Can Organic Agriculture Feed the World?

One of the perceptions about organic food is that it is a nice idea if you can afford it, but it isn't efficient enough to feed the world's population. This article published in Organic Valley Co-op's newsletter "Rootstock" is a good analysis of the inefficiencies of conventional agriculture and the benefits of organic farming. If you are curious about the politics of feeding the masses, read this article

Meet-up site up and running! Please join!

Just an FYI to let you know that our Slow Food Meet-up site is up and running, so please follow this link http://www.meetup.com/Slow-Food-Northern-Colorado-Cache-la-Poudre-Chapter/ (if it says link is broken...I don't know why it won't work but you can just paste it into your address bar to get there) to become a member and get notified of all our events!

A letter from Slow Food USA's presidend about the Time for Lunch Campaign

Dear members and supporters,

It's been two months since 20,000 of you came together for our national day of action to give America's children the school food they deserve. That day was a huge accomplishment for this movement – but it was only a first step.

You can be part of our next one. Congress isn't planning to make progress on child nutrition programs until the beginning of next year. We have until then to show our leaders that kids and parents across America are hungry for change.

We're going to do it by sending thousands of letters — especially letters written by kids — to our legislators' district offices over the next few months. Slow Food USA chapter leaders across the country have already gotten started, and together they've sent in over 1,300 letters. It's time for everyone to pitch in.

Help us spread the word about letter writing, and get involved in the next phase of the campaign.

Through this campaign, tens of thousands of you have invested in America's children's future by organizing and attending Eat-Ins on Labor Day, by donating money and by signing our petition. Thank you.

Over the next few months, your participation is as important as ever. If we keep growing our ranks, we can ensure that the 31 million children who benefit from school meal programs are getting the real food they need to grow into healthy, productive adults.

Thank you for spreading the word,

Josh Viertel
President

Visit the Time for Lunch website to sign the petition, learn more about the subject aand find out how to make a difference

Much to be Grateful for: Frank Reese's Heritage Turkeys

Thanksgiving season is upon us and with it the tradition of pulling a glistening turkey from the oven. Turkeys are native to the United States and were once the beloved fowl of Ben Franklin, who considered them a more noble mascot for the United States than the antagonistic Bald Eagle. I was not aware that within the last century many native breeds of turkeys have been pushed to the brink of extinction until I read this article. Kansas farmer, Frank Reese Jr., a long time turkey aficionado, is credited with saving America's heritage turkey breeds. The story of how he preserved the genetic diversity of domestic turkeys is a surprising tale of how easily our food security can slip away in the face of industrial agriculture. We owe a debt of gratitude to Frank Reese and all farmers who devote their lives to supplying us with nourishing, seasonal, and diverse foods in the face of industrial farming.

New: Online Issue of The Snail

Read the latest issue of The Snail, Slow Food USA's very beautiful and informative magazine: thesnail@slowfoodusa.org

Report: Students Need More Veggies, Fewer Calories: NPR

This NPR story does a nice job discussing the state of the school lunch program today and how it may change in the future.

Neighborhood Supported Agriculture

This article about an urban farm near CSU was published recently in Matter Daily.

www.matterdaily.org

Photos of Cache la Poudre's First Event!

For our first event we cooked soup from the field to the pot - outside in the snow.

Lawrence and Ursula Holmes at Cresset Community Farm were our gracious hosts.

Lawrence started off the afternoon festivities with a farm tour.

Rows of spinach weathering the snow.

Lawrence told everyone about the history of the farm and their plans to create a sustainable farm community on part of this property and neighboring farmland.

While the tour was being conducted several members stayed at the outdoor kitchen with Chef Florian Wehrli to help make the soup.

All of the vegetables for the soup came from Cresset Community Farm, including these pumpkins, an essential ingredient in the pumpkin cheese soup.

Garth, Lawrence and Ursula's apprentice, directed the chopping efforts.

The pumpkins were then added to the stock pot with milk from Windsor Dairy.

Once they were cooked, Chef Florian blended the soup with his impressive industrial strength portable blender. Here Florian shows his son Emile how to use the blender.

Chef Florian answers questions while preparing four different kinds of soup: pumpkin-cheese, oxtail-vegetable, cream of spinach and mustard greens, and borscht with cilantro and fennel root.

Oxtail-vegetable soup in the silver stockpot and borscht in the red stockpot. A true feast for the senses.

Garth made all of the amazingly beautiful and delicious bread from local grains and ingredients.

Here he slices a slow rise whole wheat loaf.

Garth made six different kinds of bread for the event including pumpernickel and apple bread. The bread was served with Ursula's kimchee. Thank you Gareth and Ursula!

People were able to warm up and enjoy their food by the fire pit.

Florian, Garth, and Liz visit around the soup pot.

A farm cat helps itself to a taste of pumpkin-cheese soup that was left on the blender.

This duck seemed to enjoy the party as much as the rest of us.

Florian tells everyone that our next event will be held at the Lyric theater in Fort Collins. The Lyric will show the movie the "Cheese Nun" and then we will have a hands on Fondue making party. BYOFP (Bring Your Own Fondue Pot). The date for this event is yet to be determined. We'll keep you posted.

We had many Slow Food Denver members join us for the first event. Thanks to everyone for braving the weather and bringing your families.

Fiona helps herself to the honey-sweet apple crisp that was stewed over the fire pit.

The kids found enough snow to make a sizable snow ball.

Meg and her daughter Fiona showed everyone how to make corn husk dolls.

Elizabeth draws a face on the corncob doll she helped her sons make.

Corn-cob husk dolls are a traditional craft for this time of year.

The event started out cloudy and cold, but by the end of the day the sun was shining and we hope that everyone left feeling full and satisfied. Thanks, everyone for coming. If you couldn't make it, we hope you can make it to the next event.

NYT Food Issue

This week's New York Times Magazine section is the annual Food Issue. There are some interesting and thought-provoking pieces there - have a look here .

And here is a report from Grist on a conversation between Michael Pollan and Grist food writer Tom Philpott.

“Pay what you can” membership extended with a matching grant!

“Pay what you can” membership extended with a matching grant!

Wow. It’s been a pretty exciting few days.

The September membership drive—where Slow Food USA waived our traditional $60 membership fee—was a huge success. More than 5000 people joined Slow Food, over ten times our normal monthly rate. It turns out there was some pent-up demand for lower membership rates, after all, and not just from my fellow non-profit-employed friends.

Perhaps our most incredible response came from Mr. Donald Sussman. He was so enthusiastic about the positive results that he encouraged us to keep the drive going. And his encouragement was particularly compelling: he has offered to match all new gifts that come in between now and October 15 dollar for dollar.

As you can imagine, there’s been a lot of excitement and positive spirits here in the Brooklyn office of Slow Food USA. What a welcome break from the grey spirits of a year where we’ve seen dips in charitable giving across the country and so many of our friends deal with layoffs and downsizing.

If you haven’t yet joined Slow Food, now is the time. Help us maximize this incredible opportunity that Mr. Sussman has given us. And if you have, know that there is an office full of hard-working food advocates toasting you with a glass of locally-grown, seasonally appropriate apple cider.

Join the Cache La Poudre Chapter of Slow Food USA by following the link:

Latest Event at Cresset Farm

We so much appreciate that almost 150 of you that responded to our early summer survey on Activities of interest for a local Slow Food Chapter. We've been taking some time to mull over the potential activities and focus of our chapter. Interest in ALL types of activities were similarly high, so we have decided to try to hold our own (and partner with) a variety of activities to meet the needs of all those interested. We now have a series of interesting activities organized for the fall. We are sharing these with you in this newsletter, and hope it encourages you to get involved, to join our Slow food chapter, or to come and learn more at the events. We have already had tables at the Sustainable Living Fair and Collaborative Conservation Conference, where we interacted with many of you. Our next event will be held on Sunday afternoon October 11th at Cresset Farm (see below). Join us for good food, fun and good friendship! A great way to start our convivium. (Note: Convivium is Slow Food's term for a local chapter. It comes from the same root as convivial which means, literaly to "live with".) Also, please consider showing support for the Farm to School movement, an international initiative by Slow Food this year. See the petition at: http://www.slowfoodusa.org Sincerely, Slow Food Cache La Poudre Florian, Meg, Hill, Dawn, Liz and Kelsy

Soup at the Farm Directly from Field to Pot Sunday October 11th Join Slow Food's newest chapter around a pot steaming in the cool autumn air at Cresset Farm overlooking the Big Thompson River. Pumpkin and Crème Fraiche Soup; Grass-fed Beef Oxtail and Root Vegetables; Baked Apple and Lemon Verbena infusion are some of the treats we are planning to prepare all together with the heirloom vegetables grown from seed selected and grown by Lawrence Holmes. PLEASE RSVP slowfood@nocofoodincubator.com Highlights Slow Food Cache la Poudre First Social Event! Enjoy Farm fresh Soup dinner made by the attendees from produce YOU picked in the field Biodynamic Vegetable Garden and Pasture Tour Kids Activities Soup cooking demos This event is: BYOC (bring your own cup) BYOS (bring your own spoon) BYOB (bring your own adult beverage) Schedule 1:00 pm Vegetable Garden Tour 2:00 pm Pasture Tour 4:00 pm Soup is Served Slow Food members: Join Chef Florian at 12:00 noon to learn how to prepare the food Donations $9 per adult / $18 per family Give more for the cause if you can Event open to everyone (Slow Food Members will get to take Soup Home). Address and Directions Cresset Farm 503 S. County Road 1 Johnstown, CO 80534 (970) 278-0499 / info@cressetcommunityfarm.com Take the Highway 34 exit east to County Road 1 (County Road 13), Turn right . The farm is about 1 mile south on the right side.

Make a difference, Join us today!

Slow Food Cache la Poudre is part of a growing movement that needs you. On Labor Day, more than 20,000 people came together across the country to show their support for getting real food in school. You are helping us send a powerful message to decision makers that this is a movement of people who think it’s time to change what kids eat at the lunch table. Thank you to so many of you who already support us through your participation and membership.

To keep building momentum and change our food system, we are counting on you to be part of our local chapter. If you’re not yet a member, you can join the organization with a donation of any amount through October 15. Giving during this time period DOUBLES YOUR IMPACT as your donation will be matched! Give more if you can and less if you can’t. The point is – we want you with us. Membership normally starts at $60, so please visit http://www.slowfoodusa.org/growthemovement so you can take advantage of this offer and join today.

Your support will help legislators take notice of our cause, and your involvement in our chapter will make a difference. Please join us.