Kwame Anthony Appiah, a philosophy professor at Princeton University, wrote a provocative Washington Post op-ed over the weekend titled, What Will Future Generations Condemn Us For? that has reverbererated around the internet. In the article he speculates that there are always things current generations are…
Geneticist Dr. Gary Thorgaard, Director of the School of Biological Sciences at Washington State University, finds himself in the middle of a momentous decision to potentially approve the first genetically modified animal for human consumption in the U.S.. He is a member of the Veterinary…
Today is the last day of the outdoor Millwood Farmers' Market. This will be the conclusion of four years of hosting and running the market at Millwood Presbyterian Church. Being a Farmers' Market manager and a pastor has stretched the normal bounds of pastoral and…
Living in a northern climate means short growing seasons and extra challenges finding local sources of food during the winter. This year Rocky Ridge Ranch, a farm small sustainable farm in Reardan, WA, is going where no other Spokane area farm has gone in helping…
I posted earlier about the battle over the "farmers' market" brand. A recent investigative report by NBC in Los Angeles shows that the rapid growth in popularity of farmers' markets has led to other problems that are more substantial than marketing semantics. NBCLA's investigation began…
A new study out UC Berkeley examined the benefits of the Edible Schoolyard program in the Berkeley Unified School District and the results are in. The program formally known as the School Lunch Initiative (SLI) led to substantial health and lifestyle benefits to children, but…
photo: Nick Wingfield/The Wall Street Journal I first got wind of a brewing controversy from Jack, a commenter on the blog, who heard a radio ad to the effect of - No need to go to the Farmers' Market when you can come to the…
The Valleyfest "Hearts of Gold" parade is tonight. In a fluke of mistaken identity I've been asked to be one of the Grand Marshals of the parade. (I think it has to do with my work with Second Harvest and the farmers' market, providing food…
Yesterday I did an interview with KREM News regarding Spokane area chicken ordinances. Here's the headline for the story on their web site; "Man fights to make Spokane Valley more chicken-friendly." I hadn't really thought of it that way but I'll go along. Let the…
There have been years of informal rumblings about problems with ordinances for people who want to keep chickens in residential areas in the Spokane area. The increasing popularity of backyard chickens and chicken coop tours has intensified the problem and it appears that the time…
Picture: Our first year with the labyrinth garden in 2008. After months of being holed up late at night writing and editing, the manuscript for a book based on this blog is done and if all goes as planned the editor will send it to…
Rachel Laudan has written an article at Utne Reader titled, "In Praise of Fast Food" that takes on what the author calls Culinary Luddism. Luddism, in case your wondering, is an opposition to industrialization and technology. The backlash against the local food movement is gaining…
A recent Chicago Tribune article had one of the more thorough treatments of the debates between industrial agriculture pragmatists vs. local food idealists.I was intrigued to hear about an upcoming book; ...economist Hiroko Shimizu and University of Toronto geographer Pierre Desrochers are finishing a 2011…
Earlier in the week influential blogger Ezra Klein of the Washington Post wrote a short post dismissing the influence of the local food movement and heralding that "Industrial farms are the future." He wrote; Despite the dreams of many foodies, I can't think of a…
I've been hearing rumblings about the the potential onerous impact of the Federal Food Safety Modernization Act on small farms for awhile now. The upshot is that it would impose regulatory requirements that would be untenable for small direct to consumer farmers to handle. It…
Picture: Mashed potatoes from last year's potato harvest featuring the natural colors of the potato flesh. Northwest Food News has a great report on how local food advocates and the Idaho Potato Commission recently butted heads in the Idaho legislature. A resolution was brought before…
It's been a hard couple of years for high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), the cheap sweetener made from corn that has replaced sugar in things like soda, ketchup, chocolate syrup and just about any processed food you can imagine. There was the classic interview/PR disaster…
Aquabounty Technologies has artificially combined genetic material from Atlantic Salmon and eelpout to create a fast growing Salmon variety.The approval process with the FDA is moving forward after an almost decade long delay in the process. There are a variety of concerns; Research published in…
Picture: Fall harvest from Pumpkin Patch Community Garden in the foreground ready to be picked up at the Second Harvest mobile food bank distribution in Millwood last Friday. Spokane Regional Health Disctrict and Spokane County Extension are sponsoring a Community Garden Tour of Spokane area…
There is much debate in Green circles about the merits of this ad about the Nissan Leaf. I like it. It's ridiculous enough to be somewhat effective (and affective).
I was chatting with Mo Bereiter, our wildcrafter at the Millwood Farmers' Market, and I told him about my previous blog post on the sorry state of huckleberry picking in 2010. (Thanks to the International Wild Huckleberry Association for the link.) I asked him about…
I'm reading through Wendell Berry's latest book, What Matters Most: Economics for a Renewed Commonwealth, and I find his commentary on our current economic woes as insightful as any I've read. He laments that the economy has become disconnected from the land and is so…
Scientists from Washington State University have completed one of the most comprehensive comparisons of conventional and organic farming methods and, at least in the case of strawberries. The study involving 13 conventional and 13 organic farms in California reveals that organic farming results in better…
Patrick Fitzgerald, the US Attorney in Chicago, filed and indictment this week against an illegal honey import scam; Eleven Chinese and German executives and six of their food supply and honey export companies were charged Wednesday with 44 counts of conspiring to illegally import Chinese-origin…
Go here to learn about how a family turned their energy and resource hogging pool into a backyard farm in a Mesa, AZ suburb.
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
| Sept. 2010 | ||||
| 30 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 25 |
| 24 | 23 | 22 | 20 | 17 |
| 16 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 11 |
| 09 | 05 | 03 | 02 |
