The McShamrock Shake of Plants

Having just visited the Philadelphia Flower Show, customers calling me by day to pre-book April/May orders, and browsing seed catalogs by night for my kitchen windowsill garden, I've been thinking a lot about all things spring. I'm on the search for the newest (and most fashionable) style of gardening gloves, sourcing the coolest ornamental grass, and waiting desparately for the country's longest continuously running Farmers Market to reopen. My husband Nick is "getting his Spring on" by looking for solar-powered walkway lights, Woolly Pockets for the deck, and has found his beloved new grill. He too is anxious for the Easton Farmer's Market so he can buy the ingredients for our Easter Lamb Kabobs. Nick and I understand the wait is well worth it, completely necessary, realistic, and logical to the seasonality of produce and plants, having grown up with relatives who own an organic grass-fed beef cattle farm in VT, or in Nick's case right next door to a large dairy farm.

Does the rest of the American public understand why the Farmer's Markets are closed in the winter? Do plant buyers of garden centers realize why basil doesn't grow in January?

We live in a time where technology is king, where an astounding number of foods contain high fructose corn syrup, and the majority of our household items are made outside of the United States. Americans today have grown up shopping for their food at the local grocery store or produce dude down the block from their Brooklyn flat - places where food just magically is always available and always looks the same. My friend Melissa asks "Do kids/adults know that their food doesn't materialize on demand like Star Trek or The Jetson's?"

I think sadly the answer is no. A friend of mine attended the Bucks County Food Shed Alliance meeting last week and was taken back when the consumers at the meeting commented they want a year-round farmers market. Catch: a year-round farmers market supplying tomatoes, peppers, berries, etc. that are all LOCALLY sourced. Unless Bucks County finds a grower/farmer who is interested in growing summer produce in a greenhouse with loads of heat and supplemental lighting during the coldest and darkest months of the year, Bucks County residents might be SOL.

Obviously the solution is to educate the public - adults AND children - about farming and greenhouse growing. The work is hard but the results are well worth the effort. For Pete's sake people, plants are NOT tee shirts that sit on shelves in warehouses, waiting to be ordered and shipped to the grocery or garden center. There is a seasonality, an exclusiveness, a "limited time only" aspect - just the same as one can only get McDonald's Shamrock Shakes in March, or candy corn in October, tomatoes and basil are key components in "Summer Salad" for a reason.

CSA's attempt to teach their members about the work involved in growing, but how many of the members actually put in their required time by the end of the season? Perhaps field trips are a better start. When I was in elementary school my classes went to the Dewitt, NY Wegman's to see trucks delivering food to the stores; we visted the original Hoffman Hotdog factory (back when hotdogs were still considered "food" in the mid-80's); and my Girl Scout troop visited a local dairy farm to milk cows. If you're a grower, invite the local Boy Scout troops to tour your greenhouse and have them pot up some petunia starts. If you're a mother, suggest to your child's teacher they take a tour to a local farm. For my garden center peeps, work with the local school district to start a children's garden. And in the meantime, get excited for Spring!

Plant on,
Stephanie

Song for the Garden: Pumpkin Soup - Kate Nash
Song for the Seedlings (AKA Plant Wannabes): Summer Girl - Beck

OMG! Apple Fest 2009! Part 2!

After a busy weekend of braving APPLE FEST 2009 and apartment hunting in PA (that's one of our stops shown), I finally got the chance to read the Newsweek article I posted last week - I hope you all had the chance to read it too. I posted the article because of its relevance with current trends in society to "go green." I unfortunately think too many people are "going green" because it's the "hip" thing to do, not because it can mean better environmental stewardship or lifestyle. I believe James E. McWilliams in the interview is getting at the same idea.

McWilliams makes some good points about becoming a localvore and the organic food movement, especially when talking about food miles and food waste. It makes sense to me that one has to take into consideration not only the distance a food travels to its end selling point, but also the energy, natural resource, and financial inputs necessary to produce a particular product. However, if I am able to support a small farm, regardless of whether it is under conventional or organic management, by purchasing their products at a farmers market in my town, I will because I know I am doing my part to help my local economy. McWilliams' cry for wasted food is a common problem for American families, but two simple solutions are buy less (which comes after one learns to cook appropriate proportions for one's family size) and start composting (a topic I hope to write about SOON since it's fairly easy, even for city dwellers!).

Throughout my undergrad and graduate years of schooling, I have found that conventional and organic farming are both right and wrong, good and bad - there both are double edged swords that come with benefits and downsides. My personal view and goal of my thesis has been to take the best of both systems to create a holistic approach to farming and in the end gardening. So when I read McWilliams' statements on GMOs and pest control in organics, I gave both a sigh of relief and banged my head against the wall (in my case the desk at my office). My reactions went as follows:

Interviewer: ... You also acknowledge that there are unknown health risks in consuming GM foods, but that we shouldn't stop growing them. Do you really think it's worth the risk?
Me: WHAT?! ARE WE SERIOUSLY STILL IN 2003?! [bangs head on desk] Where do I even begin explaining that GM crops are pretty much in everything that contains high fructose corn syrup...
McWilliams: 90% of the corn in the country is GM, and it's not just going to animals, it's going to high-fructose corn syrup. ...There are possible [health] concernes with all kinds of seeds that are conventionally bred as well... I've talked to too many plant biologists who said this is a technology that if used properly can serve very real environmental and humanitarian needs.

Interviewer: ... Factory farming is bad... Consequently, many people have turned to grass-fed beef.
McWilliams: Many grass-fed cows are eating grass that's been fertilized or irrigated.
Me: Well, yes and no. My great uncles have an organic beef cattle farm that is naturally fertilized with manure and rain-watered (as is everyother type of beef cattle farm). True, there are some places that do use supplemental fertilizers and irrigation, but I will vouch for the people who don't, including a number of cattle farms I have personally visited in Veracruz, MX where farmers rotate their herds through grid sections of their land every few days so the grass growths through a natural process of growth and feeding sessions.

Overall I agree with McWilliams on the point that the public should be cautious of "fundamentalist ideals" when it comes to both eating locally and organics, a problem some Ithacans currently face. My suggestion to everyone is get educated. Talk to the people behind the table/counter at the farmers market and get to know their establishment - how do they produce their food? What measures are they using on their farm to improve their environment or keep it at status quo? What lifestyle changes can you yourself make to save on waste, drive less, eat food you know was produced with the best practices in mind, whether its conventional or organic? By learning, talking with the people who produce your food, and making connections with local establishments, you will truly become a localvore.

Plant on and rock on,
Stephanie

Song for the Garden: Merrymaking at My Place - Calvin Harris
Photo Credit: 60 N 2nd St., Easton, PA taken by DPW 2009

... And now I'll get down from my soap box and down to the ground to plant those mums in the morning!

Blame it on the System

A week ago I had a short conversation with a NYS apple grower at a cocktail party. He is a relative of a friend of mine and as a member of the Silent Generation he has a wealth of knowledge and experience in agriculture. As I explained my masters thesis project and outlook on agriculture – that organic AND conventional farming have both benefits and drawbacks, and to farm efficiently and environmentally agriculture should take the best practices from both systems to create a more “holistic" one– the grower expressed his disdain for organic certification. He claimed that the certification and process of organic farming under the current definitions and regulations is flawed and has a number of practices that can have notably detrimental effects on the environment. Some organic pesticides are known to be toxic to fish, a problem for local watersheds if runoff occurs during large rainstorms or spring snow thaw. Others such as Pyrethrum are toxic to beneficial insects. However, organic farming promotes practices such as no till and the use of cover crops to control for weeds and build soil health.

My relatives have a beef cattle farm in southern New Hampshire, and even though it’s not certified, the farm has been “organically” operated for nearly 100 years. The angus beef cattle are all free range and grass fed year-round. My uncles have decided not to go through the organic certification because of their age (one is in his 70s, the other in his 80s). However, can one argue that the farm is NOT organic simply due to the lack of certification, even if the practices used day to day on the farm could be considered as “organic”?

In closing the heated discussion with the apple grower, he asked what my future brings after the thesis – a job in the floriculture industry. He laughed at my answer, and said “well until next time, while you’re having fun with your flowers, I’ll concentrate my time and efforts on what really matters – making food.”

Ok class, flowers versus food. Discuss.

Plant on and rock on,

Stephanie

Song for the Garden: Ramalama (bang bang) - Roisin Murphy (it's SYTYCD Finale time, people!)