Tired of feeling scared and helpless in the face of all the doom and gloom about the price of fuel and the state of our nation and the earth? I suggest that we Americans take action as we celebrate the anniversary of our independence.
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Americans put a lot of fossil fuel into our refrigerators. Seventeen percent of the country’s energy use is for agriculture in the form of farm fuel, synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides (all derived from oil or natural gas), refrigeration and shipping. The average food item now travels 1,500 miles to reach your plate.
Remember the Boston tea party when patriots dumped imported English tea (their beverage of choice) in the harbor? I am not suggesting that we repeat such actions (or boycott our current beverage of choice) but instead buy local or Arizona-grown or organic American food when we can.
A lot of food is raised in southern Arizona from Yuma to Willcox but most of it leaves the region on trucks bound for processing plants and feed lots far away. Ever try to find Willcox apples and peaches in local supermarkets?
Popular demand caused local supermarkets to stock organic sections. If we the people become “locavores” and opt for locally or regionally produced food perhaps this fuel crunch can lead to something positive and better for our county and our country.
Industrial agriculture started after World War II when surplus nitrogen and nerve gases that were used to make weapons were turned into artificial fertilizers and sprays to poison bugs and weeds. Fuel was cheap and seemingly endless so farms got bigger and more mechanized, animals were moved off pasture and into crowded buildings where their growth process was accelerated by denying them exercise and adding growth hormones and antibiotics to enable them to survive the un-natural diets and confined disease-prone conditions. The use of chemical fertilizers has sterilized the soil, depleted it of organic matter and micro nutrients (that we are discovering we need to stay healthy) and top soil is blowing away at an alarming rate.
What did we American get out of this? Lots of cheap food that is making us fat and sick. Huge hidden costs in crop subsidies so the handful of food processing companies could have cheap corn syrup sweeteners and fillers to add to every product, wasteful expenditure of fossil fuels, environmental damage and a public health crisis.
Depending upon which health care professional you talk to, either one in three or one in every four children will become diabetic with huge consequences to themselves and the nation and this generation is likely to have a shorter life-span than its parents.
There is enough evidence that America needs to rethink its commodity food supply. Importing a lot of our food long distances from other countries is not good for our deficit, energy consumption or the environment.
The alternative is rebuilding small family farms that use natural methods to feed nearby communities all over the country. This keeps money in local economies and increases the food security and self-sufficiency of counties and our country. Back yard growers can produce a surprising amount of fresh produce to feed themselves, their neighbors and have surplus to sell.
How can you find local food? There are three farmers markets in the county and local food directories on line that can help you find u-picks, stores that sell local food and local farmers and ranchers. Find Local Food on www.bajaaz.org, www.bisbeefarmersmarket.org, www.willcoxchamber.com or www.localharvest.org.
Ask cashiers and waitstaff at grocery stores and restaurants for local food. Ask legislators to start supporting and promoting sustainable Arizona agriculture, family farms and ranches and farmers markets for grass-roots economic development. Ask for organic farming workshops and classes at our colleges and universities and through cooperative extension for farmers and backyard growers. Ask city, county and state representatives for help establishing community gardens at schools and community kitchens to preserve the local harvest and teach cooking skills. How about tax incentives (and reduction of permit fees) for local organic producers and backyard gardeners?
Encourage any organization you belong to to help cut America’s dependence on fossil fuels and ensure the security of its food supply by choosing local organically produced foods for its next event or reception.
Bisbee Farmers Market
Watch a goat milking demonstration by the Watkins family from San Ysidro Farm. Hand milking as well as a hand-operated easy milker will be demonstrated. Music is by swing and jazz singer Nancy Weaver.
Allison Vaughn, a junior at Douglas High School and a FFA (Future Farmers of America) club member will offer heirloom tomatoes she raised in the greenhouse at the high school’s land lab including Sprite and Super Steak. She also has chiletepin, Thompson grape, cayenne, Jerusalem artichoke plants for sale.
For a patriotic (red, white and blue) potato salad get heirloom new potatoes (Bintje, Charlotte, Purple Viking, Huckleberry, Mountain Rose and All Blue’s) from Burda Farm as well as its chard, beets, spring onions, sunflower bouquets to brighten the table and fresh herbs. Produce from local farmers includes sweet red and yellow onions from Robbs Farm, certified organic Red Haven Semi-Cling Peaches from Briggs and Eggers Orchard, Sweet Star Tomatoes on the Vine and English Cucumbers from Eurofresh Farms and Sweet Rhythm sweet corn from Apple Annies in Willcox. Pecans from Ft. Bowie Vineyards, pistachios from Fistiki Farms, Pinto beans and soup mix from Bonita Bean Co.
Great sweet onions, Granex (Vidalia-style) and Texas Super Sweet as well as sweet Burgundys will be available from McNeal Onion Man Bobby Gowins.
Tombstone’s Desert Blossom has bags of leaf lettuce as well as lettuce plugs, mesclun trays and mesclun kits to grow your own. It also offers heat-tolerant tomato plants, lots of monsoon-ready herb (basil, dill, oregano, parsley, & chives) and veggie plants for the garden and all sorts of sages, sunflowers and pomegranates.
Simmons Honey has lots of home-style pickles great for the 4th of July table including Bread & Butter Pickles, “Pickled Fire” (Bread & Butter with jalapenos), Pickled Garlic, Pickled Asparagus, Pickled Okra, Pickled Green Beans and Sweet Baby Corn Pickles. It also offers a new Tomatillo Salsa and Sweet Relish for holiday hotdogs. Celebrate watermelon season with some Watermelon Jelly, a favorite with kids on PB&J sandwiches made from red-ripe and sweet watermelons. Select from its full repertoire of honeys and new honey granola. (SVFM)
Look for fresh spinach, Swiss chard, cabbage and beets from grower Yvonne Jingle. She will also have native and non native landscape plants and houseplants. (SVFM)
Keith Johnson has baby summer squash, beets, green onions, turnips, as well as 4 varieities of hot chile plants (Super Chile, Riot, Anaheim and Prairie Fire.) Vernon Smith offer the Ochoa’s red chile powder, granulated garlic and cumin as well as chia seeds.
Take advantage of the monsoon season’s easy digging and transplanting with desert-thriving and native plants from two great growers.
Spadefoot Nursery will return to market with its collection of native pines, junipers, oaks, and maples along with nifty natives of the Mule Mountains (Lindheimer Senna, Shrubby Senna, Littleleaf Sumac, Creosote Bush and Snapdragon Vine.) Also for sale will be the hilarious and informative CDs of The Best of Growing with Petey Mesquitey.
Hereford nurseryman, Gary Foss, will bring Oaks of the Wild West as well as other drought tolerant and native trees and shrubs.
Sierra Vista Farmers Market
In order to widen access to local food the Sierra Vista Farmers Market is now raising money with a weekly raffle (buy tickets at the info booth) for a wireless device in order to be able to accept of food stamps, credit and debit cards.
Stout’s Cider will be back this week with apple cider as well as sky-scrapper apple pies in large and small sizes as well as pecan pies, fruit turnovers, apple cake, pie-in-a-jar, apple butter and jellies, and apple syrup great over ice-cream.
Peaches are here! Grammy’s Garden will have organic Willcox peaches as well as unsprayed sweet corn, watermelons and lots of other vegetables. They also offer De Cio herbal pasta local pinto beans.
Leo Dunaetz will have sweet Ambrosia cantaloupes, summer squash, red okra, and sweet onions. To decorate your table get a bunch of sunflowers and zinnias from grower Bob Berry, as well as a jar of his great Valley honey, delicious slicing tomatoes for salads and BLTs, cherry tomatoes, green onions and squash.
The Mobleys will have lots of large elephant garlic great for roasting and grilling. (BFM)
Burnt Orange Gourmet Foods will have coffee salsa, black bean and corn salsa, cowboy caviar, fresh guacamole and a new bbq sauce just in time for 4th of July. The new item this week is Habanero Bloody Mary Mix. It will have FREE AMERICAN FLAGS with a purchase of $15.00 or more. As a special thank you for our troops, it will give a 15% discount to all soldiers or military families with military id
Max, the Salmon Guy, will be back (his new schedule is the first Thursday of the month) with Copper River red salmon, black cod, halibut, razor clams, spot prawns, ocean perch, king salmon, Yukon king smoked salmon.
Nathan Watkins who raises grass-fed and pastured meats on his family’s San Ysidro Farm in McNeal says he has a great selection of beef steaks for the 4th of July grill as well as lamb chops, chicken and brats. (BFM)
The Tortilla Lady will bring four different kinds of tamales, 4 kinds of tortillas as well as corn chips fried in olive oil, fresh salsa, and naturally sweetened mesquite cookies and mesquite apple nuts bread.
Adventure Coffee Roasting, Arizona’s only family owned and operated, 100% Certified Organic and Fair Trade coffee roaster, will offer delicious fresh roasted coffee from around the world. Come enjoy a free sample and pick up a pound for your 4th of July celebration. This week, our Military friends will get $1 off every pound they buy. Mention this ad and bring your ID.
Try pure prickly pear nectar to help you lose weight, lower blood sugar and cholesterol from Arizona Cactus Ranch.
Little River Nursery will bring “plants grown here for here:” Chaste trees, (Vitex) and Desert Willow, shrubs such as the Yellow Bird of Paradise and flowers (Mexican Evening Primrose), plus a variety of cactus and other drought tolerant plants including San Pedro cactus.
Fiesta Growers celebrates the 4th of July with “Dollar Days”. All 3 and 4” vegetable plants on sale for $1. Lots of herbs too!
Also at the market: The Lavender Lady, Dr. Hummus, Desert Oasis Soaps, Azmira holistic pet products, emmer grain baked goods, Next Door Kitchen (home-style meals, breads, cookies and drinks), RPMS Jams & Jellies, Dragoon Marketplace (baby lettuce & tomatoes.)
Heirloom Potato Descriptions
√ Bintje - Heirloom since 1911 and most widely-grown yellow variety in the world. Keeps exceptionally well, and has excellent flavor anyway you fix them. Yellow/brown skin, creamy yellow flesh. Makes great oven fries!
√ Charlotte - Crescent shaped, with very thin, golden yellow skin. Great salad variety and a real attention grabber. Great substitute for Yukon Gold.
√ Purple Viking - Another unique variety, it has a true purple skin with bright pink-red splashes...a candy-stripe look. The flesh is perhaps its most remarkable attribute as it has snow white uniform flesh with a very smooth texture. Sweet and creamy!
√ All Blue - Deep blue skin, consistently blue to purple flesh. Smooth skin, shallow eyes and excellent flavor. They make the best French fries ever and are a must for the all-American red, white and blue potato salad.
√ Mountain Rose -A brand new bright red inside and out potato from Colorado. Excellent as potato chips and French fries. It’s also great for baking and mashing and Fourth of July potato salads.
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