Newsletter #20 – October 29, 2014

• Extra produce available for sale for general sales.  We can deliver next week, November 5, if you are in our delivery route, or you can pickup on the farm.  Most all of this food will store well into the winter and spring, so you can even think about Thanksgiving and beyond:

• TODAY is the official final distribution day.  You can get an extra share box, November 5, for your standard weekly charge.  If you have contributed 5 hours of time to the farm this season then this extra week is on the house.
• Soul Fire handcrafted calendula-comfrey salve made with olive oil, beeswax and our own naturally grown herbs. Ample 4 ounce jars for only $9 (50% of retail). Show some love to your skin as autumn air advances. Free delivery with your CSA share on October 22 and 29. Order ahead. Limited availability.  Sign up form here.
• Please read about our plans for Sabbatical next year as we take the time to do some powerful reflection and development our organization, infrastructure and international networks of solidarity with farmers.
• Please RETURN YOUR BOXES.  You can leave them where you get your delivery. If you break them down, please make sure not to tear or bend any of the tabs, or just leave the assembled box for us and we are happy to break it down.  We will pickup all boxes at the standard delivery time next week
  
• WASHING YOUR VEGGIES.  We do not extensively wash veggies before delivering them to you.  We will do some washing if there is a lot of dirt on greens and we always rinse root crops.  In general, this allows the food to stay fresher longer.  It also means you need to wash your veggies before consuming them.  For greens: fill a bowl with cold water.  Soak greens in water for a minute.  Drain water and repeat two more times.  Dirt will rinse to the bottom.  Bugs should float to the top.
• All of our newsletters are archived on our website, along with lots more, including educational resources and more recipes.  Thanks!
  

Food Justice – Land Grabbing and Resistance in the United States 

Across the United States, communities are fighting to defend the resources they need to produce food. On this World Food Day, Oakland-based Food First/the Institute for Food & Development Policy and the Netherlands-based Transnational Institute release a report exploring how corporate control of the food system is undermining the livelihoods of farmers, farmworkers, fisherpeople, communities of color, and indigenous peoples in the United States. The report also cites numerous examples of community-based resistance, grassroots solidarity, and broad-based alliances that are resisting the corporate takeover of land and resources.

While a new wave of “land grabbing” has been sweeping the globe, the trend is not confined to poor countries of the Global South, the report argues. In the United States, land and other resources are being concentrated in the hands of new financial and institutional actors—thanks to policies that favor profits over people, and finance over food. The report identifies five cross-cutting themes that affect how land and resource grabs are occurring: labor, race, finance, water, and climate. These areas, the report notes, are also important sites of resistance and potential transformation.

Titled “Land and Resource Grabs in the United States: Five sites of struggle and potential transformation,” the report is authored by Food First researchers Zoe Brent and Tanya Kerssen. It is the seventh issue in Food First’s Land & Sovereignty in the Americas briefs series, which pulls together research and analysis from activists and scholars working to understand and halt the alarming trend in land grabbing—from rural Brazil and Central America to US cities like Oakland and Detroit—and to support communities in their efforts to protect their lands as the basis for self-determination, food justice, and food sovereignty. The series is a project of the Land & Sovereignty in the Americas Activist-Researcher collective, coordinated by Food First.

The full brief is available for free download at: http://foodfirst.org/publication/land-resource-grabs-in-the-united-states/

To learn more about the Land & Sovereignty in the Americas Collective project, visit: http://foodfirst.org/land-and-sovereignty-in-the-americas/

Recipe – Fried Green Tomatoes
If you haven’t pickled all your green tomatoes yet from last week’s recipe, here is another fabulous way to enjoy these end of season treats.

Serves 4 as a side dish.Ingredients

• 3 medium, firm green tomatoes
• Salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp Cajun seasoning (optional)
• 1/2 cup milk or buttermilk OR dairy free/vegan substitute (optional)
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup cornmeal (fine white cornmeal is ideal but yellow is fine)
• 1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs OR gluten free flour mix
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

Directions

1. Cut unpeeled tomatoes into 1/2 inch slices. Sprinkle slices with salt. Let tomato slices stand for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, place in separate shallow bowls: the flour and Cajun seasoning (if using), milk and egg, and bread crumbs and cornmeal.
2. Heat the oil in a skillet on medium heat. Beat the egg and the milk together. Dip tomato slices in the flour-seasoning mix, then milk-egg mixture, then the cornmeal-bread crumb mix. In the skillet, fry half of the coated tomato slices at a time, for 3-5 minutes on each side or until brown. Set the cooked tomatoes on paper towels to drain.