So, we visited the farm today

So, we visited the farm today, which is about 10 minutes east of our house by car. Very nice guy in his early twenties, running a permaculture farm on his own. Not interested in becoming certified organic. Doesn’t use pesticides, uses compost made with manure from the local horse rescue (we discussed how this could contain antibiotic residues, etc.). He’s slowly building up the farm—last year he sold some through a “locavore” group, this is the first year selling some at the farmer’s market and also for CSAs. Very willing to work with me on payments instead of one lump sum.

The only bummer is that he’s raising several types of animals for meat—chickens, ducks, turkeys, rabbits, etc., and he’s very much bought into the entire “circle of life” rationalization. I realize that probably most of the fruits and vegetables I already buy are in some way tied to animal agriculture, even if it’s just the fertilizer that’s used. I’m not sure about the larger farm organic veggies, but if I look very far, I’m sure to find a connection. One positive would be that since he does everything by hand, there is going to be minimal equipment incidentally killing field animals.

So, do I go with this CSA in spite of the draw-backs? Or go with the certified organic one from last year that was pushing the larger meat animals? Or just buy organic produce from the farmer’s market this summer, from places that probably do the same thing? If I get tied in with a super local farm, could I go there regularly and learn some tips to then modify for my own garden? Would it be an opportunity to open up a discussion, plant seeds of a different kind?

I sure wish I could find a farm in my region with a CSA based on veganic gardening practices though. Some people were raised to believe that it’s impossible: Clearly it’s not.

Also called stock-free farming, vegan-organics is a system which avoids all artificial chemical products (synthetic fertiliser, pesticides, growth regulators), genetically modified organisms, animal manures and slaughterhouse by-products (blood, fish meal, bone meal, etc).

~ veganiculture.blogspot.com

I’ve got to learn to grow more of our own food. And to can and preserve. I did a pretty good job growing two summers ago, and hey, at least we’ll have a lot of kale this year.

Crazy good

This week has been crazy. Today: online training, family therapy, interview at the station. That sucked up the entire day… and now it’s time for bed.

We’ve had some great interviews in the last few weeks, and another one coming up Friday. It’s good that we can keep the radio show going, even as busy as we are in the rest of our lives. What talented, compassionate people we are finding in our own community! I can’t wait to air the next few interviews (sneak peek: spay and neuter campaigns in Bend and around the world).

It’s almost Farmer’s Market time in Central Oregon

Looong day of online InfoPath training and 4 more days to go. But hopefully very worth it. Time to wind down and not stay up too late, since I’ll need to get up at the crack of dawn again.

I just realized that the Farmer’s Market here in Bend opens on June 6. That’s a week from Wednesday! And since pretty much all I’ve managed to plant so far is lots of kale… Did you know that many Farmer’s Markets allow you to spend SNAP benefits?—What a great idea!

Unless some miracle occurs soon, I’m not signing up for a ½ CSA share this year. I’ve only been able to afford it one year (last). It’s hard coming up with that $300-350 at once, even though that’s small change when you consider how much we spend on groceries, and considering that you get a basket every week all summer into fall. Hmm, I wonder if anybody still has anything available? Most of the valley CSA’s will have been full since spring. There may be a chance of going with a local one. Although if we go extremely local we get started a little later than the rest (because of our short growing season here in the high desert) and we get less variety (less berries, etc.) I liked the local CSA we did last year—until they started buying animals to raise for meat and talking more and more about it and pretty soon every newsletter was, “look at these cute pigs we’re growing to eat,” and buy our “natural” beef… It really started to bum me out. And I don’t want to support somebody with my dollars that is going in that direction, no matter how much I like them. It’s too bad. There’s a newer one closer to Bend that does mostly veggies and is not yet certified organic, but I think they’re working on it. Maybe they’ll still have room.

Regardless, you’ll find me most Wednesday afternoons this summer at our downtown market. Since that’s early release day for the kids, it will probably revolve around getting them and then getting veggies. Good exposure for them, for sure.

Baked Pretzel drizzled with Jem’s Chocolate Hazelnut Spread from Broken Top Bottle Shop

♥

Baked pretzel drizzled with Jem’s Chocolate Hazelnut Spread from Broken Top Bottle Shop. A local Bend company makes the chocolate from sprouted organic hazelnuts, raw organic cacao nibs, and coconut crystals!

Pineapple Not-So-Fried Rice from Chloe’s Kitchen

Pineapple Not-So-Fried Rice {on ironic fish platters}

My step-daughter made this in record speed for the potluck tonight:

Pineapple Not-So-Fried Rice from Chloe’s Kitchen.

{Bad photo courtesy of Me.}