Good Food is Everybody's Business
Lori Stahlbrand, Founder and President of Local Food Plus, talks about the potential for institutional procurement of local and sustainable food. Local Food Plus is committed to creating local sustainable food systems that reduce reliance on fossil fuels, create meaningful jobs, and foster the preservation of farmland – and farmers.
Food co-ops are different and they fit more comfortably into small towns and unique neighborhoods. Because they reflect the values and principles of their owners and members they can differentiate themselves more easily. We offer you a look at six very different natural food co-ops. Each one has its own personality and each one is committed to buying products from local providers.
Foodie – that sometimes pejorative that hints at elitism – is just one more label applied to folks who seek out and eat good food. It turns out that those while rules are fading and labels aren’t as important, some labels are just plain fun – and descriptive! Here are a few more to explore.
Opie was a constant worry; he was determined to run over anything that moved. We wondered if he might have had a high fever when he was affected with founder, and that perhaps that could have caused changes to his brain and the change in behavior. Whatever, he was certainly a problem.
Eco-labels, as these are generally called, are a form of “transparency by proxy.” As we look to know and understand more and more about where and how the food we eat comes from and is prepared, we are depending on third party agencies to ensure that someone knows that the products have been grown, harvested, prepared, and delivered in ways that match certain performance criteria or standards.
Sometimes once just isn’t enough… you have to go back for more! We’ve visited Aphrodite Café and Pie Shop in Vancouver BC before, but we couldn’t pass up a second visit. Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love and beauty, what better model for a restaurant that serves meals and treats for omnivores, vegetarians, and vegans alike?
Shortly after we returned from Milwaukee the oats harvest was under way, loads of combined oats were being hauled in from the field, and blown into the grain bins in the granary. A substantial amount of grain was spilled on the ground during this process, so Opie had to be kept away from the area. We had been shutting the barnyard gate and letting him be loose in the barnyard, but now he had to be staked out again during the day. At night, some snow fence was set up around the spilled oats, and we shut the gate and turned Opie loose. Little did we suspect that as darkness fell, he was pushing his nose under the snow fence and eating oats.
We’re in the middle of the 2012 Farm Bill legislation negotiation, most of it conducted by city slickers who have no idea what small integrated family farms are up against. And, just this week, it was reported that the Washington Post had eliminated its food safety beat and the Des Moines Register had eliminated its Washington bureau, letting go long time ag correspondent Phil Brasher. I expect our news coverage of food and agriculture issues will soon begin to sound like this.
