The bombs bursting in Air

I just drove home through the country of New Russia Township, greeted by wonderful explosions of light and color. The giant flowering trees of cherry, apple, pomegranate, blueberry.. This, is my Fourth of July Post.

Seeing America all go out for the fireworks is a reminder that our country is still working– the trucks are still moving, the families are still having dinner conversations, the cars still droll to work each morning. The backyard barbecue is something that’s so American, to see them happening means that life for many still goes on.

If and when the higher oil prices come, many will find that they still have this life, and they still have what matters (especially if you haven’t divorced your spouse..) AND furthermore, that the adaptations they make for the recession will be mostly a welcome change. It’s not the money that matters — just basic expenses — and if we can provide food then we remain a proud, independent nation. Let’s show the world that we can do more than consume oil and bully internationally; if/when the time comes, let’s be followers for a while. Proudly.

America is a great country. It’s the rural folks and the non-rural folks, the countryside and city gardens and parks, the trees land and air that make is so. We have abundant resources to make use of once we grow in ideas that do not require fossil resources. Despite what will happen to some farmers, our food system will be okay.

Politically, I have a great hope that Barack Obama’s last year in office will be a good one. There are many ideas on this very blog that can make it so if he listens. I would happily advise the president on Economic and Environmental Policy.. in fact it is what I got a degree on. If you’re any closer to the White House than I am as a blogger and small farmer, pass it on!

I am happy to be in America, with or without money, and hoping to stay here for a while. Happy fourth of July, for it’s a good year to be in the USA.
-EM “Che” Fernando Miller

How to start Sheep

From the Rural Living Handbook, Published by Mother Earth News. 115-116

It hardly pays to buy young lambs and feed them to adulthood for strong-flavored mutton. The trick, instead, is to raise your first lambs into adult breeders, then slaughter their offspring as fat, tender lambs. With an acre or two of pasture, a shade tree, a third of a ton of hay for winter and a handful of grain a day, a ewe lamb will mature in a year and, if bred, produce a lamb or two of her own, plus five to eight pounds of wool. After maturing on its mother’s milk and a little grain and graze, each of your new lambs will provide you with a wonderful fleece hide and around 50 pounds of delicious meat.

The Oberlin 2025 Planning Meetings

I just attended the final community feedback meeting for Oberlin’s planning commission to craft a plan for Oberlin in 2025. They have been held by the College, City, Library, different Non-profits, Churches.. etc. This one was held by the WRLC. If you live in Oberlin, I doubt you haven’t been invited to one. Fascinating table and the ability to be heard by city government. Really, the ability to craft our future as an area.

So exciting that we can build and prepare these networks to be ready for whatever happens. We should decide to go on a “green belt” that would be around Oberlin (the School district) and would provide Oberlin’s restaurants and schools with fresh healthy food, and Oberlin’s residents (esp. low-income) with a chance to grow on their own land to start.

If anyone in Oberlin is interested in growing, go with it! Get those seeds in and see if you can help it grow. It was organic gardening that got me started along a path that others can follow to be our future agricultural economy: access, vegetable/community gardening, small animals, farm intern, market gardener … (program at LCCC?)
In Massachusetts, an organization that I recommend ithe New Entry Sustainable Farm Project (http://nesfp.org/). They are amazing and have a class that leads into an intro program where you practice CSA growing on 3/4 acre.

For anyone who’s interested in Energy sustainability, BU has a great grad school program on it, very good and some of the top energy and environment professors in the country there. For energy, try to do something tangible like a utility-scale solar field or reducing how much you/we use. Here, last night I had great luck challenging the city council people that were there on it; they took up the challenge.

I hope that as we move forward we can rise to meet these challenges, as a nation and globally. A shout out to the folks in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts who are now beginning the 2 community discussion meetings on these topics!
-Eddie
440-935-5434
twitter http://twitter.com/eddiemill/
ag mini-blog http://eddiemill.tumblr.com/

Butternut Squash recipe via http://oberlinfood.wordpress.com/

Recipe: Butternut Squash Spread April 29, 2011
Posted by oberlinfood in Uncategorized.
Thanks to San Maday Travis for sharing this delicious recipe at the potluck with Gary Nabhan last week!

Butternut Squash Spread
from Yoga Journal Nov-Dec 1994
Yields 3 cups.
2 cups butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed
1/2 cup onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons almond butter
3 tablespoons white miso
1 teaspoon salt
Steam squash over boiling water for 25-30 minutes until soft. Drain well.
Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until translucent and slightly browned.
Blend squash, onion mixture, almond butter, miso, and salt in a food processor until creamy smooth. Adjust seasoning to taste.

via the Oberlin Food Blog: http://oberlinfood.wordpress.com/
My blog: https://eddiemill.wordpress.com/
Follow on twitter? http://twitter.com/eddiemill

Torta Recipe

Found a sweet new recipe from http://blacksheepsays.com/ which I’ll include here. Breakfast recipe using local food woo!

Jessi’s Breakfast Torta
6-8 eggs
1 lb. bacon
1/2 medium red onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, diced
1/2 cup of mushrooms
1 ripe tomato, diced
a sprinkle of parmesan, salt & pepper to taste
mm, BACON. Go ahead and cook it however you like.
Sautee that onion and garlic (and some salt & pepper) in a pan.
Add diced tomato & mushrooms ’till they cook down a bit, creating sauce-y goodness.
Add that BACON!
Scramble 6-8 eggs in a small bowl and pour over all ingredients (some more salt & pepper here)
Cover and let simmer on low/medium. As the egg begins to cook, sprinkle some Parmesan over top for a tasty crust.

DONE. DEVOUR. ENJOY.

#Foodchat 419, comments and a link to the archives.

Topic: Food price #Foodchat:
Free trade drives agri-culture out of business.
Policy imperative should not only encourage low food price — it should ensure resilience.
Farmers, we can still feed everyone, can’t we? See @Cityfresh.
Industrial food price regimen has no place on my farm.
Export competition cannot keep up. We are one of the only countries that still subsidizes, violating trade laws.
In local foods, we try to make it affordable even for low-income families to eat well.
It’s tough to compete when McDonald’s is subsidized.
We can’t undercut other farmer’s prices and call it moral.
Let’s not do it to our own local farmers and young farmers and organic farmers who want to start out.
Now, we’ve become one of Mexico’s biggest corn exporters. Which puts them out of business unless they’re buying our corn.
Costa Rica didn’t want CAFTA because it would hurt their small producers. Neither did France.
Ron Paul: not that he would be good for America in short term, but it would all make sense.

My work in agriculture has officially invaded inbox, twitter, facebook and everything!
Link to the archives: Agchat and Foodchat Archives

Hey everyone, I think you should check out my younoodle site for what’s going on around Oberlin! Other than my typepad blog or my twitter, it’s pretty much the number 3 place to be on the web.

http://younoodle.com/startups/oberlin_college_sustainability_project/
The Oberlin Commons project

Cool!
For those who are following my international development efforts, it’s also up there.

Local in Boston III: Whole Foods?

I am going to go ahead and say that I am in support of the Whole Foods model, but I don’t shop there. (It’s like Cap-and-trade..) The key reason is this: the agriculture they support there is sustainable, and the demand they capture is mainstream. Thank you, Whole Foods, for supplying fresh and sustainable produce to Boston and the surrounding areas. I just wish I could afford it..

more: Whole Foods!

Local in Boston, Part 2

Hello,
Each week, I like to visit and write about one local group in Boston. It’s part company profile, part a tribute to great food everywhere. Check in each week for a new destination in the local food movement!

Also, be sure to visit my pages for more updates on different projects. (top bar). If you want to be featured or work together, email eddiemill@gmail.com.
-Eddie

This week: Local in Boston, Part 2: City Feed and Supply! Specialty Grocery Store and Cafe in Jamaica Plains.

Local in Boston, Part 1

Need fresh produce around Boston? It’s not only healthier to eat closer to the food chain, it’s also more sustainable and personally rewarding. Treat yourself, because this is about to be good:

I just got back from a unique and one-of-a-kind alternative wholesale grocery store. Russo and Sons, located in Watertown, is a generations-old farm market turned unique distribution for retailers and consumers.

It has a unique feel from the start with the larger shipping bays. I count six cargo bays, packed with trucks owned by Russo (12′) and one or two that are contracted out to a larger service. Pallets of produce from local farms and, yes, I spotted a Dole case, are unloaded here to the side of the building, which has the basic wrapping and processing needed. Three of the docks are occupied by rental freezer storage units, which extend the size and storage capacity of the main area.

Russo and Sons