 Life can be humbling.
This summer one of my elderly neighbors paused to chat as I worked in my garden. "Well, honey", she said shaking her head, "You sure must be discouraged!" My look of confusion prompted her to continue. "All that bending and planting I have watched you do since spring and what do you have for it? A giant weed patch!"
WEED PATCH?!! OK, so I am not on the Frostburg Garden Tour. Yet. And yes, Michelle Obama has me beat with a yield of over 225 pounds from her White House organic garden, while mine fits inside a few zip lock bags. But I'm trying! Considering where I acquired my skills - at the Philadelphia branch of the PA Agricultural Extension Service, one block off the Broad Street subway in the middle of a North Philadelphia ghetto - I think I am doing pretty well, thank you!
Not that my daughter Abby's gardening skills are much better - despite a much improved educational venue at Dickinson College where she majored in environmental science and took courses at the college organic farm. By my calculations, the pole beans she grew in our back yard yielded about 3 pounds of edible produce. Given the tuition for her organic farming courses, that adds up to about $2000/lb. Ouch! If this is sustainable farming, I think we need to foreclose the ranch.
Thankfully for the future of the "family farm", Abby has moved on. She is now a Peace Corps volunteer in Togo, Africa where she is assigned - you guessed it - to work on sustainable agriculture projects! Just hope the staff training her there does a better job than the Extension Service people did with me in Philadelphia and the organic farm profs did with her at college. If not, hunger in Africa may be headed to "hell in a handbag“ Abby's!
I promised last month I would share some good news - cool ideas about sustainable farming and consumer-driven initiatives for healthy alternatives. Based on what I have written so far, it is clear the "good news" is NOT coming from the Snyder family farm. However, go across the river to Mineral County and things look, well, as they say, greener.
Did you catch the 10-27-09 Times-News story Demand Said High for Locally Grown Food? Mineral County has a Green Jobs Task force which, according to County Commissioner Dr. Wayne Spiggle, is promoting "grow locally, use locally". And it seems to be working - the demand "is greater than ever", according to Ron Higson, a local farmer.
Time Magazine, in the August 31 cover story on The Real Cost of Cheap Food, had some suggestions as to how to expand the local produce movement from "niche to mainstream". One idea was for restaurants, catering services, organizations, and businesses to form local food cooperatives that buy from suppliers in their own areas. This would improve freshness, support small scale agriculture, and reduce the "food print" from farm to fork. Wonder if that could happen here?
The article also mentioned the Ninan Ranch, the cow equivalent of "hog heaven". Here animals are raised on grass in the open air with no chemicals or drugs and with maximum care. Bill Ninan, the owner, has created a network of hundreds of small scale farmers that sells all natural pork, beef, and lamb to retailers. He suggests that the growing demand for locally grown produce might provide much needed jobs in high unemployment areas. "We need to make farming real employment because if you do it right, it's enjoyable work."
Another idea proposed by Time would be to shift the enormous food industry crop subsidies that sustain the corn and CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) to subsidies for local farms. This would lower prices, provide food that fills us up, AND that is healthier! Write your elected representatives about that one!
But meanwhile, what can you do to live more sustainably?
Stated simply, eat more greens and less meat. This diet uses far less energy, grain, fertilizers, and drugs to produce [food] “much better for us and kinder to the planet."
And there are other ways to make a big difference. Check out www.justpledging.com/rideforresilience and pledge to do one (or more) of the 10 Resilience Building Actions.
This website was developed by my son Michael and his friend Helena. They live and work in Scotland where Michael studied sustainable environments at the University of Edinburgh as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. He and Helena are just completing a 2,600 mile bike trip from Arran Scotland to Athens Greece called the "Ride For Resilience". The ride aims to promote ways to strengthen communities by increasing their capability to locally provide for their needs in an economically and environmentally sustainable way.
Rather than asking for pledges of money, Michael and Helena want people to pledge a commitment to personal action within their own communities. Supporters of the ride can choose from a list of 10 Resilience Building actions ranging from "Get Out Yer Green Thumb" to "Become a Part-Time Vegetarian." Each commitment is designed to encourage creativity, be a long-term cost saving for the pledger, and allow for positive, lasting community development.
Hope you will support a "homegrown boy" (I do better at growing kids than I do veggies!) by checking out their website. As for me, I've pledged to have three meatless days a week; but I'll leave the Green Thumb growing to Ron Higson!
For more information, contact Cherie Snyder at Allegany College of Maryland, (301) 784-5556 or
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This column is prepared by Allegany College of Maryland's (ACM) Integrative Health Core Curriculum Project (IHCCP) and appeared in the November 2009 Health Journal of the Cumberland Times-News.
A collaborative initiative between ACM faculty and health professionals from five Community Partner agencies (Western Maryland Health System, Archway, Allegany County Health Department, Family Crisis Resource Center, and HRDC Aging Services), the IHCCP's goal is to introduce evidenced-based mind/body medicine approaches into academic education and community health/mental health practice. This article is the third in a series on nutrition as medicine.
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