Garden Season Spring 2022

Local Food News – Spring 2022

QUOTES FOR THOUGHT

-*Sustainability is a political choice, not a technical one. It’s not a question of whether we can be sustainable, but whether we choose to be” By Gary Lawrence

-*“Anything else you’re interested in is not going to happen if you can’t breathe the air and drink the water. Don’t sit this one out. Do something. You are by accident of fate alive at an absolutely critical moment in the history of our planet.” By Carl Sagan

-*-“Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man.” By Stewart Udall

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FOOD WORD– Chit – to chit your potatoes comes from the EU and means to set out potatoes in a warm place to sprout and fatten the eyes (rather than have them grow leggy (my experience) before planting.

 

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-Indiana Bee School XX – Feb. 26,2022 - Beekeepers of Indiana Tomorrow

https://indianabeekeeper.com/

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-Almanac’s Planting Calendar

-Organic Seed Production course set for March 20^th, 2022

https://seedalliance.org/news/

-Indiana Vegetable Planting Calendar

The Almanac has a great list for when to start seeds, when to transplant and when to directly sow seeds.

-Planting Calendar - https://www.almanac.com/gardening/planting-calendar/IN/Indianapolis

Vegetable Gardening Information - Indiana Vegetable Planting CalendarVegetable Gardening Information

 

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 Spring!!! May it bring lots of clarity, healing and gardens of abundance!

The last few years, I have been finding a new way for me to garden. I appreciate the Seminole Squash and kale growing that has been done on my behalf! Into to the yard garden, I planted a Yacon, Earth Apple after having it circle my awareness for decades. Each time I read about it, it called to mind those living with diabetes, and more recently my attempts at creating accessible sweets with coconut sugar and agave. Although it did not produce any little sunflower like flowers (I think because it was planted so late in the season), I was able to harvest and save the plants through the winter! This year, I plan to grow many of them in containers. I’ll see how that goes.

The bulk of my gardening has been done in containers. Last year, I tested out a few very old seeds and to my amazed joy, ended up growing out a container of the beautiful Whippoorwill Peas! I also grew and saved a few other heirloom beans; started Black Hollyhocks, grew a long living kale, strawberries, a few herbs and flowers for a variety of uses including tea, seasonings and botanical dye.

 

whippoorwill peas 

These peas came to america along with enslaved african peoples.   this Pre-1700s heirloom variety is drought-tolerant and will grow in almost all soils. 5 ft. vines produce extended harvests of 7-9 in. green pods. These Small seeds are light brown with dark speckles.

 

I am waiting to see how the kale made it through the winter out in the unheated greenhouse. The Resina Calendula self-seeded so well, I potted up the seedlings and covered them with bubble wrap and placed on a top shelf inside of the greenhouse near a potted tier of strawberries, also with the bubble wrap tent around it. The plants seem to be alive and the strawberries had ripe fruit on the plants into December!

Container garden season has continues through the winter with my choosing to focus on my houseplants as pets. Oh my! So much cleaning to prepare for recovery after my benign neglect! I have had to learn so much, sometimes , it was beginning with plant identification, because after twenty to thirty and more years, who knew where the original name tags were.

With the houseplants, food for my spirit and recent seasons of explorations into container gardening, I am learning and having a few detour food adventures that have led me into what I hope is not a food rabbit hole; Dragon Fruit! I love the Hylocereus Megalanthus, Yellow Dragon Fruit for eating and the amazing color of the red fruits. Many people really enjoy the fragrant quality of the red. I have become a Dragon Fruit Mama!

It is spring, a time to begin again. May we begin with love and appreciation for our earth mother and grow something, offer care to some aspect of our natural home and if possible, save a seed or two.

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I am saddened when I recall the seed varieties being saved and available in the seventies and eighties and see fewer of them in the seed catalogs. Foods, seed varieties available a hundred years past have fallen out of memory and have not been maintained in our seed repositories.

What are the best plants to grown in our gardens? The best plants will always be heirlooms; heirlooms are plants that have stood the test of time in relationship to our bioregion and grown in the region. This may become even more important as climates shift with global warming.

When purchasing seeds, go with open pollinated heirloom varieties because these seeds are our genetic seed heritage, and organic when possible, because less damage to our environment occurs with organic and biodynamic gardening systems.

I am uplifted and hopeful because of the work of preservation taken on by individuals in all places of our earth!

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“If this country is to survive, the best-fed-nation myth had better be recognized for what it is: propaganda designed to produce wealth but not health” ~ Adelle Davis

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Summer Savory Seedlings

What are cool-season vegetables?

They are plants perfect for springtime weather. They can withstand light frosts and nighttime temperatures above 40 degrees, but hot temperatures (above 80 degrees) will cause them to go to seed and taste bitter.

Plant cool-season crops two to four weeks before the last frost; around May 15 in the north and April 23 in the south.  It is a great time to also begin your herbs.

You may plant radishes, lettuces, spinach, beets and any kind of peas and carrots from seed simply by reading the package directions. For broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and onions, just buy plants to pop in the ground. Other green veggies to try include parsnips, turnips, Swiss chard, kale and collards.

https://www.purdue.edu/hla/sites/yardandgarden/publication/spring-gardening-stories/

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-Living Roots Farm and Organic Farm School

https://www.livingroots.org/

-Places to visit in Indiana - https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/indiana/spring-garden-in/

-Indiana Organic Gardeners Association

https://www.gardeningnaturally.org/

-Indiana Grown - https://www.indianagrown.org/

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Wylie House Museum to lead Indiana Heirloom Seed Savers Showcase and Exchange March 5, 2022

 

Wylie House Seed Show Case and Exchange 

 

In 2021, the Wylie House Museum was caretaking a variety of herbs and flowers – the list is here:

https://libraries.indiana.edu/2021-seed-list#content

 

Yacon in the fall

QUESTION – What is a Yacon? 

Yacon root looks like a sweet potato, but it has a completely different taste, texture, and nutrient profile. This tuber has a creamy white-yellow color and a uniquely refreshing taste that's similar to apple, watermelon, and celery combined. Unlike a sweet potato, yacon is often eaten raw and contains no starch.

Yacon root, or Smallanthus sonchifolius, comes from the Andean mountains of South America, growing as far north as Colombia and as far south as Argentina. Yacon is sometimes called strawberry jicama as the two root vegetables are similar. Other common names for yacon are Peruvian ground apple, poire de terre, yacon strawberry, and Bolivian sunroot.

 

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 ~Seed Savers Alliance

https://seedalliance.org/2021/can-i-save-my-seed/

~Indiana Organic Gardener’s Association

https://www.gardeningnaturally.org/

-Check out the Seed Savers Exchange for great resources - https://www.seedsavers.org/ and seek our certified organic open pollinated seed sources.

Saving Heirloom Seeds Can Protect Crop Diversity

By Helen Anne Curry, The Conversation

Beyond seed banks, saving seeds and cultivating local varieties may help feed us in our climate-changed future—and preserve them for future generations. 

https://civileats.com/2022/01/27/op-ed-saving-heirloom-seeds-can-protect-crop-diversity/

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-Ark of Taste in the USA

Since 1996, more than 3,500 products from over 150 countries have been added to the International Ark of Taste. Over 200 of these foods are from the USA, and we are always seeking more edible treasures to include. 

https://slowfoodusa.org/ark-of-taste/

 

-Brown County Seed Project

https://www.facebook.com/BrownCountySeedProject

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-Heirloom SEED SWAP – JANUARY 28^th, 2023

https://hcmga.org/public-education/heirloom-seeds-program/seed-swap

 

Perhaps there will be more Seed Swaps to list!

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IN FOOD NEWS

~We lose a vital resource with every heirloom that goes extinct and threaten our food supply. Heirloom vegetables are vital to our future and yet they have been disappearing by the hundreds since the USDA’s catalog of foods in the early 1900’s.

 

-List of 12 Common Foods that May Become Extinct Due to Climate Change

https://spoonuniversity.com/lifestyle/these-12-foods-may-become-extinct-in-our-lifetimes

~Are we eating ourselves to extinction?

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/sep/17/are-we-eating-ourselves-to-extinction

 

~Titanium Dioxide Ban from foods in EU

Prof Maged Younes, Chair of EFSA’s expert Panel on Food Additives and Flavourings (FAF), said: “Taking into account all available scientific studies and data, the Panel concluded that titanium dioxide can no longer be considered safe as a food additive. A critical element in reaching this conclusion is that we could not exclude genotoxicity concerns after consumption of titanium dioxide particles. After oral ingestion, the absorption of titanium dioxide particles is low, however they can accumulate in the body”. 

https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/news/titanium-dioxide-e171-no-longer-considered-safe-when-used-food-additive

Further information - Titanium dioxide ban comes into force, companies have six months to adjust

https://www.foodingredientsfirst.com/news/titanium-dioxide-ban-comes-into-force-companies-have-six-months-to-adjust.html

~Roundup Cancer Lawsuit - Monsanto Roundup Lawsuit

Monsanto Roundup weed killer is supposed to kill weeds but instead it could be causing cancer and killing people

On Thursday, February 24 2022 at 10:00 AM there will be a hearing about Roundup Products Liability Litigation MDL No. 02741 with The honorable judge Vince Chhabria (Applegate v. Bayer AG, Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings).

Investors are demanding nearly $2.5 billion from Bayer AG in a potential German class-action lawsuit over Bayer’s $63 billion acquisition of U.S. company Monsanto. The investors claim that Bayer deceived them about the risks of pending U.S. consumer lawsuits related to Monsanto’s infamous Roundup weed-killer.

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/bayer-bid-to-end-roundup-suits-draws-u-s-supreme-court-inquiry

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~Community Resources

 

-Food Pantries Bloomington, Indiana Area

https://www.foodpantries.org/ci/in-bloomington

-Peoples Market – Bloomington

https://www.peoplesmarketbtown.org/

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-Bloomington Community Orchard

https://bloomingtoncommunityorchard.org/site/

-Bloomington Community Gardens

https://bloomington.in.gov/parks/community-gardening

“Anything else you’re interested in is not going to happen if you can’t breathe the air and drink the water. Don’t sit this one out. Do something. You are by accident of fate alive at an absolutely critical moment in the history of our planet.” By Carl Sagan

#seedsaver #open pollinated #certified organic #heirloom #bioregion #seedsaving #bees #foodnews #communityfood #seeds #containergardening #wipperwillpea #seminolesquash #localfoodbloomingtonindiana #garden #roundup #titaniumdioxide

#bloomington #localeats #springgarden #hopireddyeamaranth #dragonfruit #peoplesmarket

Local Food Update and Going Forward

 

It’s really weird how things happen. Sometime after the previous posting, I was locked out of my Blogger. I thought I would never get in; I’d reached a point where I could only hope that Blogger would eventually delete the blog. Finally, after not attempting sign in for many weeks, I decided to go at it once again, and yes, I am here because I was able to finally receive that G-code. I didn’t want the previous posting to be the last thing published to this Local Food blog. 

This post is sort of about food, but of the kind of food that supports the spirit and mental well being of community. 

I begin again. Kroger – the problem being attributed to the technological malfunctioning. Specific questions I posed to the representative employee were responded to by referring me to their corporate statement. It took a while before I could enter any of their stores again; and I seek to never be in store alone, and my exit is slow to make sure that the “machines” have okayed my purchase. May my experience, and Kroger’s offering results and understandings, be experienced through all Kroger management connections. May all the minds and hearts involved be open to healing and healed. 

What a shit storm we are currently living through as our nation goes through a world pandemic and an important social and political recconing! I have always, yes, always believed that we (holding to our national principles) could face our misrepresented past with truth and integrity and not fall prey to the bulley pulpet and adopt true national history atrocities. I never on my worst days imagined that I would live to see persons who say they are for the US move forth an insurrection; and that even as I write this some who do not show support of our democratic principles are attempting to rewrite the story. Perhaps Alzheimers or fear has taken hold on these politicians, and they have forgotten oaths taken to stand for the people, and pledges made to their constituents and the nation, and now with clay feet can set aside truth, honor and justice to censure truth speakers. 

Our nations tattered past story is being outed and presented for the cast system it is. I recall asking a history teacher back in the sixties what the difference was between India’s cast system and the legislated systemic system in the US. They looked the same to me. I was told that I did not understand. Even then, I knew that it was she who did not understand. 

We, the people, have the opportunity to “do the work” to cleanse our nations palate and heal the dishonest and dishonerable past foundation story and replace it with truth. We have the stregnth necessary to do the tough inner and outer work for our national healing. Not an easy task in any way, yet essential that we reach for it. 

I think that the majority of people want a unified country and are willing to explore ways to heal and make this happen. Many understand that supression of others and is not an allowable option. Many realzie how much of their self has to be reduced (is shamed) to hold another down because when someone supresses another because of unconscious or conscious entitlement, they, the surpressor is holding themselves right down there too. 

It is time to let go of the shameful past story and actively reach for what I imagine most want; abundance of joy, love, kindness, health, home, community of wellbeing, regeneration and uplift for every home and on every plate in the kitchen. What a melting pot of a smorgasboard of resources we have to feast upon! 

It is clear that we as a nation, and planet are up against the wall and the “bozo’s”. The real vampires are coming out of closets ready to strike at any who threaten the green blood supply. Either we will love ourselves, love our children and theirs yet to come, love our country and our planet home enough to put our collective energies toward the care and necessary shift work to move this country forward and long term, so that we can continue as the human race. 

Those who cultivate division do so as a necessary distraction and thankfully, more people seem to recognize current actions targeting voting access as acts of desperation; attempts to limit the voice of the people. Acts of fear. Limiting the voice of the people by representatives who are supposed to be representing all constituents is, from my view a relinquishing of sworn national responsibilities so that unsustainable ideas and institutions can continue grasping to ideas that are infertile seeds. 

 Our nation stood against the cast system of India and the segregation within South Africa and continue to wage wars all over the globe in the name of democratic principles (and resources). I have watched, I have listened, and I have questioned and asked through more than half a century of decades, when will the same efforts for justice and equality be taken by the US government to secure the rights of American citizens whether Indigeneous, stollen into slavery or imigrant? Silence regarding unequal treatment is never an option. We as a nation have a great opportunity to love forward. 

Our energies can go toward connecting, healing, stregnthening and rejuvination. I think that most people are ready to balance and heal the collective spirit of this nation because many still hold to an American Dream. Our nations principles are held as an ideal to work toward. I hope that we understand that a shadow will remain across our country as long as we do not not look honestly at our historical past and actively allow the nation’s healing to begin. 

New humanstory books are being written to offer a truthful and inclusive American foundation and development story. Someday, sooner than later, I hope that America will get over fear of its real back story; that we as a nation can move forward with the real American her/history in the hands of all of our students. We are more together. Together, we human beings, have a potential beyond extinction; we have the potential for regeneration and the creation of an amazing country fruited by our collective efforts. 

There is much work to be done. Let’s make steaming piles of compost out of fear, deception, ignorance and hate. Feed a love that nurtures heart, mind, body, family, community, country, planet; there is much love; yes there is love in action here in America, and upon the earth. Our survival as a species depends on our being a loving kind, the health of our nation depends on us growing up, growing together, and becoming a regenerative loving kind. 

End Note: 63 Suffragists of Color Quilt, a commemorative quilt made in celebration of suffragist was recently on exhibit in the Grunwald Gallery in the Eskanazi Museum with a Voters Timeline for People of Color. You can read a little about the quilt here. https://quilterscomfort.blogspot.com/ 

 

 

Key words Kroger, voting, cooperation, healing, regeneration, community, love more, government, voting, compost, local food, local food bloomington, @localfoodbloomington, Indiana, food shopping, hope, collaboration, environment, quilt, Eskanazi Museum, Grunwald Gallery, suffragists

Growing for Seed, N.A. Sustainable Foods Summit 2019 & 39th EcoFarm Conference

 Growing for Seed: Small Scale Production & Seed Saving

January 15, 2019, 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m - FREE | Viva Farms Ag Park | 16470 Washington 20 | Mount Vernon, Washington - Join OSA’s Micaela Colley and hosts Viva Farms for an evening workshop on small scale seed production and seed saving. Gain the tools you need to start growing and saving seed with a focus on work with culturally significant varieties. Spanish translation will be available. 

The workshop will be held on January 15, 2019, and is being offered free of charge thanks to support from the New Field Foundation Seeds, Soil and Culture Fund. Pre-registration is requested.  https://seedalliance.org/events/seed-production-mt-vernon/

The North American Sustainable Foods Summit will be hosted in San Francisco on 16-17th January 2019. Other editions in this international series will take place in Latin America (São Paulo, 29-30th November), Europe (Amsterdam, 13-14th June 2019) and the Asia-Pacific. Each edition will bring together some of the most influential organizations involved in sustainability and eco-labels in the food industry. 

The aim of the Sustainable Foods Summit is to explore new horizons for eco-labels and sustainability in the food industry by discussing key industry issues. 

• How do organic, fairtrade and other eco-labeling schemes further sustainability? 

• With growing proliferation in labels, what are the prospects for a single sustainability standard for food products? 

• What are the practical application of sustainability metrics? 
• What advances are occurring in sustainable ingredients? 
• What developments are happening in formulation, production and marketing of sustainable food and beverages? 

Such questions are regularly addressed at this international series of summits.
The Sustainable Foods Summit is devised for key stake-holders in the food industry that include:

• Food & beverage companies
• Packaging companies
• Academics & researchers
  

• Ingredient & raw material suppliers
• Industry organizations & NGOs
• Investors & financiers
  

• Retailers & distributors
• Certification agencies
• Other stake-holders
  

Please contact us for more details. http://www.sustainablefoodssummit.com/northamerica/contact-us/

Organized by Ecovia Intelligence (formerly Organic Monitor), the Sustainable Foods Summit is a climate-neutral event. The carbon footprint of each edition is determined by calculating the carbon and greenhouses gases. These emissions are offset by investing in soil composting and / or related projects.

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39th Annual EcoFarm Conference

 

January 23, 2019 - January 26, 2019 

The Ecological Farming Association (EcoFarm) presents the 39th annual EcoFarm Conference January 23-26, 2019 in Pacific Grove, CA. 

The event features 70+ workshops, intensives, keynote sessions, an exhibitor marketplace, and special events including an annual awards banquet, tastings, seed swap, live entertainment, and organic culinary fare. Workshops offer practical and cutting-edge information on crop production, livestock, soil health, marketing, distribution, and food systems. 

As the oldest and largest organic farming conference in the West, EcoFarm is a prime networking and educational hub for farmers, ranchers, distributors, retailers, activists, researchers, and educators.  https://eco-farm.org/conference