Also, you can watch the film version of The Botany of Desire free on the PBS website: http://video.pbs.org/video/1283872815/. The first thirty minutes are a discussion of the history of the relationship between apples and humans, so you might be especially interested in that section given all of our recent discussions about apple production. But we'll be planting potatoes soon, so that might be an interesting section to watch as well. I think it's the last one.
Showing posts with label TED Talk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TED Talk. Show all posts
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Michael Pollan, Joel Salatin & our relationship to all beings
As I've been sharing my gardening/farming perspectives with you these past couple of weeks, I've been noticing how much I've been talking about relationship--my relationships with my business partners, my family and its land, our CSA members, the plants, the soil, and the diversity of non-human beings that live on this land with me. In his book The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan explores human relationships with plants from a plant-centric rather than human-centric view, suggesting that plants are using us to further their own evolution as much as we're using them to sustain our lives. I just came across this great TED talk in which Pollan expands upon that idea and proposes a system of agriculture which nurtures the relationships between species--plants, animals, soil microbes, farmers, and eaters--to create a self-sustaining system in which the health and well-being of all participants is enhanced. He uses Joel Salatin's Polyface Farm as a model for this type of farming system. Here's a link to the talk: Michael Pollan: A plant's-eye view.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Amy Reflects
Hi Everyone!
I've had a series of loosely connected thoughts gathering in my head since we met on Thursday, so I thought I'd take a minute to explore those connections while sharing them with you all. Not long after our brunch, I stumbled across a link to this NPR blog piece which speaks to some of the issues of biodiversity we touched on as we were talking about the respective merits of government funding for field crop production and conservation programs: Cornstalks Everywhere But Nothing Else, Not Even A Bee.
Author Robert Krulwich is clearly disturbed by the relative lack of biodiversity in the examined cornfield as opposed to the Cape Town park or the upper reaches of the Costa Rican forest. "There's something strange about a farm that intentionally creates a biological desert to feed one species: us," he writes. But couldn't a case be made that since the energy in the cornfield is going primarily toward producing food and other products for humans, the limited diversity in this ecosystem is more valuable to us than the "excess" of biodiversity in the park and forest, which doesn't appear to benefit us directly or economically? Krulwich himself admits that the cornfield is "efficient." What good is all that diversity if we can't eat it, wear it, drive it, or sell it?
I want to respond to this question (a valid one!) with some excerpts from Aldo Leopold's "The Land Ethic," which can be found in A Sand Country Almanac (or if you're interested you can also read it online here: http://home.btconnect.com/tipiglen/landethic.html):
“All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts. His instincts prompt him to compete for his place in that community, but his ethics prompt him also to co-operate (perhaps in order that there may be a place to compete for).
The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land.
This sounds simple: do we not already sing our love for and obligation to the land of the free and the home of the brave? Yes, but just what and whom do we love? Certainly not the soil, which we are sending helter-skelter downriver. Certainly not the waters, which we assume have no function except to turn turbines, float barges, and carry off sewage. Certainly not the plants, of which we exterminate whole communities without batting an eye. Certainly not the animals, of which we have already extirpated many of the largest and most beautiful species . . .
One basic weakness in a conservation system based wholly on economic motives is that most members of the land community have no economic value. Wildflowers and songbirds are examples. Of the 22,000 higher plants and animals native to Wisconsin, it is doubtful whether more than 5 per cent can be sold, fed, eaten, or otherwise put to economic use Yet these creatures are members of the biotic community, and if (as I believe) its stability depends on its integrity they are entitled to continuance . . .
To sum up: a system of conservation based solely on economic self-interest is hopelessly lopsided. It tends to ignore, and thus eventually to eliminate, many elements in the land community that lack commercial value, but that are (as far as we know) essential to its healthy functioning. It assumes, falsely, I think, that the economic parts of the biotic clock will function without the uneconomic parts. It tends to relegate to government many functions eventually too large, too complex, or too widely dispersed to be performed by government . . .
It is inconceivable to me that an ethical relation to land can exist without love, respect, and admiration for land and a high regard for its value. By value, I of course mean something far broader than mere economic value; I mean value in the philosophical sense.
Perhaps the most serious obstacle impeding the evolution of a land ethic is the fact that our educational and economic system is headed away from, rather than toward, an intense consciousness of land. Your true modern is separate from the land by many middlemen, and by innumerable physical gadgets. He has no vital relation to it; to him it is the space between cities on which crops grow. Turn him loose for a day on the land, and if the spot does not happen to be a golf links or a 'scenic' area, he is bored stiff. If crops could be raised by hydroponics instead of farming, it would suit him very well. Synthetic substitutes for wood, leather, wool, and other natural land products suit him better than the originals. In short, land is something he has 'outgrown.'
Almost equally serious as an obstacle to a land ethic is the attitude of the farmer for whom the land is still an adversary or a taskmaster that keeps him in slavery. . .”
As I tucked the redworms from the vermicompost pile we sorted last week back inside their bin and into the fresh bedding you made for them, I thought about a particular piece of advice I'd given you about vermicomposting--how to watch the worms to see which foods were their favorites and which they didn't like so much. It occurred to me that as much as I value the big pile of rich compost they've produced for me, my primary concern is that the worms themselves are happy and healthy. Is it odd to say that I'm fond of my worms? I'm fond of them. The compost is a by-product of our relationship and as long as that relationship is in good standing, I'm bound to get a good harvest of compost. But I don't go out of my way to feed them their favorite foods every now and then because I want compost. I do it because I like them. They have inherent value for me as organisms with whom I share my life.
It's the same with the plants, really. Of course I hope that in a few years we'll have this business built up to a point where it's bringing in an income for Diane, John, and myself. But uppermost in my mind is the health of the plants, the soil, the surrounding ecosystem. If I'm not familiar with and in good relationship to the bio-diverse organisms with whom I share this piece of earth, then this whole organic farming project falls apart. And though many aspects of this planet we inhabit are still mysterious to us, I think we know enough now to say with some scientific confidence what many so-called "primitive" peoples might have told us centuries ago: if we as a species insist on acting primarily out of short-term individual self-interest rather than in the best interests of the "community of interdependent parts" (Leopold's words) of which we are members, then we knock apart the biotic web that sustains and enriches our lives.
Unfortunately, we've become so disengaged from the natural world that we don't even recognize loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystems as factors in many of the problems we're grappling with in this "technological age." This estrangement allows us to call thousands of acres of cornfields "efficient," a declaration only possible if we look solely at the sheer tonnage of grain coming off those fields and ignore the economic and ecological costs of producing that grain, including the costs to our own health.
Robert Krulwich's piece looks intensely at the effects of agricultural practices on one very small land area. Jonathan Foley's TED talk, Jonathan Foley: The other inconvenient truth, is a rather distressing look at the global effects of agriculture. Among his statistics: 40% of the earth's land has been cleared for agriculture; agricultural irrigation is the biggest use of water on the planet, drying up many lakes and rivers while fertilizer run-off pollutes many more; and agriculture is the single biggest contributor to climate change, generating 30% of our greenhouse gas emissions. It seems like any way you look at it, farming is bad for our planet.
I'm convinced it doesn't have to be. We created this destructive system and we can change it. But in order to change it, we are going to have to change ourselves. Joel Salatin recently published a piece in Wanderlust Journal entitled "What You Can Do" in which he suggests that we re-consider what we truly value. He asks us to envision a world where eating a locally-sourced, home-cooked meal is more important to the majority of parents than having their kids in a soccer league, where families stay home to can tomatoes rather than take vacations to Disneyland. Can you imagine it? I can't, not unless our ethics fundamentally change and evolve to include the land and the non-human beings with whom we share it, unless we come to see ourselves as Leopold saw us, as "plain member[s] and citizen[s]" of a diverse biotic community, rather than "conqueror[s]" of it.
-Amy
Author Robert Krulwich is clearly disturbed by the relative lack of biodiversity in the examined cornfield as opposed to the Cape Town park or the upper reaches of the Costa Rican forest. "There's something strange about a farm that intentionally creates a biological desert to feed one species: us," he writes. But couldn't a case be made that since the energy in the cornfield is going primarily toward producing food and other products for humans, the limited diversity in this ecosystem is more valuable to us than the "excess" of biodiversity in the park and forest, which doesn't appear to benefit us directly or economically? Krulwich himself admits that the cornfield is "efficient." What good is all that diversity if we can't eat it, wear it, drive it, or sell it?
I want to respond to this question (a valid one!) with some excerpts from Aldo Leopold's "The Land Ethic," which can be found in A Sand Country Almanac (or if you're interested you can also read it online here: http://home.btconnect.com/tipiglen/landethic.html):
“All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts. His instincts prompt him to compete for his place in that community, but his ethics prompt him also to co-operate (perhaps in order that there may be a place to compete for).
The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land.
This sounds simple: do we not already sing our love for and obligation to the land of the free and the home of the brave? Yes, but just what and whom do we love? Certainly not the soil, which we are sending helter-skelter downriver. Certainly not the waters, which we assume have no function except to turn turbines, float barges, and carry off sewage. Certainly not the plants, of which we exterminate whole communities without batting an eye. Certainly not the animals, of which we have already extirpated many of the largest and most beautiful species . . .
One basic weakness in a conservation system based wholly on economic motives is that most members of the land community have no economic value. Wildflowers and songbirds are examples. Of the 22,000 higher plants and animals native to Wisconsin, it is doubtful whether more than 5 per cent can be sold, fed, eaten, or otherwise put to economic use Yet these creatures are members of the biotic community, and if (as I believe) its stability depends on its integrity they are entitled to continuance . . .
To sum up: a system of conservation based solely on economic self-interest is hopelessly lopsided. It tends to ignore, and thus eventually to eliminate, many elements in the land community that lack commercial value, but that are (as far as we know) essential to its healthy functioning. It assumes, falsely, I think, that the economic parts of the biotic clock will function without the uneconomic parts. It tends to relegate to government many functions eventually too large, too complex, or too widely dispersed to be performed by government . . .
It is inconceivable to me that an ethical relation to land can exist without love, respect, and admiration for land and a high regard for its value. By value, I of course mean something far broader than mere economic value; I mean value in the philosophical sense.
Perhaps the most serious obstacle impeding the evolution of a land ethic is the fact that our educational and economic system is headed away from, rather than toward, an intense consciousness of land. Your true modern is separate from the land by many middlemen, and by innumerable physical gadgets. He has no vital relation to it; to him it is the space between cities on which crops grow. Turn him loose for a day on the land, and if the spot does not happen to be a golf links or a 'scenic' area, he is bored stiff. If crops could be raised by hydroponics instead of farming, it would suit him very well. Synthetic substitutes for wood, leather, wool, and other natural land products suit him better than the originals. In short, land is something he has 'outgrown.'
Almost equally serious as an obstacle to a land ethic is the attitude of the farmer for whom the land is still an adversary or a taskmaster that keeps him in slavery. . .”
As I tucked the redworms from the vermicompost pile we sorted last week back inside their bin and into the fresh bedding you made for them, I thought about a particular piece of advice I'd given you about vermicomposting--how to watch the worms to see which foods were their favorites and which they didn't like so much. It occurred to me that as much as I value the big pile of rich compost they've produced for me, my primary concern is that the worms themselves are happy and healthy. Is it odd to say that I'm fond of my worms? I'm fond of them. The compost is a by-product of our relationship and as long as that relationship is in good standing, I'm bound to get a good harvest of compost. But I don't go out of my way to feed them their favorite foods every now and then because I want compost. I do it because I like them. They have inherent value for me as organisms with whom I share my life.
It's the same with the plants, really. Of course I hope that in a few years we'll have this business built up to a point where it's bringing in an income for Diane, John, and myself. But uppermost in my mind is the health of the plants, the soil, the surrounding ecosystem. If I'm not familiar with and in good relationship to the bio-diverse organisms with whom I share this piece of earth, then this whole organic farming project falls apart. And though many aspects of this planet we inhabit are still mysterious to us, I think we know enough now to say with some scientific confidence what many so-called "primitive" peoples might have told us centuries ago: if we as a species insist on acting primarily out of short-term individual self-interest rather than in the best interests of the "community of interdependent parts" (Leopold's words) of which we are members, then we knock apart the biotic web that sustains and enriches our lives.
Unfortunately, we've become so disengaged from the natural world that we don't even recognize loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystems as factors in many of the problems we're grappling with in this "technological age." This estrangement allows us to call thousands of acres of cornfields "efficient," a declaration only possible if we look solely at the sheer tonnage of grain coming off those fields and ignore the economic and ecological costs of producing that grain, including the costs to our own health.
Robert Krulwich's piece looks intensely at the effects of agricultural practices on one very small land area. Jonathan Foley's TED talk, Jonathan Foley: The other inconvenient truth, is a rather distressing look at the global effects of agriculture. Among his statistics: 40% of the earth's land has been cleared for agriculture; agricultural irrigation is the biggest use of water on the planet, drying up many lakes and rivers while fertilizer run-off pollutes many more; and agriculture is the single biggest contributor to climate change, generating 30% of our greenhouse gas emissions. It seems like any way you look at it, farming is bad for our planet.
I'm convinced it doesn't have to be. We created this destructive system and we can change it. But in order to change it, we are going to have to change ourselves. Joel Salatin recently published a piece in Wanderlust Journal entitled "What You Can Do" in which he suggests that we re-consider what we truly value. He asks us to envision a world where eating a locally-sourced, home-cooked meal is more important to the majority of parents than having their kids in a soccer league, where families stay home to can tomatoes rather than take vacations to Disneyland. Can you imagine it? I can't, not unless our ethics fundamentally change and evolve to include the land and the non-human beings with whom we share it, unless we come to see ourselves as Leopold saw us, as "plain member[s] and citizen[s]" of a diverse biotic community, rather than "conqueror[s]" of it.
-Amy
Friday, April 12, 2013
Lawns to Urban Gardens
Hey everyone,
Check out this article on Urban gardens in Paris! There is a link to a great TED talk video about the historical connection between yards and farming!
http://www.foodpolitic.com/a-new-breed-of-urban-gardeners-are-flocking-to-paris/
Check out this article on Urban gardens in Paris! There is a link to a great TED talk video about the historical connection between yards and farming!
http://www.foodpolitic.com/a-new-breed-of-urban-gardeners-are-flocking-to-paris/
Monday, April 8, 2013
Cary Fowler: Protecting the Future of Food
Hey all--
Today on the farm we talked briefly about seed banks or libraries, and the largest one in the world in Norway. I heard this story on NPR the other day and thought it was very intriguing, but learning about genetics and seeds and biodiversity on Amy's farm really made the two facets come into focus.
Here is the full Cary Fowler TED talk that was featured on NPR.
-Hannah
Today on the farm we talked briefly about seed banks or libraries, and the largest one in the world in Norway. I heard this story on NPR the other day and thought it was very intriguing, but learning about genetics and seeds and biodiversity on Amy's farm really made the two facets come into focus.
Here is the full Cary Fowler TED talk that was featured on NPR.
-Hannah
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
What to Plant? Crop & Varietal Selection
We ended up talking a quite a bit this week about how we select the crops and plant varieties to grow each year for our CSA members. We also touched on issues of genetically modified, hybrid, and organic seed production. So I thought I'd share with you a blog post I wrote last year on the farm blog regarding these issues. In it, I give some basic information about the difference between hybridization and genetic modification in seed production: Wonderful Seeds.
A few of you were also wondering how our crop list has changed from year to year. You can view last year's crop list on the Wonderful Seeds blog post I referenced above. And I'll paste our 2013 crop list at the end of this email. But in short, in 2012 we planned 31 different crops and 70 different varieties of plants within those crop categories. In 2013 we've planned 37 different crops and 108 different varieties.
I also want to recommend this video of a TED talk by Winona LaDuke entitled Seeds of Our Ancestors, Seeds of Life. In it, she talks about the relationship that her Anishinaabekwe people have with certain food plants that have sustained them for generations and how they've fought the attempts to genetically engineer and patent these crops, as well as why climate change makes it more important than ever that we preserve and encourage genetic diversity among food crops. It's a really good talk and just under 17 minutes--it's worth your time.
What LaDuke says about the relationship between certain plants and her people may sound a bit esoteric, but it absolutely rings true to my experience. When you work with plants year after year, spending your life energy nurturing them and helping them flourish so that they can in turn feed you and sustain your life, you develop an intimacy with them, an affection, maybe even love. You get to know what they like, what they don't like, and certain varieties become your favorites, become plants that you can't imagine going through a summer without. They become your relatives.
I have long-standing relationships with many of the varieties listed below, but others are new ones that I hope to begin developing friendships with during the coming year.
2013 Crop & Plant Variety List
Arugula: Standard Arugula, Astro
Basil: Genovese Compact Improved
Beans, Green Snap: Provider, Fortex
Beans, Yellow Snap: Pencil Pod Wax
Beets, Red: Red Ace F1
Beets, Golden: Touchstone Gold
Braising Mix: Johnny's Braising Mix
Broccoli: DiCicco, Green Magic F1, Piracicaba
Brussels Sprouts: Roodnerf, Gustus F1
Cabbage, Green: Gonzales F1
Cabbage, Red: Ruby Perfection F1
Radish: Mokum F1, Nantes Fancy
Chard: Ford Hook Giant, Peppermint Chard, Red Rubarb Chard
Cilantro: Calypso
Cucumber: Marketmore 76, Green Finger
Dill: Dill
Edamame: Butterbeans
Eggplant: Orient Express F1, Rosa Bianca
Garlic: Music, Persian Star, Thai Purple, Silverskin, Inchelium Red
Kale: Beedy's Camden, Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch, Lacinato, Sutherland, Madeley
Kohlrabi: Early White Vienna
Leeks: King Richard
Lettuce, Head: Winter Density, Forellenschluss, Jericho
Lettuce, Salad Mix: High Mowing's Gourmet Mix
Melons: Delicious 51, Hannah's Choice F1
Mustard Greens: Red Mustard
Onions, Red: Red Burgundy
Onions, White: White Sweet Spanish Jumbo, Candy F1
Pac Choi: Mei Qing Choi F1, Shanghai Green Pac Choy
Peas, Snap: Sugar Ann
Peas, Snow: Oregon Giant
Peppers, Anaheim: Numex Joe E Parker
Peppers, Jalapeno: El Jefe Jalapeno
Peppers, Sweet Bell: King of the North, Jupiter, Golden California Wonder
Peppers, Sweet Italian: Stocky Red Roaster, Marconi Red
Potatoes: Kennebec, Russet Burbank, German Butterball, Dark Red Norland, Yukon Gold
Pumpkins: Charisma F1, Jack O' Lantern, Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkin
Radish: Cherry Belle, Pink Beauty, White Beauty
Scallions: Nabechan F1, Deep Purple
Spinach: Tyee F1
Squash, Spaghetti: Spaghetti
Summer Squash, Patty Pan: Y-Star, Sunburst
Summer Squash, Yellow: Saffron
Summer Squash, Zucchini: Black Beauty, Golden Zucchini
Sweet Corn: Bodacious RM F1
Tomatoes, Cherry/Plums: Cherry Roma, Mountain Magic F1, Chocolate Cherry, Esterina F1, Juliet F1, Hagan Little Yellow, Sungella, Gobstopper
Tomatoes, Slicing: German Johnson, Golden Sunray, Amish Paste, Prudence Purple, Cosmonaut Volkov, Defiant PHR F1, Ruby Gold, Big Rainbow, Boxcar Willie, Bobcat, New Girl
Tomatoes, Specialty: Green Zebra, Black Prince
Turnips: Hakurei F1, Purple Top White Globe
Winter Squash: Delicata JS, Sweet Dumpling, Waltham Butternut
A few of you were also wondering how our crop list has changed from year to year. You can view last year's crop list on the Wonderful Seeds blog post I referenced above. And I'll paste our 2013 crop list at the end of this email. But in short, in 2012 we planned 31 different crops and 70 different varieties of plants within those crop categories. In 2013 we've planned 37 different crops and 108 different varieties.
I also want to recommend this video of a TED talk by Winona LaDuke entitled Seeds of Our Ancestors, Seeds of Life. In it, she talks about the relationship that her Anishinaabekwe people have with certain food plants that have sustained them for generations and how they've fought the attempts to genetically engineer and patent these crops, as well as why climate change makes it more important than ever that we preserve and encourage genetic diversity among food crops. It's a really good talk and just under 17 minutes--it's worth your time.
What LaDuke says about the relationship between certain plants and her people may sound a bit esoteric, but it absolutely rings true to my experience. When you work with plants year after year, spending your life energy nurturing them and helping them flourish so that they can in turn feed you and sustain your life, you develop an intimacy with them, an affection, maybe even love. You get to know what they like, what they don't like, and certain varieties become your favorites, become plants that you can't imagine going through a summer without. They become your relatives.
I have long-standing relationships with many of the varieties listed below, but others are new ones that I hope to begin developing friendships with during the coming year.
2013 Crop & Plant Variety List
Arugula: Standard Arugula, Astro
Basil: Genovese Compact Improved
Beans, Green Snap: Provider, Fortex
Beans, Yellow Snap: Pencil Pod Wax
Beets, Red: Red Ace F1
Beets, Golden: Touchstone Gold
Braising Mix: Johnny's Braising Mix
Broccoli: DiCicco, Green Magic F1, Piracicaba
Brussels Sprouts: Roodnerf, Gustus F1
Cabbage, Green: Gonzales F1
Cabbage, Red: Ruby Perfection F1
Radish: Mokum F1, Nantes Fancy
Chard: Ford Hook Giant, Peppermint Chard, Red Rubarb Chard
Cilantro: Calypso
Cucumber: Marketmore 76, Green Finger
Dill: Dill
Edamame: Butterbeans
Eggplant: Orient Express F1, Rosa Bianca
Garlic: Music, Persian Star, Thai Purple, Silverskin, Inchelium Red
Kale: Beedy's Camden, Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch, Lacinato, Sutherland, Madeley
Kohlrabi: Early White Vienna
Leeks: King Richard
Lettuce, Head: Winter Density, Forellenschluss, Jericho
Lettuce, Salad Mix: High Mowing's Gourmet Mix
Melons: Delicious 51, Hannah's Choice F1
Mustard Greens: Red Mustard
Onions, Red: Red Burgundy
Onions, White: White Sweet Spanish Jumbo, Candy F1
Pac Choi: Mei Qing Choi F1, Shanghai Green Pac Choy
Peas, Snap: Sugar Ann
Peas, Snow: Oregon Giant
Peppers, Anaheim: Numex Joe E Parker
Peppers, Jalapeno: El Jefe Jalapeno
Peppers, Sweet Bell: King of the North, Jupiter, Golden California Wonder
Peppers, Sweet Italian: Stocky Red Roaster, Marconi Red
Potatoes: Kennebec, Russet Burbank, German Butterball, Dark Red Norland, Yukon Gold
Pumpkins: Charisma F1, Jack O' Lantern, Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkin
Radish: Cherry Belle, Pink Beauty, White Beauty
Scallions: Nabechan F1, Deep Purple
Spinach: Tyee F1
Squash, Spaghetti: Spaghetti
Summer Squash, Patty Pan: Y-Star, Sunburst
Summer Squash, Yellow: Saffron
Summer Squash, Zucchini: Black Beauty, Golden Zucchini
Sweet Corn: Bodacious RM F1
Tomatoes, Cherry/Plums: Cherry Roma, Mountain Magic F1, Chocolate Cherry, Esterina F1, Juliet F1, Hagan Little Yellow, Sungella, Gobstopper
Tomatoes, Slicing: German Johnson, Golden Sunray, Amish Paste, Prudence Purple, Cosmonaut Volkov, Defiant PHR F1, Ruby Gold, Big Rainbow, Boxcar Willie, Bobcat, New Girl
Tomatoes, Specialty: Green Zebra, Black Prince
Turnips: Hakurei F1, Purple Top White Globe
Winter Squash: Delicata JS, Sweet Dumpling, Waltham Butternut
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