Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?--Douglas Adams
One of the vital purposes of this blog (when I'm not neglecting it) is the sharing of information. If that hardly sounds like a revolutionary mission statement, it's not. In fact, there may be nothing more obvious or downright pedestrian. Every published word, no matter where it appears, is an atom of information. And most blogs, in their essence, seek nothing more than to make communal the salient elements of private experience.
On the other hand, when the subject is agriculture and making food fit to eat, the importance of shared information rises to a critical level. Simply, we are growing generations without any intimacy with the soil and a cooking education that goes beyond frozen pizza in a conventional oven. As long as we continue to have, say, potatoes, I have faith we can overcome the latter: After all, even I know how to cook now, when only a few years ago I was sauteing canned salmon and mayonnaise in olive oil. But I wonder sometimes how long we'll have potatoes, especially ones not drenched in pesticides?
It's not an outrageous example. According to Progressive Farmer, from 2002 to 2007, the number of people "under twenty five years old who call farming their prime occupation fell by almost half," with fewer than 6,000 across the nation ("The Young Faces of Ag, October 2009). The average farmers in 2007 was over 57 years old. This upward trend in age certainly suggests that our agricultural knowledge is in peril. For a variety of reasons, we're missing the next farmers in line to learn when to plant the seed and how to use a tractor.
Perhaps the issue is even more urgent in organic production because its practice is more complicated and information-heavy than conventional agriculture. It's the difference between crop rotation and companion planting, or simply spraying a pesticide. In the past decade we have seen educational opportunities in the organic field spring up in academic certificate programs and mentoring support offered by non-profits. But the body of knowledge--and its institutionalization--is still being formed. As we grow the community, the best way to promulgate the why's and how-to's of organic farming is personal, firsthand experience and sharing it.
The enemy.
I will continue to share what I learned, e.g. don't ever, ever, ever let stink bugs in your tomato patch. I also encourage anyone really interested in farming organic to find immersion, to live and breathe the idea. The good news is there are an abundance of farm internships out there (and farmers in desperate need of labor). One way to get started might be to
volunteer on organic farms by signing up with WWOOF, or World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, which connects organic farms in different countries with temporary volunteer help and enables those volunteers to see the world (
Flights to Tel Aviv, anyone?). In a sensible and earthy way, it brings closer to home a global environmental consciousness.
Actually, I knew a couple in Arkansas who had been Wwoofers in Ireland. While they like anyone else traveling abroad or to the U.S. were responsible for taking care of their visas, they were matched to their work opportunities and lodging through the Wwoof organization. Unmistakably, they had a blast.
It's not an outrageous example. According to Progressive Farmer, from 2002 to 2007, the number of people "under twenty five years old who call farming their prime occupation fell by almost half," with fewer than 6,000 across the nation ("The Young Faces of Ag, October 2009). The average farmers in 2007 was over 57 years old. This upward trend in age certainly suggests that our agricultural knowledge is in peril. For a variety of reasons, we're missing the next farmers in line to learn when to plant the seed and how to use a tractor.
I've yet to include either celery or tomato paste in my trials. You need salt, particularly if your butter is unsalted. I used a fruity South Georgia wine, nice to cook with and nice to sip (the Hahira Red from Horse Creek Winery)--although it's not absolutely essential. I've also doubled the carrot and increased the tomato requirements by half, based on the superabundance of tomatoes and carrots on hand. Mushrooms are a good throw-in as well.
