Thursday July 2 2009
As a U.S. historian, I can provide examples of the many ways – both positive and negative - that patriotism has been expressed at different times in our nation’s history. There are many ways that individuals and communities can express their patriotism today. Eating local foods can be one of them.
Local foods are patriotic, whether you’re buying them directly from producers in your area or growing your own. They’re good for our local farmers, our economies, our health, and the health of our planet. Local foods give us pause to (re)consider our connection with the land and those who produce our food. And…they taste great because they’re fresh from the soil. (Who says that what is good for you can’t taste good, too?)
This 4th of July, please consider celebrating your independence by including locally-sourced foods in your menu. Roger Doiron of Kitchen Gardeners’ International - who earlier this year petitioned the Obama administration to plant a Victory Garden on the White House lawn – recently launched Food Independence Day to encourage local eating on the 4th. Part of this effort was to gain the commitment of individuals to include local foods in their menu. Another goal? To petition our nation’s 50 governors to consume local foods and publish their menus for the day.
Let Food Freedom Ring! Several governors have published their menus, and you can help us get more to join the effort. Sign the petition at
www.FoodIndependenceDay.org and check out the Associated Press story (below) currently running:
Governors don't have to look far for Fourth fare
07/02/2009
By CLARKE CANFIELD / Associated Press
On the day Americans celebrate the land of the free, a Maine man wants governors to feel free to live off the land.
A sustainable food advocate who campaigned for the Obamas to plant a garden at the White House has now received pledges from several governor's offices to feature local foods on their Fourth of July menus, from Maine lobster to South Dakota pheasant jerky to milkshakes made with Montana huckleberries.
Roger Doiron said he was inspired to lobby governors to promote locally grown food after a patch of White House lawn was turned into an organic vegetable garden this spring.
"I said to myself, 'Maybe we should try to look to other first families to eat by example and use their Fourth of July to make that happen,'" said Doiron, who wants to brand the holiday "Food Independence Day."
Doiron is founder of Kitchen Gardeners International, a nonprofit that promotes food self-reliance through kitchen gardens and sustainable local food systems. Local foods are good for the palate, the health, local economies, the environment and your wallet, he said.
For the "Food Independence Day" effort, he teamed up with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy Food and Society Fellows Program and the Mother Nature Network.
After setting up a Facebook page to promote the idea, they heard from more than 6,000 people who vowed to build their July Fourth menus around local and home-grown ingredients.
The governors' offices in Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and West Virginia pledged to do the same, Doiron said. The office of Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said the family would be out of state on July Fourth but would make efforts to eat locally through the year.
In Maine, the family of Gov. John Baldacci is planning a reunion this weekend that will include Maine lobsters, clams, mussels, potato salad and blueberry pie.
The menu in Maryland will have local crab cakes. South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds will be serving up pheasant jerky (the state bird) and walleye (the state fish) along with hamburgers and hot dogs.
Montana first lady Nancy Schweitzer is planning a meal that includes Montana-raised beef, milkshakes made with local huckleberries, and huckleberry crisp. In West Virginia, the produce is coming from a local farmers market, and tomatoes and herbs were grown at the governor's mansion.
In North Dakota, the meal will feature hamburgers made from North Dakota beef, along with hamburger buns made from local wheat, potato salad from local potatoes, and baked beans with bacon using local beans and North Dakota-raised pork.
Agriculture is North Dakota's No. 1 industry, said Donald Caton, spokesman for Gov. John Hoeven. "It wasn't difficult to put together a home-grown menu," he said.
For his part, Doiron's Fourth of July menu will include potatoes, dill, peas, salad makings and strawberries from his home garden in Scarborough. He also plans to dig clams from a local flat.
"This is an opportunity to celebrate our food culture," he said.
------ End of AP story ------
P.S. from the author of this blog posting, aka Victory Grower: Today, a group of Food and Society Policy Fellows gathered on the phone to talk about Food Independence Day and the local foods we’d be eating with our families. It was small talk about food from our gardens and food we’re purchasing from local farmers. About preparing the recipes we’ve borrowed from one another. Small talk…but sharing big ideas about public policy and food systems and culture and food independence. Because small actions can result in big changes.
So, from the reaches of Maine (and Roger’s little “white house”) to the coast of Southern California (Rose), to the Pacific Northwest (Erin), to our nation’s heartland (Angie, Eric and Lisa) --- or whatever place of the country you call home --- let Food Freedom Ring!
ladylibertyfid
Sunday June 14 2009
"WHY I'M A VICTORY GROWER": PLANT YOUR INDEPENDENCE!
Kids, Submit Your Own "Vision Video" for Food Independence Day
Do you love growing food in your garden? Maybe your dream is to become a farmer and spend your days outside in the field? Do you hope to one day feed others with the food you grow? That makes you a Victory Grower!
If you know a youth that has a green thumb, thinks growing food in your own garden is cool, or is a lover of fresh, healthy vegetables, organizers of "Food Independence Day" want you to submit a "vision video" sharing "Why I'm a Victory Grower." Is your dream to become a farmer and spend your days outside in the field? Do you hope to one day feed others with the food you grow? That makes you a Victory Grower, and one of hundreds of thousands of kids who realize growing your own food is fun, healthy and patriotic.
Food Independence Day is a grassroots group of individuals encouraging others to celebrate this 4th of July and the entire summer by eating food grown locally. The "Why I'm a Victory Grower" video campaign is a way for kids who love garden food to share their stories and celebrate food independence. I'm proud to be part of this collaborative effort.
To participate and receive a free one-year membership and a packet of seeds from Seed Savers, log on to TEL*A*VISION (www.telavision.tv) to access the free tools that will help you easily create a vision video. Tell us why you're a Victory Grower and how that affects who you want to be and what you want to do in the future. Maybe you just really like playing in the dirt, but deep down, gardening, farming or otherwise raising good food supports the American economy, preserves natural resources and can help stamp out hunger.
Tell us your "Why I'm a Victory Grower" story by September 1, and your vision video could be one of five selected to be shown to important leaders in the good food movement at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) Food and Society Fellows Summit in Washington, D.C., September 9-11, 2009.
Creating your vision video is fun and easy. Take photos of your garden, the fresh vegetables on your dinner plate, the farmers market or community garden, local farms or choose from free images from the Food and Society Fellows flickr site(http://www.flickr.com/photos/fasfellows/favorites) and combine them with music and graphics from the TEL*A*VISION Web site. Most importantly, make the video your vision by sharing your ideas, experiences and goals for the future. Just watch the easy-to-follow tutorials at www.telavision.tv/tutorials or visit http://foodindependenceday.org/post/116892037/telavision for instructions.
Submit your finished video to the Food Independence Day group on TEL*A*VISION at http://www.onetruemedia.com/gallery/food_independence_day. Check it out to see sample videos and begin creating your own. For more information on kids gardening and victory gardens, visit
http://www.kidsgardening.com/
National Gardening Association Site
http://groups.ucanr.org/victorygrower/
University of California
THAT'S MY PAGE!
http://www.jmgkids.us/
4-H Junior Master Gardener Program
http://blogs.cornell.edu/garden/
Cornell Garden-Based Learning
http://www.mastergardenerssandiego.org/schools/schools.php
University of California Master Gardeners - school gardens
ABOUT THE "WHY I'M A VICTORY GROWER" PROJECT
The "Why I'm a Victory Grower" project was created as part of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy's (IATP) Food and Society Fellows' Food Independence Day campaign, in partnership with TEL*A*VISION. The goal of the project is to empower children to cultivate healthy lifestyles by growing and eating fresh, whole foods and to directly involve them in the themes of Independence Day - victory and patriotism through growing their own food. Some of my best Good Food friends have been involved: Lisa Kivirist, Angie Tagtow, Roger Doiron (Eat the View), and Fred Bahnson, an emerging voice of the food and faith movement.
Rekindling the World War I and World War II victory garden campaigns to build hope and positive thinking among American families, the project taps the creativity of children nationwide by calling on them to create and share short "vision videos" online about how gardening, raising good food, soil stewardship and preserving natural resources can transform the food system in communities and the world. The "Victory Growers" theme additionally enables kids to explore related, integral themes beyond the garden to cultivate independence through other sustainable lifestyle choices.
You know this is what I'm all about. I hope you'll help children you know and love be about this, too, this summer.
ABOUT THE FOOD INDEPENDENCE DAY CAMPAIGN
The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) Food and Society Fellows' Food Independence Day campaign (www.FoodIndependenceDay.org) was developed to raise public awareness and media attention to the importance of home gardening and related resources as well as to introduce broader issues of personal health and nutrition, self-reliance, sustainability and independence and how these concepts relate to a good, healthy food system and public health.
ABOUT TEL*A*VISION
TEL*A*VISION, a partnership between George Johnson and Haberman (www.modernstorytellers.com), a national brand public relations firm, was formed to help create a world that works for all. Its purpose is to counteract negativity by promoting visions of hope and possibility among youth throughout the world. For more information, or to create and share a vision for a better world, visit www.telavision.tv.
A group of us have been working with Haberman this year. They are a socially-conscious public relations firm, and I've enjoyed the collaboration with them on this project immensely.
ABOUT SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE
Seed Savers Exchange is a nonprofit, member-supported organization that serves its members, and the public, through its charitable mission of safeguarding our food future by saving and sharing the world's diverse but endangered garden heritage. Founded in 1975, Seed Savers Exchange is the largest non-governmental seed bank in the United States. The 890-acre Heritage Farm is located in Decorah, Iowa, and permanently maintains many thousands of rare and endangered vegetable varieties. The collection includes varieties native to the Americas, plus many more seeds brought to the United States by members' ancestors who immigrated from the far corners of the world. For more information, visit www.seedsavers.org.
Saturday May 16 2009
The governor has released a list of state properties that might be for sale in this time of unprecendented budget crisis. On that list are a couple of fairgrounds, including the Ventura County Fairgrounds.
The Ventura County Fairgrounds is actually California's 31st Agricultural District, and is under the oversight of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. You can visit that website to learn more about our Fairs and Expositions; they represent a great, and perhaps underutilized resource in our state.
Per a report produced under the leadership of Gray Davis (remember him?):
"The network of California fairs is an economic, social and cultural bonanza that enriches the lives of Californians from every background and walk of life. California’s fair network dates back to before the Civil War as a way to advance public knowledge of agriculture and provide a community gathering place. That tradition continues to this day, but with modern innovations that bring home the importance and reality of agriculture to an urban population that may have little contact with farms, ranches and agribusinesses."
The full report is at: http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/Fairs_&_Expositions/Documents/SWEReport/FairsReport.pdf
We know that the mission of fairs has grown to include commercial ventures that hold little relation to agriculture (such as car races). But I also know that the Ventura County Fair is one of the last great fairs in California, one that truly evokes the spirit of agriculture, past and present, and helps people to understand more about those who work to feed us.
California legislates by ballot box. Competing initiatives and propositions from different election cycles make it difficult to develop and provide a coherent and sustainable roadmap for the state. The passage of one ballot initiative, for example, may rule out another.
California's initiative law was passed in 1911, during the Progressive Era. Ballot initiatives provided an instrument that enabled 'the people' to check excesses during a period when there was little regulation of industry or other aspects of American life (call it the Gilded Age). Peter Schrag, a columnist with the Sacramento Bee, has written about this in "Paradise Lost," which is available at
(Schrag has also written a book more recently about California as America's "high stakes" experiment. He generates interesting and thought-provoking work that will challenge your thinking in any number of ways. If you hold the view that the beginning of the budget crisis in CA dates back to Prop 13 in 1978, Schrag's work may resonate with you. Even if you don't hold that view, you'll find his viewpoint worth considering, and he's a lively writer).
We are in a world of budget trouble in California. I have been sharing this with the many Mid-Westerners that I speak to on a daily basis. I don't know that my out-of-state friends fully comprehend the size of the state, and the implications for the nation if the experiment here fails. Per 2008 census estimates, 36,756,666 Americans live here...that's nearly 1 in 12. We have more than 6 MILLION students K-12 enrolled in our public school system; that's greater than the entire population of some other states. We're a MEGA state by nearly every index, including the challenge index.
We're also a mega agricultural producer. In 2007, California was the number 1 state in cash farm receipts. The state produces about half of U.S.-grown fruits, nuts and vegetables. Many crops are produced solely in California. Bring this down to a smaller, local level, and California is still a leader: we are also home to some of the most productive agricultural counties in the U.S. Per 2002 Ag Census figures, 9 of the nation’s top 10, and 12 of the top 20 ag producing counties are in California. Ventura County is one of them.
So what does this have to do with the sale of state property? Agriculture is not just something that's part of our past, as in some other places. It's vital to California's future, and the state's current economic health. And the kinds of foods we produce are vital to human health, which ought to be a national priority. This is important and heady stuff, the stuff of a nation's food security, a nation's future.
How do we preserve this and assure agriculture's vitality for future generations? We continue to educate the public about the importance of agriculture, no matter how deep the budget cuts go. If anything, we do MORE. Agricultural education is our seedbank; it is where we should be sowing more now, to reap future benefits. Not just in California, but nationally.
How do we do this? For example, we could lose No Child Left Behind and replace it with education about agriculture. When we don't educate youth about the food system and healthy lifestyle, we leave all children behind. Substitute it with a national curriculum that incorporates food systems education, environmental awareness, and human health. Teach children about agriculture, where their food comes from, about the importance of healthy soil in producing healthy food and healthy communities. That's a good start (and my next public policy agenda item).
But we also need to keep the Fair and Exposition system intact in the Great State of California. If anything, we commit to pumping into that system more money, resources and a real MANDATE to improve and increase the focus on agricultural education, making it once again the primary mission of these public venues. We develop a coherent educational and outreach plan that involves all stakeholders, including agricultural interests (who, in Ventura County, do a great job of educating the public about their work at the Fair). But we don't sell fairgrounds, which sometimes provide the only link between consumers and the agriculture that feeds them.
The threat to sell state properties such as fairgrounds may be a publicity stunt on the part of the Governor. He is clearly trying to let citizens know that we are in a dire situation, and that whether these ballot measures pass or not in the upcoming special election, that there is going to be a lot of pain to go around. He is daring us to consider what might happen if we fail to approve these measures. Double dog dare the voters.
But talk about selling fairgrounds? If we value the future of agriculture in California, this is not a dare any of us should be willing to take.
"A Garden for Everyone. Everyone in a Garden."
csaboxes2008
Computer-enhanced photograph of community supported agriculture boxes, Ventura County, 2008. Photo by youth photographer and Ventura County Fair participant Natalie Smith.
Sunday May 10 2009
I’ve been pondering a lot the last three weeks, trying to think outside the box, and trying to proceed as if there is no box at all. Two weeks of conferences in a row, one the Kellogg Foundation Food and Society Conference, the second sponsored by the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. Very different conferences, but a common theme: Food Systems All the Time.
At the UC-sponsored professional conference that I recently attended, I had the opportunity to hear historian James McWilliams speak. I have read some of McWilliams’s work previously and greatly admire his research and work. (He’s also an incredibly likable and humorous man on a personal level). Like me, McWilliams is an historian attempting to use the past to inform current public policy in the nation’s food system. (I like this. We need more historians informing public policy in general, and particularly vis-à-vis food systems). Our research focuses on different areas; we agree on some things, but disagree on others. I will be reviewing his upcoming book, Just Food: How Locavores Are Endangering the Future of Food and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly (Little Brown, June 2009), for this blog.
The title of McWilliams’ talk was “Business, But Not Business as Usual: A Proposal for the Future of Sustainable Agriculture.” It was offered to academic and program staff affiliated with UC’s Agriculture and Natural Resources Division, some of us working with Extension, others with campuses. For an organization charged with working with all aspects of the food system, we don’t actually talk about it at the systems level much. This conference was different: McWilliams offered the plenary, and spoke directly to the topic. There were also two other sessions/workshops that discussed these sorts of issues; they were very well attended, and have provoked discussion and conversation that is continuing in post-conference settings. Not just nationally, but in my own institution, forces and issues and needs and agendas are converging in a perfect storm of interest in the food system. Change is inevitable; nearly every institution is going through a period of “creative destruction” due to budget constraints. There are new challenges and opportunities for all of us.
McWilliams’ opened his talk by asserting that fixing the food system is one of the most pressing tasks we face in this country. Agreed. Nearly every problem we face as a nation can be addressed in some way – and in some big ways - by improving the current food system. But McWilliams made a statement with which I heartily disagree: essentially, that the Locavore movement seeks to “banish to the dustbin” other models.
I’ve never termed myself a “Locavore,” although I’m a strong believer in the value of strong local and regional food systems, and actively promote them. I believe that multiple food systems exist – and probably always will – and that most of us participate in several kinds of food systems simultaneously. I don’t seek the destruction of any food system. I seek instead, the room and opportunity to develop alternatives for the places and situations in our country where the predominant, or meta, food system is not working effectively.
McWilliams argued for a kind of pragmatism that I find appealing in a general and theoretical sense…work within the system rather than against it. There’s a certain logic in that…perhaps…sometimes. Using the success of Forest Ethics as a model, McWilliams argued that those of us advocating for local food systems should be more pragmatic, reconsider working with agribusiness, find common ground, seek real solutions, and be prepared to compromise some, to seek evolution in the food system rather than revolution. McWilliams presents a persuasive model, in a persuasive way. Evolutionary rather than revolutionary.
But I’ve had other people to persuade me, too, to remind me that real change is needed, and needed now. Will Allen is someone I admire immensely. I heard him speak (again) the week before McWilliams made his presentation at UC. The creator of Growing Power, a MacArthur genius grant recipient, and a national leader in the sustainable food systems movement, Allen provides eloquent testimony about the kinds of changes needed to make the food system more effectively meet the needs of some parts of urban America. In his case, that has involved creating a new kind of food system model. What he has done in Milwaukee within a framework of urban agriculture is simply astounding. There is a lot to be learned from this work. Allen is a big man, physically; he also has big ideas. What I love about his work is that he applies his visionary ideas in ways that are highly impactful on the local level. I believe his work has the ability to be scaled up, which could have positive implications for other urban areas.
Allen has recently published a manifesto proposing a novel and worthy public policy idea, suggesting the creation of a “public-private enabling institution" called the Centers for Urban Agriculture. Per Allen’s document, “It would incorporate a national training and outreach center, a large working urban farmstead, a research and development center, a policy institute, and a state-of-the-future urban agriculture demonstration center into which all of these elements would be combined in a functioning community food system scaled to the needs of a large city. We proposed that this working institution – not a “think tank” but a “do tank” – be based in Milwaukee, where Growing Power has already created an operating model on just two acres. But ultimately, satellite centers would become established in urban areas across the nation. Each would be the hub of a local or regional farm-to-market community food system that would provide sustainable jobs, job training, food production and food distribution to those most in need of nutritional support and security.”
Allen is not only proposing a new kind of model for urban food systems…it seems to me that he is proposing a (largely) new location for Extension work and new kind of Extension model. Allen’s proposal seems to combine elements of working both within and outside of the system. Especially because I’m familiar with his work, I find it compelling and thought-provoking. It is clear to me that our current land grant system – in a national sense – has not put enough muscle into urban agricultural and local food systems efforts. We have made many notable contributions, to be certain, but our institutional resources have not flowed into this area in the large way that would be needed to effect national change. There are many reasons for this: years of declining funding; the relative dearth of funded research opportunities in this area, at least until recently; political pressures; lack of mandate; lack of understanding of the interconnectedness of our work in agriculture and human areas; a failure to fully anticipate the converging crises and challenges facing us; and perhaps even a lack of awareness of how large, mainstream and dynamic the interest in sustainable foods systems has become.
I’d suggest that everyone reading this blog read Will Allen’s proposal and James McWilliams’ soon-to-be-released book. Their work represents stark differences in opinion on options for local food systems. Point and counter-point.
A final note: As we participated in this UC conference, which was focused on creating implementation strategies for a Strategic Vision plan UC Cooperative Extension and its related components have developed relating to our work for the next 15 years, we were initially told to “think out of the box.”
Then a better framing statement was offered…”There is no box.”
McWilliams’ ideas actually retain the box - or framework - of the existing national and largely industrialized food system. Allen’s work assumes no box.
“A Garden for Everyone. Everyone in a Garden.”
goodfoodsystemboxcrop
Tuesday April 21 2009
I'm at the Kellogg Foundation Food and Society Conference in San Jose, where several hundred indivdiuals interested in all aspects of the food system are convening. It's busy and hectic and wonderful.
This evening, The Washington Post published a story by noted writer Jane Black about a USDA announcement important to all Victory Growers.
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announces the expansion of The People's Garden...and more. Per Jane Black at The Washington Post, "The garden now will encompass all of the agency's property on the Mall, and the department will work with organizations across the country to encourage individuals, schools and communities to establish gardens." Victory Grower here. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's a formal encouragement for a national gardening movement. Those of us working in this area know the movement has already started, and the interest around gardening is a tsunami. Would I have liked a stronger, bolder and more emphatic nudge? Probably. Do I love this? Absolutely! Am I eager to partner with and support the USDA's effort? I will and do...24/7. Am I thanking Secretary Vilsack? From the bottom of my heart! Shovels ready, America? Be a Victory Grower!
This is just the beginning....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/04/21/ST2009042102803.html
I'll post more on this in the next few days.
