Greetings CSA Family and Friends!
Welcome to the new year of food goodies from Brookside Farm--the only CSA in Willits, cultivating Class I prime farmland, Felix Loam soil at Brookside Elementary School. This is probably a good time to review farm guidelines, protocols, “rules,” etc. as we have some new members and the old-timers may need reminding…I know I do, just ask my wife.
Brookside Farm has produce available on Tuesdays, weekly during the main season (probably sometime in late April to May) and monthly otherwise. Monthly deliveries are February and March 24th, then to be announced. Produce is usually laid out on the table at the farm, either in baskets or often under moist burlap sacks. Loose greens are placed in cloth bags. Look for the sign that indicates how much by weight or count you should take. The farm provides baskets for you to use or bring your own containers. Please be prompt about returning baskets each week. Sometimes during the winter pick up will be at my residence (284 Redwood Ave). This is because many of the storage crops are kept at my home, the weather may be cold and wet, and the daylight hours short.
We encourage farm members to visit and even volunteer to help with chores, uh, I mean physically stimulating and rewarding exercise. I will set regular volunteer hours at some point, otherwise call me at 456-0760 if you want to participate early. Because the elementary school doesn’t want people just wandering across campus during school hours, check in with the front office to get a visitor pass if you come during the day. It is best if you park your car in the front of the school and walk to the farm during school hours. I appreciate knowing if you want to come to the farm during school hours so I can let you know whether I’ll be there. Sometimes I have off-site work to do, running errands, fixing tools, etc. and don’t want you to show up and be disappointed. During the summer I tend to take long lunches to avoid mid-day heat and may even fall asleep.
When visiting the farm I ask that everybody keep their feet on the paths. Beds have soft, fluffy soil that compacts easily. A bed that looks empty may have germinating seeds in it. I am glad to do some informal teaching to the volunteers and curious visitors, but keep in mind I also get anxious to sow crops on time and complete a busy harvest day. Help keep the site clean and the tools in good shape by picking up at the end of the day and putting things back into the tool chest. There’s usually enough tools to share with visitors, but you may need your own gloves.
A Bit of History. During 2008 some of the produce went to school lunches and snacks, mostly through the preschool. Grants have been sought to pay for extra time in the school cafeteria so more fresh veggies and fruits can be included. We’ll see what happens with those. I truly enjoy visits by students, which tend to be concentrated in Aug-Sept and May-June. The school garden program is developing a site within Brookside Farm, so by late this spring and certainly by summer, there should be a lot of student activity about. In addition to the food plantings, Brookside Farm has incorporated plants that smell great, have various colors and textures, and attract a variety of life forms. This diversity has ecological, educational and aesthetic value.
Past farm membership fees were very important to help establish the essential infrastructure. This year will include a solar electric system! Current income goes towards paying the farmer (that would be me) a monthly salary of $1000. I am officially a self-employed independent contractor who bills North Coast Opportunity as the Farm Manager. Long-term plans include a greenhouse, storage barn, and compost shed. With a few thousand dollars above membership fees the farm could be in good shape by being able to purchase replacement tools, slowly build more infrastructure and save a bit just in case. I still seek donations and grants.
A Look at 2009. I have had the pleasure the past few days of planning for the 2009 spring and summer planting seasons. The past couple of years have taught me a great deal about what tends to work really well and what is marginal. Certain plants I have found are just not worth the effort. Unfortunately this includes spinach and basil. Also, many of the fall-planted vegetables tend to perform badly. I would rather invest in good cover crops and have better opportunities in the spring and summer. So, the crop plan is a bit leaner on diversity, but emphasizes more of what is likely to succeed.
I am also reducing the area planted for crops that take up a lot of space, such as potatoes and winter squash, with the goal of planting them elsewhere in Little Lake Valley in partnership with a few other farmers. So the area being cultivated at Brookside will be smaller this year than in the past, but on the upside I expect better management of the space being used, more compost available per area, and a focus on crops with a good track record of performance.
Trees and berries are in their third year and may produce a small amount this year. Their success may be water dependent. It has been a joy to prune the trees into shape this past month.
The water situation is making me nervous. California farmers are getting hammered right now and many fewer acres of vegetables will be planted in 2009 than is typical (see: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D95UEV200.htm). I was very water-use efficient last year, and hope that the 14,000 gallon tank being planned to capture from the preschool roof gets installed in time to be of service this year.
Thanks again for being a supporter and eater of Brookside Farm produce for 2009. I believe you get a great food value for the membership. My estimate is that the average cost of produce for the year comes out to about $2.00 per pound, which is probably less than what grocery stores charge currently. If two people shared a share, it would take care of most of their annual vegetable needs (they would still want fruit) at a cost of about $1.00 per day. Considering what a latte sells for, I am proud to offer this kind of value.
Onward Hoe!
Jason
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Compost and Mulch
1. What is the difference between garden mulch and compost? You needed to work compost into the soil. Mulch is spread on top of the dirt to protect the soil from the elements and suppress weeds. Compost can be used as mulch.
2. People have used leaves or bark as garden mulch. Are there other types of mulches? The type of mulch depends on your plants. Pine, hay, straw, crushed stone, wood chips from branches or recycles timber can be used. The softer mulch material like straw and leaves will provide short-term weed suppression and short-term nutrient source once the mulch has broken down.
3. Is it safe to use newspaper as garden mulch or put them in a compost pile? Old newspapers are not safe for mulch or compost because they have petroleum based inks. Use Ukiah Daily Journal newspapers from 2007 or later because they have soy based ink.
4. Is it safe to mulch around a house foundation, or does that invite termites? Yes, its safe, but to ensure adequate foundation and make sure is slopes way from the foundation. Termite control is more complex.
5. Is playground rubber mulch safe to use around plants? Playground rubber is very appealing to some gardeners. It’s long lasting, unlike crushed stone and its safe around plants.
6. Do leaves require shredding prior to spreading them as mulch? Yes, you should shred it first because is promotes drainage and plant health.
7. Because there are not weeds in winter, what is the purpose of applying garden mulch in the fall? Mulch’s use is not limited to weed control. Mulch helps control erosion and helps plants stay in dormant state.
8. I have heard of cover crops. Why are they referred to as living mulches? You use cover crops if you don’t have enough leaves. They essentially function as mulches.
9. Everything in my vegetable garden and annual flower beds has been harvested or is dead. I want to mulch these areas. Is there anything I need to do prior to spreading mulch? Yes, because the plant material can be diseases remove the plants from the garden and compost it to get rid of any disease.
How to Care for Tomatoes and Make Them Last + Yummy Recipes
I walk in the garden and see bright beautiful tomatoes of all sides.
- Do not grow too many tomatoes at once, otherwise you’ll be getting a whole crop of them and you’ll have too many tomatoes growing together. They’ll lean on each other and create white spots on the tomatoes, which is lack of oxygen in that area.
- Don’t over water-this causes splits and molds
- Dispose of ones with splits because they spread mold to others
- Keep an eye out for fruit flies.
- Harvest them everyday or they will die
- While they are growing, keep them out of contact with each other because this causes damage to others and itself, including white spots, which is a lack of oxygen in that area.
- Freeze them to reuse later for use in sauces or casseroles.
- Keep them out of the refrigerator or it causes them to get soft and squishy fast.
- Keep them in paper bags to keep tomatoes fresh and won’t sweat them like plastic bags.
Tomato Soup
A rich and creamy recipe for tomato soup
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
1 ½ pounds firm tomatoes - skinned and roughly chopped
1 onion – peeled and finely chopped
1 clove of garlic (I use more) – crushed
2 ounces butter
2 cups beef stock
Baking soda
Salt and black pepper
½ cup double cream
Preparation:
Melt the butter in a heavy based pan and fry onion and garlic until soft and transparent. Add 1 cup of stock together with chopped tomatoes and a generous pinch of baking soda. Bring to a boil, lower heat and cover. Simmer for 15 minutes.
Allow to cool slightly before liquidizing. Return to pan through sieve.
Re-heat-adding stock until reaching desired consistency and season with salt and pepper to desired taste. In a separate pan bring cream almost to a boil and then add to tomato mixture. Garnish with fresh chopped basil or parsley.
It is really delicious, and can be frozen, providing you don’t add the cream (do this just before serving. The baking soda is what makes the difference-without it, it just doesn’t taste right.
Tomato Poppers
Cook time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup thinly sliced onion
2 bell peppers, seeded and cut in thin strips
3 tomatoes, pealed and each cut into 8 wedges
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon sugar
Preparation:
In a heavy skillet over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter; add onion and cook until it is slightly wilted. Add remaining tablespoon of butter and the green pepper strips and tomato wedges; sprinkle with salt, pepper and sugar. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes; stirring gently.
Serves 6
Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes
22 cherry tomatoes
1 can (3 ½ or 3 ¾ oz.) solid white (albacore) low sodium tuna in water, drained
2 tbsp. mayonnaise
2 tbsp. finely minced onion
2 tsp. cider vinegar
¼ tsp. Tabasco pepper sauce
Cut a thin slice from top of cherry tomatoes. Scoop out center of tomatoes or squeeze lightly to remove all pulp and seeds.
In a small bowl flake tuna and mix with remaining ingredients. Fill each tomato with 1 teaspoon of filing. Yield: 22 tomatoes; 10 mg sodium per tomato.
Homemade Tomato Sauce I
Ready in: 4 Hours 30 Minutes Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 4 Hours
Yields: 6 servings
Ingredients:
10 ripe tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup chopped fresh basil
¼ teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 bay leaf
2 stalks celery
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Direction:
1. Bring a pot of water to boil. Have ready a large bowl of iced water. Plunge whole tomatoes in boiling water until skin starts to peel, 1 minute. Remove with slotted spoon and place in ice bath. Let rest until cool enough to handle, then remove peel and squeeze out seeds. Chop 8 tomatoes and puree in blender or food processor. Chop remaining two tomatoes and set aside.
2. In a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, cook onion, bell pepper, carrot and garlic in oil and butter until onion starts to soften, 5 minutes. Pour in pureed tomatoes. Stir in chopped tomato, basil and Italian seasoning. Place bay leaf and whole celery in pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 2 hours. Stir in tomato paste and simmer an additional 2 hours. Discard bay leaf and celery and serve.
Recipe: Tomato Jam
Use this delicious tomato jam as a ketchup alternative in a meatloaf or on burgers, or serve it with cheese and crackers or as a dip for shrimp or fried seafood.
* 3 pounds plum tomatoes, peeled, cored, coarsely chopped
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 cup granulated
1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes, more or less, as desired for heat
3 tablespoons lemon juice
Preparation:
Combine the tomatoes, spices, sugar, pepper flakes, and lemon juice in saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and reduce heat to low. Cook, uncovered, until very thick, about 1 ½ hours.
Use this jam as an appetizer spread with cream cheese, on burgers, as a dip, or use it to flavor and top meatloaf instead of ketchup.
* Drop the tomatoes in boiling water and boil for 2 to 3 minutes, or until skin begins to split, and then drop in ice water and let cool slightly. Skin should be easy to remove.
Friday, January 16, 2009
January Newsletter
What’s Cookin’…at Brookside?
Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2009
Greetings CSA Family and Friends!
I am writing to let folks know that the next farm pick up day is January 27. I will advise you as the day approaches whether the baskets will be at my house or the farm as this is a weather dependent decision.
To be eligible for the January basket, please submit your 2009 membership form with payment, and renewing members don’t have to fill the whole thing out unless something has changed regarding contact information, etc. If you’ve lost the membership form just present a check for $750 to pay in full or $400 in part. You can leave an envelope at my home, in my mailbox if I am absent, 284 Redwood Ave. I am going to start advertising for new members right away.
The farm advisory committee will also meet on the 27th and we can do that either at my house or the school, weather dependent, at 4 pm.
Farm Happenings. The deer have now defied my primitive defenses so a serious effort will be made to raise the height of the northwest fence where their hoof prints indicate their comings and goings. I have the materials to do this and John White will help me so it is physically possible.
The fallow area for next year was tilled and cover crop seeds were broadcast before the series of December rains. This record warm spell may cause germination and then I am really crossing my fingers that the rain arrives. To assist in water matters, the City of Willits is planning to install a 10,000 gallon tank on the preschool buildings to collect rainwater for the use of the farm. Considering the farm used 25,000 gallons from June to September this past year, a tank of this size is significant. The tank will be paid for by a grant the City received for their water conservation program.
More chores this time of year include pruning the orchard. David Drell is going to help me with that. I also am hauling leaves down to the farm from my neighborhood where I have made arrangements to let them sit and wet and compress in volume. Little by little a great stockpile is being made near the old compost piles and this is something Davis and Curtis seem to like to help me do.
Once we get a solid week of dry weather behind us, I will probably weed and spread compost. Grass is growing vigorously in some paths and the Glaser hoe should take care of that. The beds of garlic, leeks, kale and chard could use some weeding and finished compost too.
Mendo Food Futures. The solid month of rain drove me indoors where I did a lot of writing for Mendo Food Futures, a project of North Coast Opportunities (like Brookside Farm) and Willits Action Group managed by Cyndee Logan and Patty Bruder with the collaboration of WELL. A good place to learn about this project is at the Thursday Willits Farmers’ Market where handouts and staff are present. We should have the new local currency in circulation within the week, and I was thrilled that the printer decided he wanted us to pay for his services in the currency he was printing for us!
Happy Eating!
Jason
Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2009
Greetings CSA Family and Friends!
I am writing to let folks know that the next farm pick up day is January 27. I will advise you as the day approaches whether the baskets will be at my house or the farm as this is a weather dependent decision.
To be eligible for the January basket, please submit your 2009 membership form with payment, and renewing members don’t have to fill the whole thing out unless something has changed regarding contact information, etc. If you’ve lost the membership form just present a check for $750 to pay in full or $400 in part. You can leave an envelope at my home, in my mailbox if I am absent, 284 Redwood Ave. I am going to start advertising for new members right away.
The farm advisory committee will also meet on the 27th and we can do that either at my house or the school, weather dependent, at 4 pm.
Farm Happenings. The deer have now defied my primitive defenses so a serious effort will be made to raise the height of the northwest fence where their hoof prints indicate their comings and goings. I have the materials to do this and John White will help me so it is physically possible.
The fallow area for next year was tilled and cover crop seeds were broadcast before the series of December rains. This record warm spell may cause germination and then I am really crossing my fingers that the rain arrives. To assist in water matters, the City of Willits is planning to install a 10,000 gallon tank on the preschool buildings to collect rainwater for the use of the farm. Considering the farm used 25,000 gallons from June to September this past year, a tank of this size is significant. The tank will be paid for by a grant the City received for their water conservation program.
More chores this time of year include pruning the orchard. David Drell is going to help me with that. I also am hauling leaves down to the farm from my neighborhood where I have made arrangements to let them sit and wet and compress in volume. Little by little a great stockpile is being made near the old compost piles and this is something Davis and Curtis seem to like to help me do.
Once we get a solid week of dry weather behind us, I will probably weed and spread compost. Grass is growing vigorously in some paths and the Glaser hoe should take care of that. The beds of garlic, leeks, kale and chard could use some weeding and finished compost too.
Mendo Food Futures. The solid month of rain drove me indoors where I did a lot of writing for Mendo Food Futures, a project of North Coast Opportunities (like Brookside Farm) and Willits Action Group managed by Cyndee Logan and Patty Bruder with the collaboration of WELL. A good place to learn about this project is at the Thursday Willits Farmers’ Market where handouts and staff are present. We should have the new local currency in circulation within the week, and I was thrilled that the printer decided he wanted us to pay for his services in the currency he was printing for us!
Happy Eating!
Jason
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Workday at The Learning Garden
Hello everybody, here on the coast the weather is a little to wet to garden ,but that did'd stop us this last friday at the Learning Garden, we clean the tomatoes beds from this past season in the Hoop House and we prepared the beds with compost and some nutrients to get them ready for the lettuce.
We are having some issues with the birds but Susan work on it by covering the holes around the Hoop House, we see if that work I believe it will.
Happy New Year, and enjoy this rain that is giving to all of us.
Much Love Veronica
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Scenario 2020: The Future of Food in Mendocino County
I was asked to give a presentation to a group called Leadership Mendocino. Every year about 30 people in our County, usually from a mix of businesses, government agencies, and non-profits, meet monthly for a full day and intensively study a particular topic. Nov. 14th 2008 was their Ag day, and my presentation followed the Ag Commissioner’s, who reviewed the County’s history and present. I didn’t want to talk about the future as if I knew what was going to happen, but I did want to highlight the vulnerabilities and tensions I saw building and suggest some alternatives to our predicament. Hence I created a storyline in which I was now the County Historian in 2020 giving a talk to the group about the past decade of change.
While the details are specific to where I live, the general lessons apply to the whole world.
An video of my presentation is available here.
Click on any image to see a higher resolution version
For Mendocino County the key date was December 12, 2009. The trucks didn’t show up that day.
Why weren’t the trucks running? I’ll give a quick overview of what led up to the Little Death.
Let’s start with the credit market break down in 2008. What followed was a plunge in the volume and reliability of global trade. Without access to the free flow of credit, countries experienced food and fuel shortages. People began rioting.
We saw how developing countries were in profound crisis, but most of us didn’t imagine how those awful scenes would so quickly be in our own neighborhoods too.
Everyone knows the story…Pakistan devolved into anarchy and was unable to keep all of its nuclear weapons secure. Several went missing and the world didn't find out where they went until it was too late.
South-Central Asia and the Middle East were on fire.
The nuclear exchange was contained within the region, but the effects spread globally. The world’s largest oil production facilities and ports were destroyed or inaccessible. The daily flow of supertankers from the Middle East was over.
It was common knowledge at the time that crude oil was the lifeblood of our economy, but little had yet been done to reduce our dependency on oil. The modern world was suddenly without sufficient transportation fuels and totally unprepared.
The specific numbers are staggering. Only a quarter of U.S. crude oil consumption was domestically produced in 2009. The trucking system was the key part of what was called the Just in Time delivery system. Warehousing and stockpiling were no longer practiced significantly and so no buffer existed when the trucks stopped. Our Just in Time system unraveled over a period of several weeks.
J-I-T now stood for "Just Isn't There."
As the flow of goods and services slowed dramatically and then in some cases stopped moving altogether, we were subject to cascading, compounding failures in key sectors of the economy. Just a couple of examples…Without constant truck movement, spare parts and basic supplies ran short. Electricity production relied on coal, which relied on diesel.
Most dire of all was that within three days of the halt to trucking, the grocery stores were out of food.
Looking back at historical records it is clear that, while shocking, this was no surprise. Community-based organizations had been warning of this exact possibility for years.
Nowadays we have buffers and resiliency built into our systems, but that was not the case in 2009. Government hadn’t prepared, having placed its faith in the market to provide for basic goods such as food and energy. Global food stockpiles had been declining for over a decade, and in any case they were not under any government control.
Although some people had stockpiled food and essentials, most people hadn't because either they never thought this could happen or were simply distracted. It might be good to remind everyone what life was like in 2009. Most of us tended to spend our free time in front of the television or interacting with various media and communication devices. Gardening, food preservation, community meals and stuff like that wasn’t cool and exciting for the majority of people, although interest in food security had been increasing for a few years preceding the crisis.
After a week everybody became scared, and most started to feel hungry. This was so unthinkable that many also became profoundly disillusioned and angry. This was not supposed to be happening to “us.” The Five Stages of Grief were on full display.
Events began to run their natural course.
Scared, hungry people saw that some households still had food. This led to looting in some areas. A handful of police and sheriffs couldn’t protect private property from a desperate populace. In other areas looting was averted (barely) as neighbors and authorities agreed to pool private food holdings and distribute them evenly.
As the crisis deepened, a triage system was established. Food was preferentially given to those who could work, and the young.
All sorts of questions that had been ignored for decades became very important. “What about the local farms,” the people asked. “Can they feed us?”
“It’s the middle of winter,” the farmer’s replied. “We can plant potatoes and grains in the spring but they won’t be ready until summer.”
“And where are the seeds going to come from? We are hay farmers, cattle ranchers and grape growers. We don’t even have the right equipment for this.”
Three months passed without relief. Clearly, household preparation wasn’t enough, and now the population was starving.
Other problems arose too. Electricity was spotty. Every bit of gasoline and diesel were needed in generators to keep pumps for water and sewer systems going, to keep the hospitals powered, and to cook food in community kitchens.
But by spring these supplies, commandeered from the tanks of gas stations, were gone.
FEMA didn’t arrive with supplies of food, fuel and medicines in the major valleys until March 2010. These were barely enough to end starvation and give tractors some fuel.
When the railroad cars arrived in May 2010 we finally had enough of the basics again. Freeways were abandoned for hauling freight. They were in disrepair from winter storms and far too expensive to maintain for the now minimal trucking system.
In addition to supplies of grain and beans (25,000 lbs per trailer load), enough seed potatoes were brought in to plant. Potatoes became our survival food for a few years. As we all know, it is hard to eat enough of them to keep the weight on! Health care providers estimate that the average person lost twenty pounds between 2009 and 2012.
Here’s another graphic from the archives. Food security organizations in the County knew that storage foods with high caloric density were essential, and had even started to import and store them in the County. The grain and bean silos established in Willits in 2009 really helped that area weather the crisis better than elsewhere. Silos were quickly built along the railroad tracks in every town.
All of us began to learn some of the basic facts about nutrition and agriculture, such as how many calories we need per day and how to eke that out of the soil.
Even with farm supplies brought in by rail car, we lacked much of the needed energy infrastructure to irrigate crops as electricity was still unreliable. Few well pumps ran off solar panels. So in most cases, yields weren’t as large as we’d hoped. It was terribly frustrating; we could see the water 30 ft down in the well but couldn’t get it out fast enough to make a difference.
Ever since the Little Death, precious tractor fuel has been limited. Much more is now done with manual labor than in the past. This was a difficult adjustment, both physically and psychologically. Some people were excited by the challenge and adapted well. On the bright side, “unemployment” is nearly non-existent and we are a fit and industrious people.
Explicit warnings of our vulnerabilities, and an alternative vision had been given by local community groups as early 2004. In August 2010, a plan for a local food economy was adopted by local governments based on the research of community activists that preceded the crisis. The food system we have today is by and large based on those plans.
The ranching community was familiar with the concept of carrying capacity, but usually called it the “stocking rate.” Good ranchers made sure not to put more cattle on a piece of land than it could handle. A local food system plan had to think about the sustainable population of humans in the County too.
Some basic facts that were used to frame the plan:
1. The County’s population in 2010 was estimated at 80,000 (down from a peak of 90,000 before the crisis).
2. Somewhere between 35,000 and 50,000 acres of prime ag land remained in the county (after an initial endowment of 95,000).
3. To supply enough food to feed one person requires about one acre.
The plan also recognized that a local food system had to overcome serious capital deficits with respect to: renewable energy, equipment, infrastructure, education and worker skills, business to business relationships, and public law and policy.
In any environment it would be difficult to overcome these deficits, but the crisis was a mixed blessing. Everybody now recognized that a new system had to be built. Nearly all resources were allocated according to this need. Ideology was replaced by practicality. What people were “willing to do” changed overnight.
Now I will shift gears and contrast the food system of 2009 with what we have today. I’ll start with a review of the 2009 food system.
Here are a couple of graphs that summarize data at the national scale when the crisis hit. At that time, one calorie of food energy depended on several calories of fossil fuel energy. Basically, all parts of the system were highly dependent upon fossil fuels, long-distance supply chains, and complex financial markets.
Today’s food system has many features that improve our resiliency and security. Key attributes are:
Diverse. A complete and balanced diet can be had within the agricultural base of the County.
Local. Food produced here is consumed here, and the agricultural landscape is no longer dominated by grapes and cattle for export.
Renewable. Energy inputs for agriculture, transportation and processing are based on solar, wind, hydro and other non-fossil sources.
Non-toxic. Artificial pesticides and herbicides are no longer available and we use biological controls and landscape management to dampen pest cycles.
Cyclical. Soils are improved rather than depleted through conservation tillage, smart land-cover rotation patterns, and composting of all human and animal wastes.
Adaptable. As climate changes and new farmers learn what works best, systems are in place to exchange information and perform needed research.
Buffered. The future is always uncertain. Always be prepared for trouble by storing extra of what we really need.
Today’s food system is completely different. The plan recognized the web of relationships needed for a sustainable system. Fossil fuels are nearly eliminated. Transportation distances are very short. Waste becomes the new fertilizer.
While mechanized to the extent energy availability allows, the farm of 2020 uses efficient hand tools when those suffice.
Compost today is very expensive. Farmers work very hard to create the fertility they need on site as best they can. Food scraps are highly valued and used in vermiculture systems. Human wastes are professionally handled and sold to farmers certified disease free.
Imported chemical pesticides and herbicides are also very costly. More knowledge and labor is now used, including beneficial insect plants that add a lot of color and interest to farms.
Off the farm society has changed just as dramatically. People often use solar ovens to cook, and disposable packaging is rarely seen anymore.
Because a transportation fuel crisis was the proximate cause of the crisis, people were especially keen on eliminating reliance on long-distance supply chains. Households began sourcing as much food locally as they could. In 2009 a trip to the grocery store would mean a 1500 mile diet. Today that could be more like a 150 yard diet. Bikes with trailers can now handle much local transport. Streets are quieter, and the air less polluted.
Not only have on the farm practices changed, but farms are cooperating like never before. This creates synergies at the landscape level we all benefit from.
For example, this goat dairy sows a hay crop rich in wildflowers, thereby supporting a local beekeeper. The beekeeper’s hives also service orchards and row crops in the area, ensuring good pollination and food for all of us.
We have much to be proud of now. We made it through very tough times together by mostly keeping our heads on straight and making good decisions when it really counted. But we also live with the pain of loss and regret, asking ourselves over and over, “How did we let this happen?”
What does the last 10 years teach us about the importance of leadership?
I look at this issue in two ways. First, good leaders do their best to prevent crises. This requires the ability to help people accept the reality of unsustainable tensions before they go too far. Just talking to people can establish new conversations that propagate. Only when enough people are having similar conversations are social changes possible.
Of course human history is full of one account after another of societies that failed to recognize their obvious problems before it was too late. When disaster strikes, good leaders manage their shock and the loss of normalcy. They model the proper attitude, reducing panic and heightening clear thinking.
The best crisis leaders are those that combine awareness of the problem before it arrived with a sense of direction and clarity. Because they saw what was coming, they often have a plan to deal with it as soon as the population is forced by circumstances out of denial, distraction and inaction. Since what people are willing to do changes in a crisis, wise leadership can make a lot happen for the good very quickly.
While the details are specific to where I live, the general lessons apply to the whole world.
An video of my presentation is available here.
Click on any image to see a higher resolution version
For Mendocino County the key date was December 12, 2009. The trucks didn’t show up that day.
Why weren’t the trucks running? I’ll give a quick overview of what led up to the Little Death.Let’s start with the credit market break down in 2008. What followed was a plunge in the volume and reliability of global trade. Without access to the free flow of credit, countries experienced food and fuel shortages. People began rioting.
We saw how developing countries were in profound crisis, but most of us didn’t imagine how those awful scenes would so quickly be in our own neighborhoods too.
Everyone knows the story…Pakistan devolved into anarchy and was unable to keep all of its nuclear weapons secure. Several went missing and the world didn't find out where they went until it was too late.
South-Central Asia and the Middle East were on fire.
The nuclear exchange was contained within the region, but the effects spread globally. The world’s largest oil production facilities and ports were destroyed or inaccessible. The daily flow of supertankers from the Middle East was over.
It was common knowledge at the time that crude oil was the lifeblood of our economy, but little had yet been done to reduce our dependency on oil. The modern world was suddenly without sufficient transportation fuels and totally unprepared.
The specific numbers are staggering. Only a quarter of U.S. crude oil consumption was domestically produced in 2009. The trucking system was the key part of what was called the Just in Time delivery system. Warehousing and stockpiling were no longer practiced significantly and so no buffer existed when the trucks stopped. Our Just in Time system unraveled over a period of several weeks.
J-I-T now stood for "Just Isn't There."
As the flow of goods and services slowed dramatically and then in some cases stopped moving altogether, we were subject to cascading, compounding failures in key sectors of the economy. Just a couple of examples…Without constant truck movement, spare parts and basic supplies ran short. Electricity production relied on coal, which relied on diesel.
Most dire of all was that within three days of the halt to trucking, the grocery stores were out of food.
Looking back at historical records it is clear that, while shocking, this was no surprise. Community-based organizations had been warning of this exact possibility for years.
Nowadays we have buffers and resiliency built into our systems, but that was not the case in 2009. Government hadn’t prepared, having placed its faith in the market to provide for basic goods such as food and energy. Global food stockpiles had been declining for over a decade, and in any case they were not under any government control.
Although some people had stockpiled food and essentials, most people hadn't because either they never thought this could happen or were simply distracted. It might be good to remind everyone what life was like in 2009. Most of us tended to spend our free time in front of the television or interacting with various media and communication devices. Gardening, food preservation, community meals and stuff like that wasn’t cool and exciting for the majority of people, although interest in food security had been increasing for a few years preceding the crisis.
After a week everybody became scared, and most started to feel hungry. This was so unthinkable that many also became profoundly disillusioned and angry. This was not supposed to be happening to “us.” The Five Stages of Grief were on full display.
Events began to run their natural course.
Scared, hungry people saw that some households still had food. This led to looting in some areas. A handful of police and sheriffs couldn’t protect private property from a desperate populace. In other areas looting was averted (barely) as neighbors and authorities agreed to pool private food holdings and distribute them evenly.
As the crisis deepened, a triage system was established. Food was preferentially given to those who could work, and the young.
All sorts of questions that had been ignored for decades became very important. “What about the local farms,” the people asked. “Can they feed us?”
“It’s the middle of winter,” the farmer’s replied. “We can plant potatoes and grains in the spring but they won’t be ready until summer.”
“And where are the seeds going to come from? We are hay farmers, cattle ranchers and grape growers. We don’t even have the right equipment for this.”
Three months passed without relief. Clearly, household preparation wasn’t enough, and now the population was starving.
Other problems arose too. Electricity was spotty. Every bit of gasoline and diesel were needed in generators to keep pumps for water and sewer systems going, to keep the hospitals powered, and to cook food in community kitchens.
But by spring these supplies, commandeered from the tanks of gas stations, were gone.
FEMA didn’t arrive with supplies of food, fuel and medicines in the major valleys until March 2010. These were barely enough to end starvation and give tractors some fuel.
When the railroad cars arrived in May 2010 we finally had enough of the basics again. Freeways were abandoned for hauling freight. They were in disrepair from winter storms and far too expensive to maintain for the now minimal trucking system.
In addition to supplies of grain and beans (25,000 lbs per trailer load), enough seed potatoes were brought in to plant. Potatoes became our survival food for a few years. As we all know, it is hard to eat enough of them to keep the weight on! Health care providers estimate that the average person lost twenty pounds between 2009 and 2012.
Here’s another graphic from the archives. Food security organizations in the County knew that storage foods with high caloric density were essential, and had even started to import and store them in the County. The grain and bean silos established in Willits in 2009 really helped that area weather the crisis better than elsewhere. Silos were quickly built along the railroad tracks in every town.
All of us began to learn some of the basic facts about nutrition and agriculture, such as how many calories we need per day and how to eke that out of the soil.
Even with farm supplies brought in by rail car, we lacked much of the needed energy infrastructure to irrigate crops as electricity was still unreliable. Few well pumps ran off solar panels. So in most cases, yields weren’t as large as we’d hoped. It was terribly frustrating; we could see the water 30 ft down in the well but couldn’t get it out fast enough to make a difference.
Ever since the Little Death, precious tractor fuel has been limited. Much more is now done with manual labor than in the past. This was a difficult adjustment, both physically and psychologically. Some people were excited by the challenge and adapted well. On the bright side, “unemployment” is nearly non-existent and we are a fit and industrious people.
Explicit warnings of our vulnerabilities, and an alternative vision had been given by local community groups as early 2004. In August 2010, a plan for a local food economy was adopted by local governments based on the research of community activists that preceded the crisis. The food system we have today is by and large based on those plans.
The ranching community was familiar with the concept of carrying capacity, but usually called it the “stocking rate.” Good ranchers made sure not to put more cattle on a piece of land than it could handle. A local food system plan had to think about the sustainable population of humans in the County too.
Some basic facts that were used to frame the plan:
1. The County’s population in 2010 was estimated at 80,000 (down from a peak of 90,000 before the crisis).
2. Somewhere between 35,000 and 50,000 acres of prime ag land remained in the county (after an initial endowment of 95,000).
3. To supply enough food to feed one person requires about one acre.
The plan also recognized that a local food system had to overcome serious capital deficits with respect to: renewable energy, equipment, infrastructure, education and worker skills, business to business relationships, and public law and policy.
In any environment it would be difficult to overcome these deficits, but the crisis was a mixed blessing. Everybody now recognized that a new system had to be built. Nearly all resources were allocated according to this need. Ideology was replaced by practicality. What people were “willing to do” changed overnight.
Now I will shift gears and contrast the food system of 2009 with what we have today. I’ll start with a review of the 2009 food system.
Here are a couple of graphs that summarize data at the national scale when the crisis hit. At that time, one calorie of food energy depended on several calories of fossil fuel energy. Basically, all parts of the system were highly dependent upon fossil fuels, long-distance supply chains, and complex financial markets.
Today’s food system has many features that improve our resiliency and security. Key attributes are:
Diverse. A complete and balanced diet can be had within the agricultural base of the County.
Local. Food produced here is consumed here, and the agricultural landscape is no longer dominated by grapes and cattle for export.
Renewable. Energy inputs for agriculture, transportation and processing are based on solar, wind, hydro and other non-fossil sources.
Non-toxic. Artificial pesticides and herbicides are no longer available and we use biological controls and landscape management to dampen pest cycles.
Cyclical. Soils are improved rather than depleted through conservation tillage, smart land-cover rotation patterns, and composting of all human and animal wastes.
Adaptable. As climate changes and new farmers learn what works best, systems are in place to exchange information and perform needed research.
Buffered. The future is always uncertain. Always be prepared for trouble by storing extra of what we really need.
Today’s food system is completely different. The plan recognized the web of relationships needed for a sustainable system. Fossil fuels are nearly eliminated. Transportation distances are very short. Waste becomes the new fertilizer.
While mechanized to the extent energy availability allows, the farm of 2020 uses efficient hand tools when those suffice.
Compost today is very expensive. Farmers work very hard to create the fertility they need on site as best they can. Food scraps are highly valued and used in vermiculture systems. Human wastes are professionally handled and sold to farmers certified disease free.
Imported chemical pesticides and herbicides are also very costly. More knowledge and labor is now used, including beneficial insect plants that add a lot of color and interest to farms.
Off the farm society has changed just as dramatically. People often use solar ovens to cook, and disposable packaging is rarely seen anymore.
Because a transportation fuel crisis was the proximate cause of the crisis, people were especially keen on eliminating reliance on long-distance supply chains. Households began sourcing as much food locally as they could. In 2009 a trip to the grocery store would mean a 1500 mile diet. Today that could be more like a 150 yard diet. Bikes with trailers can now handle much local transport. Streets are quieter, and the air less polluted.
Not only have on the farm practices changed, but farms are cooperating like never before. This creates synergies at the landscape level we all benefit from.
For example, this goat dairy sows a hay crop rich in wildflowers, thereby supporting a local beekeeper. The beekeeper’s hives also service orchards and row crops in the area, ensuring good pollination and food for all of us.
We have much to be proud of now. We made it through very tough times together by mostly keeping our heads on straight and making good decisions when it really counted. But we also live with the pain of loss and regret, asking ourselves over and over, “How did we let this happen?”
What does the last 10 years teach us about the importance of leadership?
I look at this issue in two ways. First, good leaders do their best to prevent crises. This requires the ability to help people accept the reality of unsustainable tensions before they go too far. Just talking to people can establish new conversations that propagate. Only when enough people are having similar conversations are social changes possible.
Of course human history is full of one account after another of societies that failed to recognize their obvious problems before it was too late. When disaster strikes, good leaders manage their shock and the loss of normalcy. They model the proper attitude, reducing panic and heightening clear thinking.
The best crisis leaders are those that combine awareness of the problem before it arrived with a sense of direction and clarity. Because they saw what was coming, they often have a plan to deal with it as soon as the population is forced by circumstances out of denial, distraction and inaction. Since what people are willing to do changes in a crisis, wise leadership can make a lot happen for the good very quickly.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Winter Time Harvest
Brookside Farm is a year-round CSA, even without a greenhouse or high tunnels. How do we do that?
Well, the climate here isn't too harsh, so many vegetables can live in the ground throughout the year. Also, a lot of vegetables do well in storage. And lastly, we work in the summer to preserve excess bounty.
Here's the harvest basket list for December 8th:
Fresh at the farm--carrot, parsnip, Jerusalem artichoke, leek, chard, kale, tree collard.
From storage--onion, potato, winter squash, garlic.
Preserved--dried tomato.
Pretty baskets too!
Well, the climate here isn't too harsh, so many vegetables can live in the ground throughout the year. Also, a lot of vegetables do well in storage. And lastly, we work in the summer to preserve excess bounty.
Here's the harvest basket list for December 8th:
Fresh at the farm--carrot, parsnip, Jerusalem artichoke, leek, chard, kale, tree collard.
From storage--onion, potato, winter squash, garlic.
Preserved--dried tomato.
Pretty baskets too!
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