Hey everybody, hope you all enjoyed the long weekend! For my discussion I want to talk about how edge effects resulting from agriculture can affect native ecosystems. In a sentence, edge effects are a way of speaking about unique ecological characteristics at the edges between two different habitats (agricultural fields and forests, for example). For those of you who want more of a primer, here is a link to the Wikipedia page on edge effects.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge_effects
What got me thinking about this topic was when we were turning over compost for the gardens near the strawberries. I remember Amy saying that a certain kind of fly only turned up on the farm after she got some compost that had maggots in it. I wondered what the ecosystems might look like at the very local scale, since human development has fractured native ecosystems so much. To that end, I dug up a few articles (sorry in advance, they are primary research) on how crop fields interact with edge effects/edge species.
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.12035
http://www.pnas.org/content/112/24/7402.full
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0059659&type=printable
After reading these articles, do you have any questions or critiques? In your own experiences, on the farm or otherwise, can you think of a time you noticed differences in ecosystems at edges? If so, write a short reflection or even just list some observations you remember from the experience. My plan for class is to start with any reflections by everyone, then talk about the articles and how we do or do not believe their findings should be applied, and what we felt about them in general.
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Monday, May 28, 2018
The Opioid Crisis: Big Pharma, The FDA and DEA, Kratom, and Kalamazoo
TL/DR:
For my time leading class I will be sharing with you all some of the work I did for my SIP over the winter. For a quick introduction to the subject please watch this 3 minute video that succinctly breaks down the issue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM35YnhaDTY&feature=share. If you do not have time to read this whole post and respond, the video will give enough background for you to think and talk about it.
The issue:
The opioid crisis has been a national story of interest in the U.S. for decades and has only been worsening. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens have died in the past decade from opioid overdoses, and over 42,000 passed away in 2016 alone (Center for Disease Control [CDC], 2016). This is the story most of the nation is now all too familiar with, but many are unfamiliar with (or have been presented misleading or false information) of a more recent issue related to the crisis. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is attempting to eliminate public and private access to a substance that many assert to be saving countless lives. Some wonder if the agency is in fact involved in a massive, propagandized disinformation campaign against kratom. My SIP looks into what kratom is, why the FDA is determined to see that it be made against the law by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and why people in Kalamazoo continue to use the plant despite the agencies’ denunciation of it.
The DEA and FDA are prioritizing resolving the opioid epidemic, which entails passing laws against opioid analogues that are easily accessible to addicts. However, tens of thousands of kratom users, and several senators and congresspeople, have expressed concern that in addition to ignoring the root causes of the opioid epidemic, the FDA is striving to withhold the substance from those whose lives it is saving – many of whom suffer from opioid addiction. Enacting legislation that bans kratom, categorizing its users as felons, carries undeniable risk of worsening the opioid epidemic and creating “serious public health problems that do not presently exist” (Pinney Associates, 2016). However, before that issue can be addressed, we must understand the psychoactive plant.
Mitragyna speciosa, commonly referred to as kratom, is a tropical tree in the same genetic family as coffee and thousands of other flowering plants, the Rubiaceae family (BioMed Research International, 2015). It is typically used in its dried leaf, raw plant form to make tea, crushed and mixed with food, or filled into capsules. Many of the first reports of its use involve native workers in Thailand, a country where it is now illegal, chewing the leaves of the plant to get through their long and physically taxing workdays. Although indigenous to Southeast Asia, the plant has become a popular natural medicine in the U.S. (National Standard Research Collaboration, 2013). Lower doses of dried leaf kratom, e.g. .5-3 grams, yield a stimulating effect like coffee, whereas higher doses, e.g. 4 grams or more, induce mildly sedative and pain-relieving effects. Kratom also grows in a variety of strains, the most common of which are green vein, which is known to produce more stimulation, and red vein, which is typically taken by those seeking pain relief, sleep aid, or relief of opioid withdrawal.
Millions of people around the world take kratom for chronic pain; weaning off of opioids, alcohol, or other drugs; depression; anxiety; PTSD; and many other symptoms and illnesses. However, the FDA states kratom is just as dangerous as opioids; FDA Commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, recommended in November 2017 that kratom be categorized as a Schedule One drug. This came after their failed attempt to schedule the plant in 2015, which was met with such unprecedented resistance from active members of the kratom community; in the forms of petitions, emails, and phone calls to elected officials; that the law enforcement organization canceled their plan to schedule a substance for the first time. The Schedule One drug classification implies that the substances it lists are highly addictive and have no proven medical value or potential.
The FDA also claims that kratom is responsible for 36 deaths, which has been disproved by researchers, doctors, and scientists (FDA, 2017; Pinney Associates, 2017-2018). This is in my opinion the most damning evidence for the case that the FDA has ulterior motive in urging the DEA to schedule the substance in the most restrictive category. I will talk more about this Thursday, but if you are curious about this instance of government-sanctioned misinformation and misuse of medical data, here is a link to a well-written article by a journalist who helped me find the government records myself: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kratom-deaths-fda_us_5a7a3549e4b07af4e81eda8b
International shipments of kratom are increasingly being seized by U.S. Customs, even though hundreds of which are destined for states where the plant remains legal (United States Customs and Border Protection [CBP], 2015). As a local kratom vendor, this makes my job difficult when coordinating international shipments. Hundreds of thousands of pounds of kratom are not completing shipment to users and suppliers, despite the plant remaining legal in all but few states (CBP, 2015; Botanical Education Alliance, 2018). Enough is still delivered successfully to meet the demand of the legal U.S. market. However, Vendors in Indonesia and other foreign countries must fight for their right to sell to U.S. customers, diligently completing the proper documents to ensure their legal shipments are not intercepted by customs agents.
Kalamazoo is home to an active, informed, and growing community of legal kratom users, suppliers, and advocates. The community attracts supporters of legal and educated kratom use for a variety of reasons, but the most common are to avoid or quit opioids. Kalamazoo is disproportionately affected by the nationwide opioid epidemic:
"From 2015 to 2016, accidental drug-related fatalities in Kalamazoo County more than doubled from a count of 33 to 72. In other words, more people died of accidental drug overdose than motor vehicle accidents in Kalamazoo County last year. Eight out of ten of these deaths involved an opioid. In fact, the opioid-related accidental, crude death rate increased from 11 to 22 per 100,000 Kalamazoo County residents in 2016" (Kalamazoo County Health & Community Services, 2017).
The statistics for 2017 will be made available soon, but hope for more encouraging numbers is bleak in Kalamazoo. Current efforts are obviously not enough. Kratom shields millions from the trauma of the opioid crisis in small-scale communities across the U.S. If it works in these cases, implementing kratom into a large-scale, nationwide opioid recovery paradigm should be considered as a possibility.
Solutions:
This is beginning to happen in some parts of the country, although these efforts are met with objection similar to that which medical cannabis receives.
As the first of its kind, a controversial Portland program uses marijuana and kratom to treat opioid addiction: https://www.pressherald.com/2018/01/28/controversial-portland-treatment-program-uses-marijuana-and-kratom-to-treat-opioid-addiction/
The clinic discussed in the article above is basically my passion in a nutshell. Sometime down the road, perhaps if my business as a local vendor is successful, I could open a similar institution. Suboxone and methodone clinics can be found in every state, but these drugs are dangerous, fatal, and addictive, just like the drugs that cause the addiction they intend to treat. I will show you some interviews from participants in my study with experience with these clinics and why they prefer kratom.
Most folks in 12-step programs deny kratom's potential to treat addictions to opioids, alcohol, or other drugs and consider use of the substance relapse. Many recovering heroin addicts have been kicked out of treatment centers for using kratom rather than opioids like methadone or suboxone to treat their addiction, which substantially increases the recovering addict's chances of actually relapsing. Here is a decent article that discusses this issue and explains the importance of clinics like the one in Portland I would love to see emulated in Kalamazoo: http://speciosa.org/kratom-and-the-future-of-drug-rehab-centers/
As far as other solutions to this issue, the kratom community has displayed great capacity to work towards common goals. I would encourage you to check out the American Kratom Association (AKA). Their website is a goldmine of information on kratom, and educating people on the plant is part of solutions to both the opioid epidemic and kratom misinformation/ignorance. They also helped organize the efforts that encouraged the DEA to change its mind back in 2015: https://www.uspharmacist.com/article/the-dea-changes-its-mind-on-kratom. Calling and writing to representatives is a small but crucial part of the solution. It worked!
This community has some members in high places. Pinney Associates is a public policy organization specializing in abuse liability testing and abuse-deterrent drug products assessment. They have been on the front lines of producing unbiased, scientific research on kratom. They often produce results that contradict the FDA's claims shortly after they make them. Here is an article about their famous 8-factor analysis of kratom, completion of which is required by the DEA for determining whether or not a drug should be scheduled: https://medium.com/@anthonyroberts/eight-factor-analysis-on-kratom-peer-reviewed-published-in-medical-journal-d25f1c57164d
For your replies:
In your responses to my post I welcome any reactions, questions, or reflections regarding this complex issue. Here is a question to get you started: Has the growing opioid epidemic that plagues our nation and this city affected you, your family, or loved ones? You obviously do not have to share any details that you would be uncomfortable divulging, but talking about these issues and personalizing them is necessary to begin contemplating how to arrive at a future without them. That is a key lesson I learned in doing my SIP, and I will share excerpts from my Kalamazoo residing, kratom using interviewees.
For my time leading class I will be sharing with you all some of the work I did for my SIP over the winter. For a quick introduction to the subject please watch this 3 minute video that succinctly breaks down the issue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM35YnhaDTY&feature=share. If you do not have time to read this whole post and respond, the video will give enough background for you to think and talk about it.
The issue:
The opioid crisis has been a national story of interest in the U.S. for decades and has only been worsening. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens have died in the past decade from opioid overdoses, and over 42,000 passed away in 2016 alone (Center for Disease Control [CDC], 2016). This is the story most of the nation is now all too familiar with, but many are unfamiliar with (or have been presented misleading or false information) of a more recent issue related to the crisis. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is attempting to eliminate public and private access to a substance that many assert to be saving countless lives. Some wonder if the agency is in fact involved in a massive, propagandized disinformation campaign against kratom. My SIP looks into what kratom is, why the FDA is determined to see that it be made against the law by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and why people in Kalamazoo continue to use the plant despite the agencies’ denunciation of it.
The DEA and FDA are prioritizing resolving the opioid epidemic, which entails passing laws against opioid analogues that are easily accessible to addicts. However, tens of thousands of kratom users, and several senators and congresspeople, have expressed concern that in addition to ignoring the root causes of the opioid epidemic, the FDA is striving to withhold the substance from those whose lives it is saving – many of whom suffer from opioid addiction. Enacting legislation that bans kratom, categorizing its users as felons, carries undeniable risk of worsening the opioid epidemic and creating “serious public health problems that do not presently exist” (Pinney Associates, 2016). However, before that issue can be addressed, we must understand the psychoactive plant.
Mitragyna speciosa, commonly referred to as kratom, is a tropical tree in the same genetic family as coffee and thousands of other flowering plants, the Rubiaceae family (BioMed Research International, 2015). It is typically used in its dried leaf, raw plant form to make tea, crushed and mixed with food, or filled into capsules. Many of the first reports of its use involve native workers in Thailand, a country where it is now illegal, chewing the leaves of the plant to get through their long and physically taxing workdays. Although indigenous to Southeast Asia, the plant has become a popular natural medicine in the U.S. (National Standard Research Collaboration, 2013). Lower doses of dried leaf kratom, e.g. .5-3 grams, yield a stimulating effect like coffee, whereas higher doses, e.g. 4 grams or more, induce mildly sedative and pain-relieving effects. Kratom also grows in a variety of strains, the most common of which are green vein, which is known to produce more stimulation, and red vein, which is typically taken by those seeking pain relief, sleep aid, or relief of opioid withdrawal.
Millions of people around the world take kratom for chronic pain; weaning off of opioids, alcohol, or other drugs; depression; anxiety; PTSD; and many other symptoms and illnesses. However, the FDA states kratom is just as dangerous as opioids; FDA Commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, recommended in November 2017 that kratom be categorized as a Schedule One drug. This came after their failed attempt to schedule the plant in 2015, which was met with such unprecedented resistance from active members of the kratom community; in the forms of petitions, emails, and phone calls to elected officials; that the law enforcement organization canceled their plan to schedule a substance for the first time. The Schedule One drug classification implies that the substances it lists are highly addictive and have no proven medical value or potential.
The FDA also claims that kratom is responsible for 36 deaths, which has been disproved by researchers, doctors, and scientists (FDA, 2017; Pinney Associates, 2017-2018). This is in my opinion the most damning evidence for the case that the FDA has ulterior motive in urging the DEA to schedule the substance in the most restrictive category. I will talk more about this Thursday, but if you are curious about this instance of government-sanctioned misinformation and misuse of medical data, here is a link to a well-written article by a journalist who helped me find the government records myself: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kratom-deaths-fda_us_5a7a3549e4b07af4e81eda8b
International shipments of kratom are increasingly being seized by U.S. Customs, even though hundreds of which are destined for states where the plant remains legal (United States Customs and Border Protection [CBP], 2015). As a local kratom vendor, this makes my job difficult when coordinating international shipments. Hundreds of thousands of pounds of kratom are not completing shipment to users and suppliers, despite the plant remaining legal in all but few states (CBP, 2015; Botanical Education Alliance, 2018). Enough is still delivered successfully to meet the demand of the legal U.S. market. However, Vendors in Indonesia and other foreign countries must fight for their right to sell to U.S. customers, diligently completing the proper documents to ensure their legal shipments are not intercepted by customs agents.
Kalamazoo is home to an active, informed, and growing community of legal kratom users, suppliers, and advocates. The community attracts supporters of legal and educated kratom use for a variety of reasons, but the most common are to avoid or quit opioids. Kalamazoo is disproportionately affected by the nationwide opioid epidemic:
"From 2015 to 2016, accidental drug-related fatalities in Kalamazoo County more than doubled from a count of 33 to 72. In other words, more people died of accidental drug overdose than motor vehicle accidents in Kalamazoo County last year. Eight out of ten of these deaths involved an opioid. In fact, the opioid-related accidental, crude death rate increased from 11 to 22 per 100,000 Kalamazoo County residents in 2016" (Kalamazoo County Health & Community Services, 2017).
The statistics for 2017 will be made available soon, but hope for more encouraging numbers is bleak in Kalamazoo. Current efforts are obviously not enough. Kratom shields millions from the trauma of the opioid crisis in small-scale communities across the U.S. If it works in these cases, implementing kratom into a large-scale, nationwide opioid recovery paradigm should be considered as a possibility.
Solutions:
This is beginning to happen in some parts of the country, although these efforts are met with objection similar to that which medical cannabis receives.
As the first of its kind, a controversial Portland program uses marijuana and kratom to treat opioid addiction: https://www.pressherald.com/2018/01/28/controversial-portland-treatment-program-uses-marijuana-and-kratom-to-treat-opioid-addiction/
The clinic discussed in the article above is basically my passion in a nutshell. Sometime down the road, perhaps if my business as a local vendor is successful, I could open a similar institution. Suboxone and methodone clinics can be found in every state, but these drugs are dangerous, fatal, and addictive, just like the drugs that cause the addiction they intend to treat. I will show you some interviews from participants in my study with experience with these clinics and why they prefer kratom.
Most folks in 12-step programs deny kratom's potential to treat addictions to opioids, alcohol, or other drugs and consider use of the substance relapse. Many recovering heroin addicts have been kicked out of treatment centers for using kratom rather than opioids like methadone or suboxone to treat their addiction, which substantially increases the recovering addict's chances of actually relapsing. Here is a decent article that discusses this issue and explains the importance of clinics like the one in Portland I would love to see emulated in Kalamazoo: http://speciosa.org/kratom-and-the-future-of-drug-rehab-centers/
As far as other solutions to this issue, the kratom community has displayed great capacity to work towards common goals. I would encourage you to check out the American Kratom Association (AKA). Their website is a goldmine of information on kratom, and educating people on the plant is part of solutions to both the opioid epidemic and kratom misinformation/ignorance. They also helped organize the efforts that encouraged the DEA to change its mind back in 2015: https://www.uspharmacist.com/article/the-dea-changes-its-mind-on-kratom. Calling and writing to representatives is a small but crucial part of the solution. It worked!
This community has some members in high places. Pinney Associates is a public policy organization specializing in abuse liability testing and abuse-deterrent drug products assessment. They have been on the front lines of producing unbiased, scientific research on kratom. They often produce results that contradict the FDA's claims shortly after they make them. Here is an article about their famous 8-factor analysis of kratom, completion of which is required by the DEA for determining whether or not a drug should be scheduled: https://medium.com/@anthonyroberts/eight-factor-analysis-on-kratom-peer-reviewed-published-in-medical-journal-d25f1c57164d
For your replies:
In your responses to my post I welcome any reactions, questions, or reflections regarding this complex issue. Here is a question to get you started: Has the growing opioid epidemic that plagues our nation and this city affected you, your family, or loved ones? You obviously do not have to share any details that you would be uncomfortable divulging, but talking about these issues and personalizing them is necessary to begin contemplating how to arrive at a future without them. That is a key lesson I learned in doing my SIP, and I will share excerpts from my Kalamazoo residing, kratom using interviewees.
Sunday, May 27, 2018
Week 9 on the Farm: Potatoes
Weather Forecast: Tuesday, high of 88 degrees F, 40% chance of rain. Wednesday, high of 81 degrees F, 100% chance of thunderstorms.
Well, frankly, we've had better weeks on the farm. My Dad is still in the hospital in Ann Arbor, our dog Sunny died on Friday, and this heat is stressing out the plants and making planting a challenge. I would just as soon go back in time about a week and have a do-over. This is a critical point in our season, when the majority of our crops need to get into the ground and so once again this year we find ourselves in a position of wondering whether we are going to be able to fulfill our responsibilities to our CSA members with my family needing so much extra of our time and energy than we'd planned for.
This weekend we began soil preparations on one of our larger garden areas by mowing off the cover crop and tilling the cover crop residue into the soil as a green manure. If you aren't familiar with these terms, a "cover crop" is a crop that you plant to cover the soil rather than to harvest. Cover crops are used for weed suppression and when they are tilled green into the soil they are called "green manures" because they add organic matter and nutrients to the soil like manure does (they just haven't been processed through an animal's intestines first).
Tuesday folks, we are hoping that we will have this garden ready for planting by the time you get here and you can help us get our main potato crop in the ground. Wednesday folks, you've already helped us out with potatoes and it sounds like it's going to be a rainy afternoon. We need to clean up some of our bee equipment and get some new hive components ready for the new bees, so that's something you could help us with indoors if it is raining.
Please keep an eye on the weather for this week, especially Tuesday people! It has been HOT and you will be out during the hottest part of the day. This will be an opportunity for you to feel what it's like to work outdoors in the heat if you haven't had that experience; however, we want you to be safe. Dress in clothing that will protect you from the sun and bring water bottles.
Potatoes are another one of those crops whose history is so intimately connected with human history that it's difficult to say which one of us (the potato or the human) has been more changed by our interactions. For a quick (30 min) summary of this history, watch the potato segment of Michael Pollan's "The Botany of Desire." It's from 1:23:30 to about 1:53: http://naturedocumentaries.org/126/the-botany-of-desire/.
Then, for a more in-depth look at how climate change is affecting Peruvian potato farmers and how they are using their traditional farming methods to adapt, check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLI2KySC9-U.
The questions I have for you stem from a comment made by the former Monsanto potato engineer near the end of "The Botany of Desire": "I think some of the methods they've developed in Peru to use genetic diversity by planting a whole range of varieties within one field is a very good strategy, but I just don't see how we readily adapt that to a production system that not only has to feed people in the U.S., but feed a worldwide system with a product that's a certain quality."
In this comment, I hear echoes of a familiar rationale that I see frequently used to reinforce the status quo. There's an innuendo that the Peruvian farmers' methods may be nice for the environment and healthier for people (less chemical toxins), but that they are "outdated" methods that simply don't work in "modern" production systems. But if we really look at each system, which population is most likely to survive climatic changes? The one that is relying on monoculture to "feed a worldwide system" or one that is actively stewarding genetic diversity in order to feed its local community, while sharing information and resources to help other communities around the global increase their food sovereignty and security?
And what, exactly, does "has to . . . feed a worldwide system with a product that's a certain quality" mean? First of all, since potatoes are super-versatile and can be grown around the globe, why should U.S. potato growers need to feed a worldwide system? Second, I'm pretty sure that those Peruvian potatoes aren't lacking in quality. So, does "certain quality" translate to "will fit through McDonald's automatic french fry cutter machine"? And does "feeding the world" really mean "supply the world's McDonald's with fries"? In which case, perhaps "feeding the world" really equals "giving the world heart disease"?
What are your thoughts about this? Are there ways that you see that we might be able to incorporate traditional ecological knowledge and methods such as those practiced by the Peruvian farmers into currently dominant, yet unsustainable agricultural systems? The former Monsanto potato breeder couldn't envision such a thing. But the lessons of the Irish potato famine might indicate that our future depends on just such creative visioning.
More broadly, as we move toward the end of our time together in this course, I'm wondering what your visions are for how we might transform our food and farming systems to make them more resilient, just, and joyful? What are actions that you might take in your life to be a part of this transformation?
Well, frankly, we've had better weeks on the farm. My Dad is still in the hospital in Ann Arbor, our dog Sunny died on Friday, and this heat is stressing out the plants and making planting a challenge. I would just as soon go back in time about a week and have a do-over. This is a critical point in our season, when the majority of our crops need to get into the ground and so once again this year we find ourselves in a position of wondering whether we are going to be able to fulfill our responsibilities to our CSA members with my family needing so much extra of our time and energy than we'd planned for.
This weekend we began soil preparations on one of our larger garden areas by mowing off the cover crop and tilling the cover crop residue into the soil as a green manure. If you aren't familiar with these terms, a "cover crop" is a crop that you plant to cover the soil rather than to harvest. Cover crops are used for weed suppression and when they are tilled green into the soil they are called "green manures" because they add organic matter and nutrients to the soil like manure does (they just haven't been processed through an animal's intestines first).
Tuesday folks, we are hoping that we will have this garden ready for planting by the time you get here and you can help us get our main potato crop in the ground. Wednesday folks, you've already helped us out with potatoes and it sounds like it's going to be a rainy afternoon. We need to clean up some of our bee equipment and get some new hive components ready for the new bees, so that's something you could help us with indoors if it is raining.
Please keep an eye on the weather for this week, especially Tuesday people! It has been HOT and you will be out during the hottest part of the day. This will be an opportunity for you to feel what it's like to work outdoors in the heat if you haven't had that experience; however, we want you to be safe. Dress in clothing that will protect you from the sun and bring water bottles.
Potatoes are another one of those crops whose history is so intimately connected with human history that it's difficult to say which one of us (the potato or the human) has been more changed by our interactions. For a quick (30 min) summary of this history, watch the potato segment of Michael Pollan's "The Botany of Desire." It's from 1:23:30 to about 1:53: http://naturedocumentaries.org/126/the-botany-of-desire/.
Then, for a more in-depth look at how climate change is affecting Peruvian potato farmers and how they are using their traditional farming methods to adapt, check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLI2KySC9-U.
The questions I have for you stem from a comment made by the former Monsanto potato engineer near the end of "The Botany of Desire": "I think some of the methods they've developed in Peru to use genetic diversity by planting a whole range of varieties within one field is a very good strategy, but I just don't see how we readily adapt that to a production system that not only has to feed people in the U.S., but feed a worldwide system with a product that's a certain quality."
In this comment, I hear echoes of a familiar rationale that I see frequently used to reinforce the status quo. There's an innuendo that the Peruvian farmers' methods may be nice for the environment and healthier for people (less chemical toxins), but that they are "outdated" methods that simply don't work in "modern" production systems. But if we really look at each system, which population is most likely to survive climatic changes? The one that is relying on monoculture to "feed a worldwide system" or one that is actively stewarding genetic diversity in order to feed its local community, while sharing information and resources to help other communities around the global increase their food sovereignty and security?
And what, exactly, does "has to . . . feed a worldwide system with a product that's a certain quality" mean? First of all, since potatoes are super-versatile and can be grown around the globe, why should U.S. potato growers need to feed a worldwide system? Second, I'm pretty sure that those Peruvian potatoes aren't lacking in quality. So, does "certain quality" translate to "will fit through McDonald's automatic french fry cutter machine"? And does "feeding the world" really mean "supply the world's McDonald's with fries"? In which case, perhaps "feeding the world" really equals "giving the world heart disease"?
What are your thoughts about this? Are there ways that you see that we might be able to incorporate traditional ecological knowledge and methods such as those practiced by the Peruvian farmers into currently dominant, yet unsustainable agricultural systems? The former Monsanto potato breeder couldn't envision such a thing. But the lessons of the Irish potato famine might indicate that our future depends on just such creative visioning.
More broadly, as we move toward the end of our time together in this course, I'm wondering what your visions are for how we might transform our food and farming systems to make them more resilient, just, and joyful? What are actions that you might take in your life to be a part of this transformation?
Monday, May 21, 2018
Food Appropriation
Like Amanda, I’d love to talk about the value to us of certain dishes and food in general. Specifically, I’d like to discuss the cultural meaning of food, and how we navigate this in the midst of our challenging “melting pot” country.
*Note: The two things I want you to watch/read are Jennifer 8. Lee’s talk and Yasmin Khan’s article. The rest of the embedded links are just for your reference—you don’t have to read them unless you want. Also, please don’t feel pressured to answer all the bolded questions in your blog post, as long as you think about them for Thursday’s discussion!
First of all if you didn’t answer this in Amanda’s post, do you have any dishes/foods that are special to your culture?
Next, please watch the following Ted Talk by Jennifer 8. Lee, who was a producer for the documentary The Search for General Tso: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6MhV5Rn63M (watch at least until 11:24)
The reason I wanted you to watch Lee’s Ted Talk is to show how ideas from one person can be copied, altered, and propagated across an entire system—as seen in fortune cookies, chop suey, kung pao chicken, and the various versions of Chinese food around the world. It also highlights the way food can be used by a dominant social class to exotify and other-ize other groups.
Also, please read this short article by Yasmin Khan: https://www.chefsfeed.com/stories/830-what-being-mixed-race-taught-me-about-cultural-appropriation-in-food
Khan describes how portraying food from immigrant communities as dirty/strange works to perpetuate xenophobia and racism. Yet certain “ethnic” foods and even cuisines have become trendy, popular, and in demand (think phở, 寿司 sushi, 김치 kimchi, Filipino food, etc), but often not to the benefit of the communities from which they originate (https://theoutline.com/post/1584/ethnic-food-trends-jamaican-patties?zd=1&zi=tfysc22b).
Do you have any initial thoughts about Lee’s talk or Khan’s article?
While I am excited to see people be more open to different flavors and cultures, at the same time, I am worried by how these dishes may become co-opted. Every time a chef (especially one who does not come from the culture of the food they serve) alters their ingredients to fit into their dish, they risk losing the history and cultural significance behind them.
This brings us to cultural appropriation: a practice that involves members of a dominant culture taking—and often commodifying and trivializing—elements from a culture of people who have been systematically oppressed by that dominant group (https://everydayfeminism.com/2015/06/cultural-appropriation-wrong/). Think of white celebrities/models wearing dreadlocks or braids, or last year at an Olympics party when some K students wore kimonos and talked about shoving sushi down people’s throats. Or even the hot debate right now about whether a girl wearing a 旗袍 qípáo dress to her high school prom counts as appropriation (I’m still torn…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLgzFCifhaY)
Food doesn’t often arise as a topic in the discourse of cultural appropriation, perhaps because it seems an innocuous enough item more conducive to cultural exchange (https://everydayfeminism.com/2013/09/cultural-exchange-and-cultural-appropriation/). However, this goes beyond enjoying burritos—it comes down to recognizing that our attitude toward food from different cultures can in turn inform our attitudes about said cultures.
Is food appropriation something you’ve ever thought about?
Here are some additional questions I’ve been grappling with:
What is the line between appreciation and appropriation, between inspiration and theft, when it comes to food?
Regarding the above question, what is ownership? Who is allowed to borrow what? And when—and who—makes these decisions?
Like Khan suggests, are these even the right questions to be asking? If you think we should be asking other questions, what are they?
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on Thursday!
Week 8 on the Farm: Bees
Weather Forecast: Tuesday, highs in the mid-60s, partly cloudy; Wednesday, highs in the high 70s, partly cloudy.
The weather forecast isn't calling for rain during our farm days this week, but I'm skeptical since it wasn't supposed to rain this weekend either and we've had rain every day. Argh! We really need it to dry up so we can till in some cover crops and get soil ready for planting. This weather is also perfect for fungal pathogens like apple scab and brown rot spores to spread in the orchard and unfortunately both of the small tractors that we use to put on preventative sprays to keep the spores in check are broken down. (One of the reasons I prefer not to rely on mechanized equipment--you spend half your time fixing it!)
Whether it rains or not, it's still going to be pretty soggy out here on Tuesday and Wednesday so we won't plan to do more planting this week. Instead, we will be working with our beehive on Tuesday. (Wednesday people, I'm kind of expecting not to see you due to a potential DOGL! But never fear, we will find another time for you to see into the hive if you want to.) Please note: If you are uncomfortable with bees, there is no requirement for you to get near the hive. If you would like to get close to the hives, please wear clothing that will protect you from possible stings. Light-colored, loose fitting clothes with long sleeves and long pant-legs are best. Close-toed shoes or boots are also good.
I'm sure many of you have heard that honeybees are struggling these days. Actually, it's not just honeybees (which aren't native to North America); our native bees (and other pollinators) are having difficulty thriving as well. There's been a lot of research and speculation about Colony Collapse Disorder, but this TED talk by Marla Spivak sums up most clearly my understanding of what it is we're doing that's harming the bees (and ourselves too): http://www.ted.com/talks/marla_spivak_why_bees_are_disappearing
And from PBS's "Nature", a 2 1/2 minute clip on the symbolic "dance-language" of bees: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE-8QuBDkkw
Pretty cool, huh? The honeybee gets a lot of the publicity because of its sexy habit of making candy for us out of flower-water, but as I mentioned above, there are lots of cool native bee species in Michigan as well. This pdf from Michigan State University has photos, as well as tips for helping out our native bees: http://www.canr.msu.edu/nativeplants/uploads/files/E2985ConservingNativeBees.pdf.
Last week the Wednesday group helped us initiate the fruiting process in a few of our mushroom logs. We bought the Shiitake mushroom spawn we inoculated the logs with from Paul Stamets' company "Fungi Perfecti". Stamets is doing some super-interesting work with mushrooms, including studying how mushrooms might help bolster bee colony health: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAw_Zzge49c. (The connection with honeybees starts at 9:23. Even if you get bogged down in the science-y middle part of this talk, make sure you watch the last five minutes or so for some really gorgeous shots of mushroom growth and inspiring words.)
Early in his talk, Stamets talks about how networks of mycelium pass messages between plants that help them to survive. From the PBS honeybee video you can see that bees, also, have sophisticated languages. Near the end of his talk, Stamets says, "The task that we face today is to understand the language of Nature." I'd like to hear your thoughts in response to this idea that in order for our species to survive, we need to learn to communicate with the other species with whom we share this planet and to learn from them. Does this seem like a far-fetched idea to you or something that's within the realm of possibility? What experiences of communicating with non-human parts of this world have you had in your own life? How might you go about initiating or deepening such communication?
The weather forecast isn't calling for rain during our farm days this week, but I'm skeptical since it wasn't supposed to rain this weekend either and we've had rain every day. Argh! We really need it to dry up so we can till in some cover crops and get soil ready for planting. This weather is also perfect for fungal pathogens like apple scab and brown rot spores to spread in the orchard and unfortunately both of the small tractors that we use to put on preventative sprays to keep the spores in check are broken down. (One of the reasons I prefer not to rely on mechanized equipment--you spend half your time fixing it!)
Whether it rains or not, it's still going to be pretty soggy out here on Tuesday and Wednesday so we won't plan to do more planting this week. Instead, we will be working with our beehive on Tuesday. (Wednesday people, I'm kind of expecting not to see you due to a potential DOGL! But never fear, we will find another time for you to see into the hive if you want to.) Please note: If you are uncomfortable with bees, there is no requirement for you to get near the hive. If you would like to get close to the hives, please wear clothing that will protect you from possible stings. Light-colored, loose fitting clothes with long sleeves and long pant-legs are best. Close-toed shoes or boots are also good.
I'm sure many of you have heard that honeybees are struggling these days. Actually, it's not just honeybees (which aren't native to North America); our native bees (and other pollinators) are having difficulty thriving as well. There's been a lot of research and speculation about Colony Collapse Disorder, but this TED talk by Marla Spivak sums up most clearly my understanding of what it is we're doing that's harming the bees (and ourselves too): http://www.ted.com/talks/marla_spivak_why_bees_are_disappearing
Pretty cool, huh? The honeybee gets a lot of the publicity because of its sexy habit of making candy for us out of flower-water, but as I mentioned above, there are lots of cool native bee species in Michigan as well. This pdf from Michigan State University has photos, as well as tips for helping out our native bees: http://www.canr.msu.edu/nativeplants/uploads/files/E2985ConservingNativeBees.pdf.
Last week the Wednesday group helped us initiate the fruiting process in a few of our mushroom logs. We bought the Shiitake mushroom spawn we inoculated the logs with from Paul Stamets' company "Fungi Perfecti". Stamets is doing some super-interesting work with mushrooms, including studying how mushrooms might help bolster bee colony health: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAw_Zzge49c. (The connection with honeybees starts at 9:23. Even if you get bogged down in the science-y middle part of this talk, make sure you watch the last five minutes or so for some really gorgeous shots of mushroom growth and inspiring words.)
Early in his talk, Stamets talks about how networks of mycelium pass messages between plants that help them to survive. From the PBS honeybee video you can see that bees, also, have sophisticated languages. Near the end of his talk, Stamets says, "The task that we face today is to understand the language of Nature." I'd like to hear your thoughts in response to this idea that in order for our species to survive, we need to learn to communicate with the other species with whom we share this planet and to learn from them. Does this seem like a far-fetched idea to you or something that's within the realm of possibility? What experiences of communicating with non-human parts of this world have you had in your own life? How might you go about initiating or deepening such communication?
Sunday, May 20, 2018
Storytelling
Hi there!
During my class time this week I wanted to hear people's stories and connections with food. I think storytelling is such an important way to understand people and where they come from, and I'd like to get to know you all better!
I think I've always been fascinated with people making food, and the stories that come with chefs or recipes. As a kid I would always watch cooking shows if I was home sick, and have sat through perhaps an embarrassing amount of competition cooking shows.
I love Netflix's series called Chef's Table, where they explore the chef's behind some of the world's best cooking. If you have some time feel free to check an episode or two out, they are beautifully filmed, and will likely make you drool over the unique and gorgeous food creations. A couple of my personal favorites include: Niki Nakayama (season 1, episode 4), who runs a sushi cafe in L.A. that is completely staffed by women; and Grant Achatz is another interesting chef who runs a restaurant in Chicago that creates food illusions, such as serving plates on pillows that release odor as you press down to cut the food, or floating edible balloons, he is incredibly creative and innovative.
Questions to respond to:
What stories do you think people tell through food?
As food/food prep is narrowed into microwavable boxes, fast food, or going to restaurants what stories and traditions are lost?
What does preparing food mean to you? Do you cook? How often?
Brainstorm some stories about connections with food to share on Thursday.
Here's some possible topics that you may have a story attached to: your favorite taste, your least favorite taste, your favorite memory in the kitchen, your least favorite memory in the kitchen, what cooking means to you, how you learned to cook, the first meal you cooked, the last meal you cooked, who do you cook with, shared meals, moments where food brought people together, food as a universal language.
I would love to use my class time on Thursday just to pass around stories surrounding food.
Hope you have a good beginning to 8th week! (DOGL Wednesday?!!?)
-Amanda
During my class time this week I wanted to hear people's stories and connections with food. I think storytelling is such an important way to understand people and where they come from, and I'd like to get to know you all better!
I think I've always been fascinated with people making food, and the stories that come with chefs or recipes. As a kid I would always watch cooking shows if I was home sick, and have sat through perhaps an embarrassing amount of competition cooking shows.
I love Netflix's series called Chef's Table, where they explore the chef's behind some of the world's best cooking. If you have some time feel free to check an episode or two out, they are beautifully filmed, and will likely make you drool over the unique and gorgeous food creations. A couple of my personal favorites include: Niki Nakayama (season 1, episode 4), who runs a sushi cafe in L.A. that is completely staffed by women; and Grant Achatz is another interesting chef who runs a restaurant in Chicago that creates food illusions, such as serving plates on pillows that release odor as you press down to cut the food, or floating edible balloons, he is incredibly creative and innovative.
Questions to respond to:
What stories do you think people tell through food?
As food/food prep is narrowed into microwavable boxes, fast food, or going to restaurants what stories and traditions are lost?
What does preparing food mean to you? Do you cook? How often?
Brainstorm some stories about connections with food to share on Thursday.
Here's some possible topics that you may have a story attached to: your favorite taste, your least favorite taste, your favorite memory in the kitchen, your least favorite memory in the kitchen, what cooking means to you, how you learned to cook, the first meal you cooked, the last meal you cooked, who do you cook with, shared meals, moments where food brought people together, food as a universal language.
I would love to use my class time on Thursday just to pass around stories surrounding food.
Hope you have a good beginning to 8th week! (DOGL Wednesday?!!?)
-Amanda
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
What is Hunger? : Food Insecurity in the U.S.
Greetings and Salutations!
For this week, we will be
focusing on something a little different from previous weeks. We will be
discussing food insecurities and their impact in the U.S. Obviously food
insecurity is a HUGE issue and there are many ways in which we can discuss it.
However, for the purpose of this presentation, we will predominantly be
focusing on these three components that attempt to address food insecurity:
food assistance programs, free and reduced lunch in schools, and food bank’s
accessibility. In doing this, we will also be showing some parts from the
documentary A Place at the Table (2013) in class as we found many parts
of this movie pertinent to what we want to talk about and hope it will add to
and drive our discussion. Possible discussion questions to consider when answer
this post are bolded. Y’all can pick and choose what you want to focus on or
what you’re most interested in. We included a lot so don't feel pressured to
answer all of them, but, of course, you are welcome to if you would like!
Food insecurity, according to the USDA, is defined as “a lack of
consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life.” Since
the year 2016, 1 in 8 Americans are food insecure, which equates to 42 million
Americans with 13 million of them being children. That’s a lot of hungry people
that do not have adequate access to food. According to the Department of
Agriculture, “It is important to know that hunger and food insecurity are
closely related, but distinct, concepts. Hunger refers to a personal, physical
sensation of discomfort, while food insecurity refers to a lack of available
financial resources for food at the level of the household.” Thus, due to many
not having access to what they need to meet their basic needs, they face an
increased risk of being food insecure. A point that this website brings into
the public’s attention is how poverty and food insecurity in the United States
are closely related. They have provided a pyramid that demonstrates the four levels of food
security and describes the range of household’s experiences in accessing enough
food. When looking at the pyramid they show the different food security ranges.
Noticed how each description is associated to eating patterns. This is
available in the link below.
In Kalamazoo County, the food insecurity rate is 14.2%, which
means 36,680 people are food insecure in the county. Below is a link to a page
where y’all can look at how food insecurity affects the places where you are
from and compare it to Kalamazoo’s situation.
This also brings us to our first question: How do we define
hunger?
FOOD ASSISTANCE PROGRAMING
The major food assistance program in the U.S. is the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), otherwise known as food stamps. SNAP bases
eligibility chiefly on household income and size. On this (https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/eligibility#Am%20I%20eligible%20for%20SNAP?)
webpage on SNAP benefits under the “What are SNAP income limits,” there is a
chart displaying income limits according to household size. As you can see from
the chart and as we will see in the documentary, these limits make it very hard
for many people to qualify for food assistance through SNAP, which reveals a
gap in which many people make too much money to qualify for the program while
also making too little to maintain food security in their homes. If we look
specifically at Michigan’s eligibility requirements, which are provided on this
web page (https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/0,5885,7-339-71547_5527_6691---,00.html), we can
see that other limitations exist. For example, asset limits are also a concern
when determining eligibility in Michigan and assets can only equal up to
$5,000. So, something like a household owning more than one car can be seen as
reasoning to not qualify. Also, in order to receive SNAP, one must also be a
U.S. citizen, which excludes many undocumented people from food assistance.
What do you all think about these limitations? Is there a way we
could make programs such as SNAP more accessible for those who need it?
Another issue that exists with SNAP benefits is that they often do
not provide enough for families to purchase foods that allow them to maintain a
healthy and nutritional diet. If families are food insecure and need to stretch
their SNAP benefits, they often have no choice but to buy cheaper foods, which
are not always the healthiest. In our research, we found that some studies
concluded that obesity is correlated with those who participate in the program.
Some critics of the SNAP program see this as reasoning to end the program
altogether, but what we and many others argue is that this is an issue that
needs to be addressed when forming policy because, while SNAP may be inadequate
in some ways, we still should not ignore the fact that it helps many families
who are food insecure and is one of our strongest defenses against hunger in
the U.S.
What do you all think about this? How can it be made so that SNAP
participants have more access to healthier foods and produce?
The last thing we want to talk about concerning SNAP is the new
changes to the program that are currently being discussed.
Earlier this year, the Trump Administration’s 2019 budget, in an
attempt to reduce the cost of the SNAP program, proposed replacing half of
participant’s SNAP benefits with food boxes, or “America’s Harvest Box.” This
box would include government picked, non-perishable foods, that are “made up of
‘100 percent U.S. grown and produced food’ and would include items like
shelf-stable milk, peanut butter, canned fruit and meats, and cereal.” These
boxes would be delivered monthly in place of SNAP benefits. Below are a few
articles talking about this proposed change:
Another change that is being proposed in the Trump
Administration's Farm Bill is for there to be stricter demands for work
requirements in order to qualify for SNAP. The farm bill in general is expected
to decrease the SNAP budget by 20 billion over the next 10 years, which will
result in many being pushed out of the program or receiving reduced benefits.
SNAP policy currently already has work requirements in place, as any adults
aged 18-49 who are abled bodied have to work at least 20 hours a week to qualify
for SNAP. This proposal extends the requirement to people aged up to 59, asks
for proof of work on a monthly basis, and will increase the weekly requirement
to 25 hours a week by 2026. If participants fail to meet these requirements or
do not provide proof of work monthly, they will be cut from the program for a
year and possibly longer if there are repeated violations. Below is an article
that talks more about this proposed change.
So, after reading all this, what are your thoughts on these
changes? How will these proposals, if accepted, strengthen or weaken the
programs goal in addressing food insecurity and hunger?
FREE AND REDUCED MEALS
IN SCHOOL
The Food and Nutrition
Service (FNS) administers several programs such as the National School Lunch
Program, which is responsible for free and reduced meals. This program provides
nutritionally balanced, low-cost, or free lunches to children each school day.
If you receive SNAP benefits, all of your children who attend school
automatically qualify for free school meals. Eligibility guidelines are based
on the Federal income poverty guidelines and are stated by household size.
For the purpose of this presentation, we will be focusing on the role of
school lunch on children. According to an article from the Union of Concerned
Scientists, they quote: “Healthy school lunches can be a key factor in breaking
this cycle by improving kids’ diets. Children consume about half of their daily
calories at school; for low-income children, school lunch may be their only
real meal of the day. And the foods kids eat at school influence their lifelong
eating habits.” That being said, Free and reduced-price (FRP) meal participants
continued to eat more fruits and vegetables than their non-FRP peers. On the
other hand, previous studies and the documentary we will be showing in class
highlight how schools often do not have the money or resources to provide
children with both enough food and food that is nutritional, which can lead to
health conditions, such as obesity and G6PD deficiency.
So what do you think about the notion of
free and reduced lunch meals in schools? How can these programs be changed for
the better? How can we ensure children are getting proper nutritional value
from school lunches?
FOOD BANK’S ACCESSIBILITY
Outside of SNAP benefits,
food banks act as food storage and distribution depots that collect and
distribute food to hunger-relief charities. All food banks rely on donors and
volunteers to carry out their day-to-day operations. In addition, food banks do
not give out food directly to people struggling with hunger. Instead, they
deliver them to food pantries who then provide food directly to those in need.
The food that is received by pantries come from food banks only once they
become an agency member in that bank’s network. Usually, food pantries are
typically managed by churches. In the state of Michigan, there are seven food
banks under the Feeding America organization. Near the Kalamazoo County, there
is only one food bank, located in Battle Creek. When googling food pantries
near the city of Kalamazoo, a lot of them are facilitated by churches or
religious institutions, such as the Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes. To check on
the local food banks from your home this is link below.
In A Place at the Table,
they discuss the nutritional value of the food that food banks distribute.
Since these foods often need to be imperishable, contents usually include
canned or packaged foods, and do not contain fruits, vegetables, or other
produce.
What are your opinions on
the amount of food banks and food pantries around Kalamazoo? How did you react
on the number of food banks around your home area? Where there more than
one food bank in the state you live in?
Lastly, we also wanted to
bring up the stigmatization that occurs from receiving benefits from any of the
three areas we discussed in this post. How might this stigmatization effect
participants in these programs/benefits? How might it deter people from wanting
to apply for them?
We are looking forward to
your comments for Thursday’s discussion!
--Logan Smith and Yajaera
Ramirez
Monday, May 14, 2018
Week 7 on the Farm: Languages & Lenses, Ways of Knowing
Weather Forecast: Highs near 80 degrees F. 40% chance of rain on Tuesday; Partly cloudy on Wednesday.
We got some much needed rain here on the farm over the past several days and the weather has been feeling less like late June and more like early May! It looks like temperatures are going to climb back up into the upper 70s this week, but the weather forecasters can't seem to decide whether things are going to dry back up or keep raining. It seems like every time I check the forecast, our chances of rain have changed or at least changed days.
Which makes it really hard to plan what we are doing in class on the farm this week! One thing that I will be working at this week is starting our next batch of seeds. It's time to start fast-growing, warm season crops like cucumbers, melons, squashes, and pumpkins, which will mean making a lot more soil blocks. I may have you help me plant some of those so you can get some experience with those crops. That is something we can do whatever the outdoor weather might be.
If the soil dries up a bit, I'd like to get our first planting of potatoes in the ground as soon as possible. We definitely want to get all of you involved in potato planting before the end of the quarter, so that may be another possibility, weather permitting. Tuesday group, you haven't spent as much time in the orchard as the Wednesday folks, so we might have you help us out with some orchard management this week. And Wednesday folks, you'd asked about working with mushrooms, so maybe we'll do some mushroom projects and/or help us clean up some bee equipment. Those are both things we can do if the soil is still soggy. We'll just have to wait and see what the weather gods do to us.
After hearing a few of you express frustration with some of the "science-y" articles and language we've been using, I want to try to shift gears a bit and look at what we do through different languages and lenses. Science is only one way of knowing the world, for sure. I'm thinking of an interview with the poet David Whyte, who has a degree in marine zoology and who said, "I went back into poetry because I felt like scientific language wasn’t precise enough to describe the experiences that I had in Galapagos. Science, rightly, is always trying to remove the “I.” But I was really interested in the way that the “I” deepened the more you paid attention." (Here's the whole interview if you are interested; http://www.onbeing.org/program/david-whyte-the-conversational-nature-of-reality/transcript/8581.)
Re-reading that quote, two things strike me. One is the idea that scientific language isn't precise enough to engage with certain experiences. And the other is simply the idea of paying attention to both the outer and inner worlds and how they interact and intersect. Because that is, for me, the work of farming as I am called to it and as I try to practice it. It has something to do with understanding what it means to be alive and to be me, alive and in this body and in this world. Farming is my way of continually asking questions about what my life is about. So even though science often enhances my understanding of what I do, it doesn't encompass it. Poetry might come closer and is another language through which I know the world:
In your farm blog responses this week, I'd like to invite you to share a poem, story, song, piece of art, quotation, or other creative expression that is speaking to who you are and how you are experiencing the world right now. You can either type these into the comments field or provide a link to an online source.
We got some much needed rain here on the farm over the past several days and the weather has been feeling less like late June and more like early May! It looks like temperatures are going to climb back up into the upper 70s this week, but the weather forecasters can't seem to decide whether things are going to dry back up or keep raining. It seems like every time I check the forecast, our chances of rain have changed or at least changed days.
Which makes it really hard to plan what we are doing in class on the farm this week! One thing that I will be working at this week is starting our next batch of seeds. It's time to start fast-growing, warm season crops like cucumbers, melons, squashes, and pumpkins, which will mean making a lot more soil blocks. I may have you help me plant some of those so you can get some experience with those crops. That is something we can do whatever the outdoor weather might be.
If the soil dries up a bit, I'd like to get our first planting of potatoes in the ground as soon as possible. We definitely want to get all of you involved in potato planting before the end of the quarter, so that may be another possibility, weather permitting. Tuesday group, you haven't spent as much time in the orchard as the Wednesday folks, so we might have you help us out with some orchard management this week. And Wednesday folks, you'd asked about working with mushrooms, so maybe we'll do some mushroom projects and/or help us clean up some bee equipment. Those are both things we can do if the soil is still soggy. We'll just have to wait and see what the weather gods do to us.
After hearing a few of you express frustration with some of the "science-y" articles and language we've been using, I want to try to shift gears a bit and look at what we do through different languages and lenses. Science is only one way of knowing the world, for sure. I'm thinking of an interview with the poet David Whyte, who has a degree in marine zoology and who said, "I went back into poetry because I felt like scientific language wasn’t precise enough to describe the experiences that I had in Galapagos. Science, rightly, is always trying to remove the “I.” But I was really interested in the way that the “I” deepened the more you paid attention." (Here's the whole interview if you are interested; http://www.onbeing.org/program/david-whyte-the-conversational-nature-of-reality/transcript/8581.)
Re-reading that quote, two things strike me. One is the idea that scientific language isn't precise enough to engage with certain experiences. And the other is simply the idea of paying attention to both the outer and inner worlds and how they interact and intersect. Because that is, for me, the work of farming as I am called to it and as I try to practice it. It has something to do with understanding what it means to be alive and to be me, alive and in this body and in this world. Farming is my way of continually asking questions about what my life is about. So even though science often enhances my understanding of what I do, it doesn't encompass it. Poetry might come closer and is another language through which I know the world:
The Seven Of Pentacles
Under a sky the color of pea soup
she is looking at her work growing away there
actively, thickly like grapevines or pole beans
as things grow in the real world, slowly enough.
If you tend them properly, if you mulch, if you water,
if you provide birds that eat insects a home and winter food,
if the sun shines and you pick off caterpillars,
if the praying mantis comes and the ladybugs and the bees,
then the plants flourish, but at their own internal clock.
Connections are made slowly, sometimes they grow underground.
You cannot tell always by looking what is happening.
More than half the tree is spread out in the soil under your feet.
Penetrate quietly as the earthworm that blows no trumpet.
Fight persistently as the creeper that brings down the tree.
Spread like the squash plant that overruns the garden.
Gnaw in the dark and use the sun to make sugar.
Weave real connections, create real nodes, build real houses.
Live a life you can endure: Make love that is loving.
Keep tangling and interweaving and taking more in,
a thicket and bramble wilderness to the outside but to us
interconnected with rabbit runs and burrows and lairs.
Live as if you liked yourself, and it may happen:
reach out, keep reaching out, keep bringing in.
This is how we are going to live for a long time: not always,
for every gardener knows that after the digging, after the planting,
after the long season of tending and growth, the harvest comes.
~ Marge Piercy ~
she is looking at her work growing away there
actively, thickly like grapevines or pole beans
as things grow in the real world, slowly enough.
If you tend them properly, if you mulch, if you water,
if you provide birds that eat insects a home and winter food,
if the sun shines and you pick off caterpillars,
if the praying mantis comes and the ladybugs and the bees,
then the plants flourish, but at their own internal clock.
Connections are made slowly, sometimes they grow underground.
You cannot tell always by looking what is happening.
More than half the tree is spread out in the soil under your feet.
Penetrate quietly as the earthworm that blows no trumpet.
Fight persistently as the creeper that brings down the tree.
Spread like the squash plant that overruns the garden.
Gnaw in the dark and use the sun to make sugar.
Weave real connections, create real nodes, build real houses.
Live a life you can endure: Make love that is loving.
Keep tangling and interweaving and taking more in,
a thicket and bramble wilderness to the outside but to us
interconnected with rabbit runs and burrows and lairs.
Live as if you liked yourself, and it may happen:
reach out, keep reaching out, keep bringing in.
This is how we are going to live for a long time: not always,
for every gardener knows that after the digging, after the planting,
after the long season of tending and growth, the harvest comes.
~ Marge Piercy ~
In your farm blog responses this week, I'd like to invite you to share a poem, story, song, piece of art, quotation, or other creative expression that is speaking to who you are and how you are experiencing the world right now. You can either type these into the comments field or provide a link to an online source.
Monday, May 7, 2018
climate is changing // the pacific is too
Hello
fellow slow farmers!
So sorry
for just getting this up, this weekend was something else!
I wanted
to guide us into focusing on climate change and its effect on agriculture, with
particular focus in the Pacific. I will also put other connected discussions
together so we can all discuss together the complexities of issues and their
interconnectedness.
I wanted
to first start off with a small introduction to the Pacific Island Nations and
my connection to them. As a Samoan-American, I take deeply my connection to the
Pacific. Many of my ancestors made offerings to a great blue expanse and ventured
in search of land and home. Today, Pacific Island folks are present across so
many of the islands of the great vasa (ocean). Much of the Pacific, like much
of the continental land in the world, was cut up and sectioned off for colonial
rules from almost worlds away. When many of these nations became independent,
they formally took pieces of the ocean because the colonial border regime
remained in place. Here’s a map to get a visualization of the current borders
of Pacific Nations:
In light
of that sovereignty that Pacific Nations received post-colonial rule, there are
many conflicting oppositions to that sovereignty. One that is most related is
to agriculture. While the Pacific only contributes to a tiny fraction of global
polluting, it is receiving a disproportionate impact from that global climate
changes approaching. The Pacific, as a global sink, is actually one of the
biggest sights to see our transforming world. Here is an article of
multi-institutional research that outlines some of the changing views of
climate research and that lies at an important place of having to acknowledge
complexity in the global climate change narrative: http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2016/november/global-warming-hiatus/.
In
building on the scientific understanding of our current moment and future
trajectories, please also read just the introduction to this long UN report on
the impacts to Pacific Nations to get a good overview of the multidimensional
issue(s):
http://www.fao.org/climatechange/17003-02529d2a5afee62cce0e70d2d38e1e273.pdf
Growing
alongside much of the realities of climate change is rhetoric and
epistemological reworking. Many times, narrative can be deployed to attempt to
make action happen however the way that it is then responded to can constantly
recreate the initial understandings. For the Pacific Nations, the deployment of
‘climate refugee’ and ‘climate-induced migration’ as a way to prepare
for/imagine the future of Pacific folks is both dangerous and misconstrued.
Take some time to read this article in critique of the term ‘climate refugee’
and it’s deployment:
(This
was also a resource accessible through the library, so if this link doesn’t
work, here is the title of the piece “Climate Barbarians at the Gate? A
critique of apocalyptic narratives on 'climate refugees'”)
After
seeing some of the intersections of stories, what are some initial thoughts?
Were you initially aware of some of these realities and stories? Do you think
there are ways to reframe the rhetoric about ‘climate refugee’? Are there new
ways of reframing so that ‘climate refugee’ is an obsolete marker? Who do we
center in international policy making and who has the authority to make such
decisions? What complexities do we need to think about socially when
undertaking environmental policy suggestions?
Can’t
wait to see you all in class and have discussions!
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