Slow Food South Bay
March 2018 Newsletter:
1) March Leaders' Meeting
2) St. Patrick's Day tour in Alameda
3) Scott's Backyard Farm and Food Column
4) Jessica's Food as Medicine Column
5) We are looking for Delegates. Would you represent us at Slow Food's festival in Italy?
6) Seed saving update from Hillie
7) EcoFarm tour from Ann
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SFSB Leaders Meeting
New members welcome
Tuesday March 13 , 2018
For leaders, members and friends
7:30 - 9:30pm
RSVP: Please contact Ann at ann.duwe@sbcglobal.net for address and directions.
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Carpool instructions will be sent to registered participants.
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Meet a couple of your Slow Food South Bay leadership team:
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Scott's Backyard Farm and Food Column
 Report from the Farmer's Guild event:
In mid February, I attended a 2-day workshop organized by the Farmers Guild to learn more about starting your own small scale farm! This wonderful workshop was designed for new and aspiring farmers with a solid introduction to the entrepreneurial skills needed to succeed.
The one interesting take-away from this conference was the need for small scale farmers to be more innovative with their farming practices. Here in Silicon Valley we pride ourselves on being innovators and entrepreneurs. The food systems in place have evolved from a century or more of moving us away from our farming origins to today's huge corporate mono-culture conventional farming practices. It is time to change that model and shorten the distance from the farm and farmer to our tables. Many small scale urban farmers today can make a living at farming by being creative and thinking outside the box about their farm products, services, markets. I can see amazing potential in the future as we create platforms that promote LOCAL farmers to connect with LOCAL buyers. To my amazement, even most "farmers' markets" are highly controlled, and many new local farmers are "locked out" of participating in these markets. We need the tech types to help promote the vision of Slow Food - Good, Clean, Fair food for everyone by using their talents and their wealth to invest in local farms, to advocate for food systems that promote local, small farm food production.
Even if you are not the Slow Food member who wants to put your hand in the soil everyday, we can still use your passion for better local food systems. Get involved, find a farm/farmers to be engaged with and be part of the fun of growing a healthy local food scene. The small scale farmer can often use the exact resources you have which might include marketing, capitol, business analysis and technology. There is never a better time to find and start a relationship with a farm/farmer, so find out how you can make them successful.
Scott is our Board Chair for our Slow Food South Bay chapter and can be reached at chair@slowfoodsouthbay.org
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Would you like to go to
Slow Food's international
sustainable food festival in Italy?
Slow Food South Bay
is looking for representatives to go to
Terra Madre, Sept 20-24, 2018
Scholarships are available.
Terra Madre Salone del Gusto was first held in 1996 and is now one of the world’s most important events dedicated to artisan and small-scale food and wine producers, as well as a forum of exchange for producers and consumers from around the world.
The last edition, in 2016, attracted 8,000 delegates from 143 countries, 300 Slow Food Presidia and 1,000 food communities of the Terra Madre network from five continents, along with a million+ public visitors.
In 2018, Terra Madre Salone del Gusto will take place September 20-24 in Turin, Italy.
Are you our delegate?
You can be part of Slow Food's world-wide conference as a Delegate --either with a scholarship, or be self-sponsored.
Slow Food South Bay is currently looking for people to be our delegates, to represent our chapter.
The " delegate scholarship" covers expenses for 6 nights, 7 days: lodging, ground transportation and most meals, and a badge to gain entrance to workshops and presentations.
A " self-sponsored delegate" pays for their own lodging, ground transportation and meals, and receives a badge to gain entrance to workshops and presentations.
In 2016, Slow Food South Bay had 5 delegate scholarships, and 3 self-sponsored delegates!
We invite SFSB members to view the Terra Madre information on the Slow Food USA site at:
https://www.slowfoodusa.org/terra-madre
March 31st deadline:
To receive a scholarship: you must fill in and submit this online application form to nominate yourself ...before March 31st!
Then, during the month of April, our chapter and our State-wide board will review the nominations.
By the end of April, all delegates will be selected and notified.
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SFSB Secretary Ann Duwe reports on EcoFarm's Pre-Conference Tour
A preview event for this year’s EcoFarm Conference was a tour of four thriving organic enterprises. I joined one of three busses filled with 150 enthusiastic participants. “Amigo Bob” Cantisano was Master of Ceremonies for the day.
We began at Coke Farms in San Juan Bautista, a hub for cooling, packaging, distributing and marketing for 50 organic farms on the Central Coast. Dale Coke and his wife Christine began as farmers themselves, with just a quarter acre of organic strawberries. Their facility evolved along with the needs of local organic growers of fruit and vegetables. Among other distinctions, Dale came up with the idea of selling bagged salad mix. (Theirs was not the facility to which the E. coli outbreak some years ago was traced.)
Next we drove to rolling grasslands just outside the Hollister Hills Recreation Area, where Morris Grass Fed Beef leases land. Joe and Julie Morris do very sophisticated rotational grazing to improve the grasslands on all the ranch land they lease. Their pitch about the health benefits of grass-fed would convince a vegetarian to eat beef! As we stood at the top of a knoll, a herd of cows began moving toward us. Joe called two Australian shepherds into action, and in no time the dogs had gently moved the herd out of our way. It was an amazing display of dog smarts.
Lunch was served outdoors in San Benito County Historical Park amid preserved buildings and antique farm equipment. Next we visited Evergreen Acres Dairy, which produces goat milk and goat cheeses from special Guernsey goats. Newborn kids stole the show. Evergreen also raises ducks. Founders Mike and Jane Hulme are passionate about the health benefits of goats’ milk and duck eggs. While their ideas may seem new, the farm, with its red barn and spreading oaks, seemed of another century.
Our last stop was on the valley floor at Pinnacle Organically Grown, a farm that grows 60 different vegetables as well as apples and pears. Owner Phil Foster talked about the value of cover crops, composting and hedgerows. He emphasized the need to experiment with every aspect of farming. In multiple ways Phil strives to produce high quality crops while treating his employees, his land, his community and our shared planet with respect.
All the farms had re-purposed or specially invented equipment for helping with the work. These farms are part of our new local food system. Seeing these wonderful places inspires me to do more with Slow Food, with advocating for a food system that nourishes the land as well as the people who grow and eat the food.
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Local Food Starts with Local Seeds! by Hillie
Last year 50 gardeners grew a local heirloom, the Petaluma Gold Rush Bean, to give to seed libraries. The beans were added to public library collections in East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, San Jose and Berryessa. This year join us to Grow a Row for the seed libraries by planting the Yellow Indian Woman Bean. This bean, as well as the Petaluma Gold Rush Bean, will be available at the Mountain View Garden Share on April 7, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.
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