F.E.A.S.T.

Changing Diet

2011-06-02T14:00:00.000-07:00

$10 Kombucha Class

2011-03-13T13:01:00.001-07:00

Hey FEASTers,

I am driving out to this Kombucha class. I have 4 spots in my car for anyone who wants to join me- email me (Suze Duggan: duggan@oxy.edu) by Wednesday the 16th to RSVP. The class in Hollywood and starts at 3:00, but I am leaving at 2:00.

Here is more info that was sent to me:

WHAT IS KOMBUCHA?

Kombucha is a fermented tea that has been used in China for medicinal purposes as early as the 19th century. When Kombucha is thoroughly and correctly fermented, it consists of acetic acid, carbonic acid, vitamins C, B1, B2, B3, B6, B12, B15, various beneficial enzymes and essential amino acids, folic acid, gluconic acid and lactic acid, as well as usnic acid—a natural product of fermentation, suppressing development of micro-organisms not belonging to the Kombucha culture.

ABOUT THE CLASS:

Do you want to feel comfortable brewing your own Kombucha Tea?

If you are not sure what to do with your Kombucha “mushroom” (SCOBY), come to Kombucha Class.

At the end of class, anyone who brings their own glass jar and wants to produce Kombucha Tea at home will be given a SCOBY for free.

Sunday, March 20, 3:00 to 4:30 p.m.

5 Topics will be presented to enable a person to feel comfortable making their own Kombucha Tea at home.

Topic 1: Brief history.

Topic 2: Common Kombucha Terms.

Topic 3: How to prepare and propagate Kombucha “mushroom” SCOBY and produce Kombucha Tea.

Continuous brewing and how to make your own SCOBY hotel.

How to flavor your tea.

Topic 4: Health Benefits.

Topic 5: Anti-aging topical uses for Kombucha Tea and SCOBY

SCOBY (Acronym standing for Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast. This is the truest definition of a Kombucha Culture. Now you can impress your friends when you correct them and tell them it is not really a Mushroom!)

The Class is just $10 and everyone who brings their own glass jar and wants the Kombucha Culture (SCOBY) can take the starter home for free and start their own brew.

A tour of Gotreaux Family Farms

2011-01-21T14:59:00.000-08:00

This is a re-post of an entry I wrote for the 2010/2011 Disaster Politics class blog from our time in New Orleans over winter break. I encourage everyone to visit it (http://oxyinneworleans.wordpress.com/), as well as the blog of Our School at Blair Grocery, an inspiring example of empowerment and food justice we also got to work with (http://schoolatblairgrocery.blogspot.com/)

Here is a brief look at Gotreaux Family Farms:

In a bit of a departure from our time at the Lower Ninth Ward Community Village, a group of us were fortunate to travel to Scott, LA to visit Gotreaux Family Farms, along with students from New York 2 New Orleans currently housed at Our School at Blair Grocery (OSBG).

Situated on 28 acres 60 miles west of Baton Rouge, the operation contains an innovative set of hydroponic and aquaponic system the Gotreaux family uses to raise organic tilapia. What makes this system special is its process of cycling phyto plankton through above-ground tanks that provide the vast majority of the tilapias’ diet without necessitating any use of antibiotics or chemical inputs.

This “green water” (caused by the color of the phyto plankton) then flows from the recycling pump tanks to human-made ditches that draw the nutrient rich water to the crop rows and the compost pile outside the tents that house the tilapia. Instead of waste water flowing back into potable water sources like those used in many conventional fish farms, the adjacent vegetable crops and soil are nourished organically.

It was hard to ignore the sound of hundreds of chickens roaming the acres of pasture across from the tilapia tanks and crop rows. Raised for nine and a half weeks, instead of the conventional four, the chickens are free to feed and stroll the 20 acres of pasture without restriction. For anyone who is familiar with Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farm (profiled in “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”, “Food Inc.” and “Fresh”), Gotreaux Farms uses an “eggmobile” to strategically transport the chickens to fresh grass.

Outside of the operational details of the farm, there is an important human side to the Gotreaux story. Bill Gotreaux, who runs the farm with his wife and 10 children, provided his explanation for starting the farm by stating that is was for purely health reasons. A career in the mechanical field had apparently given him dangerously high levels of chemicals, including arsenic. In short, he decided to raise his own organic food to save his life. This lifestyle change eventually became the farm we visited, but according to Mr. Gotreaux it has not been easy to create a food community embracing organic, fully sustainable foods that have historically been absent from the meat-centric diet that makes up Cajun cuisine: “This is Cajun country – they don’t eat vegetables.”

On a final note, there is an important connection to be made between the work of Gotreaux Family Farms and Our School at Blair Grocery. In a sense they are both trying to address food justice and community needs. For Gotreaux it is a wider food community that currently does not have the proper access to ‘good’, sustainable food (The vast majority of tilapia sales are to New Orleans-based vendors). For Our School, it is addressing youth empowerment through food justice in the Lower Ninth Ward. In both cases I believe that the government has failed to support the work being done. Bill Gotreaux detailed how the recently passed FDA Food Safety Modernization Act could effectively close down his operation due to increased regulation of smaller farms (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alison-rose-levy/food-safety-why-food-safety-bi_b_795515.html). Government focus, however, has failed to address major food and education disparities in communities like the Lower Ninth. This is where Our School provides a unique space for a larger empowerment movement that has yet to be fully supported despite community involvement.

Trip to Pomona

2010-10-20T21:19:00.001-07:00

Yesterday a group of nine FEASTers drove out to Pomona to take a look at their farm. We met with Professor Rick Hazlett, Professor Juan Araya and a few Pomona students and alum. Overall it was incredibly inspirational and I can definitely foresee some joint events between our two operations.

The Environmental Analysis program at Pomona has provided a tremendous amount of institutional support for the gardening/farming movement on campus that started as a guerilla garden in the late 1990s. Since then, sustainable agriculture has found its place in the Environmental Analysis curriculum. As with any movement for change, they have experienced administrative road blocks but over time their efforts have materialized. Integrating sustainable agriculture or agroecology into the academic curriculum is a wonderful way to lend legitimacy to a student-run garden. Hopefully we can achieve that here at Oxy in the next year or two. I had an amazing time touring their farm and hearing about the challenges they have faced and overcome. Check out pictures on Facebook and Picasa.

The Farmer and The Cook

2010-10-18T21:50:00.000-07:00

I went on the Sustainability retreat organized by the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life this weekend for Fall Break. Overall it was an amazing experience and I think everyone had a great time. We left early on Saturday and drove to Ojai where we met Steve Sprinkel and Olivia Chase. Together they run an organic farm, CSA, grocery store and restaurant as the farmer and the cook respectively. We worked with Steve at the farm for most of Saturday, picking pumpkins, brussel sprouts, carrots, potatoes and beans. Then we stopped by the Ojai festival and finished with a fabulous meal at their restaurant. We even ate the potatoes we had picked. I had an eggplant, squash and pumpkin tagine with polenta and we all had amazing chocolate cake for dessert. Here is their website if you are interested!

We spent the night at a campground close by and had a long conversation around the campfire that touched on a variety of topics but most notably sustainability, spirituality, the importance of food and what a great day it had been. On Sunday, after a lazy morning at the campground we packed up and went to local hot springs to eat lunch and take a dip before the drive back to campus.

Tomorrow and Upcoming Events!

2010-10-06T23:32:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

We'll be meeting in the garden tomorrow for the usual activities around 5 pm. There might even be some hot cocoa so bring a mug!!

On Friday, October 8th, author Katherine Leiner will be giving a presentation from 1 to 2 pm in the Morrison Lounge. Her book, Growing Roots, profiles young leaders in the sustainable food movement. You shouldn't miss this!

I am arranging a get together with Rick Hazlett, a professor at Pomona who teaches their Farms and Gardens class, and probably some Pomona students who are involved with their farm. It will be on Tuesday, October 19th. It is the Tuesday of Fall Break. We will either meet here at Oxy or go to Pomona and see their operation. Please let me know if you are interested in participating in this!

This Sunday is CicLAvia; it's a 7.5 mile route through the streets of LA, which will be only open for BIKES! Giulia is leaving from the garden at 10 am and anyone who wants to go should bring $1.50 for the train, a bike and some water. The whole thing should take about 2.5 hours. If you don't have a bike, check one out from the BikeShare in the LIBRARY!

Lastly, Tour De Fat is on Saturday, October 23. It is a bike, beer and music festival sponsored by the New Belgium Brewery. If we can get some people to volunteer to help with the "take down" of the event from 5 to 7 pm (tables, tents, clean up, etc), we can make some money for FEAST! As a volunteer, you'll get a free t-shirt and a beer token (if you're 21 or over)! This will be in the Historic Downtown LA Park. Let me know ASAP if you are interested!

KATHERINE LEINER

2010-10-04T15:14:00.000-07:00

Come hear Katherine Leiner, author of Growing Roots, this Friday, October 8th, from 1 to 2 pm in the Morrison Lounge. Her book profiles some of the young pioneers in the sustainable food movement and more importantly shares some of their recipes. Hope to see you all there!

Usual Thursday + POTLUCK!

2010-09-28T20:01:00.001-07:00

Hey all,

I hope everyone is doing well!

We will be meeting in the garden this Thursday at our usual time, 5 pm. After planting, preparing beds, tending to the chickens and turning/building our compost piles there will be a POTLUCK IN THE GARDEN (around 6 pm)! We're hosting this with WellFed so you may have already received an email but please come and bring something yummy! Don't forget a plate, silverware and a cup!

See you all there!

Voting and Doodle Poll

2010-09-08T12:47:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

We had our first meeting in the garden on Thursday and it was great to see so many old and new faces. This coming Thursday will be an important meeting so try to be there starting around 5 pm! I will explain the club constitution and then we will vote on it. I will have met with Rebecca Dowling (risk management), and give you all an update on our efforts to start a farm cart or get produce into the Market Place. Furthermore, we will be solidifying the positions on the Executive Board for the semester.

IMPORTANT: everyone who wants to have a leadership position please email and tell me which one(s) your interested in. Email even if you already have a position because I want to take stock.

In addition to our weekly meetings on Thursdays, here is a Doodle poll that will develop a rotating schedule of daily duties. These will include irrigating the beds, collecting eggs, checking the food and water for the chickens and letting them out of the coop for a bit. This commitment will realistically take at a bare minimum 30 minutes and probably closer to an hour. It should ideally be done sometime in the morning. Even if you can't come to our Thursday gardening times please feel free to sign up for this! In payment, you are free to take some of eggs for personal use! We will go over the details once a schedule is set up.

See you soon

Fruit Trees

2010-08-03T17:55:00.000-07:00

The principle that function follows form holds true for the pruning and training of fruit trees. The geometry that a pruner encourage is purposeful and dictates the growth pattern of a tree. There are generally two different pruning methods: modified central leader and open-centered. We learned about the former and not the latter although both are in practice. This description will pertain to all temperate zone, deciduous fruit trees, excluding citrus, guavas, etc. that are grown on dwarf or semi-dwarf rootstalks. This included apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, plums, etc. The overall tree structure, when viewed from afar, should resemble a cone or isosceles triangle. This will allow for maximum light penetration. Since dwarf or semi-dwarf fruit trees are generally fairly short (10 to 15 feet tall), there will be two tiers of fruit producing braches. From the main trunk, central leader, primary branches radiate out in all directions and ideally the first tier should have 5 to 9 branches. There should be a 1 to 3 foot gap on the trunk between the highest first tier primary and the lowest second tier primary branches. The second tier should have similarly radiating primary branches from the trunk. These main branches are the primary scaffold of the tree and each has multiple lateral and sub-lateral branches. It is important that lateral branches are perpendicular and not parallel to the primary branch. When primary branches are vertical hormones and resources encourage rapid, upward vegetative growth and not fruit production. Furthermore, these will compete with the primary leader. Therefore, weights or ties with stakes can be used to direct both verticality and radial direction of growth. Primary branches should growth at a 45º to 75º angle from the trunk. Fruit trees, when young, are incredibly malleable and branches can be cut and trained to conform to a certain geometry.

For temperate, deciduous fruit trees, only two or more year old wood will produce any fruit, unlike evergreen trees that bear on terminal growth. Shortening cuts can be used to trim branches back to fruit buds on older growth. Cutting branches during fruit production but before the third week of July (approximately) will encourage fruit production and not vegetative growth the following year. However, pruning the winter time encourages growth, therefore it is important to trim unwanted growth during the summer and wanted growth during the winter.

A few photos

2010-08-03T02:44:00.001-07:00

Gio's Summer in Santa Cruz

2010-07-30T07:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had the chance to visit Santa Cruz and sit in on Gio's class at the Santa Cruz Center for Agrobiology. In the three short hours I was in class I learned SO MUCH! I can only imagine the wealth of knowledge that Gio is going to bring back to FEAST this fall. The farm itself is spectacular! If you are going to be in/around Santa Cruz at all in the next few weeks I recommend trying to get a tour of the farm from Gio. It is on the top of a hill with incredible views of the ocean and the produce is beautiful-- fruit trees everywhere plus every flower and vegetable you could imagine. We spent some walking through the Chadwick garden which is the first garden that Santa Cruz built and seems to be one of the birthplaces of alternative farming in California. The peach trees were heavy with fruit (we got to eat some of the fallen ripe ones :)) and the pear and apple trees are already so overloaded I don't know how they are going to stay standing until fall!

I wish I had brought my camera along but I guess you'll just have to go see for yourselves!

The Agro-Food System

2010-07-29T10:18:00.000-07:00

Here is an interview with Raj Patel that showcases his perspective on the problems that we currently face in regards to food, hunger and sustainability. Raj recently released The Value of Nothing which is one of my favorite books. He has done a lot of work with Food First and the Via Campesina movement. Here's a link to his website.
Hope you enjoy!

Propagation

2010-07-27T19:20:00.000-07:00

Propagation is one of the most important aspects of a successful agricultural endeavor. A grower must decide whether to direct seed or transplant a crop. All root crops or ones that have taproots are usually direct seeded while others are commonly transplanted in smaller operations. At the Chadwick, or Up-, Garden at UCSC about 80-85% of the crops are transplanted, a practice that can be used to extend the growing season and ensure a specific crop density in the beds. However, transplants require the additional costs of building and maintaining a greenhouse facility and the extra labor that goes into the process of transplanting. Typically, two different types of trays are used: wooden flats and plug trays (often the Speedling brand). Each method has its own pros and cons. Wooden flats fit many more plants in a small area but require more skill for transplanting and starts can also be kept for a longer period of time in wooden flats before transplanting if environmental conditions are not favorable to transplanting (8 or 9 weeks). Starts from plug trays are much easier to transplant but with limited nutrients the starts must be transplanted within 5 to 6 weeks after planting. Furthermore, there are compaction issues as the soil begins to lose pore space and nutrients. Some varieties of plants simply grow better in one type of tray while others do well in both. The Up-Garden uses more flats in the spring and more plug trays in the summer. Starts can generally be transplanted once they have 6 to 8 leaves but before doing so trays are placed on outside benches for a few days to strengthen cell walls with wind movement and to “harden them off” to the conditions outdoors. This will minimize transplant shock and ensure successful transplanting.

One of the most important aspects of propagation for starts is the potting mixture used in the plug trays or wooden flats. The soil media must physically anchor the plant and provide adequate drainage properties to reduce fungal disease but retain moisture and encourage gas exchange in the pore space. Furthermore, when growing in a greenhouse, the environment is incredibly conducive to growth of all kinds, including diseases and pests. For this reason, some propagators believe in using a sterile mix; simply heating soil to 130ºF for at least 4 hours should kill all of the detrimental seeds, pathogens, pests and diseases but still maintain some beneficials while if the soil reaches around 180/190ºF it is pretty much sterile and not biologically active. At the CASFS farm, they believe in biologically active soil mixtures and are conscientious about trying to utilize local and renewable components. Peat moss is quite common in potting mixes but it is a slow growing resource in the Northern latitudes that is being quickly degraded. Their mixture is primarily soil and compost based, but it includes coconut husks, vermiculite, leaf mold (leaf compost), perlite, sand and sometimes fish, blood or bone meal.

In controlling for pests, pathogens and diseases, it is important to keep greenhouses clean, encourage good air flow through the site, avoid contamination, deal with any outbreaks quickly and aim for idealized soil structure, which is 50% air by volume. Roots grow in the pore space (air content) of soil so it is important that soil structure supports good, even pore space. This pore space should be 50% water and 50% air.

Organic Certification

2010-07-26T21:31:00.000-07:00

We heard about the organic certification process and standards from Amy Lamendella, an inspector for California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF). It was enlightening to hear what is regulated under the 2002 National Organic Program. Certification involves a lot of paperwork, documents and receipts; Amy described it as the process by which farmers document their practices and turn a physical enterprise into a verbal description. The National Organic Program is part of the USDA and a certification branch deals with all of the third-party labeling organizations. The USDA does not actually do any organic certifying, that is done by organizations like CCOF, Oregon Tilth, or QAI. Instead, the USDA is the overseer.

Contrary to popular belief, organic does not mean that pesticides are not used. Basically, synthetic substances are not allowed in organic agriculture unless specifically approved under the National Organic Program and all naturally occurring substances are allowed unless specifically prohibited. As a result, some natural and synthetic pesticides are still used in organic agriculture. However, farmers must document pest management strategies and show evidence that previous methods have failed before they are allowed to use some of the stronger pesticides.

Organic farms must purchase organic seed, if available, for both food crops and cover crops. Furthermore, soil organic matter must be maintained or improved under organic management. However, the National Organic Program does not regulate labor practices; inspectors turn a blind eye to illegal labor conditions and practices since it is not part of their protocol.
The organic program also has strict regulations for compost, specifically for piles that contain animal material. For organic certification of compost piles with manure, egg shells, or other animal products, piles must reach and maintain a temperature between 131ºF and 170ºF for 15 days and be turned at least 5 times during that period. However, if the compost is going to be applied to a field that will not have crops harvested from it for more than 120 days these requirements are not necessary. The certification of organic compost is incredibly important for farms that make and use their own compost. The piles at the CASFS farm at UCSC are tested to make sure that they meet the standards.

When farms seek organic certification, there is a three year transition period from the last application of prohibited substances. During this time, it can be hard to survive economically since conventional practices are prohibited but produce still can’t garner the organic price premium. One of the most interesting things is that if gross annual sales are not more than $5,000, growers must register as organic with the state but are not required to be certified. In other words, if our on-campus garden registers, our produce can be sold as organic as long as we adhere to the organic standards without having to pay for third-party certification.

Agroecology Practicum, UCSC

2010-07-26T21:20:00.000-07:00

This summer I wanted to learn more about gardening and agriculture in general, basically how to grow things! Early last semester I thought about interning on a farm or finding a summer educational program to take. Through both internet research and word of mouth I found the Agroecology Practicum at UC Santa Cruz. It is part of the Environmental Studies department and it is a summer course that counts for upper division credit. There are two sessions of the class; each one is five weeks long. The curriculum is a mixture of both hands-on work, in the gardens and on the farm, and classroom-based discussions and lectures. As students, we get integrated for work in the fields with the farm apprentices, who are taking a 6-month apprenticeship program that focuses on all aspects of organic farm management. The apprenticeship program seems amazing; most of the 37 or so apprentices live communally in these tent cabins and they learn about organic farming while operating this amazing on-campus educational farm. About 7 get paid to stay for a second year to help run the program. The farm is part of CASFS, the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. UCSC is one of only a few schools to have such a strong program in agroecology, which is basically the intersection of agronomy and ecology. It seeks to integrate ecological principles and phenomena with the goal of improving agricultural practices to increase yields, minimize environmental degradation, promote land stewardship and achieve long-term sustainability. I highly recommend taking the practicum and seeking other educational offerings in agroecology.

I will follow this post with others about specific topics that we've talked about in class. We've covered a ton of material so far and some of it is hard to explain without visual aids and hands-on experience but I'll try. Feel free to ask for any clarification!

Video

2010-07-25T19:03:00.000-07:00

Here's the embedded video:

You should watch this! Emily sent it to me. Its about the relationship between climate change and agriculture around the world as well as the food system's impact on the climate. Check it out.

The Food and Climate Connection from WhyHunger on Vimeo.

Originally posted by Elissa!

A LOT of exciting news

2010-07-25T18:32:00.001-07:00

For all of those who read this:

THE CHICKENS ARE LAYING EGGS!!!

We got the news last Monday night: Mat found the first egg, barely larger than a quarter. I still have to ask him/compare the egg to the other eggs to figure out who was the very first. We are all really excited and tonight I am making poached eggs on toast with mustard and garlic chard and swiss cheese.

In other news, there are tomatoes, corn, eggplant, melons (just starting to ripen), more summer squash, and we have one VERY large potato plant.

Here are three pictures of my dinner last night, mostly all from the garden:

Basil*, tomato*, eggplant*, zucchini* linguine with fresh Mozarella

and Corn* salad with cilantro*

Video

2010-07-18T21:56:00.000-07:00

Sorry I don't know how to embed videos...but you should watch this! Emily sent it to me. Its about the relationship between climate change and agriculture around the world as well as the food system's impact on the climate. Check it out. If any of you know how to embed videos please repost this is a sexier way (and then tell me how you did it).

2010-07-05T11:18:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!
I know it's been a LOOOOONNNGG time since we last posted, so here is an update on the garden. We have three summer garden managers Mat, Taylor, and Nick who keep the garden running. The chickens are great (we expect them to lay in the next month). We have corn AND Potatoes AND Eggplant. Instead of telling you what is happening in the garden, I'll just show you.

Ronde Nice Summer Squash (our biggest crop this year)

Strawberry Picking!

2010-05-04T11:22:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

The strawberry picking excursion is on-- leaving this Thursday morning at 8:30 from the fountain.

FEAST Video

2010-04-29T13:06:00.000-07:00

WATCH THIS!

A huge thanks to Dylan Sittig and Laura Frankel

Semester's End

2010-04-27T11:57:00.001-07:00

Hey all,

The semester and the school year are coming to a close. This Thursday will be probably be our last formal meeting day in the garden and we'll be composting, maybe planting, and generally taking a break from studying. Come out and join us! Also, a huge thank you to everyone who came out and supported us on EARTH DAY. We sold a ton of t-shirts which will totally boost our publicity and the film screening was fun albeit a little bit depressing for me. I was able to hold on to the dvd so if anyone is interested in watching it again or for the first time let me know and you can borrow it. We'll be watching it again informally in Erdman at 7.30 this Thursday.

IMPORTANT: Thursday morning at 9.30 am in the Green Bean we are having a meeting for the leadership of FEAST. For everyone who is currently on the executive board who wants to continue in a leadership role, either be there or let me know if you have a conflict and we can figure out a time that I can fill you in over the weekend. We will be primarily discussing the internal structure of the club, clearly defining individual roles and responsibilities, discussing the expansion of the garden to our new site and outlining a plan for next semester. Please come with ideas and a clear view of any roles that you would like to take on especially if you are interested in heading one of our main improvement projects for the garden, which include working with the Marketplace to get our produce served, installing a drip irrigation system, getting a shed and a small greenhouse for the garden. BE THERE!

Next week Elissa will be leading a strawberry picking and jam making expedition so if you are done with finals early and would like to participate email back and let us know. It will be an awesomely fun time with delicious fruit!

I hope all of you are doing well and GOOD LUCK on your work and finishing out the semester! I know it's hard to find time but the Thursday morning meeting is incredibly important for the future of the club so try your best to make it!

T-shirt Printing

2010-04-26T15:37:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from printing the last batch of the FEAST T-shirts of the year.

Ava did an AWESOME job!

Check this out!

2010-04-21T10:16:00.001-07:00

These are some amazing statistics about energy consumption!

"if all the world’s 1 billion PC’s were powered down for just one night – it would save enough energy to light up New York City’s Empire State Building – inside and out – for more than 30 years!! And the amount of energy wasted by leaving the computer on overnight (across the country) is equal to 20 million tons of C02, roughly the amount produced by 4 million cars on the road!!"

from this website

EARTH DAY

2010-04-21T10:15:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

We got a lot going on this week cause tomorrow's EARTH DAY! yay! VOTE FOR THE RENEWABLE ENERGY SUSTAINABILITY FUND AMENDMENT! (amendment #1)

For starters, there will be tons of festivities during the lunch hour tomorrow. I'm not sure if it's too late to sign up but anyone interested in cooking should definitely participate in Organic Iron Chef. We'll also have a table in the quad selling FEAST t-shirts so stop by as well. We will have composting and other garden work as usual around 4.30 then around 7.30 Tapped will be screened. If the weather's good it will be in the garden and if not, we have MOSHER 1 reserved. It's a potluck so bring some food! (preferably something easily eaten without utensils). If we're outside it might get a little chilly so maybe bring a blanket as well.

This Friday there is a free screening of the movie "dirt - A story with heart and soil" at 7 pm at the Historic Raymond Theatre 129 N. Raymond in Old Pasadena (Next door to the Armory). It is in partnership with "City of Pasadena Greening The Earth Day & Armory Family Arts Festival"

Here is some info about the movie:
Filmmakers Bill Benenson and Gene Rosow tell the story of the life-giving wonders of soil with depth and visual flair, from the Big Bang to present day. Based on the book Dirt, the Ecstatic Skin of the Earth, the film explores how environmental degradation and industrial agricultural practices are damaging one of life’s most essential elements. Author William Bryant Logan appears in the film along with such luminaries as leading global sustainability activist Vandana Shiva, Nobel Laureate and Green Belt Movement founder Wangari Maathai, TreePeople’s Andy Lipkis, physicist Fritjof Capra and many more pointing to hopeful restorative efforts under way around the world. Narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis with a music soundtrack selected by original Morning Becomes Eclectic host Tom Schnabel. DIRT! is call to action for human beings around the world to unite to literally save the earth.
Master Gardener Mark Rice will lead a community discussion following the film. Admission is free. This special Conscientious Projector event is co-sponsored by Sustainable World and EDEN (Environmental Defense of the Earth Now), Peace & Justice ministries of All Saints Church, in partnership with the City of Pasadena and The Armory Center for the Arts. For more info, contact Marty Coleman at 626.792.4941 or visit www.dirtthemovie.org .

T-Shirt Printing and EARTH DAY!

2010-04-14T20:46:00.000-07:00

Hey all,
It's nearing the end of the semester and it's closing in our one-year anniversary as a club!! Imagine that!
We'll be meeting in the garden tomorrow for some harvesting and composting as well as caring for the chickens. We also have more t-shirts to print so we can experiment with that as well. Those can be sold for Earth Day! Hope to see you all there.

Next Thursday is EARTH DAY and we're arranging a film screening for that evening. At 7.30 pm we will be showing the movie Tapped which examines the mostly unregulated bottled water industry, its impacts on human health and how it is destroying our environment. It will be show in the garden so bring blankets, towels, beach chairs, etc. for sitting. It'll be somewhat of a potluck so feel free to bring food of any kind, preferably finger food (hors d'oeuvres and desserts that don't need utensils). That's when we'll be celebrating our one-year anniversary! BE THERE!

Olive Branches and FEAST

2010-04-10T14:07:00.000-07:00

FEAST finally accomplished one of our primary goals: to get kids up in the garden!

This morning we partnered with Olive Branches and had about 10 awesome kids helping us out.

We did composting, plant identification and tasting, chicken playing, seed planting and even some seed transplanting. It was really relaxing to see the children running around, playing, hanging out and just being kids. I really hope this can become a permanent fixture in our garden: wouldn't it be great if we could meet every Saturday and do this?

NYT Article:Push to Eat Local Food Is Hampered by Shortage

2010-04-01T09:48:00.000-07:00

This is one of the issues we are up against in the local food movement -- we have the momentum in terms of growing, raising animals, etc. but we don't have the infrastructure to support it. Read the article here.

Getting Settled In (for emily)

2010-03-29T23:25:00.000-07:00

Article

2010-03-24T15:08:00.001-07:00

Here is an interview with a young farmer who is starting a network of resources and events for young people interested in farming professionally (Giulia?).

CHICKS!

2010-03-24T08:28:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

Are you all ready for the CHICKS! They're gonna be moving into their new home on campus this THURSDAY! We will be meeting in the garden for our usual activities at 4.30 pm NOTE the change in time (it gets dark later with daylight savings time). It will be a fiesta so you all better be there!

In the near future there will be a whole set of new responsibilities now that we have live creatures. In addition, as the weather is getting warmer we are gonna need to water as well. So, we are setting up a rotating schedule for watering the beds each morning and the care of the chickens for each day of the week. For the chickens, we will need someone to check food and water every morning and evening. We will definitely have a thorough meeting about this before anything starts so look out for that but right now we would like to see who is interested and when you're available. To establish the schedule, we have set up an event survey on Doodle, so just enter in the days and times that would work for you.

In light of the meeting on Sunday, some exciting events are in the works so we'll keep you posted with regard to those. Hope to see you all there this Thursday!

Favas! best. news. ever. !!

2010-03-20T17:53:00.000-07:00

breaking news:

there are beans on the fava plants!

last week we all had the sinking feeling that the plants were going to flower but not fruit. but fruit they have!

The Chicken Coop!

2010-03-18T18:06:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow and a Weekend Meeting

2010-03-17T20:29:00.001-07:00

Hey all,

I hope everyone had an awesome and rejuvenating break! We'll be composting, harvesting, clearing some beds, and possibly planting tomorrow at our usual 3.30 time. So come by and help out. The chicken coop is finally done so now it is just waiting for its future inhabitants to be big enough! Hopefully I'll remember to take some pictures tomorrow to put them up on the blog. The coop looks pretty pro if I may say so myself and it probably has enough locks to classify as a safe!

Also, this weekend, on Sunday we will be having an e-board potluck meeting around 11 am in the garden. To anyone who has ideas to share, projects in mind, or is interested in the leadership of FEAST you should come. Please bring something yummy to eat so that we have enough to go around. Also, I hope everyone on the e-board can make it. If not make sure to let me know because if enough people have conflicts we should probably change the time. See you all tomorrow and on the weekend.

New Study

2010-03-16T20:53:00.000-07:00

An international research team just put out one of the most comprehensive reports on the impact of the meat industry on the environment. Read the whole report here: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2010/march/livestock-revolution-environment-031610.html

Among the findings:

More than 1.7 billion animals are used in livestock production worldwide and occupy more than one-fourth of the Earth's land.
Production of animal feed consumes about one-third of total arable land.
Livestock production accounts for approximately 40 percent of the global agricultural gross domestic product.
The livestock sector, including feed production and transport, is responsible for about 18 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

Fava Flowers and CSP: The first Chicken Shit Pile! Of many to come...

2010-02-28T20:31:00.001-08:00

Michelle Obama on food deserts/childhood obesity

2010-02-24T15:13:00.000-08:00

FINISHING THE COOP!

2010-02-24T13:22:00.001-08:00

Hey all,

Come to the garden as usual this Thursday starting around 3.30 pm for harvesting, composting and coop building. The chicks are growing quickly and the coop is almost complete. If all goes as plans it should be done after this week!! Elissa is bringing upside-down blood orange cake as a nice treat!
Our t-shirt selling extravaganza in the quad went well last week; we made $230. We still have a lot of shirts to print and sell which we can continue to work on this semester.
Due to rain and other circumstances the trip to Ojai did not happen this past weekend but we will be going in the near future. So listen up in the upcoming weeks about it!
Unfortunately I won't be able to make it this Thursday cause I have a midterm during garden time, but I'll be there in spirit. Enjoy the blood orange cake for me!

Spring Garden

2010-02-23T13:02:00.000-08:00

Seedsseedsseeds!

Giulia and I have both been collecting seeds when possible for the spring garden. I just got a bunch in the mail from the Seed Saver Exchange-- a website where you can find heirloom varieties of all kinds of seeds. We got a bunch of different kind of tomatoes, melons (watermelon chanterais, boule d'or), summer squash (ronde de nice)...we also want to do a lot of strawberries. Keep your eyes out for cool seeds, we'll plant as much as we can! Also, leave some suggestions in the comments section. please.

Some pictures...

2010-02-21T20:22:00.000-08:00

Chicks!!!!!!!!!!

2010-02-19T17:48:00.000-08:00

Jamie Oliver's TED Prize wish: Teach every child about food | Video on TED.com

2010-02-17T17:13:00.000-08:00

Gardening, t-shirts and OJAI!

2010-02-16T23:40:00.000-08:00

Hey all,

Get excited for the chickens! They're coming soon. Get ready for this Thursday cause hopefully we're gonna finish the coop! We have composting as always and
we can do some planting as well. Also, we will be selling FEAST t-shirts on the quad on Friday at lunch from 12:30 to 1:30 in the quad. Bring ten dollars to buy one and a big smile to help get others to buy one too! All proceeds go directly to our club account...proceeds that are sorely needed! Also, anyone interested in visiting REAL LIVE organic farms in beautiful Ojai this coming Sunday should contact Elissa (echandler@oxy.edu). It will be an awesome all-day affair.

See you all on Thursday!

Trip to Ojai this weekend!

2010-02-16T23:24:00.000-08:00

Anyone interested in visiting some real farms in Ojai this coming Sunday the 21st should contact Elissa (echandler@oxy.edu). In the meantime, here are some pictures of the farms we will be visiting:

Keeping in touch with the real world

2010-02-09T17:23:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,
Today I attended a talk by author Susan Dworkin about her new book "A Viking in the Wheatfield" which is about the negative effects of monoculture, GMO seed production, and the positive work currently being done by seed savers and seed banks throughout the world. She primarily spoke about international efforts to create seed banks to promote regional seed practices, sustainable farming, and to protect the safety of the future of seeds (in the event of a catastrphic event). The question I had for Susan (which she readily answered) was: where is the connection/ is there a connection being made between these seed banks and local growing efforts. In effect, how do we connect people who may only know about and have access to genetically modified seeds, hybrid seeds (which you can't collect seeds from), etc. to these immense heirloom, locally procured seed banks? Are there efforts being made by the seed banks to create that connection? My question was provoked by Michelle Obama's recently announced campaign agsint childhood obesity and how childhood obesity happens primarily in communities who don't have access to healthy food and how healthy food can be grown in low-income/limited access communities -- why shouldn't they have access to good seeds. In any case, Susan told me that people like me (or anybody from F.E.A.S.T.) are the people who have to make these connections, community acitivists like UEP and community gardeners across the country have to create the education tool and the network to teach communities and gardners about these seeds.
All in all, I wanted everyone to realize their potential, that they (you) are the way that change (even small change) can happen. I know it sounds cheesy (totally cheesy), but growing and producing food is something that can happen at the most local level. Teaching your nieghbor about these seed collections, or a community garden can change the way that we grow our food and change the way that we eat.

On a side note, this is a pretty awesome series of maps.

This week!

2010-02-08T21:45:00.000-08:00

Hey all,

Last week we had an awesome Thursday in the garden. The Environmental Problem Solving class stopped by and lent their hands which was a huge help! A BIG thanks to all of you! We got the chicken coop resting in the ground on a sturdy foundation. We still have to construct the roost area which we will start on this week. So we got rained out of selling t-shirts in the quad last Friday but hopefully we will be doing that sometime next week but the date isn't certain yet. We will keep all of you posted.

Composting and work will start this Thursday at 3.30 and as usual we will work until dark or so. We can also prepare some beds for planting!

Chicken Cooping

2010-02-01T22:46:00.000-08:00

YEssssssssssss.....Due to some serious efforts on the parts of Giulia, Gio and Dylan (among others) the coop and chickens are getting closer and closer to reality. Here are some pictures from coop construction last week!

This Semester

2010-02-01T20:35:00.000-08:00

I thought we had a great partial e-board meeting on Saturday and the soup was delicious! Just as a quick recap of the stuff we talked about. We are gonna keep meeting on Thursdays starting at around 3.30 pm so be there this Thursday! We'll be composting as well as continuing to work on the chicken coop and possibly building a couple more raised beds that Bruce bought lumber for. The chicks are gonna come in mid-February but we won't put them in the coop until their big enough which will be a little while.

This Friday we are gonna sell t-shirts in the quad and get people to sign up for FEAST and the Sustainability Fund. Anyone who's free let me know so we can arrange a schedule.

In terms of events we are trying to get a table up in the garden for multipurpose use and then also coordinate with the art department to have the chicken coop painted. Let me know if anyone would like to organize that effort.

I also think that it would be fun to experiment with vermi-composting. We have to decide if we just wanna buy a smaller setup that would serve just the garden or if we want to build something a little bit bigger and handle more waste, especially food from the marketplace.

In terms of fun stuff to do this semester outside of working in the garden we are gonna arrange some weekend fieldtrips! I know Bruce is really interested in going to see a large-scale vermicomposting operation, maybe the one at Santa Monica College (which is 19 feet long, 7 feet wide and has 300 pounds of worms!). We are also hoping to make it to the Pitzer garden at some point and to Earthtrine Farm in Ojai in late March or early April. More details on the dates of those trips to come soon.

BAN STYROFOAM!

2010-01-27T20:34:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

I haven't really heard about this in the news but my mom emailed me about it today. There is a bill in the CA state senate to ban the use of styrofoam, especially in take-out containers from restaurants. The bill has recently come under attack. If you support the effort please follow this link and send a letter to the speaker of the state senate.

Some Articles

2010-01-22T13:30:00.000-08:00

Hi there,
A few articles you might find interesting.

Here is one from the New York Times about an organization, La Mesa Verde, based in San Jose, CA that literally goes into homes of low-income residents and builds raised beds in their backyards, teaches them to plant and harvest, eventually saving the families lots of money and giving them access to nutritious food. It also focuses on educating participants about gardening so that the knowledge will be held within the neighborhood, with less and less input needed from master gardeners. Pretty awesome.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/us/17backyard.html?ref=nutrition

The second is one that Gio sent me about sustainability at Oxy and the lack of work that the administration has put into making Oxy a more environmentally friendly campus. It is pretty up to date on dismal the situation, further proving that not much has changed on the administrative end in terms of sustainability over the last couple of years.

http://media.www.ditzmagazine.com/media/storage/paper1293/news/2008/04/28/InsideTheBubble/How-Green.Is.Our.Campus-3338071.shtml

Letter to the Editor

2010-01-20T20:42:00.000-08:00

This is a draft of a letter to the editor that addresses the issue of sustainability on our campus. Please give feedback, comments and suggestions because it will be signed by the whole club. So let us know if you have any input.

Lets Go Big or Go Home and move forward with the solar panel project. Lets Just Do It and build a farm on Mount Fiji. If we’re really In It to Win It lets retrofit our buildings to be as sustainable as possible.

As a small, liberal arts college Occidental has the unique opportunity to be a leader in many different arenas. Here at Oxy we have a concentration of brilliant, forward-thinking faculty, supportive administrators and talented students. We are already at the forefront of offering undergraduates the chance to do hands-on research in their respective fields and integrating diverse cultural experiences into our curriculum. We are proud of these achievements but as participants of this institution we believe that our sustainability efforts lag behind those of comparable schools. We believe the administration must provide students the tools and institutional framework to make their ideas a reality.

In the 2010 edition of The College Sustainability Report Card (greenreportcard.org). Oxy received a C. The survey looks at many areas of sustainability including: Administration (B), Climate Change and Energy (D), Food and Recycling (B) , Green Building (B), Student Involvement (D), Transportation (C), Endowment Transparency (F) , Investment Priorities (A), Shareholder Engagement (F). At a school that prides itself on progressivism and activism getting a C on sustainability issues is truly dismal. Many comparable colleges have much higher grades including Pomona with an A-, Stanford also got an A-, Whitman got a B-, Bowdoin has a B, Bates has a B and Amherst has an A-.

Essentially all of the categories in the report card are based on decisions made on the administrative end, with very little weight given to student participation. We don’t have much of a say in terms of Shareholder Engagement, Endowment Transparency or Climate Change and Energy (although many students strongly support the solar panel project!).

If we really want to be a dynamic, proactive liberal arts college we need to not only keep up with our peer schools but lead them in the area of sustainability.

-FEAST

Application to the Sustainability Fund for Vermicomposting Materials

2010-01-14T21:21:00.000-08:00

Here is our application to the Sustainability Fund for Vermicomposting materials. Imagine it! We'll have baby worms to take care! PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS IF YOU HAVE SOME IDEAS! I am new to vermicomposting and don't know a whole lot :)

Vermicomposting at Oxy

FEAST would like to expand our composting operations to include a worm compost program in addition to the “snake” compost we already maintain.

Vermicomposting has clear ecological benefits—we could use a lot more food prep waste from the marketplace (currently we are only using a small fraction of what they produce everyday) therefore eliminating the need to truck that waste to a dump. Instead we would use those nutrients by recycling them back into the earth, enriching our garden and reducing our carbon footprint. We have always planned to have multiple types of compost and worms are a good place to start our expansion as they are easy to maintain, essentially odorless and can serve as an educational tool for students and community members who are interested in composting at home as vermicompost is the best kind for a regular backyard—minimal work, absorbs as little or as much food-prep waste as you need it to, odorless and GREAT for the garden. It can even be left for up to a month with no tending without severe repercussions.

I built a vermicomposting site at my house over winter break. It took about 1 hour to put together and one only needs to put more food-prep waste in it to keep the worms alive. Expanding to this type of compost would be easy for FEAST. All we need to do is provide the Marketplace with more bins and they could give us a few more every week to feed the worms. The upkeep is much easier than the upkeep for the pile we currently have and would be a great addition to our weekly meetings.

Budget-- $224

$150—This is the price of a Can-of –Worms composter—it has six trays that the worms worm their way into. The bottom layer has a spigot to drain the extra liquid (which is great to put on your garden). The first tray is a “working tray” as are the next four after that. Once the worms are out of the first tray (and into the second), you empty the contents of the first tray into the garden and put it on top. The trays just keep rotating. The typical life-span for this type of compost is 15 years.

$59—This is the price of 2 lbs of red manure worms, which we will need to start the program. They double in popuation every two months and are self-sustaining so we will never need to buy more.

$15—This is for the coconut foil we need to buy as bedding for the worms when they first arrive.

All of these items can be found on abundantearth.com, a great resource for learning about vermicomposting and buying vermicomposting related products.

Vermicomposting

2010-01-10T09:43:00.000-08:00

One of my goals for this winter break was to start a compost in my home backyard that my mom could easily maintain while I'm away at school (ie not the kind of compost we do at Oxy). I looked into it and it seems that the best solution is worms. I ordered 250 red manure worms and they will come in the mail tomorrow. The composter is coming on wednesday and we've already started collecting food to feed our new little babies. The whole process seems pretty easy and we will definitely implement a worm compost into the garden this semester, enabling us to use a TON MORE food-prep waste from the Marketplace.

Can't wait to see you all!

L.A. Times Article

2010-01-08T08:36:00.000-08:00

The facts about food and farming
Let's not join one of the armed camps deeply suspicious of one another shouting past each other.

By Russ Parsons
January 6, 2010

One of the more pleasing developments of the last decade has been the long-overdue beginning of a national conversation about food -- not just the arcane techniques used to prepare it and the luxurious restaurants in which it is served, but, much more important, how it is grown and produced.

The only problem is that so far it hasn't been much of a conversation. Instead, what we have are two armed camps deeply suspicious of one another shouting past each other (sound familiar?).

On the one side, the hard-line aggies seem convinced that a bunch of know-nothing urbanites want to send them back to Stone Age farming techniques. On the other side, there's a tendency by agricultural reformers to lump together all farms (or at least those that aren't purely organic, hemp-clad mom-and-pop operations) as thoughtless ravagers of the environment.

Well, at least we're thinking about it, so I suppose that's a start. But the issues we're facing are not going to go away, and they are too important to be left to the ideologues. What I'd like to see happen in the next decade is a more constructive give-and-take, the start of a true conversation.

With that goal in mind, I'd like to propose a few ground rules that might help move us into the next phase -- fundamental principles that both sides should be able to agree on.

* Agriculture is a business. Farming without a financial motive is gardening. I use that line a lot when I'm giving talks, and it always gets a laugh. But it's deadly serious. Not only do farmers have expenses to meet just like any other business, but they also need to be rewarded when they do good work. Any plan that places further demands on farmers without an offsetting profit incentive is doomed to fail.

* What's past is past. Over the last 50 years, American farmers performed an agricultural miracle, all but eliminating hunger as a serious health issue in this country. But that battle has been won, and though those gains must be maintained, the demands of today -- developing a system that delivers flavor as well as quantity and does it in an environmentally friendly way -- are different.

* Food is not just a culinary abstraction. No matter how much you and I might appreciate the amazing bounty produced by talented, quality-driven farmers, we also have to acknowledge that sometimes food is . . . well, just food. So when we start dreaming about how to make our epicurean utopia, we also have to keep in mind that our first obligation is to make sure that healthful, fresh food remains plentiful and inexpensive enough that anyone can afford it.

* There's no free pass on progress. Just because you've always farmed a certain way does not mean that you are owed the right to continue farming that way in the future. The days of a small or medium-sized farm making a decent profit growing one or two crops and marketing it through the traditional commodity route are long past. The world is changing, and those who can adapt are the ones who will be successful.

* The world is not black and white. The issues facing agriculture today are much more complicated than lining up behind labels such as "local" and "organic," no matter how praiseworthy they might seem in the abstract.

* No farm is an island. That's not literally true, of course; there are several island farms in the Sacramento Delta. But even there, farmers have to remember that they're living in an ever-more crowded state where their actions affect others. Assuming that what happens on your land is nobody's business but your own just doesn't work anymore.

* Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Holding out for an unattainable dream may mean losing a chance at a more easily realized goal. At the same time, just because an idea may not be the perfect answer, it doesn't mean that there aren't benefits to it. A completely locavore diet is, well, loco, but buying as much locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables as you can is just common sense.

* Quality is more expensive than quantity. Farming fruits and vegetables that are not just healthful but also have great flavor takes a lot of time and work and usually means not growing as much as a neighbor who doesn't focus on flavor. So when you're shopping, don't begrudge a good farmer a little higher price -- that's what it takes to keep him in business.

* You don't climb a ladder starting at the top rung. In a system as complex as our food supply, change is evolutionary. Remember long-term goals, but focus on what's immediately achievable. Any argument that begins, "All we have to do is rewrite the Farm Bill," is probably decades, if not centuries, from reality. But there are plenty of small things we can do now to start us down that road.

* Don't assume that those who disagree with you are evil, stupid or greedy. And even when they are, that doesn't relieve you of the responsibility for making a constructive and convincing argument.

* What's political is also personal. If you believe in something, you should be willing to make sacrifices to support it, even if it's expensive or inconvenient. Wailing about farmers who use pesticides and then balking at paying extra for organic produce is hypocritical because the yields in organic farming are almost always lower. On the other hand, there's nothing wrong with doing the best you can whenever you can -- as long as you're willing to accept compromises from the other guy too.

* Finally, and most important: Beware the law of unintended consequences. Developing tasteless fruits and vegetables was not the goal of the last Green Revolution; it was a side effect of a system designed to eliminate hunger by providing plentiful, inexpensive food, but that also ended up rewarding quantity over quality. We should always keep in mind that when we're dreaming of a system that focuses on the reverse, we run the risk of creating something far worse than strawberries that bounce.

urban chicken video!

2010-01-07T08:37:00.000-08:00

Get excited!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2010/jan/01/ask-lucy-chicken-green-living

The State of the Garden

2010-01-04T22:15:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Everyone!
I just wanted to let everybody know how the garden is keeping up. I've been harvesting so much broccoli, kale, , lettuce, cilantro, peas, and pea vines (which are really sweet and make a nice addition to a salad). AND I have been watching everything grow- we have spinach, radishes, fava beans, fennel, carrots, beets, sage, brussel sprouts and a gazillion other things that have all sprouted. Here are some pictures:

--Swiss chard/ beets/ arugula
--Broccoli
--Fennel (my personal favorite)
--Fava Beans (they kind of look like little claws clawing out of the soil)

I can't wait for everyone to get back. Remember, we are building the chicken coop the first week of school, so get your building/hammering/drilling hands ready!

Also, check out our awesome sun flowers:

Joel Salatin and Novella Carpenter

2009-12-20T21:22:00.000-08:00

FEAST had the opportunity to meet two of our heroes in the last few weeks-- Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms in Virginia and Novella Carpenter who started an urban farm in downtown Oakland. We saw Joel at the Santa Barbara Public Library; a bit of a drive but definitely worth it. He is the farmer featured in Omnivore's Dilemma and Food Inc.. He described himself as a Libertarian, Environmentalist, Christian Lunatic. Those are not adjectives that I would typically attribute to being my "hero" but Joel had a lot to say about supporting small farmers, saving the environment and reconnecting with each other, food and the land. The main point he wanted to get across was the small, organic farms must abide by the same regulations as big corporate farms-- which often means buying hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment that really is not necessary when you are working on a smaller scale. This explains why food from small farms is often more expensive-- their output is nothing close to those of huge farms yet they are still expected to buy all the equipment necessary to process huge amount of food and on top of it they are not receiving the same types of subsidies as these large farms as they do not produce commodity crops. It was inspiring to hear someone with such a clear vision of a better world who spends every waking moment working toward creating that world.

Novella was inspiring in a similar way but was a very different type of person. We visited her farm in Oakland and got a personal tour of the garden and animals. She has about an eighth of an acre. Not much land but she packs it in. The gates to her garden are always open and her neighbors (many of whom could not afford to regularly buy greens in the supermarket) are encouraged to come a take what they would like. The garden itself would have given Bruce a heart-attack-- raised beds every which way and every size with all sorts of manure all over the place; definitely a chaotic type of beauty. The highlight was meeting her goats. She has three lovely female goats who provide milk and manure for the garden (which does not even need to be composted first!). She described slaughtering and "braising the hell" out of one goat that she had always found annoying. She will be teaching a course of raising rabbits for the table in March-- it would be cool if we could get some FEAST people there. Some ideas to take away from this morning. One, we should get goats and rabbits. Both produce great manure that does not even need to be composted. Two we should start planing more produce in all the beds. We could have a lot more diversity within each bed and a lot more output that way too.

FEAST feast pictures.

2009-12-20T21:10:00.001-08:00

These are late. But better late than never.
We had a great meal and people made some pretty bomb contributions...quinoa with cauliflower, corn chowder, OX TAIL RAGOUT WITH HANDMADE PASTA, a great cheese platter, cornbread, a chocolate cake, salad from the garden (harvested 10 minutes before we ate), Asian pear with prosciutto and mint, a persimmon and celery salad and homemade eggnog. That is just the tip of it. Feast knows how to eat and obviously it was great.
Here are some pictures.

The FEAST feast is here.

2009-12-11T13:23:00.000-08:00

Tonight. At 7 pm. In the UEP Building. We are having a feast. Please come and bring a dish to share.
!!!!

EVERYBODY SHOULD GO TO THIS!!!

2009-12-10T21:30:00.001-08:00

HEY F.E.A.S.T.
Everybody should come to this with me:
http://farmlab.org/

it's about making soil and how everything comes into the world hungry!
e-mail me at gpasciuto@oxy.edu if you are interested in coming

Back to the land

2009-12-07T11:01:00.000-08:00

Here is an interesting article about people moving back to rural agricultural areas to become more self-sufficient in the heat of the financial crisis.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703735004574571742502599748.html?mod=article-outset-box

Mayor Visiting the Campus

2009-12-02T14:57:00.001-08:00

Mayor Villaraigosa is visiting the Oxy campus this Friday at 12:30 in the Morrison Lounge (one of the rooms off the Branca patio).
The premise of his visit is to hear student concerns on climate related issues as he will be at the Copenhagen climate conferences next week. Giulia and I (along with 7 or 8 other students) will be on the panel with the mayor to address land use and food sustainability.
What advice should we give the mayor?

NO MEETING TODAY

2009-12-01T12:25:00.000-08:00

HI Election Posse
I'm sorry I did not inform you sooner but we do not have meeting today!
I'll be at the garden to answer any questions though :)

FEAST feast and more

2009-11-30T13:09:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone,
We've nailed down a date for the FEAST feast: Thursday, December 10th. It is the second day of reading days so things should have cooled down for a bit. We want it to be a pot-luck but if you cannot bring anything don't worry-- just bring $5 and enjoy all the food you want! Bring your smiles, your instruments and high spirits. This is going to be fun. Also, if you need a little pick-me-up on this Monday after break read this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/nyregion/30forest.html?em
I wish I could go back to kindergarten and go to that school...

the FEAST feast is coming!

2009-11-23T09:24:00.000-08:00

THE FEAST FEAST IS COMING......
Get ready for the biggest pot-luck feast you have ever attended. Sometime between Thankgiving and Winter break we will come together for a celebration of a great semester. There will be lots of food and fun. Also, we are hoping to be able to sell some of the FEAST tshirts!
Date to be nailed down soon....

Let's Write to our District Rep!

2009-11-19T10:27:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone,
Inspired by Giulia's last blog post we've decided to start a letter-writing campaign for the Food and Flowers Freedom Act.
The way I see it, if we really want to support local food this should be a no-brainer. If this passed, we could sell our produce to neighbors! It will directly help the city's green efforts and get us closer to the goal of getting people to eat local, healthy food. During WWII, 40% of produce consumed by Americans was grown in Victory Gardens. There is no reason we cannot make that happen today and it starts with the Food and Flowers Freedom Act.
Tonight at Garden Time we will not only be planting a bed of succulents (to eventually transplant to different parts of campus to reduce water-usage) but we will also be writing letters to Jose Huizar, our district rep, asking him to support this legislation otherwise known as motion 09-1685. His address is 200 N. Spring St., Room 465, Los Angeles, CA, 90012.
See you tonight!

Los Angeles Urban Chicken Enthusiast Meeting!

2009-11-18T20:56:00.000-08:00

I know this is nerdy, but this Saturday Ava, Dylan, and I attended a Los Angeles Urban Chicken Enthusiast meeting. There were definitely some pretty intense chicken people, like the guy who wore new shoes to the meeting because he didn't want to compromise the bio-security of his flock at home by contamination from the flock at the house we were at, or the woman who "lives in fear" of being turned in for her chickens... OH and also please, don't step on your chickens (it's a REAL concern, ok!) We basically went because we thought we could learn a thing or two from the "experts." We did learn that we could scale down the intensity of our coop, we are looking at a cheaper modular design where we can add more chicken boxes as we expand the flock. We also learned about a couple of other resources: Mad city chickens, home grown evolution, and my pet chicken. A new friend and chicken ally, Dave Kietal, mentioned the food and flowers freedom act, which would allow residential zones to cultivate and then sell their produce off-site. Check out the campaign at urbanfarmingadvocates.org
The chicken prospects are looking good, we have our second meeting with risk management tomorrow to finalize all of our plans so we can get cracking on building that darned coop!

Novella Carpenter

2009-11-18T20:25:00.000-08:00

Lately, in times of trouble and tribulation, I've found myself asking "what would Novella do?" I'm sure you are all sick of me talking about Novella Carpenter, but she basically lives the life I want to live. Novella Carpenter is an urban farmer in downtown Oakland and I saw her speak at the Los Angeles Public Library series, ALOUD. Our dearest Heng (of UEPI) sent me the link to the event and so I biked (let it be known that my bike tires were actually slashed during the lecture)/ metro-ed/ walked all the way to the Central Library downtown on a hot sunny July afternoon.
Novella Carpenter is basically a squatter, she farms on the empty 4,500 square foot lot next to the duplex she lives in with her boyfriend in the Ghost town neighborhood of Oakland, where the wind howls through the "ghetto" and "the crack zombies come out at night." She describes her farm as jankity, with most of the beds and sheds made from found objects throughout Oakland there "is no Martha Stuart happening" in her garden. Ghost town Farms, the name of her urban farming venture, has bees, pigs, goats, bunnies, chickens, and turkeys. Novella slaughters her own animals, except for the goat that her halal Yemeni neighbor/liquor store owner offered to slaughter for her. She explains that through raising and slaughtering her own animals, she has learned to see what its really like to eat meat. She actually teaches slaughtering classes at her farm (FIELD TRIP), and as it seems from her blog she also flies other places to teach other eager meat eaters.
Novella's lecture was very very funny, everything on her farm is funny. When describing what it was like to raise her pigs she says, "I felt like the witch from Hansel and Gretel, thinking 'when can I eat you, when can I eat you?!!'" She describes herself as a "robo-hippie," someone who has a blackberry but also slaughters her own animals. For her first slaughters, she said she pulled up a you-tube how-to video.
Things really picked up, Novella recounts, when she and her boyfriend learned about dumpster diving. Most of the pig feed came from the dumpster behind their favorite Chinese restaurant. Yes, her pigs eat Chinese food, "like good urban pigs."
When describing neighbors and other Oakland residents coming into her farm and picking her food, Novella exclaims "YES! Someone at some great produce today!"
Novella and her boyfriend get about 80% of what they eat from the garden. She said that she has been able to get all of her food from the farm, "but then we lose weight."
She mentioned a couple of books which I haven't checked out yet, but:
The Encyclopedia of Country Living
The Integral Urban House
The Good Life by Scott and Helen Nearing

One audience member asked her what her future plans were, again Novella's response was hilarious: she wants to commandeer the nearby abandoned play field for sheep, maybe a mule and then she wants to ride her mule through downtown Oakland. But, then she ended on a more serious note "maintain what you have." I think these words are appropriate for more than just farming.

Check out her book:
Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer: June 2009, Penguin Press

(it's really good)

T-Shirts are in!

2009-11-18T15:54:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,
The womens and mens t-shirts have arrived! Yipee!
Ava will print them in the next few weeks-- just in time to get some as gifts for your family.
See you tomorrow!

Senior Thesis and FEAST...Check it out and give some feedback

2009-11-16T00:18:00.001-08:00

The main goal of my comps project is turn my on-campus club into a service organization by the end of next semester (a goal that was stated in the constitution on the club). There will also be a hefty written/ research and multi-media component.

The focus of my research will be School Lunch Policy—its founding, history, present-day situation as well as what other countries are doing in the realm of school lunch. I plan to interview long-time cafeteria managers in the area on the challenges they have faced in the last few decades—from cultural changes in American eating habits to budget cut-backs and changing ideas on what healthy and nutritious mean.

My club is FEAST (Food, Energy and Sustainability Team). It started last semester as just a few of us clamoring for an on-campus vegetable garden—to raise awareness about the environmental impacts of our current food systems as well as the health and class issues associated with our dependence on a terrible food distribution system. Eight months later (and many, many hours of labor!) we have finally established a garden on the lawn in front of the UEP building. The garden consists of seventeen 4x8 raised beds as well as an extensive composting program. We have built relationships with many organizations on campus from the UEP department to campus dining and administrators (any everyone in between). We have over 300 members on our mailing list, 40 of who come to events regularly.

As exciting as completing the garden is we need to stay focused on our original mission—to raise awareness and educate through hands-on learning both within the Oxy community and in the LA community. We have accomplished a lot on campus in this regard and I feel that before I graduate I want to complete the final mission which involves connecting with local schools.

Luckily, UEPI just finished building a new Farm 2 School curriculum that we hope to implement in the garden. I have partnered with a grad student at UCLA who just received a grant for this type of work and she will be using our work-force of dedicated gardener/ educators to work in low-income schools that already have gardens but are finding their pockets empty for these types of programs this year. In addition to these two programs I aim to expose elementary students to local farmers’ markets. When I think about what really gets me excited about healthy eating and cooking it truly is the farmers’ market. The music, the colors, the smells, the free samples all culminate in a truly inspiring experience. Through my job working at a local CSA I have made connections with many local farmers who would love to get on board with this project.

I realize there are liability issues with this type of project. Having already worked closely with risk management on various issues I feel there are ways to make this project a reality. Through partnerships with Neighborhood Partnership Program, an existing service organization on campus, and Teach for America (to which I have a few connections) as well as the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute I believe FEAST can really make this work.

HARVEST

2009-11-15T14:49:00.000-08:00

Some Qualitative and Quantitative Data: PLEASE COMMENT WITH IDEAS!

2009-11-12T14:27:00.001-08:00

Garden Report to the Administration, November 2009

We are happy to report that after 8 months of work FEAST, along with many academic and administrative partnerships has established an organic vegetable garden on Occidental’s campus. The garden is located on the lawn in front of the Urban and Environmental Policy building and consists on 17, four by eight raised beds. We are in the midst of harvesting our second crop—radishes, lettuces, pumpkins, butternut squash, kale, chard, brussel sprouts, broccoli, peas and various herbs with more on the way. For more moment-to-moment information, pictures and videos please visit our blog: occidental-feast.blogspot.com

In this report we aim to share what we have accomplished—how on track we are with our original mission, how we have accomplished it, long-term goals and specific needs of the organization.

Original Mission and Success

The reason the club was founded was to answer the question, “We know the food systems in this country are bad for our health and the environment but what can we do about it?” The mission outlined in our founding documents is, “to learn about sustainable, local, and organic food through hands on experiences and to teach the cultural, environmental and economic impacts of food systems. Our overarching goal is to create awareness about sustainable, healthy food on the Occidental Campus and ultimately in the Los Angeles community.”

The educational aspect for club members as well as for other students who have come to some events has been substantial. Members who consistently come to weekly meetings have learned how to compost (that special ratio of straw, to food-prep waste to grass trimmings) as well as which seeds to plant at which time of year and watering and harvesting techniques. To reach out to the broader Oxy community we have been in the quad at lunch with informational fliers, served pumpkin pie from the garden at A Taste of Oxy, done a free-screening of Food Inc. in Johnson 200 and opened our garden to all community members regardless of their club membership status.

In terms of the “green-ness” of our project we have had 33 days of composting since the beginning of our project. Every week we use 6 bins of food-prep waste from the Marketplace each weighing about 10 pounds. That equals 1,980 pounds of waste that we diverted from a landfill (as well as the amount of CO2 it would take to cart it there). We also use 3 full garbage bags of grass trimmings every week (provided by Facilities). That makes 100 bags of grass trimmings diverted.

There was some alarm when the first water bill came at the beginning of the fall but there were two reasons for this—neither of which had to do with water-usage in our garden. I have attached an updated copy of the water bill for UEPI. From the summary box in the lower RH portion you can see that the number of hundred cubic feet (HFC) of usage is down for the month of September by 14 units (3 in Tier 1 and 11 in Tier 2) , but the cost is up from last year by $343.84. There are 2 reasons for this increase:

1. The cost increase/HCF unit from $3.07 to $3.53 for Tier 1 and $3.56 to $5.48 for Tier 2.

2. Decrease in the cap for Tier 1 from 74 units in 2008 to 71 units in 2009.

We have control over the amount of water used. However, we do not have control over the cost or the Tier 1 caps. These are determined by the DWP, and there is no way to anticipate this number or the cost increases. Because of these factors, the cost of water will continue to rise despite our conservation efforts.

We can keep water use to a minimum because we "engineered" the soil used in the raised beds to include a high compost lower sand content to decrease drainage. We can also mulch around plantings with high water retaining compost generated on site, which also recycles College generated greens waste from grass clippings and kitchen fruit & vegetable trimmings. This helps reduce our solid waste footprint, as well as the real cost and environmental cost of transporting this waste to a landfill.

The produce generally gets distributed between club members or used in meals provided by Well Fed, the new student-run “restaurant” (oxywellfed.blogspot.com for more information). As of November 1 we have all the raised beds staked in and from now on can measure the productive capabilities of the garden and look into new food distribution programs.

Community-Building

The community-building aspect of the club has been integral to the success of the garden. What started out as one or two people clamoring for an on-campus garden has turned into an organization with over 300 members, 20 or 30 of who attend events on a regular basis. There are no guidelines on who can be a member and as a result students of all classes and all backgrounds have met each other as well as professors from different disciplines, various staff members and even supportive community members. Events range from our weekly Thursday meetings to turn the compost pile, plant and harvest to trips to the beach to collect kelp to improve the quality of our compost, to potluck dinners and brunches to baking 20 pumpkin pies (with pumpkins from the garden!) to share at A Taste of Oxy. There are just as many freshman involved in the program as there are seniors which not only makes for a friendly atmosphere but also ensures the sustainability of the effort.

On some days we have had so many volunteers and not enough jobs for all the hands. As a result we have had collaborative programming on some Thursdays. One afternoon we had a certified yoga instructor (and fellow student) teach a yoga course. Another Thursday we had a student-band play. We’re hoping to have permanent student art in the garden installed next semester (a bench as well as mosaic stepping stones). The garden has morphed from a sustainability project into a platform to host student-projects--all the while maintaining our original mission of awareness and hands-on learning.

Leadership Development

As graduation approaches for current club leaders we are looking closely at leadership development for next year. Luckily we have very dedicated underclassmen involved in the project and are developing an executive board around them. We’re hoping for more collaborative management and have five elected positions for the spring: Presidential Team, Chicken Guardian(s), Gardening/ Composting Expert, Events Manager/Fundraising and Treasurer. Elections will be held the first week of December and we already have 10 candidates on the ballot.

Key to the success of future management is strong partnerships with faculty, administration and staff as they can monitor successes and failures from year to year. Currently we have strong links with the UEP department (specifically Professor Vallianatos and Heng Lam Foong), Facilities (Bruce Steele) and various administrators (Dean Avery, James Tranquada), Campus dining (Amy Munoz).

Organization Needs and Long-Term Goals

We have a few pressing needs that we hope the administration will help us with. Currently we store all our tools in the basement of the UEP building. This is not only a pain for us but also a burden on Campus Safety whom we must call to let us in and then again to let us put the tools away. We need a tool-shed in the garden. We believe that we could build one for around $300.

This semester we completed research and a proposal around the idea of getting chickens. We met with Rebecca Dowling to hear her perspective and the final proposal is attached this report (covering avian flu concerns, maintenance, and neighbor concerns). We are looking at the leadership for next year to determine whether we are justified in implementing the program. So far we have heard some innovative ways of dealing with chicken responsibilities over break ranging from leaving our chickens with chicken owners in the area, relying on many dedicated faculty members who have stated interest or even building a portable coop that students who live in California could bring home with them.

Looking more long-term we hope to be an established organization on campus much like the Oxy Weekly or Koxy (radio). While our operations do not require a large budget we do need straw every week for composting, updated tools, seeds, transportation and some other basics. It would be more efficient to not consistently apply for funds from ASOC or the Sustainability Fund. Perhaps we could automatically get 20% of the Sustainability Fund each year, giving an incentive for FEAST members to recruit students to donate to the program.

Sustainable Food At Oxy

The issue of sustainable food is something students and faculty alike are passionate about. In partnership with UEP 247, FEAST put together a survey to gauge students’ desire to have more local and organic foods available in campus dining facilities. 64.2% of the 205 survey respondents stated that they care about both local and organic food being offered on campus. 82% of respondents said they eat lunch in campus dining facilities more than any other meal. Fruit was the most important item that students wanted to see local/ organic closely followed by dairy and vegetables. 34.8% of respondents said they would be willing to pay extra money for local food along with 53.4% who stated it depended on how much extra. Of that 53.4%, 51.4% said they would be willing to pay 5-10% more. During Local Foods Month, hosted in October by FEAST, UEPI and the ORSL the Marketplace offered all local foods. When I asked Amy Munoz (head of Campus Dining) how much that program increased the budget the answer went well with our findings—just over 10%. Given our data we recommend providing more local and organic fruit, dairy and vegetables during the lunch hours.

Thank you for your continued support throughout the growth of our organization. Without the help of the administration, staff (Bruce Steele especially!) and faculty this project would never have gotten off the ground. It has certainly been one of the most meaningful experiences of my college career and has certainly enhanced student-life on campus.

Election Update

2009-11-10T08:44:00.000-08:00

This is reminder that we would like to hear from you by tomorrow (Wednesday) if you are interested in running for a FEAST e-board position. We've heard from a few of you but we would love to hear more people interested in the "chicken guardian" positions-- if there isn't enough interest we have to kill the project, at least for now :( .

We will send everyone who is interested an email with more details and have a meeting next week to finalize positions.

Email feastoxy@gmail.com with what position you are interested in or if you have more questions about the process.

Hope to hear from you all soon!

Meeting update

2009-11-06T07:29:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

As you all know we had an important meeting on Wednesday night. Here are some highlights:

1) Giulia and the chicken team had a very positive meeting with risk management the other day. Their main concern was dealing with the chickens over winter break and how exactly that would be handled. At the meeting we wanted to gauge the enthusiasm for the chickens and make sure there are at least a few individuals who will really be there for the chickens. If you think you are one of those individuals please run for the spot of Chicken Guardian in our upcoming election.

2) We are going to have a big end-of-the-semester FEAST feast. We're hoping to do it in the UEP conference room. More details and dates later.

3) ELECTIONS. We spoke about elections the other day and the five positions that are open for next semester. You can run alone or in a team-- in fact, some positions are better for teams (chicken guardian, president). If you are interested in the running PLEASE EMAIL FEASTOXY by WEDNESDAY to let us know what position you want to run for! We will get back to you with more details by next Wednesday. All the positions will work closely together through email and monthly meetings over a good meal. Here is the run down of open positions:

Chicken Guardians: You are in charge of everything chicken. Making sure the chickens are clean, watered, fed, and happy. You are to make sure that the eggs are all collected in a timely manner and that they are distributed among those who would like them. When the coop needs updates or a neighbor has a concern it is your territory. Also, update the blog with how the chickens are doing. People will want to know :)

Treasurer: This is a very important job-- it is your job to make sure everyone is reimbursed in a timely manner. You should attend funding meetings (ASOC, Sustainability Fund) and help write grants and other applications for funding. You much keep track of expenses and update the blog periodically with your activities.

Composting/ Planting: You make sure the food-prep waste and the straw and the greens waste are ready for composting time and that the bins make it back to the marketplace after composting. You research potential new composting methods. You will pick seeds, what we plant when, which beds get which plants based on sunlight. And, of course, you blog regularly about all these things.

Events: You scout out cool events, field-trips and fundraisers for FEAST. Pumpkin pie baking for a Taste of Oxy, field-trip to Ventura to pick up kelp, the haunted house before Food Inc. and all our dinners and pot-lucks are examples of events we've done this year. There is endless possibilities for fun. Also, you will work with the treasurer to come up with fun and effective fundraisers. you will update the blog regularly to keep the group informed.

Presidential Team: It is your job to make sure all projects are running smoothly from the chickens to the composting to the funding. You will email the whole group with important updates, times and dates. You will do outreach to the administration, academic departments, staff and community organizations that are relevant to FEAST. You will make sure that all the people who help us out are adequately thanked and recognized. You will work on long term goals for FEAST (getting an operating budget and maybe a truck).

4) We are hoping to build more partnerships with UEP to potentially involve Oxy classes and the outside community more in the garden. Issues with this are largely risk-management issues although, I'm sure it isn't anything we can't get out of with a waiver.

5) I am currently in a battle with the company we ordered the women's shirts from-- they have not yet arrived although they should have been here about 3 weeks ago :( If you have a piece of clothing you would like printed get it to Ava. The mens shirts will be with her soon.

That is all for now. See you soon :)

Sit Down Meeting this Week

2009-11-02T14:50:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,
We are having our second sit-down meeting of the semester this Wednesday in Johnson 204 at 7 pm. There will be lots of delicious food (please bring some to share if you have time to prepare something).
See you then!

Week in Photos

2009-10-30T22:10:00.000-07:00

Sugar snap peas

Butternut squash

Brussel Sprouts

Emily with the final product...yum.

At ABC stage 8, loading up the truck

Clearly meat carcasses hanging in a slaughter house
How does it feel to be Mr. Steele?

Building the set

Before it was pie...

Message from Professor Vallianatos

2009-10-29T21:15:00.001-07:00

You may have heard that residence life is creating student-led themed dorms and houses. They will launching a 'green' house for students to move into starting in January 2010. (There isn't yet a formal name for the house).

There will room for 6 or 7 students- sophomores, juniors, or seniors. The ideal occupants would be interested in sustinability, green living, and/or food and cooking. The students living there will help green the house, perhaps through gardening, making it more energy and water efficient, etc. Students would also be required to share green living tips with the campus once or twice a month through events like tours or cooking demonstrations.

The house is a detached home owned by the college. It is located at 4863 stratford near the Rangeview res hall. There is not time or money to rebuild the house right now as an up-to-date, certified green building. But over time the hope is that sustainable materials, living practices, and systems can be implemented (solar panels, rainwater capture, efficient lights, better insulation etc). Some of these green renovations can hopefully be pilot programs for the entire campus. Students living in the house can help research and develop a plan for greening the house.

Residence life asked me to help spread the word to see if there are students interested in being part of the initial groups of students who would finalize the proposal for the house and move into it next semester. They haven't completed the application form quite yet but you can email reslife@oxy.edu if you are interested. I'm happy to chat with you about it if you're potentially interested. If you have friends who might be interested, feel free to forward this message to them.

Pumpkin Pie Recipe

2009-10-28T19:10:00.000-07:00

We are baking 9 pies for a Taste of Oxy. Here is the recipe :)

27 eggs
3 cups of sugar
7.5 pounds pumpkin puree
7 pounds and 14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
13.5 oz. butter, melted and cooled

9 Tbsp flour
4 1/2 tsp ground ginger
4 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 1/8 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350.
Combine eggs, sugar, milk and pumpkin in a large bowl and whisk until well blended. Add butter and stir until thoroughly blended.
Mix the dry ingredients together and add it to the pumpkin mixture.
Pour the batter into crust and bake 45-50 minutes until firm to the touch, and set in the center when you shake it gently.
Cool completely

What did YOU have for dinner last night?

2009-10-25T23:21:00.000-07:00

If only...

2009-10-25T22:18:00.000-07:00

I've pretty much given up on grad school at the moment (no time to study for that damned GRE) and would love to find myself living here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/world/americas/16gaviotas.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all

Who's with me? If Colombia doesn't interest you I am also looking for Farming Cooperatives here on the west coast, let me know if you have any leads.

Chicken Update

2009-10-25T21:26:00.000-07:00

Hey All,
Today we had the first chicken task force meeting and it went REALLY well. We are definitely on our way to chickendom. We have outlined the report we are making for risk management (who I have e-mailed to set up a meeting) and are making progress for our deadline on Friday. We still have plans to use Annika's coop design with possibly a few alterations, including 1/4 inch wire instead of chicken wire to keep out pesky and harmful animals, and possibly a piece of wood on the bottom to keep out rats and make the area easier to clean. We estimate that the coop will cost about $200 (based on a design and estimate we found online)- which we can apply for from the Sustainability Fund. Before we can really decide how many and what kind of chickens we should get, we really need to get the go-ahead from Risk Management and Facilities, but we went ahead and looked anyways. We thought, in terms of egg production, that we would initially get 5 chickens which would produce about 5 eggs/week -- we thought that was a pretty reasonable number of eggs to start with. In terms of types of chickens, we are looking at Araucana (blue and green eggs, quiet, docile, etc.), Barred Rocks (black and white speckled and reliable) and possibly some New Hampshire Reds (we have kind of ruled these out for the moment, but please let us know how you feel about them). We were going to order them online, but again, if anyone knows any local hatcheries let us know! Joellen Anderson suggested that we "adopt" abused chickens from bad mean farms, but we decided that initally it would be pretty difficult as it will be the first time for some of us working with chickens. We really want to look to this in the future, but we want to make sure that we can actually give the chickens everything they need before we any that have already been abused. If you are interested in being on the taskforce e-mail us at feastoxy@gmail.com. Just wanted to update people on the progress we are making. Get excited for this week, it's about to be jam-packed with fun activities!

-Giulia

Garden Wrap-Up and Big Week Ahead

2009-10-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,
Great day in the garden yesterday (as usual). Giulia brought a delicious homemade pumpkin pie that we devoured.
We also cleared some more of the summer beds and planted to new crops. I'm not sure if it was a good idea but we planted one bed with carrots and chard in the shape of a double-helix-- one strand with carrots and one with chard. It should look pretty rad (I'm not so sure about maximum efficiency on that one).
We also turned the pile and made a new one. All in under an hour and a half. We are rock stars.
IMPORTANT: We want to show alum and parents the garden tomorrow from 1-2. If anyone wants to join me in the quad from 12-1 to pass out fliers that tell where the garden is and then hang with me from 1-2 in the garden to host parents that would be AMAAZING! I will send out an email about this.
Also e are still putting on the haunted house on Thursday and hosting a booth at a Taste of Oxy. We are meeting on Sunday at 3 to assemble materials for the haunted house and again on Thursday at 3 to put it all together. Please meet us outside Johnson 200 for both of these meetings.
In terms of pumpkin pies for the Taste of Oxy booth we are going to meet at UEP on Friday morning at nine. We will have people baking there all day in "shifts"-- please drop by if you have the time!
See you soon,
e

Pictures from the gaaarden

2009-10-18T21:27:00.000-07:00

Planting the odds-and-ends herb bed
Butter lettuce peeking through the radishes

Bruce didn't love the trellis we made but we do...
Who wouldn't want to come to the garden?

Food and Urban Planning

2009-10-16T10:41:00.000-07:00

So, as an aspiring urban planning and farmer, I have been collecting a few articles about the nexus of food and planning.

Here is a really interesting video about feeding cities, and the ever growing distance between where we live and where we get our food. It also talks about the impact of living in a city on the natural food landscape.

http://blog.ted.com/2009/10/how_food_shapes.php#

This next article is actually pretty exciting because it is linked to a project I am working on (as an unpaid intern). Basically, Councilwoman Jan Perry has proposed a moratorium on convenience stores and provides incentives for real grocery stores with fresh fruits and vegetables. The ban is based on a more comprehensive initiative for land-use reform in South Los Angeles, promoting sustainable neighborhoods which includes eating healthier.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-stores12-2009oct12,0,2469583.story?track=rss

Finally, here is an article about the food desert issue (which UEP students have been tackling in their comps) about who has access to fresh food and the disparities between high and low-income communities in terms of food access:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1010/p02s05-usgn.html

I know it's a lot of information, but it's all relevant if you're interested in either planning or food or both!

Have a great fall break guys, and get ready to eat a ton of radishes!

-Giulia

Thomas Jefferson and Agriculture

2009-10-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

In light of the fact that I am taking a course on the founding of the American presidency I thought I would share some quotes from one of our all time favorite Presidents, Thomas Jefferson, about agriculture:

c. 1781. "Those who labour in the earth are the chosen people of God, if ever he had a chosen people, whose breasts he has made his peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue. It is the focus in which he keeps alive that sacred fire, which otherwise might escape from the face of the earth."

"Cultivators of the earth are the most virtuous and independant citizens." (Notes on the State of Virginia, Writings.290, 301)

1785 Aug. 23. "Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independant, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to it's liberty and interests by the most lasting bands." (TJ to John Jay, B.8.426)

1785 Oct. 28. "It is not too soon to provide by every possible means that as few as possible shall be without a little portion of land. The small landholders are the most precious part of a state." (TJ to James Madison, B.8.682)

1787 Dec. 20. "I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries; as long as they are chiefly agricultural." (TJ to James Madison, B.12.442)

1793 June 28. "Good husbandry with us consists in abandoning Indian corn and tobacco, tending small grain, some red clover following, and endeavoring to have, while the lands are at rest, a spontaneous cover of white clover. I do not present this as a culture judicious in itself, but as good in comparison with what most people there pursue. (TJ to George Washington, GB191)

1795 Apr. 29. "It [agriculture] is at the same time the most tranquil, healthy, and independent [occupation]." (TJ to J. N. Démeunier, Writings.1028)

1795 Sep. 8. "I am become the most industrious and ardent farmer of the canton . . . ." (TJ to Madame de Tessé, DLC)

1803 Nov. 14. "The class principally defective is that of agriculture. It is the first in utility, and ought to be the first in respect. The same artificial means which have been used to produce a competition in learning, may be equally successful in restoring agriculture to its primary dignity in the eyes of men. It is a science of the very first order. It counts among it handmaids of the most respectable sciences, such as Chemistry, Natural Philosophy, Mechanics, Mathematics generally, Natural History, Botany. In every College and University, a professorship of agriculture, and the class of its students, might be honored as the first. Young men closing their academical education with this, as the crown of all other sciences, fascinated with its solid charms, and at a time when they are to choose an occupation, instead of crowding the other classes, would return to the farms of their fathers, their own, or those of others, and replenish and invigorate a calling, now languishing under contempt and oppression. The charitable schools, instead of storing their pupils with a lore which the present state of society does not call for, converted into schools of agriculture, might restore them to that branch qualified to enrich and honor themselves, and to increase the productions of the nation instead of consuming them." (TJ to David Williams, L&B.10.429-30)

1810 June 27. "I think it the duty of farmers who are wealthier than others to give those less so the benefit of any improvements they can introduce, gratis." (TJ to Joseph Dougherty, FB134)

1817 May 10. "The pamphlet you were so kind as to send me manifests a zeal, which cannot be too much praised, for the interests of agriculture, the employment of our first parents in Eden, the happiest we can follow, and the most important to our country." (TJ to William Johnson, GB572)

1821 July 30. "With respect to the boys I never till lately doubted but that I should be able to give them a competence as comfortable farmers, and no station is more honorable or happy than that." (TJ to Thomas Mann Randolph, DLC)

--Lucia C. Stanton, Monticello Research Department, May 1994

Funding for Haunted House

2009-10-13T21:12:00.000-07:00

Just got back from ASOC funding meeting with the good news that we have been allotted $169.50 for our haunted house pre and post Food Inc. screening. So far we have money for a fog machine, strobe light, paper mache materials and misc. sheets and cords. Please email feastoxy@gmail if you have more ideas for this event (that will be held on Oct. 28).
Goodnight.

Hillside Produce Cooperative

2009-10-13T19:05:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

Check out this neat organization that does produce swaps in the area. If we had known about this earlier maybe we could have swapped some patty-pan for a more diverse plate of fruits and veggies. What strikes me the most is how many creative things people are growing in their backyards.
http://hillsideproducecooperative.org/updates/

Pictures from the thursday pot-luck and sunday brunch

2009-10-12T20:32:00.001-07:00

Hi all,

I wish I had gotten more close ups of all the amazing food you brought but these are the pics I have for now:

Celebrity Crushes

2009-10-08T09:44:00.000-07:00

I've never been one to have crushes on celebrities but Jamie Oliver is an exception. Below is a link to an NY Times story about all the work he has done promoting home-cooking and healthy eating:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/magazine/11Oliver-t.html?pagewanted=1&hp

SURVEY

2009-10-08T00:21:00.000-07:00

Hello!

This is important:

Please take this survey (link below). The goal is to figure out how much students actually care about having local and organic options at the dining facilities on campus. This last week the MP has gone 100% local so it IS possible-- they just need to know that students care. We care. So take the survey and pass it along to your friends who care too!

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=jP_2bQmeS6_2b8N0jeZqI0WQ1g_3d_3d

See you tomorrow!

More Good News

2009-10-07T15:58:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Two pieces of good news turned up today.

1) I ordered the shirts on Monday (as in two days ago) and then mens' have already arrived! There are some really nice colors; they look great.

2) Trader Joe's is donating their straw (from their pumpkin patch display) to FEAST to use for our compost pile! If you see more local pumpkin patches ask them what they do with their straw and if they would be willing to donate it (or sell it) to us. We can keep track and just pick a whole bunch up after Halloween.

I hope everyone is having as good a day as FEAST is :)

2009-10-06T20:40:00.000-07:00

Beautiful chicken coop sketch

2009-10-05T19:30:00.000-07:00

Annika made this beautiful sketch as a possible chicken coop design. What do you think? Please leave comments with your ideas!

its amaZing

2009-09-30T22:15:00.000-07:00

More footage from garden time last Thursday.

T-SHIRT INFO

2009-09-29T21:35:00.001-07:00

I just got back from the Senate meeting and we got $450 to make our t-shirts! This is great news. Maybe we can vote on how much we'll charge for them (I'm thinking 8 or 10). Also, how cool is the logo that Ava drew??!

I'm the first to admit that I am technologically challenged so...sorry that it didn't scan too well (the bottom got kind of cut-off but you get the idea).

Garden Extravaganza this week

2009-09-29T15:51:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone.
We're having another party in the garden this Thursday evening at five as usual. We are also having people back to Giulia's house for dinner after so please try and leave room in your schedule for that!
Also, I am going to the Senate meeting tonight to get the funds for our t-shirts (I'll try and post the print we're doing later tonight) so fingers crossed that we'll get it!
I hope to see you all very very soon.

A recipe

2009-09-28T21:43:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

We have all become intimately aquainted with the patty-pan squash. We've made gratins, we've made ratatouilles, we've made ravioli, we've made lasagna, patty-pan egg scrambles...Here is one of the ways that I have most enjoyed patty-pan-- classic zucchini bread (the patty-pan is essentially a zucchini, as I think we all know!). I've been getting pretty creative with the ingredients (i.e. the other night I ran out of flour and substituted with ground almonds or adding dates and powdered ginger instead of raisins and nutmeg). All in all the loaves have been pretty good. So grab a giant squash from the garden, bake up a loaf and share your innovations with the rest of us PLEASE!

Zucchini Bread Recipe

Ingredients

2 eggs, beaten
1 1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups grated fresh patty-pan squash
2/3 cup melted unsalted butter
2 teaspoons baking soda
Pinch salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
1 cup dried cranberries or raisins (optional)

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix in the grated patty-pan and then the melted butter. Sprinkle baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour, a third at a time. Sprinkle in the cinnamon and nutmeg and mix. Fold in the nuts and dried cranberries or raisins if using.

2 Divide the batter equally between 2 buttered 5 by 9 inch loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour (check for doneness at 50 minutes) or until a wooden pick inserted in to the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire racks to cool thoroughly.

Makes 2 loaves.

Meeting Notes from Last Week

2009-09-27T08:55:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Here are some ideas we discussed last week--

What to do with all the veggies?
-a few different ideas came out but it became clear that most people in the club enjoy getting together for pot-luck dinners to eat the food together. So lets do it! I especially liked the idea of improve pot-luck dinners around what we have a surplus of (did someone say patty-pan squash?!). It could be kind of a giant recipe competition and cook-off. We could even compile all the recipes into a book!
- We talked about opening a booth at the Eagle Rock farmers' market which would be awesome except, first-year Jocelyn Coffin did some research and it turns out the Eagle Rock market is certified (not certified organic but certified farms). Maybe down the road we'll get there....
- Leaving some plots open for a local elementary school. I love this idea. For now we'll plant them all but maybe in the spring we can look into possible connections for this project.
- Farm to Preschool. The UEPI (which includes Giulia) just wrote a new curriculum for pre-schoolers that involves getting their hands dirty in the soil. We could partner with the pre-school on campus and help them implement the curriculum on our garden.

Art?
We are trying to set up some permanant art installations in the garden. There is an ASOC grant specifically for murals which we can apply for and possibly make some mosaic stepping stones for in between the raised beds. I think it would be AWESOME! I created a new email list for all the people who are interested in this project. I'll email you a little later :)

CHICKENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chickens are on the agenda. Annika made a beautiful drawing and detailed description of the materials we'll need to build the coop. I think a great place for it would be where all that dirt is piled up now. I was at a place that sells chicks and its best to buy them in the spring (it gets too cold in the winter for the little babies) which works really well for us because that is AT LEAST as long as it will take us to get the idea OK'd by the admin. Again, a great team of dedicated feasters signed up for this task-- there is an email group for you too so lets get jumping. For more info on chickens check the post on backyard flock biosecurity a little down the page. We're also in contact with Caitlyn Lacey from Pitzer (who heads their chicken program) and Robin Lewis at Whitman. Whitman raises birds for meat! We might not do that.

Giulia and I had out opening night of Well Fed lat night. It was pretty sweet. We used patty pan from the jardin! Look at our blog: oxywellfed.blogspot.com. ALSO if you are not yet a follower of this blog please become one (so I can at least feel like people are reading!). And become a follower of Well Fed too!

Where does all that soil come from?!

2009-09-26T13:41:00.000-07:00

F.E.A.S.T.

Changing Diet

$10 Kombucha Class

A tour of Gotreaux Family Farms

Trip to Pomona

The Farmer and The Cook

Tomorrow and Upcoming Events!

KATHERINE LEINER

Usual Thursday + POTLUCK!

Voting and Doodle Poll

Fruit Trees

A few photos

Gio's Summer in Santa Cruz

The Agro-Food System

Propagation

Organic Certification

Agroecology Practicum, UCSC

Video

A LOT of exciting news

Video

Strawberry Picking!

FEAST Video

Semester's End

T-shirt Printing

Check this out!

EARTH DAY

T-Shirt Printing and EARTH DAY!

Olive Branches and FEAST

NYT Article:Push to Eat Local Food Is Hampered by Shortage

Getting Settled In (for emily)

Article

CHICKS!

Favas! best. news. ever. !!

The Chicken Coop!

Tomorrow and a Weekend Meeting

New Study

Fava Flowers and CSP: The first Chicken Shit Pile! Of many to come...

Michelle Obama on food deserts/childhood obesity

FINISHING THE COOP!

Spring Garden

Some pictures...

Chicks!!!!!!!!!!

Jamie Oliver's TED Prize wish: Teach every child about food | Video on TED.com

Gardening, t-shirts and OJAI!

Trip to Ojai this weekend!

Keeping in touch with the real world

This week!

Chicken Cooping

This Semester

BAN STYROFOAM!

Some Articles

Letter to the Editor

Application to the Sustainability Fund for Vermicomposting Materials

Vermicomposting

L.A. Times Article

The facts about food and farmingLet's not join one of the armed camps deeply suspicious of one another shouting past each other.

urban chicken video!

The State of the Garden

Joel Salatin and Novella Carpenter

FEAST feast pictures.

The FEAST feast is here.

EVERYBODY SHOULD GO TO THIS!!!

Back to the land

Mayor Visiting the Campus

NO MEETING TODAY

FEAST feast and more

the FEAST feast is coming!

Let's Write to our District Rep!

Los Angeles Urban Chicken Enthusiast Meeting!

Novella Carpenter

T-Shirts are in!

Senior Thesis and FEAST...Check it out and give some feedback

HARVEST

Some Qualitative and Quantitative Data: PLEASE COMMENT WITH IDEAS!

Election Update

Meeting update

Sit Down Meeting this Week

Week in Photos

Message from Professor Vallianatos

Pumpkin Pie Recipe

The facts about food and farming
Let's not join one of the armed camps deeply suspicious of one another shouting past each other.