Food, Inc. Comes to Town

Just a quick note of interest... the documentary film everyone has been talking about, Food, Inc. is coming to the Saratoga Film Forum. If you are interested in food issues, especially where your food comes from, you must see this movie. Here's the what the Film Forum review had to say about it: Otto Von Bismark once said, "Laws are like sausages; it is better not to see them being made". This is especially true , perhaps, of laws regarding the production of sausages or of food in general. However, Food, Inc. does just that, lifting the veil on our nation's food industry and exposing the dark underbelly. Controlled primarily by a handful of multinational corporations, the global food production business has as its goal the production of large quantities of food at low cost, resulting in large profits and greater control of the global food supply by these few companies. The health and safety of the food, animals, workers, and consumers are rarely these companies' chief concerns, and are often overlooked by the government. Food, Inc. reveals surprising and often shocking truths about what we eat, how it's produce, who we have become as a nation, and where we are going from here.

The film is being shown on Thursday and Friday nights, November 12 and 13, at 8 p.m. It is also being shown on Sunday afternoon, November 15, as part of a special Local Foods, Local Films event. In addition to Food, Inc., two short films by local filmmakers, focused on food and farming issues will be premiered. Local food will be provided by One Caroline Bistro and Mouzon House. Tammara will be leading a panel discussion after the films for any one interested in talking about them. It should be interesting event. Here's a link to the Film Forum for more information: http://www.saratogafilmforum.org

Seasons Come, Seasons Go

Another season has come and gone. Our last market was held this past Saturday on Halloween morning. Despite predictions of rain, the day turned out to be quite nice and surprisingly warm. This brought out a lot of our regular customers to shop one last time and gave us a chance to thank them for their season long support and wish them well until spring. We ended the season with a reasonable selection of produce at the market - plenty of salad and cooking greens, scallions, radishes, and broccoli.

After the last market we attended the annual farmers market lunch at Mouzon House, the great restaurant located just south of High Rock park. Many of the farms provided produce and other products for the lunch which was attended by many of the farmers, their families and farm helpers, and dedicated customers. The event was very well attended and it was a fun festive way to end the season.


On Friday, our last harvest day on the farm, we had our own end of season celebration. Pizza and ice cream satisfied a hungry crew. Many a slice were put away, making the afternoon drag a bit as we all tried to overcome our food comas. Martin wins the honors for most slices consumed - it was impressive.

It is a bitter-sweet time of year. I am certainly looking forward to a break and some much needed time off, but also a bit sad to be saying good-bye to a great crew who have become good friends. Everyone goes their separate ways. Martin will shift his focus back to his artwork as he prepares for a gallery showing in Hudson, NY for February. Laura leaves tomorrow for Guatemala for some warmer weather and travel adventure. Luke returns to selling records at Last Vestige while he plots his strategy for becoming the next big thing in the music and art worlds. Maureen is also planning for travels to warmer climates - hoping to make arrangements for an extended stay in Florida. Tammara and I will be doing some traveling as well; North Carolina to visit friends during Thanksgiving, and Yucatan, Mexico around New Year's.

The farm is in good shape as we head into late fall. The earlier cover crops of oats, peas, and vetch came up beautifully, turning the fields a wonderful emerald green. This is a nice sight during the time of year when everything else has turned brown. The later cover crops of rye and vetch didn't seems to germinate - I guess it was just too cold to get them started. With some luck, maybe an Indian Summer will be just enough to get them going. If you can get them started they will at least be there to grow in the early spring.

There are still lots of clean up projects to do, but most of the critical things have been taken care of. The pace of life can now finally slow down a bit; time to recharge, renew, and relax. I hope to keep this blog going, at least in a limited capacity, through the winter. When we get a chance to look at all our records and notes we will do a season recap - what crops did well, which did poorly, and how did this season compare to past ones. There are also a number of good farm conferences and meetings that we will be attending, so we will report any interesting information we can gather. So, until next time .... cheers!