For 4,000 years prior to the advent of factory-made fertilizers, the Chinese used every bit of organic matter they could lay their hands on–including their own excrement–to return to the soil the nitrogen and other nutrients their vegetable crops removed. It was only through meticulous attention to the cycle of terrestrial rot upon which new life [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Sustainability'
Profiles in Fertility: Maintaining Garden Soil Organically
March 15th, 2010 · 3 Comments · Sustainability, garden, urban agriculture
Tales from a D.C. School Kitchen: Part Five
January 23rd, 2010 · 3 Comments · Sustainability, Tales, kids
I recently spent a week in the kitchen at H.D. Cooke Elementary School here in the District of Columbia observing how food is prepared. This is the fifth in a six-part series of posts about what I saw. You can find previous posts here, here, here and here.
One unfortunate aspect of the sewer system design here [...]
Tags: District of Columbia·environment·school food·Tales from a D.C. School Kitchen
Alice Waters Starts Sunday Suppers In D.C.
January 11th, 2010 · No Comments · Sustainability, food news
Would you pay $500 to have dinner with Bob Woodward?
Following successful charity dinners surrounding Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration last year, Alice Waters is teaming with Washington glitterati and chefs to stage private dinners in 15 private Washington homes Jan. 24 to benefit D.C. Central Kitchen and Martha’s Table and their efforts to feed the needy using [...]
Where Plastic Bags Are Still Free
January 10th, 2010 · No Comments · Sustainability
Food access advocates are in a lather worrying how poor people will afford groceries if they have to pay the five-cent fee for plastic bags that went into effect a week ago here in the District of Columbia. Others are vowing to take their food shopping dollars to Maryland and Virginia so they won’t be [...]
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Local Food In “Healthy Schools”: The Debate Begins
January 6th, 2010 · 3 Comments · Sustainability, Wellness, kids
Today’s guest post on “Healthy Schools” legislation recently introduced in the D.C. Council is written by Andrea Northup, executive director of the D.C. Farm to School Network, and cross-posted from the DC Food for All blog. I edited the piece and contributed some of the text. On January 12, Andrea will be conducting a “webinar” [...]
Tags: District of Columbia·schools
Red Snapper Ban: It’s About Time
January 5th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Sustainability, food news
A federal ban on fishing red snapper went into effect this week from Florida to the Carolinas and officials are considering banning fishing of any kind in a large area of Atlantic waters.
Fishermen don’t like the ban much and some groups are threatening to file suit, arguing that federal agencies should consider economic impacts before [...]
Time For An Indoor Market?
January 3rd, 2010 · 6 Comments · Sustainability
How do you keep the cider hot when the mercury reads 20 degrees and the wind is gusting 40 miles per hour?
Today was the first day of winter season hours for the Dupont Circle farmers market here in the District of Columbia. Most markets in our area closed shortly after Thanksgiving and won’t be open [...]
Have Grain, Need Market
December 27th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Sustainability
It was bound to happen sooner or later. Someone has started growing and milling grain again close enough to the District of Columbia that you can buy it at the local farmers market.
That would be Rob Moutoux, representing the third generation of Moutoux farmers famous for their orchards, formerly at Seven Corners in Fairfax County. [...]
Tags: farmer's market·local farming·local foods·whole grains
Grassfed Pot Roast
December 18th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Recipes, Sustainability
I hadn’t really known until recently, but the best reason to purchase grassfed beef over conventional may be pot roast.
This big piece of chuck was delivered from our dairy, South Mountain Creamery in Middletown, Maryland, which keeps a herd of beef cattle in addition to its dairy cows. The first thing you notice is the [...]
A Landmark Vision For “Healthy Schools”
December 16th, 2009 · No Comments · Sustainability, Wellness, kids
In an 18-page white paper to colleagues, D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) yesterday outlined a sweeping legislative vision for combating childhood obesity and poverty-related hunger in the city through an expansion of free school meals, upgraded nutritional requirements, greater access to locally-grown fruits and vegetables and increased physical activity.
Among the issues Cheh said her recently [...]
Tags: child nutrition·District of Columbia·local food·obestity·Wellness
We are engaging the concerns of a hungry planet--slowly--right here in our kitchen garden in the District of Columbia, one mile from the White House.
