Man in Overalls

I want you to grow your groceries. Could you grow enough food to feed your family if you needed? Could we, as communities, sustain ourselves - even temporarily - if there was some major disruption like a cyber attack, supply chain failure, hyper inflation, economic fall-out, or - God forbid - war? Though I'm a fan of salads & tasty treats like sugar snaps, if you're hungry, those just won't cut it. It comes down to calories and protein. If you were gardening to keep your family alive, what would you grow?  This isn't about fear-mongering; it's about preparedness & keeping enough life-skills passing around in our networks so that, "if & when" we need them, those skills can be cultivated & shared . Even within a generally stable society, there are "minor" crises at the level of region, city, neighborhood, & family all the time that don't feel all that minor to the folks involved.  If you had to, could you grow enough energ...

Updated 10/31/2017 as the National Organic Standards Board meets in Jacksonville, FL. This may well be the most important thing you read this year for your health. (Originally written in 2015 while I was traveling-- and eating bread-- with my wife in France.) I've got a food riddle for you from Paris, France: Why can I eat bread over here when it makes me sick at home? I'll share my best guess in a minute, but first, a little personal background. Since my senior year of high school, I've not been able to eat much bread at all. For five years, I was severely hypoglycemic, and everything I ate had to have more protein than carbohydrates. That meant, in effect, that I spent my years of college beer-less and eating lots of salad with meat on top. I ate tons of vegetables, very little fruit, basically no carbohydrates to speak of, meat, nuts, eggs, and cheese. If I accidentally ate, say, meat loaf that was, unbeknownst to me, made with bread in it, I'd spend the n...

[Garden installed by Tallahassee Food Gardens featured in Democrat.] By Elizabeth M. Mack Democrat staff writer Turnips, cabbage and radishes are all fall vegetables that can be found in any home or community garden. But what about at work? The employees at FBMC Benefits Management started an urban garden of their own in the spring, said Glenda Atkinson, FBMC wellness coordinator. The garden is part of the company's many wellness programs, Atkinson said. FBMC has had a wellness program for than 20 years offering employees yoga classes, a workout area on site and cooking classes. Wednesday afternoon the company received recognition from the American Heart Association as one of its Fit-Friendly Companies — an honor FBMC received for the third consecutive year. It also received the Workforce Innovation Award for implementing the garden in its wellness program. "You guys have done a wonderful job," said Kellie Thigpen, American Heart Association regional direc...

A friend shared this article on my FB page a couple days ago.  It is the most articulate and emcompassing article I've read about the food movement's benefits-- as well as a rebuttal against the centralized food system's attempts to hedge in our community garden, health, small-scale/sustainable agriculture, community-based food systems, nutrition, farmers' market... (i.e. food movement) work.  It's worth the read.  If you're looking for an article to pass to friends and family to demonstrate the extent of the food movement and the corresponding need for us to recreate resilient community based food systems, this is a worthy candidate. (If you'd prefer to read it on the Washington Post's website, click here .) Why being a foodie isn’t ‘elitist’  - By Eric Schlosser, April 29, Washington Post At the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual meeting this year, Bob Stallman, the group’s president, lashed out at “self-appointed food elitists” who are “...

A recent article in the Jacksonville Times-Union, Poverty, But Obseity: The Hunger Paradox describes the ways in which the lack of nutrition in "energy dense" foods and the availability of healthy food have contributed to a simultaneous obesity epidemic and increasing food insecurity.  It's a great article about kids gardens, food security, nutrition, and the growing food movement.  Also, take a look at the following video about The Bridge Community Garden.  Great things are happening in Jacksonville.