La Vida Locavore is the blog for anyone whose crazy life includes planting, growing, weeding, fertilizing, raising, picking, harvesting, processing, cooking, baking, making, serving, buying, selling, distributing, transporting, composting, organizing around, lobbying about, writing about, thinking about, talking about, playing with, and eating food!
Agriculture
Chair: Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
- Max Baucus (D-MT)
- Michael Bennet (D-CO)
- Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
- Bob Casey (D-PA)
- Kent Conrad (D-ND)
- Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
- Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
- Pat Leahy (D-VT)
- Ben Nelson (D-NE)
- Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
- Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
- Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- John Cornyn (R-TX)
- Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
- Mike Johanns (R-NE)
- Dick Lugar (R-IN)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Pat Roberts (R-KS)
- John R. Thune (R-SD)
Appropriations
Chair: Daniel Inouye (D-HI) Ag Sub-Committee
Chair: Herb Kohl (D-WI)
- Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
- Dick Durbin (D-IL)
- Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
- Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- Tim Johnson (D-SD)
- Ben Nelson (D-NE)
- Jack Reed (D-RI)
- Robert Bennett (R-UT)
- Christopher Bond (R-MO)
- Sam Brownback (R-KS)
- Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Arlen Specter (R-PA)
Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions
- Chris Dodd (D-CT)
Agriculture
Chair: B Collin Peterson (D-MN)
V. Chair: B Tim Holden (D-PA)
B Joe Baca (D-CA)
- John Boccieri (D-OH)
B* Leonard Boswell (D-IA)
- Bobby Bright (D-AL)
B* Dennis Cardoza (D-CA)
- Travis Childers (D-MS)
B Jim Costa (D-CA)
- Henry Cuellar (D-TX)
- Kathy Dahlkemper (D-PA)
B Brad Ellsworth (D-IN)
- Debbie Halvorson (D-IL)
B Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD)
- Steve Kagen (D-WI)
- Larry Kissell (D-NC)
B Frank Kratovil (D-MD)
- Betsy Markey (D-CO)
B Jim Marshall (D-GA)
P Eric Massa (D-NY)
B Mike McIntyre (D-NC)
- Walt Minnick (D-ID)
B Earl Pomeroy (D-ND)
- Mark Schauer (D-MI)
- Kurt Schrader (D-OR)
B David Scott (D-GA)
B Zachary Space (D-OH)
- Timothy Walz (D-MN)
- Frank Lucas (R-OK)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- K. Michael Conaway (R-TX)
- Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)
- Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
- Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)
- Sam Graves (R-MO)
- Timothy Johnson (R-IL)
- Steve King (R-IA)
- Robert Latta (R-OH)
- Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO)
- Cynthia Lummis (R-WY)
- Jerry Moran (R-KS)
- Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)
- Phil Roe (R-TN)
- Mike Rogers (R-AL)
- Jean Schmidt (R-OH)
- Adrian Smith (R-NE)
- Glenn Thompson (R-PA) *=House Organic Caucus member B=Blue Dog Democrat
Appropriations
Chair: Dave Obey (D-WI) Ag Sub-Committee
Chair: P Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)
- Sanford Bishop (D-GA)
* Allen Boyd (D-FL)
- Lincoln Davis (D-TN)
*P Sam Farr (D-CA)
*P Maurice D. Hinchey (D-NY)
P Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)
P Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
- Jack Kingston (R-GA)
- Rodney Alexander (R-LA)
- Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO)
* Tom Latham (R-IA) *=House Organic Caucus member
P=Congressional Progressive Caucus
Education and Labor
P Chair: George Miller (D-CA)
- Jason Altmire (D-PA)
- Robert Andrews (D-NJ)
- Timothy Bishop (D-NY)
P Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
- Joe Courtney (D-CT)
- Susan Davis (D-CA)
P Marcia Fudge (D-OH)
P Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
P Phil Hare (D-IL)
- Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX)
P Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
- Rush Holt (D-NJ)
- Dale Kildee (D-MI)
P Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
P Dave Loebsack (D-IA)
- Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY)
P Donald Payne (D-NJ)
- Jared Polis (D-CO)
- Robert Scott (D-VA)
- Joe Sestak (D-PA)
- Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH)
P John Tierney (D-MA)
- Dina Titus (D-NV)
- Paul Tonko (D-NY)
P Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)
- David Wu (D-OR)
- Buck McKeon (R-CA)
- Judy Biggert (R-IL)
- Rob Bishop (R-UT)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- Michael Castle (R-DE)
- Vernon Ehlers (R-MI)
- Luis F Fortuno (R-PR)
- Brett Guthrie (R-KY)
- Peter Hoekstra (R-MI)
- Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA)
- John Kline (R-MN)
- Kenny Marchant (R-TX)
- Tom McClintock (R-CA)
- Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)
- Thomas Petri (R-WI)
- Phil Roe (R-TN)
- Todd Russell Platts (R-PA)
- Tom Price (R-GA)
- Mark Souder (R-IN)
- GT Thompson (R-PA)
- Joe Wilson (R-SC) P=Congressional Progressive Caucus
I'm now the proud mother of 4 baby fig trees! Back in January, I attended a fruit tree propagation workshop, which I wrote about on this blog. I came home from the workshop with 6 fig tree cuttings, 4 blackberry cuttings, 2 pomegranate cuttings, and 2 dragon fruit cuttings. The goal was to wait for each of them to take root. And, so far, 4 of the figs have done so:
Fig tree cutting with roots and some vermiculite sticking to it
It took about 6 weeks to two months for it to happen, but it did. And it didn't happen like I thought it would. As you can see here, the roots grew out of the side of the cutting. I had assumed they would grow out the bottom. A few weeks ago, I found my first evidence of success. This cutting had a few roots growing from it. I tried to transplant it by sticking it into a pot of soil and I knocked the roots right off. Oops. I felt rather ashamed and disappointed, and I put the cutting back in the vermiculite, hoping it would grow some more roots.
Then about a week ago, three of the others grew roots. This time I transplanted them MUCH more carefully, gently holding them inside a mostly empty pot and adding soil around them so I wouldn't damage the roots. I moved them outdoors to a spot with very little sun. I did this for about an hour the first day, and then I brought them back in overnight before moving them back outside for good. Today I moved those three to a slightly sunnier spot. Then I checked this cutting to see if it had recovered, and it had - quite well actually! So I transplanted it as well (very gently this time!) and moved it outdoors to the same shady spot where I started the others. Cross your fingers and hope I don't kill my new baby trees!
As for the other plants, one of the dragonfruits was damaged by heavy rainfall, and one (perhaps two) of the blackberries became a cat toy. The others are just hanging out in moist vermiculate and hopefully growing some roots.
We've got our first real harvest this week! Behold, carrots and spring garlic:
I also plan to pick a bunch of stinging nettles, to round out tonight's celebratory meal. And there will be much more to come in the next few days. Tuesday, I noticed our very first baby sugarsnap pea:
We've now got several peas this size, but none are ready to eat yet. Still, they are getting close and I'm getting excited!
Apparently Americans are transfixed by the reality show Undercover Boss, a show in which a boss goes "undercover" to find out what average employees' lives are like on the job. In one show, a boss finds out that a woman who works on a garbage truck has to pee in a cup because the job doesn't allow for any breaks - not even to pee! As I heard this, I realized something. I've long wished more people would read the book Nickeled and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich, which tells of her experiences trying to make a living by working minimum wage jobs. But if you really want the American people to pay attention to something, I guess you have to turn it into a reality TV show. No doubt they are getting a good taste of what Ehrenreich says in her book as they watch Undercover Boss.
With this in mind, here are a few shows I'd like to see in the near future:
Survivor: In this show, the CEO of a company gets to experience the food poisoning his company's products give his customers. The most popular episode would no doubt be when Stewart Parnell, CEO of Peanut Corporation of America, eats his own tainted peanut butter and suffers from salmonella.
Farm Swap: Where an unsustainable farmer trades farms with a sustainable farmer. Imagine what would happen when a guy who farms 2000 acres of corn and soy in Iowa (and maybe owns a nice hog confinement with about 8000 hogs to go with it) trades farms for a week with someone who grows 40 acres of organic veggies and raises chickens on pasture.
Undercover Farmworker: In which people who eat foods go undercover and work in the fields alongside migrant workers picking tomatoes or strawberries. A spin-off version of this show could also feature international locations in which consumers go undercover among coffee and cocoa growers. Sadly, it would probably be illegal to have American children who love chocolate go undercover among child slaves on cacao plantations in Africa.
Ultimate School Lunch Makeover: In each episode, a school cafeteria that serves vile, unhealthy food will get a makeover to serve healthy, delicious, sustainable food to the kids.
Trading Lobbyists: In this show, two opposing sides of an issue will trade lobbyists (and lobbying budgets) for one week. Biotech and pesticide companies will find themselves stuck with no money and nothing more than a few homemade websites and blogs, while sustainable food advocates will suddenly find themselves armed with millions of dollars, corporate jets, the best PR firms in the nation, a full team of skilled lobbyists, access to powerful politicians, and front groups through which they can coordinate their campaigns.
I've had a great time in the Bay Area, and while the people were the best part of my trip, the food wasn't far behind. (In fact, if the people I've visited and met weren't so damn incredible, the food would have easily outranked them because oh my god it was good.) So I figured I might as well share with y'all what I've been eating, in case you've got a chance to visit too.
Dear Michelle Obama,
You are soooo missing it. Why bother inviting food companies to join Let's Move, your anti-obesity campaign? In most cases, the best thing these companies could do for our nation's health is go out of business.
For example, Coca-Cola and Pepsi could quit selling soda altogether since it has no place in a healthy diet. They could also quit selling water and encourage people to bring reusable water bottles and use drinking fountains, tap water, and water purifiers. Then they could quit selling juices and sports drinks and encourage people to eat whole fruits instead. PepsiCo, which sells food as well as beverages, could scrap pretty much it's entire product line except for Quaker Oats. Then McDonald's could quit selling food and drinks and keep the only redeeming part of its restaurants - the bathrooms. And quite honestly, short of doing that, these companies are still part of the problem. Anything "good" they do is merely making them less bad (but still bad).
And really, why SHOULD they do anything good. Businesses do not exist for the good of the American public. That's the government's job. Businesses are only around to make money. Government needs to set the rules of the game in a way that can best benefit the American people, and then businesses are going to play by those rules (which are mandatory, not voluntary, and imposed by governing bodies with the good of the American people at heart, not by corporate executives whose top concerns are quarterly profits) to try to make money. That's how it works. Asking corporations to voluntarily do good is a proven failure. It's a sad excuse for your failure to enact meaningful laws that benefit the people who elected you. Or in this case, your husband.
I've got a problem. I'm here in Berkeley, not far from where Frances Moore Lappe (mother of Anna Lappe) originally found the inspiration for Diet for a Small Planet and I'm supposed to be promoting my own book. Except what I really want to do is promote Anna Lappe's new book, Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It. I've been gushing about it since I first opened it and read the introduction a few days ago. I brought it here as plane and BART reading, and to be honest, I didn't have great expectations for it. Food and climate change has been an obvious and open and shut matter for me for a long time - so why would we need an entire book on the subject?
It's easy to get rbGH-free (rbST-free) milk nowadays. Even at Starbucks. Or, for that matter, Wal-Mart. Yogurt, too, since Yoplait and Dannon both went rbGH-free in the past year or so. Cheese has been pretty easy for a while since Tillamook's been rbGH-free for years and even Kraft decided to offer an rbGH-free line (now if only they'd get rid of the milk protein concentrate in their cheese too!). Whole Foods and Cabot also offer hormone free cheese. But how about ice cream?
Breyers and Dreyers have one thing in common, besides names that rhyme. Neither is rbGH-free, and thus far both have resisted consumer campaigns asking them to go rbGH-free. Nevermind that the artificial growth hormone is banned by Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and all 27 nations of the EU. And the American Public Health Association and American Nurses Association also officially oppose rBGH, and the former president of the AMA recommended that hospitals only serve rBGH-free milk. And that it's linked to some human cancers and increased human twinning. Plus, there's the increased rate of mastitis in cows injected in rbGH, which means more antibiotics... and more pus in the milk. (Yum. I'd like mine with some whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and a cherry on top.)
Breyers and Dreyer's are the two largest ice cream producers. Breyers, whose labels say "All natural," also includes Good Humor, Klondike Bars and Popsicle. Dreyer's includes Haagen Dazs, Nestle and Edy's.
Breyers and Dreyer's have already received thousands of messages asking them to go rBGH-free, but haven't responded yet. We know they're having discussions on this and every e-mail brings us one step closer to their doing the right thing. So here's what you can do:
Breyers:Email U.S. Ice Cream (which includes Breyers, Good Humor, Klondike Bars, and Popsicle) or call them using the numbers below:
BREYERS: (800) 931-2826
GOOD HUMOR: (800) 931-2854
KLONDIKE: (800) 931-2830
POPSICLE: (800) 931-2849
Dreyers: Email Dreyers (which includes Haagen Dazs, Nestle, and Edy's) or call:
DREYER'S (877) 437-3937
EDY's (888) 590-3397
NESTLE (800) 225-2270
HAAGEN DAZS (800) 225-2270
And in the meantime, eat organic ice cream or go for Ben & Jerry's (which is already rbGH-free).
For months now, Sen. Jim Bunning's had a hold on the confirmation of pesticide/biotech lobbyist Islam A. Siddiqui as America's Chief Agricultural Negotiator. Now we know why. This is hilarious, only it isn't really.
According to Congressional Quarterly, Bunning wants the U.S. Trade Rep Ron Kirk to stand up for tobacco. Yes, that's right. Canada has banned candy- and fruit-flavored cigarettes (note that is candy-flavored real cigarettes, not candy cigarettes) as they are seen to encourage young people to smoke. Bunning's upset because Canada's ban also applies to "regular cigarettes blended with flavoring ingredients to mask the harsh taste of burley tobacco." And which state is the largest producer of burley tobacco? Kentucky! The home state of Sen. Bunning.
Bunning wants Kirk to file a WTO complaint against Canada for this, which Kirk won't do. For that, Bunning is holding up any nominee that will work for Kirk, including Siddiqui.
In this case, I think it would be hard for me to agree that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. I certainly don't want Siddiqui and his pro-pesticide/biotech views in our government, and I'm both thrilled and amused that Bunning's the one keeping him out (at least temporarily). But how unbelievable that in 2010, a U.S. Senator would be taking such an action because he wants to promote tobacco!!!!
So... silly question: Should a workshop about "issues of concern to FARMERS" include presentations by farmers? Umm, maybe. According to the DOJ anyway. They've now amended the originally proposed schedule to include some farmer representation. Details below.
[Vicky] Poole and [Jack] Hamilton said the project is meant to be a bold statement about sustainability as well as a novel way to attract more people -- and their money -- to the mall.
"I know of no other urban garden in the country like this," said Hamilton about Gardens Under Glass. He hopes the project will grow every day.
Poole and Hamilton put in the first green stuff this week -- a 12-foot cart of lettuce and other greens near the Galleria's first-floor escalators. Their aim is to start an education center and store in a former candy shop, invite sustainable-product makers to display and sell their items, and sell produce to restaurants and individuals.
They dream of hosting school groups and teams of volunteer urban gardeners eager to work beds of herbs and greens and vine systems raised hydroponically, aquaponically and in organic soils. [...]
Within two weeks, two portable 6-by-12-foot beds will be installed on the first floor of the Galleria, where passers-by will watch greens grow.
"We'll be propagating seeds for that this week," said Poole. By summer, she expects lush banister mountings of greens and tomatoes. "It will be beautiful."
Of course, not every dead or declining shopping mall has a large glass roof. Here are some other good ideas for redeveloping shopping malls that are no longer viable as retail centers.
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