The Real Dirt on Farmer John-Review

This past Friday night Naomi, a friend, and myself went to the Byron Colby Barn to watch the movie The Real Dirt on Farmer John, which is a personal documentary or an autobiopic (is that even a genre). John Peterson is a farmer, artist, eccentric visionary who lives just outside of Rockford, IL. The film documents John's personal struggles from the deaths of his uncle and father, losing his farm in the 80's, and his hard fought rebirth back into farming. John faced prejudice, vicious rumors, and more from his rural neighbors. One gets a detailed look and feel of what rural America was like during the 80's for anyone who broke away from the norm of society.

In 1990 John Peterson returned back to what was left of his family farm. There he began farming again with the help of family and friends. However, with his return John brought a farming method that he had witnessed during his time in Mexico. A natural system that didn't degrade or sterilize the land, an organic way of farming. In the next few years John was taken by the writings of Rudolf Steiner, a philosopher and visionary from Austria, and began to introduce biodynamic farming to Angelic Organics in 1993. In that same year Angelic Organics became a Community Supported Agriculture or CSA farm. Angelic Organics has slowly grown and is now one of the largest CSAs in the United States with over 1400 families participating as shareholders.

All in all this is an entertaining and uplifting movie that shows us how one individual with the help of others can create a small food revolution in the heart of middle America.

Trailer

Why Choose Organic

Well there has been a lot of debate of why someone should choose organic over conventional produce. Many people talk about the nutrition benefits or lack thereof in organic produce when compared to that of conventional. Now this is a hard thing to measure scientifically, since to do it adequately one would have to change only one variable. Variations in soil, irrigation methods, climate, and many other factors change the outcome. However, for me its not as much about nutrition as a lifestyle choice. I want the decisions I make to have the smallest impact I can make. So when I choose organic produce at the store it is an environmental choice more than a health choice. I do not buy much food at the grocery store. In fact one of the house rules is to buy produce that is in season and as locally as you possibly can. For this past winter Naomi and I have used produce that we froze or canned last year. We are beginning to run out of some and still going strong on others.

Article about the Choice

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/features_julieshealthclub/2010/03/is-organic-better-making-sense-of-organic-choices.html

CSA News

Last Saturday, Nick Janovski (better known as Farmer Nick) had his pick up for his meat and egg CSA. I picked up my quarter share at the Grayslake Farmers' Market. Farmer Nick sells pastrue raised pork and free range chicken. As his sign says,"Even better than organic!" His farm is in Walworth, Wisconsin. I am looking forward to the time I get to have a look at his farm. He is our Joel Salatin.

Unlike many other CSAs the shares were not separated but made to order. For my order I told Nick that the only item I desperately wanted was the bacon. Fresh, thick cut bacon is just simply divine in my opinion and the bacon from his farm surpasses even that praise. As for the rest I told him to surprise me and give me whatever he wanted. So for the rest of my quarter share I took home a rack of ribs, a package of pork short ribs, a package of ground pork, a package of ground beef, and a pork tenderloin. You might ask how much is a quarter share?

Well that answer is just $40.

Rooftop Gardens Go Organic

Here is a link to an article about the Organic Garden that is above Uncommon Grounds in Chicago.

http://www.wbbm780.com/Organic-farming-first-happens-in-Chicago/4784520

Fungus

This past week Naomi and I have noticed that our basil is not doing so well.  It has black spots and the leaves are yellowish and wilty.  After some researching I think I have narrowed the culprit to black spot fungus.  I bought an organic fungicide which uses copper as its main ingredient.  Copper is quite the killer when it comes to fungui and can be harmful to people as well in sufficent doses.