When it comes to food, Sasha Kanno is involved in pretty much every aspect of it. A resident of southern California, she’s been working for many years to bring the organic food movement to the region. Between her numerous gardens and her new nonprofit Long Beach Local, Kanno is a pioneer in the field of sustainable agriculture.
With no prior experience in farming, Kanno’s interest was originally piqued by watching YouTube videos, Sustainable Cities Collective reports. Farming became a job, though, after she attended the EcoFarm conference in Monterey, Calif.
From there, she served as the director of the Wrigley Garden – a community garden in Long Beach, Calif., — and went on to co-found Wrigley Co-op Food.
Then came Long Beach Local. The nonprofit biodynamic farm doubles as a training and education center. Its one-acre lot (Farm Lot 59) grows a variety of specialty crops and flowers without a boost from chemicals or pesticides. Farm Lot 59 also boasts egg-laying hens and beehives.
Her work isn’t just for residents, however; she also helps local businesspeople. Every Thursday, Kanno sits down with chefs from the area to plan their menus, and her gardens service six restaurants in Long Beach. Furthermore, she runs a rooftop garden for Michael’s Restaurant Groups, which uses the fresh produce in their restaurants.
When it comes to challenges, there are only two things standing in her way: quality assistance and the bagrada bug. Since Kanno’s work runs on volunteer service, she’s at the mercy of whoever is interested.
“Labor is my biggest challenge,” she tells Sustainable Cities Collective. “It’s hard to find people who are experienced.”
In regards to the bagrada, the insect entered the California scene in 2008 and is especially fond of organic produce, eating just about any crop, while also reproducing quickly and efficiently.
“There’s no organic eradication,” Kanno explains. “The first year it wiped me out. I literally cried.”
Fortunately for Long Beach, Kanno and her crops did survive and continue to thrive. Clearly, neither man nor bug can stop this woman.
MORE: This App Helps Urban Farmers Get Their Crops Growing
Tag: organic food
From Farm to Patient: How One Medical Facility is Rethinking Hospital Food
The words “hospital food” usually inspire thoughts of rubbery jello and syrupy fruit cups. But the St. Luke’s University Health Network in Easton, Pa. is doing its best to change that.
In the fall of 2013, it teamed up with the Rodale Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to establishing organic farms and spreading organic practices, to establish a produce farm serving the hospital network. The farm’s harvest quota for this season (its first) was set at 44,000 pounds from five acres of tilled land; as of this writing, it’s is on track to exceed that amount.
The excess land used for the farm is part of the St. Luke’s Anderson Campus, the newest addition to the St. Luke’s hospital network. Opening its doors three years ago, the hospital itself covers about 40 acres – but in total, it owns 500 acres of land. The additional land was acquired, according to Anderson Campus hospital president Edward Nawrocki, as part of a long-term expansion strategy.
Last year, however, Nawrocki began looking for creative ways to use the extra real estate. Some employees suggested an organic farm, an idea that Nawrocki jumped on.
He contacted the Rodale Institute and spoke with executive director Mark “Coach” Smallwood. Coach started looking for a farm manager and quickly decided upon Lynn Trizna, a young woman involved in organic farming that Coach identified as “a farmer without a farm.”
Nawrocki, “Farmer Lynn”, and Coach picked a site for the farm and a smaller, five-acre parcel for the first season. Following organic practices, 12 types of produce— from tomatoes to kale to beets — were planted.
Often, ripe produce is picked in the morning, transported, prepared and served the same day.
“Health care in the past was about sick care. We got paid when people got sick.” says Nawrocki. “In the next decade, it’s going to be about keeping people well.”
But this change doesn’t come without challenges. The existing food vendor, Sodexo, has had to modify its food acquisition practices to incorporate the local produce since many of the items it sources already come prepared. Farmer Lynn and Nawrocki have taken a hands-on approach to working with Sodexo on menu modifications, something that the vendor’s staff is excited and proud of.
Currently, the Rodale Farm organic produce is served in the cafeteria, plus it’s also gradually being incorporated into the patients’ meals, as many are on restricted diets.
As the farm grows, Nawrocki and Farmer Lynn and Nawrocki are working to expand patient options. Both hope that other hospitals with land investments will adopt this idea, revolutionizing how food is prepared for those who need good nutrition the most. Who knows? Maybe in the future jello cups and prepackaged food will be seen in the same light as bloodletting today – an anachronism of a less sophisticated time.
Purchasing Local Food Is Now Easier Than Making a Trip to the Supermarket
It goes without saying that you can buy just about anything on the internet — electronics, antiques, even the opportunity to find the love of your life. And now, as one Seattle company brings the organic farmer online, you can even purchase local produce.
It’s called Farmstr and it’s run by Janelle Maiocco — farmer, chef and the blogger behind “Talk of Tomatoes.” The website connects customers not just with local farmers, but ranchers and fishers, too.
For Maiocco, the idea sprouted from her concern about the food industry. Over the years, she noticed how many chemicals are ingested through our food, and she wanted to make organic food a viable option. So she started Farmstr, a simple solution with a simple process.
In order to be a seller on the site, the farmer must use all organic processes, which are vetted and checked. Once approved, the vendor can set up a seller profile and post the items for sale. For each transaction, Farmstr keeps 6.5 percent.
When an order is placed, vendors place the goods in one of the designated drop boxes around Washington State to be picked up by the customer. Currently, there are three drop boxes in Seattle and one each in Bellingham, Everett, Issaquah, Redmond and Tacoma.
So why do vendors and customers use the site? For customers, it’s a way to access fresh, high-quality, local food — often for better prices than what are available elsewhere. And for producers, it’s a way to expand the reach of their small farm operations.
Although Farmstr has yet to make a profit, the future is looking bright. As of May 2014, the website has raised $1.3 million in capital funding, and employs four full-time employees, two interns and is looking for two more for full-time workers.
More employees aren’t the only thing this startup is looking to add, though, as Maiocco hopes to expand the company into other areas outside the Pacific Northwest.
“I’m passionate about connecting local produce and consumers,” she told Sustainable Cities Collective. “I’m passionate about making good food accessible…The little guys, urban farmers, hobby farmers ― they need customers.”
And thanks to Farmstr, they have them. From the depths of cyberspace, Maiocco is making organic food a reality for producers and customers, one chemically-free vegetable at a time.
MORE: How Salvaging the Food in Your Own Backyard Can Help Your Community and the Environment
5 Inspiring Green Initiatives Moving America Towards a Bright Future
Stranded polar bears. Rising sea levels. Extreme weather. By now you know the devastating impacts of climate change, and it’s pretty easy to get disheartened by it.
Fortunately, there are some pretty smart cookies here in America who have come up with positive solutions that might change how you feel about our warming planet. Perhaps, you might even feel inspired to take action yourself.
Recyclebank has ranked the 10 most inspiring sustainable innovations happening from coast to coast. We’ve picked five of our favorite projects, but you should really head on over to EcoWatch for the whole list. (The polar bears will thank you!)
MORE: Can I Recycle This? 5 Things You Should Always Recycle (and 5 Things You Shouldn’t)
1. Organic food in La Farge, Wis.
We’ve already told you how the food industry is a big environmental nightmare in so many different ways. But at Organic Valley (aka the biggest organic farm co-op in the country) food and farmers are truly treated with respect. Its 45,000 square-foot barn (constructed from locally-sourced materials, naturally) sells sustainable food and hosts workshops and exhibits to help educate the entire community. As the company boasts on their website: “The central mission of our cooperative is to support rural communities by protecting the health of the family farm — working toward both economic and environmental sustainability.”
2. Xeriscaping in Denver
This form of water-wise landscaping might sound unfamiliar to you, but here’s why it’s important: Drought. For water-pinched states in the southwest, xeriscaping is not only a beautiful alternative to water-intensive lawns, it conserves much more water, too. As EcoWatch reports, Denver’s water board has put up free downloadable instructions so you can remodel your own yard.
3. Green building in Chicago
As we’ve mentioned before, it literally takes a lot of energy to go to work. The EPA found that commercial buildings in Chicago are responsible for 70 percent of the city’s carbon emissions. But in an effort to reduce its carbon footprint, Chicago has a Green Permit Program that promotes, expedites and reduces the cost of green architecture. In fact, the Windy City has the most LEED-certified projects in the U.S. at 295.
4. Alternative transportation in Portland, Ore.
Light rail, streetcar, bus, biking, smart cars. If there’s one place you want to be without a smog-emitting automobile, it’s probably Portland. Thanks to the Portland Bureau of Transportation and the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, it’s one of the most bike-friendly cities in the country.
5. Wind Energy in Corpus Christi, Texas
Back in 2002, Texas deregulated its electricity market, which meant that consumers could pick their own energy provider. That’s when Corpus Christi decided to pave the way for wind power. The city is now home to the county’s first on-port wind farm that ships wind turbines to all other states. By using the power of all-natural wind, Texas now saves more than 8.1 billion gallons of water and avoids 22 million metric tons of CO2 emissions each year.
DON’T MISS: Watch What a Climate Change Debate Should Really Look Like
Neighborhood Blight Is No Match for These Pop-Up Gardens
Putting it bluntly, there’s nothing good about an abandoned lot. It collects litter and can serve as a congregating place where undesirable activity goes on.
Fortunately, in North Chicago, some vacant spaces are undergoing a makeover and sprouting some new and helpful additions.
Since 2010, resident Lamonda Joy has been transforming these lots into pop-up gardens, providing organic food to the growers.
Interestingly, Joy got her inspiration to create luscious green spaces from a vacant lot that she walked past every single day on her way home from work. After seeing a picture of a World War II victory garden in that same space, she had the idea to return the area to its former glory.
The Peterson Garden Project took root in 2010 and at the time, became the largest organic garden in Chicago and the first in a long line of pop-up gardens.
What separates Joy’s gardens from other community gardening projects? Hers are meant to only last for two to five years. (Hence the term pop-up.) The gardens will appear overnight and a few years later, disappear just as fast.
Their creation is very simple: When Joy spots an empty lot, she contacts the owner and asks to use the space for as long as possible. An agreement is signed with the owner, and the following day, the gardeners arrive with the 4’x8’ raised gardening beds.
The project only uses raised beds because the group is unsure what hazards lay in the city soil, and they do not want to risk infecting the produce. Further, the raised beds make it incredibly efficient to start and take down a garden. When a particular lot is no longer available, the beds are simply picked up and carried to the next spot.
In the four years since its inception, the project has grown extensively. This season alone, the Peterson Garden Project will be coordinating 4,000 gardeners in eight different lots across North Chicago. The gardens are open to everyone, and free classes are offered to beginners, as well monthly classes for experienced gardeners. Weekly, the group holds “in the garden” question-and-answer periods.
The majority of the food is consumed by the gardeners themselves, but five percent is donated to area food banks and nutrition programs through a group known as Grow2Give. The Peterson Garden Project is also working to make organic, sustainable food available for low-income families by providing scholarship donation plots.
Clearly, the Peterson Garden Project is transforming those vacant lots from eye sores into a valuable community asset.
MORE: Why This Grocery Chain Wants to Install Beehives in School Gardens
This Little Girl’s Science Experiment Led Her to Question a Standard Farming Practice
Nine-year-old Elise wanted to do a science experiment to find out how long it would take a sweet potato to grow vines. So she went to the grocery store with her grandmother, bought a sweet potato, and put it in a glass of water. But, as she explains in this video posted to YouTube by Suzanne Bartlett, no matter how long she left the sweet potato in the water, it wouldn’t sprout vines, even after she tried multiple potatoes.
Elise says, “We talked to the produce man at the store, and he said, ‘Well, these will never grow vines. At the farm, they spray them with a chemical called Bud Nip. You should try one of our organic sweet potatoes.” She did, and in a month it sprouted vines. She tried the experiment with an organic sweet potato from another grocery store, and it worked too. Before she knew it, a simple science experiment had turned into an important lesson about pesticides for the precocious little girl.
But Elise didn’t stop there—she continued her research, reading up on Bud Nip, also known as Chlorpropham, and learned that it’s routinely applied to onions, blueberries, tomatoes, and other produce, and that some experiments have shown it to cause tumors in animals. According to the Pesticide Information Project, long-term exposure “may cause adverse reproductive effects.” Elise concludes her video with the question, “Which potato would you rather eat?”
MORE: Meet the Scientists Who Are Tackling Our Disappearing Bee Problem
How to Break the Northeast’s Biggest Farming Rule
The Philadelphia area has plenty of affluent communities ready and eager to participate in local shopping at farmers’ markets, but not far from those neighborhoods are vast food deserts. It’s a dramatic disparity, but local farmers have the power to help overcome the local food problems. Malaika Spencer is one of the farmers working to improve the local healthy options, and to do it she has transformed one of Bucks County’s traditional farms into a fully organic local resource. She has a revolutionary approach to the calendar, ignoring the Northeast’s standard six-month schedule. Instead, she’s using “storage crops like potatoes, winter squash, onions, garlic and turnips” to maintain her output through all four seasons. This way, her CSA shareholders enjoy her produce year-round and she becomes ingrained in the community’s agriculture, economy, and community.
The Company That’s Keeping Junk Out of School Cafeterias
Word association. I say, “school lunch,” you say…. “Gross.” “Junk food.” “Mystery meat.” It doesn’t have to be that way, and a young Chicago couple is proving it. They didn’t like the choices available at their son’s preschool, so they started Gourmet Gorilla.* Four years later, the company delivers 10,000 better meals and snacks to 90 elementary and preschools each school day. They source about 70% of their ingredients locally and from organic suppliers. Now, I’m fully aware that money is the elephant in the room for school lunch choices, especially in cash-strapped urban public school systems. But there’s always a way to do a bit better. Our kids deserve it.
*I’m betting this is a play on the irresistible kid’s book Goodnight Gorilla.