Red, White and Greener: This Fourth, Declare Your Food Independence
Michelle Obama caught some flack during the run-up to last year's elections when she said she was proud of America "for the first time in [her] adult life." But many of us understood -- at the time, we'd spent years building an international reputation for political apathy, but the Obama groundswell was hinting at what would be a record voting turnout. And in spite of a deeply divided country and what was then a flagging economy, people were showing signs of hope we hadn't seen in decades.
The First Lady caught some heat again a few months ago when she planted an organic garden on the White House Lawn, this time from the Crop Life Association, who thought going organic set a bad example . But many of us were inspired by her actions. Thousands of us planted gardens of our own for the first time. Harkening back to the days of Victory Gardens (but not calling it that), it seems that the first lady's garden has given legs to a movement of garden-fresh food, and those who've followed in her footsteps are making an investment in a delicious future.
One of the people who rallied for that garden was IATP Food and Society fellow Roger Doiron of Kitchen Gardeners International, whose Eat the View campaign started at OnDayOne.org, where it quickly rose to the top of the list (and subsequently won). Eventually, the campaign culminated in its own website, eattheview.org.
Now, Roger is at it again, this time with Food Independence Day, a campaign encouraging citizens throughout the US to make local food part of their Fourth of July festivities. Says Doiron of the campaign:
With July 4th and other Independence Day celebrations just around the corner, people will have other options to ponder as they plan their holiday meals. For too many in the US, the "choices" will be Bud or Miller or an industrially-produced hotdog or an industrially-produced hamburger. I don't know about you, but I think our national holiday deserves better than barbecued mystery-meat and water-flavored beer.
I couldn't agree more. The 4th is one of my favorite holidays, and as I write this post from Livingston, Montana, having spent the last two weeks crossing the country en route to my own family's cookout in Long Beach, Washington, (I'm currently moving back to my native Washington from the east coast), I would also say that we have a lot more local food choices than most people might think.
In the two weeks I've spent on the road, I've tapped into local food resource Eat Well Everywhere (disclosure: I consult for Eat Well), which led me to Madison, Wisconsin's Willy Street Co-op and to Milwaukee's Growing Power, whose greenhouses produced the first fresh tomatoes I've tasted this year. In Minneapolis, I grabbed snacks at the Linden Hills Co-op. Here in Montana - not exactly a culinary destination - I've been practically living on locally-raised buffalo. In spite of some major problems with this country's food systems, we have a lot to be proud of on the local level.
Roger has also challenged the first families of all 50 states to take part in Food Independence Day by publishing their local food menus. So far, nine governors offices have responded to the FID challenge, including Maine, Idaho, Maryland, Minnesota, Texas, North and South Dakotas and Montana. (Nebraska also responded, but had no menu to report as they will be working the parade circuit all day.) See the red flags on the map at foodindependenceday.org for the juicy details of these gubernatorial local food feasts. While the remaining 41 have only a few days left to join in, over 5,000 people have signed the petition asking them to do so.
It might be a little late for the remaining 41 first families to get with Roger's program, but it's worth shooting them a note anyway, because although this particular campaign might focus on the red, white and blue, its ideals are evergreen. According to Roger:
And just as the White House garden campaign was not just about one garden, the Food Independence Day campaign is not just about one day. It's about inspiring and teaching people and communities to become more food secure and independent every day.
Local food is not only a tasty alternative to its over-processed, over-traveled industrially-produced counterparts, but it's also patriotic to support local farmers. As this recent Washington Post article about the campaign points out, the bulk of garlic sold in the US is now produced in China. Buying locally grown garlic would encourage farmers here to grow more of it, eventually allowing us to wean ourselves off of the foreign stuff. Perhaps more importantly, buying local supports our local economies and helps to keep American farmers, who've dropped by more than half since the 1930s, in business.
And it doesn't need to be a hardship or an all-or-nothing endeavor. By sourcing even a few key ingredients locally, you cut back on your "food miles" and therefore your carbon foodprint, and just by questioning where your food comes from, what grows in your region and what's in season, you are reminded of the worth of American soil and the hands that tend to it. Roger says it better:
Moving towards food independence doesn't mean having to do everything and grow everything on our own. It's about learning what we, our soils, climate, and local farmers can produce, effortlessly or with some coaxing, and committing to eat more of these things when nature offers them up to us. In doing so, we discover that we have more choices and freedom than we realized.
What could be more all-American?
Originally published on The Green Fork.
Follow Leslie Hatfield on Twitter: www.twitter.com/lesliehatfield
Leslie Hatfield: Hip, Hip! Very Good (Food Policy) Fellow Visits White House Garden
Today, Roger Doiron presents a compost-able list of signatures from people who supported his campaign to plant a White House edible garden, or wanted to thank the first family for their efforts.
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
This year it is tomatoes (cherry & regular), Anaheim peppers, Pimento Peppers, Cucumbers, and some Japanese-style finger eggplants for us. Not too many of any one thing.
But there are already dozens of green cherry tomatoes and at least a dozen of the larger ones filling, I have picked (and eaten - as part of a gazpacho) two anaheims, the pimentos are filling, there are about 10 fingerling eggplants, and the cucumbers are flowering like mad.
I have been so impressed with the cucumbers so far that I am going to have about a dozen more climbing the fence next year. Perhaps I will try my hand at some potatoes and chives next year too. Plenty of room to add another bed,....
The home garden plus or local food co-op membership makes us much more local.
This is a great article on how we can impact our local and global environment with little steps.
Our neighbors peaches are starting to fall into our yard on this wonderful 4th of July! Organic, local is the way to go... so many of us knew this thirty years ago, and now that Food,Inc. is in the theaters we just might turn this slow ship around, or not....
Happy 4th of July!
I'm singing old Weaver songs today...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crpCh5zHAiw&feature=related
Please make sure agribusiness is completely outlawed. Agribusiness--which ran Congress until 2006--is killing Americans everyday. It, along with greedy insurance company owners and greedy pharmaceutical pushers, is responsible for the health care crisis we are now in. The government should pass laws that reward the preventive medicine of eating healthy, locally grown organic food and punish those who push the poisons on Americans that now abound on supermarket shelves, fast food joints and television commercials. This would solve half the health crisis by eliminating all the emergencies that send people running to the emergency room, more and more of them today without the means to afford the treatment. This is criminal and must be stopped. Please let your congressperson, Senators and President know this law must be passed immediately as part of the health care package. The other part should be comprehensive health care for all Americans regardless of ability to afford it. I avoid those processed foods like the plague. Because, like the plague, they are wiping out our population and making us unable to compete with other nations. The only thing is that other nations have been pillaged and raped by bad processed food too. Please send an email to hotmail.comhotmail.com if you are responding to this. I would like to dialogue but I have no way of knowing you wrote unless you email me. Thanks. Happy 4th.
Big Ag hates small quality farms.
Fact!
I have been writing about the benefits of Organic foods and the detriment to people's health because of lack of awareness and multi media marketing of processed foods for many a year. Nobody seems to listen. Money, greed and enormous profits seem to stimulate the american market and now other countries are suffering from the results of international food companies food being pushed into their food stores and upon their farmers - GMO's and the like.
One notable case is the young generation of Chinese who are now looking like stuffed animals as so many young children in americana are - the result of the chemicals in the food they eat. Men have breasts and overweight women are the norm. So called nutritionists advocate low fat foods which are so chemicalized and full of sugar. Look at Eat Well ads.
The awful thing is that people dont have any commonsense to say NO to these awful foods.
Yup...Please California.....Eat local...As much as you can....Especially all those tasteless tomatoes and wooden strawberries that you send way up north.
yes those found in the stores even Wholefoods especially but the local farmer's markets are wonderful.
Google "Is Dirt the new Prozac" and find information, a Discovery Magazine article, stating there is a bacterium in soil that activates the serotonin neurotransmitter system. Gardening, being happy and healthy. I think all neighborhoods should have gardens, seriously, at least all mental health "wards."
Love
Bette
There is ample scientific evidence that eating whole, organic, or wild foods, especially raw or very lightly cooked, slowly but steadily morphs the average toxic human body into a newly refurbished model whose brain and cellular membranes actually work well, leading each individual being to function more ecologically, efficiently, and joyfully. This is not a joke, or a mantra, or a fad. Non-human animals have been doing this (eating raw) forever, and they are still here, in spite of human devastation. And all plants that are not genetically manipulated or modified or poisoned by man still work so well that they are capable of feeding every living being who can get something from them. Western behaviors have deteriorated to the point where believing this has become like climbing Everest. White flours, sugars, aspartame, potassium chloride from sodas, pesticide laden GMO food artifacts and heavily manipulated fats have made many of us incapable of forming complete sentences.
Local famers markets are wonderful. Even here in the desert southwest, Albuquerque, NM, to be exact there are several markets at locations all over our area. Of course, we pride ourselves on local chile but we have many things. Herbs, lettuces, beans of all sorts. Our local lavender festival will be on the 2nd weekend of July. We have local cheese makers, goats milk and all sorts of stuff, locally grown lamb, poultry, beef, etc. The friendliness of people at the markets is another draw. I remember local farmers markets in IN and MI where I was born and raised, Nothing is better than local, small farm produce.
To me, "Eating Local" might be just another "mantra"
My family has always planted Tomatoes and some other things as well as Herbs.
Once and a while, we might visit a local farmers market.
But eating local everyday?
Just toooooo much of a pain, tooooo difficult:)
If you want to, fine, be my guest but again, it's not my thing:)
"local" doesn't have to mean out of your own backyard. No one is asking you to chuck your day job to become farmer Bob. Try finding food within a 100-mile radius of your home.
I get that it's been made into a mantra. But that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Not your "thing"? That's like saying that conserving water by turning off the sink when you brush your teeth is just "not my thing" - conserving fuel by carpooling to work is "not my thing" - turning off the lights when you leave the house is just "not my thing"....
It's not about you. We're all in this together.
Here is my invitation that I sent to my neighbors a month ago for my "green" July 4th BBQ:
Where: Anna Land (my house)
I’ll have my gas grill, charcoal grill, and smoker going.
BYO meat or try the grass-fed, locally, sustainably & humanely raised, pastured beef hamburgers or pulled pork BBQ sandwiches that I will be cooking for everyone.
I will try to get pastured chicken by then and cook championship BBQ chicken. (I’m a certified KCBS BBQ judge & will be judging this year’s West Coast BBQ Championships for the third year.)
Bring a side dish (save fossil fuel and support local, small farms by making from locally grown ingredients) & your own non-disposable cups, plates, and utensils.
We’ll be composting the fruit, vegetable, and bread scraps. If you have grass clippings, bring em over!
Please RSVP: culinary.hatchetATyahoo.com
Culinary Hatchet
http://www.localharvest.org
Neighborhood Safeway.com Deliveries:
Save fuel and shop conveniently with Safeway.com.
Our neighborhood would save fossil fuel is by scheduling all deliveries at the same time.
Pik-Yor’-Sef Olallieberries at Gizdich Ranch!
$1.80/lb Sunday, June 7
Buy City of San Jose Subsidized Composting Bins for $30!
www.SeafoodWatch.com
Local Farmer’s Markets:
Los Gatos
SARATOGA
Cambrian Park Farmers' Market
Campbell Farmers' Market
MOUNTAIN VIEW
Please visit my environment friendly, informational food web sites:
www.culinaryhatchet.com
http://culinaryhatchet.ning.com
www.foodbuzz.com/foodies/profile/culinary+hatchet
http://twitter.com/CulinaryHatchet
http://culinaryhatchet.yelp.com
A simple way to start :Plant fresh herbs in pots on your window sill. Thyme and rosemary are versatile and can really perk up anything from the morning eggs to meat marinades. Small hot peppers are also easy. Once you've experienced what something you've grown tastes like, you'll find a way to grow more. Even in a condo you can hang tomatoes in a pot.
Farming is big business today. Most small farms are gone. Many of our largest US farms are foreign owned. Crops are soley grown for their net return on a global basis not on what is regionally requested or required.
Grow your own. I do as do most of my friends and relatives. But it requires that you get your hands dirty.
grow your own and suport whatever small farmers are still out there. that goes for the whole world though.
carrying food back and forth the globe is just crazy.
there are exceptions, like spices and tea, cocoa and coffee.
i would like to remind you to get those things fairtrade.
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
