Ben Wenk Explains IPM at Three Springs Fruit Farm

I wanted to pass this video along to our readers. If any of you don't know how Integrated Pest Management works, this video is a great way to get your feet wet. Look for Three Springs Fruit Farm at the Piazza at Schmidt's on Saturdays and at the Headhouse on Sunday (where you can meet the man himself). Chat him up and you will learn a thing or two.

New E-Mail Address For the Feed

We have a new e-mail address for the Philly Food Feed. If you ever feel the need, you can contact us at phillyfoodfeed@gmail.com or, click the envelope icon to the right. Take care!

Big Announcement!

Hello out there in Philly Food Feed land! It’s the beginning of June and markets are beginning to sprout up (ha ha, that was good) all over Philadelphia and the surrounding areas. By now I’m sure most of you have been attacking asparagus, snacking on strawberries, and relishing rhubarb, as have I. With the season just about in full swing, I have an awesome announcement to make – I have decided not to write in alliteration anymore – except there. Only kidding…about the alliteration, not the announcement… here it goes –

Over the past few weeks, I have been brainstorming ideas about what the Philly Food Feed can do this farmers’ market season to really spice things up. Then it came to me – This season, the Philly Food Feed will visit EVERY SINGLE FARMERS’ MARKET IN PHILADELPHIA!!! That’s right folks, you read it correctly – EVERY SINGLE MARKET. I’m calling it: The Philly Food Feed Farmers’ Market Marathon. It will be sort of like Where’s Waldo of the farmers’ market scene, but instead looking for a bespectacled Waldo, donning a red and white winter hat hiding in the crowds, you will have to keep your eye out for a bald Ben with a Phillies hat somewhere in Overbrook with some peaches or maybe in Northern Liberties with a fennel. Out of sight, right?

According to Grid Magazine (link forthcoming), there are 27 farmers’ markets either already going on or slated to start this season in Philadelphia proper. The Philly Food Feed will be attending all of them. Between now and the end of November, we will be present at each of those markets and I will be reporting on all of them, introducing you readers to the food, farmers, and fun that make the local food scene in Philadelphia the specialist in the nation. A copious amount of excitement takes me over when I think about all of the various farmers, growers, and artisans we are going to have the pleasure of meeting and interacting with. These folks are the life’s blood of the markets and they need to be acknowledged.

Of course, we will be following the food too – from the market to our table, sharing our edible experiences along the way through new and exciting recipes that I will be trying out on my family, turning them into a gaggle of guinea pigs.

Now since we have already been to the markets at Clark Park, The Piazza at Schmidt’s, Headhouse, Schuylkill River Park, Filter Square, and Fairmount, that leaves us with 21 markets by the end of the season.  Can we do it? Will we be able to accomplish this ambitious feat? You will have to read the Philly Food Feed to find out. And if you see me at one of the markets, leave a comment here and let us know. C-ya at the markets! 

We Are On Twitter

The Philly Food Feed has gone all Twitter on you. Now if you like an article you see here on the Feed, you can just click the blue Twitter button at the bottom and share your literary bliss with all of your Twitter followers. Help spread the word!

From the Huffington Post - Top 10 Mistakes Made by Farmers Market Noobz

Great piece from Darya Pino on the Huffington Post. To those who aren't farmers' market vets, this article can give you a few pointers on how to navigate through the wonderful world of local wares. I don't necessarily agree with all of them...well I do except number 9 (I have on a couple of occasions made my last three dollars turn into at least two bushels of something), but for the most part this article is spot on!
Top 10 Mistakes

"Simple Minds Will Look at the Label and Nothing Else"

Image via Wikipedia

I wanted to share with you an article I read from the recent issue of Mother Jones magazine. The article concerns organic sugar and the overall lax enforcement of the USDA guidelines for Organic foods. I have included a link to the article, however, for purposes of this blog I will sum it up as follows:

The standards for Organic certification are broad enough that if a grower wants to cheat, they can. Furthermore, while what you are buying at the grocery store may be Organic, that doesn't mean that what you are buying is organic. To clarify, you may be buying a box of Organic cereal from Cascadian Farms that did not have any synthetic fertilizers added to its ingredients, but an Old World forest could easily have been cleared to grow the "Organic" sugar that makes the cereal oh so sugary sweet. Now granted, it still may be Organic in that again, there are no synthetic fertilizers added and weeds are pulled by hand, but as far as the true nature of the organic movement, the guidelines just don't cut it.

I only mention this article because people ask me (mostly family) why I am so hung up on local foods and the farmers' markets. Besides the freshness and the taste, there is something else. Most of the farmers I buy from are not certified organic (although some are). Some practice IPM (integrated pest management), or just don't use chemicals and only use natural fertilizer. Just because they don't have a government certification doesn't mean their food is any less safe. On the contrary, I feel more comfortable with the farmer who can explain to me the merits of IPM as I am buying an apple from his stand than with an Organic label on a box of cereal shipped from California. There is more to organic to me than a label; organic is a movement. Its knowing that the primary source of energy in my Bok Choy is the sun and not the oil expended shipping it from China. The same oil that is currently spilling into the ocean, by the way. Its a movement that involves me meeting and knowing the person who grows my food. The same person who knows my wife and my son. Its a movement that gives me a choice between big agribusiness that, due to current marketing trends, buys an Organic label for their box, regardless of how much forest was cut in order to provide organic farmland.

There are three things vital to survival: Water, Air, and Food. People need to know what they are eating, how its grown, how it gets here...all of it. Don't just be bought off by a label people. Know where your food is coming from. Don't let Organic be the next "fat free", "low-carb" trend with nothing to back it up but empty promises.

From the Food Trust - Markets Opening this Week

More Market Openings

Opening this week:

Clark Park Thursday Farmers' Market
43rd Street and Baltimore Avenue
Thursday, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Featuring:

Big Sky Bakery
Homestead Garden produce
Quaff Meadows produce, lamb and flowers
Country Meadows Farm barbecued chicken

Palmer Park Farmers' Market
Frankford Avenue and East Palmer Street
Thursday, 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Featuring:

Penn Hill Produce Farm produce and Amish groceries 

The Radian Farmers' Market
3925 Walnut Street
Friday, 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Featuring:

Seeds for Learning produce
Visalli's Orchards produce and flowers
Greenwood Kitchen gluten-free baked goods