Gene Novogrodsky and his wife Ruth Wagner have participated in the Brownsville Farmers' Market for three years. Long-time proponent of fresh food, they offer us some poetic musings on the meaning and relevance of growing food. Visit them at The Brownsville Farmers' Market on Saturday mornings, 9am-noon.
We've had backyard gardens more than 40 or so years, perhaps closer to 50, just like breathing, very natural.
Ruth said that she figures from October to May we only buy 15 percent of our fruits and vegetables, the rest coming from our trees and small plots.
She also said that she likes swapping baked goods for fresh fish from neighbors.
While talking, she decried the absence of backyard gardens, even for herbs, around the City of Brownsville, same for fruit trees.
How hard can it be to have wee plots?
How hard can it be to plant some fruit trees?
How hard can it be to approach fishermen?
Of course, the Brownsville Farmers Market, now midway in its third year, has nudged some into backyard-garden planting, same for fruit-tree planting.
And it has enabled thousands to meet some real farmers, not just backyard ones like us, and to realize that Deep South Texas has virtually anything that a person needs for nutrition.
Some have opened their eyes to the several farm stands in the Valley.
Some have stopped at the many open-back pickups from where fresh fruit is sold, same for fruit trees.
If there is an area of the United States that has the sun, air, soil and water to move towards near agricultural self-sufficiency, we have it, barely minutes from anyone's home.
More!
We have composted for years, and have recycled for years, also.
We put out the ugly green trash bins about once every two months.
Like that breathing out and in, the earth is quite a part of us.
We'd recommend others try to incorporate the earth in their lives - it might extend them, reduce stress and also leave one with a connection to this getting-too-fragile-for-our-taste planet.
See you at the market!
See you in your yard!
See you with your herb spot.
As for an aside.
Ruth was transplanting New Zealand spinach, lettuce and dill yesterday. I was pulling weeds.
We looked at a century plant. Bees were at its colored lumps: brownish-yellow bees at light brown, light yellow and deep green protrusions, and the connections continue.
Paz Pan Salud/Peace Bread Health
Eugene "Gene" Novogrodsky and Ruth E. Wagner
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
What fresh food is springing: it's all on Facebook
Until recently there was no need for much communications in the farmers market environment. Probably anyone you met in any small town, 100 years ago, could tell you what days and times perishables were sold at public market, in their town. Surely that person would be as amazed at the demise of the public market, as they would be the advent of the internet.
Now, email is old hat. The myriad of subject-matter, work demands, spam, phishing scams, etc. have reduced the effectiveness of email as a communication tool. People are more than likely to be reading electronic messages on a phone size appliance now, not a screen. I’m humbled to have lived through yet another demise of cutting edge technology. Eight tracks, VHS tapes, and now email.
Facebook is the now we face. I was skeptical until forced to use it by the organizers of another farmers market. It is the way to hook up with people who share an interest in a very specialized subject matter.
The Brownsville Farmers Market 9 to noon each Saturday thru May at the 6th Street Linear Park (though we are considering extending year-round, if farmers produce in the Texas Valley heat). That is the only repetitive message to communicate. And of course that most of the farmers who sell food there use no pesticides or chemical fertilizers ... it's food that cuts through politics, big business and dozens of social ills to include health care's industry of keeping people sick, with medicine that does as much harm as good – if not more. The bulk of our communication about the Market is not repetitive – who is coming ? what they are bringing ? what is a good way to prepare it ? etc. The most efficient way to get that timely info to you is to have it bypass as many middlemen as possible. Every repetition degrades the info. Accuracy is lost, the information is older and of less value.
So, this is a reminder. The weekly info about market details is going to be posted on the Brownsville Farmers' Market's FaceBook page. The farmers and other vendors will be able to post their individual info directly, daily or weekly. More importantly, we can get some communication among ourselves about our now treasured Farmers Market. One thing to remember, though, is that our Texas Valley farmers' markets are exactly what they are. The fewer expectations you have, the better the chance that you'll appreciate what's there. Don't look for the piles and piles of food you see in a grocery store, food that's been grown with pesticides and chemicals and that could be making all of us sick. Use what the market brings to you, and you'll help this market grow – and you'll help our local economy and environment flourish, too.
You can create a Facebook profile that is very bare bones, with very little personal information. Visit the FaceBook page of the Brownsville Farmers Market and become a “Fan”. Once you do that, any Brownsville Farmers Market Facebook posts will be on the opening page, each time you open FaceBook. Odds are, you won’t stop there. I keep up with everyone from my high school biology teacher to a cartoonist that specializes in Valley humor.
Go to FaceBook now and become a fan!
www.facebook.com/BrownsvilleFarmersMarket
And don't forget the South Padre Farmers' Market, 11am-1pm on Sundays. Find updates on their Facebook page as well, and "Like" them, too.
www.facebook.com/pages/South-Padre-Island-Farmers-Market/240120627092
By Jack Moffit
(updated by David Robledo)
Now, email is old hat. The myriad of subject-matter, work demands, spam, phishing scams, etc. have reduced the effectiveness of email as a communication tool. People are more than likely to be reading electronic messages on a phone size appliance now, not a screen. I’m humbled to have lived through yet another demise of cutting edge technology. Eight tracks, VHS tapes, and now email.
Facebook is the now we face. I was skeptical until forced to use it by the organizers of another farmers market. It is the way to hook up with people who share an interest in a very specialized subject matter.
The Brownsville Farmers Market 9 to noon each Saturday thru May at the 6th Street Linear Park (though we are considering extending year-round, if farmers produce in the Texas Valley heat). That is the only repetitive message to communicate. And of course that most of the farmers who sell food there use no pesticides or chemical fertilizers ... it's food that cuts through politics, big business and dozens of social ills to include health care's industry of keeping people sick, with medicine that does as much harm as good – if not more. The bulk of our communication about the Market is not repetitive – who is coming ? what they are bringing ? what is a good way to prepare it ? etc. The most efficient way to get that timely info to you is to have it bypass as many middlemen as possible. Every repetition degrades the info. Accuracy is lost, the information is older and of less value.
So, this is a reminder. The weekly info about market details is going to be posted on the Brownsville Farmers' Market's FaceBook page. The farmers and other vendors will be able to post their individual info directly, daily or weekly. More importantly, we can get some communication among ourselves about our now treasured Farmers Market. One thing to remember, though, is that our Texas Valley farmers' markets are exactly what they are. The fewer expectations you have, the better the chance that you'll appreciate what's there. Don't look for the piles and piles of food you see in a grocery store, food that's been grown with pesticides and chemicals and that could be making all of us sick. Use what the market brings to you, and you'll help this market grow – and you'll help our local economy and environment flourish, too.
You can create a Facebook profile that is very bare bones, with very little personal information. Visit the FaceBook page of the Brownsville Farmers Market and become a “Fan”. Once you do that, any Brownsville Farmers Market Facebook posts will be on the opening page, each time you open FaceBook. Odds are, you won’t stop there. I keep up with everyone from my high school biology teacher to a cartoonist that specializes in Valley humor.
Go to FaceBook now and become a fan!
www.facebook.com/BrownsvilleFarmersMarket
And don't forget the South Padre Farmers' Market, 11am-1pm on Sundays. Find updates on their Facebook page as well, and "Like" them, too.
www.facebook.com/pages/South-Padre-Island-Farmers-Market/240120627092
By Jack Moffit
(updated by David Robledo)
Monday, January 17, 2011
The 30% Fresh Food Challenge
To REALLY understand how much better food is at The Brownsville Farmers' Market, you have to significantly incorporate Market food into your diet. The Brownsville Farmers’ Market has a small team of “test-eaters” who’ve agreed to eat 1/3 of their food from the Market. These test eaters are not only reporting feeling healthier and happier, but they’re also reporting that their cravings for fast-food and junk food are subsiding, if not vanishing altogether. And they’re losing weight. One reason that people over-eat is that their bodies don’t have the necessary vitamins and nutrients. When a body gets the vitamins and nutrients it needs, hunger subsides.
It’s true that some Market food may seem expensive, but when you consider that most Market food is superior to other food you’ll find in the region, and that Market food can help you improve your life in myriad ways, the extra expense is actually an inexpensive investment. And because most Market farmers don’t use pesticides, eating food from the Market is an investment in the environment and ecology of the region, one that also promotes local jobs.
So if your own job or personal goal is to promote the health, environment, ecology, or local production of goods in the Texas Valley, please accept the Brownsville Farmers’ Market’s 30% Challenge— eat 30% of your food from the Brownsville Farmers’ Market for three delicious weeks, and see how great you feel.
If your job or personal goal is to promote health, environment, ecology, or the local production of goods, and you don’t eat at least 30% of your food from the Brownsville Farmers’ Market or other farmers markets, you might ask yourself why.
The choice is each of ours to make. Lucky for everyone, the best choice is also the freshest and most delicious.
Come see us every Saturday morning through May at 6th & Ringgold, across the street from the Gladys Porter Zoo
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