On average, the food we eat today travels an average of 1500 miles from farm to fork! This can be reduced dramatically a number of ways, including making informed choices at the grocery store, growing some of our own food, joining a CSA, or going to the farmer’s market.
Chef Nathan Lyon at the Farmer’s Market
Hey, why not all of the above? More people are eating locally-grown food while reaping the benefits of in-season produce and lowering their impact on the environment. And by preserving and canning all this fresh food ourselves, we extend that local, seasonal food selection all through winter!
Joe Lamp’l and Chef Nathan Lyon take us to the Farmer’s Market where we learn about “food miles,” and Nathan shows us how to shop a market, what to look for, what to ask for, and how to get to know your vendors! Much of the time, the vendors ARE the farmers – which means they know everything about the crops: how they were grown, how they were treated for pests, what you need to know about proper storage, and you can be sure they have some great suggestions on ways to prepare it!
Theresa Loe, City Homesteader and Food Preserver
In this episode we visit a homeowner whose 1/10 acre Los Angeles backyard in is packed nearly wall-to-wall with edibles. You might not even notice all the food at first glance; with all the beautiful flowers and garden art and chickens and landscaped drifts of color you suddenly see… that’s a pepper plant! Nasturtiums! Those are tomatoes! Herbs, corn? Is that an apple tree on the back fence? And why is our Associate Producer Theresa Loe carrying a chicken?
When you grow your own food, you’ll find you commonly end up with not only “plenty” of produce, but EXTRA. Some years, even after you’ve given to your family and neighbors and coworkers and local food bank and you’re starting to give it away to strangers on the street, you still have some left over and can’t eat it all or give it away fast enough. Theresa shows us that by knowing how to can and preserve the surplus, you’re eating locally and seasonally all year long.
Chef Nathan prepares Parmesan Cheese Souffle with fresh eggs
Buying and growing food locally is a boost to your local economy as well: by buying from local farmers and growers, and giving our own homegrown food surplus to food banks or shelters, we can be part of a complete community solution.
For more information:
- More about food miles
- Theresa Loe on Preserving the Harvest
- Joe Lamp’l’s blog post about this episode
- Garden Fresh Living
- Building Chicken Coops for Dummies (book)
- Chef Nathan Lyon prepares Parmesan Cheese Souffle with Fresh Eggs
*Unfortunately, since this show aired, Veggie Trader is no longer a functioning website.
About GGWTV
Growing A Greener World is a national gardening series on Public Television that features organic gardening, green living and farm to table cooking. Each episode focuses on compelling and inspirational people making a difference through gardening. This gardening series covers everything from edible gardening and sustainable agriculture to seasonal cooking and preserving the harvest.
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I adore you’re garden …. And will be watching your episodes on the website … Ty for inspiring me to grow .. When younger I did some canning with my mother in law but shd always grew the garden lol … Guess it’s never to late to try
Sincerely
Vicki
So glad you enjoyed the episode Vicki. It is never to late to try canning! Go for it!
Your garden truly is an inspiration, Theresa! I’m going to try the vertical gardening with ladders … love it.
This back yard has to be the closest I have come across to my own dream space. Very inspiring! I would be so interested in a garden map or even a whole book! There are many books out there on backyard garden/homesteads but I have yet to come across one that discribes something like this. I would love to know what each plant is, why it is grown, the reasons behind each placement choice, what are their needs. How exactly do you tie the chickens, worms, compost, etc together. How exactly do you grow things, like the apple tree mentioned, to fit into small spaces. Do you grow certain plants together because they compliment eachother. What kind of pest control do you use? The hen and chicks plant I saw being grown on the actual roof of the coop was a new idea to me! Basically I would love to learn everything about this backyard because it has to be the most beautiful, well designed space I have yet seen in my search. You seem to have it all figured out and your creation is my inspiration. Thank you!
I would also like to add to my previous comment that, while I know the answers to my questions can be found this website and elsewhere, I was expressing interest in exactly what makes this one space tick. 🙂 thanks again!
Sarah,
Thanks so much for your wonderful compliments of my garden!! I am glad that you find it inspiring. I think that I would need to write a book to be able to answer all of your questions. But I do write a lot about what I do in my garden over on my personal website: http://www.livinghomegrown.com so perhaps it would help to go there.
I grow everything organically and do not have many pests – but when I do, I only treat with natural products. I do not have a garden map of plants because my garden is constantly changing and evolving. But I do think I should make a list of my main plants as I get asked this question all the time. I will work on that!
In the meantime, thanks for your lovely comments and hopefully I will see you over on my personal website soon!
~Theresa
This was incredibly inspiring! Thanks so much for sharing with us. I particularly liked the tips about gardening with kids; I’m on 1/3 an acre and struggling to find ways to help keep my near 2-year-old interested, but we’re getting there and hopefully I’ll inspire her to love the earth and cherish that food as much as I do.