“There’s a saying that if you want to go places, you fly in a plane; If you want to see things, you drive in a car; If you want to experience life, you ride a bike; If you want to be intimate with your surroundings, you run or walk. Well, I always say that I’m too lazy to run or walk, so I bike.”
Rhonda Williams is probably one of the most enthusiastic and engaging farmers I’ve met in my food travels around Central Florida. I’ve visited a lot of amazing farms, seen beautiful places, and met some great characters on two legs and four. However, from my first email correspondence, with Rhonda’s use of animated pig emoticons (), I knew I was in for an extra special treat at This Lil’ Piggy Farm.
Check out our favorite photos from the past week – and then share your photos of a farm, food artisan or farmers market. You might be one of our favorites next week!
Until I was asked to teach a Backyard Chicken class for a Reskilling Festival co-hosted by Transition Ann Arbor, I did not know either. Nor had I heard the phrases “peak oil” or “energy descent.” But in my humble opinion, the Transition movement is awesome.
Awesome in the sense I am in awe. Committed people walking the walk – building communities through reducing local energy use, reusing materials for building, reducing reliance on new items, educating a new generation in such practices, creating local currency, and (of course) focusing on the role of food (they LOVE local food).
And why? Peak Oil and Energy Descent!
Peak Oil is the term used to describe the point at which “the maximal rate of petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production is expected to enter terminal decline.” The exact tip of the bell curve is debated, but most experts seem to agree that the oil that is remaining to us will cost more and more energy to extract (ie it has peaked, but no one is committing to that position). (Offshore drilling or shale oil extraction compared to the bygone days of black gold striking Clampetts for those of you who like visual comparisons.)
Two years ago a member of the Transition Ann Arbor group shared with me what distinguishes the Transition Towns Movement from the other groups involved in local and self-sufficient food, transportation, and reducing energy paradigms. “It is the assumption of energy descent. It is a notion that, to move forward we actually need to ramp down our energy use substantially. Nothing that we have out there, in terms of the green technologies out there is actually going to replace the oil infrastructure that we have right now…What we want to do is creatively descend in our energy use, not ramp up to try to replace the technologies that oil has given us.”
As I type at my computer, surrounded by my digital camera, cell phone, camera, television, and looking out at the streetlights glowing in the rain, I think I know of what she speaks.
This is the month to get involved. There is a national transition challenge happening throughout May focussing on five great areas:
Take food, for example. You can start a garden, get backyard chickens, plant a fruit tree to trade with your neighbor who gets chickens, plant a row for a local food bank (and check out AmpleHarvest to find your local bank!), start a worm bin, make your own bread, preserve (kombucha is delicious!), save seeds, etc etc…
The Transition Challenge in 2011 logged over 1500 actions and the national goal this year is 2012. Register your Action, check out their Action Map to see what is happening around you. Last but not least, did you know that National Potluck Week is May 20-26? Sounds like a delicious way to celebrate your new dehydrator!
Though I may not be the best at riding my bicycle in the rain, or always taking the extra 10 minutes to hang my clothing on the clothes line – it is nice to know there is a community of people committed to safeguard our beautiful earth and its resources by thinking outside of the paradigm of abundant oil – and dare I say, their calf muscles are all the stronger for it.
For those of you who are still curious to learn more, here is a TED talk given by the co-founder of the Transition Network, Rob Hopkins.
In California, the organic dairy brand Straus Family Creamery can be seen just about everywhere you turn. You’re probably familiar with their endearing logo of a happy cow dancing under a red banner that bears the name in big bold letters “STRAUS.” My family has even been a patron of Straus Family Creamery’s products and many times I have read their name when glancing into my fridge for a snack. Most of the time I closed the refrigerator door without even thinking who or what was behind the name “Straus.” I knew from the advertisement on their products they must be family-oriented and organic. The brand has become so pervasive that I recently became curious: why were so many food places inundated with their products and how did they sneak into my refrigerator all the time?
I e-mailed the Straus headquarters hoping to schedule a visit to their family-friendly farm. We got a response in a timely manner, but I was disappointed to learn that they don’t arrange farm visits due to the high demand of requests. She was kind enough to offer a visit to their offices in Petaluma, instead. I thought this was odd considering the sense of congeniality their advertisement and website exuded about their farms; but I was excited nonetheless to have an opportunity to see the behind the scenes happenings of the company.
Dorsey Barger pries the top off of a 4 foot tall waste container and steps aside. A subtle odor carried by the pre-storm breeze slithers out and wriggles into my nasal cavities. Decomposing meat. Not offensive, necessarily, but instinct drives my reaction. My smile stays obediently in place while my nostrils twitch and my insides squirm. Black wasp-like insects bat about, and wriggling larvae snuggled between feather and bone catch the light from above. Barger grins from ear to ear. “I can’t stand to throw anything away.” Continue reading →
Check out our favorite photos from the past week – and then share your photos of a farm, food artisan or farmers market. You might be one of our favorites next week!
), I knew I was in for an extra special treat at 
