image courtesy of flickr user immolation scene

Sadly, my local Farmers’ Market over in Mount Pleasant shut down for the season about a month and a half ago.  Only 4 blocks away, it was incredibly convenient way to find fresh and often organic fresh fruits and vegetables.  Since then, I have attempting to scour my local grocery (Giant) for my local and organic fare.

I hasn’t been easy.  Over the past year, all sorts of organic produce has been appearing on the shelves, mostly under the brand “Nature’s Promise”.  Better than conventional, and of course more expensive, it’s still industrial farmed organic, so I have trust issues with it.  Plus, there’s still plenty of items Giant doesn’t carry organic - sweet potatoes, pears, green beans. Very frustrating.

So this weekend I have resolved to brave the cold and head over to one of the take-no-prisoners-open-all-year Farmers’ Markets and find out what the true believers are selling.  My suspicion is that there will be lots of root vegetables and baked goods.  The former is better than buying at Giant, the latter ridiculously over priced.  Will let you know what I harvest.

So I was all excited to go down and check out the opening of the White House Farmers Market this afternoon.  Yes, its yucky and rainy, but hordes of people showed up, many in their work clothes, indicating they snuck off for an hour from the job just to come check out the kickoff.

The White House farmers market was your run-of-the-mill farmers market.  Except for the secuirty line, metal detectors, and lots of serious guys with little wires coming out of their ears. Other than, perfectly normal.

I, of course, forgot to charge my camera, so instead I got a single shot off of my blackberry.

That’s Michelle, Secretary Vilsack, and Mayor Fenty speechifying for all us farmer markets groupies.  But don’t take my work for it, go over to Obama Foodaroma for the good shots.

This is by far the smartest, most innovative way to make the farm to fork connection I’ve seen so far.  They call it an Online Farmers Market. It’s run by Start Hollow Farm in Pennsylvania, and they offer a design-your-own CSA box.  There’s no requirement to buy each week, nor do you have to spend a specific amount. They offer everything from peashots to shiitake mushrooms to apple cider.  Pick what every you want and they create a box for you that you can then go pick up in a central location. Essentially its the Peapod of farmers markets.

The Problem:

The state spends tens of billions of dollars on imported food, much of which already is or could be grown in state, and exports its own farm produce. Local food systems developed at the community level have flourished—in the last decade, the number of farmers’ markets in Illinois has grown from 97 to 270, while the number of community-supported agriculture organizations, groups that sell shares of farm harvests directly to consumers, has more than quadrupled. But large consumers—like hospitals, museums, restaurants, grocery stores, corporate kitchens, schools, and universities—have found it difficult to procure local food in the quantities they need. And, many inner-city and rural communities in Illinois lack access to grocery stores, markets, or other sources of fresh, healthy foods.

The Solution:

Specifically, the legislation sets up a grown-in-Illinois label and certification program, directs state agencies to purchase at least 20 percent of their food locally by 2020, and allows them to pay premium prices for local food. One particular goal is to increase the amount of local food served in public schools.

The law also establishes a new agency that will encourage farmers to grow food for local markets and will help build the statewide distribution networks needed to get their fresh produce to the people who want to eat it.

Pretty cool.  Check out the whole article on how Illinois is trying to go local by Brooke Jarvis over at Yes! Magazine.

And its coming soon - opens next Thursday!

Some times politicians aren’t just talk.  Turns out the Obamas meant it when they said they wanted a White House Farmers market.  It has been reported that the First Lady has submitted an application for a street closure about 1 block away from the White House for Thursdays between 1pm and 8pm.

The time a place have some good advantages. The farmers market would still be extrememly close to the White House, but far enough away to make the Secret Service happy.  The block in question doesn’t get much traffic anyways because it dead ends into Lafayette Park, which is on the other side of Pennsylvania in front of the White House.

The Park provides good spill over for crowds.  The timing will also keep the crowd situation down.  DC is largely a tourist weekend stop, so having it on Thursday should cut down on roving bands of ameteurs photographers.  Plus, DC is chock full of weekend farmers markets, having one during the week will create more options for the residents.

So Obama wants a farmers market outside of the White House.  I figured it was so overplayed I wasn’t going to write about it here.  Even if this endeavor comes to fruitition, do you really think anyone is going to be rubbing elbows with Barack over the best bunch of kale?  Secret Service must already be developing stress ulcers.

That being said, people are getting (overly) excited about this idea.  And everyone has an opinion.  Even Ben Buchwalter from Mother Jones, who seems to think he has the recipe for success.  As he claims, all Obama has to do is:

Booths must provide free samples. And I’m not just talking about peaches. A farmers’ market has got to be more than a place for people to buy produce. Consumers need to roam freely to get a feel for the lay of the land before making buying decisions. Free samples of bread, veggies, and hummus-type spreads make this possible.

Don’t try to sell me $8 eggs. Yes, it’s important to buy products that come from humane farms. But some studies have even shown that cage-free eggs may not be “all they’re cracked up to be.” And you can find organic, humane eggs for a reasonable price.

How about some hot meal options? After a good hour of farmers’ market roaming, I tend to work up an appetite and a red pepper just doesn’t cut it. But farmers’ markets are often tempted to bring in chains so that they can charge higher booth fees. Including Chipotle or Panda Express is a quick way to destroy the market’s legitimacy.

And throw some live music in there for good measure. But President Obama, resist the urge to go for star power. I don’t want to see Bono and Mary J. Blige headlining the main stage at your farmer’s market. Like the vendors at the market, the live musicians should be locals.

So let me quickly explain why Ben should not quit his day job and open a stand in Dupont Market.

1. Nobody has to provide anything, and trust me no one wants a bite of raw onion.  But product samples are always welcome. BTW - I’ve yet to find a local farmers market that sells homegrown hummus.  This is DC not Tel Aviv.
2. I agree on the eggs.  Its true that DC area farmers markets are over priced and its the most obvious in the egg prices.
3. Apparently you, unlike me, has never tried to beg the fresh crab cake guys to cook up a serving for me while I shop.  They won’t do it.  Requires all sorts of licensing that’s just not worth it.
4. Live music is always fun.  Can I recommend Bonjour, Ganesh!?

So says Science Daily.  But only if you’re female.

Seriously, though, this is not that surprising.  If you live in a food desert and the only place near you to shop is the convenience store on the corner or the gas station down the street, where do you think those food stamps are going to be spent? Two things can be done here:

1) Subsidize farmers markets to be launched in areas defined as food deserts.

2) Double or triple the value of food stamps that are spent on fresh fruits and vegetables.

Of course, Big Food would never let our government do that.

Care2 has partnered with LocalHarvest.org to ask America which Farmers Market they love best.  All summer, Farmers Market fans are encouraged to vote for their favorite Farmers Market.  The top vote-getter will receive a $5,000 grant. Not a bad way to support your local Farmers Market with the click of a button.

In many ways, the Farmers Market is the front line of the food movement - its where many people learn to reconnect with their food.  It’s great that Care2 - an organization with 10 million members gets it:

“This is the best time to support America’s farmers markets,” said Randy Paynter, president and founder of Care2.com. “More and more Americans are taking an interest in local foods, sustainable farming and healthy eating. Care2 is proud to reward the farmers markets that our members love, and to grow the local food movement, one vote at a time.”

“People across the country are rediscovering the benefits of local food,” said Erin Barnett, Director of LocalHarvest.org. “Not only is the food at your farmers market fresher, tastier, and better for the environment, it’s also good for your local economy. By supporting farmers markets, we support family
farmers and help them stay in business.”

I think its great that so many farmers markets now accept food stamps.  However, the story does bring up a bigger question - why the heck does the set up for accepting food stamps cost so much?  $1100 for the machine is $1050 too much.  Way not OK.

Some gorgeous shots of fabulous produce, courtesy of the New York Times.

Today I got a smaller haul at my local Farmers Market, but it was still delicious.

Locally-grown shrimp (in Michigan!)

- 1/2 lbs of large fresh shrimp, grown and harvested locally at The Shrimp Farm Market, the country’s only inland shrimp farm. ($5)

- 1 small bag of freshly popped kettle corn from JW Kettle Corn ($3)

- 1 pint of fresh, locally grown raspberries ($4)

- 1 pint shelled peas, locally grown ($3)

- 4 oz of “Ohhh Maple” Chevre (goat cheese) from Greenbush Farms, a certified environmentally-conscious  local farm. The cheese is flavored with maple syrup, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves ($5)

- 2 zucchini, locally-grown ($1)

- 1 quart of locally grown Michigan cherries ($5)

- 1 lbs of hot Italian sausage, made with locally-grown, sustainable grass-fed, dry-aged beef from McLaughlin Farms Ltd ($6.75)

Total spent: $32.75

While it may seem high, I’ve noticed that what I’m spending at the grocery store has significantly gone down. Frankly, I’d much rather spend my money supporting local agriculture at a Farmer’s Market than at a supermarket that’s shipping in foods from out of state, and in some cases, out of the country.

Not a bad day at the Farmers Market! (h/t to Betsy for the fabulous food photos of our trip today!)

2 artichokes - $2 ($1 a piece)

sugar babies watermellon, small - $4

2 pints of jalepenos - $5 ($3 each)

1 yellow onion - $1

2 cucumbers - $1 ($.50 each)

carrots - $3

2 red onions - $2

2 nectarines - $2 ($3.49/lb)

3 peaches - $2.75 ($3.49/lb)

What you got?

“I want to be a farmer when I grow up” is not something people hear much anymore.  Or at least until recently. Within the past year or two, there has been a huge surge of interest by twenty- and thirty-somethings in going back to the land. One of the early indications that a movement was stirring was a isn’t-this-odd article in the style section of the New York Times in March 2008.

Raised on the Upper East Side by a father who is a foundation executive and a mother who writes about criminal justice, Mr. Shute graduated from Amherst and worked for an antihunger charity. But something nagged at him. To learn about food production, he had volunteered at a farm in Massachusetts. He liked the dirt, the work and the coaxing of land long fallow into producing eggplant and garlic.

He tried growing strawberries on his roof in Brooklyn, but it didn’t scratch his growing itch.

And so last week, Mr. Shute could be found here, elbow-deep in wet compost two hours north of New York City, filling greenhouse trays for onion seeds. Along with a partner, Miriam Latzer, he runs Hearty Roots, a 25-acre organic farm.

And now USA Today on young farmers has taken the next step in the evolution of recogninition that this may just be more than a rare oddity.  This may actually be the beginning of a sea change:

There was a conference for beginning farmers at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in New York in November. “We thought if 50 or 70 people showed up, that would be great,” Kirschenmann says. “The day of the conference we had 170 there.”

At a “young farmers’ mixer” last month in northern Vermont, “we were thinking we’d have 40 or 50,” says Tom Stearns of the Center for an Agricultural Economy in Hardwick. But 150 showed up, some from as far away as New York.

When the average age of farmers in the country is 57, people sit up and take notice when 150 young farmers show up. The key word amoung this set is sustainability. The environment is cited as a much more important issue for those under 30 compared to older voters. While these new career paths might scare their parents, young farmers point to farming as being a much more fulfilling path even if it’s not necessarily the most lucrative.

This career choice can be a tough sell to parents who might have envisioned a more lucrative calling for their kids, he says. “I speak on campuses all the time and (see) the passion among college students for agriculture — and I’m talking about Ivy League schools, I’m talking about Brown and Yale,” he says. “It must be scaring the hell out of their parents.”

Farming actually is a good fit for many graduates, Philpott says. “There’s very little to do for educated college graduates besides sit in a cubical and punch (a) computer all day,” he says. “Small-scale farming is management-intensive. It’s an incredibly intellectual exercise, but you’re also getting your hands in the dirt — that’s why it’s so attractive. There’s a hunger for that.”

As I do most Tuesdays on my lunch hour, I headed over to the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market in downtown San Francisco. It may have been a typical foggy and cold summer day by the bay, but the fruit and vegetable bounty was looking pretty nice. Here’s what I saw:

Strawberries  -  $3.50 / basket or $9 for three baskets (basket = big pint)
Raspberries & Blackberries - $3.50 / half pint
Baby leeks - $1.50 / bunch (~5 leeks per bunch)
Bontje new potatoes - $2.50 / lb
Redjack cherries - $4.75 / lb
Peaches / Plums / Apricots - $3.00 / lb
Early girl tomatoes - $3 / lb
Little gem lettuces - $6 / lb

Plenty of other goodies, but a lot of it you see year-round here, like greens, peas, and carrots. Everything I priced was organic.

Here’s my take for the week:

green beans - $5 (1 basket, ~1/2 lb)

yellow grape tomatoes - $4 (1 basket, ~1/3 lb)

summer squash - $2 (3 med size)

lettuce - $3 (1 basket, ~1/2 lb)

purslane - $3 (1/2 lb)

carrots - $3 (1 bunch, baby)

nasturium - $1 (1 plant)

rosemary - $2 (1 plant)

total: $23

How about you guys?  What did your bounty look like this week?