Raw Rag™

Is this grow-your-own-food movement, well, growing?

This weekend has included a focus on the source of our food, highlighted last night by viewing for a second time the movie Fresh. Today my attention was pointed to an episode of Nightline about a family in Pasadena, California, growing all of their food on 1/5 of an acre. And then someone alerted me to a video of Joan Dye Gussow talking about why she grows her own food. From the Cooking Up a Story web site:

This Organic Life [Gussow's book] tells the story of how she began her first garden, the challenges, and the small triumphs as a new gardener. Her interests and abilities in growing food grew over time. Soon she had fruit trees, berry bushes, along with the many vegetables in the annual garden. But it’s not necessarily a gardening book, it’s more of an ongoing inner dialogue from someone who cares deeply for this planet. She kept wondering, how can I get my food closer to home? After a eating a clementine orange, she reflected on how many miles had it traveled to get to her? When the genetically modified tomato FlavrSavr came on the scene she was concerned how a farmer would lose the right to save his own seed. And, as bountiful as California was, it was facing serious agriculture challenges from soil erosion, water, among other concerns. Would the current food system be able to continue to put food on our tables?

Her book was written back 2001. Have the number of people asking these kinds of questions grown? Are there now more people growing their own food? Or am I just noticing these people more because of my new interest in the source of my food? What do you think?

Watch an 11-year-old boy give an excellent (and very short) talk about what's wrong with our food system

This video "What's Wrong With Our Food System? And How Can We Make A Difference?" filmed at TEDx in Asheville is only a wee bit over 5 minutes, yet Birke Baehr presents a lot of thought-provoking information. And he is occasionally humorous.

Bonuses for you: In his talk, the young boy mentions Joel Salatin. Here are some videos of Salatin giving a tour of his Polyface Farm in Virginia.

Here is an article written by Salatin answering this question: "How should we respond when we’re called elitists because we buy more expensive, local food?" (Flavor, a magazine in Virginia).

Note (added October 2, 2010): Click for many more videos of Joel Salatin (Daily Paul).

Image credit: justmeans.

Denver chefs grow their own food: “If you’re not growing stuff to eat, you’re not a great chef"

A nice article in the New York Times describes efforts made by some Denver chefs to keep their offerings local. I attended a social entrepreneurship event last night and met a man from Seattle who told me the local fare is increasingly being sold in restaurants in his city, too. From the article, we learn that many cities are favoring the "farm-to-table ethos."

Excerpt from "Denver Chefs Head for the Garden":

[A]n increasing number of hometown chefs are not only celebrating Colorado’s farmers, ranchers, cheesemakers and foragers, but also growing produce and other food themselves. Their restaurants, many of which opened in the last few years, are bringing Denver in line with the farm-to-table ethos already consuming so many American cities. And the ambitious chefs are taking advantage of the urban gardens multiplying all over town.

Frank Bonanno, a veteran Denver chef and restaurateur, [his blog] recently bought land in the suburbs that he hopes will supply “favas, lettuces and haricots verts” to his four downtown restaurants. “If you’re not growing stuff to eat, you’re not a great chef,” he said.

Image credit: Westword.

Grow your own fruits and vegetables—without a garden!

This morning I received a fun e-mail from my friend Hartley who clearly knows what I like. He sent me the link to this post: 66 Things You Can Can Grow At Home: In Containers, Without a Garden (Daily Good). Excerpt:

Growing your own food is exciting, not only because you get to see things grow from nothing into ready-to-eat fruits and veggies, but you also don’t have to worry about the pesticides they might contain, and you definitely cut down on the miles they—and you—have to travel.

As it turns out, with pretty minimal effort, anyone can be a gardener. ...

The list of things you can grow in a tiny amount of space ranges from apples to oranges to bananas to herbal tea to collard greens to beets, and so much more. Get growing. What's stopping you now?

Then you can become an artist of another sort (yes, I consider gardening a form of artistry) by carving your produce. The book The Decorative Art of Japanese Food Carving: Elegant Garnishes for All Occasions will teach you how. And here are several videos on You Tube to teach you vegetable and fruit carving.

Image credit: BloomersBlog.