From Dave Smith

Trick or Treat - Celebrity Pumpkins from History (The Ladybug Letter)
As a pumpkin farmer, I’m unqualified to draw a psychiatrist’s conclusions from these two stories, but hollowed out gourds have a long and honorable history of being used as vessels to carry water and food stuffs, so it’s no surprise they should also be filled with romance, myth and contradiction.

Cheese By Hand visits CKC Goat Dairy in Blanco, Texas
The whole family pitches in to support the CKC business. When we stopped by Chrissy’s father was busy painting the tasting room area that had just been completed. One of their local food heroes, Sibby Barrett is bringing a group of her culinary students out to the farm next weekend as part of her “Random Acts of Cooking” courses where the students visit a number of local farms and producers to gather the goods for their cooking lesson.

Tana at I Heart Farms Writes About Her Friends in San Diego
Just as I felt when watching images of Katrina flooding a city I love, I’m shaking and sad about the fires in San Diego, where I lived for six years. And where I’ve visited twice in the past two years, including visits to three beautiful little farms. I’ll show them here in more peaceful times, and may the prevailing winds soon shift.

Moo Juice - The Raw Versus The Cooked
I’m not much of a milk drinker. I rarely drink it by the glass, but I try to be mindful of what I put in my cereal or my coffee. I buy organic, I buy as local as possible, and I feel good about my choices. Early this fall, however, I found out that I was pregnant with my first child. And I started thinking about milk a little differently.

Organic Food a Far Better Health Option
Food produced organically have up to 40 percent more disease-fighting properties than non-organically grown produce, researchers have found. The research has revealed that milk from organic herds of cattle contained 90 percent higher levels of antioxidants than the milk from non-organic cattle - antioxidants are thought to prevent cancer and heart diseases. The study also revealed that organic food contained more beneficial minerals such as iron and zinc. According to Professor Carlo Leifert, the coordinator of the four-year study, the results of the research are useful because it demonstrates a way for people who do not eat the recommended portions of fruits and vegetables a day, to increase their intake of nutrients.

Why Healthy Foods Is The Least Expensive Option
If you haven’t already, I recommend that you read Michael Pollan’s book, the Omnivore’s Dilemma. Although I have some issues with the book, I believe Pollan has made some important contributions in raising the public’s awareness about our food chain, factory farming and how corn is in everything we eat and drink. Even the animals raised for meat are fed corn, with 80 percent of corn produced in the U.S. ending up as livestock feed. The rest is added to soda, burgers, chicken nuggets, chips, white breads, candy and all junk food in fast food restaurants and processed foods in grocery stores.

Winemaker a Pioneer in Organic Grapes
When Nick Lolonis used the powerful pesticide DDT in his vineyards in the early 1950s, it troubled him. He wanted to kill the bad bugs eating grapes in his Redwood Valley vineyard in Mendocino County, but the poison killed the good bugs, too. That’s when the seed was planted… to become a pioneer in growing organic grapes.

A Brief History of the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems
The Center’s history dates back to 1967, when English master gardener Alan Chadwick was hired to create a Student Garden Project on the fledgling University of California, Santa Cruz campus. Working only with hand tools and organic amendments, Chadwick and his student assistants transformed a steep, chaparral-covered hillside into a prolific garden bursting with flowers, vegetables, and fruit trees. The informal “apprenticeships” that students served with Chadwick would eventually lead to development of the Center’s current Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture training program.

Apartment Composting 101

Susan at Farmgirl Fare Does Onion-Rye Beer Bread
“Okay, you know I’m making this new beer bread. So I get the exploded beer all cleaned up off the counter and the floor, add enough water to the batter to make up for the beer I lost, put the pan in the oven, and am halfway done washing the dishes when I realize I forgot to put any rye flour in the rye beer bread.”Organic Earth Day Recipes
BBQ Peanut Butter Chicken
Braised Chicken in a Black Cherry Sauce
Corn Chowder
Grilled Spiced Apple Jamaican Jerk Chicken
Kid-Pleasing Macaroni & Cheese
Lomo de Puerco en Salsa Verde (Tomatillo-Braised Pork Loin)
Orange Mango Chicken
Organic Shrimp Louis
Papaya Marinated Tandoori Chicken
~~Dave Smith is author of To Be Of Use - The Seven Seeds of Meaningful Work and lives in Mendocino County, North California.
Photo Credit: The Ladybug Letter
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