The Market is Open

Check out the new produce this week! The market is open.

“Near the end of March, 1845, I borrowed an axe and went down to the woods by Walden Pond. . . It is difficult to begin without borrowing.” (Thoreau)

Try to think of one action, thought, or opportunity from this week that was utterly, completely, purely original. The proverbial Newtonian apple that falls out of nowhere and inspires an original thought is rare. . . it may even be impossible. Our ideas, our skills, our jobs, our wisdom are rooted in other people, other historical ideas, and other skills from mentors. We stand on the shoulders of others, and others stand on the shoulders of an infinite regression. The roots of our knowledge, our success, our lives, and our happiness stretch down toward eternity. From the genes that cover our mortal lives to the jeans that cover our naked legs, we depend on a great common sharing and exchange.

This may to be too cosmic in tone for a market blog, but it relates to even our food. Our tables hold borrowed life. Swiping a credit card or exchanging green paper may obfuscate the true nature of food. Eating is fundamentally borrowing. When we eat, we borrow the energy produced from a grower’s sweat, the life of plant and animal, and the fertility cultivated by billions of microorganisms resident in soil. All life falls back to this soil, and all life eats from this soil.

Give thanks to our local growers and the countless creatures that intersect to form our food ecology. Like Thoreau who attempted to participate fully in life, but couldn’t begin without borrowing an axe, we eat, drink and make merry in a local food web that is rooted deep below the modern age.

Sincerely,

Kyle Holton
Program and Market Manager

Market Reminder

Hey folks, make sure you remember to get your orders into ALFN’s market by noon tomorrow.

We have one update on food this week. Bluebird Hill Farm is doing inventory control work. Consequently, they will not have any beef available. Even if the listing states availability, beef won’t be sent this week. Don’t worry and cry out, “Where’s the beef ?” There are still many other choices in the market. Order with ease!

Peace

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager

The Market is Open: Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend is here! Pools are open and so is the ALFN market !

My family and I lived in Mozambique for close to nine years. During our adjustment phase, we would wallow in nostalgia for home American culture. For me, certain smells would trigger this nostalgia. The weird olfactory mixes of gasoline and cut grass, or seared meat on a grill are smells I associated with my upbringing in America. Both of these smells are rooted in Memorial Day weekend—the beginning of summer for American culture. Of course, taste is intricately linked to smell, and it is no accident human culture is rooted to these two senses. Why? The short answer: food. The tart taste of lemonade in the heat of summer connects the body to place and tradition. The redolent smells of grilling meat are reminiscent of festival and ceremony. According to food scientists, we have five distinct tastes; however, scientists can only provide concrete evolutionary reasons for four of the tastes. Too much bitter can be a sign of poison; overly sour food can suggest rottenness; just the right amount of saltiness is necessary for health; and sweet provides packets of energy. Can you guess the mysterious fifth taste?

A relatively new taste, umami is a Japanese word meaning pleasantly savory. The taste is hard to nail down, but there are concrete receptors for this taste in our brains. The taste can be found in seared meats, broths, aged cheeses, and cooked tomatoes. Of course, industrial food systems have tried to capitalize on this naturally occurring taste through the addition of MSG into many processed foods.

The mystery of umami is that often the taste is synergistic. Food scientist can’t simply isolate and replicate the taste…it surfaces when foods combine on our plates. This is one of the reasons why scientists have a hard time hypothesizing the evolutionary reason for our umami cravings. Umami seems to emerge out of our culinary traditions: fermenting, grilling, and combining. To me, this suggests umami is a taste that emerged with the culture of cooking. Yes, we eat to survive. But, we also eat to mark passing time, remember old time, and toast to new time. We cook and share food in ways that can best be described as rituals of communion with our fellow tribe. What emerges from these rituals are savory tastes on the palate and the heart.

Welcome to summer! Strike up the fires and order up a plate of umami from the ALFN market!

Sincerely

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager

P.S. For a fun look at umami, check out chapter three of Jonah Lehrer’s book, Proust Was a Neuroscientist.

Market Reminder

I hope all of you managed to briefly get out in the sun…I don’t know how long it will last! Remember to get your order into the market before it closes tomorrow at noon!

ABC Nature Greenhouse & Herb Farm just announced a reduction on all tomatoes to $.86 each except for the black cherry tomato plants. Order a couple before they disappear!

Also, remember to have fun this week at Riverfest 2015! Check out Flowing on the River this Thursday evening. The tasting event will highlight beer and wine from local producers. The local brews will be paired with food from local restaurants.

Cheers!

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager

The Market is Open and Buzzing

Sunday May 17, 2015

The rains this week have provided habitat for a multitude of buzzing winged-vampires in my backyard. However, the market is also buzzing with action and cyber-sultry commerce. Got an itch for local food? We’ve opened the ALFN market ready to help you scratch that itch with Arkansas produce, plants, and products.

The past couple of weeks another buzz has been in the news—bees. Last summer, beekeepers of the American Beekeeping Federation lost 42% of their bees. Such extreme losses are attributed to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) which involves the massive die-off of whole colonies. For a decade, scientists have been trying to ascertain the source of this alarming illness. For years, people have wondered if CCD is related to long-term exposure to low levels of pesticides used in industrial agriculture. For example, much attention has been directed towards the possible negative effects from neonicotinoid, a widely used insecticide. Neonicotinoids (Neonics) are coated on seeds and are absorbed into the tissue of the plants as they grow. Neonics show up in pollen and nectar of the plants. Of course, the pesticide industry has denied allegation which link CCD to neonics. However, last month two studies came out in Nature that pushes correlation towards causation (Study 1 , Study 2 ). These studies not only showed neonics cause harm to pollinators, but also revealed bees will select nectar laced with neonics over unlaced nectar. It’s possible the bees get a buzz off the neonic nectar just like humans get a buzz off nicotine in cigarettes.

Today, millions of acres are planted in monocultures that require countless bees for pollination. Mono-croppers request thousands of hives from across the nation to spend a few weeks in their fields to pollinate their almond trees, fruit trees, and berry bushes. CCD is one more apocalyptic sign of our unsustainable food practices. However, alternatives to industrial agriculture are germinating all over the country. ALFN brings local produce pollinated by local bees to your table. Support our growers, support local food economies, support local agriculture free of chemical addictions like neonics, and bolster a food system of resilience.

Buzz on!

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager

P.S. There are some great documentaries covering CCD and those who are fighting the problem and helping bees through sustainable practices. Check out this listing of top documentaries on the subject.

Market Reminder

Remember to get your order into the market before noon on Wednesday. There are still beautiful heads of lettuce, cartons of eggs, and those infamous Brassicas available!

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager

Do you have questions or comments about this, or any, weblog? Thoughts on local food, goods, or events? Reply to this email and let us know what’s on your mind. Your feedback is always greatly appreciated!

The Market Is Open

As the weather recharges our aquifers, consider the pleasure of ordering watered food from a dry couch. The market is open, and you don’t even need to put on your mud boots to shop.

Yesterday, the market tables were overflowing with beautiful produce. Lately, the Brassicas are strong contenders for our cravings. These sulfur-rich foods such as Broccoli, Bok Choy, and Kale accentuate our tables with bright and dark greens splashed with marooned reds and milked whites. But color isn’t the only delightful aspect of our local produce. These Brassicas not only fit within our cultivated cravings, but they also bolster our microbiomes. According to recent studies, the host of bacteria and archaea in our guts (which help digest and extract needed nutrients) are thankful for the sulfur-infused foods such as Broccoli. As the ecosystem in our gut breaks down food through fermentation, everything from nutrients to immune-boosting molecules to gas is released. (Warning: If you struggle with instilling table etiquette in your children, make sure they aren’t reading over your shoulder.) According to research, as our inner microbiomes convert healthy foods such as Brassicas into energy, they produce… ehm …sulphoraphane, a gas strongly associated with a reduced risk of cancer. I know I’m taking considerable risks here since this is only my second week in writing the weblogs, but look, science is science. Healthy foods induce healthy effects—despite our cultural misgivings. Further, don’t blame me; blame NPR who publishes this kind of stuff.

In the meantime, eat Brassicas with courage and confidence. Here’s to good eating and forgiving friends and family.

Sincerely,

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager

Do you have questions or comments about this, or any weblog? Thoughts on local food, goods, or events? Reply to this email and let us know what’s on your mind. Your feedback is always greatly appreciated!

Market Reminder

There is an indigenous American folktale told by the Cherokee that seems relevant to our seasonal produce. According to the origin myth, Sky Woman and First Man had an argument. After Sky Woman left, First Man was overwhelmed with regret. However, First Man couldn’t catch up with Sky Woman; she was too fast. In compassion, the sun created strawberries to distract Sky Woman from her anger so First Man could catch up to her and apologize.

The market is still bursting with vibrant colors of red and green today. Take a break from the hectic week and allow the colors of local produce to distract you for a moment today. Who knows? Maybe what you find in the market will alow you to catch up with your loved ones over a plate full of sun-filled food.

Remember to enter your order this week before the market closes Wednesday at noon!

Here’s to blue skies!

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager

Do you have questions or comments about this, or any, weblog? Thoughts on local food, goods, or events? Reply to this email and let us know what’s on your mind. Your feedback is always greatly appreciated!

The Market is Open and Welcome Kyle!

Good Morning Food Club,

The market is open and ready for ordering!

I’m also SO excited to give a big Food Club welcome to our brand new Program and Market Manager, Kyle Holton! Kyle will be replacing Rebecca and myself as staff, but don’t you worry, I still plan on being heavily involved on the ALFN Board. It’s been an honor to serve as Director of Operations for the last year and a half, but it was time for me to find something full-time, and I’m happy to announce I’m the new Grants Foundation Coordinator at the Arkansas Foodbank. Anyways, I really am excited to welcome Kyle, and I know you all will be too. Thanks for all that you do to support small, sustainable, Arkansas farms.

Sincerely,

Alex Handfinger

Thanks for the introduction Alex. I’m elated to be joining the ALFN community this year, and I look forward to meeting all of our growers, cooks, foodies, locavores, and the general hungry human. Look for me next Saturday at pick up; I’d love to meet you. For most of my adult life, my family and I ate from a local food market in Mozambique as we worked for a local non-profit. I learned to understand the human and biological roots of my own survival. From my perspective, eating food cultivated by our regional neighbors grounds our taste buds. ALFN is one of those wonderful organizations that help reestablish the connection between food and local economies.

After you’ve filled the belly of your food plans this week, check out the online nursery of plants available. Spring is in full force, and we have a number of locally germinated heirloom veggies, herbs, flowers and even some fruit trees. We’ve got everything from Arkansas Traveler Tomatoes to Pineberry Strawberries to ‘Aureus’ Hops to Buddha’s Hand Citron trees. Buy a plant, get dirt under your fingernails, and green your thumb…you may even find Nirvana in your backyard.

Sincerely,
Kyle Holton

The Market is Open with New Names (but familiar faces)!

Good Morning Market,

Spring has sprung and we’re well on our way to local food bliss. With each week the market selection expands with more delicious food from more of our old farmer friends. We’ve got some of both this week, including:

• Plenty of pasture-raised chicken and woodland-raised pork from Grass Roots Farmers’ Cooperative. Grass Roots is a newly formed cooperative of sustainable Arkansas meat producers, including our old friends at Falling Sky Farm. These growers got together to share the business side of farming – like accounting, purchasing, and processing – so that they can focus on being farmers. I’m excited about the expanded possibilities this cooperative can bring!

• We’ve also got leeks from Weal and Woe Farm, the recently re-located Bee in My Bonnet Farm from Katie Beaton and Andy Olson. Moving farms sounds like quite the chore, so I’ll make some potato leek soup in their honor!

• Freshly-sprouted microgreens from Food For Thought Farm. These tiny greens are packed with nutrients and flavor, and he’s got ’em in arugula, french salad, mung bean, and sunflower. A great, crunchy addition to salads, sandwiches, or stir-frys!

• Wonderful duck eggs from Bluebird Hill Berry Farm. I love poaching duck eggs and putting them on top of just about everything…salads, pizza, sandwiches, stir-frys…what isn’t better with an egg on it? They’re somehow buttery, soft, with the most delicious and bright yolks you’ll ever try.

• Lots of exciting new listings from Maison Terre Natural Products, including micro greens, pecan trees, and a sack o’ taters. This 7-gallon bag comes ready with soil and ’tater plant, just place on your deck and harvest in Autumn!

Happy eating!

- Alex Handfinger
Director of Operations

Do you have questions or comments about this, or any, weblog? Thoughts on local food, goods, or events? Reply to this email and let us know what’s on your mind. Your feedback is always greatly appreciated!