Update on Portland Cropsharing

My grandmother did some digging - ha ha, get it? digging? hello? - into the details of the communal farming project in Portland she and my grandfather are contributing land to. I think there's easily enough here to warrant its own post.

I've gotten to know Colibri much better since the day I read "Cropsharing in Portland" to him while he weeded the bean field. A few days after the reading I ran into him at the Common Grounds coffee shop on Hawthorne Blvd (best scones in town.) He stopped by my table to invite my friend and me to visit his "show place" garden, just a couple of blocks away. We did that, and I have to tell you, the tomato plants were very impressive!

I now possess information that will refine your understanding (as it has mine) of the arrangement details.

Toxins in the soils. "He amends the soil so that the pH remains above 6.5. Even if there were poisons present in the soil, this would prevent their uptake into plants." You got this exactly right. Colibri was pleased you represented that correctly. But he doesn't test for lead. Because:

1. Where would he test? He could make twenty spot tests in our smallish plot, and still miss the one spot where we or some previous occupant had regularly dumped toxic substances.
2. Each test costs...I forget...$47? ...$74?...Too much for Colibri's profit margin to bear.
3. We would be shocked if we knew the condition of the agricultural land where our food is grown commercially - polluted by the very fertilizers that made the high yields possible? I don't know if I understood Colibri correctly on this point.

Rationale for "Cropsharing." I hadn't heard the Katrina story. Sue told me, or maybe I read in the newpaper article, that Colibri had leased some acreage and signed agreements with a number of customers to provide them with fresh produce. Then he lost the land lease because....I don't know. I imagined a reason like "Evil corporate land owner discovers possibility of realizing obscene profit by developing shoddy ugly multi-family housing in midst of historic neighborhood." Whatever, Colibri hit upon the backyard plot idea to keep from defaulting on his contracts.

In response to being described as a "crazy hippie" he told me, "I have no political agenda. I'm just trying to make it." But then he went on to tell me the historical reason for lawns: they demonstrated that the land owner was so rich he could forgo raising edible crops. And then Colibri said, "But it isn't true. We need to grow food wherever we can. We've been living in fantasy-land."

Anyway, it's great to not have to worry about weeds in the back lawn. And it's great to see eight different varieties of beans growing - you can literally watch them grow. Colibri says they don't need much water. What they like is heat.

It's a good arrangement. We are happy with it.

Cropsharing in Portland

Some crazy hippy* in Portland is running a collective farming operation with the food being grown in local backyards.

I discovered this on my last trip to Portland; much to my surprise, my grandparents' backyard had been converted to cropland (beans, I think).

It sounds like the arrangement details vary quite a bit, but I understand it often works something like this: farmer dude bikes over, creates garden, comes back periodically to maintain garden, and splits harvest with land owners and shareholders of the farming collective.

My first thought was that bringing back sharecropping (a fairly oppressive form of employment, as far as I can tell) to give power to the people was fairly ironic. But I suppose that in this particular mode it's a bit more free-enterprisey - you aren't dependent on any single landowner for your sustenance.

My second thought was that I like the idea of putting my own monster backyard to productive use without doing any work myself, but I am pretty paranoid about the possibility of toxins in the ground - I live pretty close to a highway (when was leaded gas banned?). The hippy in question has a feel-good answer about handling lead and miscellaneous "poisons", but I don't know enough chemistry to know he's correct...

Thanks for your question, Craig. I forwarded your question to Kollibri, who responds that he tests for lead in all his plots.

Also, he amends the soil so that the pH remains above 6.5. Even if there were poisons present in the soil, this would prevent their uptake into plants.

Anyway, pretty neat idea. Anyone doing this in the Lower Mainland of BC?

* I know crazy hippies. Trust me. Plus, his adopted name means "Hummingbird Earth Sunflower" and he was inspired to this task by the fact that sufferers of Hurricane Katrina were dependent on the outside world for food (underwater gardening, anyone?).

Update 2008-08-04: My grandmother has supplied additional details about the arrangement.

The $100 Diet

An offhand comment by Sacha on how cheap food is led to a discussion on how it is possible to eat healthily for $100 a month.

You hit the nail on the head with pasta. I even was able to splurge and buy whole wheat pasta about 1/2 the time (typically twice as expensive). One of the biggest costs was sauce, but I bought it already prepared which added to the cost. Only a little bit of meat and fish, as it is expensive (a little can go a long way with, say, a sweet and sour dish with lots of cheap vegetables). Using inexpensive but full protein-complement alternatives makes it easier. If you eat 3 meals a day, each one on average needs to be <= $1.11.

I never would have guessed that it could even be done; my monthly food budget is something like $200 - $250, and that doesn't even include the inevitable eating out.

Sacha and Tony are smart, patient, and like to cook - all necessary attributes to maintain a diet like this. Unfortunately, I figure that excludes 90% of the population from succeeding at this (I hate cooking), and 99+% of those that would most benefit from the financial savings and improved nutrition.

I wonder if there are any charity groups that teach these kinds of things... kind of along the lines of "teaching a man to fish".

Food Review: Indian Oven

Featuring vaulted ceilings and giant arched windows, Indian Oven is a very nice place to eat in Vancouver. It can accommodate large groups and is usually not very busy at lunch time.

The food is superb and comes in large portions, but is a little pricey for lunch. Expect to pay extra if you want rice or (garlic!) naan bread with your meal.

Food Review: Golden Szechuan Restaurant (Vancouver)

Located at #101-1788 West Broadway in Vancouver, Golden Szechuan Restaurant offers affordable but mediocre lunch specials.

Ordering from the regular menu is far more satisfying; rather than greasy chow mein you can get something like orange peel chicken, which is delicious even if on the sweet side. I highly recommend the wanton soup as well.

Just don't be surprised if they forget a couple of your orders.

Biofuels Will Cause Mass Starvation

Not to beat this point to death, but ethanol isn't the only misguided attempt to reduce the use of fossil fuels.

To run our cars and buses and lorries on biodiesel, in other words, would require 25.9m hectares. There are 5.7m in the United Kingdom.(8) Switching to green fuels requires four and half times our arable area. Even the EU’s more modest target of 20% by 2020 would consume almost all our cropland.

If the same thing is to happen all over Europe, the impact on global food supply will be catastrophic: big enough to tip the global balance from net surplus to net deficit. If, as some environmentalists demand, it is to happen worldwide, then most of the arable surface of the planet will be deployed to produce food for cars, not people.

The author, George Monbiot, has the interesting perspective that we really should be trying to reduce fossil fuel consumption by 90%, but that most proposals to do it are stupid. I think I'll try to read his book one of these days...

Via NRO.

Food Review: Las Margaritas

Quality at Vancouver's "Las Margaritas" is slipping.

It wasn't so long ago that I had a number of excellent meals there. Excellent enough that I managed to ignore several terrible subsequent experiences. But I can't pretend any longer - the food at Las Margaritas simply isn't good anymore. Everything is bland and oversalted.

Given that the place never really had anything else going for it (dark, low ceilings, bad acoustics, way too loud, etc), I don't think I'll be going back.

I now have no place to go for Mexican food in Greater Vancouver. Very sad.