Senate Farm Bill - A Mixed Bag of Wins and Losses

In a press release issued on December 14th, the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition called the farm bill adopted by the Senate earlier this month a “mixed bag of wins and losses for family farmers, consumers, and the environment.”

“We applaud the Senate’s decision to advance working lands conservation, especially the Conservation Stewardship Program, as well as important competition provisions that will restore balance and fairness to livestock markets,” said SAC Policy Director Ferd Hoefner.

“At the same time, the Senate’s failure to pass the Dorgan-Grassley payment limit amendment repudiates the large majority of farmers who support reform and the largest bi-partisan nationwide movement for farm program reform ever mounted. Most importantly, it means uncapped commodity payments will continue to flow to mega farms and push rural communities, family farmers, and the next generation of producers off of the map.”

Read the rest of the release here.

The River Cottage Meat Book

Jen opened her Christmas present from me this morning (I can never wait until Christmas) so now I can write about it. I gave her a copy of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s The River Cottage Meat Book which was originally published in the UK in 2004 and was released this year in a revised American edition.

Engagingly written and accompanied by gorgeous photographs of British farm life, perfect cuts of meat and mouth-watering dishes, this book is far more than a cookbook. It opens with a manifesto on high-quality, local, and sustainable meat production that forces you to think long and hard about the meat you eat. What breed of animal did it come from? Where was the animal raised? How was it treated? What did it eat? Questions that Big Agriculture doesn’t want you to think about.

A guide on choosing and storing meats and fowl follows with the remainder of the book devoted to procedures and recipes for roasting, cooking, barbecuing, preserving, and processing meats as well as getting the most out of leftovers. I can’t wait to try the loin of lamb stuffed with apricots and pine nuts!

A Visit to the Volcanoes

Yesterday Jen and I took the dogs on a 2 hour hike around the Albuquerque Volcanoes which stand in the horizon of the West Mesa - about a 15 minute drive from the fertile fields of the South Valley. The five cinder cone volcanoes are approximately 140,000 years old and are the product of a series of fissure eruptions that coated the surrounding landscape in a basalt caprock.

We climbed to the top of the Black Volcano which offered a great view of the Sandias across the mesa. Even though you are right outside the metro area, you feel like you are in the middle of nowhere. You gotta love the geographical diversity of New Mexico.

Talk About Eating Local

In an article earlier this month in Science & The City, Steve “Wildman” Brill talks about the bounties to be had in New York City’s Central Park.

From the article:

“Burdock is one of the tastiest and most healthful root vegetables. It’s an expensive detoxifying herb when you find it in health food stores, but it abounds in cultivated areas throughout Central Park. Remnants of the decaying leaves reveal the taproots’ locations.”

More here.

 

A Run on Self Heal

We’re sold out of self heal tincture and are scratching our heads as to why there was such a huge demand for it over the past couple of months. We made more than last year, keeping in mind an anticipated increase in year-over-year sales as well making extra to get us through our move to New Mexico.

Often a run on a particular tincture or oil occurs when an herbalist is teaching about it. Who is teaching about Prunella vulgaris these days? Or, better yet, how are you using it?

Gearing up for the Sandias

When we lived in New York City, we used to drive up to the Catskills and camp and hike on a regular basis. Once we moved there, however, it was a different story. I think we did only one hike - the Diamond Notch Trail - during our almost 8 years living in Olivebridge. Maybe it was because we had so much property right outside our door. Between our woods and the 2 adjacent parcels, there were over 100 acres to roam. The dogs and I created a nice loop of trails that I hope the new owners are enjoying as much as we did.

We’re determined to get back to hiking now that we are in New Mexico. The Sandia Mountains, which seem to me like silent sentinels watching over the hubbub of the Albuquerque area, beckon. Jen bought a couple of maps and hiking guides that we plan to work our way through. Our inaugural hike was a short one, a quick trip to the old Juan Tabo Cabin and back, a distance of about 1 mile. Here are some photos. It’s obvious that Maggie and Tessie had a great time.

Juan Tabo Cabin is a historic landmark at the western foot of the Sandias. It was headquarters for a Civilian Conservation Corps camp that included a number of buildings back in the 1930’s.

Why is it that Jen is always behind the camera?

Sanchez Farm Project

We’d been in New Mexico less than 2 months when Jen got involved with local community growers and volunteered me (Tree) and my trusty BCS to till up a plot in Sanchez Farm, a community garden that is beginning to take shape in the South Valley.

Below are pictures of me tilling an area for planting rasberries, fruit trees and some garlic. John Shipley (in the red shirt), a farmer originally from Missouri, along with La Plazita Institute - a not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating authentic sustainable opportunities for cultural practices and economic, educational and community development - is spearheading the effort to make the Bernalillo county-owned property a beautiful, welcoming space for gathering, growing food and enjoying open space.

Check out New Mexico’s clear blue sky! Having grown up in the northeast, I still can not get over it.

Burning Our Fears

Jen and I wrote down our fears on a piece of paper and tossed them into the stomach of El Kookooee, a 25 ft effigy of New Mexico’s bogeyman. A South Valley ritual for the past 18 years, the burning of El Kookooee takes place during the Festival de Otono, a celebration of fall and the end of the farming season. Here are some photos of us and the community watching our fears burn away on Sunday, October 28.