Sustainable Food Weekly Updates - Justmeans

Sharing the Harvest Supports Sustainable Food - Ellen Sabina

In recent years efforts to share the harvest of fresh, sustainable foods with those who are otherwise unable to afford them have really taken off. All over the country, in cities and rural areas alike, communities are banding together to find ways to get fresh fruits and vegetables to neighbors in need. While such initiatives have been building for a while now, they are becoming increasingly organized, efficient, and effective.

Gleaning programs work under the idea that healthy, sustainable food shouldn't be limited to those who have enough money to pay for it, and that there really is enough out there to go around. Organized troupes of gleaners can make quick work of a field or orchard and deliver the results to local food banks, soup kitchens, schools, and nursing homes, something that a busy farmer just doesn't have time to do, but is often more than happy to contribute. Not all produce is worth selling.

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US Food Security - Through Cooking Classes for Kids? - Tricia Edgar

A cooking class and food security? Cooking classes might seem to be a frou-frou addition to an upscale household. But take a closer look, and you will realize that food preparation is an essential life skill, and definitely not a frill. Those who don't cook depend on the nutritional content of takeout, pre-made and restaurant food. It's a loss of food autonomy, which is a loss of food security. Something as basic as baking bread or cooking up a fall soup is a powerful contribution to a family's ability to sustain itself in a healthy manner.

North Americans are gradually losing our ability to cook. More specifically, we're losing our ability to preserve foods, because we haven't grown up watching our parents can, freeze, ferment, and dry the harvest for the winter season. We're also losing our interest in cooking.

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Environmental Sustainability, Gas & Food - Keri Marion

Environmental sustainability is a balancing act. It balances nature with nurture, time and space, nutrient to erosion.

Organic food and sustainable agriculture can go hand in hand. Using sustainable practices like mulching, crop rotation and animals instead of gas-powered trucks, a farmer could literally work on an almost net-zero carbon emission. And yes, it might cost us a little more for that ear of corn, but as I'll explain, it's totally worth it.

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Spreading the Organic Food Gospel: Generation Organic - Ellen Sabina

Organic Valley is the largest organic food cooperative in the U.S., encompassing dairy farmers in every region of the country and partnering with major organizations such as Heifer International, the Rodale Institute, and Farm Aid. While the cooperative has come under some scrutiny given its size, it has become one of the most successful and sustainable large scale models of its kind, and make a strong case for the cooperative versus corporation. Organic Valley is also working to ensure that organic food (particularly dairy) production continues to gain strength in the coming era. The most visible and just plain fun way they're raising awareness for the future of organic food is via their Generation Organic bus tour, which is set to get rolling in just a few days

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Consuming Raw Milk: Illegal and Toxic, or Healthy and Sustainable Food?

They’re sitting in the corner, whispering about milk. That’s dangerous stuff, milk. It’s raw, it’s off-white, it’s from cows. Is raw milk dangerous, or is it one of the most healthy and sustainable foods to consume?

I must confess to drinking raw milk from time to time. I don’t buy any myself, but friends buy it. Raw milk tastes good, and I haven’t had any health problems. Recently, there was a rally in my city to support a local raw milk dairy that many of my friends frequent. Officially, it is a cow share and not a dairy, since raw milk is not legal where I live. Unofficially, the business provides a steady supply of milk and yogurt to many people who believe in the worth of raw milk, ferried through a network that is underground yet visible if you know where to look and who to ask.

What’s the concern about raw milk? Well, since raw milk has not been pasteurized there are worries that it may contain e. coli bacteria that cause disease. Governments post warnings about the dangers of raw milk. Our local petting farm milks their dairy cows by hand and must toss out the milk that those cows produce. Food-borne illnesses can be nasty things, damaging your liver and your gut and leading to all sorts of public health problems. Health departments prefer to avoid these diseases and have set standards in place to make food safer. However, some people feel that these standards interfere with public choice, in this case the choice to choose a superior and healthy food product.

Those who advocate drinking raw milk say that pasteurization kills off the living milk. Milk has antibodies in it, albeit antibodies for baby cows. Raw milk advocates say that the milk boosts their immune systems. The Weston A. Price Foundation is one of the biggest raw milk advocates, saying that drinking raw milk means that the nutrients in the milk are more available to the human body and can truly build and rebuild bones and teeth, bone structures that may be in a state of disrepair from the standard American diet. Raw milk advocates are willing to bet that healthy cows from a clean farm will produce milk whose health benefits outweigh the possible risks.

Is raw milk a public health hazard, or is it an immensely beneficial substance that we are ignoring out of fear? I have no firm answers. Like all decisions that go against the grain, it’s a matter of weighing the risks in your own mind. I suspect that it could be both, depending on the circumstances. While I happily drink raw milk upon occasion, thoughts about making it a regular part of my diet are swayed by concerns about safety. Mostly, though, the dilemmas in my mind are moved aside by the fact that I am too lazy to head to a milk drop-off point every week to pick up my share. And so it goes: we drink water and eat raw cheese instead, legal and lazy as can be.