Bringing ProFood to the Backyard

Guest Blogger: Joya Parsons is an organic market gardener working toward making a sustainable, local food system a reality. She runs Quite Contrary Garden and Homestead in Laurel, Delaware. She blogs at Quite Contrary Gardens and Twitters under @Kubileya

Suppose you are an avid supporter of local food. You get your vegetables from the local farmer’s market or CSA, your eggs from your neighbor’s free range chickens, and your bacon from a pastured hog farm where you know the pigs by name. Maybe you’re thinking about taking the next step toward really, really local food–growing it in your own backyard. Or maybe you’ve been gardening for a while and you’re ready to try your hand at saving seeds from your favorite vegetables from season to season, in the process creating locally adapted lines that thrive in your region without the need for heavy applications of pesticides, fungicides or fertilizers.

Well, I am here to help and encourage. Saving seeds from our best vegetables and growing them ourselves is a serious exercise in ProFood principles. ProFood is a growing movement invigorating local and sustainable food systems. ProFood is pro-farmer, or pro-gardener in the case of backyard growers, and saving and growing your own seeds keeps you in control of what is planted and keeps corporations like Monsanto out. It is pro-consumer, pro-cooking and pro-eating, all of which are supported by learning to grow and prepare food ourselves, bringing the freshest, tastiest local produce to the table in the process. ProFood is also an entrepreneurial movement spurring innovation and change within the food system by focusing on developing an alternative, local system and the home grower can become the first link in that new chain. And don’t forget, when those bushels of tomatoes come rolling in around August, you can foster a wonderful ProFood sense of community involvement by sharing the bounty with friends and neighbors.

Tomatoes are generally the first vegetable that people think of when they consider a backyard garden. They’re tasty, popular, and generally easy to grow. The only issue is that some people may be turned off by growing them from seed or saving tomato seeds because it seems complicated and time-consuming, so they resort to buying transplants instead. Problem is, many transplants that you find in stores come from big, commercial nurseries hundreds or thousands of miles away, which may go against the grain of the local, sustainable food movement. Your food dollars are still flowing out of your community, even if the food in question is not quite ready for the plate.

The solution is growing and saving your own tomato seeds. It’s not an arcane science or incredibly difficult, I promise. It’s something anyone can do. You can save seeds this summer from the plants in your garden or even from tomatoes you’ve purchased at the farmer’s market– any ripe tomato will do (see note below about tomato varieties). If you’re saving from your own garden, be sure to select the biggest, healthiest, tastiest plants you have to ensure you’re passing along a robust genetic line. Decide how many tomatoes you want to save from (I usually figure 50-75 good seeds from a Brandywine type, less for smaller tomatoes). From there, it’s just three easy steps involving only about twenty minutes of actual hands-on time to save hundreds of seeds.

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Step One: Collecting the seeds

The easiest way to collect seeds from a tomato is simply to slice the fruit in half across the equator and squeeze the ‘goopy guts’ into a bowl. Use your fingers or a spoon to scrape out any stragglers.

Step Two: Fermenting

This is the step where many would-be seed savers get confused or intimidated, thinking it sounds way too complicated, but I’m here to tell you it’s not! You simply have to provide the right environment (a jar and a bit of sunlight) and Mother Nature takes care of the rest. Fermenting is an essential step to remove the jelly-like goo surrounding each seed in order that the seed may germinate and to destroy any disease-causing bacterial or fungal spores that might be hitching a ride.

Transfer your tomato goop into a clear jar, preferably glass, and add a bit of water– you want the consistency runny. Cover the top of the jar with a breathable material like cotton cloth. You can use plastic wrap if that’s what you have on hand, just make sure to poke a few holes in it first.

Now just leave it on a sunny windowsill for about three days. Try to remember to give it a little shake and swirl each day. The top of the mixture will start to look a little scummy and it will smell pretty gross– this is alright! It’s exactly what is supposed to happen. When the process is finished, you should see the good seeds on the bottom with a layer of thick pulp and mold sitting on top.

Carefully pour out the top layer of pulp (it’s great for the compost pile!) and floating seeds (these are not viable and will not germinate). Add a little more water to the jar, swish for a minute, and carefully pour out again. Repeat this until the water in the jar comes out clear. Then, pour the contents of the jar through a strainer to drain the seeds.

Step Three: Drying

The last step is as easy as it sounds. Arrange the seeds in a single layer on a breathable material like paper towels, coffee filters, or a paper plate. Leave in a warm place out of direct sunlight. It helps to have air circulating underneath as well. You can lay paper towels on a cookie cooling rack so that there is adequate air circulation all around or make sure to remember to give the seeds a stir every day so that all sides get some air flow. Depending on humidity, it could take a few days to two weeks for your seeds to be completely dry. You’ll know they’re ready for storage when they not only feel dry, but they are light and easily scoot across the plate or towel when you give it a little shimmy.

That’s it! Now your seeds are ready to be stored until planting time next spring. You can use the small paper or plastic envelopes found in craft stores, or make your own. Store them in a cool, dry place, preferably in an airtight bin to keep the humidity out. Make sure you label them well to prevent any later confusion!

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A note about tomato varieties: For the very best results of your seed-saving efforts, try to find heirloom or open-pollinated varieties. These have been bred and inbred over generations to produce consistent and genetically similar seedlings. You can be sure seeds from your Cherokee Purple will produce Cherokee Purple babies.

Hybrid tomatoes are produced through cross-pollination of two different varieties and seeds from hybrids do not generally produce seedlings consistent with the parent type, or, in gardening terms, they don’t “come true” from seed. They tend to revert to the genetic traits of the hybrid’s parent plants, which may not be awful, but it will be unpredictable and probably not as desirable. Also, in a final note, many hybrids are patented or corporate owned. For instance, the popular Early Girl hybrid tomato is owned by Monsanto, whose life-patents and petrochemical dependence make them the very opposite of ProFood.

Check the Seed Savers Exchange, Baker Creek Heirlooms, J.L. Hudson, Organic Heirlooms or Freedom Seeds for non-patented, non-corporate, heirloom and open-pollinated varieties.

Guess Who’s Controlling Our Food Supply

It’s no secret that I have a difficult time accepting genetically modified (GM) foods at face value. My primary concerns have to do with what we know, and, more importantly don’t know about how this “promising” technology may or may not be impacting human health and our environment.

For those who prefer to avoid serving as human lab rats, myself included, our non-GM food options, according to advocates of GM food, boil down to eating USDA Certified Organic, which do not allow any genetically modified seed or crops to be used on such labeled food products. Their idea of severely limiting consumer choice, since they are adamantly opposed to “GMO Inside” labeling, goes against their own argument of freedom to choose, which also goes against the very fabric of what makes America’s version of capitalism work so well.

I couldn’t imagine the situation getting much worse, but it just did.

The latest issue of Scientific American Magazine includes the chilling article “Do Seed Companies Control GM Crop Research?” The magazine’s editors take readers beyond initial “government” approval of GM food, which reportedly utilized industry-sponsored research rather than independent government research, to the current state of independent research on genetically modified seeds and crops:

Unfortunately, it is impossible to verify that genetically modified crops perform as advertised. That is because agritech companies have given themselves veto power over the work of independent researchers.

It would be chilling enough if any other type of company were able to prevent independent researchers from testing its wares and reporting what they find—imagine car companies trying to quash head-to-head model comparisons done by Consumer Reports, for example. But when scientists are prevented from examining the raw ingredients in our nation’s food supply or from testing the plant material that covers a large portion of the country’s agricultural land, the restrictions on free inquiry become dangerous.

It is hard to understand how a handful of companies have amassed so much control over food ingredients found in an estimated 75 percent of processed foods in America’s supermarkets. Making matters worse, and as the Scientific American editors point out, we are talking about a basic physiological need – food, which joins water, shelter and a handful of other needs defined by Abraham Maslow in his hierarchy of needs.

Without extensive independent research on GM foods on how they impact human health and the environment, the distinct possibility exists that we’re setting ourselves up for significant and potentially irreversible problems down the line.

To keep the mainstream in check, we get slick multimillion dollar advertising campaigns from company’s like Monsanto claiming they have the solution to feed the estimated 9 billion people expected on the planet in the not to distant future, among other claims. Who cares if these claims have not been independently verified. Who cares if the Union of Concerned Scientists have released a report on GM crop yields debunking industry claims of significant yield improvements.

Despite 20 years of research and 13 years of commercialization, genetic engineering has failed to significantly increase U.S. crop yields.

The ongoing debate is not about stopping public relations (PR) efforts by these companies. Companies market products and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. Nor is it about whether I or anyone else thinks GM foods are good or bad. Making such claims today are mostly opinion, since independent research is not available to properly inform discussions.

The debate needs to be about how our regulatory structure has sold out to industry, which is represented by a highly concentrated, centralized  power structure that controls our conventional food system. It needs to be about holding the food system and our government accountable. Most important, it needs to demand companies and the government do what is right, just and fair.

We are a long way from that, it would seem, which is why initiatives like Pro Food and Slow Money are gaining steam. These efforts actively engage everyday citizens in developing and supporting transparent sustainable food systems, building on unique competitive advantages in comparison with today’s industrial food system players.

Let’s just hope that a sustainable food economy is not far behind.

A Sustainable Recipe for America

It isn’t often that I read a review that makes me want to get up and buy a book, but I just read one of the exceptions.

Paula Crossfields’ Civil Eats review on Jill Richardson’s Recipe for America: Why Our Food System is Broken and What We Can Do to Fix It describes an intelligent and informed investigation of why sustainable food should be everyone’s priority.

Review Excerpt: “Like a handbook for the sustainable advocate in training, Recipe for America feels like a one-on-one session with a pro in the trenches. It gives the reader the tools they need to be up-to-date on the state of the food movement, the pending legislation and state of the political process as it pertains to food. So pick up a copy, and join the ranks. The good food movement needs YOU!”

This call to action is not about joining yet another “movement.” To me, its about understanding the importance and impact of our everyday food decisions, which Recipe for America appears to spell out in compelling terms, e.g.,:

Book Excerpt: “In the end, the numerous problems in our food system — pollution, human rights abuses, poor food safety, the breakdown of rural communities, the decline in our health — are hardly random. Instead, they stem from a common thread of industrialization, which occurred primarily over the second half of the twentieth century.”

The challenge of slowing, then reversing, industrial food’s death grip on American consumers becomes clear when you consider how American’s shifting calories to sustainable foods would impact bottom lines.

According to Paul Roberts in The End of Food, our food system was generating 4,000 calories per person in 2000 (expect it is even higher today), up from 3,100 calories in 1950, already more calories than what an average individual needs.  People are consuming too much food, especially highly-processed types. On that point, Mr. Roberts cites that for every 100 calorie reduction in the American diet, industrial food companies will lose over $30 billion dollars per year. If we were to reset calories at 1950 levels, industrial food would lose over a quarter trillion dollars every year. Throw on top of that a recommend shift toward sustainable foods (i.e., not manufactured, highly processed foodlike substances), and you can see a double whammy of historic proportions forming.

Clearly, industrial food will not change on its own. It can’t afford to if it wants to survive as is.  Therefore, America’s consumers need to follow Ms. Richardson’s sound advice to help force the necessary changes:

Review Excerpt: But the greatest barrier of all, she writes, may be the lack of recognition on the part of the government that sustainable agriculture practices are superior to industrial agriculture, and for that to change, we need public outcry.

Each one of us can get a great jump on doing that by reading Recipe for America, becoming informed and knowledgeable, and crying out for change!

In the meantime, do what you can to vote with your dollars. Buy sustainable. Buy organic. Buy local/regional.