The Market Is Open

Good Day ALFN Members

I trust all of you had a relaxing and filling time with food and people. We are inside the holiday season, and the market is full of tasty options.

• Check out the mixed varieties of carrots from Great Day Natural Produce

• Willow Springs is back with some diverse tastes including Moringa roots, wild beautyberry jelly, watermelon radishes, cilantro, and lemon drop pepper jelly.

• Armstead Mountain Farm has some beautiful spinach and Napa cabbage for anyone with a hankering to make traditional Kimchi.

• Green Acres has a few new listings including organic Pork Ribs.

The International Climate Change Conference begins tomorrow in Paris. There seems to be more resolve from countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with 95% of countries submitting reduction plans within their own borders. Unfortunately, climate change has been politicized in our country confusing the issue and rendering the science opaque. It remains important for large governments to provide tangible plans for action. Farming is chaotic enough without considering the potential shifts in climate increasing extreme weather events. With the warmest month on record since 1963, October was an example of shifts in weather patterns. These patterns are what give us plant hardiness zones as well as unique food cultures based on local flora and fauna. Keep your ears tuned to what happens this year at the conference. Of course, I have more confidence in local change driven by local producers and consumers, but we need the big global players to join reality.

Have a wonderful week.

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager

Market Reminder

Good Morning ALFN Members,

Remember to finalize your orders on the market before Wednesday at noon.

Announcements

I just received word that Grass Roots Cooperative will not be delivering this weekend. Consequently, if you have already made an order from them, Grass Roots will pull the item from your final invoice. You may want to take this opportunity to find other options in our meat section.

We still have some wonderful items in the market including mixed greens, fruits, green eggs and ham, and…did I see carrots?

I hope everyone has a relaxing Thanksgiving with friends and family surrounded by good food.

Sincerely,

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager

The Market Is Open

Thanksgiving week has arrived! By know many of you have received your turkeys from our local growers and have already made preparations for a feast. We will be open this Saturday for post-Thanksgiving foods. You may be stuffed for a day, but we’ll be here when the hunger pains come back. With all the plans for this week, don’t forget to make your orders for the next week. Happy Thanksgiving! The market is open.

Updates

Arkansas Natural Produce will not be delivering this week for Thanksgiving. However, we still have plenty of produce from other growers. We wish all of our growers a happy and restful week!

This week, I would like to leave you with the famous Three Sisters planting technique from the Iroquois who practiced a unique method of agriculture called polyculture. The three sisters were composed of corn, beans and squash. I know many of you are familiar with the Thanksgiving-themed reference. However, studies done at Cornell show the production levels of the three sisters to be better than typical monoculture systems. As you know the nitrogen-fixing pole beans use the stalks of the corn for support and the sprawling squash shades out weeds. The combination of the three plants provides a synergy that is greater than the sum of its parts. I have copied a legend below from the Cornell website that goes into the mythical explanation of the three sisters planting technique.

A Legend

Once upon a time very long ago, there were three sisters who lived together in a field. These sisters were quite different from one another in their size and also in their way of dressing. One of the three was a little sister, so young that she could only crawl at first, and she was dressed in green. The second of the three wore a frock of bright yellow, and she had a way of running off by herself when the sun shone and the soft wind blew in her face. The third was the eldest sister, standing always very straight and tall above the other sisters and trying to guard them. She wore a pale green shawl, and she had long, yellow hair that tossed about her head in the breezes.

There was only one way in which the three sisters were alike. They loved one another very dearly, and they were never separated. They were sure that they would not be able to live apart.

After awhile a stranger came to the field of the three sisters, a little Indian boy. He was as straight as an arrow and as fearless as the eagle that circled the sky above his head. He knew the way of talking to the birds and the small brothers of the earth, the shrew, the chipmunk, and the young foxes. And the three sisters, the one who was just able to crawl, the one in the yellow frock, and the one with the flowing hair, were very much interested in the little Indian boy. They watched him fit his arrow in his bow, saw him carve a bowl with his stone knife, and wondered where he went at night.

Late in the summer of the first coming of the Indian boy to their field, one of the three sisters disappeared. This was the youngest sister in green, the sister who could only creep. She was scarcely able to stand alone in the field unless she had a stick to which she clung. Her sisters mourned for her until the fall, but she did not return.

Once more the Indian boy came to the field of the three sisters. He came to gather reeds at the edge of a stream nearby to make arrow shafts. The two sisters who were left watched him and gazed with wonder at the prints of his moccasins in the earth that marked his trail.

That night the second of the sisters left, the one who was dressed in yellow and who always wanted to run away. She left no mark of her going, but it may have been that she set her feet in the moccasin tracks of the little Indian boy.

Now there was but one of the sisters left. Tall and straight she stood in the field not once bowing her head with sorrow, but it seemed to her that she could not live there alone. The days grew shorter and the nights were colder. Her green shawl faded and grew thin and old. Her hair, once long and golden, was tangled by the wind. Day and night she sighed for her sisters to return to her, but they did not hear her. Her voice when she tried to call to them was low and plaintive like the wind.

But one day when it was the season of the harvest, the little Indian boy heard the crying of the third sister who had been left to mourn there in the field. He felt sorry for her, and he took her in his arms and carried her to the lodge of his father and mother. Oh what a surprise awaited here there! Her two lost sisters were there in the lodge of the little Indian boy, safe and very glad to see her. They had been curious about the Indian boy, and they had gone home with him to see how and where he lived. They had liked his warm cave so well that they had decided now that winter was coming on to stay with him. And they were doing all they could to be useful.

The little sister in green, now quite grown up, was helping to keep the dinner pot full. The sister in yellow sat on the shelf drying herself, for she planned to fill the dinner pot later. The third sister joined them, ready to grind meal for the Indian boy. And the three were never separated again.

Every child of today knows these sisters and needs them just as much as the little Indian boy did. For the little sister in green is the bean. Her sister in yellow is the squash, and the elder sister with long flowing hair of yellow and the green shawl is the corn. Cornell

Three Sisters Recipe

In case your are interested, the NYTimes has a fun recipe using corn, squash and beans. Check it out here: NYTimes

Have a wonderful week!

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager

Volunteers for Saturday

ALFN Members,

We still have one volunteer spot open for the late shift tomorrow. First one to sign-up wins the position!

Volunteer Spot

Thanks!

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager

ALFN Market Schedule

ALFN Members,

I forgot to mention in yesterday’s reminder that we will be open next weekend (28th) after Thanksgiving. The holidays are all about food, right:)

Thanks

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager

Market Reminder

Good Afternoon Members!

I hope all of you are either dry and warm, or soaked and giggly. Remember to finalize your orders this week before I close the market tomorrow at noon.

There is still plenty of oysters, LRUF green mixes (you gotta check out their description:), and sweet chard from Barnhill.

…and there are still beautiful Arkansas blacks, Tahitian Melons, pork chops, and all the spices for whatever cooking plans you have.

We have one more spot open for the late shift this Saturday. You can sign up here: Volunteer Spot

Take it easy,

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager

The Market Is Open

The ides of November are upon us. The assassination of Caesar may not be at hand, but the gobblers are beginning to look nervously around them wondering if the tragedy of the past is doomed to repeat…“Et tu Brute?” The forest floor is pulling up her blanket and the trees are slowly crawling down into themselves for another sleep. Yards are receiving their final mow, and the sharp breeze has reminded my children of hot chocolate. The market isn’t sleeping, but still bursting with food thanks our growers know-how in extending the season of warmth into the shadowed chill. Turn on the kettle for a quick brew while you peruse our regional harvest. The market is open.

Updates

1. Little Rock Urban Farming (LRUF) is back in our market with beautiful organic produce. Check out what they have to offer this week. LRUF is an active member of the urban farming community in Little Rock. LRUF and Chris Hiryak are the backbone behind the Southern Center for Agroecology which is a nonprofit that provides workshops and services for the community such as the fermentation workshop last week. Besides checking out their produce in our market, check out their websites: LRUF and SCA.

2. Remember to give Tammy Sue a visit for the Christmas Open House on November 28th from 10:00-2:00. Tammy Sue’s Critters Farm is located at 4 Cheyenne Tr. in North Little Rock.

3. Also, A B C Nature Greenhouse & Herb Farm has new stock of Blue and Golden Oyster mushrooms in the market this week. You don’t want to miss those tasty, friendly fungi!

4. Barnhill Orchards has a special on Swiss Chard this week. The price for the 8 oz and 16 oz are the same! Also, I’m told the frost has sweetened the chard!

Reflection

The time of year has arrived when my kids look at all the bagged leaves and final grass clippings of our neighbors and grin. Over the past few years, I’ve offered a paying job to my kids. They go around our neighborhood with a wheelbarrow picking up the curbed leaves and clippings and return them to our yard. The first year I offered a dime per bag. Last year, we renegotiated and the average price per bag was 15 cents. This year, negotiations are underway. When they are finished, our yard has huge leaf piles I use for various mulching activities. Along with the fall weather, the sounds of raking leaves and the last drones of lawn mowers have reinvigorated a curious interest I have. Every year, I find myself pulling Robert Frost off the shelf during this time of year. And I always read one of my favorites. Here it is:

Mowing
By Robert Frost

There was never a sound beside the wood but one,
And that was my long scythe whispering to the ground.
What was it it whispered? I knew not well myself;
Perhaps it was something about the heat of the sun,
Something, perhaps, about the lack of sound—
And that was why it whispered and did not speak.
It was no dream of the gift of idle hours,
Or easy gold at the hand of fay or elf:
Anything more than the truth would have seemed too weak
To the earnest love that laid the swale in rows,
Not without feeble-pointed spikes of flowers
(Pale orchises), and scared a bright green snake.
The fact is the sweetest dream that labor knows.
My long scythe whispered and left the hay to make.

I could drone on and on about this poem…I once taught American Literature in high school, so you know I am an able torturer. I will not wax, but in the waning hours of green and warmth, I must at least reflect on the sufficient and invigorating life lived with good labor. Fall is a time when labor is visualized. It would seem, the work of this year reaches maturity after toil begets blossom and fall climaxes with the fruit of our labor. With each fluid motion of energy, the scythe’s whispers pile up to make hay. Our mind’s intentions take bodily energy, and we pirouette our labors into the world. What do our swinging arms say as they cut through time and space? Do they pile up into tangible mounds of hope and help? Does our labor make hay that feeds beast and spirit in the wintering hours?

I also like this poem because I have a slightly odd obsession with scythes. On my rocky perch within the eastern-most Ouachita foothills, I don’t really need a scythe…but, jeez, I want one. I think they are one of the coolest hand tools out there. I’m afraid I’ve been guilty of watching YouTube videos of scything competitions with mowers and weed eaters. Like, you have to check out this video: Scythe vs. Weed Eater

Well, may you hear the whisper of your own earthly labors above the modern, metal caucaphony. May there be silence in your fields and whispers of good labor at your feet.

Cheers,

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager

Volunteer Help

Hey Members,

I had a couple of cancellations and could use some help tomorrow in the market. I have one spot open in the early shift, and two spots open in the late shift. Sign up for the early and late and get $10 volunteer credit!!

Here is the link: Volunteer Spot

Thanks!

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager

Market Reminder

Greetings ALFN Members,

Remember to complete your orders on the market before noon tomorrow. There is still plenty of produce available, so seize the moment. Please note a few announcements below regarding the market and other neighborhood events.

1. Barnhill Orchards have fresh strawberries on the market this week. Check them out in the fruit section of the market.

2. Tammy Sue’s Critters will be hosting a farm Christmas Open House on November 28th from 10:00-2:00. The farm will be decked out in festivities, an outdoor crackling fire will be blazing, and the critters will be caroling with excitement. What a great opportunity to meet all the sentient individuals who make and prepare some of our products on the market! Tammy Sue’s Critters Farm is located at 4 Cheyenne Tr. in North Little Rock.

3. CANAS is hosting another food workshop this week! Angela Gardner with The Root will conduct a class at the Little Rock Urban Farm on Thursday. Check out their website for more information, or you can directly register here.

Obviously there is quite a bit fermenting, percolating and budding in our foodshed this week!

Sincerely,

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager

The Market Is Open

Have you seen the market lately? There are some beautiful, tasty and curious products available. We have some funky gourds, deep purple sweet peppers, orange tumeric, spicy cheese, and lavender soaps. Load up on goodness; the market is open!

Food Label Part II

Last week, I gave a brief description about the difference between conventional and organic labels. Today, I want to explain the nuances in certified and non-certified organic labels. The two major organic certifications are USDA Certified Organic and Certified Naturally Grown (CNG). You will notice that we also have a description on our growers page that is “No Chemicals.” Why all the differences? Here is a brief explanation.

When the USDA created the Certified Organic label, it required all growers who use the word “organic” to be certified. Consequently, growers are not allowed to use the word if they are not certified, OR they make less than $5,000 a year in sales. USDA Certified growers must go through a costly and extensive process to become certified and are inspected on a regular basis. All USDA certified products cannot use synthetics in their operation, nor have used synthetics in the past few years (often three years). Also, all USDA certified organic products cannot use GMO ingredients.

Certified Naturally Grown (CNG) was a reaction to USDA certification back in 2002 when growers could no longer use the word organic unless through the USDA. Put succinctly, USDA certification can be very expensive and often fits better with larger scaled operations. CNG has the same regulations as USDA with a few differences. CNG is a peer-reviewed system where farmers inspect other farms. These inspectors are allowed to give advice during the inspection (unlike the USDA). Also, all the information of the farms application and inspections are available to the public on CNG’s website: http://www.cngfarming.org/. CNG is much cheaper for small-scale growers and is based on annual donations from its members.

Finally, non-certified organic growers who gross less than $5,000 can use the word organic, but must maintain the same basic standards as the USDA certification. For other non-certified organic growers, we offer the “No Chemicals” description so that they may provide a more nuanced description of their practices on their grower pages.

Overall, the basic division revolves around the use of synthetics. If a grower uses them in their operation, they cannot describe their produce as organic or “No Chemicals.” Our growers are a diverse group of wonderful people with varying practices. However, they are all open and transparent and welcome communication with their customers.

ALFN’s goal is to equip you to make well-informed decisions that energize and cultivate our local foodshed. As always, we welcome further questions and comments in this pursuit.

Thanks

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager