Vegetal Abstinence

As long as I have been in produce sales (27 years and counting)  it never ceases to amaze how the demand for vegetables of any kind drops like a rock during the week after Thanksgiving.  If it was the once a year type veggies like rutabagas or parsnips I could understand.  After all, almost everyone feels constrained to make a dish of mashed rutabagas which is shunned by all but your crazy uncle, but what about broccoli, or spinach or any number of other normally in demand commodities?  Even rationalizing that people are eating leftovers doesn't make sense.  Anything green would have been thrown out by Saturday or Sunday anyway.  Perhaps the mostly vegetable hating American Id is throw into a rage from having to consume a 6 month ration of the hated green stuff.  There follows a two week meat and carbohydrate binge to purge the system.  Then it's on to the big Christmas dinner which  doesn't feature the surfeit of veggies associated with Thanksgiving.  The obligatory veggie trays with dip can be safely ignored, at least until New Year's Eve.  Anyway, the above theory probably makes as much sense as any other explanation for the dearth of sales this time of year.  It's my story and I'm sticking to it.

End of November

55 degrees at 7 a.m. this morning!  I can only hope this hangs on through the weekend.  The garden looks refreshed and ready to go.  If I had planted spinach two weeks ago it would probably have sprouted by now.  The local growers with high tunnels are probably venting them now and hoping the temps don't get too high.  Not a bad problem to have at the end of November.

Consumer culture

As the world approaches a population of 7 billion, and the conventional wisdom indicates farmers must ramp up their already environmentally destructive practices in order to feed the multitudes, a calm voice asks why we must destroy our planet in the name of life?  Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone and Americans spent billions of dollars in the hope of surprising, or gratifying others.  But at what cost.  In their memoir, "The Good Life", Helen and Scott Nearing detail how to live without the destructive baggage our society imposes on most of us.  They set out to do enough "bread labor" to provide for their food, clothing and shelter and figured that came to about 4 hours per day.  The rest of the time they spent studying, writing and doing what they cared about.  Of course they did this in the 1930s to the late 1980s, when their life was not much different than that of their more plugged in neighbors.  With the advent of the cyber society, I don't know if their estimates of what would be necessary to live with a connection to the greater society would still be relevant.  There are some modern day examples of "off the grid" living, but most require a huge initial investment in technology.  All this gets away from my beginning question of why we are on this path of destruction in the name of growth, both of population and production.  Why...

Late November swoon

So, the markets are for nothing, to quote an old hand in the veg deal.  The post Thanksgiving letdown is as predictable as rain on the Memorial day parade.  There are probably a few items in short supply which will bring high prices.  The rest will find the level which translates to movement which matches supply and demand.   And that level is a moving target which unfortunately is moving lower.  The moral of the story is too avoid large supplies near any holidays.  Merry Christmas anyone?

Strange Season

As I write this on Sunday evening, the temp is 55 and whatever snow was still left is rapidly disappearing.  Besides hoisting the Christmas lighting today, I harvested the remaining bed of beets and the brussels sprouts.  There is still a ton of good vegetables in the outdoor gardens, ranging from tokyo cross turnips to kohlrabi to spinach and daikon radishes.  Of course the kale and collards look good and with the rain predicted on Tuesday evening they should be in mid season form.  Who's afraid of December.

Post Thanksgiving musing on food production

Having partially recovered from the annual Thanksgiving Saturnalia, I noticed two disparate views on how to feed the planet going forward.  In  the Freakonomics blog, an economist (who I daresay has never pulled a weed or planted a seedling in his lifetime) says the only way to feed the planet's exploding population is to double down on the legacy of the green revolution.  In other words, more chemical fertilizers, more industrial agriculture and more concentration of the power in fewer and fewer hands.  He makes it sound inevitable, with the implication, sure to be appreciated by rapists everywhere that we should relax and enjoy it.  Certainly, we should not be trying to remake the system to encourage countries to grow as much of their own food as possible.  Let ConAgra, Monsanto, et. al. handle the production and distribution.
    The contervailing viewpoint, as expressed by Anna Lappe, says we should all grow in our local area what works there and not necessarily expect to eat sweet corn and mangoes with dinner every night all year long.  It means local growers like your's truly need to grow what does well in our areas for as long as possible for the benefit of the population in the immediate area.  Also, the industrial agriculture which consumes non renewable resources to grow corn and soybeans at the price of environmental armageddon must be reigned in and converted to a sustainable system which will reduce it's carbon footprint and prioritize crops which feed humans directly instead of through animals which waste a good bit of the input.  Of course this will not happen overnight, but it must happen, one cucumber and one potato at a time, or there will be a reckoning at some Thanksgiving in the not so distant future.

Winter wonderland...not

Walked the dog this morning and as we approached the end of the driveway, we encountered a 15 foot band of foot deep snow thrown by our friendly neighborhood plow drivers.  That settled the issue of  getting the snowblower out.  Even all wheel drive cars would be stuck in that mess.  I hate early season snow.  By tomorrow a good bit of it will be gone and by Sat. a.m. just a bad memory, but just now it is a big pain.  Anyway, 45 minutes later I was on the poorly plowed Rte. 87.  The rest of the country seems to be enjoying mild weather and here we are in mid winter form.  At least this should not impact sales.  Thanksgiving already took care of that.

The Party may be over

We have a winter weather advisory here on the NCR.  The temp this morning was 20 degrees, and now the weatherman says we may get up to 5 inches of the white stuff.  I'm sure there will be some damage on most of the remaining items available in the garden.  I covered as much as I could in the dark last night, but I'm sure I missed some stuff.  PLus it was already in the 20s when I started and any leaves I brushed were breaking like green glass.  The only bright spot was little or no wind.  Most acclimated plants like spinach, kale, etc. can survive temps in the low teens with little or no damage if they are dry and there is no wind.   If we get sleet and freezing rain before the snow, I'm sure there will be damage.  Still, it's fun to be still harvesting this late in the season.  Party on.

Obesity on the road

If you have ever stopped at a truckstop while on a long trip, I'm sure you have noticed the average run of truck drivers helping themselves to typical fare.  They look like poster children for the "super size" menu most of these places feature.  Now, it is worse than ever, with plenty of 350 lb. plus men and women hoisting themselves into their rigs.  The health problems facing these truckers and the insurance penalties being assessed on the trucking companies are finally forcing healthier habits.  Or at least attempts at fostering better eating and more excercise.  So says an upbeat article in today's NYT.  Unfortunately, human nature will probably sabotage most of the resolutions made by the drivers.  The reason they got obese in the first place will not go away.  Long distance driving is tiring work, albeit not physically challenging.  Even though you only burn a thousand calories while driving 5-700 miles per day, you still crave the large sit down dinner at the end of the day, not to mention the easily accessible snacks at fuel stops.  They can add up to 5000 calories  per day.  After driving nine or ten hours, it is hard to picture these knights of the road power walking around  a Flying J truck stop for an hour.  Especially when most of their peers are piling their plates with burritos, hotdogs and other fatty fare.  It will probably take a spectacular accident caused by an obese driver with a heart attack to really grab the attention of regulators and cause an industry wide revolution attitudes.

Turkey week

When I first started in this business, the week before Thanksgiving was tremendously busy.  The leftover orders still kept us busy on Monday and Tuesday.  Lately, the rush is over 10 days before the holiday and Mon.-Wed. is a dead issue, unless some commodity is in short supply.  Oh well, Christmas and New Year offer some hope in an otherwise bleak season.  Meanwhile, on the home front the weather remains exceptionally clement.  I planted another bed of garlic on Sunday and on Saturday finished harvesting the rest of the leeks in the "secret garden".  The rest of this week looks cool, but warming for the weekend.  The beat goes on for locally grown on the NCR.

TGIFF

That was one broker's comment on the past week.  Considering the proximity to Thanksgiving, it was a bear of a week for veggie sales.  The markets are shaky and the chains are holding back waiting for cheaper pricing.  Although with the prevalance of long term contracts, there is not nearly the excitement there was 20 years ago.  The contract provides security for the buyer and seller, but it tends to depress the open markets.  Less business for the terminal markets translates into a weaker tone, which makes the growers without contracts more desperate.  That means they will quote the chains cheaper prices for next season, and the death spiral picks up speed.  As a broker, I want a wild west scenario where everyone starts on an equal footing.  Then the extra acres will not be planted and the price will reflect the actual cost for doing business. 

Weather or not

I received my first 2012 gardening catalog on Nov. 15, so I guess the new season is underway.  Somebody forgot to tell the old season that it finished!  The long range forecast for the next couple of weeks looks like continued gardening weather.  Lows in the low 30s and some 50s predicted each week.  Most of the hardier greens like this weather, and even the late lettuce is hanging in.  I guess with climate change the gardening season will continue to stretch out.  Christmas spinach here we come.

Broccoli and the constitution

A law professor has made the argument that not only can Congress mandate all US citizens must purchase health insurance, but by extension, can force everyone to buy broccoli!  Sounds like the solution to all of the produce industry's woes.  We can legislate a healthy diet.  But wait, there is a catch.  The argument is Congress can mandate health insurance (and broccoli) because both fall under its authority vis a vis the commerce clause.  This allows Congress to impose regulations on anyone who has anything to do with interstate commerce.  Since we all participate in this activity, willingly or not, we are all subject  to the regulation from Congress.  The kicker, according to this expert is that while we can be forced to buy health insurance or vegetables, we cannot be forced to use the insurance, or eat the vegetables, as this would be an infringement on our liberty.  As he goes on to say, the constitution does not protect us from stupid laws, which the broccoli law would be, but it does provide the remedy of elections.  As much as I love broccoli (I harvested about 25 lbs. worth last night) I would not want to run for office using the platform of forced broccoli or vegetable purchases, especially here in the North Country.  That would be political suicide.

Tuesday's Child

Is full of grace.  Monday's is fair of face.  Tuesday is certainly mild here in the North Country.  We should top 60 today and everything in the garden that still has a pulse is responding.  Unfortunately, the winter crop of chickweed is off to a roaring start.  If I had a week off with weather like this, I would put all the gardens in shape for next year, but I doubt either condition will be met anytime soon.  So it will be the usual struggle next spring.  There doesn't seem to be any movement  for Thanksgiving in the wholesale markets.  Nothing compared to the excitement generated by the holiday as recently as the 1980s.  All the growers and shippers looked to Thanksgiving as the kickoff event of the winter season.  Potatoes, cauliflower, spinach, etc. all jumped with demand.  Now, the fourth Thursday in November is a big yawn on the calender.  Christmas is coming....

Monday's child

I  forget the aphorism associated with the above phrase, but it today feels like an orphan.  I'm out of the regular office today, and with cellphones, it takes a long time to get posted on all items and by the time you can figure all the delivered prices things change again.  On the home front, the weather was mild over the weekend, so I'm sure the garden is still growing. 

Veteran's Day

11/11/11.  There must be some awesome significance there, but aside from the perfect symetry, I can't see it.  The radio shows, and I'm sure TV will have the usual veteran's day stories.  One thing I do notice is the lack of consciousness of the plight of today's veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan fiascos.  As we have moved from the concept of a citizen, conscript army to a smaller, mercenary force, the nation has lost its connection with the military.  I know in my own experience, I don't know a single veteran of today's wars.  I'm sure I am not the only one.  In Vietnam, everyone knew someone who had handled an M16 and slogged through the jungle.  It put the war in the nation's collective experience.  It was another case of  America's 1% dragging us into a useless conflict which had nothing to do with our national security and everything to do with the expansion of the American Empire.  But at least the citizens were engaged.  Now there is a numb acceptance of the horrors, partly because such a small percentage of the population bears the brunt of the sacrifice.  Also, the policy elites use the phrase "our fallen heroes" as a shield to deflect criticism of the quagmire we find ourselves in.  No one can be against the men and now the women who put themselves in harm's way.  Unfortunately, they are not protecting us, but the profits of the tiny minority who benefit from the clusterfuck perpetrated by the Bushies and continued by the Obamabots.  That does not detract from their courage, but it tarnishes their legacy, just as it did the soldiers in Vietnam.

Junk vs. Real...food, that is

After seeing Michael Pollan on The Colbert Report the other night, I wanted to revisit the junk food/real food debate.  Of course, there should be no debate if we are talking nutritional merits.  Even most restaurant meals are larded with salt and fat as well as supersized portions.  The food portion of the restaurant experience is the cheapest by far.  I ate at the local UNO last night and for $12.99 got a huge portion of pasta with a forgettable tomato-curry sauce and a few forkfuls of veggies.  The actual cost of the ingredients was probably less than $1.50 for the serving, and I waddled away from the table.  So to buy the raw material to eat well is not that expensive.  The crux of the matter is the cooking.  Until the majority of people are willing and able to cook, we'll see more headlines touting large increases in visits to Micky Ds, despite the fact you can feed a family of 4 for 2-3 days for what an average meal at Ronald's place will cost.   I still remember the list of fast food delivery services our day care provider kept in close proximity to the telephone.  Although she was a stay at home mom who had time to cook, she quite often chose the junk food route.  While no one would wish for a real economic depression, it would seem as long as there remains discretionary income and in some cases even if there is none, people will continue to choose the excessive portion, junk food path to obesity.

The 10th of what?

The temp. stands at 55 as I write this and it is 8 a.m.  Unfortunately, that is probably the high for the next couple of days.  Still, the last few days have been like a return to spring.  I have been out of town, but I'm sure the garden is responding and the hardier crops like spinach, kale and collards have resumed growth.  Of course we will have a lockdown tonight and tomorrow, but the weekend looks good for mid November.

World Woes

Looks like Italy is the latest casualty in the Eurozone.   Their bond rates shot up over 7% which if the Common Market is going to be consistent will trigger the bailout and austerity demands that hit Ireland, Greece and Portugal.  This time, it will be different, since Italy has the power to bring down the whole structure, and with it, probably the whole world economy.  Germany and France will have to back off the punitive measures, now that their own oxes may be gored.   I remember as a little kid listening to my grandfather,, an avowed socialist say a United States of Europe was the only salvation for them.  Only he envisioned a political union, not the half hearted attempt that was actually made.  The monetary policy they adopted exacerbates the North/South divide and leads to punitive measures which in the case of Greece and probably Italy will lead to an outburst of nationalism and the end of the dream of continental unity.  My grandfather would laugh if he were to see the mess the Europeans have made of his dream.  What has this got to do with produce and farming?  Possibly nothing, but the global nature of the produce business will eventually suck us all into the maelstrom. 

Produce Show blogging

Off to the New York Produce Show, so blogging will be hit and miss for the next couple of days.  The show is the New York answer to the PMA and an opportunity for several organizations to turn a tidy profit before the end of the year.  However, the networking opportunities are hard to pass up, as there will be dozens of potential customers working the 300 or so sellers' booths.  It is a little like a medieval fair.  All we need are a few jugglers and wandering minstrels and perhaps peddlers hawking "rats on a stick".  Sounds like a Monty Python movie without the snarky humor.

Just another manic Monday

The spinach customers are crawling out of the woodwork already this a.m.  The combination of early season rain  and late cool weather on the east coast have created a shortage of an item that is normally abundant this time of year.  Second cuts and sometimes cutting winter over spinach when it gets too large to survive the weather keeps supplies from running short until Texas starts harvesting.  I'm going to have my parentage called into question by some this week.  I love this business.

Non Produce Busy

Nothing much to report on the produce or gardening front.  Temps dropped to the mid 20's on Sat. night, but not too much damage to what is left in the garden.  Everything hardy is acclimatized to the cold, so if it stays above 20 at night, the harvest will continue.  As I was preparing a new bed for asparagus next spring, I noticed the last planting of cilantro was still hanging in.  It is amazing how these plants survive.  The neighborhood deer has found my carrot patch and is devouring the foliage.  I hope he doesn't figure out how to paw the carrots out.    With EST kicking in, I'll have to use a flashlight to harvest the veggies for dinner from now on.  It is pretty dark out by 5:30.  Other than that, it was a busy weekend; concert, garage cleaning and maybe the last golf of the season.  As Mrs. M says, "We'll see about that".  And I guess we will.

Clarification after flaming

I noticed Marc Bittman (who, by the way, is the food blogger and former writer of the Minimalist column for the NYT) issued a "clarification" today after being flamed by his commenters as elitist and isolationist for suggesting we should eat more locally grown food.  There are several ways to answer this criticism, and he chose the least combative.  He noted he was not advocating total reliance on our own ability to produce everything we eat.  That would certainly leave us short of such staples as bananas and coffee.   As a Greek economist said the other day, even if global trade is important, why should Greeks be offered Belgian tomatoes in the middle of the summer?  Or in our case, why should we have Dutch or Canadian greenhouse tomatoes undercutting Jersey tomatoes every summer.  It makes no economic sense in either case.  Not only that, but in the long run it destroys the ability of nations to feed themselves in the event of catastropes in the developing world, where the majority of these vegetables are produced.  Of course, anytime you question the status quo, you will get your head in the crosshairs of everyone who thinks they benefit from the present system.  There are very few advocates for the small local vegetable grower outside of his immediate neighborhood.  Aside from pretty pictures at your local Hannaford or Wegman's stores touting the small grower, there is not much support.  Even these chains probably have a quota for locally grown, since they want to preserve their buying clout with large shippers and importers.  So, conditions for locavores are improving, but there is still a long way to go before the average person can source a majority of their diet from producers within a 100 miles of home.

Like a Friday

That must be how I felt this morning.  Overslept, so late posting.  Weather remains beautiful, business lousy.  We are now paying for the cold temps of 2 weeks ago as the clipped spinach deal in the east remains short.  Warming trend will get things going again next week, but in the meantime, there will be unhappy packers searching for supplies.  The buildup to Thanksgiving should begin next week as the chains stock up.  The sale items for the all important circular which is distributed the week before are lined up, but if any become short, the stampede will begin.  So far, it doesn't look like much of a problem for anything, but you won't know until next week. 

Change is hard

I noticed yesterday that Marc Bittman in the Times advocated the same regional food renaissance I mentioned a couple of days ago.  He started out with hyper local food, but eventually stretched the definition to include a few hundred mile radius.  He did specifically push for grown in the US food, but I was struck by the commenters on the blog.  They overwhelmingly condemned his stance as elitist, and by the way, don't interfere with my banana and pineapple supply.  Others decried the bland diet that would result if we can't have Peruvian asparagus in January.  I think with a little tweaking, one could consume a local diet with plenty of greenstuffs year round.  Recent advances or rediscoveries of  climate defying cold tunnels and minimally heated greenhouses reminiscent of Parisian market gardens of the 18th and 19th centuries could revolutionize the way Americans consume produce in the next few years.  However, the long distance growers and shippers will still be necessary since the population centers in the East have decimated the farmland close by.  The local deals can probably gear up to supply more than they do now, but there would have to be a huge transformation of land from residential and industrial to agriculture to really affect the supply of produce going to NY, Mass and other eastern states.  There are probably too many entrenched interests lined up to oppose this kind of policy.   However, there will be plenty of opportunities for micro growers in the near future.

Gorgeous Weather

As anyone who follows this blog can attest, I whine about the weather on a regular basis.  I can't help it.  It comes with the territory.  Too many years of hanging out with farmers and growing on a small scale myself.  But the past week and it looks like next week should be about perfect for this time of year.  The ground has dried out enough that most growers can finish harvesting and end-of-season field work.  My late planted crops are getting a chance to mature.  The beets look beautiful, and the second cuts of spinach look as nice as the first.  Even the last plantings of lettuce I made in Sept. on a wing and a prayer are maturing nicely.  I hope to get some compost on empty beds this weekend and tidy up a bit.  Now if only this weather will hang on for another couple of weeks...

Seasonal Divides

Another beautiful day in the north country,but very few people seem interested in exploiting the potential bounty available here.  We are still offering celery, but the trade has moved on.  Wholesalers and retailers would rather pay the cost of trucking celery from California than clear inventories from local growers.  As salesmen, we usually lament the "bean counters" who seem to be in charge of buying decisions for chain stores, but in this case, I think the buyers are being intransigent.  Their feeling is the time has come to switch and it is easier to do that than continue the local deal.  This attitude is almost impossible to overcome.  The excuses range from concerns about quality to the trouble it causes to run local and California product together to sheer stupidity.  As the climate continues to warm, there will be more opportunities for local produce to hang on into the early winter.  With a slight change in consumer behavior to accomodate a more seasonal diet, we could easily cut down the extravagant transportation of  summertime veggies such as squash and cucumbers and substitute more nutritious fare such as kale and winter squash.  This may be a utopian vision, but necessity may the trump card as we approach an uncertain future.