Monday, November 9, 2009



We had a great indoor market on Saturday. We sold out of most of our produce, and it was great to see return customers and to connect with new ones. Brian was especially happy to meet some of the people in Wellspring Heart program. It was great to see people trying new foods. I was a little worried about how all the seasonal produce would do. But people were happy with the turnips, kale and sunchokes!

That night we rented the DVD Food, Inc. We are already well-educated about the industrial food system, so there weren't many surprises, but I found the movie really well-done and informative. Plus it features both Michael Pollan and Joel Salatin (Brian's hero). The film breaks down different elements of the industrial food system, and ends with a basic conclusion. You are voting with your dollars, so if food (and your health and the environment and the treatment of workers and animals) is important to you: buy local, shop at farmer's markets, grow a garden. Now Brian tends towards extremes, so he ended the movie depressed about all the ways we still buy into the food system. That day he bought a six-pack and a jar of natural peanut butter (gasp!). Of course I countered with the fact that we just provided our community with fresh, seasonal organic produce, and we grow and raise a huge portion of our food, and no one can be a purist anyway.

He felt better Sunday, because we harvested some of our ducks that we don't want to over winter, and had delicious roasted duck with rosemary, garlic, turnips and cabbage, all from our farm. Now we are canning the rest in broth to make meals through out the winter. I am also making some pickled easter egg radishes and turnips. Yum!

2 comments:

  1. You are all so busy as always! Love all the yummy root veggies. Your table looks so pretty. Your last post makes me shiver with cold. That has to be freezing! You are a true inspiration!!

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  2. You'll have to let me know if you have any especially tasty sunchoke recipes. We haven't dug ours up yet. Of course all the best recipes probably require an oven. ~eye roll~ lol

    So, the very moment after we last talked I sent timothy to Blockbuster to pick up Food, Inc & we watched it that night. It was good, and I'm all for that info getting out, but I still felt like they left out some really important stuff. They mention over & over how our foods are so cheap in the US, but then never explain why in any detail. Joel Salatin makes one very good statement about it, then the subject is dropped. And, the issue of pesticide use was never even mentioned! But then they spent a huge amount of time on that woman with the boy who died of E. Coli & how she's trying to get the govt. to have even more control over our food system! It's because of people like her that our spinach is now being irradiated, y'know? Giving the govt more power is giving the agribusiness folks more power which does not lead to better choices in healthier foods. I wish she'd turn her passion to wanting to fix the food system in another direction. Plus, barely anyone dies from E.Coli, why couldn't they spend that movie time on explaining subsidization & the hidden costs of cheap food, or pesticides. But still, I am happy to see any & every movie that gets out there to inform the people about our ridiculous agribusiness run food system!

    So there, those are my 2 pennies on that. :p

    I'm glad that your indoor market went so well! The pictures are so pretty! I love your market set ups.

    Hey our kids aren't contagious anymore so we should get together!

    I am done adding a novel to your blog now.

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