Summer Farmer's Market

Food. Such a small, innocuous word and yet the essence of life.

It is my personal opinion that American culture often neglects, forgets, and rejects the importance of quality food, well grown and well prepared. And that’s a damn shame. Fortunately, some people do care, and for those people, there are farmers markets.

In an April blog post, I discussed the sustainability of my food choices: I was buying mostly organic goods from the grocery store. Since then, summer struck and with it weekly Sunday Farmer’s Market at the south end of Main St. Since that first one, I’ve gone every Sunday to get my produce, which amounts to about half the food I eat (though only about a quarter of the money I spend on food.) The only thing more sustainable would be raising my own fruits and vegetables.


What makes a farmers market so sustainable you ask?

1. You know the food is fresh and local (within 250 miles) and that means more flavor and more nutrition than those 5000 miles Australian apples (which I found in the supermarket yesterday).
2. You can ask how, who, and where it’s produced and while perhaps not certified USDA, most growers at farmers markets grow organically.
3. Your money goes directly to the farmer, supporting the better quality food you desire, as well as keeping your money in your community.
4. Your farm stand friends become part of your community…

In August, I went on vacation for two weeks. When I returned to Breckenridge and went to the market, my friends Stanley and Alicia at the Miller Farm Stand remarked, “Ahh where were you? You’ve been gone for two weeks! Last Sunday there we were late in the day, wondering ‘Where is our smiling friend? We’ll wait just a few more minutes. He needs his vegetables!’” And when you’re that regular, loyalty doesn’t go unrewarded – the last three Sundays, Stanley has given me an extra bag with peaches, pears and blueberries.

For people who think they lack the time to go to the farmers market, there are CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) programs, where you buy a share of crops and receiving a weekly shipment of produce, which can force creativity with items you might not normally purchase.

One final thing I love about the farmers market is watching the seasons change with the available harvest. In the beginning of the summer, there were cherries, plums and strawberries, gradually replaced by peaches and pears. Fall arrives with the presence of all sorts of squash – spaghetti, acorn, butternut. Sadly, only two weeks remain in the market season, but my memory of summer in Breckenridge will always be accompanied by my Sunday trip to the Farmer’s Market.

Coffee: On Quality and Sustainability

Dedicated to Ben Schultz, fellow coffee drinker, motivator, and friend.

'The powers of a man's mind are directly proportional to the quality of the coffee he drinks.'
- Sir James MacKintosh, 18th century philosopher

I will admit, without hestitation, reservation of guilt, that I am addicted to that delicious hot and dark beverage known as coffee. It starts every morning, whether by drip or press, without adulterations of milk or sugar, energizing my body, mind, and spirit.

But where do those precious grounds of life originate? Who are the people bringing happiness to my morning? I hope that my purchase supports the farmer who made the beans, but most commonly, this is barely the case.

Yesterday, I purchased some coffee at the grocery store. I bought organic free trade coffee, 12 ounces for $10. Looking down the aisle, there was a Kroger brand can, 34 ounces for $4.88. And probably 2/3 of the coffee section were shelves of the cheaper fare. How could a farmer possibly earn anything at that price?!

The problem here (as is the case with feed-quality corn) is the circular degeneration of price and production. With profits driven by quantity, farms produce more to gain more. But with more made, prices diminish, so even more is produced, and round and round we go. Sound sustainable? Not really. Furthermore, to produce bigger yields, farmers generally shift from (traditional) shade grown coffee to (agro-industrial) direct-sun methods, which demand fertilizers as well. But such practices come at cost: clearing land (sometimes rain forest), creating a monoculture, and reducing biodiversity. Frankly, a cheap cup of coffee is not worth the cost of a rainforest.

So change the game: improve the quality of the coffee to improve profits. This strategy is exactly what the specialty coffee culture (I hesitate to call it an industry) in the United States is attempting to do. A few months ago, I read God in a Cup by Michaele Weissman, an exploration into the culture being created by the 'Third Wave' coffee guys. Passionate about coffee, these businessmen are still about profit, but not just for themselves. They recognize that to ensure continued production of great coffee means farmers producing it must both survive and see value in improving their coffee. Not an easy task, but with Starbucks popularizing a more expensive cup of coffee, people, lots of people, are demanding better taste than bitter burnt diner coffee. I'll leave you to read 'God in a Cup' to learn the intricate details of the new emerging coffee culture, but here's the basic needs for a sustainable coffee industry:

• Buyers, middle-men, and farmers who care
• Consumers willing to pay more for quality
• Farmers see value in improving quality
• Stable financial situation for farmers

Now, at some point the average person will say, 'Woah, I'm not paying $12.50 for a cup of coffee.' (Apparently they exist.) This brings us to the uncomfortable situation of who gets to enjoy this quality coffee - if you have the money to afford quality, you can enjoy it. But if your situation puts you tight on cash, why are you stuck inside the unsustainable cheep coffee complex? And that carries the conversation right over to food dilemma in general, where separation between rich and poor can be determined simply by the quality of their respective diets, which may simply be an unavoidable symptom in our capitalist society. But with politics aside, my dollar is my vote, and at least I can buy what I believe in. While climate prevents local coffee growers here in the United States, we can demand better trade relationships and responsible business. We can purchase shade-grown coffee to promote biodiversity. We can buy organic to fight chemical fertilizers. And perhaps, as Sire James MacKintosh declares, the quality of our thoughts will increase with the quality of our coffee.

What Sustains Me? (Part 2)

What sustains me?
How do I make my own life 'sustainable'?

Part 2: Psychological

For the sake of discussion, let us divide ‘psychologically’ into two categories: emotionally and intellectually. Obviously, we all know these two overlap and affect each other greatly in life, but they provide useful organization for a complex, and rather personal, topic. For no particular reason, I’ll begin with emotional sustainability and then discuss intellectual sustainability.

Emotional status deals mainly with all the relationships in our life. Most intimate is our own relationship with ourselves, one we can never be rid of, except upon our final departure. As such, it’s also the relationship most affected by everyday life. Over the past five months in Breckenridge, I’ve had my share of ups-and-downs, but overall I’ve been on the happier side of the spectrum. A major portion of emotional sustainability is a sense of dignity and identity. As a twenty two year old, I’m still building my identity. Of course, at ninety three my grandmother is still playing around with her identity as an artist, discovering the artistry of writing stories, so I guess it’s a pretty long journey, creating your identity. I’m certainly in a exploratory, nomadic stage of my life, and while its not particularly stable, I’m happy to be in it. The next most intimate relationship is that of the romantic and that’s been about as abysmal as second grade, when I didn’t even know of the possibility, so it certainly hasn’t been contributing to my emotional sustainability, or detracting from it with any significance for that matter.

So I move on to a topic a bit more interesting: community relationships, friendships. Honestly, the transition to Breckenridge was one of the harder ones in my life: I knew no one on my arrival and I’m not the best at initiating friendships. But now, with five months past, I’m feeling much better about having a community I really enjoy spending time with. And to be honest, I’m pretty surprised it came in the form of a Christian youth group, but that’s life for you! I appreciate their living for more than the superficialities of life, even if I’m not particularly passionate about the beliefs. I am finding it interesting to learn about Christian relationships with God (and I suppose belief in God to start with.) And with my friendships come investigation into spirituality, something I’ve always enjoyed in my life. Funny enough though, I’ve been able to go hiking with the group, which has increased my sense of connection to nature, another relationship significant in my emotional sustainability, and my interest in sustainability as a cultural idea.

And I realize now I’ve skipped past an important set of relationships – those with family and friends back home. For the sake of family connection and support, I have weekly conversations with my parents. I’ve been exchanging letter with my old roommate, Michael Vogel. Max Gordon, on the other hand, is all but unreachable in St. Petersburg, Russia, so I look forward to his return to the States. Something I’m beginning to realize, however, is that with good friends whatever time passes, you start talking again and everything’s right there. No cobwebs to dust away, no awkwardness, the time has no impact, other than perhaps more stories to tell each other. Anyway, I think that’s about it for emotional sustainability.

Intellectually, well I’ve been slacking, as evidence in the long gap from January to April in my blog. And unfortunately, mental pursuits are an important part of my identity and general satisfaction with life. I find great joy in learning, which I’ve been satisfying with a lot of reading as well as with my various occupations: I learned how to waiter and how to teach snowboarding. Both of these tasks have improved my confidence in social situations. And this summer, I have a new job painting, so I’m looking forward to gaining a new skill set. Still, I’m considering more actively including learning in my life in the form of classes at the local college. Also, since the painting job provides more regular hours, I’ll be returning to my project (quick preview of the next post: the realignment of my project).

The other big portion of my intellectual sustainability is creation. This has been perhaps the greatest gap in my current lifestyle. Most of what I’ve done is a few drawings and fiddling around on the ukulele. What’s been annoying is the lack of intentionality, as it prevents any significant growth – and growth is what really makes creating enjoyable. I’m trying to be a bit more directed and to that end, I’m considering instituting a scheduled hour a day for creative pursuits. I have enjoyed some of my rather crude craft projects: building my shelves out of cardboard boxes, building a drying rack out of branches and coat hangers. Without tools (and intentions to move around a bit in the nest few years) anything more is impractical.

So to conclude, I’d like to do the following to make more days of flourish:

1. meditate
2. investigating/learning
3. planning – more intentionality