Daddy, Papa and Me

This looks interesting from Luigi at Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog: In which our blogger decides not to quibble about the One Acre Fund.

The One Acre Fund trains small farmers in Africa in better farming practices and then sets them up with a ’starter kit’ of better seed, fertilizer, etc.

I too like the idea for the same reason I like Kiva, it gives power and, importantly, capital to the people directly. Luigi quibble would be, if he quibbled , would be that he’d add the “add the canonical ‘at least for a while’ qualifier, and bring up sustainability and resilience”

I wouldn’t quibble either. The need is too great to quibble, and frankly, it’s a huge step towards sustainability. Instead of importing large amounts of grain and foodstuffs from far away places in times of famine, local farmers producing food locally on a regular basis seems a huge step towards sustainability.

We got our farm box this morning (comes every wednesday). We got celery, bell peppers, beets, bok choy, carrots, figs, grapefruit, swiss chard, romaine, arugula, tomatoes, nectarines and acorn squash. Enough to make 2-3 suppers worth of an excellent squash soup recipe (which just so happens to use celery, carrots, bell peppers and squash) that with some bread and a side dish makes a pretty decent meal, 3-4 side dishes (roasted beets, bok choy w/ sesame, 3 dinners worth of salads, roasted squash), a couple grilled grapefruit breakfasts, a fig and honey breakfast/desert, nectarines for a couple snacks and then stuffed peppers for one main course (stuffed with quinoa, celery, onion, mushrooms and spices).

So, in other words, I’ve got enough here (with a few things from then pantry) for 3 suppers, 2 breakfasts and some snacks. Not bad for 40 bucks.

So, I’ve decided, after 10 months of WeightWatchers and a bunch of books about healthy eating and the American food system, to design a “Perfect Day.” I’ve got a bunch of ‘perfect’ meals, but I want to put it all together and try once and a while to eat exactly that. So, my criteria for a perfect day and my first perfect day…

Marion Nestle, who also has a great blog, has a very good article about the arguments for (and some of those weaknesses) of organic food in the San Francisco Chronicle: Certified Organic may not be 100%.

On the last point, is it elitist to push organics when they are more expensive, her point is correct I believe… it has to start somewhere. But, I also believe that organic food (or at least locally grown, direct from farmer, whole and not packaged, seasonal) can be almost as inexpensive as what we normally buy. We tend to eat lots of fruits and vegetables seasonally, and get the directly from the farm, so the price is actually not much different than regular produce, perhaps slightly higher. I have just made it a habit of canning, drying and freezing a lot of it .

We already get the bulk of our vegetables and fruits from a local farm (a “community supported agriculture” CSA, we get Capay Farm’s More Capay Valley box) and just this month started getting our chicken, eggs, beef and what little pork we eat from another local  farm (Clark Summit Farm, a CSA also).

A friend sent us this link the other day, it’s a “community supported kitchen (CSK),” called Three Stone Hearth. I like the concept, though I am thinking the cost will be beyond what we can afford (that remains to be seen though, I haven’t seen a menu yet). And it brings me to the issue with eating sustainably. Sustainable eating is all well and good, but it has to be sustainable for the family, in the sense that we have to be able to afford it both in time and money. So far, I’ve been able to do that. Even with eating nearly completely organic and sustainably farmed, our monthly food bill is lower than most average families of four (which the USDA suggests is about 500 on the thrifty side, 1,000 on the high). But that is because I make a lot of our own stuff, bread, granola, all our meals, mayonnaise, etc. When you make things from scratch, plan meals, buy in bulk, things can be cheap. I could make it cheaper by not buying organic and sustainable as much as I do, but why? I spend less than 600/month for four people and we are eating whole grains, fruits and vegetables, lean meats, nuts that are all organic.

Which brings me to the CSK. I like the idea, but I have a suspicion that is won’t be sustainable, for us financially anyway. That said, I’ll give it a try and let you know. I might even volunteer. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to make a cold cereal that is tasty, but haven’t, they have some. I’ll order some and try it.

A good blog about Food Politics

Michelle Obama’s Message – Eat Fresh Food – NYTimes.com.

There is one fast-food restaurant close to us, actually only 3 blocks away: a combo Taco Bell and KFC. Emma LOVES taco bell bean and cheese burritos. She asks for them all the time. We let her get some occasionally as a treat.

So, yesterday we were driving to a birthday party and there were protesters from PETA in front protesting the treatment of factory farm chickens (I actually agree, factory farm chickens are treated horrendously, so we buy our chicken from a local pasture-raised chicken farm ). We are SF that way .

Micheal Pollan talks about carrots

The Pretentious is the Enemy of the Good, school lunches need to be better, not perfect.