Organic Food Infographic

I came across this infographic today and thought you all might find it interesting too.

Source: http://food-hub.org/news/2012/05/organic-farmers-in-the-green/

Here are the facts I found most interesting and encouraging:

• The organic industry is creating jobs at 4 times the national average.
• 40 percent of the organic market is fruits and vegetables.
• 4.6 million acres of farmland in the U.S. are organic.

Facts like this encourage me to get involved with natural food systems as a career, not just a hobby. What’s most interesting to you? Anything to add to this?

Deck Family Farm

A group of nine Slow Food: University of Oregon students carpooled to Deck Family Farm Saturday morning. This farm is a meat production farm that specializes in beef, pork, lamb, goat and poultry. There are more than 800 chickens, about nine full-time staff and 250 acres of pasture. That should give you a good idea of the size of this family’s operation.

All the pigs raised on Deck Family Farms eat 100 percent local feed. They are soy-free, corn-free and pasture raised.

To contact owners John or Christine or to find more information about their product, visit this website.  You can find the farm at 25362 High Pass Rd in Junction City, OR.  Click here for directions from campus.

Just one of many baby cows we saw on our tour.

Missed this farm visit? Don’t worry! We have lots more in the works, so stay tuned.

Slow Food members tour the Deck Family Farm property in Junction City, Oregon.

Food Resource for Eugene College Students

The Episcopal Campus Ministry provides a food resource for all college students in the Eugene area.
The pantry is at the ministry, which provides free supplemental food for students and families who are searching for this type of support.
Students will have the choice of selecting a variety of foods at the pantry ranging from the following options:

• Canned vegetables
• Fruits
• Beans
• Soup
• Pasta
• Rice
• Cereal

However, the food can change depending on budget restriction and the availability of products. Other foods and items that can be offered at the pantry could consist of peanut butter, canned tuna, pre-packaged meals, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables and grocery cards.

To use the pantry students will have to check-in at the front table providing their UO/LCC/NCU student ID cards. After checking in students will then be able to select the food items they need. There will be volunteers at the pantry that will then bag the items for the students.

Students should take advantage of this opportunity, especially college students who are on a tight budget.  Currently, the food is designed to feed an individual for three to five days.

The food is distributed at the Ministry twice a month.
Location:
ECM House
1329 E 19^th Ave.
Eugene, Oregon 97403
May- June 2012
Pantry will be open from 4:30-6:30 p.m.

Dates:
Wednesday 4/11
Tuesday 4/24
Wednesday 5/9
Tuesday 5/22
Tuesday 6/5

Potato Plant Progress

Remember that potato plant trial I posted a few weeks ago? Well, I thought you might be interested in how much my potato baby has grown. The plant on the left is the one we planted sprouts down, and the one on the right is the one we planted spouts up. I guess we know now to plant spouts up, and you’ll have a big, bushy plant in no time. I’d say the big one is almost four inches tall, while the small one is only about an inch. I hope you’ve been enjoying the sunshine as much as my plants! Is your urban garden coming along too?

It’s huge and so happy!

Resources for Food Internships and Jobs

I’ve been tirelessly job hunting for the past few months, and it’s not easy. I think it’s especially difficult when you’re looking into food jobs, internships or other related experience. For those who aren’t graduating, getting food internships can be a little easier if you’re getting course credit for them or willing to work unpaid. So, here are a few resources and internships I have found that might ease the job searching stress for you all.

Oregon Farm and Food Internships:

Food Roots Internship.
Company details:
Small rural food nonprofit in Tillamook, Oregon.
Extra information:
I worked as Food Roots’ first intern last year, and it was an amazing experience. You can find the full description and application on the website or by clicking here. I highly encourage you to apply! I’m happy to help with any inquires about the position. Just email slowfooduo@gmail.com if you want some application help or more information.

Little Sprouts Farm Internship
Company Details:
Little Sprouts Farm is located in White City, Oregon.
Extra Information:
You can find the full description and application details here.

Winter Green Farm:
Company Details:
Winter Green Farm is an organic farm located just outside of Eugene, Oregon.
Extra Information:
Winter Green Farm is hiring quite a few different positions. Application and contact information can be found on the website.
Other Resources:
Ecotrust is an organization based out of Portland, Oregon and posts jobs and internships on its website as they come in. Currently, there are no postings, but check back for other opportunities.

Good Food Jobs posts listings that food-related companies post from across the nation. This website lists agriculture, business, culinary, design, education, media, nonprofit and production opportunities. So, no matter what your major is or where you are looking to go, there’s a place in food systems for you!

World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) is a great way to learn more about farming or to travel the world, country, or state in an affordable way. Check out this website to learn more about where you can go and what the process is like. It’s a personal goal of mine to travel the 50 states through WWOOF-ing. It would be an amazing summer trip and experience.

This website lists Sustainable Living and Farming Jobs. Right now, there are nearly 20 postings from across the world and the nation. There are a lot of different opportunities here, so check it out! If you go to the main website you can see all the short-term job adventures that are listed.

Rouge Farm Corps “exists to create hands-on educational programs to train the next generation of farmers and land stewards, to support our cooperative agricultural economy and serve as a model for other communities.” It looks like a really interesting program that offers a real farming education and college credit. To see more about the application click here.

Another place to look is Farm and Ranch Jobs. Most of the jobs posed here are hands-on labor at farms in Oregon.

Beginning Farmers also has extensive job listings for farming opportunities nation-wide. Click here to see some listings and see the homepage for the latest updates.

I hope that helps you get a start on things. Do you have any other farm and food internships tips to share? It can be a tough thing to seek out sometimes! Again, feel free to contact us if you’re interested in any of the positions or have more questions about getting involved with food systems.

 

Easy Rhubarb Carrot Muffins

Written by Aloura DiGiallonardo

I have made a habit of showing up at the Saturday Market before it actually opens. Although it means rising early on a Saturday, I get the first pick of all the farmer’s market goodies and chat with people working the stands. This week my early arrival at the market resulted in two major bonuses:
1. Strawberries. That is all I should have to say here because, well, they are strawberries… and obviously delicious.
2. A sample and recipe from Camas Country Mills that inspired me to make carrot rhubarb muffins.

The woman I spoke to told me the muffins were carrot rhubarb, but she gave me a carrot apple recipe instead. I tweaked the recipe a bit because I only had one apple and a bunch of rhubarb in my kitchen by the time I realized it. It worked out well. The rhubarb gives a tart kick to the muffin. If you aren’t into rhubarb or tartness try it with a heaping cup of grated apple instead.

You will need:

2 cups shredded carrots

1 cup chopped and peeled rhubarb

1 small apple graded

2 cups Hard White Wheat Flour

3/4 C. sugar

3/4 t. baking soda

1. 1/2 t. baking power

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. cinnamon (I lways add more than because I love cinnamon)

1/2 t. ginger

3 eggs

1. t vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease muffin pan or insert liners

Grate apple and carrots.

Peel and chop rhubarb, then set aside

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl

In another bowl mix the wet ingredients including the carrot, apple and rhubarb

Combined the wet and dry ingredients until throughly mixed.

Divide among the muffin cups and bake for 15-20 minutes.

I would like to give thanks again to Camas Country Mills for inspiring my seasonal dish this week and encourage you all to try it! Also if you have other ideas of how to use rhubarb comment below!  I was able to get the flour, eggs, rhubarb, and carrots from the Saturday market so it was all really fresh! I baked mine for 20 minutes and they were a little dry, so keep an eye on your muffins!  Enjoy!

Lunch Love Community Event

It’s Earth Week, and Friday is “Food Day.” As a pre-food day event, Helen De Michiel will be on campus to tell us about her progressive organization Lunch Love Community. She will be here this Thursday at 6 p.m. in Pacific 9. Read more about Lunch Love Community below, and come meet her in person this Thursday!

Lunch Love Community — Changing the Way Kids Eat
Story by Janet Avila-Medina

Lunch Love Community (LLC) was established by co-creators and co-producers Helen De Michiel and Sophie Constantinou in hopes to unite and change how children eat, how they learn in school and how to restore healthy food systems. LLC is an, “open space documentary project.” Through this project LLC is able to integrate social media, share films, tools, resources to parents, educators, food professionals, nutrition advocates and policy makers. The issue to address is the lack of nutrition found in school lunch programs.

In the 1900s, a diverse group in Berkeley, Calif., decided to change the system for their children by fighting with school policies to make school lunch programs healthier and better for their children.

LLC’s ultimate goal: is to inspire action for change. To achieve this goal LLC aside from their online community have made partners with groups, organizations and sponsors to hold media socials to communicate and engage about the action around food system change. These media social events last 90-minute and serve to inform the community about food systems through film, conversations and live speakers.

The outcome of these events are to provide individuals with the opportunity to view how to change food policy issues and create a change that will be beneficial for children.

Here is a glimpse of LLC’s motive:

Weekly Seasonal Recipes: Baby Bok Choy

Seasonal eating adds variety to your diet and eases your budget, especially when buying organic. The Eugene food system makes it easy to eat locally, organically and seasonally, so why not give it a try? Saturday Market just opened up a few weekends ago, so this is the perfect time to start your seasonal diet. If you shop around just right, you can make it even cheaper to eat seasonally and organically than conventionally.

I’m bringing this recipe to Slow Food’s meeting tonight! Come try it and join us at 6 p.m. in Condon 330.

This week’s seasonal ingredient is baby bok choy. It’s a little cabbage with lots of nutritional benefits. They’re so fresh and tasty now, too. I bought mine at the Saturday Market. They grew up in Salem and came to Eugene’s Saturday Market with other baby bok choy and some Chinese broccoli. I bought four baby bok choys for just $2.50. As long as you have some salt, pepper and oil on hand, this recipe is only going to cost you $2.50 for four or more servings. Not too bad.

A baby bok choy example

Recipe:
Time:
Prep: 5 minutes. Cook: between 5 and 15 minutes.

Ingredients:
Baby Bok Choy (one should feed one or two as a side dish)
Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper
Oil (olive, sesame, vegetable, anything will work)

Step One:
Heat a grill, either outside BBQ, a grill plate or broiling on an oven rack will work (Note: broiling will cut down the cook time, so keep an eye on the veggies). Rinse the veggies and cut your baby bok choy’s in half, length-wise as shown below.

They’re so beautiful inside! Look at that!

Step Two:
Brush the bok choy’s with a little bit of oil on the inside and outside. Lightly dust with salt and fresh ground pepper.

Step Three:
Grill the baby bok choy’s for about 5 minutes on each side (or until they are warm and have grill marks). Then, you’re done!

I grilled mine with tofu and onion skewers on the mini BBQ outside because the weather was so beautiful this weekend!

Now you’re one step closer to being a locavore.

For more affordable, easy and cheap recipes check these links:

Farm Fresh Inspiration for this post

StarTribune Stir-Fry

 Hog Town Home Grown Braised Baby Bok Choy

Eating Well Roasted Baby Bok Choy

Spicy Baby Bok Choy in Garlic Sauce

Three Ridiculously Easy Steps to a Potato Plant

My roommate, a newbie to the Urban Farm class, and I were inspired by the beautiful weather earlier this week. Our back patio gets a few hours of morning sun every day, and we’re hoping to make the most of those few hours.

I pulled all the plants that didn’t quite make it through the seven inches of snow and weeded the pots left over from this summer’s tomatoes and lettuce blends. They were beautiful but empty. Desperate to plant something, we decided that the sprouting potato in the kitchen had seen better days.

I’ve never planted potatoes, but I hear that once you plant a potato in the ground, you have potatoes for years. An endless supply of low-maintence vegetables. That’s what I like to hear.

Step One: Find a sprouting potato.

Easy enough.

Step Two: Cut it in half.

We used gardening clippers, but a knife probably works better.

Step Three: Dig a hole a few inches down. Plant the halves and wait.

Obviously the most difficult part. Waiting to see the results.

Now this is the hard part. We’re just waiting to see how it turns out. Any advice for us? Have you tried this?

Spring Term Update

Spring term is here, and Slow Food UO is eager to get started. Besides the amazing weather we’ve already had, the fact that Saturday Market is open again and that new food is coming back into season, we’re excited about you! We want to get you involved in our efforts.

Weekly meetings are at 6 p.m. on Monday evenings in Condon 330. We invite you to bring a delicious dish and come join us. This Monday we’ll be holding elections for Spring Term. We’re doing a little reorganizing and there are lots of positions to fill. Interested in planning a quick event like a movie screening or fundraiser? Are you an expert at composting? What about living on a budget and eating well? Know what grows well in a dorm windowsill or small apartment? Want to learn more about these things but don’t want to commit to anything? That’s okay! Come join us or drop us a note here or on our Facebook page. We want to be most helpful and fun for you, so tell us what you want to see!

Offices that need to be filled:

• Treasurer
• Secretary
• Committee leaders (potlucks, movie events, gardening, field trips or whatever else you can think of)

See you Monday!