From Planning Magazine: A new USDA

We can grow an abundance of premium vegetables for health and flavor right here in Salem! Image by agelakis via Flickr

Great interview with a new USDA Deputy Secretary suggesting that Salem could have an ally in the US Department of Agriculture for efforts to expand community gardening (such as in Minto Brown Park) and to make Salem's unique and wonderful farmland a centerpiece of the local efforts to live more sustainably and to provide more food and food security to ourselves. Excerpts from the interview:

Kathleen Merrigan was deputy secretary of agriculture for only a month when she sat for an interview with Kimberley Hodgson, manager of APA's Planning and Community Health Research Center. Before signing on with the federal government, Merrigan taught at Tufts University and was director of the Agriculture, Food and Environment program at the university's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. She holds a doctorate in environmental planning from MIT

Q In light of your background, what specific steps do you suggest that planners take to improve the US. food system?

A: Planners have a large role to play. [Here is the context.] I've just been given the challenge by the president and the secretary of agriculture, Tom Vilsack, to lead USDA's local and regional food systems initiative, which we're calling Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food. There's a lot of enthusiasm for this initiative. There are a lot people who are excited again about agriculture; food policy councils are starting up all over the country. That's great, but when I sit at my big desk here on the Mall, I am struck by the complexity of the challenge before me. Reinvigorating local food systems is a structural challenge of great magnitude.

So where do planners come in? The planning profession [encourages] people to grapple with those complexities, to see how the interconnected parts fit together. I hope that planners across the country embrace the public fervor for local food and help communities figure out what can be done. Given the unique needs and the various characteristics of a community, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. My job here in Washington is to figure out what barriers might be in place, some of them government-constructed barriers, and figure out how to tear them down.

Q In honor of Earth Day 2009, Vilsack declared the entire grounds at the USDA Jamie L. Whitten Building as the "People's Garden" and unveiled plans to create a sustainable landscape on the grounds. In what tangible ways will the USDA support urban agriculture for commercial and noncommercial purposes nationwide?

A The inauguration of the People's Garden was my first public appearance. . . . We thought it was a great opportunity to take the little bit of land we have left here at USDA headquarters and set up a demonstration garden for people to see fruits and vegetables being grown, to talk about healthy eating, to talk about organic agriculture. And we are going to expand what's there now to use the entire area for ecological landscaping. We are [also] challenging all USDA facilities both in the US. and at our various overseas operations to come up with their own versions of the People's Garden.

That's just one thing, though. We are trying to bring kids back into agriculture because there is evidence that children do better in science and have greater ecological sensibilities because of gardening experiences-and they consume greater quantities of fruits and vegetables.

Q Do you think there is a role for urban agriculture in our urban centers?

A: Absolutely. It's a great opportunity not only for healthy diets, but to strengthen communities. In some cases urban agriculture has helped fight crime, reconnect people through common activity, and bring families together.

Q How will the USDA support urban agriculture?

A: I don't think we received a complete road map during my first month on the job, but we can engage people in the conversation about seasonal variety and supply, and we should understand more about markets. If I'm an urban consumer, is it better to drive 20 miles to pick up my share of produce at a CSA [Community Supported Agriculture] farm, or is it better to go to the Stop and Shop only two miles away? [Or is it even better to preserve precious farmland WITHIN the city limits? --- LOVESalem]

Sometimes these issues are reduced to very simplistic equations like food miles. Food miles have been a great way to bring people to the conversation, but if we really want to do something about [sustainable food systems],we have to embrace the complexity. Again, complexity is the key to all of this.

Q President Obama has emphasized the need to improve the health care system. What new farm or food initiatives (and funding) may emerge as part of that focus?

A: The president and Mrs. Obama are clearly very interested in healthy eating and very concerned about the childhood obesity epidemic. The first lady has her own garden on the lawn of the White House, which is prominently displayed for everyone to see. They even have a beehive. . . .

From where I sit as deputy secretary (and it's lovely to have this chair because I have the opportunity to think about reprogramming, reallocating, reprioritizing), I would be very uncomfortable going to Congress and asking for some big new money. I first have to convince myself that we've done everything we can with what we have. Just today, I sent out a memorandum to all USDA agencies to help me better understand the inventory of programs that are already facilitating local and regional food systems. And I'm establishing an interagency task force (that I'll chair) on the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative. What we want to do is think out of the box, be strategic, and think across all 26 of the USDA agencies.

Q: Assuming you agree that the U.S. food system should be fair, healthy, and sustainable, what is your vision for getting there?

A: I guess if had to pick one word, it would be diversity. Diversity in terms of the kinds of foods. (Our genetic stock is becoming too uniform, and that makes me nervous. And it means that we are missing out on lovely, traditional heirloom crops.) Diversity of farm types and farm sizes. I want farms in all regions. (I've long been a champion of organic farmers, but I don't see the world going 100 percent organic. It's not the right fit for everyone.)

Diversity in the voices at the table when key agricultural decisions are made. [Like the proposal to lock agriculture out of rich river bottom land that has been farmed for 150 years is being considered. -- LOVESalem] That's what's so exciting about this resurgence of interest in agriculture. That's what's always drawn me to agriculture-trying to get some of the important voices amplified.

The Bill

Watch.

Calendar: Great stuff, starting tomorrow, 8/15!

Turn off the toys and get your kids out into the dirt! They'll thank you for it. Image by Toban Black via Flickr

Jordan Blake, the Gardens Project Manager for Marion Polk Food Share, sends this update full of items for your calendar:

Community Harvest Swap
Saturday, August 15th, 2009 – 1:00pm – 5:00pm
First Congregational United Church of Christ – 700 Marion St. NE

Join the Salem Creative Network and City Repair Project (CRP) of Portland for a free event in the parking lot of the United Church of Christ downtown. CRP’s Tea-Horse, a traveling art exhibit offering free tea and conversation will be a focal point of the gathering, and we will be creating a giant chalk drawing in the parking lot with a natural theme. Neighbors are encouraged to attend and participate in the drawing.

Please bring excess garden produce to swap with other gardeners and donate the leftovers to MPFS (Marion Polk Food Share).

Stop by and help build your community!

Summer in the City Music and Wine Festival

Downtown Salem – Saturday, August 15th noon to 10 pm. and Sunday, August 16th, noon to 6 pm. Come support Marion Polk Food Share and the core of downtown Salem, as we party in the streets! (One dollar of each adult ticket sold goes to Food Share and cans of food are being collected)

MPFS’s “Imagination Garden” Gathering at Oregon School for the Deaf
Sunday August 23rd, 2009 – 9:00am – 6pm
Oregon School for the Deaf – 999 Locust Street NE

In light of International Kitchen Garden Day and National Community Garden Week, Marion Polk Food Share is celebrating the summer of garden bounty with a program that offers something for everyone.

• 9 am-noon: The art of organic community food production (MPFS garden work/learn-party)
  
  
• noon-1pm: Ribbon cutting and “taste of the garden” ceremony.
  
  
• 1pm-4pm: Building of the OSD cob garden bench (community building workshop)
  
  
• 4pm-6pm: STIR community garden bike tour
  
  
• Music, Food and Community Building activities will be going on all day.
  

Garden Program Preview: Sowing the Seeds of Inner Growth:

Boys & Girls Club 3rd Annual Back to School Family Heath Fair is coming up this Friday August 14th from 5:00pm to 8:00pm, at our Knudson Branch located at 1395 Summer St NE. This year we expect to serve over 1200 family members!

This event offers families in the community an opportunity to connect with resources to help stay safe and healthy. On a mission to engage youth with healthful learning activities, MPFS will be getting a head start on fall crops of cabbage, broccoli, carrots, turnips and garlic by planting these seeds with the kids and their families.

Feed the Soil: A Food Share & Future Farmers of America Partnership Project

This summer, thanks to a wonderful partnership between Marion County Soil and Water Conservation, McKay High School – Future Farmers of America and Marion Polk Food Share, a project is getting underway that will feed the soils of our food share gardens with a bounty of organic matter. Set up as a progressive element of an already existing “Manure Exchange Program” through MCSWC, the project has received funding to construct a “Manure Storage and Processing Facility” at McKay High School.

With a contingent of special projects volunteers, Marion Polk Food Share will coordinate a composting education and organic implementation project with FFA students. Concurrently, volunteer drivers will be traveling throughout the Willamette Valley to collect horse, steer, lama, alpaca and other types of manure in the new MPFS dump truck. This organic matter will be brought back to McKay to compost, with much of it also being made available to area community and home gardens for donation.

Head Start to Garden: “An intentional partnership to grow our future”

Beginning this fall, an MPFS garden team will begin working with Head Start staff to implement "Head Start to Garden," a project where classrooms grow vegetable starts for each child and then plant them in a community garden to support food, health, and gardening interests in our community. Although details are still being finalized here are a few tidbits:

• Key partners are Marion Polk Food Share and Marion County Health Dept.
  
  
• The project will be “phased in” over 3 years. Each year we will ask for about 7 classrooms to volunteer to participate.
  
  
• Participating classrooms will receive an in-depth orientation on the “how-tos,” MPFS presentations at parent meetings, worm garden supplies, raised bed planter boxes for growing additional food and herb plants, seeds, and soil that is locally sourced.
  
  
• The vegetable starts will be planted in area MPFS gardens.
  

2009 Chefs' Nite Out Tickets on sale now through October 1.
$65 prior to August 1st, $75 after August 1st.

Marion-Polk Food Share leading the fight to END hunger in Marion and Polk counties
... because no one should be hungry.

P.S. Speaking of improving local food security, don't forget the Planning Commission meets this Tuesday, August 18 at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall -- come and speak out in support of permitting urban hens!

This hearing is before the Planning Commission and its purpose is to help the Commission decide if it should recommend changing Salem's city code definition of livestock to exclude chickens when raised as pets and not for commercial purposes. This is an important first step to getting backyard hens legalized. Please come to show you support this change. Thank you!

Common Sense on Energy: Very uncommon indeed

This game makes them money because people are terrible at estimating energy requirements. Image by Pete Ashton via Flickr

Nice little story and a link to a good calculator that helps show how difficult it is for humans -- beings evolved to use carbohydrates for brain and muscle power -- to even appreciate how much external energy we've come to depend on every moment of every day.

But your yard is even fresher and more local than Farmers' Markets

Awesome. More like this, please -- everywhere!

UPDATE:

Rockin' Jay Inslee (D-WA), has proposed a bill to have USDA pick up 80% of the costs of setting up community gardens! You know, like in Minto-Brown Island Park! What a great idea! Jay was briefly a Congressman from the dry side of Washington State, but got wiped out in the 1994 "Contract with America" revolution where Washingtonians also got rid of a sitting speaker of the house, Tom Foley in order to enjoy life under Newt. But Jay just went to the wet side and was back in Congress before long. He's got a foolish fascination with biofuels but his heart's definitely in the right place.

Nice piece on the value of Farmers' Markets

Salem is blessed with the April-October outdoor Salem Saturday Market (now supported by an enthusiastic and energetic Friends group, complete with a blog) and the midweek Wednesday Market and the year-round indoor Salem Public Market as well.

One possible silver lining to the continuing collapse of the commercial real estate market is that it might create an opportunity for more year-round options for fresh, local produce sales as well.

Farmers’ Market — the new village for today?

. . . With the automobile we have gained access to places much farther away than a day’s walk would afford. We have lost the intimacy of strolling through the street or town at a pace that affords really “seeing it.”

How many times have you walked around a neighborhood that you are driving through on a daily basis and seen homes, flowers, nooks of interest that are totally unnoticed at the pace of an automobile and with your eyes on the road? So it is with the advances of technology that are coming at a faster pace every day. . . .

Perhaps the attraction of a Farmers’ Market may be more than the freshest vegetables and fruit. When I look at the faces of the people thronging these small places, hear the lilt in their voices, feel the warmth and joy that overhangs the area, I think there is much more to going to the market than just provisions for the larder. It may be that we are “provisioning” our soul’s hunger for connections and the feeling of community . . . . I would stipulate that every neighborhood would have stores and facilities within walking distance so the need of a loaf of bread at the last minute would not require a trip in the car.

This is sounding more and more like the small towns that so many of us grew up in. Not such a bad idea.

I’m not “Queen,” but I can dream of the best of both worlds. In the meantime, see you on Saturdays at the [Salem Saturday] Market!

(Wednesday Market photo "Fresh Tastes Better" from the wonderful Salem, Oregon Daily Photo Diary.)

Who says August doesn't have a holiday?

Be on the lookout here in the next 12 days for an announcement about a party here in Salem to celebrate the freshest, juiciest, most satisfying holiday we've heard of in a long time -- It's "International Kitchen Garden Day," on Sunday, August 23, the kick off for

National Community Gardening Week!

	AGRICULTURE SECRETARY VILSACK [see his wedding photo above] PROCLAIMS AUGUST 23-29 AS NATIONAL COMMUNITY GARDENING WEEK
	WASHINGTON, Aug. 6, 2009 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today encouraged Americans to connect with the land, the food it grows and their local communities by proclaiming August 23-29, National Community Gardening Week. A community garden is an opportunity to educate everyone about from where food comes, whether that is a Farmers Market or a garden, and is important to increasing generations of healthy eaters. Community gardens can be anywhere whether it is in the country, a city or a suburb. It can be one community plot or can be many individual plots. "Community gardens provide numerous benefits including opportunities for local food production, resource conservation, and neighborhood beautification," said Vilsack. "But they also promote family and community interaction and enhance opportunities to eat healthy, nutritious foods. Each of these benefits is something we can and should strive for." The American Community Gardening Association was presented with the official proclamation at the association's 30th Annual Conference today in Columbus, Ohio. USDA continues its work across the country to promote the value and importance of how people can benefit from healthy food in their communities. Resources available to community gardens through the USDA include grants, site technical assistance and informational materials on gardening and food production methods. . . . The garden concepts that USDA is practicing serves as a living example of how to provide healthy food, air and water for people and communities as well as food and shelter for wildlife, while improving soil health and water quality. Information about 'The People's Garden' initiative is available at www.usda.gov/peoplesgarden or follow 'The People's Garden' at www.twitter.com/peoplesgarden for the latest updates, harvests and events.

Questions to Ask About Health Care

Coat of arms of Canada, a country very much like the US, only it spends a LOT less on health care per person, covers EVERYONE, has a longer life expectancy, better infant mortality rates, and much higher satisfaction with health care. Obviously, we have nothing to learn from them. Image via Wikipedia

Questions Should You Find Yourself at a microphone at a 'Town Meeting':

1. If Canada's single-payer system is so god-awful, why have repeated Conservative governments at the provincial and national level in Canada never touched it? Canada is a democracy. If Canadians don't like their health care system, why haven't they gotten rid of it in 35 years? Since the system there is run by the separate provinces, many of which are very politically conservative, why has not one province ever tried to get rid of single-payer?

2. Why is rationing by income, as we do it here, better than rationing by need, as they do it in Canada?

3. Wouldn't single-payer mean that companies could no longer threaten working people with the loss of their health insurance? Why is this a bad idea?

4. The bigger the insurance pool, the better. So doesn't having a national pool, as with single-payer, make the most sense?

5. Why should we be allowing politicians who are taking money from the medical industry to write the new health care legislation?

6. How can the Congress be developing a health system reform scheme and not even invite experts from Canada down to explain their successful system?

7. If Medicare--a single-payer system here in America--is so popular with the elderly, how come it's no good for the rest of us?

8. Isn't it true that Medicare currently finances the most costly patient group--the elderly and infirm--so that extending it to the rest of the population--most of whom are young and healthy--would be much cheaper, per person?

9. The AMA, the Pharmaceutical Industry, and the Insurance Industry all bitterly opposed Medicare in 1964-5 when it was being debated in Congress and passed into law, with the right, led by Ronald Reagan, calling it creeping socialism. It became a life-saver for the elderly and didn't turn the US into a soviet republic. Why should we give a tinker's damn what those same three industry groups and the Republican right think of expanding single-payer now?

10. The executives of Canadian subsidiaries of US companies all support Canada's single-payer system, and even lobby collectively to have it expanded and better funded. Why does Congress listen to the executives of the parent companies here at home, and not invite those Canadian execs down to explain why they like single-payer?

Mark your calendars: Salem Progressive Film Series resumes Sep. 10 with a must-see film and talk by an exonerated man

Cover of The Exonerated

One of the most unusual contradictions is that people who support the death penalty tend to have very little faith in government's ability to do anything right, as the furor over health care and bailouts shows. The fact that government, like any human enterprise, is imperfect, somehow seems to get shoved to the side when peoples' bloodlust is aroused by the desire for revenge against a heinous killer. The problem is, even setting aside the moral concerns about killing to condemn killing, is that the system that brings a tiny few people, primarily minorities, to death row is fraught with incentives for error, bias, and downright lying, which has often resulted in innocent people being condemned to die and, almost certainly, actual executions of innocents.

Thanks to DNA technologies, we're constantly being reminded of how error-filled the death system is, so this is an opportune moment to revisit the question of whether state-approved killing to punish killers -- or maybe just completely innocent people -- makes any sense. The Salem Public Library has an important book on the subject that will make your appreciation of the upcoming SPFS film even greater.

Thanks to the dedicated volunteers who work hard to put together the Salem Progressive Film Series, which shows a different, important film every month on the second Thursday at 7 p.m.:

DATES: Sep 10, 2009
TIME: 7:00 pm
DESCRIPTION: Salem Progressive Film Series Begins the 2009-10 season with "jolting and powerful" film, The Exonerated.
The Grand Theater, 191 High St. NE, downtown Salem,OR

Salem’s Progressive Film Series (SPFS), kicks off their 2009-2010 offerings with a presentation of The Exonerated, an award-winning film and stage play. The film presents the true stories of six exonerated survivors of death row. While every bit of dialogue in the film is true and documented, it is only a glimpse into the lives of the 135 people, since 1976 released from death row prison sentences, after they were proven innocent. An all-star cast, including Danny Glover, Susan Sarandon, Brian Dennehy, is featured in the film described as ‘jolting”, “powerful” and "stories you will never forget" by critics and viewers alike.

As is the custom with SPFS events, a discussion will take place following the film presentation. Guest speaker will be Curtis McCarty who was exonerated in 2007 after serving 21 years…19 years on death row, for a 1982 murder he didn’t commit. His freedom was granted after DNA evidence was presented and proof of prosecutorial misconduct by the State’s chief forensic analyst was proven. The great number of cases, such as Curtis McCarty’s, are causing people throughout the United States to question the ability of the criminal justice system to adequately and fairly administer a death penalty.

Joining Mr. McCarty will be Ron Steiner, a community organizer with Oregonians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (OADP). Mr. Steiner was an active member of the New Mexico Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty, leading up to that state’s March 2009 repeal. He is also a member of the national board of directors of Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation.

The Salem Progressive Film Series takes place the second Thursday of each month. The September film presentation and discussion will be Sept. 10th, 7PM at The Grand Theater, 191 High St. NE, downtown Salem. Major sponsors of SPFS include The Historic Grand Theater, Salem Monthly and Willamette Valley Vineyards.

Peter Bergel, Executive Director of Oregon Peace Works, one of the on-going sponsors of the film series, says regarding the death penalty, “Almost all of us know in our hearts that killing others feels wrong. Moreover, it is ineffective as a deterrent and expensive as a punishment. That leaves only ‘getting even’ as a motivation and that’s not worth it.”

Dr. Bill Long, former Willamette U. law professor and chair of the Outreach Committee of OADP, stated that "On top of all the other problems with the death penalty, one that gives great pause for concern is the possibility that we might execute an innocent person." Curtis McCarty will give testimony to how close we come to that horrible outcome.

For more information on the SPFS, visit http://www.salemprogressivefilms.net or call (503) 588-8713 or (503) 779-5288

Temporary reprieve on Minto

The five members attending the City Council meeting tonight unanimously voted not to accept the federal easement proposal to lock up 200 acres of cultivated land in Minto Brown Island Park.

Naturally this means that we can expect staff to honor the wisdom of Mark Twain by proving him an acute observer of human nature when he observed that "Having lost our bearings, we redoubled our efforts." Having had to concede repeatedly that the public involvement for this idea was lousy, the plan is to ram through a motion to reconsider and pass the thing with no further public involvement in two weeks, should the feds permit yet another extension (which, if they do, only shows that they want this much more than the people of Salem do).

In other words, the betting is that staff and some of the Council members will push hard to have the Council to entertain a motion for reconsideration in two weeks, meaning that the 5-0 vote to reject the easement only means that the people advocating for the easement want a do-over ....

Tonight city staff admitted that the contract for the easement gives total control of the parkland's future to the feds, that none of the sweet whispers about working with the city are in writing, and that the whole emergency floodplain easement program is not really a good fit for a public park. Nonetheless, expect a full-court press to get this thing jammed through at the last minute, public sentiment be damned.