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What's Happening?Winter SharesInformation about Winter Shares can be found here. Winter sharers received a receipt / email telling you when your pickups will be around September 26, titled Sales Receipt from Stearns Farm CSA. If you have lost that information please contact janet stearnsfarmcsa.org._____________________________________________ Stearns Farm CSA $20 Flower Bouquet gift certificateFor the 2009 season, we are pleased to be offering pick-your-own gift certificates for purchase. We are selling a package of three bouquets for $20. It includes an attractive gift card with 3 coupons. Each coupon entitles the user to pick a bouquet of 24 stems from July 15th until September 15th. They can insert the coupon in the tin can at the flower kiosk after they pick.This is a wonderful, beautiful and unique gift for many occasions such as the holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, as a thank you or just because. Consider it for your friends and family and help out Stearns Farm too. Click here for the Order Form. Don't delay. We have only 100 gift cards available. Global NewsA 50-Year Farm BillMon 5 Jan 2009 5:21pm NY Times January 4, 2009, By WES JACKSON and WENDELL BERRY, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/opinion/05berry.html "Thoughtful farmers and consumers everywhere are already making many necessary changes in the production and marketing of food. But we also need a national agricultural policy that is based upon ecological principles. We need a 50-year farm bill that addresses forthrightly the problems of soil loss and degradation, toxic pollution, fossil-fuel dependency and the destruction of rural communities." more here . . . Soil Not Oil: Why We Need to Kick Petroleum Out of Our Farms Thu 18 Dec 2008 7:14pm By Vandana Shiva, South End Press, December 3, 2008 http://www.alternet.org/story/109576/ Industrial agriculture is dependent on chemical fertilizers. Chemically fertilized soils are low in organic matter. Organic matter helps conserve the soil and soil moisture, providing insurance against drought. Soils lacking organic matter are more vulnerable to drought and to climate change. Industrial agriculture is also more dependent on intensive irrigation. Since climate change is leading to the melting of glaciers that feed rivers, and in many regions of the world to the decline in precipitation and increased intensity of drought, the vulnerability of industrial agriculture will only increase. Finally, since the globalized food system is based on long-distance supply chains, it is vulnerable to breakdown in the context of extreme events of flooding, cyclones, and hurricanes. While aggravating climate change, fossil fuel-dependent industrialized, globalized agriculture is least able to adapt to the change. more here . . . Should Obama appoint a "Secretary of Food"? Fri 12 Dec 2008 4:27pm NY Times, Dec 11, 2008 By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF "As Barack Obama ponders whom to pick as agriculture secretary, he should reframe the question. What he needs is actually a bold reformer in a position renamed “secretary of food.” A Department of Agriculture made sense 100 years ago when 35 percent of Americans engaged in farming. But today, fewer than 2 percent are farmers. In contrast, 100 percent of Americans eat. more here . . . Our Home-Grown Melamine Problem Mon 17 Nov 2008 9:29am NY Times, November 17, 2008 By JAMES E. McWILLIAMS For all the outrage about Chinese melamine, what the United States has failed to scrutinize is how much of the chemical has pervaded our own food system. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/opinion/17mcwilliams.html more here . . . Michael Pollan's Open Letter to the Next Farmer in Chief Wed 29 Oct 2008 10:52am NY Times, October 10, 2008. Dear Mr. President-Elect, It may surprise you to learn that among the issues that will occupy much of your time in the coming years is one you barely mentioned during the campaign: food. Food policy is not something American presidents have had to give much thought to, at least since the Nixon administration — the last time high food prices presented a serious political peril. Since then, federal policies to promote maximum production of the commodity crops (corn, soybeans, wheat and rice) from which most of our supermarket foods are derived have succeeded impressively in keeping prices low and food more or less off the national political agenda. But with a suddenness that has taken us all by surprise, the era of cheap and abundant food appears to be drawing to a close. What this means is that you, like so many other leaders through history, will find yourself confronting the fact — so easy to overlook these past few years — that the health of a nation’s food system is a critical issue of national security. Food is about to demand your attention. more here . . . 'Dead Zones' Appear In Waters Worldwide — New Study Estimates More Than 400 Fri 15 Aug 2008 7:55am By Joel Achenbach, Washington Post, August 15, 2008. "In the latest sign of trouble in the planet's chemistry, the number of oxygen-starved "dead zones" in coastal waters around the world has roughly doubled every decade since the 1960s, killing fish, crabs and massive amounts of marine life at the base of the food chain, according to a study released yesterday ... Low oxygen, known as hypoxia, is in significant measure a downstream effect of chemical fertilizers used in agriculture. Air pollution, including smog from automobiles, is another factor. The nitrogen from the fertilizer and the pollution feeds the growth of algae in coastal waters, particularly during summer." more here . . . |  Farm News2008 Stearns Farm CSA Harvest FestivalThu 25 Sep 2008 10:59am STEARNS FARM HARVEST FESTIVALSunday, September 28thCOME CELEBRATE THE BOUNTY OF OUR 2008 SEASON12:00 Dedication of the Root Cellar
more here . . . Reaping dividends - Boston Globe article on local CSAs Fri 15 Aug 2008 9:01am By Christina Pazzanese, Boston Globe, August 14, 2008. "Across the state, CSA programs appear to be thriving, said David Webber, farmers market coordinator for the state's Department of Agricultural Resources. 'What we've been seeing this year, the CSAs have sold out and most have a waiting list,' ... there are 68 CSAs listed with the state, and he estimates there could be as many as 91 in Massachusetts. 'We're seeing a lot of farms that were doing farmers markets are now doing CSAs,' he said, noting one of the first CSA farms in the country was launched in 1985 in Western Massachusetts, at Indian Line Farm in Great Barrington." more here . . . A Wild Ramble — learning about wild edible plants Wed 9 Jul 2008 9:42am Tuesday July 22nd, the Stearns Farm community will have the opportunity to experience something quite original. The Sudbury River Valley is home to over 100 species of edible wild plants, many of which are even more nutritious than their cultivated counterparts. Russ Cohen, expert forager and author of Wild Plants I Have Known...and Eaten, will be taking us on a two hour ramble through Stearns Farm and the adjacent woodlands to learn about more than two dozen species of edible wild plants. Pending favorable weather conditions, several edible mushroom species may be encountered as well. Keys to identifying each species will be provided, along with information on edible portions, seasons of availability and preparation methods. Russ will also give us general guidelines for safe and environmentally-responsible foraging. more here . . . The Harvest Festival Sunday, Sept 30th Sun 7 Oct 2007 12:00am A collage of photos from our 2007 Harvest Festival.Photos thanks to Claudia Gustafson. more here . . . sptest0 stearnsfarmcsa.org |
Revision 16. Last edited Sun 26 Oct 2008 10:01am by TomYelton