"Eating is an agricultural act"

That's Wendell Berry. For those of you who have never read any Wendell Berry, you should. I have mostly read his agricultural essays. He wrote about what I now consider to be mainstream foodie topics (Thanks to Michael Pollan, Barbara Kingsolver and Alice Waters) 30 years ago. He is also a farmer who doesn't own a tractor. He has a team of draft horses and a collection of "archaic" non-motorized iron tools. Wendell Berry is my hero. if I could invite 5 "famous" people to my dinner table he would be one of them.

About a month ago I was privileged to travel to Monterey, CA for the Hazon Food Conference. Hazon is the largest environmental organization within the Jewish Community. I had never heard of them until I applied to receive a grant to attend the food conference. They are a worthy organization and worth checking out and getting involved with. I had never heard of them because most of their activity is based on the coasts, NY and LA, because their is an infinitely larger Jewish population there than in Chicago. The conference was a wonderful opportunity to connect with some wonderful like-minded people including my new friend Aaron Lerman, whose review of the conference you can read at the Jew and the Carrot, here. Other notable people worth checking out and supporting are:
Julie Negrin, a cooking teacher with a cookbook coming out in the spring. She lead the first of the sessions I attended and I am super excited about her book.
Abbe Turner, dairy goat farmer and cheesemaker extrodinaire. Her farm, Lucky Penny Farm, is located in Ohio. read LOCAL. A truly amazing person and I want to help her find a Chicago market and go visit her and the goats when it is a bit warmer out.
Anna Hanau, Farm manager at Adamah farm. This girl is intense when it comes to farming. in a really awesome way. She told us the best tractor story ever. I wish I could tell it but it will definitely lose something. I would like to be able to apply and work at Adamah this summer. We will see about that though there is lots going on at the moment.
Jonathan Silverman, farmer in the Bay area with lots of creative projects going on. My birthday fell during the conference and he sang happy birthday to me and presented me with a fancy chocolate bar for my cake/present.
Pesach Stadlin and Vivian Lehrer, husband and wife founders of the Eden Village Camp near NYC, Pesach taught a session on permaculture and incorporating it into your everyday life and was a wonderful teacher. Vivian moderated a Vegetable monologues panel of female farmers that included Anna Hanau and Abbe Turner. Eden Village Camp is in its inaugural year this coming summer and seems like a truly unique and dynamic opportunity for children. There are some discounts and scholarships available so if you know of some children who like to play in the dirt check them out!

I am still weeding through all the materials that I brought home and will probably say more as I do that. There is a group of us here in Chicago trying to get some projects off the ground for the community here and I also have a person project that I am going to use this blog as a platform for in the coming months as I start researching. i will tell you more about that in another post as this one has lots of info already!

We now have a grow closet!

we have decided that in the current economy to keep our ends met to grow pot in our closet and go into the pot brownie business. We grow only the finest black rooster weed, our own specially raised variety that you can only get from us. Please place your orders early as we already have a long waiting list.

Um...or we are starting the seeds for our roof garden indoors since the official frost free date in Chi-town isn't until mid to late May (depending on who you ask) and the growing season is relatively short.

We planted kale, peppers, thyme, rosemary, oregano and chamomile last week and already have little seedlings. We will be planting tomatoes, basil and mint sometime this week. We also have a mystery plant from a 6pack of lettuce that I planted at a workshop. i left the seedlings in the dark too long and had to scrap them but this mystery survived and seems to be doing well. We think it is a bean. i will post pictures soon

We also have a livestock addition to our little urban homestead: WORMS!

This is me wetting out their bedding in the sink.
We were able to trade some plants for some worms from a friend. We were just going to pay her for them but when she heard about what were growing in the closet for the roof we decided that a trade would be more appropriate. A good deal on both sides I think!

Another reason to eat local...

This is an article that has a primary concern of addressing how our country responds to crisis and natural disaster. (Click the post title to read the article) It discusses the drought situation in California and what needs to be done by the government to better address natural disaster situations so they don't all wind up like katrina. This is a valid argument but what really caught my eye and made me worry was the following statement:

"Although few have yet noticed, this is a national crisis because California produces 50% of the nation’s fruits, nuts and vegetables, and a majority of the nation’s salad, strawberries, and premium winegrapes."

50%! That HALF of the nations fruit and vegetables that will not be available if the drought situation is not handled, lets say, well enough but that is HALF of the nation's fruit and vegetables are being shipped long distances, like to the other side of the country. Here in Chicago that is only half a country away but i can buy all those things at the farmers market and they don't come more than say 5 hours away. And they don't come from big companies that need to be bailed out by the government when the ways of the world are cruel to them. they come form small farmers, some of whom i know by name and i even know where they live in the city, who are used to the government not exactly working i their favor and when disaster hits, it hits and the only thing they can count on are their customers who know them and will keep buying from them even if this season is bad because next season will be better.

Know your farmer. Buy Local.

We should all stop relying on the government and the big corporations to baby feed us- that goes for everything, most emphatically food- because when it all goes south we can no longer support ourselves, we have lost all our survival instincts. all we can do is scream and cry for something that isn't coming.

Sorry if that is a little preachy. Its how I really feel. The emphasis has come down to quantity and how cheap you can get it not to quality and respect for the work that goes into making something or the special skill it takes to do it well. the average person doesn't have any of these skills and they are too blinded by convenience to even recognize and appreciate them when its right in front of them.

Its my blog dammit, i can say what i want. you don't like it. don't read it.