Thought for food
Bangor Daily News - 2/17/2010. By Emily Burnham – Do you remember the first time you cracked an egg? The first time you mixed ingredients in a bowl or baked something in the oven? The first time you sliced a tomato? For many, it was with their parents or grandparents as a small child in the kitchen. For others, it was in home economics class. But for the kids assembled at The Dinner Store on Center Street in Brewer this week, those first-time cooking experiences came under the watchful eye of Alison and Stan Small, who opened the business just over a year ago. |
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Give higher priority to farm to school programs
Common Dreams - 2/16/2010.By Margaret Krome – For decades, the federal government has sought to address child hunger through programs such as the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Snack Program, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, and Child and Adult Care Food Program. These programs are coming up for review as part of the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, which will occur this year, and attention will also be given to how they reduce obesity. Vilsack says the Obama administration is committing an additional $1 billion to this effort. However, I was disappointed not to hear from Secretary Vilsack or see in the Obama budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2011 a clear commitment to fund Farm to School programs, which aim to get locally grown food served to children in school cafeterias. |
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Talk about kohlrabi
Bangor Daily News - 2/13/2010.By Reeser Manley – Last week’s column on kohlrabi spawned several e-mails, among them a message from Allison Keef. She and her husband, Ralph, have been gardening on 5 acres in Hermon since 1994, growing small fruits, tree fruits, asparagus, garlic, shallots and other vegetables. At the end of the garden year, their cold cellar is filled with “beets, Mokum and Bolero carrots, a variety of potatoes, Ruby Perfection cabbage, Laurentian rhutabaga, celeraic and soccer ball sized kohlrabi.” |
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“Impossible farming”
The Contrary Farmer - 2/13/2010.By Gene Logsdon – There is Successful Farming, Progressive Farming, Organic Farming, Natural Farming and an awful lot of Wishful Farming. I would like to add to the list one more kind: Impossible Farming. I just ran across another example of it. Pat Hill, in her always interesting weekly blog on Progressive Farmer online, mentioned recently an interesting statistic or two when she was discussing the challenges that grain elevators face these days. A twelve row corn combine can harvest 20,000 to 24,000 bushels of corn a day. A modern, state of the art grain dryer can dry 6000 bushels of shelled corn from 20% moisture down to 15% in an hour. (Corn has to be that dry to store safely.) But with corn at 25% moisture, that drier can reduce moisture to 15% of only 3000 bushels in an hour. |
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