Summer Food Course Photos 2010

Summer Food Course Photos 2011

Summer Food Course Photos 2012

Welcome to this site, all interested in resilient farming!

Welcome to this site, all interested in resilient farming!

The postings most appropriate for you have the label, "Resilient Farms."



Sunday, April 17, 2011

Spring greens!!!!

Dandelion harvest time -- sauteed greens (including nettles) to Dandelion wine!

Dandelion Greens

Nettles -- in the background,  simmering nettles; use the cooking water to
lightly irrigate starts, moisten composts

A cornucopia of greens and garlic -- steamed, then sauteed with good salt

WAPF at the Community Food-Co-op April 14

A successful fermentation event with Daravan Marith, Carla Witham, and Tanja Kanoa!!!! In the words of Weston A. Price, "You teach, you teach, you teach!"
Saurkraut

Fermented Kimchee, relish, catsup (with fish sauce)

Agroecology Spring 2011

Another quarter has us poking around the Arntzen gardens, imagining permaculture designs and bountiful harvests. Brian Kerkvliet of Inspiration Farm, one of our many teachers.



Arntzen Garden harvest


Brian Kerkvliet, Inspiration Farm

Sunday, April 3, 2011

First day of the Bellingham Farmer's Market (April 2, 2011)



My remarks to the Bellingham Herald (interview yesterday)

What are the health and economic advantages of buying local foods? Mostly — it’s fresh...you know where the food is coming from, how it’s grown — there’s a connection with place. Growing the food (for some farms) and buying the food (at the Market) is a social event. It grows community — I run into so may people I know at the Market. People are voting with their pocketbooks and to me,  patronizing the vendors almost is an act of civil disobedience — saying no to the homogenization of food and taste, saying no to sacrificing good, clean, fair on the alter of Cheap. The Farmer’s Market, helps to grow Value and values, too — unlike elsewhere in the U.S., where everything has a price and nothing has value. Such thinking leads to the hegemony of something like Trader Joe’s Nation — the Market is an antidote to that.



















 How often do you go to the Farmer's Market? I was there today, and mostly because I grow a lot of my own vegetables I don’t buy too much — but I do like to support all our local farmers. I supplement what I don’t grow with purchases — I don’t grow enough spinach, because I eat it Italian-style and love it so. So I buy spinach!


 What are your favorite aspects about it? My favorite favorite is the fresh produce, and also the fresh-cooked foods there. I’m not as enthusiastic about the still-arts and crafts, but I do appreciate those that are harder to find or I can’t make myself — the spun fibers.


 Do you have favorite vendor/product or perhaps any interesting stories about the Farmer's market? They are all my favorite vendors (sorry)! But I so, so appreciate the farms with long-standing — Cedarville, Alm Hills, just to name a few.  Tom Thornton (Cloud Mountain) was there today — wonderful to see him. I buy goat cheese and hazelnut oil and some fruit. My son has been busking there for four years (fiddle/violin), so I feel we’ve all grown up together with the farmer’s market. It’s a thrill when I see people who shared with me farm plans and ideas and ideals (students, friends), and then I see them selling their produce and wares at the Market. That’s a true ecogastronomy.
Alm Hill


Broadleaf
Cloud Mountain


Hmmm....what's this? real cupcakes?


REAL food!

Bag it -- Commando style

As in the critically-acclaimed film, Bag It! if you forget a shopping bag, there's always commando-style (in your arms) or pocket-style (in the pocket, so to speak).
At the Bag-It film showing -- Bellingham, WA
Jill Witt (right) -- organizer extraordinaire

carrying fresh produce, commando style (Isabelle of Broadleaf -- left)

carrying fresh produce, pocket style 
First day of Bellingham Farmer's Market -- let your pockets be your shopping aid (helps build strong backs, too).

Plant it!

Spring is here (see Steiner's Agriculture and and Farmer's Almanac) -- and with that, the start of starts!
Critical elements: good potting medium (soil is almost a misnomer), good seeds.
Use plastic sparingly -- but moisture retention is a must!


Once germinated, seedlings must be exposed to adequate-intensity light to avoid weak, spindly starts.

A new class -- can small farmers feed the world?

Chuck Antholt lecturing in Gigi Berardi's spring class

A beautiful class -- thank you Agroecology and Sustainable Agriculture

potluck
Our very last class session featured a lovely potluck and even more nutritious presentations!