Local Whatcom County farmers have reported having CSA shares still available this year. You're encouraged to contact these local CSA farms to sign up and take advantage of the abundant harvest.

Author Elizabeth Henderson says, "At their best, authentic CSAs are a win-win-win. Farmers get living wages and freedom from worry about profits and losses. Everyone weathers the tough times and benefits from the good times. Nothing goes to waste, and community investments help pay for land and equipment. Most of all, eaters get healthy food, good company, and the deep-if not always convenient-satisfaction that comes from playing an immediate role in transforming the food system."

For the full article by Elizabeth Henderson, see grist.org. Elizabeth is the author of Sharing the Harvest: A Citizen's Guide to Community Supported Agriculture. She farms at Peacework Farm in Newark NY.

Your Farm in the City

Saturday, June 9, 2 pm

Village Books

Author Lisa Taylor brings to locavores, Your Farm in the City: An Urban Dweller's Guide To Growing Food and Raising Animals. It's been called the perfect all-in-one compendium of everything you need to know to start growing your own food and raising city-friendly livestock.

Co-sponsored by the Community Food Co-op and Transition Whatcom. For more details see Village Books.

Food Fight: A Citizen's Guide to the Next Farm Bill

Daniel Imhoff 

Every five to seven years, Congress passes a little-understood legislation called the Farm Bill. To a large extent, the Farm Bill writes the rules and sets the playing field for America's contemporary food system, determining what we eat, how much it costs, and where it is grown. 

Currently, principal farm operators over age 65 now outnumber those under 35 by a ratio of more than seven to one. The decreasing population of farmers in the U.S. means less diversity of crops, vacated rural communities and reduced food security. For the future of our food supply to remain secure and viable, we need to not only find young, aspiring farmers but also learn from the population currently producing our food before it's too late. That's the goal of U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, who wants to use Farm Bill programs to add 100,000 new farmers throughout the next several years and, hopefully, increase local food production across the country.

Originally published in 2007, Food Fight is Daniel Imhoff's highly acclaimed primer on the complex issues contained within the Farm Bill. Now in a newly updated and expanded edition, Imhoff looks ahead at this important issue, as the debate for 2012 is already underway. For more information, see the full article at Mother Earth News.

When The Lights Go Out, The World Eats Junk

Here's some remarkable charts that show our eating habits deteriorate as the day goes on. Psychology offers some fascinating reasons why.

Co.Design published this infographic showing 24 hours of eating habits around the world. Built by Massive Health, it's an aggregation of 7.68 million self-reported food ratings over a five-month period. It's a simple, effective heat map that shows, while cultures may all have their own version of junk food, we all manage to dig it up when the sun goes down. Just focus on North America. Green means good food decisions. Yellow is worse. And red is bad.

This seems to indicate that we eventually end up paying for all the good decisions we make early in the morning. As our willpower gets depleted during the course of the day, we succumb to worse and worse decisions in the afternoon and night.

Whatcom Harvest Dinner--MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Sunday, September 23, Bellewood Acres

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