REMEMBER | food security

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FOOD SECURITY

"Having consistent year round access to safe, local, affordable and culturally appropriate food that is grown, raised, produced and moved about in manners that are responsible to the environment while reflecting a consumption of natural resources that is equitable with a view to our offspring's even generations from now" Erika Allen

I ask Erika what she grow in her urban Chicago garden and she says: "Heirloom tomatoes, lemons, cucumber suyo long cucumber, Italian eggplant, ping tung eggplant, blanco eggplant, okra, ground cherry, endive, cosmic purple carrots, Nantes carrots, leeks, redbor kale, dwarf curled kale, Russian kale, dandelion greens (red rib), scarlet runner beans, fever few, chamomile, thyme, sage, table grapes, sunflowers and lot's of basil (and that's just her summer crop)."

REMEMBER | grass fed

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GRASS FED

Don Gilardi's 80 acre farm has been in the family since 1914. It was primarily a dairy farm until five years ago when Don began raising his family's sheep. They are pasture fed, with a supplement of alfalfa from a feed store in Petaluma. The sheep are sheared in June; the wool is sent to Yolo Wool Mill and comes back as yarn, batting and roving. :: 

REMEMBER | good food revolution

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Food resilience means the creationof a community food system that can reliably produce adequate good food that's safe, wholesome and affordable to all.

Growing power plays a vital role in the Milwaukee Foodshed, providing people from diverse backgrounds equal access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food. Their national outreach programs teach community leaders across America how to grow, process, market and distribute food in a sustainable manner. Training today covers such topics as anaerobic digestion for food waste, bio/photo remediation, aquaculture, vermiculture, small and large scale composting, urban agriculture, permaculture, food distribution, marketing, youth and leader development, community engagement and project planning.

VERMICULTURE |
Red wiggler worms enrich and remediate soil with their costings. This worm poop is the best organic fertiliser available. Worms can even decontaminate soil. The beneficial bacteria in their gut breaks down heavy organic compounds and actually destroys harmful E. coli bacteria.

PRODUCE |
While tomatoes only grow in the summer months, over 150 varieties of produce, including spinach, arugula, chard, turnip and collard greens, lettuces, and peppers grow throughout the year.

AQUAPONICS |
= aquaculture (fish farming) + hydroponics (growing plants in nutrient-enriched water instead of soil). 
GP raises about 100,000 fish per year. These include tilapia, a warm-water fish native to Africa, and lake perch, a cool-water fish native to North America. ::

REMEMBER | perennial vs. annual

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Wes Jackson has been domesticating intermediate wheatgrass at the land institute since the 1970s.

Workers separate seeds form the chaff of intermediate wheatgrass samples using a dehuller. These will be carefully analysed by researchers. Each successive planting brings Wes closer to his goal, that of replacing annual wheat with more sustainable perennials. According to Wes, the domestication of wheatgrass is expected to take ten to twelve years, after which a commercially viable wheatgrass will become available.

PERENNIALS HAVE LARGER ROOT SYSTEMS

1 | Improved soil stability = less need for tillage & reduced erosion
2 | reduced fossil fuel consumption
3 | better managed nitrogen
4 | reduced need for pesticides
5 | less labour intensive
6 | increased soil water storage
7 | better carbon fining
8 | greater biodiversity

::

REMEMBER | urban farmer

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Novella Carpenter says, "50% of people live in cities. In places like my neighbourhood, they're never going to be able to afford local, organic, sustainably raised food. We live in a society where supposedly you can vote with your fork, and you can change the system just by buying local food, but the thing is, if you look at our society, that's great for people who have money … but there are people who don't have access to ANY food. You look around here, it's a total food desert. It's like malt liquor is all that's available so that's what people are going to buy." ::

REMEMBER | pasture raised vs. cage free

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REMEMBER | fallen fruit

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❝People rarely eat the fruit growing in their own gardens. They simply assume its somehow not as good as fruit from the market. That two block journey they take by car to theier local grocery store further reinforces that disconnect.
Los Angelos is a car culture - everything is seen through windshields against the soundtrack of cell phone communication. Part of these artists' mission is to get people to look at things they sometimes don't see. People often stop to talk to them when they pick. One girl told them she didn't eat bananas because she thought your were supposed to eat the peel which she hated. It wasn't until she tried one on a LA sidewalk that she changed her mind. ::

HOW TO CREATE A FRUIT MAP
1. Find a neighbourhood with lots lots of fruit growing in or over public space.
2. Trace an outline of the streets and place littel symbols for the fruit trees.
3. Share with your friends.
(Note: These maps should be suggestive and playful, not overly precise, and used to encourage people to explore their own neighbourhoods.❞ ::

REMEMBER | eating in season

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❝ Iso Rabins explains that a forager sees food everywhere. It's at the park where you way, in the pond you sit next to, in the trhees you walk by, even in your backyard (you just don't know it). What matters most is being aware.It's how to discover your own foraging spots (because Iso won't share his)and besides that the fun is the search. Iso's favourite is a rarely used city park. Most people have never heard of it, even though it's in the heart of the city.❞

REMEMBER | permaculture

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❝ I asked Penny for a 'pithy' definition for Permaculture and she said it's … a 'whole system's' approach to the design of human settlements that integrates landscape, water, plants, animals, urban structure, agriculture, ecology, energy, economy and social justice into a framework that promotes opportunities for humans to become a benefit to the planet and all creation while supplying sources for an abandant existence.❞

REMEMBER | locavore

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❝Jessica Prentice created the term LOCAVORE in 2005. According to her, the term means …a person who bases their diet on foods that are grown or produced in the geographic region where they live, are in touch with the seasonality of their food systems and seek to cultivate relationships with local producers and processors. Locavores also have some kind of hands-on interaction with their food (cooking, gardens, baking, fermenting) either domestically or professionally.❞

REMEMBER | food miles

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