Fresh from my own little garden today

Chive flowers, parsley, mitzuna greens.

I put these on top of some couscous with some red onion and a lemon tahini dressing for dinner. Still wish I had a camera because my plate looked so amazing.

And of course, a glass of Total Domination IPA by Ninkasi.

After working all day at two jobs, it was a delicious way to rest and center.

Anyone else care to elaborate about garden delicacies?

Tacomaness

Food is an intimate connection to place.

Sometimes in the hectic craziness of this globalized, technologic, information age, we forget that we were at one time a people of our hometowns for life. Place, in this case, takes on a very different and more permanent meaning.

Many of us have journeyed from far and wide to get to where we are now and have brought with us an abundance of traditions, recipes, and pastimes descended from our parochial past. And here in the Pacific Northwest, while we may lack the palms and tropical surf, we are blessed with a long growing season and mild winter that can provide us with an abundance of vegetables at most times of the year.

For some of us, this is why we have elected to leave our families and places of childhood and for others this is the reason why we will never leave this place.

And ok, for a lot of us it may even be a bit of an inconvenience.

But still it does leave us a lot of options when it comes to supporting our small farmers in the area and buying their produce.

There are many reasons why it is a smart decision to eat locally. One of them I have experienced much of but read less about is that in choosing to eat locally we are truly experiencing the essence of a place. Cuisine is intimately bound with local climate, so when we are traveling one of the best places to go is a farmers market to get that "authentic" experience.

And for much of the world, this is simply how people shop, and there they may not be so much of an "event" type atmosphere (although for foodies and geeks like me they inherently are).

Even in Tacoma you can get a real taste for the local culture by visiting one of the three markets put on by the Tacoma Farmers Market. Each of the markets is located in the heart the neighborhood it serves, providing an intimate meeting location for the urban and rural, as well as for neighbors and friends.

Experience the freshest produce you can buy, smell the artisan bakers and hot food vendors, and peruse the locally made crafts for gifts and souvenirs. As well, listen to Tacoma bands do what they do best and watch local dance companies transform the market into not just a shopping destination, but a showcase of the community.

And the season starts this week! Our sister market at Broadway is opening this Thursday, May 20th from 8:30 am until 2:00 pm.

Check out the South Tacoma Farmers Market on Facebook

The South Tacoma Farmers Market is totally keeping savvy to the technology of this information age. Therefore, we can now be found on Facebook.

Like us!

Federal Regulations Threaten Small Farmers

Read up on this article about how tighter regulations will surely effect the health and prosperity of our small farms. While large corporations and distributors will certainly do their fair share of finger pointing, the fact of the matter is that small scale and local food production is not only more environmentally and economically sustainable but also safer for the consumer's health.

There's also an interesting point in this article about how the regulations encourage "sterility" in farming which, if we know about our beneficial soil microbes and their importance in organic farming, is completely misleading. We need to encourage our soil life to thrive for the benefit of all in the long term.

Earth. Soil. No Need to Call it Dirt.

There are footprints that track from my room to the front door and my fingernails are brown and dry. All are tell tale signs of an afternoon of play in the garden.

My friend Ana is in the process of turning her front lawn into a community vegetable garden, although for now it may look like a pile of leaves, dirt, and straw bales to the uninformed observer. Yes, as you might imagine, there is a method to her madness that will soon be made evident to her gawking neighbors. I know you'll hear me out while I explain.

Last fall Ana piled a few layers of cardboard and a bunch of leaves over that vast expanse of a sorry-shade-of-green otherwise known as her front lawn. With a winter to rot, a bunch of other soil critters decided to make it their home and much of this has already begun the composting process while putting an end to that pesky, wasteful grass.

The next step: SOIL! EARTH! Because she wanted to plant this year, Ana ordered ten cubic yards to get a head start. And oh the fun we had spreading it this afternoon.

As a second project, we formed a couple of raised beds in the lawn between the street and sidewalk from straw bales. I hope the city appreciates our beautification plans. We covered the bales in coffee grounds to get the composting started, and we will soon add soil and plant starts to complete them. This not only is an easy way to create a raised bed, because soil microbes are breaking the straw bales down, we can extend our growing season from the heat that they give off. Clever, huh?

And the fun will continue all summer, since I will be calling this beautiful place home on June 1st! I'm very excited to be moving into a house where I won't have to content my foraging and growing cravings to a few pots on the back porch. Okay, so I have like a dozen pots...it's still not nearly wild enough for me...

Greening our path to self-sufficiency, starting our own quiet revolution, and we're laughing a lot while we're at it. The ultimate goal of Ana's project is to create a nourishing garden that encourages healing and play. She has a counseling center out of her home called Developing Resilience that will soon be offering guidance in nutrition and gardening as therapy. Good food, dirty hands, healthy spirits.

Now, who's house is next?

Call it destiny, we are in the city of it!

As always, some food for thought, this time by David Tracy: "Yes, the earth is in drastic shape, and OK, we're all going to die, but no, we will not in the meantime be driven into becoming dour, hand-wringing, finger-wagging scolds. We will have fun an we will save the planet at the same time. Why? As pursuits they go well together."

My evening was spent at Stonegate Pizza, where I sipped on coffee and participated in a discussion with neighborhood activists who were in no need of the caffeine I indulged in.

We're planning some extra special events for the South Tacoma Market, and I'm feeling gratitude for having such an amazing steering committee and community making it all happen.

So what happens when a bunch of visionaries with a sense of humor meet a community brimming full of vitality and energy? The South Tacoma Farmers Market that's what!

Posters are hot off the press, be looking for the morning in South Tacoma scene to be plastered all over the neighborhood along with our Rodeo Barn Dance and Fun Run propoganda.

As a general overview, it's a time of expansion here for the market staff, volunteers, and interns. We're dreaming of the season to come and we're all overwhelmed by hopes and fears. Personally, I'm coming to terms with how busy my summer days are going to be.

And from my experience working for the Tacoma Farmers Market last year I can guarantee we'll be in for a bit of it all. But that's what makes the market so potent and intimate, and what called me to continue on after a back-breaking season as the Volunteer Coordinator at 6th Avenue and Broadway last year. It's hard, dirty work...but it's for the cause closest to many of our hearts. And indeed to many of our bodies, because how well do we know what our food is all about here in the 253 and how much more do we have to learn? We're certainly on the right track!

My intentions tonight are for abundance in the coming year: for those of us that are working to connect the urban community with their growers and for all that are hoping to participate in the creation of a farmers market culture here in Tacoma. My heroes are truly those I interact with everyday.

Moments

Astro turf on the corner of 6th Avenue and Sprague. Gotta love that.

More inspirational updates to come, urban farmers, hazelnut farmers, Tacoma and Pierce County beauty all around.

Enjoy the sun out there!

The Arms We Need...

...are the ones that grow food and cultivate love. No need at all for those nuclear types, which I learned a bit more about today at an event called Survival: Conversion to a Nuclear Free World. Perhaps you've seen the posters around town, there's a big ol' sunflower on top that provides an interesting caption for an anti-nuclear workshop. Fitting enough, however, when you consider that through a process called phytoextraction sunflowers have been known to clean up environmental toxins. Pretty and functional, you just don't want to go and eat those seeds.

Let me tell you about something you do want to eat: wholesome goodness that is prepared each week by a dedicated group of local activists.

Tacoma Food Not Bombs started working at 9 am in order to prepare a meal splendid enough to serve. Corn muffins with currants, two lentil soups packed full of the veggies, a blue potato and beet salad, and some sliced fruit were the menu items. Not bad.

Howard Zinn said, "No one should be without food in a world so richly provided with land, sun, and human ingenuity." This is the core belief of Food Not Bombs, an international organization of autonomous groups that make decisions through consensus and reclaim food for all of us to enjoy.

And around this time of year the abundance is becoming more evident, we should all feel so blessed that there is so much to share. But in a culture that is fueled by feelings of guilt and lack we are often fooled to believe we have very little to share. FNB is therefore not just trying to reclaim food, but also trying to reclaim a confidence in ourselves as self-sufficient, strong, and capable inhabitants of the earth through the sharing of vegetarian meals.

So in the struggle for peace and prosperity for all people, I began my work today with the sharing of muffins and soup. The meal was definitely hearty enough to keep the conversation flowing and the fight going strong. For more information on the peace movement here in the South Sound area please check out United for Peace of Pierce County and of course its rich relation to food at Tacoma Food Not Bombs.

Vision and Clarity

What a tease you are, Tacoma. I'm trying to forget my 8 o'clock bike ride home in the rain last night. So here's some perspective for you, lovely readers, and spring time blessings that will manifest into the summer's harvests.

These are tomato starts, courtesy of Zestful Gardens. Visualize them in a few months, and you picking tomatoes fresh from garden. Yum!

In Praise of Spring and our Lady Farmers

What a beautiful spring morning we had as Lisa and I ventured out to explore what the mother and daughter organic farming duo, Val and Holly, are sprouting on their 35 acres in the Puyallup Valley. Apparently there’s a lot more then vegetables.

After saying a quick hello to Val, who had her hands full while helping her granddaughter Hadley make green playdo in their country kitchen, we headed out to the fields to where Holly was busy tilling and preparing to plant some greenhouse starts.

The mountain was out today, hovering like a protective mother not so far in the distance and I was once again reminded of how blessed we are to live in the most beautiful place on earth. Also, I must admit, I was a bit jealous that Holly and Val have this iconic view at their backdoor.

Lisa, meanwhile, was focused on something equally as amazing. She pointed to the freshly upturned earth at our feet. “Carrie says it’s like chocolate frosting,” she said, referring to farmer Carrie Little of Mother Earth Farms who also lives in the Puyallup Valley.

And certainly, the soil was indicative of just that. Years of organic cultivation and sustenance from nutrients created on-site at Zestful Gardens have given it a light texture and a deep, honest color.

Holly finished the field she was working on while Lisa and I tromped around a bit more in the fields, like kids on a big playground. Lucky for us, when she could spare a second, she was gracious enough to allow us to take a few pictures of her up on the tractor. Only a week or two away from having her second child, her belly is full and robust (although, I think she may describe it a bit differently).

But I still found the scene amazing: a child lucky enough to be working the land with her mother right up until her birth and hopefully after. With Holly’s years of commitment to biodynamic and organic farming her children have a rich resource to learn from. In fact, we all do!

But there was work to be done, and so Lisa and I retreated back to the farmhouse to meet some other important members of this multi-generational farm family. Chickens, goats, pigs, and sheep do their part to support sustainable practices at Zestful Gardens. As Val explained to me, goats and pigs act as a team to completely clear fields that had originally been consumed by blackberries. Goats nibble the tips of the patches, shaping them into a workable size for pigs to then uproot. Sheep provide Val with the wool she needs to spin yarn for her fiber art pursuits. Chickens of course provide their eggs, manure, and soil churning capabilities.


Whether visiting with Holly out in the fields, meeting the animals with Val and Hadley, or just sitting on the front porch while Hadley served us lunch, I was touched by the beauty and vitality of Zestful Gardens. I am so grateful that we have a multitude of women here in Pierce County who are dedicated to feeding the community and saving our farmland through sustainable practices and loving, knowledgeable stewardship. Their contributions to those of us who are interested in eating as both a physical and ideological link to the earth are obvious and profound.

To find out more and to sign up for Zestful Gardens’ CSA please go to their website.

Awakening

Equinox greetings to you all! After a few months break so that I could concentrate on other pursuits to fund my work as a writer and farmers market manager, I am awakening this blog.

This morning Lisa (who many of you may know as "Lisa from Terry's Berries) and I visited Zestful Gardens where we chatted with lovely farmer mama's and were reminded of the importance of local, small farms in maintaining the health and vitality of our community.

I also met the friendliest sheep in the world named Clarence. Cute!

Be sure to check back soon for a full recount with pictures of the morning's events. I'll be updating this regularly with the adventures Lisa and I get into this season. Happy spring.