Category Archives: Farm

The Fourth of July Milk Dump

To protest continuously low milk prices, dairy farmers across the nation will spill their milk on the Fourth of July. They’re going to milk their cows, then dump the white stuff on the ground in what will amount to an inland Boston Tea Party. When I first heard about this plan, I was aghast. Why waste […]

July 2, 2010 | Posted in Farm | Comments closed

Ears to You

90 degrees + picking corn + long pants/sleeves for protection + no pay = fun! It’s hard to believe that that equation really works, but when the food goes to help hungry folks, it sure does. That’s gleaning for you. It had been a while–too long–since I’d gotten out there and picked crops for those […]

June 28, 2010 | Also posted in Food Recovery, Personal | Comments closed

Coordinating Gleaning

Saturday, I attended a training to become a field supervisor for gleaning outings. In other words, if you sign up to glean crops with the Society of St. Andrew, I might just be the guy in charge. Scary. While I’ve volunteered a bunch in the past, but haven’t been out gleaning in far too long. […]

April 19, 2010 | Also posted in Food Recovery, Personal | Comments closed

Growing Compost

When your favorite food recovery operation hosts America’s favorite urban farming/vermiculture advocate, you go. Last night, Inter-Faith Food Shuttle hosted Will Allen, who spoke about the operations at the sustainable, renewable, local, urban, awesome Milwaukee headquarters at Growing Power. The event served as a kick-off for a community garden at a non-profit medical center. As you can see, the garden […]

April 7, 2010 | Also posted in Composting, Food Recovery, Vermiculture | Comments closed

Strawberry Fields–Not Forever

ABC News story that I alluded to on Friday ran on Saturday night. If you haven’t watched it, I’d say it’s worth your time. First, I’m really glad to see network news coverage of food waste, as will raise awareness on the issue. Second, I had such a visceral aversion to seeing that worker chop […]

March 29, 2010 | Posted in Farm | Comments closed

Compulsory Composting? (and a video)

A piece in The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine makes a pretty convincing case for mandatory composting. I’m all for it, but I would like to hear from the people in SF and Seattle who now fit face that imperative. I’m sure there would be some backlash if this occured in cities slightly less progressive than those two. […]

March 22, 2010 | Also posted in Composting, Food Recovery | Comments closed

Gone to Ground

I’m working like crazy to make my book deadline, but I’d hate to leave you in a lurch on Presidents’ Day. So, a few quick links: While doing some final research on the apple industry, I came across this article on apples gone to ground. An oldie but goodie, er, sort of. While we’re talking about apples…this may […]

February 15, 2010 | Also posted in Tree Gleaning | Comments closed

Grapefruit Gone to Ground

On my last day in Chile for this chef’s conference, I ran into some farm waste. A group of 50 of us were touring an avocado, grape and citrus farm called Desarrollo Agrario thanks to Hass Avocado (warning: awesome jingle at this site. Also, palta, not aguacate, is South American Spanish for avocado). On the […]

February 2, 2010 | Also posted in International, Tree Gleaning | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Not sure how I missed this awesome photo spread of refrigerator contents, but I’m just glad we’re together now. Bonus points to the first person to find the truly bizarre item inside one freezer (hint: eek!). — — Here’s a priveleged response to traylessness at Stanford (where trays are still available on request). In my opinion, […]

October 2, 2009 | Also posted in College, Friday Buffet, Household, International, Trayless | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

There’s much ado about kitchen bins in Britain, where there’s talk of a landfill food waste ban. I like seeing the different angles, from diverting food from the waste stream and its environmental benefits to Big Brother/fines. (Can you guess which way my bias slants?) — — The Telegraph brings us this slide show of produce oddities–all of […]

September 18, 2009 | Also posted in Friday Buffet, International, Waste Stream | Comments closed