.
Keeping this in mind, I ask to myself: Where's the connection between Veganism and Organic agriculture?
Are they allies or enemies?
A good percentage of organic farmers use products such as animal blood, fish meal, bone meal, animal manures or slaughterhouse by-products to replenish the soil or using the livestock rotation system.
This is ultimately animal exploitation from an animal rights point of view and can be very unhealthy from a pragmatic aspect.
There are Organic farmers that use 100% organic and clean manure but you must make sure with them that's the case.
A study done by the Elm farm research centre in England proved that animal manure can be eliminated, no animal farming, no energy, time, food and water for them, fossil fuel to transport this manure have to be invested.
Instead green manures are used, made of mulch, grass clippings, old hay, comfrey etc.
“There is nothing mysterious or magical about manure,
“Manure is nothing more than the grass or grains that are growing on the farm, cycled through a cow’s digestive system.
By Ron Khosla, owner of the veganic farm in New York (Huguenot street farm) at the link above.
Also for more info on this veganic method visit: veganorganic.net
Excerpt from the site which is very informative and explanatory :
"There is no certification standard for Veganic Agriculture at the present time, but the basic concept couldn't be simpler. Really, we are just "cutting out the middle man." The middle man in this case is the cow, chicken, horse, pig or whatever. What is their manure made from anyway but plant materials? There is no "magic" that goes on inside the animal that makes their manure better for the soil or plants than if we used the base material. In FACT, it is quite the opposite if you are using factory-farmed wastes! Besides disease, pesticide and steroid residue, salts (most especially in chicken manures) are in high enough concentrations that they can salinate heavier soils -disturbing the delicate micro-ecology that is so essential to the long-term health of the soil -and US!
Vegetable-based amendments, called "Green Manures" on the other hand ENCOURAGE microbial activity. Their carbon-to-nitrogen ratios are much more in balance. While the process is somewhat slower... the net increase in overall Organic Matter can be several times greater when a farmer uses green manures instead of animal manures. We have the soil tests to prove it! "
They are not certified Organic because they go beyond.
Excerpt:
"As the years have gone on, and our disapproval about the safety of some approved-for-organic practices has grown, our growing practices have actually strayed farther and farther from the textbook definition of Organic and towards something that I'm not really sure how to qualify but I believe is far more sustainable and healthy for us, the soil and our customers than current organic standards".
The meat consumption is not only one of the biggest destroyer of our world as it causes deforestation, hunger, poverty, desertification, water contamination, water scarcity, species extinction and the death of the indigenous people but farmers like Khosla are showing that biodiversity and soil's health can be accomplished without animal use.
Climate change could end, all of these catastrophic consequences above could end...
Continue below in the first responseRead this first before watching the video.
I promote people's health and the... more
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I am intrigued with the creative way concrete jungle dwellers are finding ways to grow gardens whether it’s through yardsharing or fire escape farming, and now, Truck Farms. Film makers Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, the creative minds behind King Corn and The Greening of Southie are proving that you can garden anywhere with their mobile garden planted in the bed of their 1986 Dodge Ram pickup...I am intrigued with the creative way concrete jungle dwellers are finding ways to grow... more
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Congressman Jay Inslee introduced a bill this week that would provide federal funding for community gardens—public plots of land that can be subdivided for the purpose of growing food or flowers. This might sound odd, but Inslee's actually emulating a long line of politicos who have voiced their support for such projects—notably FDR.
Jill Lawson's book City Bountiful chronicles the ways in which Americans have turned to gardens throughout history as a way of combating hardship. Originally started as charity projects meant to provide "moral uplift" to slum-dwellers in the 1890s, they matured into a full-blown "Victory Garden" movement during the two world wars. In World War II, FDR famously urged every citizen to grow a vegetable garden, citing local food production as essential to the war effort. All told, in 1943, Americans grew eight million tons of produce in such gardens—one-third of all vegetables grown that year.
Today, community gardens are intended to address issues like crumbling inner-city neighborhoods and a dependence on fuel-intensive agriculture—not quite as galvanizing as the Nazis, but still important. And, as Corby Krummer reported in The Atlantic last year, these vegetable patches can play a role not just in increasing access to fresh produce, but in creating meaningful employment for teens in some of America’s toughest neighborhoods.Congressman Jay Inslee introduced a bill this week that would provide federal funding... more
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So you have kids. We all want our children to grow up to be healthy, happy adults, but sometimes navigating the minefield of information out there exhorting us to “do this” and “be that” is mind numbing, to say the least. But happily, raising healthy kids is a no-brainer. It only takes one simple change.So you have kids. We all want our children to grow up to be healthy, happy adults, but... more
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sakshi
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added this
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2 years ago
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We visited Thorpe Family Organic Farm in East Aurora, New York where Gail Thorpe shared how her farm is sustained through support from her local community. She also showed us how to plant tomatoes using a transplanting machine!
For more videos visit: http://www.organicnation.tvWe visited Thorpe Family Organic Farm in East Aurora, New York where Gail Thorpe... more
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From the article --
"The first generation of community supported agriculture (CSA) programs invited consumers to buy shares of local farm harvests in advance and then reap the benefits in the form of fresh produce every week. These programs have grown significantly in recent years as thousands of independent small and midsize farms across the United States realized the potential opportunity in marketing their fresh fruits and vegetables directly to consumers at a fair price. "
If you want a say in how your farming is done, and where your money is spent, CSA may be the way. So find a local CSA, join it and vote with your dollars to insure your food supply.From the article --
"The first generation of community supported agriculture... more
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