family

nimbin valley pecans and rice

thursday mornings are my favourites

imogen's farm

quest for adventure (walk in rain, Jessie coming to find me)
slow dinner
fettuccini and veggie sauce, doug doesn’t like peter singer
wine day

Got up early to take a (mostly) open-air shower. Christine had said to meet at the shed at 8:30, but at 8:10 Doug came around to tell me to get myself up and about. Threw on the cracked galoshes and puddle-jumped over there. Doug plunged the wines and tested the ph, temperature, and density (needs to be 5% potential alcohol). Needed hair dryer for ph-meter, so breakfast. Same back and pressed the merlot. A bit like rowing. Talked American health system and my father’s socialist leanings. Doug likes to criticize American institutions. Fine by me. Tea with Bruce and Andrea, back to wine. Lunch of bread and spread. Sent email to Pete and Peter. Listening to Pete Seeger. Press more wine. Sweep out shed as dogs chase broom. Try to doctor Davidson plum wine. I like it. Doug and Christine don’t. Heading over to make pie pastry with Inis. Not organic b/c need to spray weeds so there’s no mulch run-off.

pastoral v. industrial

munch crunch organics

Jake says he didn’t really get into farming; he just ended up there
Mihu on West of Japan, not affected by tsunami, just graduated uni
Alisdair – organic food staying same price of production, non-organic price going up, eventually they will cross. not only food miles but pesticide/fertilizer miles. Spraying of macas affecting water in area. Australia is not a very green country, says Al.
spacing out in field, Jake called me out on it

a byron market

living la vida local

Here we are. The start of the highly anticipated and agonizingly unavoidable independent study project period. Five weeks of solitude, solace, and solemnity. And yet, after a stress-riddled week of desperately contacting farmers for opportunities to work on their land, I will be spending my first night in the Aquarius Backpacker’s Hostel, just around the corner from our Byron Central Apartments. Perhaps not the most conducive atmosphere to producing a project on farming and food systems (or solemnity), but in the spirit of a former student’s pre-ISP advice, I will be spending this weekend taking some time to contemplate my project and reevaluate my plan of action. Unfortunately, my previous arrangements with the Whian Whian winery fell through, and I will instead be heading out there next week, which leaves me a whole week of time and space to fill with Independent Study Project (ISP) headaches.

But enough of that. This is a blog about food, specifically the local, sustainable kind derived from ingredients at the Byron Farmers’ Market in Northern New South Wales. Over the upcoming five weeks I will be attending the weekend farmers’ market in Byron Bay, visiting and working on contributing farms, and exploring the consumer side of the market via talks with local restaurants and my own experience living la vida local.

If we go back to the beginning, my passion for agriculture began on a small, educational farm in Athol, Massachusetts. The Farm School brings inner city students from the Boston area out to a rural farm setting to teach them the basics of organic agriculture and, more importantly, expose them to the joys of subsistence living. Over the course of my ten years of involvement with the farm, my passion for that one individual paradise has grown into a broader interest in the local food industry and community supported agriculture. When I stepped onto the gravel walk of the Byron Farmers’ Market, there was something there that struck a chord with me. It wasn’t the blissful grit of Athol or the pure tranquility of my family friends’ vast cattle ranch in the mountains of Colorado. This market was more of a feeling of humanity and cheerfulness. The stallholders were chatty, the food was vibrant, and the buskers were jamming out on recorders and didgeridoos alike. I wasn’t quite sure initially if it was the place for my ISP, but I knew it was a part of my new Australian home.

In light of this bubbly market atmosphere, I do not want my ISP to become an assessment of the sustainability of market contributors. By providing to the market at all, they have all taken a large step toward the promotion and exemplification of sustainable living. Instead, I hope “Back to the Roots” can trace a few food products though the land, the stories of the producers, the market setting, and into the mouths of my piers and professors. “Back to the Roots” is to be a conversation with farmers and consumers, an intimate look at agriculture, community, and the relationship between the two.