Earthblog

"Eating locally in winter is easy. But the time to think about that would be August," wrote Barbara Kingsolver in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, the memoir about the year her family spent growing their own food and eating locally. Now that August is a distant memory and I've picked up the last box of hearty root vegetables from my CSA's winter share, I'm not looking forward to the lack luster months that lie ahead, February, March, and April, when local seasonal food is lean.

Historically, the months ahead were considered the "hungry time" when people had to rely on their stock of dried, salted, and preserved food. Now that we can buy a multitude of fresh, frozen, or processed food from any corner of the globe, I know I'm in no danger of starving, but I will miss the pleasures of nourishing myself with fresh food that connects me to my immediate community. So, while my cupboards are by no means bare, these are not months of abundance either.

"We are entering what the German's call saure gurken zeit which means, 'the sour pickle time,'" Ursula Holmes told the five of us last February. We were seated around her kitchen table to learn the art of making fermented vegetables, an ancient food preservation technique. Essentially, we were there to learn how to make pickled vegetables. Instead of preserving them in a liquid with high acidity, like vinegar, we would let the natural bacteria, lactobacillus—an organism that lives naturally on organic vegetables—create a fermentation process. The bacteria would raise the ph of the liquid in the jar, which would preserve the vegetables, keep any unsavory microbes at bay, and infuse them with a tangy fresh flavor.

In case you didn't already know, your stomach is the key to an honest revolution. Join us at The Bean Cycle/Matter Bookstore for the 2nd annual FOOD/GROWING/GARDENING Townhall Meeting on Tuesday, February 16th at 7pm. Part of our YEAR OF THE FORT programming, local food nonprofits, farmers, CSAs, and community organizers will share their diverse projects and opportunities for 2010. Come learn how to get involved in the fight against food injustice, how to sign up for a CSA share, and meet the wide variety of people who like to get their hands dirty.

7-8pm: Introductions and Brief Profiles of Local Groups, CSAs, Food/Gardening Opportunities

8-9pm: Q&A with Local Food Panel (Represented by Kent Nixon and Addy Elliott of Grow Forth!, Chad Chriestenson of the Fort Collins Food Co-op, Gailmarie Kimmel of Be Local, Nic Koontz of Native Hill Farm, and Bailey Stenson of Happy Heart Farm)

For more information please email Todd Simmons at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call Matter Bookstore at (970) 472.4284.

Article and photos by Kelsi Nagy

Life on an Urban Farm

Married couple Rod Adams and Amy Yackel always wondered what it would be like to live on a farm. This year they made their dream a reality without ever leaving their front yard. They now produce hundreds of pounds of vegetables at their home near Dunn Elementary and provide seasonal, organic produce to the people they are closest to, their neighbors.

Rod and Amy decided that they couldn't put off the list of things they had always wanted to do after Rod was injured in a serious car accident last summer in which he suffered a broken neck (an injury he has fortunately recovered from fully). The accident gave Rod the opportunity to reevaluate the way he was living life. "What if I had died?” Rod asked himself. “Would I be content with what I've done so far?"

The answer was to start doing those things he and his wife had put off as soon as possible—like live on a farm. Instead of quitting their jobs and moving to the country, they bought the rental property next to their house, ripped up the sod and installed some raised beds, bought six chickens, and started farming. To view the rows of hoop houses, beds of flowers, deluxe chicken coop (complete with a shelter heated by passive solar), and abundant produce, anyone can observe that they haven't wasted a minute since Rod's recovery.

I don’t have any statistics to convince you that our food system needs some repairing or any studies that tell us for the umpteenth time that food and exercise affect our health.  What I do have is a love of farming.  I’m a farming romantic, and an idealist.   I have soil on my hands, and hours hunched over a hoe.   I have boxes of produce on my shoulders, proudly carrying the bounty.   I have sun-warmed water melons broken on my knee, juice dripping down my chin.   I have cold fall mornings, wool cap, and red hands bunching the sweet greens.  I have a glass of Colorado wine after a true full day’s work.  Sun up to sun down.   I have a life drenched in home, and soaked in the people, the food, the art, and the industry of this place.