Bag It!

Please check out this important event!

Bag It event in Bellingham!

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=116985241712439

Queen of the Sun!!!

I just saw Queen of the Sun at the Pickford (I fear that tonight may have been the last screening).

--Vandana Shiva is at her best, talking about GMOS and their production (being quite clear regarding the mechanism of identifying the transgenic cells (via their antibiotic-resistant gene))….

--Jeffery Smith does us home girls and boys proud, again highlighting critical studies

--the long arm of summer reaches out again with the film’s interviews by Johannes Wirz – the molecular biologist at the Goetheanum who also is a beekeeper – and Slow Food’s Carlo Petrini; both of these gentlemen are featured in our summer class. Also, please note the highlighting of biodynamic in the film; Steiner is mentioned frequently. The Goetheanum also is shown.

For more information on the summer course, see: http://www.acadweb.wwu.edu/eesp/summer/swissitaly/index.shtml


 

Bee-Bee's Friend/Phacelia tanacetifolia (flower) interaction, Uprising Organics (image taken on a class field trip)

Farms! Farms! Farms! Class Field Trip to County Farms -- and one very patient cow and 53 student milkers!

Class field trip to Whatcom County’s Twin Brook Creamery, VeenHuizen Farms, BelleWood Acres.

Twin Brook: Low-temp pasteurized (non-homogenized) chocolate milk and food for thought on marketing glass bottles.

Larry and Debbie Stapp of Twin Brook Creamery

Bottling Chocolate Milk -- two at a time

VeenHuizen: Milking cows by hand (Wil, you’re hired for the night shift), Dairying 101, and a good look at the high cost of farming, but also its invaluable farm culture.

Shane VanderVeen of Veen Huizen Farms patiently explains and demonstrates how-to-milk-a-cow 101

BelleWood Acres: A good look at orchard-ing, and what to do with all those extra apples (sauce, syrup, chips, pies) and pears and more.

John and Dorie Belisle of BelleWood Acres

The pie-making department

Factory Organic Milk

Next time you’re at a Trader Joe’s (or elsewhere, Fred Meyer/Kroger?) reaching for a container of surprisingly-cheap “organic milk,” take a look at the plt code on the top of the bottle or waxed, paper carton, and check it against the information at the “whereismymilkfrom” website (http://whereismymilkfrom.com/allDairies.php) as to its origin.  Some consumers may be shocked to know that their milk still (despite the fairly recent Horizon Organic Milk debacle and press) is coming from huge CAFOs. See http://cornucopia.org/dairysurvey/OrganicDairyReport/cornucopia_milkintregrity.pdf for more. 

Not factory farms

(Trader Joe's) Long Reach

Apparently, Trader Joe’s has extended its wide reach to Seattle’s posh restaurants. Recently, at a pre-performance dinner close to Seattle’s On the Boards, I found that lite fare menu choices were rather limited. At the elegant restaurant, I asked where the salami came from. “Trader Joe’s,” the waitress said. And a handful of other items as well. We no longer need to go to Trader Joe’s – it’s coming to us. Next time you’re out to eat, best to ask where your food’s coming from – you might be surprised.

Compost

Beautiful compost at the very beginning of a Celtic Spring – at Our Lady of the Rock Monastery. Raw compost is added to the bin on the far left, then progressively moved to bins on the right. The finished compost is put through a sieve and has a consistency of slightly-dry peat.

Raw material -- from heritage cattle

Compost bins, each with a purpose; finished compost  (with sieve) is on the left.

Beets in Spring

Beet kvass – lacto-fermented beets, grown with biodynamic compost, make a delicious spring tonic.