What's on my Food? A Pesticide Resource

Pesticide residues are on your food, even after washing. What are the dangers of these pesticides? How much of this stuff is really on the food we eat?

The Pesticide Action Network has developed a valuable resource that can tell you what pesticides, and how much of them, are on the foods you buy in the grocery store and from conventional farms. What’s On My Food? is a searchable database designed to make the public problem of pesticide exposure visible and more understandable.  The database allows you to search by pesticide or by product, and lists how often a particular pesticide is found, in what ways it is toxic, and what other produce has been exposed to it.  You can search the database online or download the free iPhone app and take it with you when you go shopping.  With every dollar you spend, you make a choice about whether or not to support the poisoning of yourself and the planet.  Arm yourself with this tool in order to make more informed decisions about what is going into your body and take a stand against harmful agrochemicals.

Pesticide exposure is a huge problem in the United States.  Chemicals sprayed on produce remain after washing and turn up in the human body and in the environment thousands of miles from where they were originally applied to crops.  They disrupt our bodies and the bodies of other lifeforms.  In the United States, pesticide regulation lags behind the rest of the industrialized world. The Pesticide Action Network explains:

Since the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) regulates most chemicals on a chemical-by-chemical basis, the combined and cumulative effects of a mixture of pesticides are nearly impossible for them to address – and so they usually don’t.  Pesticides and industrial chemicals in the U.S. are innocent until proven guilty. It often takes decades to prove a chemical guilty. Meanwhile, we are exposed to dozens of pesticides in the food we eat, water we drink and air we breathe.

As always, a great way to limit your pesticide exposure is to buy organic and local.  Organic foods are prohibited from being sprayed with synthetic pesticides.  Talk to your local farmer.  Even if they aren't USDA Certified Organic, they might not be spraying their crops with harmful chemicals.  Building a relationship with a nearby farmer is the best way to ensure that you limit your pesticide exposure while supporting your local economy. 

Not sure how to take that first step toward buying local and organic?  Check out our website for a listing of Connecticut farmers markets where our member farms sell their produce, or download a PDF of our Farm and Food Guide to see a listing of all our member farms by county.  Visiting a farm or farmers market transforms the chore of grocery shopping into a fun and healthy experience for your whole family.  What better way to help us secure a brighter future for ourselves and the planet!

CT NOFA is having a PARTY

And you're invited!

Join CT NOFA in celebrating it's past thirty years and the next thirty! We are coming together at The Hickories to enjoy:

• Dinner from Taco Pacifico Truck
• A Wine Tasting courtesy of Cellar XV
• Beer from Southport Brewing Company
• Iced Tea from Steaz
• Desert from The Cake Box
• Live music
• A farm tour with Dina Brewster

We will have three more block parties coming up, so if Ridgefield isn't convenient for you, just save one of our upcoming dates!  (Saturday, July 14, 2012, Hidden Brook Gardens in Ledyard and Saturday, September 15, 2012, Urban Oaks Organic Farm in New Britain).

Register online here!

Best,
Kristiane

How to Save Seed in an Orderly Manner: Advice on an easy way to get started saving seeds

                The first step is to make sure that the crop you are interested in saving seeds from is not a hybrid plant, but rather a one that is open-pollinated. This is because hybrids do not “come true” from the saved seeds from each generation to the next the same way the open-pollinated seeds do. Ken Green of the Hudson Valley Seed Library says that the best way to start is with something small and easy such as crops with a perfect flower and a pod, take beans and peas for example. Perfect flowers are plants with both stamens and pistils (male and female parts). Examples of these plants are lettuce, tomatoes, and beans. Imperfect ones are plants where the crop has separate male and female flowers, such as squash and cucumbers, making them not quite as easy to save the seeds as the plants with perfect flowers.

commons.wikimedia.org      

                Ken recommends that beginning seed-savers try out saving the seeds of easy crops such as bush beans, because they do not cross pollinate as much as pole beans. As well as peas, as long as you make sure to leave a few pods to dry on the vine, and cilantro or tomatoes. 

The key is to prevent cross pollination from occurring because that can have a great impact on your crops. Kens example of this is “the offspring of a sweet pepper may not be so sweet next year if a hot pepper’s nearby”, one way to prevent this from occurring is to just grow one type of crop to “be sure that your seed will be pure”. If you aren’t willing to grow only one type of plant or are not able to isolate different varieties from each other you might want to consider growing one from each of the following groups in order to minimize cross-pollination

• Mixta: Cushaw types, some gourds
• Moschata: ‘Butternut,’ Cheese types 
• Pepo: ‘Acorn,’ Field Pumpkin, Crookneck, Scallop and Zucchini types.
• Happy Seed Saving!

All of the above information has come from the following article: http://awaytogarden.com/thinking-about-saving-seeds-with-ken-greene

Images from: thrivefarm.wordpress.com, commons.wikimedia.org

Humane and Sustainable Livestock Farming

Footsteps Farm has been in Craig Floyd’s family since 1712.  Craig is a confident long-time farmer with a comprehensive understanding of his animals and their interaction with the land.  About 20 people came out for our workshop on May 21, and despite some drizzle, the workshop was informative and enjoyable.  Footsteps Farm is beautiful, the animals friendly, and Craig freely shares years of experience and knowledge about livestock raising.

Michael Keilty from the Risk management Association discussed Risk Management's work (they sponsored this workshop!) and a SARE research project on grassfed livestock. (Executive Director Bill Duesing and Farmer Craig Floyd are on the left)

 “On a sustainable farm, everything has to have more than one purpose” – Craig Floyd

Craig buries chicken remains under high blueberry bushes because they are high in calcium.  And instead of drilling holes for fence posts, buckets weighed down with rocks and small holes drilled in the sides can run the wires around the perimeter of the enclosures. 

Craig makes a compelling case for the benefits of allowing all kinds of insects living in his soil.  Dung beetles break down the cow manure and make holes in the soil for water infiltration.   Small cleared oak trees are cut into about 3 foot sections and piled in a log-cabin type of style.  He then drills holes and puts in mushroom plugs. 

 Heritage breed turkeys and a sow with her piglets!

Here come the pigs!

 “When you’re dealing with animals, if you’re always nice to them, you won’t have a problem”

Craig is “Certified Humane” which he felt was an effective way to “make a public statement” that a farmer’s meat is different from what one can buy in the grocery store.  His pigs and cows stay in large pastures surrounded by electric fences with a high enough voltage to keep the pigs in the enclosures.  For the pigs, only two lines at 9” and 18” are needed. When a number of his chicks were sick, they were prescribed antibiotics, which Craig hates to use.  Instead he gave his chicks apple cider vinegar which he said treated his birds.

It seems that happy healthy animals will at some point down the line, make for happy healthy consumers.  The difference (according to Craig) between a butterball turkey and a heritage breed is that heritage breed turkeys can run, fly and have thicker skin holding moisture in the meat.  Footsteps Farm has turned its focus to producing Spanish-style ham. He has dark pigs called “Large Shireworths”.  Dark animals have more muscle and Craig pointed out that lighter colored pigs can get sunburns while this is not a concern with dark pigs.  Craig also has an entire oak lot so that pigs can eat lots of acorns.  He said the tannic acid in acorns makes pig meat more flavorful.  To keep animals in wood lots he uses one of Joel Salatin’s tips, to tie the electric lines up with polypropylene rope around tree trunks. 

One of Craig's favorite pigs, Eddy.

“We give thanks to the Lord for the chickens and we give thanks to the chickens for giving their lives”

An important element of Humane livestock production is the slaughter.  Craig explained that Footsteps uses slaughterhouses that have been approved by inspectors from Certified Humane.  He also showed us his own chicken processing facilities, which quickly slaughter, clean and package his chickens on sight so they do not need to take the stressful ride to a far away facility.  Craig said that an instructor at Johnson and Wales brings their students to Footsteps Farm to teach their culinary students how animals should be raised, and what defines quality meat. 

After the workshop we had a beginning farmer dinner thanks to Sheryl who made everyone frittatas with their eggs and sausage!

We have a bunch of other workshops coming up! Visit ctnofa.org to see what we have scheduled.

Best,
Kristiane

Join Right to Know CT for a GMO town hall meeting May 23

An important message from our Executive Director, Bill Duesing:  

Friends,

We can't let Monsanto keep control of our legislative process through threats and disinformation.
 
90 percent of Americans want to know if GMOs are in their food.  A pré vote tally of CT representatives indicated that 85 percent of them supported the labeling legislation.
 
Monsanto (and its biotech buddies) don't support labeling.
 
Look at the results in CT and VT (no labeling) and compare that to what you'd expect in a democracy.
 
Did you see the latest damnation of industrial food?
 
KPMG, a major accounting firm says that the food industry produces over $2 worth of environmental and resource damage for each $1 in profits.
 
Other information indicates that the industrial food system produces at least $1.50 in medical costs for each dollar of profit, just for the big three diet related diseases-obesity, diabetes and heart disease. We've been told that one in three children born in this century will develop diabetes and that currently many teenagers are developing this expensive and dangerous disease.
 
So just these two categories, which likely miss some things-like the cost of food related cancers and allergies-indicate that for each $1 for food system profits, humans and the environment pay $3.50 in costs.
 
The profits of the food industry are literally coming from destruction of the health of people and the environment.
 
It is time to get serious about our food system. Little else is so important.
 
Our food choices are powerful tools for change. Eating locally, organically and lower on the food chain are ways each of us can make a difference.

You are invited to join us at a Right To Know CT town hall-style meeting. 

Wednesday, May 23

Church of the Redeemer, UCC

185 Cold Spring Street, New Haven, CT 06511

10:20 am – 12:00 noon 

We will discuss a number of key campaigns and initiatives we will be undertaking over the next few months to educate and influence Right to Know CT's three main constituent groups: farmers, consumers and legislators. Leaders spearheading these efforts will briefly present them to the group and welcome members to volunteer to help. We will also discuss strategic partnerships and invite members to take ownership of and manage these relationships on behalf of Right to Know CT. During the communal share, members will have an opportunity to share with the group any program, event, initiative, project, etc. they are involved with and invite others to participate. We will also be organizing groups by geographical areas and encouraging attendees to sign up for Jeffrey Smith's Tipping Point Network. Representative Richard Roy, the original sponsor of the GMO labeling bill will be in attendance. We hope to see you there.

What grocery brands contain genetically modified ingredients?

If you shop regularly in the grocery store, you might wonder how you can avoid genetically modified organisms if they don't have required labeling. Unfortunately, without buying exclusively organic it's impossible to know 100% of the time, but there are easy steps you can take to be more certain.

True Food Now has released this shopping guide that gives tips and information on foods found in grocery stores based on category (meat, fish, fruits, grains, etc) and includes listings of commonly found brands of foods that are organic or may contain genetically modified ingredients.  You my not have the freedom of a labeling system at your disposal, but you can greatly reduce your risk of eating genetically modified foods if you know what foods have the greatest risk of containing gm ingredients.

As always, buying local and organic skips the whole necessity for labels, because you can just ask your farmer if what they are growing suits your needs. Check out our website for listings of farmers markets where you can buy CT NOFA farmer organic produce.

Have an informed week,
Melissa

Gardening in the Shade

When CT NOFA tables at farmers markets and other environmental events, a lot of people drop by the table and ask questions about gardening.  The complaint we hear so often is about gardening in the shade.  At-home food production is good for the planet and good for you, but so are the trees in your yard!  Many are turning to community gardens which have full sun, which is a great idea.  But even shady yards can have significant food production! Here is an article from Mother Earth News about gardening in the shade, and a list of the more shade tolerant veggies you can grow:

Crop	Shade Notes	Growing Tips
Arugula	At least three to four hours of sun per day.	Arugula welcomes shade, as this crop is prone to bolting as soon as the weather turns warm if in full sun.
Asian greens	At least two hours of sun per day.	Asian greens such as bok choi (also spelled “pac choi” and “pak choi”), komatsuna and tatsoi will grow wonderfully with a couple hours of sun plus some bright shade or ambient light.
Chard	If you grow chard mainly for its crisp stalks, you will need at least five hours of sun per day; if you grow it mainly for the tender baby leaves, three to four hours of sun per day will be enough.	Expect chard grown in partial sade to be quite a bit smaller than that grown in full sun. Baby chard leaves are excellent cooked or served raw in salads.
Culinary herbs	At least three hours of sun per day.	While many culinary herbs need full sun, chives, cilantro, garlic chives, golden marjoram, lemon balm, mint, oregano and parsley will usually perform well in shadier gardens.
Kale	At least three to four hours of sun per day.	You'll notice only a small reduction in growth if comparing kale grown in partial shade with kale grown in full sun.
Lettuce	At least three to four hours of sun per day.	Lettuce is perfect for shadier gardens because the shade protects it from the sun’s heat, preventing it from bolting as quickly. Often, the shade can buy a few more weeks of harvesting time that you’d get from lettuce grown in full sun.
Mesclun	One of the best crops for shady gardens. Grows in as little as two hours of sun per day and handles dappled shade well.	The delicate leaves of this salad mix can be harvested in about four weeks, and as long as you leave the roots intact, you should be able to get at least three good harvests before you have to replant.
Mustard greens	At least three hours of sun per day for baby mustard greens.	Mustard grown for baby greens is best-suited for shady gardens.
Peas and beans	At least four to five hours of sun.	If growing these crops in partial shade, getting a good harvest wil take longer. Try bush and dwarf varieties rather than pole varieties.
Root vegetables	At least four to five hours of sun per day for decent production.	Beets, carrots, potatoes, radishes and turnips will do OK in partial shade, but you'll have to wait longer for a full crop. The more light you have, the faster they'll mature. Alternatively, you can harvest baby carrots or small new potatoes for a gourment treat that would cost an arm and a leg at a grocery store.
Scallions	At least three hours of sun per day.	This crop does well in partial shade throughout the growing season.
Spinach	At least three to four hours of sun per day.	Spinach welcomes shade, as it bolts easliy if in full sun. If you grow it specifically to harvest as baby spinach, you'll be able to harvest for quite a while as long as you continue to harvest the outmost leaves of each plant.

Many of these crops will grow more slowly in the shade, but you'll still ultimately have some homegrown produce - which is always better than none!
Happy gardening!
Kristiane

P.S. Visit our table this weekend at the Urban Oaks Green Faire (and meet our new intern Maya!) or the Girlscout Jamboree in Durham, CT.