WHETHER YOU CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAYS OR NOT

WILSON REBOUND BASKETBALL “Think globally. Hoop locally.” Hoop it up with Wilson’s first green product, made from 40 percent recycled rubber. The packaging is 80 percent pre- and post-consumer board. A great way to get active and green simultaneously!

POWER MONKEY EXPLORER SOLAR CHARGER This critter cranks, providing up to 96 hours of reserve power for your essential electronic devices—stuff, let’s face it, you just can’t give up and that require (seemingly) constant recharging. With the Power Monkey, you can suck less off the grid.

PRESERVE RECYCLED MIXING BOWLS Gotta love these bright and tough mixing bowls that nest nicely for easy storage. They’re BPA free and made from 100 percent recycled #5 plastic. Ideal equally for slow food or fast meals. And Preserve, the company, has a great green tag line: “Nothing wasted. Everything gained.”

NAU SHROUD OF PURRIN HOODY This attractive women’s soft shell is wind and water resistant, breathable and ideal for outdoor activities (there’s also a men’s version). It’s also very green, made from recycled post-consumer and post-industrial polyester waste, and can be recycled at the end of its life (triple-bottom-line-focused Nau utilizes cradle-to-cradle ECO CIRCLE technology).

SOKOL BLOSSER 2007 DUNDEE HILLS PINOT NOIR A spectacular Willamette Valley, Oregon, Pinot from a deep green winemaker. Sokol Blosser adheres to the Natural Step principles, and is distinctly “fruit forward” when it comes to vineyard and business sustainable practices.

YES! MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION Quarterly YES! Magazine is an exceptional green and socially responsible read all the way through, which makes it a great green gift. And being champions of Creative Commons licensing, these Bainbridge Island, Washingtonians are into sharing what they say and what they’re about.

TOY RECYCLING TRUCK This durable little guy from Green Toys can assist in playfully sending the right message to the next generation. Recycled milk jugs are the primary ingredient in this made-in-the-USA toy. Make recycle time playtime!

FLAMING LIPS REUSABLE SHOPPING BAG Hey, these crazy Oklahomans have an inspiring all-embracing spirituality and playfulness that just says NO! to negative vibes, greed mongering and Abaddon-bent hegemony. While any reusable shopping bag may do, we like the message behind this one—even if you’ve yet to see the Flaming Lips, or prefer Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. Oh yeah, you might also consider their Silver Trembling Fetus Ornament—just in time to skew the holidays.

KOR ONE HYDRATION VESSELS Yet another stylish way to shun the blight of bottled water, these BPA-free containers come in four special-edition designs that represent water-related causes. KOR has also selected four nonprofits for its Thirst for Giving program that will benefit from each purchase: Algalita Marine Research Foundation, The Wetlands Initiative, Container Recycling Institute and Blue Planet Run Foundation.

CROOZER CARGO BIKE TRAILER Okay, enough with hearing lame excuses from your hardcore biking buddies about them not having any, or enough, bike cargo space when it comes to running errands. This trailer has bounteous capacity (66 pounds), a removable cover and is super easy to hitch and unhitch. Any bike-related item pretty much makes a great green gift.

A COPY OF BRINGING IT TO THE TABLE AND A REENCHANTED WORLD Wendell Berry’s collection of essays on farming and food was a delightful release in 2009, as was James William Gibson’s treatise on man’s interaction with nature, the environmental movement and promise for the future. Let’s toss Al Gore’s new book, Our Choice, and membership in the Progressive Book Club in there, too—books make wonderful gifts.

LOVE YOUR STREAM POSTER From Good Nature Publishing Company and illustrated by Sherry Neidigh, this delightful poster is all about clean water best practices—a message worth sharing wrapped in beautiful art.

—Allen

“I LIVE IN A PART OF THE COUNTRY

An out-of-touch cranky neo-luddite screeching for a return to prelapsarian times? Hardly. Berry’s vision is that of a hardy-yet-hoary realist, tinged by both optimism and pessimism (ah, the foibles of humanity!), attempting to show us a path out of our befoulment, a steaming, festering swamp we teeter face-first ever closer toward. And Berry’s prose? Gracefully worn and weathered to a burnished beauty, like a glacier-cast erratic, transfigurative in its straightforward simplicity.

“NOW WE FACE OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE that we are not smart enough to recover Eden by assault,” Berry continues in that same 20-year-old opening essay, “and that nature does not tolerate or excuse our abuses. If, in spite of the evidence against us, we are finding it hard to relinquish our old ambition, we are also seeing more clearly every day how that ambition has reduced and enslaved us.” Again, a harsh-yet-realist assessment of where we are today—and clearly observed two decades ago. Over the course of its 234 pages, Bringing It to the Table shows us how to get away from that “ambition,” how small farms and farmers are achieving this end, and how food, what we eat and how we eat it and where it comes from, can bring the vast majority of us who don’t and never will farm to the transformative table Berry has in mind. Consider it the taxonomy of a well-rounded meal.

The book is neatly divided into three parts, “Farming,” “Farmers” and “Food,” with essays and novel/story excerpts dating from 1960 to 2006. The “Food” section, which closes the book and primarily consists of excerpts from Berry’s fiction (all deal with eating, the “communal event” that meals represent), doesn’t quite cohere with the others—it seems a little force-fitted and concept-pushed—even with Berry’s accompanying contextual notes for guidance. I’ve never been a fan of reading short excerpts of larger works of fiction, especially when situated directly adjacent matter-of-fact essays. That said, this section does close with an excellent essay, “The Pleasures of Eating,” again from 1989, which considers eating an agricultural-political act:

There is, then, a politics of food that, like any politics, involves our freedom. We still (sometimes) remember that we cannot be free if our minds and voices are controlled by someone else. But we have neglected to understand that we cannot be free if our food and its sources are controlled by someone else. The condition of the passive consumer of food is not a democratic condition. One reason to eat responsibly is to live free.

Berry makes an impassioned plea for us to (re)connect to the natural world—a powerful means to establishing empathy and rethinking our relationship to the environment per se. “A significant part of the pleasure of eating,” he writes, “is one’s accurate consciousness of the lives and the world from which food comes. The pleasure of eating, then, may be the best available standard of our health. And this pleasure, I think, is pretty fully available to the urban consumer who will make the necessary effort.”

“Farming” and “Farmers” make up the vast majority of the book—and choice observations and bon mots abound, easily appreciated no matter where you stand on the urban-rural divide. I don’t want to share all the folded-down pages and underscored passages from my copy of the book (I’d rather you go out, purchase your own copy and read it straight through), but Berry, time and again, essay after essay, has a firm grasp of what makes a compelling story (Border Cheviot hill sheep in “Let the Farm Judge”—see pic to left), an ideal anecdote (the practicality of a well-planned barn in “Elmer Lapp’s Place”) and the timely application of a necessarily sharp barb (“The factory farm, rather than serving the farm family and the local community, is an economic siphon, sucking value out of the local landscape and the local community into distant bank accounts” in “Stupidity in Concentration”).

I’ve posted previously on the growth of organic agriculture and need for more fair agricultural policy, and sincerely hope the work of writers like Wendell Berry, with books as vivid and telling as Bringing It to the Table, can and will reach a wider mainstream audience, including lawmakers and influencers from K Street to Hollywood and Vine, to help effect real change in matters of what and how we eat, where our food comes from and where we’re heading as a nation and as a world—let’s make “super-sized” and its ilk words and practices of a distant, unhealthy past never to be repeated. Let’s not leave Berry and Bringing It to the Table like Ovid and Sorrows of an Exile, where:

You’ll go, my little book—and I feel no envy—
Without me to the City where, alas,
Your master may not go. Go, but be shabby
As suits an exile’s book. In your sad pass
Be dressed to match our lot: no purple cover—
That color won’t beseem a grieving soul—

Extra Credit
Closing with a poetic extract I’d feel it remiss to not also mention and highly recommend Berry’s new collection of verse, Leavings (Berkeley: Counterpoint, 2009), which, while not exactly the Georgics, includes his latest “sabbath” poems (2005-2008)—observations on life, death, love, friendship and nature originating from contemplative Sunday wanderings. Berry, certainly not an exile, is also on Facebook, where you can become a fan and comment on a wide variety of sanctioned posts.

—Allen

‘To be interested in food but not in food production is clearly absurd.’ —Wendell Berry

WE’RE AT THE OUTER EDGE OF SUMMER, TEETERING TOWARD FALL, the autumnal equinox mere days away, and celebrating, here in Oregon, another Organically Grown in Oregon Week, now in its twenty-first year. With 425 certified organic farms and organic production covering more than 115,000 acres, Oregon has been a longtime leader in the organic agriculture charge toward sustainability and “good food for all.” And now with an organic vegetable garden on the South Lawn of the White House (raising a big the-day-has-finally-come HURRAH! from Alice Waters; not so much from Monsanto) and everywhere you turn talk of simple, slow, local, organic and boy, do we ever need to change our nation’s eating habits, let’s hope this movement can gain serious momentum, and requisite backing, to make a real difference in the way food is grown, harvested, sustained and eaten.

As Michael Pollan writes in the introduction to a new collection of essays by Wendell Berry, Bringing It to the Table: On Farming and Food (Berkeley: Counterpoint, 2009), “Certainly these are heady days for people who have been working to reform the way Americans grow food and feed themselves—the ‘food movement’ as it is now often called. Markets for alternative kinds of food—local and organic and pastured—are thriving, farmers’ markets are popping up like mushrooms, and for the first time in more than a century the number of farmers tallied in the Department of Agriculture’s census has gone up rather than down.”

WHAT GOT THINGS GOING IN OREGON? Well, there’s a lot more than choice Pinot Noir grapes growing with exuberance up, down and across the Willamette Valley, and throughout the rest of the state for that matter. Produce is bountiful: wheat, hay, barley, oats, hazelnuts, berries, pears, plums, cherries, apples, green peas, onions, snap beans, sweet corn, hops, sugar beats and fescue, to name a few. Oregon, early on, saw the value in organic and passed the first organic standards legislation in the United States in 1973, first published organic certification standards in 1987, declared the first Organically Grown in Oregon Week in 1988, revised the Oregon Organic Food Laws in 1989 (a model for eventual national organic standards) and first established a statewide advocacy group in 2005, Oregon Organic Coalition, to evangelize the trade to private and public interests.

We need also give a shout out here to Oregon Tilth, a nonprofit “supporting and promoting biologically sound and socially equitable agriculture through education, research, advocacy, and certification.” Its antecedents reach back to the early 1970s and Regional Tilth, which had chapters in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Northern California and Idaho (read more Oregon Tilth history). Oregon Tilth’s excellent resources (available online) include listings for CSAs, U-picks and farmers’ markets, ingredients sourcing, regulations and trade, farm and garden tools, such as an organic fertilizer calculator from Oregon State University, and much, much more.

Bright green Oregon (viridian, anyone?), fortunately, is no longer alone; the food movement, as Pollan points out, is indeed experiencing heady days. Last week’s progressive-powered Nation magazine was a special issue featuring a “Food for All: How to Grow Democracy” forum, articles on starting a community garden (written by a Portland-area master gardener), ending hunger in Africa, growing local food in New Orleans, improving college cafeterias, a Mississippi farmers’ market and plenty more you might consider shades of beryl, chartreuse, lime or olive. “Food democracy” took center stage in the forum’s intro paragraph, an idea, or meme, whose time has undoubtedly come (and sounding rather all Galbraith/”Good Society” in a, well, good way). “[F]ood democracy,” the Nation editors declaimed, “requires a transformation of the food industry, so that workers and consumers can exercise control over what they produce and eat. As the Small Planet Institute defines it, ‘Food democracy means the right of all to an essential of life—safe, nutritious food. It also suggests fair access to land to grow food and a fair return for those who labor to produce it. Food democracy concerns itself with the future as well: It implies economic rules that encourage communities to safeguard soil, water, and wildlife on which all our lives and futures depend.’ ”

We’ll return to this subject in future posts (a Green Dynamind book review of Berry’s Bringing It to the Table is coming soon), but suffice it to say Oregon and the rest of the nation are making more positive moves to establish food democracy and to enact sound agricultural policies, to raise awareness of where food actually comes from before it hits your plate, to get people eating healthier and more responsibly, and to buy and support what’s local, or what’s local as possible. But there’s still a lot of work to do, as eloquently evidenced by Brent Cunningham in his Nation special food issue contribution, “Cornucopia Blues”:

In his most recent book, In Defense of Food, Pollan offers guidelines for what to eat and how—buy a freezer, eat wild foods when you can, get out of the supermarket—that are suited to people with disposable income, not to the single mother who must feed her kids while working two jobs, negotiating the world without a car and dealing with the many other, less obvious burdens of poverty. To her, the Value Meal at the corner McDonald’s is practicable; foraging for salad greens is not. For the revolution to succeed, it must find ways to make better “food decisions” practicable for her. Even if she wanted to vote with her fork, she has few realistic options as she waits for the system of agricultural subsidies to be fixed.

Let’s ramp up the fixing part, get lawmakers—such as has occurred here in Oregon and in other states—creating stronger and more fair agricultural policies, and get more organic options on the table—everybody’s table! Fast food or convenience market food should not be one of the only options, if not the only option, to those in trying circumstances or of less means. Let’s roll up our sleeves and make this a meaningful moral imperative.

Last but not least, if you’re in the vicinity, it’s not too late to take part in the celebration of this year’s Organically Grown in Oregon Week. Events this weekend include LifeSource Natural Foods in Salem’s farm tours from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, a farm and vineyard tour in southern Oregon’s breathtaking Applegate Valley 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (also on Saturday), and a People’s Food Co-op and Food Front Co-op cosponsored daylong tour of organic and biodynamic farms in the Hood River Valley this Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.. More details are available on the Oregon Organic Coalition website.

10 Reasons to Support Oregon’s Organic Agriculture

1. Oregon’s organically grown foods must meet strict USDA standards and organic farms and processors are inspected annually. Oregon Tilth, one of the most respected third‐party certifiers in the United States, certifies most of Oregon’s organic farms and processors.
2. Oregon’s organically grown foods are grown without persistent pesticides or chemical fertilizers. In the instances where organic farmers use pest controls, they work with a limited number of materials that are carefully selected to ensure that they are safer for people and the environment. Oregon’s organic processed foods contain no artificial or synthetic preservatives that would harm the environment and are minimally processed and manufactured using only a short list of additives allowed by the USDA.
3. Oregon’s organically grown foods taste great because they are grown close to home and can be harvested ripe and ready for eating or processing. New studies are also showing that many organic foods contain higher levels of nutrients than their conventionally grown counterparts.
4. Oregon’s organic farms are great stewards of our state’s farmland. Organic farming methods help protect our state’s most valuable agricultural resources, including our soils and waterways.
5. Oregon’s organic farms are managed by families who are active members in their local communities and committed to the success and vitality of family farms across the state. There are 425 certified organic farms in Oregon, with over 115,000 acres in organic production.
6. Oregon’s organic farms are located close to their customers, allowing processors and distributors, grocers and consumers to receive the freshest products, often within hours of harvest. Personal relationships can be established between farmer and customer, ensuring a more secure food supply and a better overall understanding of where our food comes from.
7. Oregon’s organic farms protect the diversity of species and plant genetics in our landscapes. Organic farmers manage the agricultural landscape with the goal of maintaining healthy, balanced ecosystems for generations to come. The variety of local organically grown foods has been an inspiring influence on our culinary arts, both professionally and in the home kitchen.
8. Oregon’s organic farms grow a feast for the senses, reflecting our state’s unique geography. Potatoes from the Klamath Basin, onions from eastern Oregon, apples and pears from the Columbia Gorge, meats from central Oregon, mixed vegetables and cut flowers from the Willamette Valley, dairy products from the coast, wines from more than a dozen appellations, even grass seed for organic lawns!
9. Supporting Oregon’s organic farms means ensuring that the state will continue to possess a diverse mix of family farms and that your food dollars will remain in the state to benefit local communities.
10. Supporting Oregon’s organic agriculture allows you to eat with the seasons. Spring’s rhubarb, peas and greens. Summer’s berries, stone fruits and salads. Autumn’s apples and pears. Winter’s hard squashes and soup vegetables. If it can be grown in Oregon, there is an organic farmer growing it!

“10 Reasons” Source: Oregon Organic Coalition

Addendum
Oregon community organic gardening in action! The first story is from May 2009 and the second from September 2009.

Country Garden Will Provide Food for Needy People (from OregonLive.com): Empty Multnomah County land taken over by blackberries will soon grow organic produce for the county’s hungry. Commissioners today approved colleague Jeff Cogen’s proposal to use about two acres of a 46-acre Troutdale parcel known as the “pig farm” for a victory garden. Volunteers and residents sentenced to community service will work the land and produce enough food to give 500 needy people a regular supply of fresh vegetables. Read the complete story.

County’s Old ‘Poor Farm’ Nets 3,000 Pounds of Produce (from KGW): Commissioners had planned to celebrate a harvest of 2,000 pounds but were surprised to learn Tuesday that the farm had actually produced 3,000 pounds. All of the produce goes directly to the Oregon Food Bank. Read the complete story.

—Allen