Chicken Talk

The word is out: chickens are on the agenda for this semester. Many other schools have them (Hampshire, Pitzer...anyone care to add to the list, please leave a comment) and its times we did too.
Here is a link to a blog post about college towns that allow chickens (LA definitely does).
http://savesewaneechickens.blogspot.com/2008/07/9-out-of-top-10-us-news-colleges-allow.html

We are having a meeting next Wednesday night to discuss the agenda for this semester. Come with chicken ideas or any ideas.

Also, garden time as usual this Thursday at 5. We'll compost, harvest, plant. All the seedlings have sprouted (kale, bok choy, broccoli, wildflowers, brussel sprouts, peas, lettuce, raddish, turnips, rutabaga). Basically we're in business.

Foraging: you know you love it.

So here's an article about some more unconventional urban harvesting. The article states that "people have this idea that food is something that you make happen -- you grow it -- they don't see it as something that grows on its own, that is out there in the world." If anyone is interested, let me know.

http://www.alternet.org/environment/142420/the_ultimate_in_eating_local%3A_my_adventures_in_urban_foraging?page=4

Food and the Health Care Debate

Hi Everyone,

Good day at the garden yesterday...we now have a lot of seeds planted-- kale, turnips, rutabagas, broccoli, peas, lettuce, radish, beets...its going to be a delectable harvest to say the least.

I found this article this morning about the connection of a healthy, local diet to the health care debate. Under the current system, the health care industry has a huge stake in keeping people overweight and unhealthy-- as Pollan puts it, " the market for perscription drugs and medical equipment that manage Type II Diabetes... is one of the brighter spots in the economy." If health insurers were required to take everyone at the same rate there would be a HUGE push to get everyone fit and healthy. If we are able to do that we could eliminate a tenth of all healthcare spending (we currently spend $147 billion to treat obesity and $116 billion to treat Diabetes).

Creating local food systems and cultures is a good place to start.

Here is a link to the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/opinion/10pollan.html?ref=dining

Garden time tomorrow

Hi all,

This is a reminder about garden time tomorrow. We're meeting at the garden (on the lawn in front of UEP) at 5 pm to plant, compost, harvest and have a good time.

Email feastoxy@gmail.com if you have any questions!

FEAST OLYMPICS: round I

Yesterday FEAST took a trip up north to Ventura to collect kelp for the compost pile-- it will eventually be really good for the soil.

We had a great drive up (pretty lovey-dovey in the back seat), ate a great lunch and found a beautiful beach. We collected kelp, "swam" in the water and played games.

Here is a preview of Eric describing the first event of the FEAST olympics.

City Hall Farmers Market Celebration

Hey All,
Today was the 30th anniversary of L.A. County's first farmers market. At the festivities at the city hall farmer's market, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced the creation of a food policy task-force which would help to make Los Angeles "the farmer's market capital of the world." The other really great thing about this event and the creation of the task force is that it was our very own UEPI that helped put everything together. Oxy is mentioned in the article, but I would like to recognize all of the hard work and the inventiveness of the brilliant people at UEPI. They are a key group in spreading the notion throughout the nation that nothing is "more important than the food we put on our table?"

Here is the link to the LA Times Article: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-farmers-markets4-2009sep04,0,1235027.story

GARDEN TIME AND MORE

HELLO!

Welcome back. I'm so happy to see all my garden friends from last semester back for the new school year. With this many people to help we are going to have a phenomenal semester.

Garden time tomorrow at 4 pm. We're going to compost, plant, harvest and plan. We're going to take it a little slow due to the air quality.

VERY IMPORTANT: please sign up to donate $20 this semester to the Sustainability Fund. Its where we get a lot of our funding and has been integral to the success of the garden. Go to http://departments.oxy.edu/business/student/RE&SF.html to donate.

We are going to the beach this weekend. We NEED to escape the smoke as well as collect kelp for the compost (its really good for the soil).

Yipee! See you soon!