Kumquat InfoMequa

Food as an Un-Moving Center

2009-12-02T15:49:00.007-06:00

Looking through some favorite blogs on the state of food in the world, I came across this post on Desertification about work to establish family gardens in refugee camps:

http://desertification.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/unicefs-seed-has-germinated-in-the-saharawi-refugee-camps-taleb-brahim-willem-van-cotthem/

The presence of family gardens in an Algerian refugee camp is one of the clearest incarnations of food I've seen in some time, despite its unfortunate circumstances. No hype and no frills; just a group of people taking stock in the land they live on, and truly working to understand it for the sake of their own sustenance. It's a reminder that beyond all of the debates and popularity battles around GMO, organic, free range and 15 different kinds of peanut butter ("natural" or not), food is essentially and ultimately something that should build community and nourish, not tear down or detract from common health.

That only comes into sharper relief for families who have to make a new home together in a strange land, the unforgiving desert no less.

I try - and hope for all us - to remember that base nature of food at every meal.

Garden RANT

2009-10-27T23:56:00.003-05:00

Just found this blog... and I think their manifesto is spot on:

We Are:

Convinced that gardening MATTERS.

Bored with perfect magazine gardens.

In love with real, rambling, chaotic, dirty, bug-ridden gardens.

Suspicious of the "horticultural industry."

Delighted by people with a passion for plants.

Appalled by chemical warfare in the garden.

Turned off by any activities that involve "landscaping" with "plant materials."

Flabbergasted at the idea of a "no maintenance garden."

Gardening our asses off.

Having a hell of a time doing it.

so check it out: Garden Rant

Mollie Katzen's Coming!

2009-09-24T16:56:00.006-05:00

In case you haven't heard, Mollie Katzen, the creator of the original Moosewood Cookbook ( and other wonderful vegetarian cookbooks) is making an appearance right here at Wash U, in just a few weeks on October 6th.

She has a full day of events, opportunities for YOU (and you and you and you) to hear her speak/ get a book signed/ yes even meet her. So here it is...

Presentation: “How her cuisine has evolved and how the center of the plate has changed”

Time: 10:00 - 11:00am (with a booksigning to follow in the bookstore)

Place: Washington University Campus Store (campus bookstore)

Book Signing & Farmer's Market

Time: 12:30 - 2:30pm

Place: Edison Courtyard (bookstore will be selling books next to her)

and to top it all off....

The Burning Kumquat Farm Party with Mollie with casual meet & greet, farm tours, bluegrass music throughout the event

Time: 4:00 – 8:00pm (Mollie present until 6pm only)

5:00pm – Iron Chef Raw Food Competition with the Burning Kumquats!

Place: The Burning Kumquat!!

So come on down, and learn about the food you eat. Music, food, and good times to follow!

reading!

2009-09-23T14:16:00.002-05:00

Here's an article about the importance of urban gardens in the current economy.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/208702

Picnic!

2009-08-19T14:13:00.004-05:00

Picnic at the garden!
when: tomorrow (8/20, Thursday), around 11:30 am
where: The Burning Kumquat (Southeast corner)
what: picnic, bring food, blankets, musical instruments, and flyers if you've printed any
why: to make the garden more visible for the incoming freshman!

Talking bout Food

2009-08-07T00:17:00.003-05:00

I went to see Food, Inc. today, and I thought about a lot. Even though the movie paints a grim picture (pigs squealing in fear, etc.) as well as positive actions (Joel Salatin being awesome), I thought it was an important thing for people to see, think about the issues, and act upon it as they see fit. Some people will buy organic yogurt from Walmart, and some people will start gardening. You can start shopping at farmers' markets more, or work to organize healthier lunches in schools.
Whatever I might do, I feel that I need to keep talking to people about it. Food is too precious to not talk about, and this movie at least prompts people to break the silence.
Go go go!

surprise gardening

2009-08-06T21:31:00.003-05:00

Maybe it's just another urban garden featured by the New York Times,

but I find it particularly charming.

look here

markets world wide

2009-07-26T12:49:00.007-05:00

Focused as we are in the St. Louis farmers' market scene, it's easy to forget how widespread they are. Some are thriving here, others aren't doing so hot. Halfway across the globe, community residents and artists are collaborating to turn their vision of what a market should be into a reality:

http://culiblog.org/2009/06/speaking-of-the-future-how-bout-the-market/

Free kitchens where community entrepreneurs can try out their own value-added products? How awesome is that?

hello again

2009-07-23T16:32:00.003-05:00

KUMQAUTS! It's been so long, but I've stumbled across more garden-related internet love and wanted to disseminate the info...

the urban field guide : a good blog with some simple garden inspiration. growing potatoes in shopping carts? radical gardening? yes, please.

another interesting but less logical site is yes we can food
it's based in san francisco, and you can buy seasonal fruits and vegetables that they can, but REALLY, everyone should just can their own...

The Magic of Time-Keeping Bees

2009-04-30T03:35:00.002-05:00

I just thought this article was oddly interesting...

http://judson.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/guest-column-lets-hear-it-for-the-bees/?em

Out of the Wild, SF Weekly

2009-03-21T13:09:00.004-05:00

This article is about collecting and selling wild edibles by creating a CSF -- community supported foraging boxes. The Bay Area is rich with edibles such as miners lettuce, sour grass, and mushrooms, and you'd probably be looking for a different set out around StL. Horrah for gathering, a basic human skill.

http://sfweekly.com/2009-03-18/news/out-of-the-wild/

Frontrunners

2009-03-19T12:42:00.002-05:00

The Kumquat was featured in the Spring 2009 issue of the Washington University Magazine.

The State of our Fellow Farmers

2009-03-19T11:43:00.009-05:00

The February release of the 2007 USDA Agricultural Census has some tasty little statistics about the state of food and farming in American agriculture. Here are some of the highlights from the data.

Some cheerful trends in U.S. agriculture show:

There was a net increase of in the number of small farms from 2002 - 2007 and new (young) farmers too.
There was a 17% increase in the number of direct to consumer sales and a 335% increase in organic sales in the country since 2002. (Like the Kumquat!)
Both the ethnic and gender diversity of farmers has increased significantly. 30% more women now act as primary farm operators, compared to 2002.

On the flip side:

U.S. lost 16.2 million acres of farmland during this period.
The concentration of agriculture increased during the years in question. Whereas farms with net sales of more than $1 million in annual sales accounted for 47 percent of U.S. agricultural production in 2002, farms in this sales class were responsible for 59 percent all production in 2007.

If you want more than this taste, the full census results can be found here.

-Lucy

More rights for funny-looking carrots!

2008-11-13T18:41:00.004-06:00

Europe Relaxes Rules on Sale of Ugly Fruits and Vegetables

(they've got the right idea)

p.s. if you haven't seen "The Gleaners and I" (or "Les glane

urs et la glaneuse) by Agnes Varda, you should. It's amazing, and includes heart-shaped potatoes

Hello from San Francisco

2008-11-03T23:35:00.007-06:00

a city full of greenies, bikes, cars, fog, and me.

i've come across some cool things here i wanted to share with the kumquat. i've been volunteering at the deomonstration victory garden at the civic center. it was put up for slow food nation and has donated all its produce to the food bank. it will be disassembled this month and the soil will be used for new neighborhood garden projects: (http://www.sfvictorygardens.org/about.html#). tourists come by, there's night security, its organic: (http://slowfoodnation.org/events/the-main-event/victory-garden/)

Some youngins like us started a business of installing permaculture gardens in backyards. They get paid to maintain the garden and provide a CSA basket to participants: (myfarmsf.com)
(http://arieff.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/28/grow-your-own/?scp=4&sq=%22my%20farm%22&st=cse)

meanwhile, my roommates and i have tested our backyard soil (pure sand), turned the pumpkin guts into the compost, ordered cover crop seed, and begun digging up the nasty crabgrass. surely, by spring, there will be some pictures to share.

btw, (OregonTilth.org) has for all sorts of organic farming resources and links.

love to you all, the vegetable beds, and autumn.
kacie erin smith

"I was initially intrigued by the fact that I didn't know a lot about food, like what it even looked like growing."

2008-08-13T15:18:00.002-05:00

The River Front Times (RFT for you hip kids) wrote an article about us! A prose glimpse of our basil kingdom.

Gardens going for $60,000

2008-07-28T13:19:00.001-05:00

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB121693422880882375.html?mod=2_1578_middlebox

these must be some expensive veggies!

So yummy, so yummy

2008-07-10T10:32:00.003-05:00

The lesson is "eat everything."

farm and market

2008-06-15T06:43:00.015-05:00

Everyone farm!

2008-06-12T17:15:00.005-05:00

Food prices are up.

Salmonella is around.

Curious reasons to garden veggies.

via Antonio

Seedbombs not bombs

2008-06-11T17:10:00.001-05:00

We should garden in the dark.

"The Latin name for peas is pisum sativum."

2008-06-11T13:46:00.001-05:00

For anyone else obsessed:

http://www.peas.org/
Peas.
p.s. this website's kinda weird.

We're a farm

2008-06-11T13:41:00.001-05:00

We went to the market with:
lettuce (three-and-a-quarter pounds), peas (three pounds), and (three adorable)bunches of baby radishes. People snapped them up! Snappy snappy snow peas.

Some things about the North City Market in the Post-Dispatch.

Pictures to come. It's only the beginning.

Food and Climate

2008-04-16T20:05:00.001-05:00

The Small Planet Institute (arisen from the Lappé family) has a website called Take a Bite out of Climate Change about the connection between food production/consumption and climate change. They're really big on organic farming and have a blog and a ton of resources on how one can go about making a change in their food consumption and participating in the alternate food chain.

Cool! Go check it out! Peace.

NYT comments on us Carhartt-wearers

2008-03-18T17:24:00.001-05:00

A MUST-READ about our generation's interest in farming, what what!

check out their sweatshirts! burning kumquat patch reenactment!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/fashion/16farmer.html?

ex=1206504000&en=3e74905409f1e43b&ei=5070&emc=eta1

IRRIGATION!

2008-02-22T12:30:00.001-06:00

Irrigation information from IrrigationTutorials.com

From http://www.irrigationtutorials.com/dripguide.htm

Oregon State University - components and some manufacturer spec's

MPR Supply Company (map) - St Louis distributer

Eating locally grows new roots-- StL Post-Dispatch

2008-02-21T19:46:00.003-06:00

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/FE96AFD73FCF759F862573F300111539?OpenDocument

Local Food, is it always best?

2008-02-15T15:14:00.002-06:00

Check out is article. It says local food is not necessarily better for the environment than food that's traveled thousands of miles. What do you think?

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/06/opinion/edmcwilliams.php

Two more resources

2008-01-29T22:54:00.000-06:00

American Community Gardening Association:

www.communitygarden.org/index.php

check out learn -> resources-> articles for old school pdfs full of info

Urban Gardening Help:

urbangardeinghelp.com

Good overview and links from there

Agroecology In Action

2008-01-18T10:42:00.000-06:00

http://www.agroeco.org/ - a scientific discipline that uses ecological theory to study, design, manage and evaluate agricultural systems that are productive but also resource conserving

Site with online courses and other resources

America's only cuisine?

2007-12-28T00:19:00.000-06:00

"So many great souls have passed off the scene. The world has changed. We are now faced with picking up the pieces and trying to put them into shape, document them so the present-day young generation can see what southern food was like. The foundation on which it rested was pure ingredients, open-pollinated seed--planted and replanted for generations--natural fertilizers. We grew the seeds of what we ate, we worked with love and care."
-from Edna Lewis' essay about southern food featured in Gourmet magazine's Januray issue

Before you leave for Thanksgiving

2007-11-18T21:22:00.001-06:00

Here's an article about eating local vs. eating organic. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1595245,00.html
The same problem is discussed extensively in Omnivore's Dilemma.

In the article, there's a link to a search for small farms and Community Supported Agriculture (csa) programs. You can pay a certain amount per month and receive seasonal produce from a local farm. I know people that participate in it (on the consumer side, sadly not the farmer side). Coo.
http://www.localharvest.org/

There's an article about getting fish in St. Louis restaurants in Sauce magazine. Apparently there is a debate about freezing fish or not freezing fish. Sauce is super cool, you should check it out. It has very yummy looking recipes and articles about local food businesses.
http://www.saucemagazine.com/
Copies are free, you should pick one up somewhere!

Sorry for the long-ish post. Have a great break.

Old NYT articles

2007-10-25T01:30:00.000-05:00

Sorry, you can't read the article I posted about the worms unless you're registered with the New York Times website. I registered as burningkumquat, the password's the same as for the e-mail. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Wormy Compost

2007-10-25T01:13:00.001-05:00

Worm poop is supposedly amazing fertilizer. I saw a similar thing demonstrated at a display in Chicago this summer. Does Clayton allow worms in compost?

If you're interested and have spare time, you might want to look through this. I guess Cornell composts profusely.

cute stuff

2007-10-24T00:11:00.000-05:00

A baby hoe!

Grist.org - Farming

2007-10-17T08:32:00.001-05:00

Grist.org - an environmental news and commentary site - is doing a two week series on food and farming. Includes interviews, slideshows, and interactive information.

From the New York Times

2007-10-15T23:28:00.000-05:00

Organic, and Tastier: The Rat's Nose Knows

Animals are honest.

TED.com

2007-10-15T22:28:00.000-05:00

Ted.com "inspired talks by the worlds greatest thinkers and doers."

Biomimicry - Janine Benyus talking about incorporating Nature's solution in solving our own problems

Juan Enriquez - shift in code

Amy Smith - turning farm waste into charcoal

MIT Open Courseware

2007-10-15T22:20:00.000-05:00

The following links are from information available through MIT's OpenCourseware website.

D-Lab - international development and appropriate technology

Agricultural Technology Showcase - discussion of tech. for food storage, processing and cooking

Technology and the labor market - exploring how technology has influenced the US labor market

WWOOF

2007-10-15T22:11:00.000-05:00

World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms - providing opportunities for people interested in volunteering to work on organic farms. Food, housing, and opportunities to learn are provided in return for farming or gardening help.

WWOOF U s a - membership organization with resources and directories

St Louis Farms

2007-10-15T21:59:00.000-05:00

Some of these farms are already mentioned in our links section:
New Roots Urban Farm - farm in N. St Louis

City Seeds - farm located by Union Station in St Louis which provides job opportunities for more itenerant people

Dancing Rabbit Eco-village - a self-sufficient community in Northeast Missouri

Local foods are available at farmers markets:

Soulard Market - map
Tower Grove - map - includes produce from City Seeds and New Roots
North City - map - New Roots Urban Farm products
Directory for East Central Missouri