AK Root Cellar : Lawns in Rows?

AK Root Cellar

This blog is for those of you who would like to add more local foods to your diet, meet local farmers, learn new recipes based on seasonal eating and preserving the summer harvest. Food is political too, so here you can learn about and influence local and national agriculture issues, and participate in helping to rebuild the Alaska food system. May each of you chew happily and wisely.

About me

Ellen Vande Visse

Ellen Vande Visse, MS, was an organic market gardener from 1986-2006. She instructs and consults about sustainable agriculture, compost, compost tea, and eco-gardening through her own Good Earth Garden School and for UAA. She is a published author about Alaska gardening. For more info, please see goodearthgardenschool.com.

Local farms and CSAs

NEWSLETTER

Sustainable Agriculture for Alaska

This July-Sept., 2008 Cooperative Extension newsletter includes a story by Matt Shaul of Cranberry Ridge Farm on how his Wasilla farm got started in goat cheese production.

EATING LOCAL

High grocery bills spur CSA interest

Read this June 9, 2008 Fairbanks News Miner story on three Fairbanks-area CSAs and growing demand for their local produce.

DNR's new farm, food, etc. directory

This Excel spreadsheet includes 16 categories from farms to farmers markets, herbs to aquaculture. Provided by the Div. of Agriculture, Department of Natural Resources

Resources

Local Farms and CSAs

Find local produce, eggs, fowl and meat nearby.

WEB RESOURCES

Slow Food USA

Envisions a future food system based on principles of high quality and taste, environmental sustainability, and social justice.

Local Harvest

Helpful website to find farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food. Local producers also register on this site.

Sustainable Agriculture

Dedicated to educating the public on a sustainable food and agriculture system that is economically viable, environmentally sound, socially just, and humane.

American Farmlands Trust

The nation's leading advocate for farm and ranch land conservation.

Community Food Security Coalition

Dedicated to building strong, sustainable, local and regional food systems that ensure access to affordable, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food.

Weston Price Foundation

Dedicated to restoring nutrient-dense foods to the human diet through education, research and activism.

Lawns in Rows?

Posted by farmfresh

Posted: June 17, 2009 - 9:10 pm

Comments (0) |

I just saw an amazing aerial photo that looked down on Anchorage in the 1950’s, just after the snow melted.

The checkerboard of city lots were, well, striped. Yes, stripes. Each little house sat surrounded by land worked up into tidy garden rows. No one had a lawn. Every yard was entirely devoted to growing vegetables and berries.

That adds up to lot of fresh food production! And how many potatoes did it take to see these settlers through the long winters? I presume if the photo could zoom inside those houses, we’d see shelves of canning jars full of sauerkraut, salmon, preserves, and vegetable bounty. Talk about security and self-reliance with a vegetable patch!

Those folks could not rely on buying groceries, or even dependable shipping, no matter how large their wallets. Is this our future? My gut tells me it is. How else will we insure that we eat well on this economic island called Alaska?

So, you know what they say—tear up your lawn and grow some delicious dinners. You can call your vegetable patch “A Taste of Historic Anchorage” (or whatever town). Or “Proud Parent of Striped Land”. Woo hoo!

Grab your hoe, and I’ll see you next door as we go back into the future!

Happy munch, munch, munching!
Ellen Vande Visse

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