Wild Hive Farm. A Handmade Portrait of #localfood

Watch this video about Wild Hive Farm, a grower and processor of local grains based in the Hudson Valley. It’s an inspiring story of one man’s desire to bring grain production back to the region, and to recreate a thriving local food economy.

 

 

The video is part of Etsy‘s Handmade Portrait series of videos, and you should also read the accompanying write up about it on their blog.

This Cheese Smells Funny – Episode #58

In this episode: excerpts from the Wisconsin Milk Board Tour Guide Manual (a manual for Wisconsin milk farmers for giving tours to the public). You may be thinking that sounds hella boring, but on the contrary. There are some hinky quotes in there for subduing concerned milk drinkers. Well you be the judge of it, leave a comment of your thoughts below.

Wacky Quirks in the Food System – Episode #57

Anthony shares what he discovered when he dug deeper into the rabbit hole of food marketing in the industry surrounding three lasagna ingredients: butter, eggs spinach.

What Do You Care About Food? – Episode #56

In this episode there are snippets of Anthony engaging the class at the Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver to think about what issues around food they care about. What are your thoughts surrounding the what the “local” and “organic” labels mean to you? Comment below!

Ideas On Approaching Food – Episode #55

In part 2 of Anthony’s time at the Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver, Anthony shares how to holistically approach food based on factors you may or may not care about and how to dig into the details from there.

The Locavore Fad

via maydamedia.com

In many cases, local food is better. But certainly not in every case, and especially not when you define local in terms of political boundaries. The borders of your country, province or state are not going to be the basis for a sustainable food system. “Physical and ecological regions do not follow politically shaped borders. The political boundaries of the United States and Canada are unsustainable units, artificial boundaries that have fragmented ecosystems and have helped cause environmental degradation and pollution.”

Health professionals caution that local may not always be better for you- http://consumer.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=635091

I’ve commented in the past that even for some produce, further afield may be better. http://ceo.foodtree.com/red-peppers-from-israel-why-we-need-better-su

Our world is a complex place. Our human nature encourages to fall in love with simple, often reductionist solutions. Unfortunately, those are doomed to fail http://thegreenhorns.wordpress.com/essays/essay-in-distrust-of-movements-by-w…

My hope is that we can use technology to make us more human. Utilize an internet database to make complex information available and digestible. Instead of oversimplifying the problem or the solution, try to communicate both better. EAVB_DUUBEFJDTE

Food is not safe today

 

“EVERY day, about 200,000 Americans are sickened by contaminated food. Every year, about 325,000 are hospitalized by a food-borne illness. And the number who are killed annually by something they ate is roughly the same as the number of Americans who’ve been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003.

Those estimates, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suggest the scale of the problem. But they fail to convey the human toll. The elderly and people with compromised immune systems face an elevated risk from food-borne pathogens like listeria, campylobacter and salmonella. By far the most vulnerable group, however, are children under the age of 4.” From the NYT

—-While government has a role to play in providing a baseline of standards, we need new levels of verification too. In a food system grounded in transparency, we all have a role to play in food safety. With more information citizens could more readily participate and verify practices. One thing is certain- government verification is not sufficient.