FOOD - Growing and Preserving
From CFI
Welcome to the GULP Food Group Community Page!
For more information about this group or to join, please contact: Jenny Burnstad, jen@cloudforest.org, Adam Gaska hxgaska@adelphia.net, or Sean sean@bandcamp.org
The group Mission Statement is: Working to ensure a secure local food supply and maintain the integrity of our genetic heritage.
Current projects include: Local Germplasm Survey (link coming soon)
The group is meeting at the regularly scheduled GULP meeting: Tuesday, June 6, Washington Mutual Communitee Room, State and Gobbi
Food Group Documents and Information:
Food Group Links: Please post any links for the Food Group here: Food Group Links
Find GULP Food Group Meeting Notes Here: GULP Food Group Notes
[Add links to meeting notes and other projects above]
Individual Updates
Please post any updates, messages or individual action item reports to share with the GULP Food Group below. Please include the date of your post and any relevent contact information.
6/13, SR: Portland, OR is making sustainability and localization fun! Check out The City Repair Project as well as the VBC 6to see how this relates to local permaculture. Could we be inspired enough to do this? Contact me for more info: sean@bandcamp.org. The Village Building Convergence is a localization event with evening presentations, delicious food & music, as well as hands-on learning workshops in more than twenty neighborhoods across the city!
5/31, JB: Anyone interested in being a Grateful Gleaner can contact Karen Gridley at 459-2101. Also, the Cleveland Lane Community Garden in Ukiah has a few spaces available. Call Miles Gordon 462-0244 for more information.
5/24, SC: A VERY INTERESTING STORY about the power of gardening in cities/suburbs to transform culture (forwarded to the group by Anne O.): Garden Power In Sebastopol
5/24, SC: An interesting article about recycling compost for use in organic hydroponics: Organic Hydro 1
4/12, Holly C.: SF Chronicle book review of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/09/RVG31I162M1.DTL&hw=pollan&sn=001&sc=1000
SF Chronicle - Carol Ness interviews Michael Pollan: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/09/RVGDEI0TEA1.DTL&hw=pollan&sn=002&sc=355
4/11, Dave Smith: Keeping It Living: Traditions Of Plant Use And Cultivation On The Northwest Coast Of North America (Hardcover) This is the Amazon review: The European explorers who first visited the Northwest Coast of North America assumed that the entire region was virtually untouched wilderness whose occupants used the land only minimally, hunting and gathering shoots, roots, and berries that were peripheral to a diet and culture focused on salmon. Colonizers who followed the explorers used these claims to justify the displacement of Native groups from their lands. Scholars now understand, however, that Northwest Coast peoples were actively cultivating plants well before their first contact with Europeans. This book is the first comprehensive overview of how Northwest Coast Native Americans managed the landscape and cared for the plant communities on which they depended.
Bringing together some of the world's most prominent specialists on Northwest Coast cultures, Keeping It Living tells the story of traditional plant cultivation practices found from the Oregon coast to Southeast Alaska. It explores tobacco gardens among the Haida and Tlingit, managed camas plots among the Coast Salish of Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia, estuarine root gardens along the central coast of British Columbia, wapato maintenance on the Columbia and Fraser Rivers, and tended berry plots up and down the entire coast.
With contributions from ethnobotanists, archaeologists, anthropologists, geographers, ecologists, and Native American scholars and elders, Keeping It Living documents practices, many unknown to European peoples, that involve manipulating plants as well as their environments in ways that enhanced culturally preferred plants and plant communities. It describes how indigenous peoples of this region used and cared for over 300 different species of plants, from the lofty red cedar to diminutive plants of backwater bogs.
4/6, SC: Madelin H. provided the following link to the a VERY INTERESTING California Farmlink site, which works to find creative ways to preserve and pass along farming opportunities to a new generation of farmers: http://www.californiafarmlink.org/
4/1/06, Cliff Paulin: Report on Meeting of Food Group, 3/30/06. The food group met at the Mendocino Environmental Center this past Thursday evening. Present was Mac Magruder, Adam Gaska, Leeya Thompson, Jenny Burnstad, and Cliff Paulin.
Discussion covered the creation of a survey and database to catalog the germplasm (genetic stock) of seeds, fruit wood, and animals in the county. The idea is to eventually have a searchable database of local available germplasm so that people interested in raising particular food items will have a reference for where to get local starts. Adam brought the beginnings of the survey form, and Cliff is adding additional questions to gain more insight into our local food economy and is researching online survey forms.
People interested in the germplasm project should check out the following books on the subject:
Seed to Seed: Suzanne Ashworth
Breed Your own Vegetable Varieties: Carol Deppe
The Complete Book of Plant Propagation: Graham Clarke and Alan Toogood
Principles of Plant Breeding: Robert W. Allard
Discussion also covered problems and issues that Mac Magruder percieves in the local meat production arena. Particularly acute are the processing and distribution of his products. Currenty he is required to take cattle to Petaluma or the central valley for processing. The facility in Petaluma, which is the closest to Mendocino County, is likely closing in the next few years. This will create yet another obsticle to local food production. The creation of a mobile meat procession truck was discussed. Similar efforts have been undertaken in Washington. To read a story about their success check out: http://www.skagitbusinesspulse.com/articles/2005/03/06/news/news07.txt
3/26/06, SC: Following is a link to an excellent article in today's SF Chron that provides some facts about the very high fossil fuel cost that come with every non-local, processed, preserved and/or packaged component in a simple breakfast: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/03/26/ING3PHRU681.DTL&hw=chad+heeter&sn=001&sc=1000
3/24/06, Julie Schleuder: Sustainable Economics Goals from County Wide meeting held at Well Springs Renewal Center in Philo - in the future we will meet with a food representive from all the county's localization groups to get the 10 year sustainable food system for Mendocino County moving towards their goals.
Sustainable Economics
Short Term Goals: Redefine sustainable economy Create ongoing think tank Establish dialogue between farmer and consumer- farmer video, potluck gatherings, farm visits, local stores buy from local farmers Agricultural Investment corp- Non profit, small loan fund Housing for Farmworkers County Policies to support local food production
Mid Term Goals: Labor commons- pool and resources Coops and CSAs Conscious Budgets- make cost of growing food visible Exchange systems that reflect true value Credit for Work on farms
Long Term Goals: Local Farms and Farmers to meet needs of county - includes allowing farmer to make a viable income -ensuring that consuners have the resources neccessary to acquire food
Group Contact Julie 485- 1960, julies@pacific.net, Doug, Steve, Kermit, Molly, John, Darius
3/24/06, JB: News from Oregon - a friend of Sean's up there shared this info...local, organic, sustainable agriculture is getting stepped up into the mainstream. The state just funded a grant for a group of Willamette Valley watershed councils to build the frameworks to promote organic CSAs etc. to a level where they are the primary source of a local food base. This will help protect our watersheds ($savings) and reduce reliance on traffic and fuel to truck food in from far away (road $ savings, clean air & water $ savings). Nice. Also, the local school district after heavy lobbying by progressives has adopted the local organic as the primary source for school lunches, and will start phasing out the sody pop......So how do we get the Governator to fund a similar grant for us Californians?
3/22/06, DS: Something we can do right now is support, promote, join a local Community Sustainable Agriculture farm up in Covelo: http://www.covelo.net/agriculture/farm/pages/farms_lpf.shtml The Decater family distributes weekly boxes to several places in Mendocino County, Marin and the Bay Area. This is the farm of the future and the values that we hope to live and build with our GULP group are embodied in Gloria and Stephen Decater. The more members they can find right here in Mendocino County, the less they have to travel every week. This is truly GOING LOCAL. I'll post more details soon. Read their story and see farm photos on my website: http://www.grizzlegritz.com/decaturs.html
3/21/06, DS: I've been thinking further about local farming initiatives. As co-founder and President of Mendocino Organic Network, I hope we can join together with this GULP group to create a farm/garden initiative. My further thinking is a local cooperative garden farm project within walking distance for most Ukiahans, based on a combined CSA/Food Co-op model. It would be co-managed by a fulltime group of experienced farmer/owners, and owned by a member/owner structure. All member/owners would be required to volunteer a set amount of time per quarter of unskilled labor. Or, there could be a 2-tier system of member/owners based on work given for discount earned. The Briarpatch Co-op in Menlo Park in the 70s that I helped found and manage was based on this model, and we very successful with 350 families on the waiting list at one point. Of course, it was buying food, not growing food. Thoughts? -Dave Smith
SC: Seems like a prime candidate for an initial locally financed business. Please bring it up at the next business group meeting as well.
3/8/06: The March/April 2006 Ukiah Co-op News reports that the Co-op Board has started a "Local Food Security Committee" that is looking at "how we can develop sustainable practices in agriculture and energy production that will enable us to depend on our local resources as the oil crisis increases" and "to look at how we can become involved in assisting local farmers or perhaps even establish a cooperative farm." Sounds like a strong potential collaborator. - Scott C
