All seasons to support the harvest

So I have learned that farming seasons are not like our four seasons.  The climate, plants, infratructure like planting beds and green houses of various kinds enable a fairly extended growing & harvesting calendar.  Some CSA support Summer & Fall harvest distributions.

This long overdue clip gives some clues to the agricultural farmers year. 

The primary message is that the concept of the CSA is that participants provide financial support in the non-harvest period and share in the outcome of the harvest - based on the outcomes of the harvest regardless of those outcomes.

Home Food Preservation Workshops: Dehydration and Cold Storage

Diane Wright Hirsch, an Extension Educator focusing on Food Safety with the University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension, is providing two workshops at the New Haven County Extension Center, 305 Skiff Street, North Haven, CT.

The first workshop, Dehydrating Fruits and Vegetables, will be September 12, at 6:30 pm.  This program will address how dehydration preserves food, how to pre-treat foods so that your food will be edible and nutritious when you enjoy it in the winter months, and a discussion about the equipment needed to successfully dehydrate fresh produce at home. Registration deadline is Friday, September 7.

 

The second workshop, Cold Storage of Fruits and Vegetables, will be September 19 at 6:30 pm.  Bill Duesing of CT Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) will join us to present a workshop for those who are interested in the basics of cold storage of fruits and vegetables that are commonly grown in Connecticut. Which fruits and vegetables can be stored?  What are the temperature and humidity requirements for storage?  How do you achieve those requirements in root cellars, bulkhead areas, attics, buried containers, garages, etc.? Registration deadline is Friday, September 14.

PREREGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. 

Registration fees are $10.00 for each workshop.  Registration deadlines are indicated above.

Contact Diane Wright Hirsch at diane.hirsch@uconn.edu or 203-407-3163 to register or for more information. 

Food Rules

Animation entry uses an excerpt from a speech given by Michael Pollan at the RSA in 2010 -- Food Rules:  This film is by Marija Jacimovic and Benoit Detalle is the winning entry in the RSA / Nominet Trust Film Competition Award. The runner up short film also used the Food Rules Speech.
See them all here

From: Ideas and actions for a 21st century enlightenment RSA - The RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce): an enlightenment organisation committed to finding innovative practical solutions to today’s social challenges.

WomenLeaders Talk Local Agi - Mapping Farms

See the video at the link below:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2012/07/17/women-leaders-local-food-agriculture-virtual-roundtable

In a live Google+ Hangout, USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan and White House Director of Public Engagement Jon Carson will join women leaders across the country to discuss local food and agriculture, answer questions submitted by the public, and launch the latest version of Compass, the interactive Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food map.

CSAs use Open House Events to ...

Local CSAs have Open Houses and other events to help their members understand more about the food they are eating. Here is some snipets from the informative Open House at StarlightGardens in May. 

AFT’s America’s Favorite Farmers Markets™ contest

The purpose of the contest is to raise national awareness about local farmers markets, the role they play in supporting local farms, and the importance of protecting American farmland.

Here are more ways you can help support your favorite farmers market and help keep farmers on the land: Share the contest with your friends. Support AFT’s effective solutions to protect farmland. Help save an acre of farmland. Spread the word. Sign up and get your FREE No Farms, No Food® bumper sticker.

Big Food at the Peabody

Learned of this Special Exhibit with ongoing events late -- but there is plenty more good stuff to experience.  BIG FOOD at Peabody Museum: our evolutionary history, our complex food environment, and the serious health consequences of obesity.

What is In Season, EarthDay at QU

New Video from QU Earth Day Event:  View Here.

EarthDay_at QU

 

Submitted by Kristen Richardson
Biology Department

More Info on FB

The Worst Farm Bill Ever?

Here is an article explaining the challenges:
https://www.freespeech.org/text/worst-farm-bill-ever

MIT Open Courseware Food & Culture Class Resources

Spring 2011) Explored connections between what we eat and who we are through cross-cultural study of how personal identities and social groups are formed via food production, preparation, and consumption. Organized around critical discussion of what makes "good" food good (healthy, authentic, ethical, etc.). Uses anthropological and literary classics as well as recent writing and films on the politics of food and agriculture.  You may be interested in the resource material.

What We Eat is the Solution

Betterfood4all is about leveraging what is already in process locally and being a catalyst for others to become the solution. So we encourage you to listen to the presenters at this TEDx conference Changing the Way We Eat. There is nothing more local than your table.

New CSA in Durham - Think Salad

Starlight Gardens spring-summer CSA will start on May 30 continue every week through October 25  for a total of 22 weeks. 54 Fowler Avenue in Durham. For 2012 CSA information go here.

From Garden to Table~Sharing the Bounty

We want to connect to local initiatives that are passionate about food, gardening and environment.  Today, thanks to Doonesbury reportedly getting a cartoon pulled because it mentioned a charity Donorschoose.org  I found that Teacher Ms. Johnson at John Barry Elementary in Meriden had a garden project last year that she wants to continue this year .

Last year 7 people, none from CT, helped her with her project.  Hopefully, this year we can help bring local attention to her efforts and share some of the results with you.

1st Edition: CSA in Winter

The stories include 4 generations of farming, garlic, pear salad, what bees do in an orchard and how old is old for peach trees.  The conversations are enthusiasticly about the goodness of it all and the nuances of difference that roots can provide..like holiday food all winter.  And the cider was so good I am looking forward to my February pick-up.

Enjoy the show. And enjoy your own new food adventures as you consider joining a CSA, go to a Winter Farmers' Market or cook root vegetables that you may never have eaten before.

Watch the show here

WPAA-TV initial play times include:

Jan29 4:45 PM, 8 PM
Jan30 3:30 PM
Jan31 6:30 PM
Feb01 9:00 AM
Feb02 5:45 AM, 3 PM
Feb04 9:00 AM

We are underway

Today we began to share stories and passions with each other about food and local farms. These stories & conversations will soon be shared with others in the program BetterFood4all which will be distributed via WPAA-TV.