Shopping for Food Security - Part 2

Looking for ways to grow local, sustainable, small farms in PEI


Shopping for Food Security - Part 2


In the last blog post, I explained how organic farmers seek and plant organic seeds grown by other organic farmers and how that has increased the supply and diversity of organic seeds available to farmers and gardeners.   I explained that we are also starting to buy, plant and save open pollinated seeds to create our own seed bank at Dunn Creek Farm.  And I closed by promising to explain how food shoppers can protect and expand healthy diversity in the market.  The simplest explanation is that farmers grow seed for the food you buy. If you choose variety and diversity in your diet, you are supporting biological and genetic diversity in the field and in the market.

Thomas Morrison was kind enough to forward his writing on the topic of food diversity and security. I'm pleased to include him as a contributor.


The Importance of Biodiversity in Farmers Markets

Doug Band and the CGI (Clinton Global Initiative) as well as US Ecologist Gary Nabhan have recently come out as strong proponents for crop diversity. Nabhan’s position is that in order to keep the idea of diversity at the forefront of our society, we must apply it to biology of crop diversification. †His theories of promoting sustainability through grocery shopping have become popular. In a recent interview Nabhan said, “in other environmental issues we tell people to stop something, reduce their impact, reduce their damage.” His article Coming Home to Eat published in 200l can be cited as influencing the popularity of green culture, the local food movement, and the increased appearance of farmers markets all over the country.

A host of other organizations have begun to promote sustainability through the act of conservation. Bill Clinton, Doug Band and the CGI (Clinton Global Initiative) have set their sights on emission reduction projects throughout the country. In order to do this, they have partnered up with Donlen, GreenDriver, and Environmental Defense Fund with the purpose of reducing commercial fleet emissions by 20% in the next five years. †The Earth Day Network has brought together local and national conservationist groups and green enthusiasts to participate in an open forum. This forum serves as a space to incite discussion and dialogue on new ways to create a sustainable planet. Individuals can reduce their carbon footprint, create less waste, and stop the unnecessary wasting of water. Gary Nabhan strongly suggests as members of society we take a larger look at the state of our planet.

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization produced a study with results indicating that a quarter of crop diversity is left and a dozen species provides 90% of the animal protein consumed around the globe. More over, roughly four crop species supply half of the plant-based calories in the basic human diet. Nabhan theorizes that growing food locally will have a massive impact on our planet’s sustainability. The “eat what you conserve” theory says by eating the produce that we are attempting to conserve, we are simultaneously promoting the granular dissemination of a vast amount of plant types.

Agriculturist Marco Contiero adds to the theory by saying, “biodiversity is an essential characteristic of any sustainable agricultural system, especially in the context of climate change.”
According to Conterio, since individuals raise and harvest our own crops and plants, we should purchase the crops harvested and produced by other local growers. If individuals buy food grown and harvested locally, the large carbon footprint associated with the transnational transportation of food is no longer a problem. Both arguments require an active effort toward conservation and sustainability. As the spring approaches, visit your local farmers market to get all the best in seasonal fruit and vegetables. Visiting your local produce stand is also a great way to promote biodiversity, support your local economy, and experience the delicious regional food varieties.

 

Growing Healthy Soil AND Organic PEI Produce

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This week the blog shares a few snapshots from the fields, gets you ready for what's soon to be coming from the farm and a NEW PODCAST takes you on one of our regular walks in the field.

Susan shows off her multi-colored yarrow in the perennial herb garden, a mixture of culinary and beneficial herbs that she tends in our "kitchen garden".  Also includes tarragon, mint, oregano, lemon balm, thyme, rosemary and others that we harvest for friends and fine meals.

One of our experiments this year includes growing small plots of grain.  We planted heritage organic/non GMO oats, barley and field corn.  The harvest of these crops is going to be done "old style" by hand.  We're still not sure how this all works, but you see, sometimes you just have to toss your hat over the fence. 

Our rows of feed corn are planted much less densely than most for a reason. We used the simple tools we have and took care to keep our plants spread apart to reduce the demand for fertility in the soil.  We're doing what we can to learn from the ground up and take it slowly.  What we learn this year, will prepare us to take the next step. This is yellow dent corn, a heritage variety from the 1840's. Growing these big corn plants with a long season means we're taking some chances on this old time variety.  The payoff is in producing a harvest of open pollinated seed to plant next year. 

As I mentioned in the podacst, this is a row of cucumbers planted in a bed row which was planted in green manure last summer.  The oats and vetch were mowed down and disc-ed into the soil.  The plant material is still breaking down to feed these young plants. If you click and enlarge the picture you'll see mushrooms popping up to help breakdown organic matter and transfer nutrients to the plants and to beneficial organisms in the soil. Behind them is a row of white clover that is also acting as bee pasture - attracting pollinators into our crop rows to ensure each flower produces on these plants. This biological activity is exactly what we're after.

Coming in the next week - we'll be moving from planting, weeding and cultivating to picking and harvesting sweet peas, yellow beans and that delicious, tender summer squash. 

Follow the blog for more on what we have for you! If you happen by our farm on Rte. 17 in Murray Harbour North, PEI, look for our roadside sign to tell you you what's fresh and healthy from the farm! 

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You are welcome to add our podcast to your online or broadcast programming. All I ask is that you contact me to let me know your broadcast plans/needs and I will do my best to cross-promote your program on this blog. You support healthy soil and organic farming when you support organic farmers!

Eat Your Landscape!

Our Organic Yard Features Edible Landscape  

Over the time that we've lived in our Santa Barbara home we've worked to create beautiful and edible landscape.  The climate (and drip irrigation) allow us to grow a variety of plants that produce food and beauty.  In this post I'll continue our tour of the edible landscape around our home.

The bench under our avocado tree creates a private space where Susan and I meet at the end of every day.

 

The fig tree is just outside our kitchen window. It produces sweet figs that fruit eating birds love.  We see a variety of birds including western tanagers and hooded orioles.

These are loquats, an Asian fruit distantly related to apples.  They were imported here from southeastern China.  Local history suggests they may have first have been brought across the pacific by the Spanish during our colonial period.   

We have two macadamia nut trees. This particular tree is very healthy and a heavy producer.  Imagine - macadamia chocolate chip cookies!  Yummmmm.

This dwarf navel orange tree in the front yard is a fine producer of nice large, sweet, eating oranges.     
Citrus does well here. We have a blood orange tree, mandarin orange, bearss lime, bearss lemon and...

tangerines!  This dwarf tree is a crazy producer.  It lives happily near our backyard compost corral and has been the beneficiary of lots of mulch over the years.

 

Our compost corral is where we put the yard trimming and kitchen waste we generate to work feeding worms and bugs. We water and turn the pile while adding to it.  In the winter, when the yard goes dormant and the rain comes, we find the pile works quickly and by spring we're ready to harvest almost a cubic yard of fine compost and worm castings.  After years off application in the yard we can really see how the compost corral feeds nutrients and biological benefits into the yard.  Compost can create a problem with mice and rats.  Our cats do a fine job of eliminating that problem.

 

We'll be offering our home for long term rental this year and would like to have a family that would enjoy living in the garden and would continue to enjoy the benefits of a yard that's healthy and good enough to eat.     

It's A Good Business - Fairview Gardens Tour Part 3

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The blog continues with our visit to Fairview Gardens Farm in Goleta, California, just a few minutes away from our home in Santa Barbara.   

I visited the farm several weeks ago, so yes, these are pictures of the farm in the current season.  These strawberries were threatened by heavy rain and hail last week, but careful harvesting and good luck saved the farm from losing much of this valuable crop.  

For this podcast I interviewed farm manager Toby McPartland.  Don't miss it if you are pondering small farming on your own.  Toby explains that he plans for profit.  Value added products and business links in the community are ways in which he is growing the farm as a small business.

These honey bees are at work on the farm in this very informal hive set up.  The bees work in a grove of avocado trees, adjacent to a fruit orchard.

We use Fairview Gardens as a way to see farming differently. A lot of current organic methods are in practice here and this was an opportunity to learn on a farm which stays in production year round.  In fact, the challenge here is that there is no significant period of down time for farmers, managers and marketing workers on this farm.

But they are imagining  new possibilities. Even as North America continues to produce massive amounts of food for processing and export, kids in farm country don't get fresh local food in their school lunch meals.  In many places, local food culture and traditions are disappearing under a wave of yogurt in plastic tubes and mass produced pizza.  In another generation, grandmother's home made mustard pickles could be a delicacy that their children don't even recognize.

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Before I wanted to be a Farmer...

CLICK - HEAR KUHL RADIO, JULY 1981 

I turned 50 in July. When I was a teenager that seemed impossibly old.  When I was 5 years old I used to swipe a hair curler from my mom and use it the way an announcer uses a microphone.  So it was that I followed my ambition and became a radio disc jockey when I was 20.

In 1980, I left Santa Barbara and moved to Hollywood, California. I went to the KiiS Broadcast workshop. And in the spring of '81 I used the aircheck tape I made at the workshop to land a job in radio. I was a part-time DJ. I worked overnight on Sunday and Monday mornings at 1440 KUHL AM, in Santa Maria, Ca. That job was everything to me but eventually I got fired by the program director for breaking format. I was re-hired to work full time as an FM DJ at the "album rock" station owned by the same company - 99 KXFM.  I eventually became a program director for a group of stations in Santa Barbara.  When AT&T took over as corporate owners, I quit radio in 1995 and went to work in my own studio/production business.

Since then, I've worked for big Hollywood stars, major studios, cable networks, important films, and national advertising campaigns. I'm proud of that. But what you don't know is that all those projects involve lots of ordinary people like me doing unglamorous work for little pay.  The star talents work hard and make a fortune but people like me carry the burden of making sure our tiny fraction of a multi-million dollar project works perfectly.  And at age 50 I really don't care to serve what Joni Mitchell called "The Star Maker Machinery" any more. 
           
And I never wanted to be a studio engineer anyway.  I always wanted to be a creative talent. Maybe that's why I'm so attracted to farming. Sound weird?  Well, you'll just have to keep visiting this blog and see if you can understand how that works.

For now I'm sorting and packing the relics of a lifetime, preparing to leave the past behind and move to PEI. Among my relics are boxes of cassettes and reel to reel tapes of a life gone by.  I've forgotten most of the details of my past, but unlike most people, I have many hours of my life backed up on tape and digital media.  And recently, I put a tape on the deck and heard a few minutes of my life from July of 1981. It's a recording of a live broadcast on KUHL, just 3 weeks after my 21st birthday and just a few weeks after my first time on the air.  

So before I share more about our move ahead, I invite you to hear a few minutes from the past I leave behind:
CLICK - HEAR KUHL RADIO, JULY 1981

UPDATE / PHOTO 02.08.10
 That's me on the right in June of '82 - Mr. open shirt.  Thank God I didn't have disco chains.

Visit to an Urban Farm - The Fairview Gardens Story Part II

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We are continuing our tour of Fairview Gardens Farm and the Center for Urban Agriculture just north of Santa Barbara - which is about 90 miles (about 145 km) north of Los Angeles, California.

We live on a semi-desert  coastal plain below mountains that reach about 3,000 feet.  In the winter, we get a dusting of snow on the mountain tops and seasonal rain in the rocky canyons.  Over time, the result has been that  our  heavy clay topsoil is up to 20 feet deep! 

     

So this is January in Santa Barbara.  At the top you see see Broccoli plants and below are fruit trees. In the centers between rows, the farmers plant crops that create a market profit, keep the soil biologically active, conserve irrigation water and fix beneficial nutrients for the fruit crops on the trees and the row crops to come. They work to produce as much as they can from every square yard of this farm, saving soil, labor, fuel and water.

  

The farmers on the crew work in the greenhouse to start the next rotations of cash crops.  High yields on small acreage requires lots of hand work in tight rotations. Though temperatures only dip below freezing for a few nights at a time each winter, concentrating light, water, heat and hand planting keeps crops ready for rotation  in all seasons.  We are studying this intensive method for our farm in PEI.  We think that concentrating production, even in our shallower soil and shorter season, should allow us to get higher than conventional yields. We think we can benefit from concentrating our inputs and relying on biological soil activity, moderation of water needs, managing weed pressure and focusing  labor and machines in a smaller area to give greater returns over time.

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Visit to an Urban Farm - The Fairview Gardens Story

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Jen Emiko Higa Corey met me at the Fairview Gardens Farm Stand on Monday morning to take me on a tour of this Goleta, California farm and to answer my questions about the operation of this highly productive organic business.

This valuable land was preserved for agriculture in an urban landscape.  I came to see if the techniques, marketing and production ideas that make this farm business work on so many different levels could be used in rural communities like ours in PEI.    

Using a land trust to preserve farmland is something

many people might want to know more about.  In many areas of North America, valuable farm land is being lost to development. A private owner agreed to put this land in a Trust managed by a non profit corporation that agrees to run the land as an organic farm.  On our walk, Jen explained how the farm manages crop production in this front field and how it even values it's "view-scape" by being aware of what the public sees as they drive by.  And by the way it IS January and Fairview Gardens is actively growing.                                                                                                                                          

The strawberries are coming early, thanks to rain and warm weather.  Although the berry crop is always welcome for the cash it brings, the concern is that a sudden cold snap could be a major setback for these "seascape" plants.  Jen explained the difference between the slower organic cropping technique at Fairview and how it differs from other commercial growers in the region. (In 2007, there were 6,414 acres of strawberries harvested in our county at a value of  $312,754,997). At Fairview Gardens this is a high value AND a high quality crop.

This Series will continue in the following post.  Be sure to check back in the next few days for more.  Better yet, become a subscriber or follower of the blog by using the links provided on the right hand side of the page. And you can share this blog with your friends too by emailing a link.

You can contact Jen Emiko Higa Corey at Fairview Gardens and visit their website for more information.

Finally, please add your questions and comments to the blog so that  I get your feedback and we can share your information with those interested in this topic.

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Visit to an Urban Farm

Fairview Gardens Farm (click to enlarge)

I visited Fairview Gardens this morning. I took a tour of the Farm and got a few pictures and interviews with several people on the management team who run the farm.  I have wonderful interviews, pictures and information to share about the farm and it's Community Supported Agriculture program.  I'll be posting podcasts, pictures and photos in the next few days.

For our readers in SoCal it's a great chance to learn about the Center for Urban Agriculture and this valuable food and farming resource in our area.

For our friends in northern climes, especially in PEI, it's a way to pass some time during the season when your farm sleeps and look in on a working farm that operates year 'round. I learned a few things that I'm really excited to pass along to you.

So keep checking in this week, or subscribe to the blog so you don't miss anything!  

JQ

Sustainable Farming is Local Farming

I wasn't a farmer when Earl Butts said,"Get Big or Get Out". He was President Nixon's secretary of agriculture in the early 70's and the USDA made sure that America's farmers answered the call to flood the global market with American commodities.

In 1974 I was a witness to this policy. My dad and I drove east from California. And as we drove for days from the eastern slopes of the Rockies in Colorado, through Nebraska and all the way to the eastern seaboard, we passed through the biggest corn crop America had ever produced. I wonder now how many farms went bust trying to sell 100 acres of corn that year.

Now that a generation has passed, a new generation of farmers and ordinary consumers, environmentalists and foodies are looking for ways to revive and support what was lost in the heady days of the "Green Revolution". Local food, Slow food, Organic Food, Sustainable Food, Clean Food, Safe Food. It's all in the same basket and a new revolution is under way.

When we bought Willie Dunn's farm in 2000, we had no idea what we were doing. But we had an inspiration. We would begin with an organic certification of the land. Organic pioneer Michael Abelman had told us to jump in. But when we asked him what to do and how we would do it, he said, "You'll just do it. You'll figure it out." It wasn't too comforting. But what I've learned from Michael and from my own experience is that each morning you go out on the land. You walk. You look. You feel. You taste. You touch the soil and you read the weather. You wait. And nature speaks.

After 10 years I feel we are just beginning our farm. We're just now gaining the confidence and the skill to get bigger. And we're looking for knowledge that will help us to continue to grow in the right directions. I already know that for us, "MORE CORN!" or "MORE POTATOES!" is not the answer.

As I've shared with you before, my goal in California this winter is to harvest as much "input" as I can to fertilize our dreams at the farm. I've been searching out technology and business ideas and I've reviewed our farm plans and improved our prospects. And I've found a great resource to help water our dreams.

In December, I'll be staying on the Orella Ranch which has been hosting a series of educational programs on sustainability. I'll be attending a workshop there with farmer and author Joel Salatin. His workshop is entitled, "Pathways to Localization".

I'm lucky to be in Santa Barbara now, to attend this workshop. I've been lucky to have mentors like Michael Abelman and the inspiration of his friend, Alice Waters. I feel I'm in the right place at the right time. And I can't wait to share more with you.

Farmville Goes to Town

I heard on the radio today that some 65 million people are regular players of the game "Farmville" on Facebook. It's a simulation game that allows people to pretend to live on a farm.

It seems there are a lot of people, tens of millions of them, who yearn for a chance to escape their complex daily lives for a few minutes or hours a week on their virtual farm.

People who live in the country know that the hours are long, money is always in short supply, that neighbors are nosy and that the work is hard and sometimes dangerous. It's not nearly as easy or simple as the "farm dream" that propels others into a virtual farm. We too find that the distance between our farm in Prince Edward Island, Canada and our suburban home in Santa Barbara, California is greater than mere miles as the jet flies.

Part of my effort on the Dunn Creek Farm blog this winter is to share with our country friends what it's like to live in the city. Just as there are those who yearn for the life they imagine they'd find on a farm, there are those who wonder what it must be like to live in a coastal resort city.
Well here are a few notes just for you.

I heard an interview with a woman on CBC Radio 1 last year. She was talking about raising kids in Urban North America and said, "We keep our children under virtual house arrest." She was talking about the piles of homework schools send home and the supervised play and activity and the restrictions we place on our kids because of fear. I immediately added to that the hours logged onto video games and TV. Her words have stayed with me.

In the country, we send our kids to the beach, or to the neighbors to play and they walk or bike most places around us. We know they can find their way home. We know that everyone knows who they are and where they belong. And they know that we'll hear about any mischief they get into.

But here, we city people tend to pack our kids into a van and shuttle them off to school and afternoon play dates. We create and schedule organized activities. We have eliminated unsupervised play time and yes, the rest of the time our children are under virtual house arrest. There is very little real freedom for kids here. That thought has troubled me lately. If we want to raise kids to appreciate and value living in a free society, this hardly seems to be the way to go about it. Especially since what we model for them says, "be afraid of your surroundings and don't trust others." It's an extension of the same thinking that keeps us disconnected from nature and willingly ignorant about what sustains and gives us life. It also explains why a lot of kids are overweight and listless. And so today I went on a mission.

My nine year old has a friend who lives about three miles away. When the boys want to get together it's an effort to arrange parent pickup and dropoff, scheduled arrival and departure and of course we must work around all those scheduled activities.

Today I said to him, "We could ride our bikes over to your friends house. And then he could ride back here with us. I can show you boys the shortcuts where cars don't go and we can stay off of the busy streets." He paused and seemed doubtful. So I persisted. "It'll only take us about 15 minutes to get there." He brightened up, put on his shoes and got out his bike.

The ride is almost the same as the route I took to and from high school every day for four years. We had no school bus then and almost nobody thought they had to give their kid a ride to school every day. We all biked or walked in our year 'round climate.

It was beautiful and sunny today as we left our house and crossed past my boy's school heading up through the rolling hills of our San Roque neighborhood. The route took us past my old home street and we stopped near the top of the hill to rest. Then, like Radar on MASH, my ears picked up a familiar sound from 40 years ago. An ice cream truck!

My son didn't hear it. When he did, I had to explain to him what it was. "It's ice cream!" Again my boy looked dubious. The beat-up old truck came chugging toward us with it's merry music blaring and I waved it to a stop. We got a couple of Life Saver flavored popcicles. And there, on the same street where I once ran for the ice cream truck with a shiny dime in my hand, I caught up with it and felt like a 9 year old again. Until that moment my 9 year old never even knew such a thing ever existed.

We met our friend and took off again for home. After a short stop to visit grandma (and the house I grew up in) I told the boys they'd have to navigate on the way back. "Which Way?" they'd say. "Pick a direction" I'd answer. And off we'd go. With a little help they managed to find the way.

As we flew down the streets they learned to dodge cars, play chase and had a running pretend shootout that lasted for a mile. It was fast and it was spontaneous. It was full of laughs and a taste of adventure. It was freedom.

Today's Streetparked Classic


1939 Ford Truck (click to enlarge)

Cougar in a Devil Suit

Halloween in Santa Barbara.

Friday evening the boys were on the back deck carving pumpkins with friends.
You'll note that they are in t-shirts and shorts...it's been very warm here.


Pumpkin Carvers


What could be scarier than a group of teenagers?
Perhaps an overweight mom dressed as a slut.

My buddy Ray and I walked our two 9-year-olds through the hottest trick or treat neighborhood in our area. Lots of great displays of Halloween spirit and hundreds of kids with parents roaming sidewalks and streets. All in all it was very neighborly and family friendly. But after a while we began to count the number of cougars in devil suits. Which leads me to:

Today's Street Parked Classic

The old gal is showing her age and some poor treatment at the hands of a careless world, but this Cougar still has classic lines and a certain grace that can make a man's heart race.


1968 Mercury Cougar (Click to Enlarge)

Tomatillos on PEI? Yes You CAN

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Please enjoy this recipe for authentic Mexican Salsa Verde!

Jane Dunphy prompted this post because she grew tomatillos in her PEI garden this year and has been searching for information about how to use them. Turns out you can freeze them or can them and of course, they make wonderful salsa verde, one of the most popular condiments in Mexico. But all of the ingredients can be grown and used in PEI!

You can simmer your salsa verde with pork to make chile verde or you can bake chicken, shred the meat, cover it with salsa verde and serve with beans and rice. Salsa verde It's spicy but not too hot and the tangy fresh flavor is a delicious change of pace.

Please enjoy!





Ingredients

• 3 pounds tomatillos, husked, rinsed
• 2 large jalapeño chiles, stems removed
• 5 small garlic cloves, peeled

• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 1/2 bunches fresh cilantro, thick bottom stems trimmed
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Preparation

Mix first 2 ingredients in large saucepan. Cover with water. Bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer until soft, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat; let stand 15 minutes. Drain.

Coarsely chop tomatillo mixture, garlic, and cumin in processor using on/off turns. Add next ingredients; blend until herbs are chopped and salsa is chunky.

Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add salsa and simmer until slightly thickened and reduced to 4 cups, about 10 minutes. Stir in salt.

NOTES: This is a recipe from the web that most closely resembles Monica's description and technique with measures to help you.

You can add other herbs (mint, etc) and lime juice is a common addition too.

Going to the Superstore? Don't Buy the Burger!

I can tell you from experience that it's hard to have conversations about local organic food. Right now organic producers spend a lot of time trying to declare what it is - by defining what it's not.
Here's an article that should help you understand how important that distinction can be.

There are a lot of people in conventional agriculture who are no longer amused by the small organic farmer, even though we've been easy to dismiss with a roll of the eyes and a laugh for the past 30 years.

That's changing. The consumer herd is getting nervous. They're starting find reasons to wonder where their next meal is coming from and the answer is - sometimes scary.

This week, the New York Times published a piece of investigative journalism the likes of which we haven't seen in a hundred years. It features the story of a 22 year old American woman who is now paralyzed from the waist down because she ate processed hamburgers her mother bought at the grocery store. The meat was tainted with E. Coli. And just like thousands of other people this year, she was poisoned by a food supply she trusted to be safe.

From the article:

Stephanie Smith, a children’s dance instructor, thought she had a stomach virus. The aches and cramping were tolerable that first day, and she finished her classes.

Then her diarrhea turned bloody. Her kidneys shut down. Seizures knocked her unconscious. The convulsions grew so relentless that doctors had to put her in a coma for nine weeks. When she emerged, she could no longer walk. The affliction had ravaged her nervous system and left her paralyzed.

Sad enough, but was this an isolated case? You might think so. But read on.

The frozen hamburgers that the Smiths ate, which were made by the food giant Cargill, were labeled “American Chef’s Selection Angus Beef Patties.” Yet confidential grinding logs and other Cargill records show that the hamburgers were made from a mix of slaughterhouse trimmings and a mash-like product derived from scraps that were ground together at a plant in Wisconsin. The ingredients came from slaughterhouses in Nebraska, Texas and Uruguay, and from a South Dakota company that processes fatty trimmings and treats them with ammonia to kill bacteria.

It seems that even with the huge numbers of food poisonings and product recalls, the standards for commercial processing of beef allow the problem to go on and go undetected. Because of this, a 22 year old dance teacher is no longer dancing. She's no longer walking either.

And in case you're wondering:

Food scientists have registered increasing concern about the virulence of this pathogen since only a few stray cells can make someone sick, and they warn that federal guidance to cook meat thoroughly and to wash up afterward is not sufficient. A test by The Times found that the safe handling instructions are not enough to prevent the bacteria from spreading in the kitchen.

(To read the rest of the story, please link to: E.Coli Path Shows Flaw in Beef Inspection by Michael Moss, published in the New York Times, October 3, 2009.)

Don't look for me to suggest that you stop eating beef. As a former cow hand on a family owned California ranch, I can tell you something. We used to know who grew, slaughtered, inspected and butchered the beef we ate. An unscrupulous beef buyer in this area was once found hanging upside down from a ranch gate - howling for help after local cowboys strung him up for trying to rip off local producers.

That's what happens when the public gets fed up. I suggest we all need to be fedup with this kind of food processing. It not only poisons people, it destroys the high standards and honest hard work of farmers and ranchers, local processors and butchers.

Protect your food supply. Buy from local farmers and ranchers who still have a personal stake in the food you eat. Buy from local processors and butchers who personally inspect the meat they cut and sell.

When you see packages of insanely cheap, pre-formed and pre-seasoned beef patties in the grocery freezer - walk on by - while you still can.

Harvest From An Urban Farm

Greetings From Santa Barbara

Well we've made the jump back to Santa Barbara. Here's our home away from PEI.
Might be hard to tell, but this is an original farmhouse from the 1910's, before the area
was subdivided into housing back in the 1930's.


We live in the county, right across the street from the city and a short walk from the Junior High where I went to school.

Susan has been working as a volunteer accountant with Fairview Gardens Farm in Goleta. In exchange we get a small share from their CSA Program (Community Supported Agriculture). CSA programs are great and we're looking at the potential of a CSA for Dunn Creek Farm.

This week our share from the 12 acre farm at Fairview included pomegranates, yellow summer squash, heirloom tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, strawberries and anaheim chiles (which will be turned into chile rellenos tonight!)

Our farm shares on PEI would be quite different to suit local climate and tastes. But they could include fresh herbs and garlic, staples like sweet corn and beans and even ground whole wheat flour! A CSA could support fresh, local, minimally processed, sustainable and organic products for people in eastern PEI.

These sunflowers looked so bright against the barn. If you look at the top picture, you'll see that our environment in California is often muted tans and brown. The fall light in PEI makes primary colors POP.

A busy honey bee pollinates a sunflower. We had an active bee yard. Thanks to Island Gold Honey (and John Burhoe) for keeping bees in our certified fields. At a time when honeybees are under stress, we're glad to provide safe organic pasture to our local bee keeper. And we more than enjoy the natural honey from our variety of clovers, buckwheat and wild flowers.

We also benefit from working bees in our inter-cropped rows of vegetables. They increase the yields from our plants.

Never trust a sheepdog with a kitten.

We're in transition back to our urban life and I'm using this opportunity to harvest new knowledge to take back to the farm. We've made a farm plan for 2010 and I'm working on learning some new media skills to continue our efforts at communicating with our friends, supporters and customers. And I'm hoping to learn more about the operation of the CSA at one of California's oldest organic farms.

Our friends Laura-Jane and Cameron at Whimfield are working on the Growing Circle project and we intend to support that effort and use it to reach out to the community of on-line users on PEI.

Our summer series of audio podcasts was well received and provided me with a lot of learning and inspiration. I'm collecting new material to continue our story from the West Coast.

And tonight I'm going to make an organic Mexican dinner!

Photo Stack from Murray Harbour North

Greetings From Dunn Creek Farm!

Just across the road from the farm is a shore fronting on Murray Harbour. It's a broad and fairly shallow body formed by the Murray River meeting the Northumberland Straight. The Harbour is home to a number of PEI's lobster fishermen (and women). It's also the home of PEI mussels, which are some of the best steamers you'll ever eat! Try them at the Enterprise Fish Co. in SB.

Seals cruise the waters and have their pups in the coves and on the small islands. Teenager and I left the shore and paddled down to Seal Cove Camp Ground.

Teenager gets ready to paddle out.

The water is as warm as a heated pool and dead calm.

This is the view from our kitchen sink.


The pergola I built from white birch last summer is now covered with hop vines and surrounded by asparagus ferns and giant russian sunflowers.

Standing inside the pergola under the shade of the hop vines.

The hop vines flower and then set cones. Hops are used to flavor beer and are also used as a medicinal herb. We now have fresh hops and clean water - can barley be far behind?

Sunflowers! They are growing several inches taller each day. Should start blooming soon.

The sunflowers are hosting dozens of ladybugs!

Summer Squash - yellow and zuchinni - are now ready to enjoy. Top quality! Conditions are perfect for these plants to keep producing for a while.

Cucumber plants fill a row. We're looking for a bit of rain to really kick these guy into gear. The plants are really healthy and flowering heavily right now.

Annie sleeps in. Too much fresh air and sunshine just wears a dog out!

The Family Farm

Photo Update From Dunn Creek Farm ~


Robin Hood says, "Good Morning"


This week we made hay while the sun was shining and my brother Peter lent a hand with a pitchfork. Our old manure spreader doubled as a hay wagon. We loaded up the wagon and headed for the barn. Since we don't have a hay baler, we put the hay up loose. Using a hay fork I pitched the hay from the wagon on the barn floor to the hay loft above.


We visited Orwell Historic Village and I stopped in at the blacksmith shop to sharpen my Buck knife.


We visited the one room school house at Orwell. The leather strap on the desk made it clear that teachers could deliver swift justice. And in this school, your teacher might be 17 years old.


Free kittens in the stock barn. Dad had to be a big meanie and say no to another cat. They were really cute though.