Articles tagged with: local farming
The early sunset shadows, cast by the mountains to the west, spread across the city of Boulder, Colorado, bringing with them thoughts of dinner. Idyllic Boulder, with its youthful spirit, adventurous tendencies, and environmental awareness, is the perfect spot for the conscientious diner. The city is full of choices, from college friendly fast-food to health conscious fine-dining, and even a milk and cookies specialty restaurant! With so many choices available, how does one choose? How would you choose? If sustainable, locally sourced food is on your mind, then have your feet carry you across the glowing historic downtown area and through the doors of The Kitchen.
The milk fridge is full. And the girls keep right on givin’. Which is because, unlike a lot of farms, we have some goats who kid in the spring and some that kid in the fall. So we have sweet, fresh milk even through the dark winter months when a lot of herds are dried off. We can make cheese. We can make ice cream. We can make several batches of horrible, foul tasting yogurt and still keep experimenting with it. But even if I don’t know the secret to making good yogurt, I do know the secrets for keeping goats in sweet, delicious milk.
I am trying an experiment this year–one variety of tomato; two methods of training. The variety is called Santorini, and it was passed along to me by the kind folks at Skyfire Garden Seeds out of Kanopolis, Kansas.
Direct-to-consumer sales, such as farmers markets, road-side stands, and pick-your-owns, are up from 0.3 percent in 1997 to 0.4 percent in 2007. This doesn’t sound like a lot, but it equates to $660 million in sales — pretty impressive. Small farms, or those with less than $50,000 in total sales, benefit from these selling channels more than larger farms, making a case for supporting efforts to sustain and grow these channels to keep small, family farms flourishing.
Exciting legal battles, BPA controversy, toxin investigations, and inhumane animal treatment. Triumphs for local farmers in Alabama and a CSA at the Chicago Tribune. The food world is full of drama and adventure, all collected here for your viewing pleasure.
A farmer’s experience highlights a growing problem for small farmers across the nation: too few slaughterhouses to meet the growing demand for locally raised meat.
