Potluck News: June 2009
The Commander in Chef
House Calls for Closer Watch on Food Supply
Organic Dairies Watch the Good Times Turn Bad
Oil is well for Maine farmers growing canola
Vermont and New Hampshire farmers look for more slaughterhouse capacity
Maryland children, meet your vegetables
New York Chef Dan Barber growing into movement darling
6/17: Weed and Pest Management, Accokeek, MD
6/7: Weed Identification Walk with Herbalist Robin Rose Bennett, Pine Island, NY
6/13: Colonial Candlemaking, Accokeek, MD
6/16:Nature Nuts, Accokeek, MD
6/17: Ecosystem Farm Volunteer Day, Accokeek, MD
6/20: Colonial Foodways, Accokeek, MD
6/20: Summer Solstice Volunteer Celebration, Accokeek, MD
6/27: Small-Scale Dairies and On-Farm Processing, Ashfield, MA
6/27: Stitch N Time Textiles Volunteer Club, Accokeek, MD
7/29: Multi-Species Grazing for Meat Animals I, Hardwick, MA
7/30: Kneading Conference, Skowhegan, ME
8/4: Raising Meat Goats and the FAMACHA System, West Suffield, CT
8/25: Grazing Basics, Great Barrington, MA
9/11: Maine Fare, Camden, ME
11/12: Farm-Based Education Conference, Tarrytown, NY
VISTA, Philabundance, Philadelphia, PA
VISTA, Southside Community Land Trust, Providence, RI
Common Market Assistant, White Dog Community Enterprises, Philadelphia, PA
Youth Program Educator, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Poughkeepsie, NY
Farmers' Market Manager, North East Community Center, Dutchess County, NY
Multiple Job Openings, The Food Trust, Philadelphia, PA
Multiple Job Openings, Community Food Resource Center, New York, NY
Value-Added Producer Grant
Path to Organic Program
Quaker Oats Community Hunger Grant
Pride of New York Specialty Crop Cooperative Advertising
The Commander in Chef
(New York Times) - Until recently, Michelle Obama had carried out a seamless effort to get Americans to think about eating locally grown foods. By planting an organic vegetable garden at the White House and inviting schoolchildren to help sow the seeds (metaphor intended, surely), she made a bold statement: I'm going to eat in a healthful way and so should you. Consuming locally grown foods could mitigate problems like childhood obesity and the environmental harm caused by agribusiness. And Mrs. Obama -- as a popular first lady with two children and roots in the working class -- is the right person to lead the charge. However, when The Washington Post asked Mrs. Obama for her favorite recipe, she replied, "You know, cooking isn't one of my huge things." And last month, when a boy who was visiting the White House asked her if she liked to cook, she replied: "I don't miss cooking. I'm just fine with other people cooking." Though delivered lightheartedly, and by someone with a very busy schedule, the message was unmistakable: everyday cooking is a chore. Both times Mrs. Obama missed a great opportunity to get people talking about a crucial yet neglected aspect of the food discussion: cooking. Because terrific local ingredients aren't much use if people are cooking less and less; cooking is to gardening what parenting is to childbirth. Research by the NPD Group showed that Americans ate takeout meals an average of 125 times a year in 2008, up from 72 a year in 1983. And a recent U.C.L.A. study of 32 working families found that the subjects viewed cooking from scratch as a kind of rarefied hobby. Full article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/opinion/31hesser.html
House Calls for Closer Watch on Food Supply
(Washington Post) - The nation's complex food supply chain would become more transparent, inspections of food facilities would become more frequent and manufacturers would be required to take steps aimed at preventing food-borne illnesses under legislation proposed yesterday by key House leaders who have pledged to modernize the food safety system. The bill, introduced by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), would give the Food and Drug Administration broad new enforcement tools, including the authority to recall tainted food, the ability to "quarantine" suspect food, and the power to impose civil penalties and increased criminal sanctions on violators. Among other things, the proposal would put greater responsibility on growers, manufacturers and food handlers by requiring them to identify contamination risks, document the steps they take to prevent them and provide those records to federal regulators. The legislation also would allow the FDA to require private laboratories used by food manufacturers to report the detection of pathogens in food products directly to the government. Full article here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/27/AR2009052703234.html
Organic Dairies Watch the Good Times Turn Bad
(New York Times) - When Ken Preston went organic on his dairy farm here in 2005, he figured that doing so would guarantee him what had long been elusive: a stable, high price for the milk from his cows. Sure enough, his income soared 20 percent, and he could finally afford a Chevy Silverado pickup to help out. The dairy conglomerate that distributed his milk wanted everything Mr. Preston could supply. Supermarket orders were skyrocketing. But soon the price of organic feed shot up. Then the recession hit, and families looking to save on groceries found organic milk easy to do without. Ultimately the conglomerate, with a glut of product, said it would not renew his contract next month, leaving him with nowhere to sell his milk, a victim of trends that are crippling many organic dairy farmers from coast to coast. For those farmers, the promises of going organic -- a steady paycheck and salvation for small family farms -- have collapsed in the last six months. As the trend toward organic food consumption slows after years of explosive growth, no sector is in direr shape than the $1.3 billion organic milk industry. Farmers nationwide have been told to cut milk production by as much as 20 percent, and many are talking of shutting down. "I probably wouldn't have gone organic if I knew it would end this way," said Mr. Preston, 53. Here in New England, where dairy farms are as much a part of the landscape as whitewashed churches and rocky beaches, organic dairy farmers are bearing the brunt of the nationwide slowdown, in part because of the cost of transporting feed from the Midwest. The contracts of 10 of Maine's 65 organic dairies will not be renewed by HP Hood, one of the region's three large processors. In Vermont, 32 dairy farms have closed since Dec. 1, significantly altering the face of New England's dairy industry. Full article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/29/us/29dairy.html
Oil is well for Maine farmers growing canola
(Boston Globe) - In the lush St. John River Valley, at the northern tip of Maine's Aroostook County, Rodney Chamberland has been working straight out plowing and planting over 100 acres of seed potatoes. The farm's potatoes come first. Then, Chamberland plants rotation crops. One he's seeding this spring will turn into 30 acres of flowering yellow canola. The crop not only improves the potatoes he'll grow on the same land next year, says Chamberland, but its seeds will also be pressed into one of the Northeast's only regional cooking oils: Maine Natural Oils. "I'm just hoping that this little company takes off," says the grower. "If they do, I want to be at the forefront of that." Most canola grown in Aroostook County goes to Canada, where canola was first developed by agronomists 30 years ago and where most North American canola continues to be processed. Canola, derived from "Canada oil, low erucic acid," is a close genetic mustard-family relative to rapeseed. Canola has been bred to remove inedible compounds (erucic acid) and ones with a biting, mustard flavor (glucosinolates). The United States Food and Drug Administration approved canola's use in 1985, and US farmers appear to be growing it with increasing regularity. But until this year, little canola oil was processed anywhere north or south of the Canadian border. "The whole local food movement encapsulates what we believe in," says Steve DeMaio, one of the partners who started Maine Natural Oils. "Why ship canola seed from Aroostook County to Winnipeg to have it come back as oil? We just think this is something that makes sense." Full article here: http://tinyurl.com/n6tgjf
Vermont and NH farmers look for slaughterhouse capacity
(Keene Sentinel) - In 2006, two New England slaughterhouses were destroyed within eight months of each other: Adams Farm Slaughterhouse in Athol, Mass., and Fresh Farm's Beef Slaughterhouse in Rutland, Vt. Flames engulfed the buildings, smoke billowed from the roofs, and Holly Gowdy had bad news for her customers. "We had people lined up to buy our meat, and nowhere to send our animals to be processed," said Gowdy, who runs Brookfield Farm in Walpole with her husband, Christian. It's a small organic-certified farm, where they raise Angus beef cattle, sheep and pigs. The meat is sold commercially, at the Bellows Falls farmers' market and to individuals. "I had to call my customers and say, 'We can't slaughter the animals, I can't get you your meat,' " Gowdy said. The fires may have been nothing more than coincidence, but the problem they caused for Gowdy hints at a larger predicament, the bane of livestock farmers in New Hampshire and across New England: the lack of slaughterhouse facilities. The times, however, may be changing. A new slaughterhouse is set to open in Westminster, Vt., later this year, and a bill in the N.H. House would exhume a long-gone state meat inspection program. Full article here: http://sentinelsource.com/articles/2009/05/30/news/local/free/id_357427.txt
MD Children, meet your vegetables
(Baltimore Sun) - The third-graders at a Catonsville elementary school recently took a break from the usual cafeteria fare of corn dogs and pizza to sample organic, field-grown salad greens mixed with black olives, apple cider vinegar and oil, Maryland strawberries and honey. And they became chefs for a day, mixing their own salads and making their own dressing. Their experience last week was a culmination of a three-morning seminar, called "Days of Taste," which teaches children about what's produced on Maryland farms, tells them about non-processed foods and encourages them to grow a little more adventurous at mealtime. The program is offered at 17 Baltimore city and county schools, and the instructors who donate their time are some of Baltimore's best-known chefs, including John Shields of Gertrude's, Spike Gjerde of Woodberry Kitchen, Galen Sampson and Christian DeLutis of Dogwood restaurant and local chef and baker Ned Atwater. "You can really see the light bulbs go off when some of the city children have never eaten a fresh, raw vegetable and they taste it in a salad," said Atwater, who has been teaching the classes for nearly a decade. Full article here: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bal-md.taste26may26,0,3286159.story
NY Chef Dan Barber growing into movement darling
(Associated Press) - Dan Barber emerges one recent afternoon from the Union Square Greenmarket with a spring bounty: asparagus, purple kohlrabi, ramps, fiddlehead ferns and dandelion greens. They're luscious, fresher-than-fresh and Barber can't wait to get them into the kitchen. When he does, what will he do with them? The answer is pure Dan Barber. "Not a lot," he says with a smile, sipping iced coffee near the market. "As I get better and better as a chef, I'm doing less and less." Doing less is a hallmark of Barber, 39, who's emerged as a leading figure in the farm-to-table movement, championing local, delicious ingredients and responsible agriculture. His two New York restaurants -- Blue Hill New York in Manhattan and Blue Hill at Stone Barns some 30 miles north of the city in Pocantico Hills -- have become beacons for foodies eager to dig into his clean, often playful dishes, like a farm-fresh egg served over local mushrooms and greens, surrounded by caramelized pieces of gooey, crispy-skinned chicken wings. This month, Barber is enjoying the kind of spotlight he usually reserves for his ingredients: He's won the James Beard Award as the nation's top chef and made his debut on Time magazine's 100 World's Most Influential People, alongside Ted Turner, George Clooney and Michelle Obama. Full article here: http://www.hollandsentinel.com/lifestyle/x1175995739/Farm-to-table-Chef-Dan-Barber-growing-into-movement-darling
6/17
Weed and Pest Management, Accokeek, MD
Every garden will have weeds and pests, and in this class, you will learn how to identify them, and choose a sound method for dealing with them. The class will emphasize strategies that work to control weeds and pests using biological and mechanical controls...
6/7
Weed Identification Walk, Pine Island, NY
Learn to identify local medicinal plants and trees and discover wise ways to use them. Delight in the abundance of wild food and medicine plants that live at the Rogowski Farm. Nourish your body, u...
6/13
Colonial Candlemaking , Accokeek, MD
Saturday, June 13, 2009 1:30-3:30 p.m. Visitor Center, Rain or Shine $20 Non-Members, $15 Members Join us for this hands-on workshop to learn the art of candle-making. You will learn about wicks, w...
6/16
Nature Nuts, Accokeek, MD
3rd Tuesday of each month, April through October Education Center, Rain or Shine $6.00 Non-Members, $5.00 Members Limited to 15 Children, Ages 3-5, Registr...
6/17
Ecosystem Farm Volunteer Day, Accokeek, MD
The Robert Ware Straus Ecosystem Farm is the Accokeek Foundation's USDA-certified organic vegetable farm. Lo...
6/20
Colonial Foodways , Accokeek, MD
COLONIAL FOODWAYS Saturday, June 20, 2009 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. 3rd Saturdays Monthly from March through November National Colonial Farm, Rain or Shine Admission Fee Required, Members Free Love ...
Summer Solstice Volunteer Celebration , Accokeek, MD
June 20, 2009 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Accokeek Foundation, Rain or Shine No Admission Fee for Active Volunteers or Members $5.00 Adults, $3.00 Kids 12 & Under Our Summer Solstice Volu...
6/27
Small-Scale Dairies and On-Farm Processing, Ashfield, MA
Sidehill Farm, 137 Beldingville Rd., Ashfield, 413-625-0011: 11:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Sangha Farm, 188 Creamery Rd., Ashfield, 413-628-0026: 2:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Amy Klippenstein and Paul Lacinski ...
Stitch N Time Textiles Volunteer Club, Accokeek, MD
Saturday, June 27, 2009 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Every 4th Saturday Museum Out Kitchen, Rain or Shine Free Ewe like knitting? Sewing? Spinning wool? Then bring your wheels and needles and be a part ...
7/29
Multi-Species Grazing for Meat Animals I, Hardwick, MA
Kim Denney and Rich Jakshtis have worked since 1998 to transform an abandoned dairy farm into a thriving meat CSA (www.chestnutfarms.org), providing customers with beef, lamb, pork and poultry on a...
7/30
Kneading Conference, Skowhegan, ME
The KNEADING Conference invites professional and home bakers, farmers and millers, oven builders and interested community members to participate in hands-on demonstrations and lectures on progressi...
8/4
Raising Meat Goats and the FAMACHA System, West Suffield, CT
Erica Fearn raises boer meat goats on pasture at her farm in West Suffield, CT. As a former Executive Director of the Connecticut Farm Bureau, Erica has a great deal of knowledge about the rules an...
8/25
Grazing Basics, Great Barrington, MA
Sean Stanton sells raw milk, raises pigs, turkeys and chickens for meat, and has 700 laying hens. The farm (www.northplainfarm.com) is organic and grass-based, and sells products directly to restau...
9/11
Maine Fare, Camden, ME
Maine Fare is a gathering that brings together food lovers, Chefs, gardeners, food writers, farmers, and food-based Enterprises to show the world that food in Maine goes far beyond lobsters and blu...
11/12
Farm-Based Education Conference, Tarrytown, NY
The 2009 Farm-Based Education Conference will be held in New York's Lower Hudson Valley (35 miles north of New York City) on November 12-14, 2009. The 2009 Farm-Based Education Conference will pr...
Farmers' Market Manager, Dutchess County, NY
This job has two components: being the on-site manager and coordinator of the Millerton Farmers' market, and supervising a team of high school students who work at the market doing setup, sales and cleanup, and during the week on farm-related project including growing produce on a community garden plot, processing the produce into a salable product such as salsa or jam, and marketing and selling it at the Farmers' Market. Under the Manager's supervision, the students will also visit and volunteer on the farms that participate in the market. Last day to apply: June 1, 2009 For more info, see: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/334880-211/c
VISTA - Urban Gleaning , Philabundance, Philadelphia, PA
Philabundance, the largest food bank and food rescue organization in the Delaware Valley is seeking an Urban Gleaning VISTA. Philabundance works to end hunger and malnutrition in the Delaware Valley by rescuing surplus food and distributing it to local organizations serving people in need. Last day to apply: July 27, 2009 Permalink: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/338566-170/c
VISTA - Healthy Soils, Healthy Gardens, Southside Community Land Trust, Providence, RI
The Healthy Soils, Healthy Gardens VISTA will work with Southside Community Land Trust (SCLT) staff to organize and manage the build-out of new community gardens in Providence, including a public fruit orchard. The VISTA will also conduct outreach to residents of South Providence to generate interest in urban food gardens and determine the needs of the community members who live near the gardens. Additionally, the VISTA will work with longtime community gardeners on a newly formed collaborative to grow and sell fruits and vegetables at local farmers' markets. Last day to apply: June 14, 2009 Permalink: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/338356-196/c
Common Market Operations Asst, White Dog Enterprises, Philadelphia, PA
The Operations Assistant supports the General Manager in various aspects of Common Market operations, including warehouse work (shipping, receiving, inventory and quality control), paperwork associated with purchases and sales, and communications with drivers, suppliers and possibly customers. Last day to apply: June 21, 2009 Permalink: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/337890-281/c
Youth Program Educator, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Poughkeepsie, NY
Two positions available - one in Poughkeepsie and one in Beacon, NY. Assist with planning, organization, implementation and evaluation of Green Teen youth education programs as a team member.Assist with representation of program and Cornell Cooperative Extension with other agencies in the community.Transport youth and supplies to various venues throughout the county and region. Last day to apply: June 19, 2009 Permalink: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/337649-294/c
Multiple openings, Greater Boston Food Bank, Boston, MA
The Greater Boston Food Bank is the largest hunger-relief organization in New England, and one of the largest food banks in the country, distributing more than 25 million pounds of food annually to a network of more than 600 member hunger-relief agencies. For more info, see: http://www.gbfb.org/aboutUs/CurrentOpenings.cfm
MULTIPLE JOB OPENINGS, THE FOOD TRUST, PHILADELPHIA, PA
The Food Trust is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization improving the supply of affordable food and good nutrition in the mid-Atlantic region. The mission of The Food Trust is to ensure that everyone has access to affordable, nutritious food. For more info, see: http://www.thefoodtrust.org/php/about/jobs.php
MULTIPLE JOB OPENINGS, FOODCHANGE, NEW YORK, NY
FoodChange (formerly known as the Community Food Resource Center) is dedicated to helping low-income New Yorkers gain and maintain access to nutritious food, income support and decent housing. For more info, see: http://www.foodchange.org/employment/employment.html
Value-Added Producer Grant
The primary objective of this grant program is to help eligible independent producers of agricultural commodities, agricultural producer groups, farmer and rancher cooperatives, and majority-controlled producer-based business ventures develop strategies to create marketing opportunities and to help develop business plans for viable marketing opportunities. These grants will facilitate greater participation in emerging markets and new markets for value-added products.
Due date: July 6, 2009 For more info, see: http://tinyurl.com/lccscn
Path to Organic Program
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture is pleased to bring the Path to Organic Program to our farming community. Part of the $500,000 appropriation will provide technical assistance to farmers in transition to organic agriculture and the rest of the funding will be provided to participating farmers. Assistance will be available to producers who are currently in the three-year transition process as well, as those who have not yet begun the process, which is required by the USDA National Organic Program. Due date: July 31, 2009 For more info, see: http://www.agriculture.state.pa.us/agriculture/cwp/view.asp?a=3&q=152673
Quaker Oats Community Hunger Grant
Quaker Oats is offering grants for projects that will help combat hunger in your community. The Quaker Go Grant program will select twenty winners each month from April through August 2009. Winners will each receive a $500 cash grant to fund their projects. Application deadlines for the monthly awards are March 31, 2009, April 30, 2009, May 31, 2009 and June 30, 2009 and July 31, 2009. Due date: July 31, 2009 For more info, see: http://quakeroats.promotions.com/gogrants/splash.do
Pride of New York Specialty Crop Cooperative Advertising
Pride of New York is offering its members an expanded cooperative advertising program for specialty crops, to now include television and radio as well as cooperative funding for print, point of purchase and promotional items. Cooperative funding will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. Reimbursements of up to $5,000 per member are offered for qualifying advertising. For more info, see: http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/RFPS.html