The Organic Garden

I, like many of our customers, try to grow at least a few things in my own garden.  This year our efforts are watered down by other priorities, most noteworthy being our delivery service.  Combine our waterered down efforts with those scalliwag chipmunks who seem to take great joy in picking my not yet ripe tomatoes, taking a few bites to get to the seeds I think and then leaving the remains where they KNOW I will find them and you have what Frank from Golden Rule Farm calls an exquisite failure!  I used to think chipmunks were adorable, now I think they are scheming - they watch us with those beady little eyes, find our weaknesses and then strike. 

There are other bugs I never paid attention to before that I now love less since trying to grow things to eat: aphids, scales, mealy bugs, leaf hoppers, caterpillars and beetles.  I know they are necessary for ecological balance but could they please go provide balance elsewhere!  I don't want any, not in my garden.  And I know you can plant marigolds near your tomatoes for bugs but that doesn't stop the chipmunks - so how do you grow an organic garden and keep it going for 60, 90 or 120 days so that you reap a bumper harvest for your efforts?

You employ tactical warfare, you out-think, out-manouver and out-last, that's how!  And you employ the appetities of helpers.  Did you know that lady bugs, which you can by by the gallon (or 75'000) will eat as many as 5,000 aphids in their lifetime?  They are little bug carnivores and also eat many of the other nuisance insects that plague our patches.  Another little bug carnivore you can try is praying mantids, one egg sac contains 40'000 eggs and they will eat anything they can catch including mosquitos, wasps and beetles (and ladybugs so don't buy them together).  You can buy both insects online.

Another wonderful resource for organic gardeners who are looking at pest control is the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service website, they will help you choose the right pest control method, and if you reach the point of no return where it is too late for ladybugs, you can visit their Pest Management Database for all kinds of information, what sprays you can use, which are registered with OMRI (Organic Material Research Institute) and what the active ingredients are in each of the sprays - it is very useful, AND they include vertebrate pests like deer, squirrels, moles and field mice - (just not chipmunks)!  Since they advise garlic extract for squirrels and mice, maybe, just maybe it will work for the scheming little rascals I have living in my back yard!

Dear Dairy, Today I was called to the kitchen table . . .

Last week I as driving from farm to farm picking up produce when I happened to pass Lolans Farm in Middleborough. It was the chickens that caught my eye, and of course, Sue bent over in a field planting so I stopped. She was so gracious, and was happy to stop what she was doing to talk to me about all things farming and hear all about who we are, who are customers are, and what our goals are. Lolans is actually a dairy farm, and Sue is a warm, hospitable person - the result was that we have another source for eggs - yeah!

This week I stopped by again (for the eggs of course) and was invited inside, sat at the kitchen table with her husband Sam so that we could talk about Dairy farming in South Eastern Massachusetts over some iced tea. Sam and Sue had read my Dear Dairy blog from a couple of weeks ago and wanted to set the record straight - so I got an education and I say this very tongue in cheek of course because you couldn't meet nicer people, who are passionate about what they do and every time I meet people who are passionate about what they do, I am inspired. Every time. So on a hot Tuesday afternoon, over some delicious, cold iced tea, here is what I learned:

• There is some good in Walmart - some of the dairy farmers in New England belong to Cabot, a cooperative that distributes profits back to the farmers. I knew this of course, but what I didn't know is that Walmart approached them with a ten year growth plan and asked if they were interested in becoming a supplier and the members of Cabot were and do you know why? Because the milk keeps coming that's why. Cows need to be milked, and the milk needs to be moved it is as simple as that and to have a steady, consistent outlet for milk is crucial to the success of a dairy farm. Not only that, but now they can manage their businesses for growth with the foreseeable future secure. I am not a fan of Walmart - that is my personal position, but we don't live in a black and white world, we live in one with many shades of gray and so if they are guaranteeing the livelihoods of local dairy farmers, and the farmers are happy, then I am happy too.
• Consumers Decide - actually, I know that what consumer dollars have a voice, but I always ask farmers what their policies are on pesticides, environmental issues etc. and since I had the ear of a dairy farmer, I asked about the use of BST or Bovine Growth Hormone and was told that none of the farmers in New England use it anymore because there IS NO MARKET for milk produced from cows injected with BST. Which leads to my next point . . .
• Farming for Herd Health - dairy farming IS a volume driven business model, make no mistake, but now instead of pushing cows to produce as much as possible, Sam said it is more worthwhile putting together a herd of good, reliable milk producers and then taking good care of them by giving them the best feed you possibly can, and keeping the cows happy. Stressed cows are sick cows, they get ulcers, and have problems with their reproductive cycles and calving and all sorts of other issues. 'Feed 'em well and you will trim their feet less, and have fewer vet bills and a higher number of offspring which is another source of income', Sam says.
• Quality over Quantity - Milk collected from farmers is tested - bacterial counts are checked and so is the fat and protein content of the milk. Farmers are paid for their milk depending on the results of those tests, good milk fetches a higher price. Now no one is advocating that in the current system you can keep your cows on the best quality forage year round and justify it with the price your milk will fetch - we are not there yet, but it is good to know that we are moving in the right direction, that good quality fresh milk is worth more per gallon means we are moving in the right direction.
• Dairies Direct - local dairy farms who produce milk with a low bacterial count should be allowed to sell their raw milk or other dairy products to neighbors and independently owned farm stands and stores. Currently, legislation is so sticky that it is made difficult or impossible and so very few of them can logistically do it, but another source of retail income for these farmers would also help secure their future, and provide yet another incentive to keep happy cows producing healthy milk.

I often write on my blogs about the challenges with our food system and how much needs to be done. Well, dairy farming is not immune from these challenges and the system is far from perfect. It is a very hard way to make a living and I don't know that many sane people would sit up in this day and age and say 'Hey! I know, I am going to invest hundreds of thousands if not millions in some land, cows, tanks and all the rest so that I can make a living milking cows!'. But for those that do, I salute you and you have my gratitude.

Business Integrity

So there I was, doing my deliveries in the rain again this week.  And as I was driving from house to house, town to town, dropping off baskets of beautifully grown local produce, I found myself tuning out the world and being hypnotized by soft ticking of the rain and regular drum of the wipers.  The misty, watery and gray day wrapped around me like a cocoon.

The world in which I lost myself?   The corporate one.  Did you know that if you were born today you could live your entire life without ever buying anything from an independent business owner?  And then I started thinking about what that means, and the integrity of the system we have created.  I was thinking of how many decisions are made each day in big business and how they affect us, whether it is is a well known fast food franchise deciding to use 60% fillers in taco meat to increase profit or a popular sportswear company combining colloquial language and drug use to increase t-shirt sales, and I started to wonder, is capitalism and integrity mutually exclusive?  Is operating a business purely for profit a sure-fire way to grow the gray area between right and wrong? 

 
Do you want to know what I find most scary about this?  Agri-business.  Corporations farming for profit, there are no farmers, only farm managers, who work for and report to a corporation.  Can you imagine what compromises are made in the field?  Most agri-businesses are in business to grow animal feed or ingredients for processed food and since cutting costs and making money are the primary goals, NOT NUTRITION, it is unrealistic to expect them to be entirely forthcoming about their growing practices or the integrity thereof.  So the same principal applies here that it does in all other industries, it is up to YOU, the consumer to educate yourself, it is up to the you to find out how your food is grown, where it is grown, using what seed and even then these companies are not required to make the information readily available.

Don't you think it is exhausting?  I don't want to have to be a structural engineer to choose a window product for my home, I don't want to have to be an automotive engineer to choose a car or a chartered accountant to translate and negotiate the finance agreement and discounts and I don't want to be a registered dietitian to go grocery shopping.

I do want the companies I bring into my home and my life to operate with integrity, I want sincere value and honest communication and so my last question is, do you think I will find it? 

The answer was sitting in the back of my van.  Yes!  BUY LOCAL.

The Ant and the Grasshopper

Years ago, I had to study Maslow's 'heirarchy of needs' which explains that our basic needs for shelter and food must be met before we concern ourselves with safety and security, or belonging or self esteem and only once our needs have been met in succession, can we realize our full potential as individuals.  I suppose that is why, as we evolve as a society one of our main concerns is convenient access to plenty of food - we are after all supposed to be progressive by nature aren't we?  We take comfort in the fact that this basic need is met.

However, our current food system wastes approx. 45% of our food.  From farm to grocery store shelf to home that is, there are losses each step of the way in transporting, storing and displaying food.  As foragers we are drawn to color and bountiful displays - would any of us shop at a store that didn't have generous displays of fresh food in every color of the rainbow?  If a store only put out what it thought would sell that day, would we feel as comfortable and excited to shop there?  One of they keys to Wholefoods' success is their displays of food, it is suggested that what they offer in addition to natural and organic products is 'food porn'.  Well conceived and stocked displays that appeal to our foraging instincts - we quite literally salivate!

Salivating is not the only result of regular exposure to these displays, one of the more serious side effects is that we have become profligate with our food and anesthetized to what goes into the creation of those displays.   No, not the hands that stack them with painstaking care, but the hands that grow and nurture the mounds of green peppers, zucchini, cucumber, tomatoes . . . each one of those items takes anywhere between 60 to 120 days to grow and in that time we are not only nurturing healthy plants, balancing soil pH levels and measuring and adjusting mineral nutrient, but we are also protecting it from bugs, animals, fungi and a range of other influences that may ruin a crop.  We have become so acclimatized to having constant access to food that we no longer respect the growing process, and no longer pause to be grateful for the harvest.  And really, all that work only to throw 45% of our food away?


In addition, we don't show the growers respect either, we are paying farmers less and less for their work, corporations like Walmart create monsopolies that dictate prices to farmers.  More and more mid-size farms are no longer viable - you can read this publication by the USDA for statistics on farm size in the U.S: http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/November07/PDF/Datafeature.pdf, the number of small farms and very big farms is on the increase.  That means we are either getting our food from farming corporations, or neighbors - those are our choices.

How about we choose a different option?  Instead of pushing our farmers to grow more and more for less and less, why don't we create a different system?  One where we change our shopping habits and reduce our food waste to just 15%.  Let's not stop there!  How about we pay our farmers 30% more to grow what we need?  We aren't giving up ground in the cost of our food, just creating a healthier, more sustainable food system - let's not live like grasshoppers, and let's give ants their due!

We are WINNING!

There is always so much I want to say with this blog, and today is no different - however, I wanted today's message to be positive, on this Earth Day, I wanted to be able to be nostalgic AND sprout about the goodness that is coming of our decisions to educate ourselves and make sustainable food choices, and to be honest, when I weigh it all up we are making progress, but we have a long, long way to go and much needs to be said to create awareness on some topics.  But today, I don't want to go there.  I don't want to write about some of the environmental, political and mercantile challenges we face . . . today, I would rather say 'Thank You' - to you.

I had a conversation with a friend who asked how South Shore Organics was doing, and it is going well, each small success celebrated as if it were the first. I did tell her that one of my favorite things about South Shore Organics is that people care about the food they eat, and they care where it is from.  Our customers want to know that we are commited to supporting local farms and it is wonderful to be able to tell them we are, and then see the money they spend benefit their own community.  I love that they care, I love that they are as passionate about it as I am, but what I love most of all is being able to have a meeting with a farmer and say:  Hello, I am Pam, and I am here on behalf of a group of people who live nearby who have made a commitment to support you this growing season so what are your plans, can we be a part of them, and how can we help you be successful. 

I also thank our customers and I am grateful to each and every one, because each food dollar they spend with us speaks for them, each dollar has a voice and it says: I don't support industrial, conventional and GMO agriculture at the expense of our land and our communities, I want healthy food, grown sustainably, I support responsible growers, I support my neighbors, I don't want massive amounts of carbon fuels expended to get my food to me, I don't want tons of plastic bags and waste in my food system, I want a better balance.

So, this Earth Day, I thought it appropriate to say that it is because of people like you that the organic industry has grown from a concept to a fledgling market, then from a fledgling market into a household name and today it continues to grow despite a recession.  We have a long way to go, we have many, many challenges still to overcome, big ones, but while our farmers have our support and our commitment, we all have hope, and we can only move forward.

Happy Earth Day

Dear Dairy

I wrote in one of our newsletters a while back about the benefits of raw milk - of which there are numerous - and where to find some.  New England used to be a big dairy farming area back in the day, but as a surplus of milk drove milk prices down to levels that were no longer sustainable, and the government offered a 'whole-herd buyout' program that paid farmers a fee based on their annual milk production figures to stop dairy farming for five years and get rid of their cows (slaughter or sell).  A number of farmers, struggling to earn a living, submitted applications.  Since then other economic factors such as rising land prices, land development and more densely populated areas have all contributed to the demise of many other dairy farms in the area. 

As at 2007, the previous 25 years alone saw a drop in dairy farms from 812 in number to just 187 -  a 77% decline.  The advent of industrial dairy drove many family farms out of business, who just could not compete with the low prices.  “We just can’t survive on 1981 milk prices and 2007 costs,” says dairy farmer Chip Hager of Colrain, Mass., who milks 125 cows on 1,500 acres of owned and rented land with his wife Sherry, daughter Kim and her fiancé Aaron. “Everything we purchase to keep our operation running has gone up in price, but our milk price, which is determined monthly by USDA, keeps going down and last year was at the same level it was 25 years ago.”

In another article we published a 'profile' on the average farmer in the United States, and we noted that the average age was increasing, at the time of the last census the average age of a farmer is 57 years old.  The younger generation are off in search of more glamorous careers, they have watched their parents struggle on family farms for years and want a better life for themselves - who wouldn't?  All these factors combined create a perfect storm, one wherein the agricultural heritage of our country is compromised, industrial agriculture prospers, and our food system is changed for the worse. 

One of the latest of such casualties is the Anderson Brothers Dairy Farm in West Bridgewater, one of the closest access points for raw milk for residents on the South Shore.  The 116 acre dairy farm is run by brothers, both of whom are looking at retirement options and as all of their children have found off-farm careers, there is no one to continue the legacy of this 13 generation operation.  It is very sad.  Fortunately, Wildlands Trust stepped in and for two years worked together with the brothers, and the town to preserve this land for agricultural use only with a deed restriction.  Wildlands Trust had to raise $67,000 in private donations and the community committed $400,000 to the project, the farmers, Richard and Lance let their property go at well below market value to save it from developers.

This is one of the few 'happy endings', and everybody pulled together to make it happen, which is heartening don't you think?  From what I understand, raw milk will no longer be sold from the farm though, so it is off to Foxboro or down to Dartmouth if you would like some and so the ending is bittersweet because whilst the use of the land is secured, open space guaranteed, and the day saved thanks to the hard work of volunteers of Wildlands Trust, the unanimous vote of the residents of West Bridgewater, and the owners of Anderson Bros farm, another family operation and one of the oldest in the area ceases operation and the churn rate for loss of family farms increases by one.

Memories are Made of this . . .

At South Shore Organics we had peas for our baskets this week, not just any peas, but English Peas.  I love peas, I do - I think they are my favorite vegetable.  There is an often retold story around our family dinner table of me as a little girl, a toddler no less, at a wedding - my mom had made my little cotton sundress with a matching sun hat.  Come dinner time I was tired, it had been a long day but I refused a nap and why?  Because peas were on the menu that's why.  Apparently, or so it has been said, I went around to each of the guests at the wedding, many of them complete strangers to me, and helped myself to a few peas off each plate - not all of them mind you, I am not greedy afterall, just a few . . . and nothing else on the menu interested me.  Of course, the same story trails on into that evening (still refusing a nap) while all the guests were on the dance floor and their drinks were unattended I was strolling around taking a sip out of this glass and a sip out of that one.  My mom says I was already tipsy by the time she figured out what I was up to - but there you go, peas and booze, what does that say about me?

I don't remember a thing (are we surprised?) but what I do remember is years later standing in my mom's kitchen shelling peas.  I think we ate more than we put in the bowl and I don't remember which house we were in at the time, or how old I was - all I remember is shelling peas and some for me . . . and a few for the pot . . . and some for me . . . yum!  There is honestly nothing nicer than fresh peas.

The shelled peas took me by the hand and lead me down a meandering path of other food memories I have: baking with my gran; my mom's awesome chocolate cake; oat crunchies; licking the bowl - hmmm hmmm - roast dinners; boiling jam . . . and those in turn melt into other memories: long walks with my gran (I swear she knew the names of all the hundreds of thousands of wildflowers that grew all around); beach holidays; birthdays; sunday lunches . . . and the common denominator in all of these memories is family . . . family. 

How important are our food memories to our upbringing?  Do contribute in any way to the adults we become?  And not just Thanksgiving and Christmas food memories, but all of them?  Mine are important to me I know that, and I treasure them.  What about the food memories we are giving our children?  Will they look back on meals or experiences in the kitchen with the same sepia-tinted warm fondness that I do?  What will those memories be of for the next generation?  Supermarkets?  Wendy's?  MacDonalds?  Heat and Eat?  Cold cuts? Friendly's?  Or shelled peas, home cooked meals and wiping the last smidgeon of chocolate icing from a bowl with your finger?

It seems to me these memories are an important consideration for parents as we work hard to shape young minds.  When you think about it, meals are an integral part of our culture, they provide children with so much more than just a plate of food, it gives them an identity, it is what stories are built on, how connections are made.  Meals give children access to grandparents, moms and dads, brothers and sisters.  It is the one moment in time where even the littlest hands can help in the kitchen, and when we all sit together and be together without all the distractions that happen throughout the day.   It's like a mastercard ad:  chicken - $15, vegetables - $10, assorted groceries - $5, a meal prepared and enjoyed by all: priceless.

If you are one of the families that received peas in your basket this week, then let little hands help you shell them, and if you don't have children well then, you are not to old to enjoy some for you, a few for the pot, some for you . . .