Compost - It is Berry Easy....

Especially if you live in San Francisco. I recently spent a week Northern California visiting friends, exploring the the possibility of a relocation to the west coast, and enjoying all that a city with a major commitment to the environment has to offer. San Francisco, the first city to ban plastic bags, is also leading the way in recycling organic materials.

Now back to that rotten pun. It is one of the many ads I saw on buses and signs throughout the city promoting SF's compost pick-up program. Along with recycling and trash, residents also leave out their organic waste (food scraps, food soiled paper, and plants) for the city to collect and compost back into nutrient-rich soil, which comes full circle, as it is used to grow organic food and wine.

Soon to be your next glass of Cab

You may remember the blog I wrote a few weeks ago about an innovative indoor composter and the harmful methane emissions produced when organic materials fester in landfills, so you can imagine how excited I was to learn about San Francisco's compost program. You can read more about their composting and environmental programs at the city's environmental website, and you can read about how the the recycling and composting works here. See an example of their many informative videos below.

Some people explain why your rotten stuff is good food for the soil.

If you don't live in a city that offers extensive recycling and composting options, get in touch with your local elected officials and encourage them to take action. Use San Francisco's example to encourage them to enact similar policies. Lastly, don't forget to spread the message by impressing your friends with your new and catchy composting puns. It's easier than you stink.

Downers - They May Be What's For Dinner

There are several reasons you may be concerned about beef consumption and production. Here are just a few:

• This CBS News Story of downer cows being grossly mistreated at a California meatpacking plant owned by Westland/Hallmark Meat Company, which supplies food to school lunch programs.

Video of a downer/Downer of a video

• Recent news of the "Biggest Beef Recall Ever." According to the New York Times, of the 143 million pounds of beef recalled, "37 million pounds went to school lunch programs."
  

• A reading of Fast Food Nation, The Jungle, or The Omnivore's Dilemma

• You have watched Super Size Me

• You have heard some disturbing environmental statistics, such as the fact that livestock manure accounts for 18% of methane emissions (a gas that contributes to global warming)

• Like me, you worked a stint at McDonald's in high school (file that under worthwhile learning experiences in a polyester uniform one need only have once - sorry, no pictures, and I had to give my uniform back)

So what's an omnivore and concerned citizen to do? The solution is a fairly obvious one - eat less meat! While the prospect of becoming a vegetarian may seem to drastic for many, it is important to know how our actions affect the quality of life for human and animal alike. The meat industry has become a brutal one, and if you decide to consume meat, it is critical to both your health and to the health of the planet that you know what happened to your meat before it became that neatly wrapped package in your market.

Here are three easy ways to insure conscious, compassionate consumption:

• Reduce the amount of beef you are consuming. Try to limit yourself to once a week or less. As Bill McKibben suggested in a talk I attended recently, try to think of meat as a condiment rather than as a main dish.

• Get to know your local farmers. No matter where you live, it is now easy to find grass-fed beef produced under humane conditions by small farmers.
  

• Educate yourself. Read some of the books suggested above, do a little research on the web, talk to vegetarians about their decision not to eat meat, patronize organic, local restaurants, and always be sure that you know what you are putting into your body.
  

Green Beer? Here!

For those of you heading out to celebrate St. Patrick's Day this evening (or this week for that matter...this seems increasingly seems like a holiday celebrated for a solid week), The Sierra Club has put out a great blog recommending beers produced in environmentally sustainable ways.

Step1: Add pint of booze (repeat as necessary)

The comments section of their blog is worthy of a read as well because many responsible beer drinkers have chimed in with the names of their favorite enviro-brews. The result is a pretty extensive list of beers that can adopt the mantra, "tastes great, less guilt!" (of the environmental fashion; I can't speak to the caloric content).

Step 2: Share your love of Ireland with the ladies

I am putting in my vote for Wolaver's Organic Pale Ale. It is made in Vermont by Otter Creek brewing. However, I am in Seattle this week, and as I want to be mindful of my pledge to eat (and drink!) locally, I will be sampling the many varieties of beer from the Fish Brewing Company.

Step 3: Well, you know

Happy St. Patrick's Day and remember to eat locally and drink responsibly (environmentally speaking and otherwise, of course!)

8 Reasons to Love '08

Thanks to many of your efforts, a lot of the issues explored in Weekly Way '07 blogs have been addressed by increased awareness and action and/or new legislation. Here's to continuing to support positive change in environmental, humanitarian, and political issues in '08!

It's a new year and twelve months of growth, education, improvement, and adventure lie ahead. Here are 8 reasons to get excited about '08, and the best news is that this is just the start!

1. There will be a presidential election! Please remember to register and vote.

2. You can join the Free Hugs campaign. At the very least watch the video. Trust me.

3. Thanks to organizations like Cross Cultural Solutions and Globeaware, you can can spend a week or more volunteering in countries all over the world.

4. President Bush just signed the the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act (SADA) into law. There is still much more to be done to stop the genocide, but this is a very good start.

5. Michael Pollan, author of Omnivore's Dilemma, just published another book, In Defense of Food, with gems like, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

6. Almost every bill you can create (credit card, electricity, mortgage, phone etc.) can be payed online. What are you waiting for, paper hog? Go to their websites and switch to e-bills today, and while you are at it, don't forget to switch to electronic bank and investment statements too! You might even be able to save some money. Got a college loan to pay off? Sallie Mae offers interest rate reductions from .25-.375% on many loans if you change to electronic payments. That little bit pays off in big savings over time.

7. It is easier than ever to live in a cool city. Check out Sierra Club's list to see if your city made the grade. Either way, see how you can get involved and help keep your city cool.

8. The 2008 Smart Car ForTwo just became available in the United States.

Ode to Seattle and the Triple Bottom Line

I just had the good fortune of spending three glorious weeks in the Pacific Northwest. We were based in Seattle, as we had two weddings bookending our trip. One of these weddings was an incredible example of what can be done when a community of friends and family comes together to produce a sustainable, affordable, mostly organic, and delicious affair. In fact, this wedding was such a good example of a way to "party with a purpose" (yes, shameless plug for one of the chapters in my book), that it really deserves its own blog entry, and next week's blog will be all about it.

However, before I get too far ahead of myself, I want to extol the virtues of spending time in the Pacific Northwest in the summer, and especially the opportunities that we found to eat locally, even while on vacation. Not only were we able to eat local and organically grown foods when we did the cooking, we also found several restaurants and a chocolatier that use these same values when creating their culinary delights.

The first restaurant is aptly named The Stumbling Goat. I'll leave you to puzzle out why I say aptly, but I'll give you a hint and tell you that the night we dined there happened to be half price bottle night for many of their wines. The wine list was superb, the sommelier and waiter were knowledgeable and friendly, and the food was so delicious that I asked to take home a menu in order to remember every scrumptious morsel. The menu changes on a seasonal basis, and the restaurant uses mainly local, wild, and organic ingredients. In fact, they print a list of local farmers and purveyors that they work with on the back of their menu. One of my favorite taste sensations of the night was a cheese from the Estrella Family Creamery and bread from The Essential Baking Company.

The second restaurant is called Tilth, and while we did not have the good fortune of eating there on our trip, our close friends and bona fide foodies have dined there several times and highly recommend it. According to Tilth's website, it is "one out of two restaurants in the country to receive Oregon Tilth organic certification; (it) explores the experience of eating well and eating local through sourcing its produce, meats, eggs and cheeses from local and organic suppliers." Tilth is a food experience we will certainly enjoy next time we are in Seattle.

And for dessert, we discovered Theo Chocolate thanks to our friend Barndi, who happens to have a serious sweet tooth, or is it a chocolate tooth in her case? In any case, Theo Chocolate runs their business according to what they call the "triple bottom line" - People, The Planet, and Profit. They have been making chocolate (and a profit) with a business model that we can certainly encourage more businesses to follow. All of their specialty chocolates are organic and fair trade, and the real bottom line is that their truffles are some of the best I have ever tasted.

These were some of the many options we found for eating locally produced food during our travels. In order to find restaurants such as these on your next trip, you can simply do a search on Google with the name of the town you are visiting and the words "organic, natural foods, or vegetarian restaurants." As demand for this type of food spreads, so will its availability. Another great new resource for this type of product is a website, which is about to launch called Evolvist.com. It is designed to be a directory of organizations and businesses that are committed to environmental and social responsibility. Stay tuned to Weekly Way to find out when their website launches. In the meantime, visit their website to read their blog and to sign up for updates about their directory.

Until then, feel free to post your recommendations on this blog about organic restaurants and organic food purveyors that you patronize. After all, it is always great to discover where the locals eat, wherever your travels take you.

The Bounty of Local Harvests: Part Two

Please pardon the length of time it has taken me to follow up with you about my farmer's market findings. It turns out that the New York City area is even more of a cornucopia than even I anticipated. My journey to find local bounty began at Stone Barns, located in Pocantico Hills, NY. stonebarnscenter

Here, I was greeted with the scents and sounds of a working farm. The scents were surprisingly fresh and crisp considering that I grew up next door to a working farm, and the scents coming from that farm were definitely more odoriferous in the most unpleasant sense of the word. I have a feeling this has to do with the fact that the farm's beneficial symbiotic practices extend to all of the flora and fauna that have the privilege of living at this location.

I entered the herb gardens where the market is held and was greeted with the smell of an herbal medley and tables loaded high with different varieties of salad and Asian greens, garlic scapes (yes, I found them!), herbs, several varieties of meat, and, of course, the vegetable that started this all - bunches and bunches of tasty, "I was just in the desert and happened on this oasis of taste," CARROTS! No time to rejoice though; I had more markets to visit, and these carrots would give me the energy I needed with their ample helping of vitamins A, K, C, and B. I found out the nutritional information about carrots incidentally from a very useful website called The World's Healthiest Food. The purpose of this site is "to provide consumers with unbiased scientific information about how nutrient-rich foods can promote vibrant health and energy and fit personal needs and busy lifestyles." The website includes recipes and nutritional information and health benefits of different foods.

Finally, some real carrots!

My tasty bounty

On Saturday morning, I visited the farmer's market in Pleasantville, NY. It is one of 19 markets run in the NYC area by Community Markets. Their three driving ideas are "to make fresh produce available to all people, to support local agriculture, and to strengthen local communities." A visit to a market with these values ensures that one can have the opportunity to speak to the person who is growing the food, which is in fact just what I did.

In fact, I met an entire family from Claverack, NY who farms using "local, humane, sustainable farming and use organic/biodynamic methods." The Cowberry Crossing Farm sells a variety of vegetables and also raise a variety of free-range, organically-fed farm animals including bees, horses, chickens, and rabbits. Their farm was clearly a family affair, and each member was helping out at the market. I found more organic produce including radishes, salad greens, onions, and garlic at the Butternut Valley Organics farm stand.


The Cowberry Crossing Farm Crew:
Richard, Cecile, Grace, and Reese

In addition to produce and eggs, I also found two purveyors of organic bread and cheese. The Bobolink Dairy and Bakeyard sells grass-fed raw milk cheeses, wood-fired rustic bread, and pasture-raised meats. A highlight of their website is cheesemaker Jonathan White's "bookshelf" with a listing of recently read books on topics not just about food, but also about the entire ecosystem including Oxford zoology professor Richard Dawkins' book The Ancestor's Tale and On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee. Jonathan's Bookshelf

My second bread supplier, Bread Alone, makes European style organic artisan breads and pastries. I tend to offset my Saturday morning yoga class with a healthy dose of organic sugar and carbs at their stand, where I often indulge in a croissant or fruit muffin. Their wide selection provides sweet and savory tastes for every palate, and they also have cafes in Woodstock and Rhinebeck, NY. Looking for someone to make your organic wedding cake? They do that too.

There's nothing better than fresh bread

I rounded out my food for the week with fruit from the Mead Orchard stand. Because it is July, I was able to get two different kinds of cherries and a quart of blueberries. Mead Orchard is located in Red Hook, NY and depending on the season, also offers strawberries, cherries, blueberries, peaches, apples, and pumpkins. Mead Orchard

We feasted for several days on our farmer's market food, and we even drew on some of the seasonal recipes from the Animal, Vegetable, Miracle website. When Wednesday rolled around, I got a call from one of my friends reminding me about a dinner we had planned for that evening. Since we did not have much left from my previous farmer's market trip, and I wanted to remain true to the project, I decided to check out the Greenmarket in Union Square in New York City. The markets are run by The Council on the Environment of New York City and take place all over the city. The Union Square market is open on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. There are vendors selling produce, plants, meats, dairy products, pickled products, jams, breads, and desserts. You can easily find all you need for full meals here, especially during the summer months.

I bought everything I needed for the evening at the stands operated by Tello's Green Farm, Hydro Garden Farm, Evolutionary Organic, Hawthorne Valley Farm, and Keith's Farm, which is where I found this enormous head of organic lettuce.


State Fair, here we come!

I am spending the next few weeks in the Pacific Northwest, and I certainly plan on eating locally while there. When I return at the beginning of August, there will be many new fruits and vegetables to enjoy, including one of my favorites, heirloom tomatoes. Stay tuned, this report on the joys of eating locally and sustainably produced food may turn into a trilogy.

The Bounty of Local Harvests: Part One

I was recently at a friend's house on Long Island for the weekend, and I bought some carrots for my dinner salad. As I was chopping the baby carrots, I found myself sampling the goods. First of all, the name baby carrot is a misnomer, as the baby carrot is pulled from the ground at an early age, while these carrots are pulled out once mature and then whittled back down to "baby" carrot size. Much to my chagrin, I found that much of the flavor also seemed to have been whittled away. Perhaps it was the fact that we had just purchased fresh, local fish, or maybe it was the lingering memory of the organic strawberries we had inhaled for breakfast, but I was ready for some savory produce to complement these summer flavors. Unfortunately, those carrots were some of the worst I had ever eaten.

The offending batch of carrots

In order to understand their lack of taste, I decided to examine the origins of these carrots. Apparently, the little orange sticks had been cut down to baby size in a land far far away, probably California, by a mythical green giant. Since I had recently been eating only carrots from a local organic farm, I must have become spoiled and expected my carrots to taste like, well, carrots. When I contacted General Mills, the parent company of Green Giant, I was told by a nice woman that they have "sources from all over the world" for their vegetables. According to the Green Giant website, their products come from "the Valley [note the singular here], where goodness grows and great tasting vegetables are picked at the peak of perfection." Okay, that sounds enticing, but then the products are shipped to points "all over the world!" How can they still be at the "peak of perfection" once they reach me?

This innocent, yet time consuming process got me thinking about the food we eat and how far it must travel to get to us. My usual carrot supply (when I can not get them at the farm), are the organic, bagged carrots from Trader Joe's. A look at the back of that bag revealed that my peeled carrots (at least they don't call them babies) come from CALIFORNIA. If these carrots are making the cross-country trek from California to New York, then I am certainly not eating them at the peak of perfection. And what about the fossil fuels used to harvest, package, and ship my carrots 3,000 miles? How many 18 wheelers on the road at this moment are taking California carrots to parts East? Are there carrot trucks passing each other in the night? If two carrot trucks leave, one moving West at 6o mph... well, you get the picture. It is clearly time to reevaluate my food supply and its sources. I am supposed to be a low-impact omnivore after all.

While pondering this increasingly complex consumer conundrum, born of a crappy bag of carrots, I came across Barbara Kingsolver's latest work, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. The book chronicles her family's decision to move from Tuscon, Arizona to southern Appalachia where the entire family committed to a year of eating only food that they were able to grow themselves or that was produced locally. With the exception of one fair trade imported item each (Barbara chose spices, Steven coffee, Camille dried fruit, and Lily hot cocoa), the family agreed to live without anything that could not be obtained from a local source.

So you know I'm not lying about reading the book

After making this bold, and memoir-worthy decision, they embarked on a year of enjoying the bounty of locally produced food. The book highlights Kingsolver's gift for turning the mundane into the marvelous. Her narratives are playful and include vivid details about their agricultural adventures, while the informative contributions from her husband Steven and daughter Camille allow for a full perspective on their family's undertaking. In Kingsolver's capable hands, the personal quest of one family illuminates the increasingly universal quest for living lightly, yet enjoyably on the Earth. After reading this book, it is easy to see how and why we should all embark on a local food quest.

One particularly compelling entry by Steven early in the book explains the vast difference we could all make by eating locally produced food:

Americans put almost as much fossil fuel into our refrigerators as our cars.
We're consuming about 400 gallons of oil a year per citizen - about 17 percent of our nation's energy use - for agriculture, a close second to our vehicular use. Tractors, combines, harvesters, irrigation, sprayers, tillers, balers, and other equipment all use petroleum. Even bigger gas guzzlers on the farm are not the machines, but so-called inputs. Synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides use oil and natural gas as their starting materials, and in their manufacturing. More than a quarter of all farming energy goes into synthetic fertilizers.

But getting the crop from seed to harvest takes only one-fifth of the total oil used for our food. The lion's share is consumed during the trip from the farm to your plate. Each food item in a typical U.S. meal has traveled an average of 1,500 miles. In addition to direct transport, other fuel-thirsty steps include processing (drying, milling, cutting, sorting, baking), packaging, warehousing, and refrigeration. Energy calories consumed by production, packaging, and shipping far outweigh the energy calories we receive from the food (Hopp 5).

I'm certainly convinced, and I'm prepared to try the experiment myself. However, like many of you, I live in an urban area, and I have no access to a garden. The good news is that there are plenty of farmer's markets around, and I am excited to see what they have to offer. To find a farmer's market near you, check out:

localharvest.org
usda.gov
csacenter.org

Please post entries to the blog about the surprising culinary treasures or recipes you find on your visits to your local markets. Most farmers are happy to tell you how they prepare garlic scapes, kale, or rhubarb. We can create our own directory of Weekly Way-reviewed farmer's markets and recipes. It would also be interesting to hear which organically-grown non-local food product you would keep eating, if you were in the Kingsolvers' shoes. I've already decided that mine will be coffee. I am a writer and a caffeine addict, and these are codependent habits that I am not prepared to give up. I buy my fair-trade, organic, and bird friendly coffee at Coffee Labs in Tarrytown, NY.
coffeelabs

Now that I've fueled up on coffee, it is time to get started. Yesterday was the summer solstice, so today is the perfect day to start. It is also Friday, and the weekend is one of the most bountiful times for farmer's markets. There is an outdoor market at the Stone Barns Center for Agriculture in Pocantico Hills, NY on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays that sells organic produce and meat. It is located about an hour north of New York City on the Rockefeller Preserve, and it is a gorgeous day trip with plenty of hiking, biking, educational programs, and farm animal gazing available on the premises and nearby. In fact, June is spring garlic and garlic scapes month on the farm. I'm off now to load up on some delicious vegetables that I may or may not know how to cook...yet. By the way, I think my next book is The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

Herb Gardens at the Stone Barns Center

Ten Ways in Ten Days

This business of changing the world is overwhelming. Every day, I receive a new magazine to read, updates from the charities I support, and my stack of books and newspapers is almost tall enough to use as a measuring stick for my sixth grade students. In short, (pun unintended), I’m a bit overwhelmed myself, and this is my job.

But the good news in this confluence of good intentions, fluctuating priorities and time shortage is that we have already taken the first step – we care. I wouldn’t have created this website, and you wouldn’t be reading my blog if that were not the case. You probably also wouldn’t be reading the weekly way, if you were not looking for some advice. So here it is -

Just start. Take an action or two every day. Once these actions become second nature, you will find yourself looking for more ways to change the world. Visit the website and the blog often for more ideas. I will try to be both creative and practical with my suggestions.

The practical side of me says that it is important to suggest ideas that offer at least some immediate results. In order to kick off the website and welcome you to this new community, I have put together a list called Ten Ways in Ten Days, with a way inspired by each chapter of the book. Try a few or all of them out – let me know how it goes!


1. Register to Vote – This is the first step to getting involved politically and having your voice heard. If you have already registered to vote, then make sure you vote in all of the elections; even the local ones make a difference.

2. Watch a Movie – Well, more specifically a documentary or feature film about an issue or cause you are interested in. This is a great way to get educated. Perhaps the movie will inspire you to take further action. The most famous film of late that has spurred millions to action is An Inconvenient Truth, but some other films worthy of viewing are Who Killed the Electric Car?, Hotel Rwanda, Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price, Bowling for Columbine, The Ground Truth, or Super Size Me. They each offer information about issues worth getting involved in, and each movie offers suggestions for fixing the problems addressed.

3. Sign the One Declaration – which is “an historic pact for compassion and justice to help the poorest people of the world overcome AIDS and extreme poverty.” one.org

4. Unplug – Every appliance that we leave plugged in while it is not in use continues to draw electricity. Unplug any appliances in your apt./house that are not in use.

5. Find Something New to Recycle – We all know about recycling aluminum cans, plastic, and glass. But you can also recycle printer cartridges, cell phones (most or all of the components), batteries, and plastic bags. Many grocery stores including Whole Foods offer plastic bag recycling receptacles. If you are ready to stop using plastic bags once and for all, good for you – bring your own reusable bags. Check out reusablebags.com.

6. Give a Green Gift – With many occasions to celebrate in the spring, including Mother’s Day and graduations, you are sure to need a gift for someone. Give a gift from an environmentally responsible source; it is a great way to raise awareness and give a wonderful gift. Check out earthmamaangelbaby.com, organicbouquet.com, equalexchange.com, oraganic.com, or ecoexpress.com.

7. Buy Local, Sustainably Grown Food – check out localharvest.org to find farmers' markets, CSA's, grocery stores, co-ops, and restaurants that supply and use local and organic products.

8. Become Carbon Neutral – Check out terrapass.org or drivinggreen.com and use their emissions calculator to first determine your carbon footprint and then learn how to offset it.

9. Check Out the tenways.org Website – especially the Businesses Making a Difference and the Organizations Making a Difference pages. Try one of the products or join one of the organizations listed.

10. Throw a Party with a Purpose – When you have decided on an organization or cause you would like to support, invite your friends over for a party. Provide some information about the cause and ask them to bring a small donation rather than the usual host/hostess gift.