Joel Salatin of Omnivore's Dilemma and Food Inc. fame is profiled in the November edition of The American Conservative. Mr. Salatin and his 500 acre Polyface Farm in Virginia is one of the centerpieces of Michael Pollan's reporting on sustainable alternatives to the massive industrial…
In genetically altered crops news, a Judge has put a halt to the propagation of sugar beets that have been genetically altered to withstand a dosing of Roundup herbicide. The AP report states:U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in San Francisco found the U.S. Department of…
This chart is fascinating in so many different ways. It takes the reported occupations of the U.S. labor force between 1850 and the year 2000, and brings the data to life through this image. I love the image because it clearly shows the dramatic changes…
When we started our year-long experiment in January of 2008, seeking to consume everything local, used, homegrown or homemade, I can honestly say we didn't know about all the other similar experiments working there way into the cultural mainstream. We hadn't read "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle"…
Last year in our quest for local food we took on the surprisingly challenging task of sourcing milk that comes from Inland Northwest farmers and cows. We visited the Inland Northwest Dairy site on Francis near Division, we talked to grocery stores and finally got…
There was a recent conversation on Andrew Sullivan's blog about atheists, Christians and the environment that caught my attention and I think a response is in order.The instigator for the discussion was a statement by the Pope that centered around Christians and the environment. His…
One fun annual tradition we started a couple of years ago is to enter items in the Spokane County Fair, mostly veggies from the garden. I remember visting the Puyallup fair growing up, and walking through the displays of animals and agriculture and eating a…
One lesson of creating a huge vegetable garden where we once mowed the lawn, is that while mowing and fertilizing and watering took work, it could essentially be done by one person. It doesn't take a division of household labor to keep a lawn. While…
We gathered a freshly laid egg from Cheesy, the brown egg pictured below, and an egg from our neighbor that they recently purchased at Yoke's, and set out to make an observational comparison. They are both the same size, the brown shell doesn't make a…
This is a little far afield from my usual blogging fair but I couldn't resist the idea of beating David Blaine to the scoop on a local Spokane restaurant shake-up. Nancy and I headed out to McGlade's Bistro and Wine Bar for an anniversary desert.…
A few weeks ago a friend emailed and explained that as a teacher she needed to do some field trips to maintain her credential and visits to farms counted toward this requirement. She wondered if it would be OK to visit our house to see…
If you got 17 minutes it's worth watching this TED Talk by Cary Fowler. In it he describes the importance of preserving plant genetic material in order to be prepared for an unknown climate future. He highlights the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway. One…
I'm continuing to work my way through David Montgomery's book, "Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations". His basic thesis is that in conversations about sustainability, the erosion and depletion of soils is a huge issue. Go here for my previous post from the book. I thought…
The chickens are laying 4 or 5 eggs a day. When we're home we let them out and they roam our back yard pecking and scratching and fertilizing and occasionally cluck clucking. There were a couple of escape routes that we had to close up…
The Year of Plenty blog was created by Craig Goodwin in the winter of 2008 to chronicle the experiences of his family as they sought to consume everything local, used, homegrown or homemade. That journey was a wonderful introduction to people and movements in the Spokane area who are seeking the welfare of the community through local foods, farmers markets, community gardens, sustainable transportation, and more fulfilling and just patterns of consumption. In 2009 and beyond the blog will continue to report on these relationships and practices, all through the eyes of a family with young children. Craig manages the Millwood Farmers' Market, is a Master Food Preserver and Pastor at Millwood Presbyterian Church. Craig can be reached at goody2230@gmail.com
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