———————– ** Fresh Green Beans ** ———————– Grown in Kansas. Eaten Worldwide.

Let’s play the word association game: I’ll type a word, and you say the first word that comes to your mind. Ready? OK.

Wine.

Did you say France? Maybe California? (Maybe delicious?). When you think of wines, Kansas is probably not the first place that pops into your head. The truth is, Kansas is home to around 15 wineries - producing more than 50, 000 gallons of wine a year. But with the infamous Loire valley of France and the renowned Andalucia region in Spain, why would you opt for a lesser known, harder to find Kansas variety?

Grapes on the Vine at Smoky Hill Vineyards & Winery

1. Wine Tastings

You don’t have to shell out thousands of dollars for a plane ticket to Europe or the West Coast to take a trip to participate in a wine tasting. That’s right, you can put on your velvet and fur, swirl, sniff, and sip glass after glass of wine just a short car ride from your home.

2. Support Local Business and Agriculture

The same way eating locally produced foods benefits the regional economy, buying wine from a local vineyard promotes economic growth. Plus, glass wine bottles aren’t exactly the lightest thing to be shipping around the globe. Buying local wine lessens the amount of carbon needed to bring that sweet blush from the vine to your glass.

3. Meet Your Merchant

True oenophiles should get to know their producers, and those of us who aren’t such big wine-heads should too. Wines vary from year to year, grape to grape, and field to field: only the producers know the specifics of what’s inside their bottles.

4. Break Your Habit

Many of the grapes that grow well in Kansas - surprise surprise - do not grow so well in the major, more popular wine regions of the world. Local producers generally grow sweeter grape varieties, and fruit blends (like the rhubarb wine at Davenport Winery) that are not readily commercially available in liquor stores.

5. Harvest Time

When it’s time to pick the grapes from their vines, local producers can use all the help they can get. A fun activity for a family, a cute date idea, a good way to snack on seriously fresh fruit - whatever your reason - getting out in early fall and participating in a grape harvest at a local vineyard is a one-of-a-kind experience.

A complete list of Kansas wineries, along with links to the vineyards own sites when available, can be found here and here.

Cheers!

–Jennifer Kongs

Workers package Earthbound Farms lettuce for shipment.

http://blog.americanfeast.com/2006/05/

The organic movement was started as an alternative to commercial agriculture, an alternative to the homogenization of our food crops, to free market domination by corporations, as a way to beat the Man - right? As organics becomes more popular, it also becomes more mainstream and commercialized.  Now we are in a sort of tug-o-war: should organic products keep growing, or will this type of unlimited growth compromise the original values behind the organic movement?  Using my not-so foolproof Oreo science in Part 1, it’s clear that the commercialization of the organic movement is a complicated issue, complete with blind turns and detours.

One thing is clear: Wal-Mart’s ability to determine market prices for organic products does not sit so well with many farmers who run smaller organic operations.  For many farms, including the two-acre plot run by the Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture (KCCUA), the price premium consumers pay for their organic produce is reflective of the labor premium they put into the production.  These small, intensively managed operations allows for a stunningly diverse harvest from a surprisingly small area; a stark contrast with the expansive fields of lettuce managed by Earthbound Farms.

Volunteers working at KCCUA.

http://www.kccua.org/

Many consumers, including UC Berkley’s renowned food journalist Michael Pollan, are worried that as organics gets bigger, its original values will disappear, and that “going organic” will be nothing but a passing fad.  Already, lobbies for large companies have worked to allow synthetic substances into organic processed foods (like my Oreos).

To lower prices, imported organic produce shipments from China could continue to increase. The environmental costs of food transportation are astronomical, so the benefits of converting tracts of land to organic production methods are arguably outweighed with the amount of fuel burned to ship the food across the Pacific Ocean.  Unfortunately, organic foods produced on a small scale for local consumption are not likely to get any cheaper.  The truth of the matter is that the cost of most foods on the grocery shelves is artificial: government subsidy handouts to large farms mean low prices on the shelf.  The high costs to the environment and to us as taxpayers, who provide the money for the subsidies, are not represented by the totals on our receipts.

So is the organic movement standing on its last leg?  Will Wal-Mart - and other marketplace giants - succeed in devaluing ‘organic’?  If you have an opinion, make your voice heard as Congress continues to reformulate the Farm Bill, an incredibly important piece of legislation that determines the placement of those subsidies funded by our tax dollars.  You can also head to the Downtown Lawrence Farmer’s Market, where you can meet and greet with the farmers as you buy your produce.  We don’t have to sit back and watch the clock, your voice will help decide if the organic movement answers the grim reaper’s knock on the door.

–Jennifer Kongs

Organic Produce at a Wal-Mart.

Credit: bdunnette at flickr.com

I like Oreos. I grew up eating them dunked in milk, making wishes and predictions about my secret crushes as I twisted them in half, eating them in peanut butter after watching Lindsay Lohan do it in The Parent Trap - ah, those years as an impressionable teen. Now, my much older, mature self tries to eat organic foods (meaning I go at least a few weeks between performing Oreo prophesies about potential relationship prospects).

In a recent perusal of the shelves at the grocery store, I noticed a new face of Oreos - besides the colored Easter variety. I saw a fantastic culmination of my love of cream filling sandwiched between two branded chocolate cookies and my attempts to eat organically: the organic Oreo. (In my head this experience was accompanied with celestial lights and singing, but I might be making that up).

Not only are many common snack foods adding a pesticide-free variety to their product lines, but big players like Wal-Mart are bringing organic products en masse to their stores’ shelves. Organic is going mainstream, spreading from its humble beginnings in one-room natural food co-ops to the expansive shelves of national supermarket chains. The terms “organic” and “healthy” now go hand-in-hand, and the increasing demand for organics is pushing farmers to their limits. Just in 2006, demand for organic milk exceeded supply by nearly 10% - there just weren’t enough udders to fill the bucket so to speak.

Wal-Mart, with its sheer size and purchasing power, can put pressure on suppliers to switch to organic practices. Many small organic farms now produce on a commercial scale. Earthbound Farms, once a family-operated fruit stand, now has 28,000 acres planted with 100 types of fruits and vegetables. You can now buy their packaged salad greens at grocery stores across the country.

The term “organic” and “expensive” often go together, too, implying that eating healthily means paying a premium. (It also means buying the Oreos with a weird “natural” finish on the bag.) Wal-Mart, known for its low prices, has the potential to make organic foods more affordable - meaning you don’t have to frequent Whole Foods or the Merc to buy a variety of pesticide-free foods.

I wonder if one of my Oreos can foresee the future of organics (since they have failed in accurately predicting my love life): Could Wal-Mart, a price-gouging free market bully, suck the breath of life out of the organic movement?

Stay tuned for Part Two - I have to run a best out of three Oreo trials, to ensure accuracy of course.

–Jennifer Kongs

This blog is currently under construction!  We are converting it from a class assignment to a real live permanent spot for fresh ideas on the environment - rooted in Kansas, but important for everyone.  Please check back in a few days to see the new look!

My hands full, I fumbled through the front door, cursing whomever turned off the porch light as I tripped over an anonymous object in my way. Most of the lights inside, though, were on - as was the radio and a box fan. The culprits were clear : Bijou, Luna, and Linus - my feline house mates - were lounging in the family room, enjoying a little late night NPR. It was at that moment that I had a revelation. All of our discussions about how to reach people, how to get people to make daily behavioral changes to lessen their environmental impact - this whole time we’ve been going at it the wrong way. We need to learn to speak to the animals (If only Rex Harrison were still here… at least there’s always the movie).

Let’s replay last night, shall we? I come home, again cursing the porch light, and then once more cursing that I’m juggling books and bags and trying to find the kitchen light switch. That’s right, the lights are all off, the house is silent, and there is little air circulation. My human house mates did not spontaneously decide, ‘Today is the day I remember to flip the switch off before running madly out the door because I’m already 15 minutes late’. No, my feline house mates, equipped with the knowledge I imparted upon them after learning to speak cat, leisurely turned off all the electronics and lights they did not need after the humans were gone. A few more sessions and I’ll have them unplugging any appliances not in use - then we’ll really be in business!

We spent this class working to figure out how to really reach people, how to make the environment a part of their decision-making process. We oscillated between meeting people where they are and bringing them over to go further and do more. People in this country are busy, too busy, and when people are rushing they forget things: where the car keys are, where the other shoe is, turning off lights and unplugging hair driers. Adding one more thing to their To Do list, albeit for a good cause like saving the earth and our planetary existence, is not typically well-received. That doesn’t mean we should give up on humans and try to communicate with people’s pets instead.

Finding that middle ground is something I, and all of us, can continue to strive for. Some of us may want to work with people and try to pull them into that infamous light green category, while others of us may want to pull those light greens over to the dark side. (I recommend not starting intergalactic warfare to achieve this means, but hey, Darth Vader would support you.) All in all, I’ve recognized that all of our voices are needed, as is every other voice we connect to with what we write, say, or do.

But seriously, one of my cats - Luna - has real potential here. She really freaked me out one time: I was washing my face and she jumped up onto the toilet next to the sink, turned around, squatted down, and -no joke - pissed into the toilet. She hopped down and sauntered off - no big deal. I just stood there, soap-faced, mouth open, amazed. I really think she could get on board with the whole light switch thing…

Jennifer Kongs

Credit: geozilla, flikr.com

When I was little, I wasn’t allowed to leave the dinner table until I conquered my leafy nemesis: the pile of watery, steamy olive pulp my grandma called spinach. Her repeated references to Popeye had little to no effect, besides I was a little girl and didn’t want my arms to bulge into steamboats or anvils - gross! While my grandma tallied on her fingers the multitude of health benefits spinach would provide for my growing body, one thing she forgot to leave out was how much oil I would be eating - both literally and figuratively. She also didn’t mention that her ability to afford enough spinach to effectively torture me on a weekly basis was due to our oil-reliant agricultural system.

There is lots of information on the web about how far food travels from the fields to our forks, how our modern agricultural system is heavily dependent on petroleum-based chemicals and machinery fed by diesel, how our systems for processing food - i.e. corn and soybeans - into food products - i.e. potato chips and candy bars - expend tons of energy everyday. Even the plastic packaging that encases everything from baby spinach leaves to gallons of milk to chocolate chip cookies is made out of oil. Of the incredible amount of energy the U.S. food system uses each year (over 10 quadrillion Btu), 80% is used after the food has left the farm in transportation, processing, and packaging.

Credit: Stewart, flikr.com

This oil-based system has served us well since the Green Revolution, when modern agricultural practices were born: as long as oil stayed cheap, so would our food. So what happens now that oil supplies are purported to be dwindling, as oil prices continue to sky rocket, as political and military conflicts struggle to gain control over what oil is left to be had?

Our food security is now inextricably linked to our country’s ability to recover from its oil addiction. As the prices of oil continue to rise and our economy continues to feel the repercussions ( AKA the “Big R” - Recession), economic necessity could result in an increased consumer interest in local foods. Sustainable agriculture and local food markets, good for the environment and our health, are now important for our future ability to buy food. As consumers and citizens, it’s important to remember we vote with our dollars and our ballots to decide how we want our world to look. Plus, if you want those Popeye-esque anvil arms, the local farmers’ market currently has spinach for sale.

Credit: lawrencefarmersmarket.com

–Jennifer Kongs

Here Comes the Bride, All Dressed in White….

We all know the song, we all know the tune, and everyone of us women has a memory of sashaying in a princess gown and plastic heels with hot pink lipstick smeared from our nose to the bottom of our chin as we acted out our pretend marriages. (Don’t worry, I still do it, too.)

Wedding rings, the traditional gold band with the glitzy diamond rock on top, have also been part of the fantasy. In reality, most of us are aware of the environmental and social implications of diamond mining - but have you ever stopped and thought about the band, too?

Gold mining, as with most types of nonrenewable resource extractions, has disastrous environmental side-effects. A mammoth cube the length of an average six-foot human, the width of that same person across, and the depth of that person’s giant 10-feet brother yields enough gold for a single measly pair of wedding bands. To even get that much gold out, the rock is doused with a cyanide spray to loosen the gold flakes- since when did rat poison become romantic?

Yanacocha, Peru (world’s largest gold mine); indymedia.org

I spent the past week in El Salvador, and one of the most urgent environmental calls to action has been against new gold mines. “Don’t drink the water”, is the mantra to any traveler heading south of the U.S. border, but most of the people living in Central America have no alternative. The addition of more mines will only add to the high rates of birth defects and sicknesses caused by the contaminated water - can you imagine if your only source of drinking water was laced with toxic levels of cyanide? Local communities and solidarity groups, like the Sister Cities program I traveled with, are fighting against the mines - but we all know it will prove an uphill battle.

Since we live in the United States, we don’t have to all fly to El Salvador to make our opposition to gold mining known - we have strong voices through our consumption choices. (Plus, if you’re like me, you’re not quite ready to give up that fantasy wedding). A lot of “eco-ring” companies (such as this one and this one) claim to offer conflict-free diamonds, recycled gold bands, or other alternative materials - I assume the same two month’s salary price rubric would come into play here. There’s also always the option of an heirloom ring, either from great-grandma and great-grandpa or an antique store.

woodrings; flickr.com

heirloom ring, flickr.com

As citizens in a globalized society, it’s important to remember the effects our choices have on other parts of the world - although nothing says “I Love You” like an open strip mine blown into the side of a mountain.

–Jennifer Kongs

Maybe you’ve noticed that it’s getting warm enough to be tolerable outdoors again (knock on wood); the birds are chirping at the crack of dawn right outside your window, people are outside and smiling at the same time, girls are wearing oversized sweatshirts but forgetting their pants - hey, it’s too warm to remember the spandex these days! Just ask this chick:

Flashdance

Plants have started noticing spring’s arrival - especially since they set their clocks forward an hour over the weekend. Crocuses are popping up, trees have buds, even the chocolate mint in my garden is coming out to say hello. Wild edibles - meaning plants that you don’t have to plant or pay for - are getting ready for the warm weather, too.

Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), www.gardenorganic.org.uk

If you’ve ever accidentally grabbed a stinging nettle, you’d know it, my field guide cautions: “Handle only with gloves“. When still young, with shoots just a few inches tall, simmering the pale top leaves for about 15 minutes makes a great side dish when served with butter and a squeeze of lemon. (Don’t worry, the stingers are disarmed by the cooking process.) You can also boil the young shoots and leaves to make a tea high in Vitamins A and C, and I would recommend adding a sweetener. Stinging nettles also have medicinal qualities; if you’re feeling particularly arthritic - or masochistic - purposely stinging yourself can be a good thing.

Morel Mushrooms (Morchella esculenta); Pamela Kaminski

Wild mushroom hunting is an activity everyone should try at least once - it’s a great date idea: just the two of you, looking in the woods for a hidden meal, the ecstatic frenzy of the find…. you get the idea.

Morels are one of the easier mushrooms to gather without risking your life: false morels (the poisonous ones) look identical to the edible variety except only the ones you eat are hollow. They’re commonly found in moist areas, especially after a good warm rain, in shadier areas - think river banks, etc. There is even a local mushroom hunting group, but don’t be surprised if they don’t share their frequented hunting spots, it’s actually bad form to ask!

Luckily for us, there are two great field guides - Medicinal Wild Plants of the Prairie and Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie - written by Kelly Kindscher, a professor at KU and a researcher for the Kansas Biological Survey. So as the weather warms up, keep your eye out for these two plants and more. If you eat wild foods, there really can be such a thing as a free lunch!

AZ Bushwacking Guide to Edible Wild Plants

News Reporter goes looking for Mushrooms

–Jennifer

My gastronomical intake on March 2:

Brown rice and quinoa, fermented from the night before with whey, mixed with homeground sunflower butter and raw local honey (People are going to think I’m so weird, if they didn’t already…)

Fresh pressed carrot/parsley/apple juice, homeade hummus with sourdough bread made with a culture I fermented for 7 days (Now they’re going to wonder why I spend so much time fermenting food, and why I use so many adjectives)

Curried split pea dal with sweet potatoes, onions, coconut milk and tomatoes over brown rice, hijiki, and ground mycelium powder (What the hell is hijiki?)

It’s true: I’m obsessed with food, a self-proclaimed foodie, I would even go so far as to call myself a food snob - I read Nourishing Traditions and the Weston A. Price Foundation’s website in my free time. Honestly.

My food choices, and the amount of time I spend preparing them, are largely based on where I get most of my food. After making the attempted conversion to organics, I realized something all students probably confront: I didn’t have enough money to buy organic food (and I even work at the Merc!). My roommates and I, plus several other friends, were tired of either spending our entire income (plus loan money for some) to eat ethically, and we weren’t willing to give it up either: it’s a hard world for food snobs with a tight budget.

Our dilemma at first seemed to have no hope - working the streets and selling plasma seemed counterproductive for the whole health benefits thing we were going for. So, we took a lesson from our hippie friends from a generation ago and organized a food buying cooperative. New Boston Coop is a group, mostly broke college students and interested community members, that meets twice a month: once to place a bulk food order from United (which supplies the Merc) , and once to pick up the 50 lb. bags and split them up by orderee.

It’s cheap, yes, but it’s also a great way to get involved with a community of active Lawrencians who are ready to take strides towards a food system that does not depend on profit margins, markups, or underpaid hourly employees working without insurance. Plus, the potlucks are just fantastic.

Potluck/Splits Meeting - yum. (newbostoncoop.org/photos)

Consumption of co-op food. (My roommates, Andrew and Berrigan, are in the red and maroon shirts )

–Jennifer

1. Do not be afraid.

2. Make your deposit as you would using a conventional toilet.

3. Use toilet paper in whatever unique way you have designed for yourself. The TP should then be put in on top of your deposit.

4. After making your deposit, cover it with sawdust until you can neither smell nor see it.

5. If the bucket seems full, get someone who lives here.

Above are the five instructions typed and posted above the composting toilet in my house. Well, it’s actually a bucket with a homemade box set over it, complete with a Habitat Restore toilet seat and a hemmed curtain around the bottom.

I know, gross, right? Even if pooping into a bucket may seem doable, just the thought of carrying that bucket out to the compost pile can do wonders for your appetite. Before giving up on the idea, here’s a few more pieces of info to digest:

• In a typical household, 40% of all the potable water gets flushed down the toilet.
• The ratio of water to waste in a flush toilet is 70:1 (70 lbs. of water to 1 lb. of waste!)
• Each use of a composting toilet in lieu of a flush toilet saves an average of 5 gallons of water
• Risks of leaching contaminants from decaying underground septic systems

Using a composting toilet is an interesting experience, to say the least. It’s rewarding to know that what would have become waste is instead becoming “humanure“, composting human fecal matter that will be used to fertilize plants next summer. (While some people do use humanure on food crops - including many conventional farmers - we decided that seemed dangerous and, well, just too gross.)

If the idea of pooping into a bucket just doesn’t jive for you - or you have no place to put the bucket once it’s full - there are many adjustments to a conventional flush toilet that can lessen the amount of wastewater generated with each flush - or you can purchase a low water volume toilet.

Source: The Humanure Handbook

–Jennifer

P.S. All the waste I created in the 24 hours I monitored went into the composting toilet pictured at the beginning of this post.