Ranch Foods Direct introduces a free field day for dogs, during these dog days of summer...
The inaugural event happens Saturday!
Canine fitness course, hands-on training for handlers, sporting competitions with "real meat" prizes... and more! Click here for full details.
More special events coming soon
On Sept. 18, author Wenonah Hauter appears at Colorado College as part of Local Food Week activities
Author and policy advocate Wenonah Hauter is the perfect guest lecturer to have during Colorado Springs Local Food Week, because while she celebrates what she calls "the good food movement," she also says it's not enough. In her book, and here in a brief interview, she challenges eaters to look beyond tasty local produce to the fate of family farms far from cities that also need market access.
Q. How has your research influenced the way you shop and eat on a personal basis?
Wenonah Hauter: Luckily I have easy access to great food since I split my time between my farm and D.C. Doing my research for the book didn't change my personal habits much. But it did open up my eyes to the food reality for much of the country that doesn't have the abundance or choice that I have. And it's not because of lack of demand. People are hungry for healthy, sustainably grown food sold in a fair marketplace, but the system is broken.
Q. As you travel around the country to promote your book, what does the response from audiences tell you about where we are in terms of food and farm issues in America today?
While the travel is exhausting, the people I meet on the road keep me going. They tell me how much they appreciate Foodopoly's honest account of the imbalance of power at the root of our dysfunctional food system and often share with me their personal experiences. Farmers impart stories of having to sell their land and find other work because they can't compete in an unfair marketplace. Former neighborhood market owners explain how they've been pushed out of business by large national chains. And everyday consumers lament their frustration with the consolidation of every type of food � - even organic �- that has diminished real choice on grocery shelves. These are the people I wrote Foodopoly for.
Q. Your family owns and operates a successful CSA farm near Washington D.C. But in your book you emphasize that vibrant mid-sized farms in rural areas far from urban markets are the real key to restoring a healthy and sustainable food system. For those of us who are already "voting with our fork" and buying local whenever possible, what's the next step?
It's time that we stop demonizing farmers as the chief culprits behind our dysfunctional food system and start addressing the structural issues. We must put the revitalization of regulation on the food movement's agenda. For the long term, we need farmers to be partners in creating a sustainable food system, especially small and midsized farms. To create a fair and healthy food system we need to build the political power to create common-sense regulations -� and enforce them �- for food safety and labeling, antitrust policy, biotechnology and other new technologies. Inspiring the kind of political activism necessary for taking back our democracy means that we must be visionary about the kind of world we want and the food system that will nourish it.
CLICK HERE for a full schedule of Local Food Week Activities (Sept. 14-21), including the
Annual Garlic Fest and Salsa Contest
presented by Pikes Peak Urban Gardens and Ranch Foods Direct! Visit Pikes Peak Urban Gardens website, CLICK HERE, for registration and salsa contest sign-up form. Join the fun.
Also happening at Harlan Wolfe Ranch, the annual Callicrate Cattle Co./Ranch Foods Direct manure stimulus event comes to a NEW location this year! Mark your calendar for Saturday, Sept. 28.
As summer turns to fall, it's a perfect time to visit charming Manitou Springs and support our Ranch Foods Direct partner-restaurants, businesses which endured this summer's tragic floods.
 Bundle up for fall!
Popular bundle specials continue this month
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