Just starting out with gardening? Planning a productive vegetable garden is a lot easier than you imagine. Just remember to start small with your first garden. Even if you have a huge backyard and dream of growing food for family and friends, start off small. Starting small allows you to get the feel of it, to see what grows and what doesn’t, and it can save you some sanity! I’d recommend keeping your first vegetable garden at 100 square feet or less. Using the right techniques, you can grow a surprising amount of food in a garden that size.

Please visit our LandShare Colorado site to read the full article and to learn more about the Fantastic Farm & Garden Calculator.

A study from Ohio State University states that “acute foodborne illnesses cost the United State an estimated $152 billion per year in healthcare, workplace and other economic losses.”

The study, Health-Related Costs from Foodborne Illness in the United States, was written by Dr. Robert L. Scharff, a former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) economist and current Ohio State University assistant professor in the department of consumer sciences. The study estimates that more than a quarter of these costs, an estimated $39 billion, are attributable to foodborne illnesses associated with fresh, canned and processed produce.

Th U.S. food supply has had a series of high-profile outbreaks since 2006, many involving produce such as lettuce, spinach, peppers and peanuts, as well as many meat recalls.  These outbreaks led to a rash of illnesses for consumers and cost businesses millions.

An estimated 76 million people in the United States get sick each year with foodborne illness and 5,000 die, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

To see annual heath-related costs for each state, you can view an interactive map produced by the Make Our Food Safe coalition.

Can a Diversified Local Food System Be The Answer?

When you look at the meat recalls and contaminated produce, you’ll see it is coming from the big industrial farms (and yes, even industrial organic).  The spinach scare which was traced to 42,000 bags of Dole Baby Spinach processed during a single shift, in a single processing plant.  With a highly centralized food and agriculture system, an incidence of contamination is a big deal, and can make people sick in many parts of the country.  With a small, local food system, if there is an occurrence of contamination, it will affect a much smaller population, and can be easily traced to the source.

When I think of food security, a local, sustainable food system is what makes the most sense to me.  Consumers buying from local farms and ranches will know exactly where their food comes from, unlike that bag or lettuce, or package of ground beef at the big chain grocery store.  Buying locally puts more of each dollar in the farmer’s pocket, which help the farmer actually make a living wage.  When farmers are making more money, they have more to spend within their community.  They can also afford to grow their business and hire local help.  A local food system like this also strengthens the community and not only connects us with our food, but with the people who produce it.

We can’t change the system in a day, but we can start making steps to slowly make a change. You can start by supporting local growers, and by supporting organizations like ours.

This workshop will teach you greenhouse basics, and how to maximize small-size greenhouses to start seedlings for transplant and for growing produce in the winter. Also covered will be creating and using compost and preparing planting beds for early crop seeding.

Cost $35

Time: 1:00-4:00 PM

Date: Saturday, March 13th, 2010

Location: 10364 Arapahoe Rd, Lafayette CO 80026

For more information contact Tracy at 303-665-6309, email: hearteyelandtrust@gmail.com

Or visit: www.hearteyevillagecsa.com

Here is the long awaited gluten-free Spinach and Cheese Gnocchi recipe!

Spinach and Cheese Gnocchi

1 lb baking potatoes
1 bunch fresh spinach
4 oz ricotta
4 oz parmesan cheese
1 egg
1 egg yolk
dash of nutmeg
6 tsp xantham gum
1 cup rice flour
3/4 tsp salt

Bake the potatoes until done. Allow to cool.

Rinse, de-stem, then wilt the spinach 5 minutes, drain.

Remove potato skins (these are great with a bit of cheese and/or sour cream and put under the broiler for a few minutes).

Push potatoes through a potato ricer.

Combine the spinach and potato.

Add all of the remaining ingredients and mix well.

Form this dough into small balls about 1 inch in diameter. You may need to use extra rice flour to prevent stickyness as you shape the balls. Place each ball onto the back side of a fork and push your thumb down onto the top to make a dent in the middle of the ball and so the fork tines cause grooves in the gnocchi. Place as many of these gnocchi on a cookie sheet as will fit and place in freezer for several hours.  Scooop frozen gnocchi into a bag and keep in the freezer until ready to use.  To cook the gnocchi place in simmering water for 5-6 minutes.

Serve with a marinara, or a butter & olive oil based sauce.

Adapted from Gluten-free Italian by Jacqueline Mallorca

Change We Can Eat!
Suggested Donation at the door: $15.00
Reserve ticket at the Lincoln Box Office (Tues – Sat, noon till 6:00 pm)

What: Joel Salatin on the Emancipation of Food
When: Friday, March 19, 2010, 6-9 PM
Where: Canyon West Room at the Lincoln Center, 417 W. Magnolia, corner of Mulberry and Meldrum
Fort Collins, Colorado 80521

Location Moved for Joel Salatin Presentation: Change We Can Eat!

Due to overwhelming response, the venue for the Change We Can Eat! Presentation by Joel Salatin has been moved from Plymouth Congregation to the Lincoln Center, Canyon West Room in Fort Collins, Colorado (417 W. Magnolia, corner of Mulberry and Meldrum)

Seat reservations can be obtained through the Lincoln Center Box Office Tuesdays – Saturdays from noon – 6:00 PM. There is a suggested donation at the door of $15, cash or check made out to the Front Range Permaculture Institute. Donations help pay for event expenses and any extra proceeds will further projects of Front Range Permaculture Institute, like Feeding the Families Project by Happy Heart Farms.

Joel Salatin is a farmer, father, author, and speaker whose PolyFace Farms was featured in the Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Salatin recently appeared in the documentary film, Food Inc. and has written several books, one titled, Everything I Want to do is Illegal: War Stories from the Local Food Front.

Hello Supporters!

This Sunday, March 7th, from 5pm to 8pm in Fort Collins and Boulder, Chipotle Mexican Grill is doing a fundraiser for Colorado Local Sustainability and the Rocky Mountain Growers Directory.  To help support our project, Chipotle will donate 50% of the proceeds when you have dinner at one of their Fort Collins or Boulder locations listed below.

All you need to do is print out and bring in the flyer linked below, and present it when you have dinner at Chipotle between 5pm – 8pm this Sunday, March 7th.

Participating Chipotle locations are:

Fort Collins -

Chipotle on College Ave & Laurel
649 S. College Ave.

Chipotle on Harmony & Timberline
2120 E. Harmony Rd.

Boulder -

Chipotle on 9th & Pearl St.
919 Pearl St.

Chipotle at the 29th Street Mall
1650 28th St.

Download and print the flyer for the Boulder Chipotle locations:

http://www.localsustainability.net/support-us/chipotle-boulder/

Download and print the flyer for the Fort Collins Chipotle locations:

http://www.localsustainability.net/support-us/chipotle-ft-collins/

If you can’t make it to this fundraiser, please consider supporting our project by making a donation of any amount.  Every little bit helps!

http://www.localsustainability.net/support-us/donate/

Thank you for your support, and please spread the word!

Jim Sincock & Tracy Sweely

Colorado Local Sustainability

Colorado Local Sustainability and HeartEye Village CSA in Lafayette, CO will be offering a workshop on using the Fantastic Farm & Garden Calculator to plan your CSA or garden.

This workshop will teach you how to use the Fantastic Farm and Garden Calculator to plan your garden or farm plot in order to produce the highest quantity and variety of crops possible given available space and skill level, for a specific number of people consistently throughout the growing season!

Tracy Sweely, creator of the Fantastic Farm and Garden Calculator, will present easy to follow instructions on utilizing the Calculator as a planning tool so that you can navigate the complexity of keeping as much of your land under cultivation as possible during the growing season. Whether you have 10 sq ft or several thousand, this planning tool will assist you in achieving the greatest level of production possible from your land.

Bonus: Fee includes a 1-month subscription to the Farm or Garden version of the Calculator!

Date: March 6, 2010

Time: 1:00-4:00 PM

Cost: $35

To sign up, or to find more information, visit the HeartEye Village CSA website: www.hearteyevillagecsa.com.

Garden season (as well as farming season) is upon us and if you haven’t already started planning you garden or farm… it is time to get planning!  (And why not use the Fantastic Farm & Garden Calculator to help you get the most out of your farm or garden?)   As part of your planning and getting ready to start growing, some of you may want to start your own seedlings.

One easy way to germinate seeds is in a paper towel.  For move visual folks like myself, the video I have featured on our site this week gives a good visual overview of starting seeds in paper towels.  One thing I’d suggest is to not use a sealable ziplock bag as she does, but if you do, don’t zip it shut.

To start, moisten a paper towel and wring it out so it is damp, not wet.  Then spread the seeds out evenly, then sandwich with another moist towel.  As the video mentions, a four inch square piece is a nice size and will easily slip into a plastic sandwich bag.  Fold the towel and put it in a plastic bag.

Next you’ll want to keep the seeds in a slightly warm (generally 65-75 degrees is good for most plants) area until they germinate.  I’ve heard some who set them on top of their refrigerator, some even mention setting them on top of their hot water heater.  if you’re starting a lot of seeds, you could set them in a cooler (ice chest type) and rig a low wattage light bulb inside to give off the heat. With this method I’d usually partly cover the top of the cooler to keep some of the heat in, but not cover it all the way.

Depending on the variety of seed, germination should start within a week or even days. As soon as the seed breaks and new growth begins, place in moist soil. For very small seeds, you can just lay the sprouts on the surface (or refer to seed packet instructions), for larger seeds bury according to the packages instructions.

Photo by David La Spina for The New York Times

Go to the original article by Christine Muhlke at the NY Times

“Who brought their own wheelbarrow?” Rob Jones asked the group of 20-somethings gathered on a muddy North Carolina farm on a chilly January Sunday. Hands shot up and wheelbarrows were pulled from pickups sporting Led Zeppelin and biodiesel bumper stickers, then parked next to a mountain of soil. “We need to get that dirt into those beds over there in the greenhouse,” he said, nodding toward a plastic-roofed structure a few hundred feet away. “The rest of you can come with me to move trees and clear brush to make room for more pasture. Watch out for poison ivy.”

Bobby Tucker, the 28-year-old co-owner of Okfuskee Farm in rural Silk Hope, looked eagerly at the 50-plus volunteers bundled in all manner of flannel and hand-knits. In five hours, these pop-up farmers would do more on his fledgling farm than he and his three interns could accomplish in months. “It’s immeasurable,” he said of the gift of same-day infrastructure.

It’s the beauty of being Crop Mobbed.

The Crop Mob, a monthly word-of-mouth (and -Web) event in which landless farmers and the agricurious descend on a farm for an afternoon, has taken its traveling work party to 15 small, sustainable farms. Together, volunteers have contributed more than 2,000 person-hours, doing tasks like mulching, building greenhouses and pulling rocks out of fields.

Read the full article by Christine Muhlke at the NY Times

While campaigning, Obama asked a group of Iowans, “Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula? I mean, they’re charging a lot of money for this stuff.”  Obama was trying to make a point that prices at grocery stores have risen, yet farmers haven’t seen their prices go up. Detractors were quick to point out that there are no Whole Foods stores in Iowa.   Arugula-gate was born.  Suddenly, arugula became a symbol of elitism, a vegetable litmus test.

I wonder how arugula felt about all this.

After all, arugula hails from humble origins.  It’s a weed, native to the Mediterranean and Middle East.  It’s not arugula’s fault that its mustardy spiciness has gone unappreciated in the U.S. until the nineties when it started appearing in overpriced salads (you may have also seen it called Rocket.)

Read more at The Weekly Veggie.  Thanks for visiting!