yearofplenty

Pew Study Concludes Industrial Farm Animal Production Needs to Change

A task force sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trust has just released their findings in a thorough and balanced analysis of the current state of industrial animal production. The summary of the report can be found here.

The introduction of the report states:

Over the last 50 years, the method of producing food animals in the United States has changed from the extensive system of small and medium-sized farms owned by a single family to a system of large, intensive operations where the animals are housed in large numbers in enclosed structures that resemble industrial buildings more than they do a traditional barn. That change has happened primarily out of view of consumers but has come at a cost to the environment and a negative impact on public health, rural communities, and the health and well-being of the animals themselves.

Reading something like that makes me feel pretty good about spending a little extra for locally raised grass fed beef.

What's A 39 Year Old Preppy Presbyterian Pastor Doing In a Master Food Preserver Class?

In my previous post I wrote about a move toward earthiness and a wariness of metaphor. It provoked some great insights and I want to respond here with a fresh post. This is different from the usual fare on this blog and I will return shortly to the Master Food Preserver Class and some things I am learning about our local population of bees. But for now I want to use this as an opportunity to explain how my Christian faith informs my experience of our year of consumption. BTW - the picture is of our chives that just bloomed, with golden oregano glimmering in the background.

In response to the previous post Keith wrote,

"Action or metaphor, both are empty without love, no? Without wisdom, action and metaphor, however well intentioned, are impotent, at worst leading to chaos and blindness."

Karen wrote,

"So Craig's assertion that he is less interested in metaphor and more interested in just living is, -- sorry, Craig -- not quite the whole story. In order to live in the intentional way he's chosen, he needed to have a way to describe that choice. Metaphor, philosophy, purpose statement, whatever you call it, that's where it starts. Only within that language framework do the choices make sense.

So I'd suggest in fact that what's happening in Craig's garden is not that he's giving up on metaphor, and by association on wisdom, but that the frame and the fact are coming into alignment in a way that makes them feel like one and the same thing -- that makes them feel true.

My response: Karen, great stuff. Nothing to be sorry for. You and Keith are both right about the bigger picture including both meaning/metaphor and action working in harmony. You are also right that I am reacting against those two being falsely torn asunder. A big part of our year is to somehow put them back together in a way that is truthful.

I should clarify that what I am pushing back against is not all meaning or abstraction or metaphor. These symbolic structures of meaning are all around us and within us even if we don't acknowledge them. You are also correct in asserting that there are metaphors that have gone before us and invited us into our journey. In my tradition we sum up our framework of meaning as the Kingdom of God. I believe it is this Kingdom that has come in Jesus and it is this Kingdom that beckons us into the future, even as it comes at us. My conviction is that this Kingdom is more real, more solid, and truthful than any other so called kingdom that would claim my allegiance. I lead worship every Sunday hoping that our congregation, in the midst of divided allegiances, would be caught up in the meanings and metaphors and symbols of this Kingdom of God.

One of the questions I am engaging through this year long experiment is, "How do we get at the Kingdom?" The Bible, despite our common use of the phrase, never describes the Kingdom as something we build or bring. It is never described as a project we initiate. Our relationship to the Kingdom is always framed in terms of us entering or receiving. It is something already going on that we relate to and respond to. It requires a certain attentiveness.

And this is where I find the struggle. Too often we confuse attentiveness with separating ourselves from our everyday lives in order to make "room for God." I read the pitch for a summer camp; "Our lives are so busy it’s hard to hear what God has to say. Come away for the weekend and let God speak to you.", and I hear a subtle assumption that the actual experience of our everyday lives is not good raw material for hearing God speak. As a weary soul that longs for God, I hear that the best I can hope for is a weekend away, a momentary encounter to tide me over.

Zygmunt Bauman critiques us in this as "carnival communities." Such communities he says, "offer temporary respite from the agonies of daily solitary struggles...and like philosophy in Ludwig Wittgenstein’s melancholy musings, they ‘leave everything as it was.’" The story of the Kingdom claims that in the end nothing is left as it was. Everything is renewed and redeemed. So why is everything, despite our best poetic efforts, more often than not, left "as it was."

Confessions of a Lapsed Platonic Idealist

Our local journey has ushered us into some wonderful ongoing conversations, that matured and developed long before we came to the table. I'm reminded of folks who come to me in my role as pastor with deep questions about God and the Bible, and upon discovering just a sliver of the volumes written and developed around the subject, they are surprised with a wonderfully honest, "You mean someone has asked this question before?" I often feel like that around these issues of consumption, surprised and humbled that, for the most part, I've been missing out on these important and well developed conversations. So I'm in catch up mode and as a result, I find myself interested in things that would have slid right by me before; like land use.

For example, I recently took note of this article about the rising demand for farm land in the Seattle area and this article about folks in Missoula, Montana organizing to stop subdivisions. The presenting issue in both stories is the current pressure to localize food sources. I'm learning that the issue of food quickly becomes an issue of land. When we start paying attention to where our food comes from, we start paying attention to what we do with the land around us. We've experienced this in a small way with our change in land use policy at the Goodwin residence.

This newly discovered interest in land use, reminds me that while I have largely been out of the loop until now, there have been voices calling to me through the years to engage the conversation. Wendell Berry is chief among these voices. Not long ago I used a quote in the church newsletter from Berry's collection of essays, Standing by Words. He says;

It invariably turns out, I think, that one’s first vision of one’s place was to some extent an imposition on it. But if one’s sight is clear and one stays on and works well, one’s love gradually responds to the place as it really is, and one’s visions gradually image possibilities that are really in it.

At the time I wrote of it as a metaphor for our church sorting through the possibilities for ministry on our corner of the block, in our unique place in the community. I still love it as a community development metaphor, but given my renewed perspectives, I love it now more as it was intended, as wisdom for the use of real land in real places.

Maybe this is a helpful way to describe some of the changes going on in me. These days I am less interested in metaphors for living, and more interested in just living. I am less interested in the metaphor of the garden and more interested in the actual dirt in my back yard. I am less interested in the worn out pep talk metaphors of risk taking, and more interested in buying tickets to Thailand with our insurance check. I am less interested in the metaphor of love, and more interested in real loving actions with real people in real places. My ingrained and unquestioned Platonic idealism is giving way to what Eugene Peterson might call an earthy spirituality. I'd been snookered into thinking that the metaphors and the ideas would give me access to the sacred spaces, but am learning that the simple tangible act of buying something, or not, is a sacred event itself, an access point into what my tradition calls the kingdom of God.

I had better wrap it up. My sensors are telling me that random bits of my doctoral dissertation are creeping their way into this post.

The Joys of a CSA Veggie Box

Here's a report from a reader about their experience of opening up their first CSA box of the season. Note that they live in Sacramento area, so they have more in their box than you would find in a Spokane area CSA.

We're joining you in spirit today(if even just a little bit).  We picked up our first box from our local CSA.  You can find their fancy info at www.naturaltradingco.com.  It was nice to see the farm they are located at is more what you would expect a working farm to be and not so sanitized and picture-perfect as the flyer.  We brought our big box home (ordered big Fruit box, regular veggies and tomatoe share) and it was like opening a present.  I think the kids were surprised to see lettuce that didn't come in a plastic bag and I was surprised to cut up garlic that was moist and fresh. (You mean you don't have to peel off the hard, stale part before you chop it up?)  In our box we got a few varieties of garlic and onions, small yellow tomatoes, basil, spinach, kale, pea shoots (the farm likes pea shoots so will see alot of these-they taste kind of like peas), bib lettuce, red lady apples, oranges, satsumas and the tastiest little honeydew melons.  Made a salad and pasta with lots of veggies and honeydew.  All very, very tasty!!  It's fun to have to find recipes to use the veggies in.  Does anyone have a good Kale recipe?  The farm is two miles from our house.  I can't wait to see what we get next week.

See "Putting the Farmer's Face on the Food" for our take on CSA's and options for Spokane, and other regions of the country.

Find Out Your Neighborhood's Walk Score

Opening day of the Millwood Farmers' Market was lots of fun. I especially like all the people walking from their homes to come to the market. Come to find out that www.walkscore.com rates Millwood as a great community for walkability (74 out of 100). My neighborhood on the other hand gets a lousy 5 out of 100 score. Must have to do with the lack of buses and businesses in proximity. Downtown Spokane gets a whopping 91 out of 100, a "walker's paradise" as they call it.

They've got some interesting interpretive material on why walking matters. One benefit they say is:

Increased social capital: Walking increases social capital by promoting face-to-face interaction with your neighbors. Studies have shown that for each 10 minutes a person spends in a daily car commute, time spent in community activities falls by 10 percent³.

I like the phrase, "social capital". It sums up a big part of our efforts that have been hard to put to words. Somehow it's about building generative relationships and friendships that lead to a better life and a better community.

One example of this for me, is while I'm out in the garden many people wander by and we get to talking, and more often than not I ask them if they want a tomato plant. The greenhouse is brimming with tomato plants, some with tomatoes already on the vine, so it's a natural thing to share them. I find that when we put ourselves in the way of other people, things happen; friendships are built, encouragement is received and given, trust is built, and on and on. When we don't put ourselves in the way of others, we lose out and the community loses out as well.

Five Months to a New Normal

This week as we sat down to dinner; me comfortably snug in my Value Village Shoes and sweaty from the bike ride home from work, Nancy fashionably dressed in her second hand dress, the girls fresh from a joyful jaunt in the garden maze, all of us eager to dig into some local asparagus, field greens, homemade bread, home churned butter, and meatloaf made from deer meat provided by a hunting friend. About half way through the meal, it dawned on me that I hadn't given any of these things a second thought. All of these practices were normal. We've gone from wondering if it was even possible to follow these rules, to having them be a new, no big deal, normal (at least for one night).

I've read different things about how long it takes to change habits. Anywhere from 21 days to three months. Our experience around consumption is that it takes one day to change habits but it takes almost five months for these new patterns to feel somewhat normal. I guess it also depends on the nature of the changes we seek and how ingrained they are.

We've also learned that it doesn't take a long time of preparation to make the changes. We formulated our rules for consumption on December 27, implemented them on January 1, and have been on a steep but fun learning curve ever since. We allowed ourselves a lot of freedom to fail, and were very open to the possibility that we wouldn't make it. I guess we're still open to that possibility, but with the summer veggies on the way, it feels like we've got some good wind in our sails at this point.

One lesson we're learning is that our previous patterns of consumption seemed so unchangeable. It was just the way the world was. Everybody did it that way. It was hard to imagine that there were other ways of doing things. We're learning as a family that all habits, patterns, and practices of consumption are changeable. It might take 5 months to feel comfortable with them, but nothing need be inevitable or set in stone.

BusinessWeek On the Changing Food Marketplace

BusinessWeek is out with a lengthy article on how the food marketplace is changing because of consumer interest in local sources. Here's a choice quote:

It's a movement that is gradually reshaping the business of growing and supplying food to Americans. The local food movement has already accomplished something that almost no one would have thought possible a few years back: a revival of small farms. After declining for more than a century, the number of small farms has increased 20% in the past six years, to 1.2 million, according to the Agriculture Dept.

Say what you will about capitalism as an economic system, it knows how to listen to people's consumer choices. The article reminds me of the power and significance of these choices. One of the most powerfully political things we do is buy stuff and few things do more to shape our community than these decisions.

Eat Local Challenge Spokane

I came across www.eatlocalchallenge.com. They describe last year's challenge to eat local for the month of September here. The emphasis last year was on canning and preserving foods for the winter. They have also done it other months. I think Spokane would benefit from a public collaborative effort like this. Here are some questions; If we were to do an eat local challenge for Spokane, what month would we choose? How would we go about pulling something like that together? What groups and individuals would need or like to be at the table for something like that? I think Spokane would really rally around it and it would provide a public space for Slow Food, Farmers' Markets, WSU Extension, local producers, etc. to work together and promote health in the community. Maybe the Spokesman Food section would be interested in a collaboration. Here's another example from Kansas City.

It's kind of a late start for this summer, so I would be inclined to think September would be the best option to give as much lead time as possible. What do you think? Who's interested?

My Kid Wants Asparagus in Her School Lunch

Last night after dinner, I observed an extraordinary exchange between Nancy and our 8 year old daughter. They were discussing school lunches, and I heard these word; "Mommy can I pleeeeease have asparagus in my lunch tomorrow."

This may be some kind of strange milestone in childhood development. Perhaps we should get ahold of a University and explore this unique moment in the history of child rearing. Maybe we should consult a psychologist and make sure we are not doing irreparable damage. It could be the early stages of some childhood dementia or delusions brought on by severe malnutrition.

I'm realizing that given our lifestyle changes I may need to adjust my usual parenting instincts for bragging and gushing about my kids. It may go something like this:

Fellow Parent: "My daughter has been accepted into the gifted program and wants to be an astronaut when she grows up."

Me: "How wonderful. Well, MY kid wants asparagus in her school lunch. Top that!"

"Stop Eating Thoughtlessly"

Here's a video from www.ted.com about the decisions we make around food. Mark Bittman lays out a simple argument that we should eat half the meat we are currently consuming and more veggies. Toward the end he sums up his little lecture by saying we need to "stop eating thoughtlessly." At about 7:40 he comments on the "hip locavore" movement and goes on to tell the story of how we got into our current food dilemmas.

Field Trip Report - Thomas Hammer Coffee

I made a field trip yesterday to Thomas Hammer Coffee Roasters in downtown Spokane. Dave Rier is the roastmaster and was kind enough to invite me out for a tour. Dave and I connected around the idea of selling their jute coffee bags at the farmers' market to raise money for Coffee Kids charity to help families of coffee growers. We'll be selling them at the Millwood Farmers' Market starting this Wednesday for $2. Many of them are real works of art so I'm excited to see what creative uses people find for them.

First of all, let me say that they have one of the coolest office spaces I've ever seen. Their roasting equipment and office space are sort of mixed together in an open warehouse with a funky and stylish urban vibe. I highly recommend stopping by.

Our initial goal for the year was to drink coffee beans grown in Thailand, but Dave, who knows the coffee biz, explained that Thailand only produces about 1% of the world's supply of Arabica coffee beans. They produce alot of Robusta beans, which are more prolific producers than Arabica, but are generally lower in quality. Think Folgers. We found a supply of Thai beans from the hill tribes near Chiang Mai, but we've yet to figure out a way to import them without paying more for the money transfer and shipping than the cost of the coffee itself. The samples Dave gave us are from Doi Chaang coffee. We brewed it this morning and it's great.

With the complications around the supply of Thai Coffee, we've resorted to buying beans from local roasters which include Thomas Hammer, Craven's, Doma, H&H, & Anvil. Thomas Hammer beans are my favorite so far of the local roasts. Thanks Dave, for roasting some good coffee, and showing me around the place.

Are there any other notable local roasters? 

A New Find - Charley's Farm for Organic Garlic

I came across a new farm we'll have to put on our field trip list to get some funky varieties of locally grown garlic. Charley's Farm is located near Cheney where they grow 30 different heirloom varieties of organic Garlic. Here's the scoop from their web site on ordering the garlic;

Half of our yearly crop becomes next year's seed and the garlic we use in our kitchen.  The other half we make available to you in late Aug. or Sept.  We will take orders at any time for the upcoming harvest.  And we often sell out of the most popular varieties before it is possible to ship. This garlic can be used for growing or eating.  We sell to our customers on a first served basis.  Please call or email us if you would like more information.

We're finding that Garlic is one of the easiest things to grow. You plant the cloves in the fall and they do the rest of the work. A trick that I'm trying for the first time this year is taking the largest cloves from the previous year's crop and planting those as the seed for the following year. Apparently, the larger the cloves you plant the larger heads of garlic you get. You do have to be careful of passing disease on from one season to the next. We have found the hard neck varieties to be more flavorful, and at least the one's we have are better keepers than the soft neck variety we had last year. You also might want to try the Inchelium Red softneck variety that originated in the Colville Indian Reservation in Inchelium, WA. It is available at Charley's and Northwest Seed and Pet.

I think everyone should have a little patch of garlic growing somewhere around their residence. Charley's would be a good place to get your seed cloves for planting in the Fall.