Food in Boston

what

a 10-day Permaculture Design Course

when

mid-September

who

instructor Dick Pierce; over a dozen Vineyard residents whose farms, businesses and homes we visited; me & 10 other students.

where

the Hostelling International on Martha’s Vineyard — a shining example of the breed. Very clean, with a super friendly staff, very reasonable rates for the Vineyard, and a flock of chickens & ducks to boot. The staff was very supportive of the class, letting us mostly take over the common room, and also install a few things on the property.

why

Before and during the course, I had some good conversations along the lines of what is permaculture anyway and why study it? Obviously I had some ideas when I signed up, or I wouldn’t have committed my money & time — I’d say that I had a general sense of permaculture as a body of theory and practice refined over the last few decades, having to do with designing & implementing ways to live ethically in the face of declining energy supplies.

what it was like

Some days were mostly listening, with some projects thrown in (turning the compost, or walking the property looking for wind, water and elevation changes). Some days were mostly field trips.

I hadn’t thought much about the fact that the course was going to be on the Vineyard, but that turned out to be a hugely influential aspect of the experience. Dick lined up 10 field trips to area farms, orchards, homesteads, and organizations, all of which exemplified some aspects and approaches to sustainable living. I was struck by how much consciousness our hosts had about looming challenges of climate, energy, water and soil, and food production, and how generous everyone was with their time and with their hard-earned knowledge. Not everything we saw fit exactly into the principles we were studying, but that’s the real world for you; discussing the similarities and differences was instructive.

What was it like living in a hostel with a dozen strangers (and dozens of others passing through), taking this course for a week and a half? The overall experience was surprisingly good, though there was definitely some friction and frustration. I think that the main controllable factor was that the course had a tremendous amount of material and activities crammed into 10 days. This was the first time for this particular configuration of the course, so I’d hope that future incarnations would either cover a bit less, or spread it out over another few days. Despite / because of this, the group did build a great relationship & will hopefully continue to collaborate.

where I could go with the experience

The last few days of the course consisted of a design exercise. I worked on a design for the yard of the property I’m renting, focusing mainly on protecting and building the soil, and will be pursuing implementation of that design. I’ve also talked to a few friends who own land about doing designs for their properties, and hope that the chance arises to pitch in on other students’ projects as they come up.

Longer term is less clear. I can definitely see the potential to turn permaculture design into a part-time pursuit, if the above projects go well. Even if I find that it’s not as good a fit for me as I’m currently thinking, I’ve got a whole new set of skills and ideas for evaluating and dealing with any property I’ll be living on in the future.

thinking of signing up for a course?

Apart from the money, spending 10 days away from family and job is a big commitment. It’s really worth thinking through what you want to get from the experience, and verifying with the instructor that what you’re interested in is going to happen. For courses such as this where students do a design exercise based on a piece of property of their own choosing, it really does pay off to get to know the property ahead of time. I’d definitely do it again, and it sounds like Dick’s intention is to do the two trainings again next year, one in Vermont and one on the Vineyard — I’d expect details to be posted at http://www.permie.us/ as the time draws nearer.

I’m happy to pass on word that folks from Austin, TX’s Rhizome Collective are speaking this friday (follow the link for details) at the JP Forum. I first heard of Rhizome a few years ago when some fellow farm volunteers were heading down to Austin for some mycoremediation training, and they’ve been to town here before, for Wake Up The Earth in ‘07. Will be interested to see a full presentation from them especially now that they’ve got their book out — they’ve got all kinds of experience turning urban and suburban lands into healthy, productive places & a passion for passing on those experiences.

Why do things like this always happen when I’m already busy?

For the rest of you, boston localvores have announced a local beer tasting at MIT on Sept 13th. Sounds fun!

In FiB’s grand tradition of last minute notices, allow me to present a press release from yesterday:

Tomorrow, izzitgreen.com and alldaybuffet.org have teamed up to hold a happy hour event raising money for The Food Project. COME AND JOIN US @ Church in the Fenway neighborhood of Boston from 6 to 9pm on Wednesday. For more details, check out: http://alldaybuffet.pingg.com/CauseForDrinksBos

$2 from every drink purchased will be donated directly to TFP.

(TFP being The Food Project, my current employer)

Update - finally caught up on my boston localvore reading and noticed that they’ve got a free cheese tasting going on tonight at Somerville’s Growing Center. Sounds delicious.

Eat the Suburbs! passes along news of a new site by Permaculture co-founder David Holmgren, discussing four possible outcomes of where the combined forces of peak oil and climate change could take us. Biking around the Boston area today & noticing all the near- or over-$4/gallon gas, the former is looking realer and realer.

As I’ve mentioned before, it’s concern with these two horsemen of the apocalypse that in large part motivates my interest in local food systems. Holmgren’s widely regarded as a deep and experienced thinker on the topic, but his works have been pretty hard to get into. Future Scenarios is certainly a briefer, more focused look into Holmgren’s thoughts on possible futures.

What’s the local connection, you ask? As you may have read here a couple of posts ago, Bostonians have two nearby options for getting some hands-on permaculture training in the coming season, so there’s a chance to make something of any inspiration/perspiration you might get from reading your Holmgren. The first design course is just a few weeks away, starting June 11 at Plowshare Farm, in Greenfield, NH (pdf info sheet). In September, the same course is being offered down on the Vineyard (pdf).

Look for me at the latter of the two — I’ve never made it down to the Vineyard, and a week hanging out with permaculturists in the early fall sounds like a great way to get introduced to a place. Not to mention it being high time to get more familiar with a great body of knowledge and practice
that seems likely to be of ever greater importance.

This past fall, I had the chance to spend an educational and enjoyable weekend doing the first two days of the world-renowned permaculture design course, led by Dick Pierce and hosted by the Green Grease Monkey guys at their HQ in Brighton.

Though I’d been reading about permaculture and talking to permaculturists for a few years, there’s really no replacement for spending some concentrated time going through a well-ordered learning process. In particular, some of the basic concepts about energy flow and the benefits of different sorts of edges had previously escaped me, but now I’m starting to see them all over the place.

Based on my experience, I heartily endorse the two-day course for anyone interested in the stuff I write about on this blog, and I’m happy to pass on the news from Dick _{(after sitting on it for quite a while)} that the same two-day course is being offered this coming weekend, April 12-13, and as of a few days ago there were still a few slots — more info here (PDF).

If that’s not an option or not enough permaculture for you, Dick is going to be doing two full-length (nine day) courses later in the year, one in June in Greenfield, NH (PDF) and one in September on Martha’s Vineyard (PDF). Of special interest for people such as myself who’ve been through the two-day course, is that having done so cuts the full course down to seven days. Although getting the time free will be a challenge, I’m fixin’ to find a way to get out to the Vineyard course — maybe I’ll see some of you there.

Plenty of local food-related events going on in the next month or so:

Next Thursday, Slow Food BU will be having a panel called The Foodie’s Dilemma: How Boston’s Cheapskates Can Eat Sustainably featuring a mix of local & visiting luminaries.

There’s an interesting new initiative afoot to build a statewide Local Food Cooperative, modeled on the Oklahoma Food Cooperative. Meetings are being held around the state, with the local one being in Cambridge on March 8:

Mass. Local Food Coop Meeting and Potluck

The new Massachusetts Local Food Cooperative will hold a potluck lunch featuring an informational and organizational meeting Saturday, March 8th, from 12 to 2 p.m. at the Central Square Branch of the Cambridge Public Library, in Cambridge, MA

The aim of the new coop is to enable Massachusetts consumers to purchase from local farmers and food producers using an online shopping cart and a volunteer distribution system. The group’s coop management software allows producers to post information about their products and allows consumers to search and view a variety of products. The payment goes to the farmer and the cooperative takes a small percentage to cover the coop’s costs.
Anyone interested in this new way to find and purchase local food and products is invited to join the discussion. For more information about this meeting or others planned throughout the state during the next month contact Kelley O’Connor at 978-422-7669 or kelleyoconnor@gmail.com.

Slow Food Boston has a film series going at Theodore Parker Church Sanctuary, in West Roxbury. The two yet to play are Eat at Bill’s on March 9, and The Real Dirt on Farmer John on April 13. Both start at 4 PM, and run $5.

The Boston Gardeners Gathering is on Saturday, March 22nd. I don’t see them on the web, but the following is culled from a BNAN pdf:

The 33rd Annual Gardeners Gathering will be on Saturday, March 22, 2008 at the Curry Student Center, Northeastern University from 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. The Gathering is free and for ALL gardeners and others who would like to be gardeners; the emphasis will be on community gardening. Garden gloves will again be available at the discounted price of $2.00 a pair. As we are unable to mail to each gardener, we need your help in telling others, please spread the word.

Thanks to the Lionette’s newsletter for a number of these items — it’s a great resource, and I don’t say that just because they mention this blog favorably. Really!

Despite the hibernation-friendly weather, there are a few local-food related items to report from this past weekend.

• Made it to the NOFA Winter Conference on Saturday. Highlights for me included historical perspectives from farmers with 25+ years experience growing organically in the region, (re)connecting with a great bunch of folks, and a 400-person potluck lunch. Man, these organic farmers know how to have a good time.
• Here’s a reportback on Saturday’s pig butchering workshop at Lionette’s, from chefs study blog. Sounds like it was educational, and delicious.
• Kerry Bodine dropped me a note about her new blog, Wicked Flavory, “A blog for folks in New England who think about where their food comes from.” It looks great, too — check out the blue cheese photo on the current top post. Added to the feed reader.
• Technically this was a few days ago, but the website for the Real Food Challenge had its “under construction” launch. Though they’re not going to be up to full speed until the start of the ‘08-‘09 school year, there’s already some good resources in place, and the beginnings of a powerful coalition of colleges and universities.

The NOFA winter conference is coming up this Saturday! It’s in Worcester, just an hour out of Boston. Workshops on a range of food and sustainability issues, a big ol’ potluck lunch, and a chance to holla at Agricultural Commissioner Doug Petersen — what’s not to like?

Tuesday’s local food forum at Lucy Parsons included a ton of information, questions, and ideas crammed into 90 minutes. Rather than try to capture it all, here’s a few snippets that stuck with me.

I don’t think you need an excuse to hold something like this, but a nominal reason for the event was the recent release of Vandana Shiva’s new book from South End Press, which includes a troubling-but-inspirational essay from James Lionette of Lionette’s Market, who kicked off the night’s discussion. Other panelists were Adrieanna Bozeman & Kettia Louis, interns at the Food Project; Matt Kochka, grower at ReVision House; and Jean Claude Bourrut, grower at the Farm at Long Island Shelter.

Economics

It still doesn’t sound like anyone’s getting rich around here producing or selling real, local food. That said, some of the panelists see potential for a better economic picture, especially if the proximity of producers and consumers in local food systems can be better taken advantage of.

There are certainly innovative arrangements being made already to get good local food to Bostonians in an economically sustainable fashion. For example, ReVision House does some interesting collaboration with local farms, including redistributing food from Drumlin Farm in their CSA, and from Allandale Farm at their farm stand. These have both been successful ways of getting local food to people in their part of Dorchester.

The Challenge of Winter, and Limited Land

This came up a number of times: how can we feed ourselves locally through the winter? A decentralized root cellar network could help. James Lionette argued that there’s a gap on the demand side: too many people still act like children and turn their nose up at turnips & cabbage, but those are what were traditionally eaten around here in the winter (along with meat & other animal products, of course). Jean Claude Bourrut’s farm feeds 2,000 shelter guests daily; there’s no way they could produce enough food on their 2 acres to store a significant supply for that many people. ReVision’s Matt Kochka ran the numbers and came up with ~900 farms within 40 miles of Boston, which still don’t produce enough to feed everyone in the metro around the year. Jean Claude followed this up by reiterating that there just isn’t enough farmland to support the people in & around Boston as long as we’re going to use it for golf courses & the like.

A farmer from Lincoln’s Blue Heron Organic Farm shared some thoughts about how much potential suburbs have for producing food. The main barrier has to do with the relative market values of real estate and of food. Suburbs can overcome this using conservation policies, as is the case in Lincoln where they and many other farms are located.

A recent emigrant from the Berkshires pointed out that there is, in fact, a thriving local food system there, and it’s an easy trip from Boston for anyone who’d like to get a bit of the experience.

Things aren’t all bad; we can always make sprouts in our kitchens, and can & otherwise preserve food during the summer. Getting through the winter in these parts has traditionally been done by preparing in the harvest season.

Local Grains?

A little (expensive!) spelt & bulger is produced in the Champlain Valley, but generally the economics of producing grains in the NE are much less favorable than for veggies or animal products. There was some confusion about King Arthur Flour being owned by one of the big agribusinesses; it looks like they’re actually a 100 percent employee-owned business. Maybe the point was more about their grain coming from industrial producers?

Farm Bill

We talked about the general situation with the farm bill, as well as its impacts on our local food system. People from the Food Project who had recently visited Senator Kennedy’s office heard that nobody had been in touch with the senator about the importance of preserving the Community Food Projects money — if I understand correctly, this helps keep the Food Project running in Boston, and similar initiatives throughout the country. More info at the above resource, and at Slow Food USA. It looks like the bill is about to hit the Senate floor, so there’s still time to contact Senators Kennedy and Kerry & let them know about our needs here in Boston.