Congrats on the new job. Food is one of my greatest passions
I just started working on my own food site. If you want to write more about your job I'd love to post it along with your pictures on my site! Still working on the design and launch content but you can see the bare bones beginnings here: Great Good Food.
I've been in food service off and on for over eight years. Did catering for a long time. I'm lucky that I live in a place that's really the center for organic and sustainable farming. I've been noticing more and more people in my area that are working on growing foods (produce, livestock, etc) at home. I call them the Urban Farmers. My neighbor has a 1/4 acre of amazing vegetables plus ducks, chickens, and goats. This is in the heart of Berkeley inbetween the industrial area, ghettos, and shopping districts.
I'm not much a green thumb but I try to keep my garden going. I'm still learning. There's nothing more awesome than cooking with fresh herbs you cut from your own backyard.
Re: Yum, fruit!ace_combsSeptember 2 2005, 19:05:32 UTC
sure: you're welcome to whatever words/pictures you like. i liked the stuff that weeb and olivia were posting, ref. veg recipes. i miss it. it would be nice to see the information circulating, and things being shared. i am sorry that i've not had more time for this before. the work is seasonal: things just won't grow year-round in chicago.
the city, chicago, has made things a bit more difficult by compensating for its loss of industrial/commercial revenue with totally insane increases in property taxes. the big boom, here, has been in high-end residential space. and, yes, there continues to be a radical difference between the "mind" of the bay area and the "mind" of the midwest/great lakes - of which we are the capital.
1. I'm one of those people who live in the city and need food to be imported. The land prices in San Diego are ridiculous, but a significant amount of land in California and even amidst suburban sprawl are used for growing produce. As far as I can tell, the CSAs here are doing very well. It's good that avocado prefers to grow on rocky hills where people don't like to build. My ex's parents in Modesto own a feed farm, they get a pretty significant subsidy from the government and also from the EPA/department of education since parts of their land are used for nature outreach programs. But it is rather like running a small corporation deciding when to cycle crops and change your investment strategy.
2. It's a shame that so many people go for jobs that pay a lot and with prestige but their souls are not at ease. You're only at your job for 8 hours a day, but you have to live with your conscience always. I personally would have a really hard time doing it.
"excellent points about "family farming" turning into a system small corporations"
Selling out is a harsh term, one that I'm not sure I'll ever use because there are points in everyone's life that others could label in such a way. The results are the most important.
I think the rising cost of fuel and other resoures is actually going to motivate people to do more with less, as well as find alternative ways for supporting locally grown foods. Maybe they'll start teaching gardening in schools, or have nonprofits run community food gardens. Yea, right...I'm such a dreamer. LOL
swinney's gone hippymojokatSeptember 3 2005, 05:34:17 UTC
Communes have evolved too. They call them TIC's now, and it's about the only way the average joe is going to be able to buy property near San Francisco. lol
perhaps it is time for my foot to go live in your butt.
we need to do a "trading places" thing for a week, maybe for a month: i will tool around so-cal on your bmw, and you'll be a blue-collar grad-school drop-out in chicago. i feel disconnected, right now.
Re: the foundation of a healthy societyace_combsSeptember 8 2005, 23:36:41 UTC
ugh. i hate the boxes!
explanation: it is a silly, petty thing, but there are three different sizes - each about 1cm difference in width. when stacking them, it is not apparent which size one has - till it's too late. that makes for a lot of extra work.
still, i cannot imagine anything better - if only there were all the same damn size...
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I just started working on my own food site. If you want to write more about your job I'd love to post it along with your pictures on my site! Still working on the design and launch content but you can see the bare bones beginnings here: Great Good Food.
I've been in food service off and on for over eight years. Did catering for a long time. I'm lucky that I live in a place that's really the center for organic and sustainable farming. I've been noticing more and more people in my area that are working on growing foods (produce, livestock, etc) at home. I call them the Urban Farmers. My neighbor has a 1/4 acre of amazing vegetables plus ducks, chickens, and goats. This is in the heart of Berkeley inbetween the industrial area, ghettos, and shopping districts.
I'm not much a green thumb but I try to keep my garden going. I'm still learning. There's nothing more awesome than cooking with fresh herbs you cut from your own backyard.
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i liked the stuff that weeb and olivia were posting, ref. veg recipes.
i miss it.
it would be nice to see the information circulating, and things being shared.
i am sorry that i've not had more time for this before.
the work is seasonal: things just won't grow year-round in chicago.
the city, chicago, has made things a bit more difficult by compensating for its loss of industrial/commercial revenue with totally insane increases in property taxes. the big boom, here, has been in high-end residential space. and, yes, there continues to be a radical difference between the "mind" of the bay area and the "mind" of the midwest/great lakes - of which we are the capital.
thaks for the cool comment!
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2. It's a shame that so many people go for jobs that pay a lot and with prestige but their souls are not at ease. You're only at your job for 8 hours a day, but you have to live with your conscience always. I personally would have a really hard time doing it.
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Selling out is a harsh term, one that I'm not sure I'll ever use because there are points in everyone's life that others could label in such a way. The results are the most important.
I think the rising cost of fuel and other resoures is actually going to motivate people to do more with less, as well as find alternative ways for supporting locally grown foods. Maybe they'll start teaching gardening in schools, or have nonprofits run community food gardens. Yea, right...I'm such a dreamer. LOL
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sorry for the harsh term.
in most cases, i'm in a big hurry to post something; my spelling, grammar and vocabulary suffer.
cost of fuel: right. that is what i have imgained: there will be a change - sudden, perhaps - whether we want one, or not...
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we need to do a "trading places" thing for a week, maybe for a month: i will tool around so-cal on your bmw, and you'll be a blue-collar grad-school drop-out in chicago. i feel disconnected, right now.
and i think you've stopped loving me.
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explanation: it is a silly, petty thing, but there are three different sizes - each about 1cm difference in width. when stacking them, it is not apparent which size one has - till it's too late. that makes for a lot of extra work.
still, i cannot imagine anything better - if only there were all the same damn size...
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P.S. I loved Mojokat's food page - Christchurch!!! Wow...very cool!
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the whole chch thing around here is quite the never-ending coincidence!
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