July garden report

Today I brought home chard (too much), some string beans (the rattlesnake beans are just beginning to pump), and a serving of strawberries. Two-tone zucchini is ripening, though slowly, and there's one tomato on the verge.
I feel behind in the tomato department, but as I toured the other plots this morning I noted that only cherry tomatoes are doing much. The marine layer keeps returning - a good thing from an overheated  human perspective - and that means most of the tomatoes will be ripe in August, September, and into October. My Early Girl and Imwalle Special have set plenty of fruit. The San Marzano looks like it will be last of all, and not very prolific.
Meanwhile there are almost full-sized green Fresno peppers; the bell peppers have set fruit. The Sunshine winter squash has several fruit growing fast, and the butternut I got in earlier is not too far behind. The other butternut and the Italian green beans - late additions both, along with a Lisa Simpson summer squash - are still making up their minds. One of the three dry bean varieties (Good Mother Stallard?) is loaded with pods, and the others (Christmas Lima and Rio Zape) are are blossoming and beginning to set. There are a few beets and some perennial chard in the developmental stages. I've thinned both once. 
Tomorrow we harvest the remaining plum trees on the edge of the garden, to get the fruit to the FISH food pantry.
And I still haven't learned any Tigrinya.

Celebrate!

July is National Ice Cream Month and the 3rd Sunday (today) is National Ice Cream Day.
This probably has little to do with justice or sustainability -
or do you make your own?
I really used to enjoy this. I remember the homemade peach ice cream of childhood summers. If I had grandchildren I'd probably still be doing it.
or choose local brands?
Three Twins is moving away - damn and blast. And frankly I prefer Humboldt over Straus; but Humboldt isn't that far from local.
or patronize an independent ice cream spot?
Last week I went to Noble Folk in downtown Santa Rosa; next time it heats up I'm heading for Frozen Art in Roseland.
So perhaps there are ways to eat ice cream and be a bit greener.

Food news is more interesting than the rest of the headlines

I've made a commitment to myself to post something each week. This week is getting away from me, for too many reasons to recount here.
But I've been meaning to note some of the things I heard on last week's Science Friday, which was heavy on the food system news. First - I want to learn how to make coffee kombucha. Doesn't coffee kombucha and avocado toast sound like a breakfast of champions?
More importantly, there was a long conversation with Amanda Little, the author of The Fate of Food.
You can read and listen here: https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/eating-smarter-in-a-warming-world/
But if you are having a busy week too, consider her three tops tip for eating responsibly in the age of rapid climate change.
1) Reduce your consumption of ruminant meat. I would modify that a bit. Reduce your consumption and choose beef and lamb this is pasture-raised in a climate-smart way. More expensive meat means less meat, a good thing.
2) Watch out for food waste, a big contributor to methane emissions. Did you know that people who eat the most healthful diets are apt to generate the most food waste? Develop strategies for smart shopping, good storage practices, leftover management. If you can, find friends with backyard animals who'd like your extras, get a worm farm, compost! There are all kinds of tips for reducing food waste these days. Watch this space.
3) Vote! Seek out and support candidates who are science literate and seeking policy solutions and appropriate incentives for a resilient food system.

Just a little reminder

From a story on Ynetnews, citing Emily Broad-Lieb, Director of the Food law and Policy Clinic of Harvard Law School, speaking at a conference in Israel.

"Environmental impacts are also prevalent. Broad-Leib mentions that the agricultural industry uses 70-80% of the water in the U.S., while 20% of this water goes to watering crops that will eventually be thrown away.

Since a third of the greenhouse gases emitted in the U.S. comes from this industry, the third best way to reduce this is by cutting down on food waste. Right now 30-40% of food all food is wasted in both the U.S. and Israel."

It's particularly important in this season of produce abundance to share, preserve, glean - and if those don't work, feed chickens and pigs, or compost. 

It's only "Food Waste" if it ends up in the landfill.