Real People Eat Local

With spring officially starting, I'm already well into plotting how to increase my crop yields, in other words how to keep my neighbor's groundhog from climbing our fence to reach my garden -- yes, climbing! -- the birds from eating my berries, the squirrels from pilfering my tomatoes. I've been closely observing a friend who built beautiful raised beds and a successful system of electrically-charged fencing in our suburban area to keep the pests at bay. Ideas involving new fencing, netting, better bait in my humane trap, and maybe even a garden-watch dog float through my dreams. I'm like one of the three little pigs scheming to keep the evil ground-hog from puffing down the garden.

It's true that gardening has its frustrations. This week after running a couple of soil tests, I realized that despite my mini crop rotations, religious compost attempts, cover cropping, and green "manure" applications, my garden is still very short of nitrogen. Without my own backyard chickens, or rabbits, my garden is going to need some kind of amendments, and technically allowable under organic standards or not, the fact is that I can not seem to sustain my own suburban vegetable garden without outside resources.

Yet, even though it's hard to get the whole garden perfect, it's easy to get some things right, maybe even perfect, each year. And stepping out the back door in bare feet and returning to the kitchen (or eating it on the spot) with something we grew ourselves is worth it. So, think about it: Now's the time to plan, if not plant. Many crops can go in the ground outside now, including various types of lettuce, arugula, peas, radishes and some other root crops. If you start your more cold-sensitive plants, like tomatoes, basil and peppers, inside, be sure to situate them on a South-facing window sill (if you don't have grow lights) and train a fan on them to allow the stems to grow stronger and to avoid damping off, when new seedlings suddenly wilt and die. Figure out what you can grow and where, and start somewhere. Your gardening dreams will grow with your plants.  -- Kristi

 

Though the microphone system conked out in Room SD-106 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, making it difficult for guests to hear NICFA's invited speakers, Hill staffers, Amish farmers and NICFA members were able to discuss food matters and catch up with renowned farming guru Joel Salatin of Virginia's Polyface Farms, who again emceed the fourth annual "grassroots lobby day."  

 

Meanwhile, Local Mix/Real People Eat Local caught up with some of the folks attending the event (see more photos here). Here's what they had to say about why they love and support local food:    

"We feel we like to know where our food comes from, so we have some accountability. We like to support other farmers and their stewardship of the land. And it's our healthiest choice." -- Leslie Deering (with daughter), horse trainer and farmer from central Maryland

 

"I grew up on a small hobby farm near Alexandria, VA. That's the way we lived, growing our own food -- with a milk cow and chickens, the whole lot. My mother was from Oklahoma, and that's how she did it. At the time, I hated it. I wanted to have Coke and a bologna sandwich! Eventually, I came back to my roots. Now, I grow organic fruits and vegetables, berries and raise grass-fed beef. The real reason I do that is because I discovered how tainted our food system is -- given pesticides, GMOs and processing. I would really like to see the small farms remain viable. I think it's important for people to have a choice." -- Mike Cassidy, President, Eco-Solutions LLC

"It's kind of an ideological thing for me. It's much more personal when you can purchase your food, your things, from a local person (as opposed to a grocery store). It deepens your relationship to food." -- Patricia McDaniel, Capitol Hill resident, CSA member and local food supporter

 

Asked why they prefer local food, these staffers in the office of Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) office replied:

 

Richard Dixon (right): "It tastes better! It's fresh. It tastes 100 times better than anything you'd find at Applebee's or places like that.

 

Brandon Ball (left): "Plus, there's a personality to it."

 

Richard: "And there's the local economy factor and the environment factor. It (local food) doesn't have to travel so far. And it supports small business."

 

I was in Charlottesville last month to participate in a panel on sustainable foods at my alma mater, the University of Virginia. One of the other panelists was Kate Collier, a UVa alum of the '90s, and founder of Local Food Hub, the distribution model connecting local farms with local retail buyers that is being watched closely around the country. Kate's bona fides in the local food movement were established long before Local Food Hub, through the fantastic gourmet shop she and her husband Eric opened in 2002, Feast!. I'd been wanting to see the shop myself for years, and I finally had my chance. It did not disappoint. Tucked into the Main Street Market, a destination retail center that didn't exist when I was at UVa in the 80s, Feast! has the feel of a European gourmet shop full of high-quality, impeccably sourced items, but without a hint of snobbery.

 

 

I found local cheeses from dairies like Meadow Creek and Blue Ridge, as well as French country sausages from Stanley Feder's Simply Sausage, here in Landover, Maryland. I also got to try some rich, chewy "Surry-ano" ham, a cured ham similar to jamon serrano or prosciutto, but made in Virginia from local pork.

 

Right next door to Feast! is The Organic Butcher, which also has a shop in Northern Virginia in Mclean. Its distinctive black and white awning, even in the interior courtyard of Main Street Market, draws you in with the promise of meats that have yet to be shrink-wrapped, waiting for proper aging, and proper cutting from someone who knows that the way a piece of meat is cut affects the way it cooks and the way it tastes.

Main Street Market also includes a local bakery, a seafood company, an artisanal chocolatier, a kitchen accessories store and more for a total of nine local, independent retail experiences. While in C'ville I also visited with Steve Russell who publishes Edible Blue Ridge with his wife Natalie. If your summer travels take you to Charlottesville, Edible Blue Ridge is a great guide to local wineries and other tasty stops like Main Street Market that will keep you well-provisioned during your stay. -- Renee

Fellow writer Amy Feinstein contributed an essay on her experience having chickens in her backyard in Baltimore County. Here's an excerpt:

 

For the rest of the story, click here.

Corby Kummer's article in a recent issue of The Atlantic, "The Great Grocery Smackdown," provides a new perspective on Wal-Mart's role in bringing organic and local food to the masses. It's a very interesting read. Renee did a blog post on it and asked audience members about it during the panel "Farm-to-Table: Moving Toward the Mainstream" at Les Dames d'Escoffier's Salute to Women in Gastronomy recently. 

 

Commenters pointed out that if we really believe everyone has a right to healthy, fresh, local food, we need to embrace Wal-Mart's moves while being vigilant that they are not allowed to use their market muscle to rip off small farmers. Panel member Phil Petrilli of Chipotle also reminded us that Wal-Mart could use its power in a positive way, for instance, to force changes in the processing and distribution chain so that more small farmers can participate in larger markets if they want. Public awareness and pressure on Wal-Mart to do the right thing will be critical.