Author Archive

Posted on March 1, 2010 - by Lisa Madison

Inspired by “Fresh”?

By Liz Reitzig, Secretary of National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association

Take action by serving a Local Foods Feast to Congress and Join in Grassroots Lobbying to Protect Local Food

Presented in conjunction with the National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association Fourth Annual National Small Farm and Ranch Grassroots Lobby Day & Legislative Reception Wednesday, March 10, 2010.

You’ve seen Fresh and it taught you the importance of a local, safe food supply, but most in Congress haven’t seen the movie yet. Remind Congress about the importance of fresh Local foods and direct farmer-to-consumer trade.

Join farmers and consumers from around the country as we converge on DC on March 10 to lobby our legislators so they understand how certain bills will affect local food. Then enjoy a local food feast at the reception. If you cannot make it to DC on March 10, please call your legislators anyway; your voice is important and effective! You can schedule a phone meeting with your legislator’s office.

Need help? There will be a training call with all the info you need to have an effective appointment with your legislator’s aide.  More information about the training calls can be found here: http://www.nicfa.com/ffvdc.html

See www.NICFA.com to learn more about March 10, lobbying and for updates. Please sign up for future action alerts.

Posted on February 25, 2010 - by Lisa Madison

Raj Patel: Food Sovereignty

This post and accompanying video was originally published by our friends at Cooking Up a Story.

Part 3 of 3-part series.  First two segments can be found here: http://cookingupastory.com/raj-patel-the-value-of-nothing

Raj Patel, author of The Value of Nothing, explains what food sovereignty means, and why people around the world are fighting to have a say in their own food system. This is as much a fight for social and economic justice as it is a fight to protect the environment, along with the ability of communities, states, and nations to determine their own food and agriculture policies.

To read this post in its entirety, click here.

Posted on February 3, 2010 - by Lisa Madison

Urgent: USDA to rule on mutant alfalfa

Dear FRESH supporters,

Genetic food giant Monsanto is at it again. Its next target: a new product that could eliminate all organic alfalfa, a key food for raising organic-fed cows and pigs without any genetic engineering.

The USDA is well on its way to approving Monsanto’s genetically modified alfalfa. In its own report, the USDA says that not enough consumers care enough about organic foods for the USDA to block Monsanto’s modified alfalfa seeds. [1]  This is absurd since one of the main reasons people buy organic food is to avoid genetically engineered crops.

The USDA is only accepting public comments for the next two weeks. We need you to write to the USDA right now and tell them they must not approve Monsanto’s mutant alfalfa. We’ll deliver your comments before the deadline. [2]

Click here: http://action.freshthemovie.com/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1753

Alfafa is one of the major food sources for certified organic animals, not only because of its quality as forage, but because Monsanto’s patented genes are already found in 95% of soybeans and 80% of corn. If the USDA lets Monsanto sell its new alfalfa, it will inevitably overtake organic alfalfa crops through the natural pollination process. [3] As a result organic farmers may be feeding their cows genetically modified food.

Just like its corn and soy, Monsanto’s alfalfa is designed to tolerate its leading herbicide: Roundup. We can’t allow Monsanto’s greed to take-over one more crop. The consequences to our choice as consumer, to biological diversity, to the survival of our small and organic farmers depends are too dire.

Monsanto’s domination of our food must stop. For the USDA to shrug it off like nobody cares is to add insult to injury. We only have two weeks to submit our comments.The fight for FRESH food will continue, and with your help we’ll make it clear that people care about the food they eat.

Let’s show the USDA and Monsanto that people want food free from Monsanto’s modifications. Write your comments to the USDA now and say no to genetically modified alfalfa.

The fight for FRESH food will continue, and with your help we’ll make it clear that people care about the food they eat.

Thanks for all you do.

ana Sofia joanes

FRESH the Movie

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SOURCES:

1. United States Department of Agriculture. Glyphosate-Tolerant Alfalfa Events J101 and J163: Request for Nonregulated Status. Draft Environmental Impact Statement-November 2009. P.T-2.
2. Docket: APHIS-2007-0044: USDA Seeks Public Comment on Genetically Engineered Alfalfa
3. United States Department of Agriculture. Glyphosate-Tolerant Alfalfa Events J101 and J163: Request for Nonregulated Status. Draft Environmental Impact Statement-November 2009. P.95.

Reviews Supplemental documents here: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/biotechnology/alfalfa_documents.shtml
10 Things you should know about GE Alfalfa
Photo courtesy of OceanFlynn on Flickr

Posted on January 26, 2010 - by Lisa Madison

Café Boulud – Palm Beach

Guest Blogger: Bill Couzens, Founder of LessCancer.org

Café Boulud – Palm Beach opened its doors in 2003.  Its location in the historic Brazilian Court, a 1920’s Spanish styled Palm Beach landmark turned luxury boutique hotel, is in the heart of Palm Beach and moments away from the famed Worth Avenue. Café Boulud’s cuisine is not unlike its New York City sister restaurant Café Boulud NEW YORK where classic French dishes are prepared with ingredients sourced from the seasonal specialties available at local markets.

Chef-Owner Daniel Boulud is a seasoned restaurateur with five restaurants; one in New York City, one in Palm Beach, FL and three abroad with plans to open additional locations in Miami, London and Singapore in the coming year. Chef Boulud is also an accomplished author having published several books, including Cooking with Daniel Boulud (1993), Daniel Boulud’s Café Boulud Cookbook (1999), Daniel Boulud Cooking in New York City (2002),Daniel’s Dish, Entertaining at Home with a Four Star Chef (2003), Letters to a Young Chef (2003), Braise: a Journey Through International Cuisine (2006).

Boulud credits much of his restaurants’ success to his world–class team. One such invaluable team member is Chef Zach Bell, Executive Chef of Cafe Boulud-Palm Beach, recognized by StarChefs in 2008 as a Rising Star Chef and twice nominated for “Best Chef: South” by the James Beard Foundation.

Chef Bell makes it a practice to visit local farms and markets to personally inspect the local foods the restaurant will be serving. Local vendors Chef Bell shops with include:

Deep Creek Ranch for beef and lamb as they do not use hormones or other growth stimulants or routine antibiotic treatment.

Wild Ocean Seafood Market providing some of freshest local seafood.

Green Cay Produce CSA in Palm Beach County and as well as Swank Produce for hydro-natural lettuces, greens, micro greens tomatoes, beans, baby beats and carrots. According to their website, Swank Produce does not use fungicides, herbicides, or pesticides. This is important re the unintended consequences of pesticides that can cause harm to humans, animals, or the environment.

Erickson Farm
The Erickson family manages the tropical fruit, spice and vegetable farm. Mangoes are their specialty and they are grown with the philosophy that includes alternative practices instead of the use of pesticides and herbicides by using the effective organic solutions available and implementing cultivation techniques that aid in pest and weed control when possible.

In addition to making every effort to shop local, organic ingredients, Chef Zach has a house rule of no corn syrup in any ingredient – including the ketchup – and so the restaurant no longer uses purchased ketchup but rather cooks its own from scratch.

Most notably Chef Bell and Café Boulud have joined in the supporting The Glades to Coast Convivium, a chapter of the slow food movement that includes Broward and Southern Palm Beach Counties. Slow Food is a global, grassroots movement with thousands of members around the world that links the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment.

Palm Beach and the surrounding counties are mostly noted for the production of tomatoes, peppers, beans, corn, cucumbers and squash–though it is often difficult for consumers to find local produce for sale in neighborhood supermarkets which rely on larger farms that ship produce nationwide. However, large increases in the population during the winter months coincide with the growing season, opening possibilities for local marketing of produce. Every Saturday the Palm Beach farmer’s market promotes locally-grown fresh fruits, just-picked vegetables, fresh seafood, meats and poultry, dairy products, specialty teas and coffees, fresh-cut local and imported flowers, specialty foods, foods to go, pies, and breads.

“Beyond the obvious benefits in freshness, quality, and flavor, eating seasonally and sourcing food locally can be make  important contributions to reducing carbon emissions. The local farms that are additionally certified organic and the markets that sell organic foods also have great potential for reducing exposures to pesticides and other chemicals, benefiting both  the environment and  human health” according to Dr. Maryann Donovan, Director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.

Devotees of Daniel Boulud will not only find comfort in Cafe Boulud’s exquisite fare and quality but they will discover that standards for buying local, organic and eliminating corn syrup from the restaurant is one best practice in working towards healthy people and healthy communities.

Posted on January 26, 2010 - by Lisa Madison

Sustainable Energy: Thermal Banking Greenhouse Design

This post and accompanying video was originally published by our friends at Cooking Up a Story.

This is the second in a series of “how-to” videos showcasing the knowledge and creativity of farmers who are have worked with the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program (SARE)—either as grant recipients, cooperators or leaders. In the first video, Jeanne Carver (Imperial Stock Ranch, Eastern Oregon) described her ranch’s approach to value-added marketing. Now we turn to the Midwest where Steven Schwen of Earthen Path Organic Farm (Lake City, Minnesota) has built an innovative greenhouse that allows him to extend his growing season while reducing energy costs. SARE’s Farmer-Rancher Grants program provided critical assistance for Schwen in the beginning phases of his project.

At Minnesota’s latitude, farmers who can extend their growing season have a distinct advantage in the marketplace: By offering a product outside the “normal” growing season, they can receive a higher price. That’s what Schwen has done with his greenhouse vegetable production, starting earlier in the year with seedlings of warm-season vegetables (tomatoes, cucumbers, basil and peppers), and continuing production into the fall and even the winter months when he grows cold-tolerant crops such as salad mix, cilantro, scallions and carrots. Season extension is a common enough practice, but what makes Schwen’s operation so unique is the added innovation of thermal banking, which significantly reduces the energy costs of running a greenhouse for cold-season production. Schwen’s simple description of thermal banking is that it’s like a savings account: Instead of money, you save (or store) energy for future use. In this case we are talking about the heat that accumulates in a greenhouse during the daytime, especially on sunny days.

For more, click through to Cooking Up A Story

Posted on January 25, 2010 - by Lisa Madison

News From the Field: Screening in Fort Collins, CO

News From the Field highlights FRESH screenings around the world that our supporters report back to us on.  We would love to hear how your screening went, and share it with the rest of the FRESH community!  Please email comments to Lisa Madison – Lisa (at) FRESHthemovie.com

The comments below are from Bonnie Thompson of Fort Collins, Colorado, who hosted a successful screening which involved much of the community.

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Hosting a community screening of FRESH was a great experience for me. I met so many wonderful people and learned a lot about organizing an event!

I was pleasantly surprised at how everyone that I contacted was so willing to help. Of course, it helped that the screening was also a benefit for a local program to provide CSA vegetable shares to low-income families. A contact at the local community college made copies of the flyer and sent her students out to put it up on all the bulletin boards on campus. The local natural food co-op store sent the email flyer to all of their members (1600) recommending that they attend. A local coffee shop donated the space for the screening.

I also organized a panel discussion with local farmers and leaders in the local food movement. We had some excellent questions and discussion. I especially enjoyed the questions from the young people wanting to know how they could make a difference. One of those girls (age 11) is working on getting a screening of FRESH at her school now!

And, thanks to the publicity on this event, the local library has just purchased a copy of FRESH for their collection.

Feel free to contact me with questions at bonnie(at)healingtreewellness.com.

Posted on January 13, 2010 - by Lisa Madison

Who’s fighting FRESH?

When it comes to the Big Bad Wolf of our food system, look no further than Monsanto.

Monsanto squeezes out farmers, seed growers, and practically everyone else in the business of growing food. Monsanto has its patented genes inserted into 95% of soybeans and 80% of all the corn grown in the United States. Their monopoly is so insidious that the Department of Justice is looking into whether Monsanto’s business practices are illegal.
Vu Manh Thang – I Am Superman

And now, Forbes Magazine named Monsanto the #1 company of the year for 2009.

Whatever the selection criteria at Forbes, I don’t support them or the values they embody.

In order to regain control of our agriculture, we MUST raise awareness and inspire MORE people to vote with their dollars. This is our mission at FRESH and we need your support. 2010 can be a huge year for the future of food, but FRESH needs your help to do it.

Can you please donate $5, $10, $25, or more to help us spread the word about fresh food?

Click here to donate: https://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5958/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=1689

What Monsanto fears is the public knowing there’s a new way forward for our food, free from genetic engineering and harmful pesticides. That’s why, when Michelle Obama created an organic garden at the White House, Monsanto had the nerve to protest the garden, urging Michelle Obama to use pesticides on her food!

Monsanto is the prime example of everything that’s wrong with our food. They’re a huge corporation that plows down everything in its path in pursuit of cheaper food for bigger profits. And now that Forbes named Monsanto company of the year, it’s clear that fresh, organic food advocates are the David to Monstanto’s Goliath.

Monsanto would like nothing more than to see the sustainable food movement fail. But with your help,we’re building a grassroots movement to fight back and free our food from Monsanto’s grasp.

We’ve got a mountain to climb in 2010, and we’re convinced we can do it with your help. Please donate today to help us spread FRESH across America. Help us raise our voice and raise the voices of all of the farmers and food producers who we fight for.

Click here to donate $5, $10, $25 or more to FRESH the help us fight back against Monsanto.

Thanks so much for your help in making 2009 a great year for FRESH, and for your support in making 2010 even better.

Take care,

ana Sofia joanes
FRESH the Movie

Posted on January 13, 2010 - by Lisa Madison

Mie N Yu: Georgetown Eatery Focuses on Local and Sustainable Food

By Bill Couzens, Founder of Less Cancer

Mie N Yu
3125 M Street, NW
Historic Georgetown, in Washington DC

This Georgetown restaurant’s culinary and service team pride themselves on the fact that they are serving “the highest quality products to their guests.”

Mie N Yu’s Chef Tim Miller and General Manager Oren Molovinsky have personally visited all of the farms that the restaurant’s wonderful products are sourced from. “I’m always surprised by the incredible advantage in flavor and texture that local products have, for example, it’s very important that our meat products have never been injected with hormones or antibiotics from birth…” explains General Manager, Oren Molovinsky.

In addition to his role as General Manager for Mie N Yu, Oren and his business partner Jack Boyle have set up a Farm to Table Partnership involving twenty local Virginia Farmers and participating restaurants to supply chefs with whole animals. He also makes it a practice to visit the farmers that supply the restaurant.

Mie N Yu has sourced close to a dozen local farms, sourcing everything from lettuce to lamb. Examples of the Virginia Farms that supply Mie N Yu include: Whitewood Farm; The Plains Virginia for Black Angus Beef; Oak Spring Dairy; Upperville Virginia-Raw Milk Artisan Cheeses; and Cannon Hill Farm, Mount Jackson, Virgina for Certified Organic Belted Galloway Hereford and Angus Beef.

There are many benefits to buying locally. Oren can frequently visit the farms to ensure that the restaurant will receive the best quality meats, produce, cheeses and eggs. Because of the relationship that he builds with each farmer, Oren is able to develop a partnership to reinforce with the farmer the importance of continuous improvement of best practices for natural or organic farming and attention to animal husbandry and environmental stewardship.

All of the farms are at most located within a 5-6 hour drive of the restaurant. Several are Certified Organic and/or Certified Humane. In addition, the Farm to Table DC program has added the additional requirement that farms be family owned, excluding mass production farms. Importantly as a healthy choice- the criteria stipulates that the foods by hormone, antibiotics, and medication free and the preference is that animals be fed non- GMO food.

The establishment of rigorous criteria for food sourcing can be especially important for reducing unnecessary and preventable exposures to chemicals and pesticides, some of which have been shown to have biological effects in laboratory studies and have been identified as contaminants in humans by researchers as well as in studies of body burden levels of contaminants that are being conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention according to Dr. Maryann Donovan, Director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.

Mie N Yu is aware that as consumers become more conscious about the environmental and human health impact of their purchases, restaurants are also becoming more aware of what it takes to bring food from the farm to the table. Working with local farmers means fewer miles to the table, which reduces carbon-emissions and fuel usage by restaurants.

Posted on January 6, 2010 - by Lisa Madison

The Food That Feeds Us: Fresh Flours

Note from the FRESH Team: “This is one of many posts from farmers and food producers around the US who are working hard to change our food system.  We want to share their stories with the FRESH community in hopes of connecting us all a little more and strengthening our collective voice.  This is NOT meant to be an exhaustive resource.  We welcome you to send us your story to share with the FRESH community as well.  Please email Lisa Madison at Lisa@FRESHthemovie.com for more information.”

Name: Fresh Flours
Location: Winchester, VA
Specialty: Baked Goods, Soups, Seasonal Dishes
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Winchester-VA/Fresh-Flours/137434417644
Buy Local Virginia: http://www.buylocalvirginia.org/search/anx-search-detail.cfm?id=1278
Eat Well Guide: http://www.eatwellguide.org/listing/detail/44992
How to buy our food: Front Royal Farmers Market, www.FarmerGirls.net, Facebook, Blue Ridge Meats of Front Royal, or email freshflours@comcast.net
Contact: Carrie England freshflours@comcast.net

I have my grandmother to thank for my passion for gardening and cooking, which always went hand-n-hand. Every time I pick a vine ripened tomato I think of her teaching me about companion planting. “This plant brings in the good bugs” pointing at the marigold flower. Then picking as if it was a prize unto its own, so I could smell it. In her garden you could always find praying mantis and lady bugs. She never used any pesticides and composting was just what she was taught.
Vu Manh Thang – I Am Superman

So as a child the love started on a humid Tennessee spring morning, picking fresh strawberries at an Aunt’s farm. Then it would come time to turn these delicious red ripe sweet berries into anything strawberry. Be it cakes, hand churned ice cream or homemade jam. Throughout that year I would spend time at family farms in Kentucky & Tennessee sharing laughter has we labored in the fields. Gardening had become rooted in my soul (it might have been that it tasted sooo good that the final product had a bit to do with it too).

Using simple sustainable practices taught to me by grandmother is one of the ways I honor the earth, my grandmother and the next generation at the same time.

It was only natural that I combine these two passions to start Fresh Flours. Not being able to produce all the fruits and vegetables to be used in the business, I rely on local farms and producers whose conservation practices lessen our impact on the environment and provide me with quality products. It only makes since to use the freshest, local ingredients and know whom I’m getting them from and the way they have been grown.

Carrie England

Posted on January 6, 2010 - by Lisa Madison

The Food That Feeds Us: Seasons Eatings Farm

Note from the FRESH Team: “This is the first of many posts from farmers and food producers around the US who are working hard to change our food system.  We want to share their stories with the FRESH community in hopes of connecting us all a little more and strengthening our collective voice.  This is NOT meant to be an exhaustive resource.  We welcome you to send us your story to share with the FRESH community as well.  Please email Lisa Madison at Lisa@FRESHthemovie.com for more information.”


Farm Name: Seasons Eatings Farm
Location: Talmadge, ME 04492
Specialty: Four season growing, cold weather greens
Website: http://seasonseatingsfarm.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Maine-ME/Seasons-Eatings-Farm/216695871520
How to buy our food: Direct from the farm, area restaurants
Contact: Robin Follette farm@seasonseatingsfarm.com


Seasons Eatings is a four season vegetable farm located in northeastern Maine. We are strong believers in community, small business, local economy, sustainable agriculture and fresh, healthy, locally produced food. Get to know your farmer! Ask questions and learn about the food that nourishes you.

I didn’t always want to be a farmer. I used to get up in the morning, shower, dress in heels and suits, drop Kristin off at day care or school and head to the office. I worked all day then picked Kristin up at day care. We’d either stop at the store for supper from a box or meet Steve at a restaurant. We’d take Kristin home, give her a bath and put her to bed. Repeat five times a week. When Kristin was six Steve was offered a job as a forester for a company 100 miles away. I was ready to escape but could we live without my very nice salary? We ran the numbers. Clothes, gas, take out lunch, poor supper habits, day care…. I’d been working for a net pay of $50 a week. Surely I could earn $50 a week staying home. We packed up and moved to rural Washington county. We had a garden and small greenhouse. My mother taught me how to put food up when I was a kid. I was saving almost $50 a week on the grocery bill.

Taylor was born when Kristin was nine. I wanted to work at home instead of finding a sitter for two kids. Steve’s dad gave Kristin a pony for Christmas when she was ten. We had only two-thirds of an acre of land so we boarded him for a year. When we took in a rescued quarter horse we knew we needed to move. Boarding two horses was expensive. I bought six barred rock chicks and we started looking for land. My life as a farmer was beginning.

We bought a small farmhouse on 45 acres of land when we were in our early 30‘s. I’d traded heels and suits for jeans and boots and loved it! Growing fresh, healthy food for my community and area restaurants is my passion. We’ve raised pigs, cattle, goats, laying and meat chickens, broad breasted white and bronze and Bourbon Red turkeys, and ducks. Almost all have been rare or heritage breeds. I enjoyed the animals but my heart is in the garden. We phased out livestock, kept some of the poultry and made room and time for me to be in the garden.

My market garden varies between one and two acres depending on what I want to do each year. My growing season starts in January when onions and leeks are seeded into flats and continues through seedling sales in the spring, the usual vegetables from spring to fall, and ends in mid December when the sun is too low and the days too cold for growth in the high tunnels. I harvest greens in the high tunnels all winter. Kristin’s 25 now, Taylor’s 16 and Steve’s still a forester. And here I am, a grown woman playing in the soil for a living. Life’s good!

Robin Follette