Op Ed: The Problem With GMOs
The fundamental problem with genetically engineered food crops in US soil today: rather than reduce pesticide inputs GMOs are causing them to skyrocket in amount and toxicity.
Category: Food Systems
Do-It-Yourself Seafood Traceability
“Seafood fraud” is big business and a big problem. Why wait for legislation and regulation? There are some simple steps you can take to avoid illegal, unreported, or mislabeled seafood now.
Seed is Life. Soil is Life. Water is Life.
The problem is this: seeds need a place to grow; not just a place to grow but also a place that matches the seed. Not a new place, but the pre-existing ecosystem where the seed was produced, or something that closely mimics the original ecology. The challenge then is to rediscover and restore as much of the local resiliency expressed in the natural ecosystems we have left and to replant the seed accordingly. The quality of the soil and water is as important as the seed; that is to say, without it (like we humans), the seed will die.
Good Flour Makes Good Bread
It’s time to be honest; so I’ll lay it all out right here. I’m into my third year of my 5-year plan to learn how to bake good bread, and somewhere around March this year, I lost my baking mojo! Every loaf that came out of the oven fell into two categories: brick or curling stone!
It Takes a Community to Save a Valley
Every year the Snoqualmie Valley Preservation Alliance throws a party – food, drink, dancing, music, and auctions – to raise money to be able to evaluate, monitor, and mitigate the effects of too much (and too little) water in the valley. Erick and Wendy Haakenson, Jubilee Biodynamic Farm, were this year’s hosts.
Summertime Grilling: Japanese Style
Modern consumers hold a deep – and false – belief that food, especially good food, real food, takes time. A lot of time… It simply doesn’t. I prepared a menu that took only 2 hours and fed five people for less than $50 – with leftovers!
What do you tell your daughter?
Raising a family is a challenge in itself; raising a family in Monrovia Liberia is fraught with difficulties of all kinds. For Nico Parkinson, raising a family in a city threatened by a deadly virus, Ebola, is not an option. As an aid worker for the Food and Enterprise Development Program for Liberia (USAID FED), Nico understood and accepted the risks of the job. He will not extend those risks to his family.
Why Organic Matters
Vermont organic growers on food and farming and building natural webs of biological communities. Growing and eating organic is better for the farmer, better for the animals, better for the environment, better for your health.