May 2, 2008 by Sara Zoe.

I was having a conversation the other day, trying to explain why “food miles” are not my main schtick, even though our group is called Seacoast Eat Local and we host an annual Eat Local Challenge that takes geography into account. And then this post from UNH’s Discovering Sustainability blog popped up, articulating all those thoughts about the complexities of carbon and the myriad of other reasons I choose to source the vast majority of my food directly from small, local farms and think others should do the same:

For example, buying local supports community economic development, helping communities sustain their livelihood and character. It provides access to the freshest food available, enhancing taste and reducing food waste. And it strengthens our food community, encouraging social networks and food security in our communities and regions. Not only that, but knowing where your food comes from can help you advocate for lower-carbon production methods in your community, such as reducing fertilizer usage, no-till agriculture methods, and pasture-based livestock systems.

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April 4, 2008 by Sara Zoe.

an excerpt from the New York Times:

Since the 1980s, pesticide use has increased fivefold in Latin America as countries have expanded their production of nontraditional crops to fuel the demand for fresh produce during winter in North America and Europe. Rice farmers in the region use monocrotophos, methamidophos and carbofuran, all agricultural chemicals that are rated Class I toxins by the World Health Organization, are highly toxic to birds, and are either restricted or banned in the United States. In countries like Guatemala, Honduras and Ecuador, researchers have found that farmers spray their crops heavily and repeatedly with a chemical cocktail of dangerous pesticides.

In the mid-1990s, American biologists used satellite tracking to follow Swainson’s hawks to their wintering grounds in Argentina, where thousands of them were found dead from monocrotophos poisoning. Migratory songbirds like bobolinks, barn swallows and Eastern kingbirds are suffering mysterious population declines, and pesticides may well be to blame. A single application of a highly toxic pesticide to a field can kill seven to 25 songbirds per acre. About half the birds that researchers capture after such spraying are found to suffer from severely depressed neurological function.

Migratory birds, modern-day canaries in the coal mine, reveal an environmental problem hidden to consumers. Testing by the United States Food and Drug Administration shows that fruits and vegetables imported from Latin America are three times as likely to violate Environmental Protection Agency standards for pesticide residues as the same foods grown in the United States. Some but not all pesticide residues can be removed by washing or peeling produce, but tests by the Centers for Disease Control show that most Americans carry traces of pesticides in their blood.

What this means to me is that when I do buy the odd imported item, it is even more important to make sure it’s organic - not just for my health, or the health of the migratory birds, but also for the long and short term health of the people who have to live in that area. North American consumerism shouldn’t leave people in far away places cleaning up messes that we wouldn’t allow in our own backyards.

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March 31, 2008 by Sara Zoe.

Gary Hirschberg, the ceo of Stonyfield Yogurt, made sure his new book was printed in an environmentally smart way. The paper he insisted on was not only post-consumer recycled, but also “Manufactured with electricity that is offset with Green-e® certified renewable energy certificates” (from the manufacturer’s website).

Seacoast Eat Local and Slow Food Seacoast are currently in the midst of our annual resource guide revision, with plans for bigger, better, more. But one thing we don’t want more of is paper pollution, so we’ve gathered quotes on printing on these same papers that are beautiful quality, 100% post-consumer recycled, and green energy certified. It ain’t cheap, but it’s important. Eating locally is a good and wonderful thing we can do, with environmental reasons being one of my own personal motivations. But it’s not worth as much if we’re printing lots of stuff unsustainably, or taking home lots of plastic bags from the markets, and so on.

The new guide [with its new name, Seacoast Harvest] will be ready the beginning of July. In the meantime you can help out by becoming a sponsor, helping us keep the guide free for farmers and consumers, and helping us make the smart choice in printing.

More info on the good printing decisions of Gary Hirschberg’s new book from Publisher’s Weekly > 

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March 21, 2008 by Sara Zoe.

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March 12, 2008 by Sara Zoe.

I was poking around the NH bill tracking website, inspired by reading too many sad articles about sad agriculture setbacks in other states, when lo and behold I came across what I thought looked promising: legislation on state meat inspection.

So please correct me if I’m wrong, but from what I understand, 4 legged animals (ie not poultry but cows, pigs, sheep, etc.) must be slaughtered and processed at USDA inspected facilities in NH. Since USDA inspection is expensive and not readily available, due to their own budget shortfalls, plus having a facility to accommodate USDA inspectors is cumbersome, we have an overall shortage of appropriate and local slaughterhouses. In Maine, they have state inspected facilities and that meat can be sold within the state of Maine (it cannot cross state lines, that becomes USDA territory).

So when I first read this title, An Act Relative to State Meat Inspection, I thought we here in NH were making some progress toward having state inspected facilities. I am no bill-reading expert (a skill I am looking to improve), but this looks like it is not the dream bill I had hoped. What it would do is amend the applicability to include a possibility of state inspection should the USDA allow the interstate sale of state inspected meat, before it allowed state inspection should the USDA withdraw from NH. So it’s not a bad thing, it’s just not really anything, unless there’s something brewing at the USDA - a highly unlikely scenario given recent meat scares that tend to make bureaus want to have tighter reins to avoid public outcry, though that method isn’t working. I welcome other interpretations, clarifications, opinions and thoughts -

For fun and profit:

Livestock and meat inspection rules in NH

NH Bill Tracking system

NH Statutes Title XL: Agriculture, Horticulture, and Animal Husbandry

Maine Bill Tracking System

Maine Statutes: Agriculture and Animals

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March 3, 2008 by Sara Zoe.

A CSA in the Pacific Northwest worked with their farmer to make eggs happen for the group. It’s great to see some really creative solutions and I love the idea of cooperating to take care of animals. From Cooking Up A Story >

CSA sign up season is upon us! If you are interested in learning more, attend the CSA Fair on March 15th from 12-3pm at the Strawbery Banke Visitor’s Center.

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January 15, 2008 by Sara Zoe.

As seen in the December 19, 2007 NH Weekly Market Bulletin:

Markets Fined for ‘Local’ Labeling Violations

The Division of Regulatory Services has assessed and received payment of two administrative penalties of $1,000 each from Market Basket/DeMoulas stores in New Hampshire. The chain grocer was cited for violations of RSA 426:5, relative to the use of the words “native,” “local,” and “our own,” that occurred in October 2007.

The Demoulas store at 265 S. Broadway, Salem, was found to have advertised “locally grown picked fresh daily sweet corn.” An investigation by the division found tha the corn was grown in Florida.

The Market Basket store at 108 Ft Eddy Rd, Concord, was found to have advertised “Locally Grown Romaine Lettuce.” An investigation by the division found that the lettuce was grown in California.

Market Basket/DeMoulas had previously been warned regarding similar labeling violations at these and other locations in New Hampshire, and failed to make corrections.

The intent of the law is to assure New Hampshire consumers who seek out native and local produce of truthful labeling. In addition, the law provides a fair marketing environment for sellers of farm products. The division rigorously enforces this truth in labeling law.

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January 11, 2008 by Sara Zoe.

As seen in the Portsmouth Herald:

“Oil Before Food” will be the topic of a talk by John Carroll on Sunday, January 20 from 11:30am to 12:45pm in the Sanctuary at South Church, 292 State Street, Portsmouth.

Carroll, a professor of Natural Resources at the University of New Hampshire, is a well-known researcher and speaker on topics related to sustainability. He will discuss the fact that in our current system of agriculture and food, we must have oil before we can eat.  More than 98 percent of all the energy contained in our food system comes from oil and natural gas. That includes the 1,500 miles that our food must travel before we have anything to eat.

Without oil (and natural gas) we can’t produce or transport any food. We only have three days of food supply in New England. We depend, therefore, on a steady flow of food into the region to feed people. New Hampshire is no more than 3 percent self-sufficient in food, according to our Commissioner of Agriculture, Steve Taylor. [note from Sara Zoe - our agricultural commissioner is now Lorraine Stuart Merrill]

And while you are marking your calendars, here’s a way to start changing that 3 days food supply/3% self-sufficiency ratio: The Congregational Church of Exeter is hosting a Winter (mini) Farmers’ Market (Seacoast Eat Local is lending a hand to this terrific event) on February 9th in their building on Front Street in Exeter, from 10am - 2pm. 14 vendors will have everything from fresh (fresh! local!) salad greens, to dried beans, to eggs and cheese, with plenty of good, local meat as well.

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November 21, 2007 by Sara Zoe.

Some of the pictures from the first Holiday Farmers’ Market

See you all on December 22!

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November 13, 2007 by Sara Zoe.

This Saturday’s Holiday Farmers’ Market is going to be very very awesome. There will be about 25 vendors there, selling everything from cheese to pies to honey to milk, a lot of meats and a lot more vegetables. With all that in mind, here are 10 tips for Saturday’s market:

1. Come with an open mind.  I often arrive at a farmers’ market hoping to find a particular ingredient, and when I do, I feel blessed. This is not something you can count on when it comes to vegetables in particular. Recent cold snaps have killed a lot of tender greens, deer eat crops, and nature happens. That said, what is at the market is more than pleasantly surprising. Amazingly buttery tokyo turnips alongside heirloom varieties of pumpkins and squash, winter greens, and more.
2. Be prepared to stock up. Our next Holiday Farmers’ Market is a month away - December 22nd. Between now and then, lots of food will last handsomely. Carrots store very well for weeks in the fridge; potatoes, squash, and onions need only a cool-ish space (potatoes in the dark, other things are ok out of direct sun). You can fill your freezer with locally raised meat, which means providing your family with a healthier, more humane product that you can feel safe serving.
3. Bring plenty of cash. This goes hand in hand with stocking up, but even if you aren’t stocking up you might surprise yourself. In addition to food for yourself, you may wish to buy a pie for a neighbor, or a jar of maple syrup or honey as a gift for your kid’s teacher. Some foods naturally add up, like big, delicious turkeys.
4. Bring your checkbook. While farmers and food producers usually cannot accept credit or debit cards, almost every one does accept checks. This is not to say the food at the farmers’ market is very expensive, often it is less expensive than supermarket food. But the credit card back up isn’t there, so give yourself the checkbook as a back up.
5. Bring bags. Sturdy bags, and plenty of them. Those very inexpensive woven bags you see everywhere these days are awesome because they have flat bottoms, meaning you can get a lot of stuff in there without it crushing everything else. All the vendors will have plastic shopping bags, but a. it is hard to carry a lot of those and b. less plastic = better. I do a 1, 2 combo and bring a bunch of grocery store plastic bags into which I pile anything loose that needs to be weighed. That way, onto the scale goes my already pre-used plastic bag instead of a new one, and then it can quickly and simply go into my bigger totes.
6. Bring a cooler. Or two. Since meat is so easy to stock up on (it is all pre-frozen because of the nature of small farms and small processing facilities in New England), I will be making certain I get my share. But there will also be plenty of delicious cheese from Silvery Moon Creamery - cheddar, cheddar curd, maybe some mozzarella, Brie and Camembert, and much more as well as fresh Jersey milk from Brookford Farm. Frozen meat turns into the ice cubes for the milk and cheese, et voila!
7. Take trips to the car. The foods of fall can be heavy. Potatoes, onions, and squashes, frozen cuts of meat, jars of honey. Parking is very nearby and there is no giant hill! You can make as many trips to the car to drop off heavy things as you want.
8. Give yourself time to scope everything out. This is a big market! There is a lot to see and a lot to buy. Very special and particularly coveted things should be snapped up on sight, but allow yourself time to make sure you didn’t miss anything on the first pass.
9. Give yourself time to relax. We have live music, you might run into friends to chat with, and most especially exciting to me, student chef demonstrators from the McIntosh Atlantic Culinary Academy showing us how to prepare a variety of local foods such as Tokyo turnips from Wake Robin Farm and a French heirloom pumpkin from Meadow’s Mirth Farm. So grab a hot drink, and stick around for awhile.
10. Give yourself a pat on the back. Yes, -you- know the food at farmers’ markets is more delicious, more flavorful, and much much fresher, so if those are the only reasons you shop at farmers’ markets that’s more than ok. But buying local food is also a political act, an environmental statement, and a social contract - it’s saying that you care about your neighbors, your community, the health of your family and the environment alike. You are doing great things when you shop at farmers’ markets, take credit for it!

For directions, a list of vendors, and a list of products, visit Seacoast Eat Local’s Holiday Farmers’ Market webpage.

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