Boy Talk

4th of July - typically fun, though I don’t often design it that way.  Not a holiday I plan around or for, but inevitably a good one.

I’ve met great people at parties I didn’t think I wanted to attend.  Volunteered at huge fireworks celebrations, and driven across WA to avoid holiday traffic, and been blessed with multiple light shows on my journey. 

This year… caught up with friend John on a decision to travel to Seattle and fortunately enjoy a little cooler weather.  Eric contributed his usual amazing fare - bbq ribs, perfect! 

forbidden zone

It was wonderful for me, and I get a sense even more for my boys, Clark & Lewis.  They adore Oslo, John’s golden retriever, and realistically John too.  Clark having spent his impressionable infancy around these 2 kind souls, has a noticeable comfort in John’s place, as evidenced by his place on the couch that initially (some many years ago) I was even coached on their fragility.

Though glad to be home, they had a fantastic time in Seattle - we did all our favorite things.  On the way home, I began reading a book recommended to me by John, and the BARK magazine write-up I read on the way over.

If there is a dog fiber in you, I highly recommend “The Art of Racing in the Rain,” by Garth Stein, a Seattle resident, and customer at Oslo’s.  It’s fantastic.  You MUST check out the video promo with Enzo talking about his story - I’ve heard that’s the real dog.

the walls of my lives

Top all that with the fact that I quickly visited my Seattle neighborhood grocery and finally got to witness the glory of my friend Erik Andrew on a bottle!  I’d known, but never personally seen, his wine label designs - this one for Yakima Cellars.  Have to say, wouldn’t matter for me what the wine tasted like - I’d support Erik.  He’s done half the art, no more, present in my house… even did a personally commissioned piece of me and THE BOYS!

DB on the GD

Some of you locals are familiar with a good local chef friend of mine, Mr. David Blaine of Latah Bistro.  He has done me the favor of great intros to some truly awesome local producers that he works with to source his local foods.  

At this point, that crazy dude is realizing his more than year long dream to fully exhaust himself… at least that’s my version.  The web site version is “The Great Divide Race is a self-supported, solo competition following the 2,490-mile Great Divide Mountain Bike Route.”  He’s been training for what seems like forever!  You can stay tuned on the race standings at the race blog site.  And, better yet you can track him personally via this little orange device he got prior to leaving.  What a horrible thought to have one on me on a regular work day - sit, sit, sit, sit, sittin’!

My top concern is what in the world Spokane can offer to keep him interested after this accomplishment (yes, I do have full faith he will complete this thing and have countless stories to share around the table).  Help me think of great ideas!

Dis-Connect at the Table

Bummer when you’re all excited to enjoy a tasty bite of dinner from your favorite joint, who has just opened a new location right close to home, and BOOM, they’re not open.  Not the best idea to get something published in the local rag about the grand opening prior to the actual health department giving the thumbs up.

All that being said, from what my pal Garrett says, I’m plain delighted to have De Leon’s downtown, offering a decent taco! 

Just call before you go.

 

Promises, promises

So I said photos of the niece and nephew would be forthcoming.  Been a little busy, but here they are… in Portland, on the hip Mississippi Street.  Big Sunday breakfast - haven’t done that for a while!  And, one great reason to turn 40 - I get to see Baxter & Edie (nephew and niece) very soon again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

          

 

 

Unwineding

In the quest to help heal the food system, I treasure my good fortune to be involved with bringing a natural foods co-op to Spokane.  I’m doing my best to train myself on all things co-op, nurture a board of directors to do the same, connect with area producers, and encourage potential co-op members to shop in ways that support them.  Join our next farm tour to Quillisascut Goat Farm on June 21st!

These past 3 days I’ve been in Portland at the CCMA conference in Portland, OR awash in all things co-op.  Very cool people, lots to get moving on for our Main Market to open in Spokane this Fall.

After 3 days of meeting tons of new people and absorbing just as much new information, I needed to relax.  So, I took a stroll along Hawthorne Street, stopped and got some fat Italian beans, some pork pate, some green olive levain, tasty vino and the new Weezer CD!  

My sis and family went to a pal’s house and I hung back to soak up some alone time and tunes - photos of Baxter and Edie soon!

It’s About Thyme

This darn weather is now completely out of hand.  June 10th and it snowed this morning in some places close and low.  Even in my backyard this morning it was slushing.  My poor garden is just about to give up.

They say warmer throughout the rest of the week, but seriously, my heat’s been on the past few days!  Let’s move on into summer if you don’t mind!

As much as I’m concerned with my own few plants, I think about our region’s small growers who have actual crops.  They produce for a living and do us the honor of bringing delicious and safe food to our tables.  It’s important to remember that while I’d rather be in shorts, my livelihood’s not on the line.  Please shop your local markets and consider a spontaneous donation to your favorite farmers to make sure they can continue their craft.

Can’t You Take a Little Needlin’?

As you can see here, both people and pets can benefit from some pokin’ around of the acupuncture variety.  How did I find the lovely Marie ladies who are kind enough to help with the things that ail my family?  Clark, of course.

Drama King Clark has a cyst as it turns out, along his lower spine.  I’ve seen it on yes, the way too expensive MRI.  However, before that diagnosis, he was dragging one of his rear legs and no one could figure out why.  Enter pet acupuncurist, Rosemarie.  Miracle worker!

At long last, I’ve gotten back into my routine of acupuncture to help manage my hip pain from an old/current injury.  Angela-Marie is quite a talented gal.  Today, I had my first cupping treatment.  And though I won’t go into details, if anyone ever asks you, just say yes.  It’s powerful.

I’m lucky I fit in there with the middle name Marie myself, and I’ve let them know in no uncertain terms they are to call me nothing less than Jennifer-Marie. It’s only fair.

Cool thing is Angela-Marie also directs her phalangals to the geetar strings.  I got to see the debut of her new band Lions’ Pride last Friday.  I had already decided they were playing my upcoming 40th bday party, but it was good to experience first-hand before all the candles blight the landscape and dull my hearing.  You can see them this Friday noon-1pm at Spokane’s new Music in the Streets downtown program.  And at Working Class Heroes bar, a new gem discovered as a result of tracking the lions… or wait, that’s Clark and Lewis’ job!

Either way, really good stuff!  Maybe we’ll be lucky enough to see Lions’ Pride at next year’s Elkfest!  The line-up at their recent event was all-local - yahoo!

In the Line of Duty

My family, friends and work colleagues mostly accept, but don’t really know what it is I do when I travel twice a year and spend a wealth of hours on email, the phone and doing research and writing in between to fulfill my commitment to the USDA National Organic Standards Board.  Well, here’s a start… our meeting agenda for this week.  I’m on the Board for 5 years, starting 2006.

I waffle on my commitment to organics, but not due to what it is they stand for.  Definitely due to what we as a public demand.  It forces the intent, the spirit, the heart, the potential of organic food production into realms it wasn’t meant to occupy.  

Americans have to have guarantees, absolutes, no-risk, all-win propositions… all at know cost, at least not more expensive than McDonalds.  Usually in our society better quality immediately results in better, higher prices for those who produce it.  What’s our hurdle with food?  Why can’t we reward the people who feed us, give us life?  It’s one of the more bizarre realities.

So, I do all kinds of things to show our producing community (since my early dream of hooking up with a rancher seems to be unlikely) how much I appreciate, cherish, value and want to promote their incredible choice to work like dogs to keep the rest of us alive, to feed us.  And to do so in a way that does guarantee something important… that we can keep doing it, that animals we may eat have lives, not just incarceration, that our farmers, ranchers, fisherman are able to live by the generous act of producing our food, that we value it enough to pay for it directly, not through subsidies that reward the big dogs (and I would never say that lightly).

Through Slow Food, I’m active in a way that hopes to show people why it matters through flavor - fortunately in most cases, sustainably produced food tastes better.  As a co-producer (shopper) I understand that my choices have significant impacts.  I’m far from perfect, but I do try to do a better job than I used to, every year.  I figure out one more step.

On the NOSB, it’s a very different job.  These consumers, stakeholders, RULEMAKERS, ARE “knowlegeable.”  However, they don’t demand it.  They serve, but eat this way more out of convenience.  Clearly I’m not speaking for all of them, but a shocking percentage.  These are the people establishing what is, what will be organic in this country (world), and so far as I see with most of them, they don’t actually go out of their way to eat more that way.  Granted, hotel locations are always conducive, but I’m pretty regularly on the quest for the closest co-op or Whole Foods… them, not so much.  I don’t like the bad-mouthing end of it, but I have found it to be a bit of a shock.  Nearly all of them work in the industry and are paid to be at these meetings, on these calls, doing this work.  Me, I’m true volunteer, paying to be there.  And I gotta say, I never saw this landslide of demanding work coming, much as people warned me.  

Where does that leave me?  Well, I generally feel guilty for good reason, that I don’t do half the work of others to bring the ideas, the recommendations to reality.  I’m only just getting my strong voice in this group, able to say my “consumer” perspective that I represent.  Initially it was like getting thrown into a tornado.  I don’t live and breathe this work, but I know and care enough as a consumer/professional to have been appointed by the Secretary of the USDA to share my perspective - oh dear.  

I can only hope I do it more harm than good, and that my work reality allows me the time to invest the the real portion of the latter I believe I offer.

Oh, and the title of this entry… I sort of got lost in all my prostheletizing.

On my first day here at the meeting in Baltimore, I went on a run in a nice hard rainy morning.  One block from, in fact a half a block from, my hotel, I came 1 inch, just one inch from my legs being taken out from under me by a car that I have no idea how it couldn’t have seen me.  1 inch, I felt the bumper, so maybe less.  It certainly freaked me out, but I kept running.  It was the only cure I could imagine.

The Means or the End

I’m so fortunate to be in a position of designing a vehicle to be a powerful tool toward real change in the foodscape of Spokane.  The consumer food cooperative targeted to open in late October 2008 will demonstrate how people coming together locally can collectively own & support: access to good, healthy food; our region’s sustainable producers; our own urban rooftop garden; a kitchen that prioritizes flavor and education; and a business model that values people and planet equal to profit.

Main Market is in the design phase, with a talented board of directors at its helm.  They’re presently refining the official mission and values that will form the basis of the store’s connection with the community.

As we work toward a different model of retail food in Spokane, I ponder what it will mean to everyone to have achieved success.  For me, it’s a successful, viable (yes) business that does demonstrable good for our food community.  I believe the cooperative is the right business model to local food security, that people have to take ownership of the issues that face us, and solve them together.  However, I think that’s a new concept to many of the current and next generation, and may take some time to root itself here in Spokane, and that’s ok.  

Food cooperatives do best when they have strong support of members and non-members alike.  The reality is we need daily revenue and sales to keep the doors open.  The store should be as inviting and unique in a broadly appealing way as possible.  But that’s tipping my hat a little.

My real question is this… If the people who get the consumer cooperative structure and its value to the community want these options to be more available, more ‘mainstream’ as some might say, is it not of value to then make it fit with where the mainstream comfort level exists?  Some suggest that not conspicuously marketing co-op in the store’s name isn’t right.  I get the sense that those true advocates of the cooperative business model see the lack of labeling as some sort of discredit of its merit, some even seem to take it personally, as though others don’t take it seriously or think they’re quacks.  

My goal is to eliminate any and all hurdles to this community supporting the presence and success of good healthy food and the committed souls that bring it to our plates.  My goal is to help people understand that it IS our collective responsibility to create and nurture what we want to eat.  We don’t all have to have gardens, or live on the farm, but we do need to be sure there’s a comfortable lifestyle for those who will.  Like our personal safety, accountability for our food safety should be more local.  People have home alarm systems more than they have backyard gardens.  Police stations far outnumber Extension offices.  Where is the 911 for hungry people?

Consumer food cooperatives help people engage in the many solutions that need to occur to heal our food system’s woes.  Financial contribution, volunteer contribution, as simple as buying lunch, Main Market will offer, build and connect community.  Like others who value cooperative groceries, I beeline to a co-op when I see it.  I also recognize that I remain just 20% (at best) of the full prospective buyer potential.  

No one prioritizes getting the community to participate in its reality more than me.  I’m delighted to be able to do it through something so neutral (ha, ha) as food.  Most of us are fortunate enough to eat each day; most of us more than once.  Let’s slowly but surely introduce people to how they can do that better. AND get them to value the asset enough to keep it.  Can we abandon our pride and desire to prove to people that there’s a better way, and just help them find it?  I’m delighted the co-op model exists and thrilled to help make one happen here, but really what I want… a more interactive, locally supported and understood food system.  It may be too much to ask, but I want the End.

Going Native

I have the most amazing friend Tonie, whose name I say in mafia-style if you can imagine it.  One of those never expected it, absolutely adore it, so thrilled to have kept it friendships.  I met her while working at WSU-Extension.  If fact, I remember quite vividly in my 6-person interview her face among them… visibly excited when I talked about new ideas.  When they called and offered the job and said she’d be my direct supervisor, it was an easy answer. 

Not that long ago she survived breast cancer.  I visited, we talked, but not near as much as I’dve wished.  Thankfully, we have more time, and her spirit and humor and incredible plant intelligence are intact.

I got more than lucky that she was willing to take on ‘my project.’  Last Fall she told me how to naturally kill off 1/3 of my front lawn.  Ok, done.  Perfect winter to try to kill grass for sure… under the snow and ice for a good long, suffocating time.

Spring rolls ’round, and yes I’m still serious - sorry Tonie.  She drew up the most fantastic native plant scheme for the front (now bare, except bark) area.  I researched the 3-4 choices she ID’d for each of 20 holes, extra for ground cover and boom, finally popped out with a plan. 

My time, her time… all made me gel just a little too firmly on “the Plan.”  Fortunately Terese, at Blue Moon Nursery, is a gem and ordered all my #1 picks if she didn’t have them.  Belinda at Firwood Nursery out way north of Spokane (no, not Canada) had some ideal options for ground cover and voila!  40 holes dug later and something good is going on in my front yard.  Drive by now, but in a couple years drive by again - it’ll be stunning. 

I even managed one selection from the Renewing Salmon Nation’s Food Traditions book - Wood’s Rose!  

Lewis & Clark even have a presence in their plant genus or species (I forget which) derivation!