Occupy Your Plate

Jan 10, 2012 by Dark Martha

I am so proud of the Occupy Movement! I hope people are getting wise to the contempt Corporate America has for the rest of us. I’m not just referring to the banking industry, either. Corporate goes for all kinds of industry: electronics, textiles, food, energy, etc.., lots of businesses where their primary focus is to make money. Not to serve a community need, to make money. Not to provide a quality product at a good value to the consumer, to make money.

I’ll try to keep this rant to food.

I’ve been preaching about the local foods movement and local business in general, not because it is cool but because it trumps the corporate counterparts by the presence of COMPASSION and that their bottom line isn’t the only line they care about. Have you caught any of the articles tattling on the sometimes disgusting antics of Big Ag and Big Food? Did you hear about the company that re-processed gallons of moldy applesauce to ship to schools? Or the countless recalls of E. Coli-tainted meats and vegetables that somehow still manage to get to the public? Maybe you’ve seen these corporate food lies: your “freshly” squeezed orange juice that has actually sat in a vat for up to a year, your meats that get doused with ammonia , the cellulose and other industrial by-products that find their way into more processed food than you would like to know about. Why isn’t this squawked about on mainstream news?

“So what can I do about this and why should I care?” you might say. “Eating healthy / organic / local is too expensive and I don’t have the time / desire / know-how to cook.”

My shopping reflects my values and I vote with my pocketbook. Start small and don’t try to re-invent the wheel in a week. I would rather spend an hour cooking something for my family than watching TV, but that’s me.

Don’t like factory farms? Seek out a local market and shop there. Spending money with local retailers strengthens the community and is a slap in the face of recession. Start a vegetable garden, and share your bounty with your neighbors – defy the “bedroom community” label and chat in person. Know that if we don’t start giving a damn about what we purchase, and where it comes from – that the quality of these things will continue to tank. The rich will get richer from our apathy. Our economy is based almost entirely on us buying stuff, so make every dollar count!

This video of a farmer addressing the NYC Occupy group nearly got me bawling. I can’t help but feel sickened and a little enraged every time I hear a sound bite about how unorganized the movement is, or the “But what do they stand for?” bullshit. The food lies are as insidious as the lies about “trickle-down economics” – don’t believe the hype. There has been a great interview with Chris Hedges making the rounds that I think hits the mark, and I will leave you with this quote from his book, Losing Moses on the Freeway: The 10 Commandments in America:
“We watch impassively as the wealthy and the elite, the huge corporations, rob us, ruin the environment, defraud consumers and taxpayers and create an exclusive American oligarchy that fuses wealth and political power. We watch passively because we believe we can enter the club. It is greed that inspires us. It is greed that keeps us silent. Our greed is devouring us.”

 

Cheers-

 

Dark Martha

Conscious Urban Living

Carriage House Farm

 

PS – If you are in the Cincy area, and are interested in getting that garden going, join me for my class series coming up in a few weeks.

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Grocery Shopping Downtown

Aug 15, 2011 by SpaethC

Whenever I tell someone that I live downtown one of the first questions I hear is “where do you do your grocery shopping at?” Typically I do my shopping at the Newport Pavilion Kroger. It’s about a 5-8 minute drive so I don’t have to travel too far to do my grocery shopping. However, this Kroger is not my favorite place in the world, and I would love an actual grocery store in the Central Business District. There are some grocery options downtown. I would place the downtown grocery options in three categories: grocery store, deli, and drug store. I decided to take a break from Kroger for a couple of weeks and see what the stores downtown have, what disadvantages there are and if it’s feasible to do my weekly grocery shopping in the city. (Note: this is solely about the Central Business District and does not include options in OTR, such as Findlay Market)

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Call For Bloggers and a Reboot

Jul 13, 2011 by Loki

Between Twitter, Facebook, Google +, and real life I’ve been absent a lot recently. Apologies.

As you may have noticed posting has dropped off here on CincyVoices. It’s not surprising, I expect contributing bloggers to have a lifespan of somewhere between 6 months and a year before they either burn out or move on. So now it is time to change the roster a bit. For one thing we will be introducing a new series of Beer Blog posts, brought to you by @Brewnas and @joshosbo from the local Twitter community. After all, this is a beer town so we need to get some hops oriented stuff.

I’ll also looking for new contributors, both team members and those who would simply like to submit a guest post. Please drop me a line with a writing sample, as long as there is a Cincy angle it will be considered. From politics to personal narrative it is all welcome! (Additionally I will be providing professional training to all new bloggers joining the team free of charge.)

To better showcase our new team members we will also be instituting a major reboot of the way the site looks and works. If you have any requests please leave them here in the comments.

Image by B. Lider on Flickr, thanks for using Creative Commons!

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Food Desert 101

Jun 24, 2011 by Loki

 

Farming has not completely devoured me.  I’ve been teaching more classes, on nationwide radio twice (!) and I spoke at the 2011 Cincinnati Food Congress (I strongly recommend you check out the full report), which was back in April.

The Food Congress facilitates conversation amongst community leaders and stakeholders regarding the state of our region’s food supply and the impact it has on our population.  This year, the focus was on if/how the local Agricultural Community can contribute employment opportunities to the Greater Cincinnati job pool.  I spoke as part of a panel of local growers… as both an independent contractor on a small-to-medium scale farm, and as a mother.

There are SO MANY THINGS I have to tell you about this, too many for one post.  Bear with me for a little while and I’ll get as much of it out to you as I can.

First, a definition:

Food Desert:  A region where the population does not have ready access to fresh food.  The general consensus for what “ready access,” i.e. – within walking distance, reasonable bike ride, or a single-leg public transit trip (i.e., a bus ride without a transfer).  Keep in mind, food deserts are not necessarily urban.  Many rural communities fall under this classification.

The phenomena of the food desert has been an obsession of mine, and it was also the first topic addressed at the Food Congress.  Mari Gallagher presented some sobering figures illustrating just how bad it has gotten in the region, with the most disturbing point being that the best access to high quality food lies squarely in the suburban areas.  Poor, non-nutrient-rich food choices have been shown to lead to health problems, like obesity and diabetes… which spike higher numbers in the less affluent, more urban areas.

Full disclosure – I live in a fortunate, happy bubble here in Northside, because of Picnic and Pantry, which is arguably one of the best micro markets I have ever been fortunate enough to patronize.  They also source some of their goods from the Farm, as well as a number of other local artisans and growers.  Northside also has one of the most diverse farmer’s markets in the City.  I think this is in no small part due to the community being enthusiastic about their food.  For contrast – my parents, having recently relocated to a more rural part of the state, now have a 30 mile drive to the closest market.  They knew this going in, but how many of us choose our home’s location based on where the closest grocery is?

I’d love to hear about how many of you can / do walk / bike / bus to get your groceries… and how content you are with what you get.  I would also like you to consider what it would be like if that “convenience” store a few blocks from you carried some fresh produce and healthy protein choices, instead of the bevy of processed drek that usually fills the shelves?  Would you buy from them?  Are we, as consumers, too used to “one stop” or destination shopping for a smaller, more locally-based model to work?

 

Cheers-

Dark Martha

Garden Manager, Carriage House Farm

www.consciousurbanliving.com

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Ink Tank – 44 Showcase Contemporary Art Center

Aug 31, 2010 by classicgrrl

For those of you not familiar with Ink Tank, it is a non-profit located on 1411 Main Street (moved from 1311) whose tagline is “Changing Cincinnati one word at a time.”  It began with the idea of social justice and racial integration and now serves in strong partnership with the Drop Inn Center. Open mic nights are the first Tuesday of every month and there are two writer’s groups; Writer’s Salon every other Thursday and Poetry Salon recently begun by Keith Wilson.  Other progams include:

Men’s Drop Inn Recovery Program

Women’s First Step Recovery Program

Readvitalization Final Friday

Book Bank

Final Friday readings were held this past Final Friday and readings will be held again this Saturday, September 4 from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM at the Contemprary Art Center  for their 44 Series.   Here’s the Facebook invitation – Join Us!

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