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So if there are two things that weeds love, it’s lots of rain, and lots of sun. It’s not news to anyone that we’ve had plenty of both this season. Whether we like it or not, we have to keep up on the weeding…

You know what would be awesome? If there was a way to use the weeds to our advantage. I’m sure you see where this is going by now—some of our daily garden foes are not only edible but actually delicious. Everyone knows that dandelion greens are edible (especially by chickens) so I’m going to tell you about three of my other favorite edible weeds.

I’m guessing that up to this point, if you aren’t yet aware that they’re edible, you’re going to realize all the potential produce that you’ve cursed and thrown onto the compost pile.

Lamb’s quarter

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There are lots of things to do with lambs quarter, but when I’m learning about how to use a new vegetable, it helps me to think it terms of something its comparable to, or something more traditional that I could use my new thing to substitute for… in this case, it’s spinach.

Instead of being upset that the crop you weeded less than a week ago is already overgrown, make a game of it and look for some lamb’s quarter to add to dinner in place of spinach in a favorite recipe. There are tons of ways to prepare it, but as usual, I’ll leave the homework to you. If there’s none in your garden, feign sincerity with a neighbor who’s infested and offer to help with weeding (a.k.a. harvesting).

Purslane

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Some folks call this pigweed, but everyone’s seen this stuff, and not many people know what it is. Those that do may not realize that it’s not only edible, but probably eligible for the super-food hall of fame.

I’m house-sitting for someone right now and I yanked what was probably a couple of pounds of this out of her driveway.

Purslane is found most commonly in European, Asian and sometimes Mexican dishes, but regardless of your ethnic culinary preference, there are several nutritional benefits that this “weed” has to offer: It’s a great (and local) source of Omega-3’s, and high in vitamins A, C and some B’s. Apparently all parts of this weed are edible in certain contexts, so search for recipes containing purslane and I’m sure you’re have an opportunity to use more than one part of the plant.

Ground Cherries

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I was trying to decide how to save the best for last; I was wrestling between the ground cherries and the purslane, and I decided to keep the ground cherries up my sleeve.

I’m fortunate in that one of the farms where I work has this stuff growing haphazardly—I’d go ahead and call it a weed because it seems to grow like one. I’ve definitely seen this plant before as I grew up, tromping through the woods. I didn’t know that it was not only edible, but a great summer treat as well.

Many of you may recognize these lantern-like seed-pods, but maybe you didn’t know that some really great wild fruit grows within. I’m sure there’s a healthy volume of recipes on the internet, so see if you can source them and try them out. I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

As is one of the mantras with organic gardening—it’s not about bending nature to your will as we see with so many of our corn and soybean growing friends; it’s about working in synchronicity and serendipity.

There’s no harm in figuring out how to work in harmony with your surroundings. You may even benefit from it.

A couple months ago, I saw renowned author and activist Michael Pollan speak in KC about his latest book, "In Defense of Food."

That book serves as an engaging, at-length answer to the, well, dilemma readers were left with from his previous book, "The Omnivore’s Dilemma." That is, “OK, so now we know what we’re not supposed to eat, but what ARE we supposed to eat?”

At his talk in KC, Pollan touched on several signs of movement in the right direction — so many interested readers of his books, huge increases in C.S.A.s (Community Supported Agriculture), more and more farmers’ markets across the country (Lawrence's has been around 33 years now), a boom in home gardening, and of course there was mention of the chemical-free Obama veggie garden.

Pollan also talked about a documentary film coming out this year called Food, Inc. Admittedly, I hadn’t thought about the film for a while until I received an email last month (that had obviously been forwarded several times) which stated that Food, Inc. had pulled in more money per theater than any other new release during the same weekend. Given its relatively limited indie distribution, it was still No. 1 amongst the mainstream.

This weekend it comes to the Tivoli in KC and Glenwood Arts Theater in Overland Park. (It sounds like it won't be at Liberty until the 24th.) Showtimes are supposed to be announced anytime now.

To cut to the chase, the documentary takes a critical look at the infrastructure of the American food complex, and the employment of bureaucratic barricades and a seemingly intentional lack of transparency that takes place before what we have come to know as “food” is put in its brightly colored packaging and placed on the shelves of our grocery stores. It's a mentality that's akin to a mechanic who doesn’t want you around while they work on your car.

Other films in the past have taken dissenting looks at our overgrown industrial food production system or the relatively new concept of the “multi-national corporation,” but by all accounts Food, Inc. does an exceptional job of putting both pieces of the puzzle at the scene of the crime, if you will.

While I rarely pass on a chance to rally behind a post-industrial food documentary, I became more skeptical of Pollan’s stance once I found out that he narrated the film. Having done more homework though, I’ve found that most reviews have been supportive of the film, the only ones to differ basically said that it was a bit slanted. Like a well-rounded sales pitch or persuasive essay, I not only expect, but look forward to a side of slant with a documentary.

Before you whine that Overland Park is too far to travel for a movie, check out foodincmovie.com and the trailer below. After that, stop whining and go see it.

If you’re anything like me, I tend to keep equal track of my successes and failures. When it comes to gardening, it’s usually about this time of year when I take a step back and look at how much my garden resembles (or how completely it has deviated from) my seemingly well-laid, albeit ambitious plans from the very early spring. There’s almost always something that didn’t germinate properly, something that the neighbor’s dog ate, or a space that wasn’t managed as well as I’d like. There’s almost always a few seed packets that haven’t been opened yet.

It’s lucky for people like me that the growing season is cyclical, and there’s always another planting to get ready for. Now’s the time to start making plans for your fall garden.

As there are obviously many types of vegetables that we can grow in Kansas, there are only slightly fewer planting dates for us to pay attention to if we so choose. I guess what I’m trying to say is that there’s almost always something to plant. It all depends on your level of interest. Things to look forward to are many of the things you’ve probably just run out of from your spring garden; Carrots, broccoli and most of all, radishes are on my list of things that I’m hoping to see more of before the end of the growing season.

I rely heavily upon the planting guide which is made available through our local county extension office. They’re fantastic folks and they’re a great example of your tax dollars going towards something you’d actually like them to be spent on. Anyway, although the guide isn’t absolute in what it includes, it has a great visual to help an interested grower get a basic idea of when some mainstays might be put into the ground and when. If there’s something you were hoping to see on the planting guide, do a little homework your self; it’s no guarantee that what you were hoping for is fall garden material, but the worst case scenario is that you can start anticipating your spring ’10 garden now. If you feel like you may have missed he date by a week or so, I’d say try to plant it anyway. You don’t have to tell anyone you planted it, and if it doesn’t work out, then it’s no big deal. If it works out, you can proclaim your late-harvest victory for all to hear (and for all to rub their nose in… just a little) right before you share your bounty with them.

Personally, I have a whole other plot that I had every intention of expanding upon this past spring. Needless to say, it never happened, but I think I’m ready to step up my game and get it tilled, fertilized and planted with as much as it will hold for my fall garden.

Man, this time of year always gets me. The spring crops are out, the tomatoes and peppers (and lots of other stuff) are already planted, but it’s not quite time to talk about the fall garden yet. There’s little stuff to do, like digging out your spring potatoes, but maybe the most indelible trait of these first dog days is the heat which has completely stifled the emotion I once defined as springtime ambition. It seems like a distant memory now, but it was only a few months ago that I was cursing late frosts and longing for the omnipresent heat which is synonymous with summertime in Kansas. We’re at the time of year which is comparably less busy than others, so it’s a good time to start planning for the future.

As many of our well-known verbal anecdotes have agrarian roots, I’d hate to miss an opportunity to share one of my favorites: Make hay while the sun shines.

The sun is definitely shining, but as it’s only been a few months since our overnight frosts, (the ones I was cursing earlier) just as surely, a few months from now we will have them again, and our growing season for 2009 will all but come to a close.

Now is the time to think about preserving produce for the winter months.

Often times I find myself saying “Well, I don’t have enough of this or that to worry about canning or freezing.” But don’t forget the farmers’ market. There’s nothing wrong with buying in bulk while food is in season with the intention of putting most of it away for the fall and winter months. It’s fresh, local, and if you time it right, you may be able to strike a bulk deal with the grower. They’ll probably be happy to move a bunch of produce all at once. Maybe you combine what you’ve grown with a supplement you buy at the market, or if you cant make it to the market, maybe you can trade what you’ve grown with a friend to end up with more of what you want.

The subject of preserving food is very broad, but as usual, we’ll hit some main points which can act as a springboard for your self-education.

Canning

I’ve been looking for some time of compiled list of usually-canned veggies, and I haven’t come up with much, which leads me to believe that with a little work, almost anything you grow in your garden can be canned, whether it’s on it’s own, or in a recipe like a sauce or jam.

Some basic canning can be done with tomatoes requiring as little as some canning jars, and a pot big enough to put several of them in. Most canning jars tend to come in boxes of a dozen or so and tend to run about a dollar per jar, and they’re reusable. Steer clear of the temptation to reuse jars you bought at the store with other products in them. Apparently they don’t hold up as well to the canning process and you could end up with exploding glass, which is awesome, but only when you’re anticipating it.

I’ve included a link to a recipe for canning tomatoes from the most official source I could find; the National Center for Home Food Preservation. Admittedly, I didn’t know there was such a center prior to writing this.

If you’re feeling ambitious, many kinds of fruits and meats can be canned as well, however, often times these will require a pressure canner.

One of our favorite things to trade for in our neck of the woods is a jar of highly-coveted spicy tomato juice that a friend of ours makes. It makes the best red beers.

In all seriousness though, while canning is fun, empowering and a little quaint, it does involve some science, and it can definitely be done improperly. I encourage you to pay another visit to our friends at the National Center for Home Food Preservation and check out what they’ve compiled from the USDA as a complete guide to canning.

Another subject that should be broached on the topic of food preservation is the use of a freezer in place of canning.

Pretty much everyone knows how to put something in the freezer, but something that’s worth thinking about is the fact that a dedicated freezer (like a chest-style freezer) can be a great investment as they tend not to be very expensive, (like 100 bucks, or maybe less if it’s used.) and can be self-fulfilling prophecies as once you have it, you may as well use it. Often times these can be kept in semi-outdoor settings (think under the carport, or in the garage or whatever) if spatial considerations are necessary.

Although I’m not ready to side one way or another, I’ve heard the case made for freezing instead of canning surrounding better nutritional content with frozen food as opposed to canned food. The other side of the argument is that maintaining a stockpile of frozen food almost definitely requires more energy consumption than shelves full of Ball jars. Just something to consider.

Whichever persuasion you find yourself aligning with, keep in mind that if you’d like to have local food year round, you should make hay while the sun shines. The time is now. You can thank me when you crack open your second to last jar of tomatoes or whatever on a dreary February day next year and taste the sun and warmth of some balmy day in the summer of 2009.

I was poking around in the my garden the other day and noticed that my tomato plants are finally (I started many of them from seed, so I’ve been waiting for this point for a few months) growing some buds, which means that actual factual summertime tomatoes are not far off. I usually pinch off the first set of buds on many of my plants so that they can continue to grow to a more substantial size before actually producing. There’s few things as pathetic in my opinion as a skinny little tomato plant giving everything it’s got to squeeze out one or two tomatoes at a time when a plant that’s much bigger is prone to much higher production.

I digress from the point I was trying to make- remember to fertilize when the tomatoes are coming on! Creating fruit consumes many of a plant’s resources as it’s creating a nice package for you eat. Side-dressing and banding are two easy ways to fertilize in order to keep your plants healthy and to insure that they create the very best edibles for you as possible.

I’m sure people have opinions about these methods as to whether one or the other is better, but as far as I’m concerned, I think they’re equal in performance but are application-specific; that is to say, it depends on how your garden is arranged.

The side-dressing method works well if you’ve managed to create rows in your garden. Simply dig a shallow trench a few inches out from the base of your plants. It should run the length of your plants. Apply your fertilizer (which should be something like compost or compost tea, not like, chemicals ... your locally-owned nursery can help you with that) and cover your trench.

The banding (or collaring) method is similar in function to the method listed above, however it tends to work better if your plants are hap-hazardly located, or planted any other way besides linearly. (Linearly is a word, right?)

Again, just dig a super shallow trench, only this time, make a circle around each plant, a few inches out from the base. Apply fertilizer and cover.

When you water your garden or when it rains, this newly applied fertilizer will be the extra boost your plants can use in their big push to produce for you.

So, recently there was a trip to Japan.

It was made by a consortium of people from our local food production community through the Global Partners for Local Organic Foods and the Kansas Rural Center.

Predictably, the focus of the trip was to compare notes with a team of Japanese growers and professionals about local food production systems in Japan (more specifically, Saitama) and the Lawrence/K.C. area. The trip spanned roughly ten days and as I understand, it was very productive in terms of sharing knowledge, methods, and perhaps most importantly, creating friendship and dialogue between all involved.

What’s exciting for the rest of us is that the Japanese team will be arriving in Kansas on the 23rd of this month, and will be in attendance at the Recognition Ceremony for Kansas’ Pioneers of Local and Organic Foods, which will be held at Liberty Hall on Wednesday, June 24th.

You don’t have to be particularly interested in Japanese methods of food production to come; this will be a public event and a great opportunity to meet, or at least put names with faces (or faces with names, if need be) within our local production community. As you might assume, there will be music and lots of awesome, awesome food from The Merc and Local Burger too.

Tickets cost $5 and are available at Local Burger, The Merc, and, obviously, Liberty Hall.

Seasonality. Something we’ve gotten away from in our country and in popular culture is the concept of seasonality. Certain things grow at a certain time of year, and I believe that we would be better off in many respects if food items weren’t available constantly to us, but only when they grow. There’s an ingrained sense of reward through deprivation that occurs when we only allow ourselves certain items at the time of year when they’re available.

Most of us are familiar with the concept of seasonality within our lives, but many times it’s not directly related to what we eat. Some of us spend the spring and summer months waiting for football season to begin. For others, it may be a festival of one kind or another that consistently occurs at the same point in the calendar year.

I was had a recent conversation about this with perhaps my most avid morel mushroom-hunting friend. In explaining the concept to him, I said, “imagine getting as excited about most of the food you eat as you do about when mushroom season comes around.” The familiar grin which accompanies thoughts of morels spread across his face. “That’d be awesome.” He said.

Granted, the element of “the hunt” isn’t as present with asparagus or, say, tomatoes as it is with the venerable morel, but the anticipation can be quite similar.

Although I’m not a die-hard seasonal eater, I do what I can to avoid heinous examples of out of season produce. Corn on the cob in January is a heinous example. By waiting until mid to late summer to get into some awesome local sweet corn, I’m doing a number of things: Firstly, the corn is probably going to taste way better because I haven’t had any sweet corn on the cob in almost a year. Secondly, it’s going to taste way better because it’s in season locally, which brings me to my third, and maybe my most important point- It will be locally grown. When food is set on the shelves of our local groceries out of season, it has more than probably crossed several state (and sometimes international) lines in the back of a semi truck or on a plane, or boat, or whatever. I don’t know where it’s been, and neither do you, but it’s probably got more miles on it than the tires on your bicycle, which contributes to huge, huge fuel consumption.

Let's not overlook the fact that time generally has a negative effect on nutrition and taste. The longer that produce spends on the way to the store, the worse it's probably going to taste, and keep in mind too that many of the usual store-offered varieties of produce are bred for road-worthiness, which is often at the sacrifice of nutritional content.

Not sure what’s in season? Go to the farmer’s market. Intimidated by what’s there? Just buy it and act like you know how to prepare it and then look on the internet when you get home.

Craving produce you don’t see at the market?

Good. You have something to look forward to now.

That’s seasonality.

So this weekend my wife and I will be arriving at the culmination of a months-long plan. To host our own wedding.

Kind of.

Roughly a year ago, we eloped to a local watering hole, and had a relatively unannounced and brief wedding “ceremony,” if you will. So here we are, almost a year later, planning what will be an “official” observation of our legal union. This way all the out-of-town friends and family will have a chance to cry and have drinks as well they should. I grew up Irish-Catholic. That’s just how they do.

As I was telling someone recently, we had kind of a theme in mind while we were doing our planning, although it’s not a theme in the decorative or informational sense, but moreso in the functional sense, rather than form. We wanted to figure out how to be as sustainable as we could manage to be.

Our sustainability decision arrived as it usually does- the same way it did with the garden, and with a lot of our food, the same way with doing little energy saving things around the house; the idea comes up, and we say “lets see if we can actually do this.” And to the drawing boards we went. I should mention that this has not necessarily been a success rate of 100%, but I don’t think that’s what this whole sustainability thing is- it’s not a race, but it is a relative term. There are ways of being more, or less sustainable. I guarantee you that we will still probably have several bags of trash going to the dump at the end of our party, but there will be a lot of things that won’t see the dump on our clock. My wife thought it’d be cute to have a picnic theme (see that’s an actual theme), which kind of lends itself to an outside event. As outside events (and also huge events) lend themselves to paper plates, we arrived at our first dilemma: were we really going to go buy several packages of single use plates and cups so that at least a couple hundred people could take them out of the packaging, hold them for about fifteen minutes and then throw them out? As always, my wife came up with a clever solution; buy all the plates and tablecloths at thrift stores! Of course this takes a certain kind of person (i.e. my wife) who thrives upon, no… lives for going to thrift stores. I can’t say that we saved a whole lot of time and money going this route, but I will say that it probably wasn’t nearly as expensive as you think. At many of the stores we went to, they were more than happy to strike a deal with us on the bulk basis, and we’ve got some pretty um, groovy plates to boot. They will all be re-donated after our event, except those that people take home with them, because I’m also behind the big push to bring back commemorative plates. In keeping with the picnic style, we’re having hamburgers and veggie hot dogs. The hamburgers are made of grass-fed beef from Homespun Hill Farm in Baldwin. They were converted from cows to hamburger patties in Overbrook, Ks. Again, in a conversation recently, someone said “Fifty pounds of grassfed beef?! Did you mortgage the house?” Nope; bulk-buy at the Lawrence Farmer’s market. Granted, Farmer Debbie from Homespun Hill needed some advanced notice to complete our order, but aside from a few emails, the whole deal went down recently on a couple Saturday mornings on New Hampshire St.

It wouldn’t be a wedding without flowers, right? We took a trip last weekend to see the Pendletons, and talked to Karen about what we needed. I should be able to tell you what kind of flowers we’re getting, but I wasn’t paying very good attention at that point. What matters is that they’re local, and in season. I should also mention that we’re getting some awesome tomatoes from them as well for the burgers. You’re right that tomatoes aren’t in season yet, unless you’re the Pendletons and you have an awesome greenhouse setup for early tomatoes.

Lettuce and other greens will come from Hoyland Farm, owned and operated by Bob and Joy Lominska. Their son, Avery runs the booth at the farmers’ market. Yes, he’s the guy with the dreads who always has great-looking stuff for sale.

Much of the beer will be from the venerable Free State Brewing Company (Doesn’t that sound so official?) Although it’s super tricky to land a keg from there, it’s always been worth it in the past.

Although we kind of dropped the ball on the cups (I think we’re just using good old plastic cups) we did get our hands on some of that cornstarch plastic ware (cornstarch ware?) for people to eat with. As I remember, this stuff is kind of brittle, but it’s all good- it won’t be in the landfills for the rest of our lives.

Another tough spot for us was the condiments. I’m sure there are local sources for Ketchup and Mustard and the like, but I’m afraid time ran short on us. Instead of a wedding cake, several of our friends are making pies. Cake is kind of trite anyway. Pies are way more subversive.

I’m sure there are any number of other things that we could have done to be even more sustainable than we already will be, and I encourage you to comment on that if you have any suggestions so other readers can benefit from the collective knowledge base. The point for us is that we made an effort to operate under the principle of consuming less and throwing less away, and it didn’t take the focus off of the nature of the event. As most things that require a little extra effort tend to do, I’ll bet it will pay off.

Update: This lecture is TONIGHT, Wednesday, May 20 — event info here.

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

This is the credo of food activist and author Michael Pollan. I discovered the work of Michael Pollan about a two years ago in my various meanderings on the internet in search of other like-minded souls, those who had become aware of obvious major flaws with American food system and heritage of eating, or lack thereof. I’d had three social encounters around that time that had nothing to do with one another with the exception that Pollan’s (then) latest work The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals came up in discussion, and in each instance, it was heartily recommended to me. I added it to my amazon.com wishlist and didn’t think about it again until the beginning of this past semester, when, to my pleasant surprise, I found it to be a required text for one of my classes.

Before I go any further, I should say that I’ve found much solace in the relatively recent movement for local, healthy, whole, slow, or whatever-the-latest-ten-cent-word-is food because A) There are actual results that come from joining up with this cause, rather than theoretical, idealistic causes which exercise one’s angst rather than actually creating social change, and B) There are a good number of well-educated and well-spoken people involved to boot, and Michael Pollan is one of them.

In The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Pollan takes a hard look at four different food chains available to the present day omnivorous human. Industrial, organic, local and personal food chains are examined in detail, with the culmination of each section manifested in the form of a meal, assembled in the spirit of the food chain examined.

In terms of the industrial food system, Lawrence, Kansas is a great example, because we’re surrounded by it. There is so much land covered in corn and beans every year where we live, that to most, it simply becomes part of the landscape. Where does it all go? It goes lots of places, and few of them are in the interest of the long-term health of the American citizen. Our industrial food system makes unhealthy food that appears to be inexpensive because it’s all subsidized by tax dollars. This section of the book concludes with Pollan taking his wife and son to McDonalds; each of them orders something separate, (rather than communal eating which is generally expected in many cultures) and each of them eats their separate meal in a car, rather than sitting at a table together, another major departure from many established food cultures. Pollan estimates that when every step in the production of their food is considered, the amount of corn necessary to produce the food they ate for that one meal would be enough to overflow the trunk of his car.

The organic food chain is examined next, and while the whole “organic” thing is a feel-good subject, in many larger-scale instances, it’s not all that different from conventional food production when looked at through the lens of sustainability. How big can an operation be and still be organic in the truest, most complete sense? Now that there are federal standards for organic food production, that question appears to be easy to answer, but I believe sustainability is a major part of the organic production mentality, and I believe Pollan has a similar perspective. This section concludes with the author sitting down to a meal assembled from items available at Whole Foods. While they’re organic, most of what was selected for the meal was not local and had many “food miles,” which means that a lot of fossil fuels and other resources were used to deliver his certified organic meal to his plate.

The dichotomy of high-mileage, certified organic food brings Pollan to the next section of the book, which takes a look at local food production. Much of this part of the book is spent with a farmer named Joel Salatin as Pollan interns on Salatin’s Polyface Farm. Salatin fancies himself as a stage manager who raises seven different types of animals on his farm. He claims that the animals do most of the work, and it’s upto him to make sure that everyone’s in the right place at the right time. All of his livestock are maintained in a cycle such that one benefits from the next. When one herd of cattle are moved from a paddock, after a very specific amount of time, he moves his chickens to the same paddock where the cattle had been. The chickens benefit from what the cows have left, and in turn, they prepare the area for whatever follows the chickens in the progression. Joel Salatin is another great subject in and of himself, but it should be said that with his farming system, he creates a huge amount of food on a relatively small amount of land. All of his product is sold locally, and it appears that every step of the process is left better than it was before. Predictably, Pollan’s meal at the end of this section is assembled exclusively with locally produced food. He discovered that while he made the same meal he’d made several times before, he found that the meal was altogether characteristically different when made with ingredients that did not come from the conventional industrial food chain.

Finally, Pollan assembled a meal which was comprised exclusively of ingredients which he had gathered from nature. Fruit from local fruit trees, morel mushrooms, and a wild pig which Pollan had shot himself, to name a few. Oh, and he also gathered yeast from the air (?!) for his sourdough bread. I had no idea a person could do that. Anyway, this section of the book was to explore what would happen if a person were to completely step out of any definable food chain and make a meal of things that they, themselves were to harvest from the earth. Obviously it was an arduous task, but an important inclusion for the book; one that showed just how far removed modern culture is, for better or for worse, from the days of complete self-reliance in food production and consumption.

I enjoyed this book because while Pollan leads the proverbial horse to water, I don’t think it’s an exceptionally slanted account of the way our food supply infrastructure works. I believe it’s meant to be informative.

I guess what I take away from The Omnivore’s Dilemma is that people should learn to eat food again. I know the initial response to my statement is “Everyone eats food all the time.” I don’t mean it in the Food Network sense, but rather in the “What am I actually feeding myself” kind of way. What I’m trying to say is that there’s food that has been around a long time, and then there are variations on a given theme, which eliminate components of a given food that are incongruent with a current food fad, while retaining the title or identity of the long-standing food itself. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Try going to almost any run-of-the-mill grocery and see how many isles you can walk down which have products that look like something you recognize, except it’s “better” or “better for you” or with the word “less” or “0%” or “heart-healthy” or whatever. Think fad diets, think “butter” or “juice” or “cheese.” Look at what’s proposed for you to feed your children. While these foods may resemble a recognizable consumable, often times it is fundamentally different from what we assume we are feeding ourselves.

What sucks is that no one cares anymore about what we feed ourselves. Many of us were brought up in the 50’s mentality that commercials and advertisements reflect a company’s intentions, regardless of the fact that all of that mentality went out the window about thirty years ago. It’s up to you to decide what you eat, and sometimes that can be a tricky endeavor. It’s something interesting to think about.

The good news is that he’s coming.

Michael Pollan will be speaking at Unity Temple on Wednesday, May 20th, at 7 p.m. $15 gets you an autographed copy of his latest book, "In Defense of Food," and either one or two tickets, depending on your needs.

I’m going, and I think you should, too.

How often in life do we hear that it is wise to diversify? Usually it’s in the form of not putting our eggs in one basket. But what our bodies need is a diverse selection of foods to consume. Few people realize it in today’s stream-lined world, but the variety of vegetables available to the common person in your average grocery store is gut-wrenchingly narrow. I, for one, am as guilty as any other- when I was growing up, a potato was a potato and a tomato was a tomato. Either it was one thing, or it was another, and if something wasn’t on display, it meant that they (as in the figurative They; someone somewhere along the chain of production) were out. Whether or not something could even be “in season” was not something that occurred to me.

In the usual fashion, corporate food production companies have assumed that they know what’s best for us, which coincides suspiciously with what is best for their bottom line. The reason that taking a stand against these companies is currently a faulty strategy is that historically, they have been successful. They have earned their money. They have earned it because people, especially Americans, continue to buy the food that these companies produce. According to Jules Dervaes, renowned micro-farmer and food-diversity advocate, of the ten thousand varieties of food which were available to humans since the beginning of agriculture, only one hundred fifty of those are available to the average person. Of those one hundred and fifty, twelve varieties of food make up eighty percent of the average person’s diet. Of those twelve varieties, there are four which make up sixty percent of the previous eighty percent!

I know that’s a little tricky to follow, but if you go back and read it again, it will be easier to understand. Your math was right the first time. It’s not supposed to sound like much food at all. What this amounts to is that many of us are eating a lot of the same things, over, and over, and over again. For those of you that are wondering, those four varieties are (say them with me) corn, rice, potatoes and wheat. I don’t consider myself an exceptionally religious person, but why, if there were are so many varieties of food made available to us to eat, would anyone think that we should limit ourselves to four?!

Let’s move past the dietary implications for a minute and look at this issue from a food-safety perspective. I don’t think anyone would argue that our planet is changing for a number of societal and environmental reasons at an ever-quickening pace. What happens if there are environmental factors which negatively affect one of our four major food varieties? If we aspire for diversity in what we produce and what we eat, we can help protect ourselves against this possibility.

Beyond environmental possibilities, let’s look briefly at privately-owned seed varieties. One more development for which we have the twentieth century to thank is the patenting of seed varieties in the name of capitalism. There are huge numbers of seed varieties available today which are patented, the same way that any other invention is patented. The problem here is that there are now patents placed upon life, which is a whole separate ethical issue and blog altogether. Where the rubber meets the road is that hypothetically, these major corporations, which shall go un-named for the sake of liability in the Google age, could, in theory, decide to pull these seeds from the market. That would suck pretty bad if that string got pulled, right? Want to get people’s attention and bring them to their knees? Stop making food available to them. Ok, ok, so that’s got quite a bit of conspiracy theory to it, and besides, the biggest of these seed-patenting companies is probably too-big-to-fail anyway, right?

Nothing to worry about there…

If we take it upon ourselves to diversify the food available to us, we can better our health, and protect ourselves and our families from external sources.

Take a look at the following seed catalog links and educate yourselves about new varieties of food and different strains of your current favorites.

Johnny’s Selected Seeds http://www.johnnyseeds.com/

Morgan County Seeds http://www.morgancountyseeds.com/

High Mowing Organic Seeds http://highmowingseeds.com/

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds http://rareseeds.com/

Seed Savers Exchange http://www.seedsavers.org/

These are all reputable seed companies, but remember that there is no harm in asking your seed vendor if they support the sale of patented seeds- in fact, I urge you to check with all your seed sources, including these listed above.

Diversify your food. Spread the knowledge.