Fertilizer

Here's a timely article to read on the subject, just out in National Geographic:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/05/fertilized-world/charles-text

It sure would be easier to just sprinkle a little concentrated nitrogen compound on my garden than hauling big  bags of compost and building piles to make my own.   After shopping for and getting a couple of bags into my community garden plot today I didn't have energy for much else.  And I need to clean up one bin and spread another of the homegrown stuff.

But the dark sides of synthetic fertilizer are many:  algal blooms, soil depletion, greenhouse gases, explosions.

I've really just looked at the pictures so far, but I hope to read this article soon - after I finish the spring hauling of organic garden amendments.

Meaty subjects

I'm really not anti-meat; I just don't eat it.  I think those who enjoy meat should have small quantities of meat from animals pastured on land that won't support nutritious food crops.

But it's amazing to me how defensive big meat eaters are.  I wish I hadn't looked at the comments on this Science Friday story:
http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/04/12/2013/red-meat-s-heart-risk-goes-beyond-the-fat.html
I figured my gut flora had changed from years (pushing two decades I think, though I haven't really kept track) of not eating meat, but I did not realize that discouraging those bacteria lowered a risk factor for heart disease.  It's not just the fat and cholesterol in meat, but the bacteria that help us digest it, which lead to coronary risk.

Last Friday's SciFri was a bonanza for foodies, as it also included coverage of the book Gulp. Adventures on the Alimentary Canal,  by Mary Roach.   I caught most of it at the beginning of my trip to Eureka via suburban Laytonville. 

Meanwhile, today's news brings another scary (or scarier) report on antibiotics in meat animals.  It's worse than you thought.  Heavens, it's worse than I thought!  The prophylactic use of the drugs in animals in confined feeding operations is escalating resistance in E. coli, salmonella and Campylobacter and these disease resistant strains are increasingly found in your meat supply.  53% of samples from supermarket raw chicken contained resistant E. coli, for example.  
The short article on NPR's "The Salt" blog is here:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/04/17/177601237/in-meat-tests-more-evidence-of-human-illness-tied-to-farm-antibiotics?ft=1&f=1001 

Food System Alliance update

There are days when all the meetings seem worth it.  Not always, but sometimes.  We've been going through some staff changes with the Sonoma County Food System Alliance, as well as adding some new members.  Because of these, today at our regular monthly meeting we took the time to introduce ourselves, and it was wonderful to hear again all the experiences that have brought people to this commitment, in this place and this time.

I'd only seen our facilitator, Katy Mamen, in action once before, and that a few years ago.  So I watched to see what I could learn.  I'm going to steal her framework for our self-introductions. What is your passion, your path, and your position?  Easy to remember, and provocative of interesting stuff without being gimmicky.  I guess I shouldn't have been surprised at how many people had to start with their position and organizational identification.

We are finally ready in our FSA to get out there with Food Action Plan.  http://aginnovations.org/articles/view/sonoma_county_board_of_supervisors_adopts_sonoma_county_healthy_and_su/
We'll begin getting the organizations we represent to endorse it, and planning four fora on the four pillars of the plan, starting in July and running into early next year.  I will be working with a very small group on the Social Equity pillar, targeted for November.

The Diet Climate Connection

I'm listening to this show from Human Media right now.   It's being broadcast on my local public radio station.  There's not a lot of information here new to me, but some interesting stories, and a real range of voices.  Nicely done.

http://www.humanmedia.org/dcc/

Right now I am too tired from a long multi-scene day to give it the attention it deserves.   Fortunately I can listen later.  I also think the booklet on the site is a pretty good introduction to the ethics of eating in a way that is environmentally sound, with handy hints for individuals and families that are new to these issues.

One question that sticks with me from early in segment one:  why do people think that eating meat or not is simply a personal choice?   It's not a personal choice to eat the amounts of meat many Americans do.  It's a choice with global implications.   How can I/we help people to awake to these insights?

I suppose I carry the virus I would like to eradicate, though. While I came home and ate dal and brown rice, my favorite food at today's Sonoma Chamber of Commerce food expo and forum was the Vella cheese!

The Drunken Botanist

Well, I don't drink much anymore, and I'm really having to pace my gardening and botanizing given my beleaguered joints, but I really want to read The Drunken Botanist:
http://www.npr.org/books/titles/174632411/the-drunken-botanist-the-plants-that-created-the-worlds-great-drinks?tab=excerpt#excerpt

I recently read Amy Stewart's The Earth Moved as part of my education about soil formation, and it was so well-written it could hold the interest of even the worm squeamish and the dirt phobic.

Now a chance to bring together two life long interests in reading her most recent oeuvre.   Perhaps a pleasure of ageing is that if you can't do it, you have more time and energy to read about it!

Environmentally wise isn't necessarily healthful

...not when multiple tablespoons of fat are in a food with no redeeming nutritional value.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/07/a-healthier-doughnut-at-least-environmentally/?smid=fb-share

Everyone knows the story by now.   When trans fats (hydrogenated oils as in margarine) were removed from prepared foods, manufacturers turned to the vegetable fats which are solid at room temperature naturally.   Palm oil use sky-rocketed, and rainforests were destroyed at alarming rates to make way for oil palm plantations.   Orangutans were endangered with habitat loss, and green house gases increased.

Now, at the behest of a stock holder, the New York State pension fund,  Dunkin' Donuts has pledged to do something about this.  Imagine, sustainably produced fats in your jelly doughnut!  Along with the white flour, white sugar, and God-only-knows what else.

Did You Know it's IYQ?

       

I just tumbled to the fact that it's the International Year of Quinoa.
http://www.fao.org/quinoa-2013/press-room/news/detail/en/

Because of it's nutritional value and adaptability to harsh climates (cold, sere, high altitudes), and because it is a traditional smallholder crop, quinoa is being promoted as a contributor to solving global hunger.  The indigenous people of the Andes are to be thanked for developing and maintaining so many strains of quinoa over the last 7000 years, and now for sharing their traditions with the world's peoples.

Quinoa is not, as some people refer to it, a grain, though it has similar uses.  It is a member of the family Amaranthaceae, genus Chenopodium.   A related common edible weed (lamb's quarters or pigweed) grows around here, and a few other relatives are grown in gardens as hot weather spinach substitutes.

If my culinary Spanish were only a little better, I'd be trying a few items from this traditional Andean cookbook:
http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/aiq2013/res/es/recetarioandino.pdf
Just beautiful!

Which leads me to say, I now know what inspired the incredibly bright colors of chullos (Andean earflap hats).  It's the colors of their local quinoa and potatoes!

And finally, why Mr. Google, do you not have "quinoa" in your spell checker?
I know I saw a recipe for it in your employee dining room cookbook.