Homegrown San Diego Food Activism

[marmar]

from La Vida Locavore:





Homegrown San Diego Food Activism
by: Jill Richardson

Sun Apr 10, 2011 at 03:58:09 AM PDT


I've spent the past week immersed in local San Diego goodness. First off, there was the NBC airing of a Victory Gardens San Diego Garden build that I attended and wrote about here a few weeks ago. And on the same day, my city (a suburb east of San Diego) held a meeting where they requested public input on the future of our city, specifically focused on health & sustainability. Food issues where very much on the table in that discussion, so my roommate and I both went. And we both advocated for urban agriculture including legalizing chickens. The meeting, of course, gave me a migraine... but it was worth it if that's what it takes to make change.

The next day, around 11am, I heard a knock at the door. I was still in bed, dealing with that migraine. I got up, in my underwear, without my glasses, and ran to answer it. It was a reporter from the local ABC affiliate, and she wanted to do a story on my chickens. I told her I'd go put pants on. So my little chickees were on TV! The best part of the experience for me was the reporter's reaction to my chickens, because she was surprised how they did not smell at all and there weren't any bugs. I explained that chickens are natural composters and that compost, done right, should not smell bad. She was also impressed that the chickens were part of a larger, very well thought out plan for my garden.

But the big kahuna of local San Diego food activism came this weekend with the Cultivating Food Justice Event. This is a conference held annually that never fails to impress me. I attend food-related conferences around the country, and this one is unique. It's all local attendees, focused on local, national, and international issues. There's a mix between workshops that cover larger issues, like the farm bill, and workshops with immediate hands on applicability, like building solar ovens. In the past, I've attended workshops on backyard chickens and beekeeping.

This time, I went to one on farming in areas of scarce water and I learned some mind-blowing strategies for growing food without much water. For example, give your plants a few deep waterings a week instead of shallow waterings daily to encourage the roots to grow deep. Or direct seed when you can instead of growing or buying starts, because it will make the roots grow deeper, down to where there is moisture. But the craziest was a story about how people in some parts of Africa will trim the leaves and side shoots off of tomato starts until they have a 2-3 foot tall plant with leaves on top. They dig a narrow hole and lower the plant in, back fill it with rich compost, and give it some water to start it off. The result is that the plant is rooted deep enough to reach the moisture in the soil and survive without rain. Amazing! ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://lavidalocavore.org/diary/4646/homegrown-san-diego-food-activism

[xchrom]

1. our new found interest in food is truly one of the bright spots.

was just watching a bunch vids on scandanavian cuisine -- and listening to a ted talk from the chef at noma --
and the whole thing gives me a lot of hope.

paraphrasing mr redzepi: better cooking means a better environment.