The first thing to do after returning from Iowa’s Community Food Security Coalition conference was to read Mark Winne’s book “Closing the Food Gap, Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty” (click here for a link to Amazon). Mr. Winne’s book was a good read and has much to say in the end regarding [...]
Unexpected to the original conference schedule, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack made an appearance at the breakfast meeting and spoke eloquently about the work of the USDA under the new administration. Central to the new work is the Know Your Farmer – Know Your Food program (click here for the USDA website). Key to the [...]
During the Monday evening keynote address Dr. Herren presented a compelling argument to move away from genetically modified seeds for improving our world food supply – to embracing small organic, sustainable farms, moving away from the pesticidal destruction of our soil and improve the health of our growing ability. The report by the International Assessment [...]
There’s a moment when you realize why you come to a conference. The personal connections lead to information and the workshops, well, they lead to information too. Today’s most interesting workshop topics were Reinventing Food Distribution without Reinventing the Wheel and Fresh, Local Food for ALL: Increasing Access to and Diversity Within CSA. We chose [...]
Sitting on the morning panel, Dr. Eduardo Sanchez, a member of Blue Cross of Texas, whose name has been mentioned as a possible Surgeon General – and we can see why. A healthy food system leads to healthy people. He discussed the educational attainment component. Studies show that those who complete 1 year of college [...]
“I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.” e. e. cummings – quoted by Wayne Roberts at the Food Policy Council Morning Plenary
Preliminary to the 13th Annual Community Food Security Coalition Conference was a gathering of the Food Policy Council “From People Power to Public Policy: A Gathering fo Local and State Food Policy Councils.” We’d been asked at the end of the day to reflect on our “aha” moments. What did we learn? What was significant? [...]
I’m thinking about the last few days and have so much to tell about, such as the “Notes Toward the Definition of Urban Ecology,” a lecture by David Thompson, Director of the Chicago Center for Urban Ecology, or: “CCUE” (Cee – Cue), given at Belmont Library. The lecture was organized by my friends over at [...]
Today the Hull-House Kitchen Re-Thinking Soup served sweet potato soup. Creamy, delicious and a perfect misty, mid-day meal. Tara Lane, the kitchen manager gave a great description of the difference between yams and sweet potatoes. A yam has sweeter flavor and a brighter orange color – coming off a tropical vine and can grow as [...]