Farming for the Future

March 6, 2011 By Nourishing Words in Farmers Markets & CSAs, Farming, Food, Gardening, Local Food, Sustainability Tags: deep organic, food systems, no-till gardening, organic gardening, shallow organic, soil, sustainable farming 8 Comments

This post relates to the Week Three readings and discussion in our local Menu for the Future course. Whether you’re participating here in Concord, following along from afar or simply have thoughts on this topic—please comment!

We’re a group of eaters, with not a farmer among us. Yet, at the third week of our Menu for the Future course, we dug into organic farming details that aren’t usually part of mainstream consumer discussions about eating organically. Many of us are gardeners, so seeing ourselves as farmers of a sort was fairly easy to do. A group comfortable with the topic at hand, to be sure.

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Beneath the Surface: the Power of the Subconscious Mind

March 4, 2011 By Nourishing Words in Community, Healing and Wellness, Sustainability Tags: community, goal-setting, personal vision, subconsious mind, volunteering 8 Comments

A goal properly set is halfway reached.

~ Abraham Lincoln

What seems like a lifetime ago was actually only 15 months ago. I was lucky enough to be participating in a work-related course in San Francisco that involved a day of personal visioning and goal-setting exercises. I’ve been through a few similar exercises, but this time was different. Continue reading →

Farming and Living Off the Grid in Northern Vermont

February 26, 2011 By Nourishing Words in Environment, Farming, Food, Northeast Kingdom, Sustainability Tags: Ben Hewitt, Cabot Vermont, energy, farming off the grid, Making Supper Safe, solar, solar hot water, The Town That Food Saved, Vermont, wind energy, wind turbine 9 Comments

With appreciation, I offer another guest post from Vermont farmer and author Ben Hewitt. This post is about his family’s experience living and farming off the grid; be sure to read his recent guest posts about food safety issues on Nourishing Words.

When my wife (then girlfriend) Penny and I were looking for land, we didn’t have a lot of options. This is largely because we didn’t have a lot of money and, even then (1997), they weren’t exactly giving away farmland in northern Vermont. We spent a discouraging year tromping through swampy five-acre thickets, trying to convince ourselves that, with enough sweat equity, we could turn the land into something that felt like 50 arable acres. Still, young and naïve as we were, we didn’t fall for our own lies. Continue reading →

Anonymous Food

February 22, 2011 By Nourishing Words in Environment, Farmers Markets & CSAs, Farming, Food, Healing and Wellness, Local Food, Sustainability Tags: Anonymous Food, Big Organic, food coop, genetically modified potatoes, GMOs, industrial agriculture, meat consumption, Menu for the Future, personal action, vegan, Walmart 8 Comments

This post relates to the Week Two readings and discussion in our local Menu for the Future course. Whether you’re participating here in Concord or with a group somewhere else; following along from afar; or simply have thoughts on this topic—please comment!

Great readings this week! Articles included in the Week Two readings for Menu for the Future explored the progression of agriculture over the last 70 years or so from family farms to today’s huge, industrial farms and the resulting ecological and economic changes. Continue reading →

Food Decisions and Food Rules: Remembering the Pleasure of Eating

February 20, 2011 By Nourishing Words in Environment, Food, Healing and Wellness, Local Food, Sustainability Tags: Big Organic, Food Rules, Local Food, organic, pleasure of food 10 Comments

Good food, bad food. Healthy food, unhealthy food. Lean food, “fattening” food. Local food, food imported from distant lands. Small farms, industrial farms. Whole food, processed food.

The list goes on. Dairy-free, gluten-free, vegan, real food, sugar-free, paleo, vegetarian: All are ways, often for perfectly sound reasons, of drawing clear lines among a dizzying array of food choices. Continue reading →

What’s Eating America

February 15, 2011 By Nourishing Words in Food, Local Food, Sustainability Tags: Earth Institute, food choices, industrial food, Menu for the Future, Wendell Berry, Zoe Bradbury 15 Comments

Last night began the six-week discussion series, Menu for the Future, with a full, diverse group of people participating. We’re following the Earth Institute’s course book, which provides weekly readings, tips on facilitation and suggested questions for discussion. Our first week’s readings and discussion were focused on food traditions in our lives, industrial versus agricultural eating, the confusion and anxiety we sometimes feel about food choices, and our individual connections to a global food system. Continue reading →

Menu for the Future

January 28, 2011 By Nourishing Words in Farming, Food, Healing and Wellness, Local Food, Sustainability Tags: Earth Institute, family farms, food and politics, food choices, food systems, GMOs, Menu for the Future, sustainability, sustainable food systems 21 Comments

“Food is our common ground, our universal experience.” ~James Beard

Once again, the grass was a little greener on the other side of the fence and I found myself tempted to travel for an enticing local food experience an hour or two from home. Instead of traveling, when I found myself envying this great looking course being offered around New Hampshire’s Upper Valley, I decided to bring it to the Concord area in hopes that others like me might be interested.

Offered through the Earth Institute, Menu for the Future will be a six-week, self-facilitated discussion series open to all, exploring the connection between food and sustainability. Continue reading →

Scenes from a Snowy Concord Winter Farmers Market

January 8, 2011 By Nourishing Words in Farmers Markets & CSAs, Food, Local Food, Sustainability Tags: community, Concord Winter Farmers Market, Mrs. Beasley's Dog Treats, sustainable food 16 Comments

It was heartwarming, on this snowy January day, to see the crowds of people flocking to the first Concord Winter Farmers Market. Heartwarming, because it felt like a true community event—much more than a place to buy food. Part fair, part farmers market, part neighborhood party.

The scene buzzed with cheery shoppers, music, food, chatter and even a Scottish Highlander entertaining visitors in the parking lot. Continue reading →

Intentions for a Greener, Healthier 2011

December 31, 2010 By Nourishing Words in Environment, Farming, Food, Healing and Wellness, Local Food, Sustainability Tags: collective intentions, creating a better world, intentions, new year's resolutions, personal action, predictions 10 Comments

It’s natural to greet the new year with hopes and dreams, and even a little trepidation. Looking ahead into the unknown is exciting and unsettling, all at once, and it can be hard to see our own influence and control.

Many people take the opportunity of a new year to make resolutions. That might work for some people but, for many, resolutions are soon broken. We even expect it to happen. Initiating a positive change with failure in mind—even in the back of the mind—is a recipe for disappointment. Continue reading →

Should a Food Co-op Be More than Just a Store?

November 28, 2010 By Nourishing Words in Food, Local Food, Northeast Kingdom, Sustainability Tags: Buffalo Mountain Co-op, Co-op Advantage Program, consumer education, food co-op, local producers, Northeast Kingdom, organic, sustainable, Vermont 6 Comments

Like so many other experiences in life, being a part of an organization is colored by the expectations we bring with us when we join. That sometimes vague and often unstated pile of preconceived notions about what an experience should be like can really slow down the whole process of just experiencing the experience.

Clubs, political movements, CSAs, volunteer organizations—we leap into all of these things with high hopes, great intentions and, often, very little understanding of what really lies ahead. Sometimes, along the way, we realize our expectations aren’t meshing with the reality of the experience as it unfolds. Frustration begins. We either adapt or, if all else fails, we bail out and try again elsewhere.

I belong to two food co-ops: one in my hometown in New Hampshire and one a few hours away in a small town in Vermont that I visit often. The towns are very different. The states are very different. The food co-ops are very different. Continue reading →

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