Art, Recipes, & Regenerative Practices for Happier People & a Healthier Planet
Pomona College RAISE 2020
2
Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………….. 5 Corn, Beans, and Squash ……………………………………………………………... 6 Cacao ……………………………………………………………………………………………... 8 Agroforestry and Silvopasture………………………………………………………. 10 Beet………………………………………………………………………………………………… 12 Cilantro………………………………………………………………………………………….
13
Coffee……………………………………………………………………………………………... 14 Farm Workers & Free Produce Movements…………………………………. 16 Basil……………………………………………………………………………………………
18
Tomato…………………………………………………………………………………………… 19 The Billion Agaves Project...………………………………………………………….. 20
Agave...……………………………………………………………………………………………. 22 Blueberry………………………………………………………………………………………... 24 Perennials………….…………………………………………………………………………… 25 Breadfruit……………………………………………………………………………………... 28 Lavender…………………………………………………………………………………………. 30 Clover…………………………………………………………………………………………...
31
Nasturtium…………………………………………………………………………………...
32
Rose…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 33 Reclaiming Farming & Reparations …..………………………………………... 34 Garlic………………………………………………………………………………………………. 36 Onion………………………………………………………………………………………………. 37 A Pastry Case in Pie Charts…..……………………………………………………… 38 On Companionship………………………………………………………………………… 40 Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………… 42 References………………………………………………………………………………………. 43
3
4
Ever wonder what it takes to grow your dinner? Ever wanted to trace the history of your chocolate bar or the origins of a flower bouquet? As an avid cook and eater of food, I am always a little awestruck by the volume and diversity of goods in our gro-
cery stores. And I’m also so curious -- how do all of them get here? What energy, resources, and especially people are we relying on? In the following pages, I’ve compiled original illustrations, growing guides, recipes, and fun facts of some of the greatest crops around the world. Interspersed amongst these specific crops are introductory essays to some of today’s best projects in regen-
erative environmentalism such as silvopasture, land reparations, agroforestry, perennial staple crops, and more. This project aims to not only explain what it takes to grow great produce, but also show how much growing things well can do for people and the planet. I hope that this book will be a resource to help anyone grow delicious foods and beautiful flow-
ers. I hope it will act as an introduction to a diverse range of exciting practices making strong strides towards intersectional environmental justice. I hope you read it excited to literally get your hands dirty gardening, try a range of new recipes, and talk about the science, politics, and history of everything on your dinner table. Moreover, I hope that this project will be a living, growing source of inspiration and proof that we can all contribute to sustainably designing a better, healthier, happier world -- and that doing so is meaningful, tasty, and fun!
Left: Vineyard intercropping in Soledad, CA. Photo by Adele Payman, 2018
5
There are many legends of the Three Sisters. During the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee told of three resilient women as guidance along the way and then while cultivating Oklahoma territory. The Haudenosaunee tell a legend of three sisters: the youngest in green, crawling across the ground; the next in bright yellow, darting across the fields; the oldest tall with long yellow hair and a green shawl. One day, a young came by, showing them his ways of working with the land, birds, and animals. In curiosity, each sister followed him and reunited to sustain each other in his warm home through winter, never to part again. In the field, the sisters are just as harmonious. The corn becomes a natural pole for the beans to grow. The beans’ roots process nitrogen in the soil. Squash acts as a ground cover to provide nutrients and help the soil retain moisture.
Ingredients -
2 cups onions, diced
-
6 cups water
-
2 cans diced tomatoes, no salt added
-
6 cups red skinned potatoes, cubed
-
1 can tomato sauce, no salt added
-
1 cup corn, frozen
-
1 cup yellow squash, diced
-
1 can light red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
-
1 can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
-
½ can quick cooking barley
-
4 garlic cloves, minced
-
1 ½ teaspoon black pepper
Directions In a large stockpot, add all ingredients. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 30-45 minutes until the potatoes are soft. Serve immediately.
6
GRASS family
PEA family
CUCUMBER family
(T ALMUDIC
FOLK SAYING )
ט טיט ט ט טיט טיט טיט טקטיט ט טדט טיטקטיט טמטמט ט ט טחטאט ט ט טדט ט ט
“a single hot pepper is better than a whole basket of pumpkins” (some say, because the great quality of the pepper’s taste is more significant than the basket’s quantity) The three sisters are often grown in a farming practice called milpa. Mil-pa, the Nahuatl phrase for “to the field,” is rooted in the squash, bean, and corn agriculture of the Maya and other Mesoamerican peoples. Today, the term milpa refers to a small field with three sisters and sometimes chili peppers, avocadoes, sweet potatoes, jicama and more. Typically grown in or around forests, most milpa fields are cultivated for two years and left to regenerate woods for eight. Some fields have been fruitful for 4,000 years!
7
and the tablets of Mexican chocolate. Warm over
Adapted from Sylvia’s recipe featured on her Mama Latina Tips blog
high heat, moving the milk constantly with the molinillo until the tablets are completely dissolved.
Ingredients -
4 cups of whole milk (or low-fat)
-
1 large cinnamon stick
-
1 1/2 tablets of Mexican chocolate
Directions Pour milk into a large pot, add the cinnamon stick
Don’t take your eyes off the milk because it will boil quickly. When it starts boiling, reduce the heat and simmer for 3-5 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes, and serve!
Tijuana native Valladolid is an internationally-trained chef and author of “Fresh Mexico,” “Mexican Made Easy,” and “Casa Mercela.”
Ingredients
Directions
-
4 cups whole milk
In a saucepan, simmer milk
-
One 3.2 oz. disk Mexican
on medium/high heat. Stir
chocolate, chopped
in remaining ingredients. Con-
1 dried guajillo chile,
tinue to simmer on low heat,
seeded and deveined
whisking consistently for
-
1 cinnamon stick
up to 10 minutes to melt
-
1 vanilla bean
chocolate and froth mixture.
For whipped cream
Remove the chili, vanilla, and
-
Beat 2 cups heavy cream until cinnamon stick. Serve hot, soft peaks form. Beat in 1/4
with a dollop of whipped
cup powdered sugar until stiff
cream and a dusting of cinna-
peaks form.
mon and chili powder.
Kakawa (ka-KA-wa) House is located in Santa Fe and is named for the Olmec word for chocolate
Ingredients - 3.5 ounces unsweetened chocolate,
chopped into chunks - 4 tablespoons agave or honey - 2 tablespoons chile powder - 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract - 1.5 cups water
Directions In a saucepan, bring water nearly to a boil. Turn off the heat and mix in chocolate. If you’d like it to thicken, turn on low heat and take care not to let chocolate boil and burn. Stir in agave or honey, chili powder, and vanilla. Serve hot!
8
Thousands of . years ago, Mesoamerican cultures began to cultivate cacao. The tree and its beans were revered and in some places considered magical and sacred. A frothy beverage of roasted, fermented and spiced cacao beans was thought to provide immense power and energy, and was used in religious ceremonies and celebrations. Eventually, the bean’s value was so great that some cultures used it as a form of currency. “Chocolate” traces its name back to the Aztec word “xocoatl,” the name for a bitter cocoa drink.
MALLOWS family
This is a pod!
Inside a fresh, citrusy membrane are the cocoa beans!
9
Agroforestry is the agricultural practice of intercropping trees between rows or groups of crops, usually perennials. This creates a system sometimes described as the epitome of sustainability, improving erosion control, habitat, water quality, shade, and even the yields of the fruit trees and crops. Silvopasture replaces empty pasture lands with a similar approach: it combines trees, forage, and animal grazing into one system. Livestock is a major producer of methane; Silvopasture systems sequester 5 to 10 times the CO2 of treeless pastures and incorporate fertilizing animal waste as soil and biomass. Silvopasture is an ancient practice currently practiced in over 500,000,000 hectares worldwide. Agroforestry is currently practiced on 100,000,000 hectares with the maximum potential to more than triple that figure. Tropical agroforestry alone may sequester between 4-8 gigatons of CO2* yearly. In addition, global potential of combined agroforestry, Silvopasture, and tree intercropping may further sequester 3.19 - 4.56 gigatons of CO2* per year. *or CO2 equivalent
Source: Project Drawdown
10
Photo by Sajal Sthapit
11
GOOSEFOOT family Ingredients - 2.5 cups beet leaves - ½ cup pine nuts - ¾ cup olive oil - 2 tbsp lemon juice - 1 tsp garlic salt - ½ cup parmesan - 1 tsp onion powder - optional: 1/2 cup Tahini
Directions Add all ingredients to a food processor or strong blender. For a vegan pesto, use nutritional yeast instead of parmesan. Add tahini for a creamier sauce Arugula
+ `
Goat cheese
+
Glazed almonds
Kale
+
Corn
+
Cucumber
+
Miso Tahini sauce
Romaine
+
Carrots
+
Onions
+
Lemon mint vinaigrette
Iceberg
+ White cheddar +
Pepitas
+ Berry poppyseed dressing
Alfalfa
+
Honey
+
Goat cheese
+
Balsamic dressing
Sesame soy dressing
12
if desired. Blend until fully combined. Best with mozzarella and tomatoes on fresh baked bread.
PARSELEY family Some people think cilantro, the leaves of the coriander plant, tastes like soap because of a genetic variation that hyperpercieves cilantro’s aldehyde compound. This variation is regional uncommon in India and Central America,
where cilantro is popular, but present in up to 20% of populations in South Asia.
Cilantro seeds
.
have made appearances in 8,000-year-old caves and the tomb of King Tut. The plant is even referenced in
ancient Sanskrit and biblical texts!
13
MADDER family
Each berry has two coffee
14
15
the
Coffee Table
In the late 1700s, American members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) began what they called the “free produce movement” to boycott any products made using slave labor. Over 400,000 people joined in a boycott, including British abolitionists and many women who were still prohibited from voting. Boycotts continued through the 1830s in America, with prominent supporters including activists Angelina Grimke, Lydia Child, and Frances Ellen Watkins. Today, some 4,100 companies (including Coca Cola, Sysco, Sodexo, and Tyson Foods) benefit from prison labor -- the only form of forced labor not prohibited by the 13th Amendment. Many of these companies sell goods that have been grown and processed through prison labor, including Glory Foods, Jiffy Food Service, and National Food Group. Over 60% of all agriculture workers in America are foreign-born. Over 200,000 rely on an H-2A visa. One report found H-2A workers faced with “lower than advertised wages, less work than promised, dirty and dilapidated housing, dangerous working conditions, and even forced labor or slavery,” in addition to a complicated and expensive process to obtain it. Another report found that of all women farmworkers, over 80% suffer sexual harassment. Boycotts have had some success in protecting migrant workers and prisoners from wage theft, unfair pay, poor living conditions, and abuse. An 8-year state boycott of Chateau Ste. Michelle wineries has resulted in that company becoming one of the best companies for union workers. After a national boycott of Driscoll Berries, its parent company raised wages and benefits. American consumers have plenty of precedent to inspire them to support companies that reflect values of fair working conditions and valuing human life. Supporting fair farming practices is not only sustainable for the planet, but for the people we rely on to cultivate it. 16
17
Photo by Lance Cheung, USDA
MINT family
18
NIGHTSHADE family
the wild & wonderful history of ketchup
Ke-tsiap sprung up as a dark pickled fish sauce in China after possibly originating in Vietnam. After becoming a standard cooking addition, it traveled to Malaysia as kechap and Indonesia as ketjap. English sailors tried to recreate this sauce, popularizing a version consisting of anchovies, oysters, and especially mushrooms. By the early nineteenth century, American recipes called for mace, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, and, most notably, tomato. The boiled and preserved tomato sauce quickly spread, even though some people were reluctant to eat fresh tomatoes, plants from the sometimes- poisonous Nightshade family. Tomato kechup was first bottled and sold in 1837, usually with unripe tomatoes and loaded with preservatives. After the FDA banned some of the popular ketchup additives, Heinz concocted a redder, thicker ketchup recipe with pectin-rich ripe tomatoes, sugar and vinegar. Today, 97% of American households report having kechup in their home!
19
In the high deserts of Guanajuato, Mexico, farmers are taking on a big project with even bigger environmental impacts: planting one billion agave plants. During its 810 year lifespan, an Agave can produce up to one ton of biomass to be used as cheap animal fodder or distilled into mescal. Agaves need minimal irrigation, are drought-resistant, and can be densely planted alongside mesquite or another nitrogen-fixing tree. One acre of agaves can draw down up to 24 tons of CO2 per year.
Source: Regeneration International
20
Photo by T2O media MĂŠxico , 2017, via Wikipedia commons
21
ASPARAGUS family
the 80 and 300 lbs, piñas are harvested by a “jimador” and trimmed. Then they are steamed, which softens them and catalyzes their carbohydrates to become sugars. art & The piñas are then crushed in a giant mill or pit, washed, and strained for their sugary juice, or “aguamiel.” This liquid is then fermented: natural yeasts from science agave leaves convert sugars into alcohol. Some modern distilleries, using cultivated yeast, can ferment 15 lbs of fresh piña into one liter of tequila of Tequila The piña, heart of an agave plant, is the main ingredient in Tequila. Weighing between
in as little as seven days!
22
MINT family
easy, breezy, delicious berry wine
Though popularly made with grapes, wine can be created from all sorts of berries, fruits, and even some flowers! To make blueberry wine, you’ll need about 2.5 lbs blueberries, 2 lbs sugar, and 3.5 qts of water. Boil and pour into a mesh bag inside an airtight bucket or jug to strain and cool. To ready the mixture for fermentation, cool and add a tbsp. citric acid, pinch tannin, and ½ tsp. pectic enzyme. After 24 hrs, jump star fermentation by adding a packet of winemaking yeast. Stir the wine daily for two weeks, then remove the mesh bag and rack the liquid into a dark jug (to preserve the color) for at least 6-12 months. Enjoy!
23
24
BUTTERY CRISPY CRUST Ingredients -
8 tbsp unsalted butter, cold
-
1 1/2 cups flour
-
1/4 tsp salt
-
1/8 tsp baking powder (optional; to omit, double the salt)
-
4 1/2 tbsp ice water
-
1 1/2 tsp organic, unfiltered cider vinegar
Directions Freeze the butter in small cubes for 30-45 minutes. In a food processor, pulse everything else together, then slowly add in butter and continue to pulse into a crumbly dough. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Preheat oven to 425 degrees, press chilled dough into dish and prick with a fork or toothpick. Bake 22-30 minutes. FILLING
Ingredients - 50 ounces fresh blueberries - 1 tbsp. freshly-picked lavender, diced - 1/2 cup sugar - 2 egg yolks - 3 tbsp. butter - 2 tsp. lemon juice + 2 tbsp lemon zest - 2 tsp. cornstarch - optional: 1/2 cup sliced almonds
Directions In a large saucepan, mash half of the blueberries with lemon juice, lavender, and sugar. Stir for several minutes over medium/high heat, dissolving sugar and thickening the mixture. Meanwhile, beat egg yolks with cornstarch. After mixture has cooled slightly, carefully mix in the yolks, then bring slowly to a boil, stirring constantly. Stir in butter and lemon zest, then cover and chill. In prepared crust, spread filling evenly. Cover in remaining half of blueberries evenly. Lay sliced almonds around the edges or in a pattern of your choice. Chill and enjoy!
25
26
. Perennial crops grow year after year, sometimes multiple times throughout the year, saving time and money that annual plants require to be uprooted, plowed, and planted. Replacing annual staple crops with perennials can save $1.48-$3.33 billion, while maintaining the same yields of food. Compared to the 3 billion acres of land currently devoted to annuals, perennials could draw down 1.9 tons of carbon per acre annually. Plus, perennials are delicious including banana, breadfruit, avocado, nuts, coconut and many more!
Source: Project Drawdown
27
Ingredients - A whole breadfruit
Directions In a fire pit, build a small fire and set the breadfruit inside. Maintain the flames until the breadfruit’s skin is completely blackened and charred. Remove with tongs. It should feel slightly hollow when tapped, and a knife should slide in cleanly and come out without sap. Using a curved knife, pry skin off the top and enjoy!
Around the world, perennial, flowering breadfruit trees are cherished for their versatile
Featured on TheCoconet.tv
Ingredients
into a large bowl with 3/4 cup
-
One aveloloa breadfruit
coconut cream. With the sec-
-
Another breadfruit, smaller
ond, uncooked breadfruit on a
variety ok
stick or utensil and dipped in
staple crop. Breadfruit is
-
Coconut husks (for fire)
coconut cream, mash the con-
roasted, fried like fritters,
-
1 cup Coconut cream
tents of the bowl. Meanwhile,
-
½ cup Brown sugar
melt and carmelize brown
cooked in sweet or savory curries, boiled with fish or with meat, and more. Breadfruit can even be used
sugar in a stovetop pan, and Directions
then add remaining coconut
Roast aveloloa breadfruit until
cream.
completely blackened and
To serve, spoon mashed bread-
charred in fire built with coco- fruit into bowl or halved coconut husks. Peel off charred skin nut with a spoonful of brown and place breadfruit chunks
to make paper!
28
sugar sauce. Enjoy!
MULBERRY family
29
MINT family
"Lavender is the new pink. I'll never stop wearing pink but I wanted to venture out." ~ Nicki Minaj "To make a perfume, take some rose water and wash your hands in it, then take a lavender flower and rub it with your palms, and you will achieve the desired effect" Leonardo da Vinci
"it always seems to me as if the lavender was a little woman in a green dress, with a lavender bonnet and a white kerchief. She's one of those strong, "There are some things, after all, that Sally Owens knows sweet, wholesome people, who always for certain: Always throw spilled salt over your left shoul- rest you, and her sweetness lingers long der. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. Add pepper to after she goes away." ~ Myrtle Reed your mashed potatoes. Plant roses and lavender, for luck. Fall in love whenever you can." ~ Alice Hoffman
"When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?" ~ Shel Silverstein
Spanish “ballerina�
Spanish lavender
English lavender
English lavender
Portuguese lavender
Egyptian lavender
French lavender
30
PEA family
one of nature’s best cover crops, clover thrives between vineyard rows, amidst urban landscaping, and, as shown in this picture, on the banks of the Black Hills’ Roubaix Lake
31
TROPAEOLUM family
From San Diego’s rocky coastline to
home gardens in the plains states, these flowers are vibrant, fragrant, and fast-growing as a cover crop,
farming pestdeterrent, or in a window bed. Best of all, they are edible --
deliciously crunchy sweet with a bit of peppery heat!
32
(shocker)
Ingredients - 2 cans full-fat coconut milk - 6 egg yolks - 1 .5 cup sugar
- 1.5 cups chopped pistachios - 1/2 tsp ground saffron - 1 tbsp cardamom - Pinch salt - 1 tsp vanilla extract - 4 tbsp rose water
(see below) Directions In a large pot, heat one can coconut milk to a boil while stirring. Turn off heat and add vanilla, saffron, cardamom, and salt. Meanwhile, beat the eggs with sugar until foamy, and then carefully pour into the pot, stirring rapidly to avoid scrambling the eggs! Continue to thicken on LOW heat for 10 minutes. Remove and refrigerate until chilled. Beat the second can of coconut milk until soft peaks form, then slowly beat in the rest of the chilled mixture. Stir in rose water and pistachios until incorporated. Freeze and enjoy! For Rose Water In a saucepan over high heat, bring 1.5 cups
water & 1 cup rose petals to a simmer. Cover on low heat for 30 minutes. Strain and chill.
33
ROSE family
34
In strides to restore stolen wealth and increase access to food, land, and training, organizations across the nation are working to build farms and urban gardens for Black and Indigenous aspiring farmers. Soul Fire Farm, a NY community farm icommitted to ending racism and injustice in the food system, utilizes a wide scope of sustainable agriculture methods as a means empower communities through racial, economic, and environmental justice. Countless others are following suit, including over 50 farms nationwide calling for reparations that include owning and cultivating the land.
Source: Civil Eats
35
Photo via CNN, courtesy of Soul Fire Farms
Around 1920, Black Americans owned 925,000 farms - 14% of the country’s farmland. Had the US government fulfilled the promise of “40 acres and a mule,” Black Americans would also have amassed hundreds of thousands of acres of land worth over $6 trillion today, plus trillions of dollars for stolen wages for years of slave labor. However, over the past century, Black farmers have been forced off their land by corporate competition, racially biased government lending, environmental challenges, and more. Further, 600,000 Black farmers’ land was taken from them because of legal complications with their land deeds. Today, Black farmers own less than 2% of farms and 1% of rural land,
LILLY family
David Gussin, Charlie’s Bagels worker circa 1979, on cleaning oven scraps: “One day instead of throwing them out like I usually did, I gave them to Charlie and said, ‘Hey, make a bagel with these, we’ll call it the everything bagel.’ It wasn’t that big of a deal; we weren’t looking to make the next big bagel. Charlie was
-
1 part flaky salt
Mix in your favorite spice
-
1 part garlic flakes
shaker and enjoy with eggs,
-
2 parts poppy seeds
avocados, salads, and especially
-
2 parts onion flakes
bagels!
-
2 parts black sesame seeds
-
3-5 parts sesame seeds
36
Shakshuka is one of my favorite foods of all time. My love of onions finds a home in my abstract take on this Middle-Eastern tomato and egg dish
Ingredients - 2 onions, any color(s) - lots of olive oil - 3 tbs tomato paste - one tbsp brown sugar - as many eggs as you can fit - three 14oz cans diced or smashed tomatoes - leftover veggies (peppers, mushrooms, etc.) - salt, pepper, garlic powder,
onion powder, chili powder, paprika, etc. -
1 tbsp. mushroom powder or umami seasoning - Directions
Dice or thinly-chop onions, with garlic and other vegetables of your choice, then sautÊ in a very large and deep-ish pan with olive oil on medium heat. Add spices and tomato paste, and stir until mostly cooked. Pour in canned tomatoes, umami/mushroom powder, brown sugar, and one can’s worth of water. Bring almost to a boil, stirring occasionally and seasoning to taste. Lower heat. Make evenly-spaced indents for your eggs, then crack and poach them directly in the sauce. Cover
and cook until the egg whites are firm and yolks runny. Sprinkle salt and pepper and serve with sourdough or pita.
37
.
CROISSANT
POUND CAKE
Brown sugar
sugar
flour
butter
milk
eggs
oil
chocolate
baking soda
baking powder
salt
vanilla
active dry yeast
Blueberries
cinammon+ cocoa
water
semolina
honey
Brown sugar
sugar
flour
butter
milk
eggs
oil
chocolate
baking soda
baking powder
salt
vanilla
active dry yeast
Blueberries
cinammon+ cocoa
water
semolina
honey
(all of the data, but
ENGLISH MUFFIN BABKA FILLING
BLUEBERRY MUFFIN
Brown sugar
sugar
flour
butter
milk
eggs
oil
chocolate
baking soda
baking powder
salt
vanilla
active dry yeast
Blueberries
cinammon+ cocoa
water
semolina
honey
Brown sugar
sugar
flour
Brown sugar
sugar
milk
eggs
baking soda active dry yeast
Blueberries
semolina
honey
oil
chocolate
baking soda
active dry yeast
blueberries
cinammon+ cocoa
38
flour
oil butter baking powder salt
cinammon+ cocoa
butter chocolate
vanilla water
m
baking powder
s
water
s
r
DONUT
COOKIES
Brown sugar
sugar
flour
butter
milk
eggs
oil
chocolate
baking soda
baking powder
salt
vanilla
active dry yeast
Blueberries
cinammon+ cocoa
water
semolina
honey
Brown sugar
sugar
flour
butter
milk
eggs
oil
chocolate
baking soda
baking powder
salt
vanilla
active dry yeast
Blueberries
cinammon+ cocoa
water
semolina
honey
none of the pie*)
BABKA
BROWNIES
milk
Brown sugar
sugar
flour
butter
milk
eggs
oil
chocolate
baking soda
baking powder
salt
vanilla
active dry yeast
Blueberries
cinammon+ cocoa
water
semolina
honey
eggs
salt
vanilla
semolina
honey
Brown sugar
sugar
flour
butter
milk
eggs
oil
chocolate
baking soda
baking powder
salt
vanilla
active dry yeast
Blueberries
cinammon+ cocoa
water
semolina
honey
BABKA FILLING
*see page 24 for some pie :) 39
Brown sugar sugar
Incompatible
Companion
Ally
one final note on
40
Carrot
Today, 442 million acres of American produce is monocropped: grown repeatedly as a single crop. without interaction or nutrient exchange with other plants. Though overwhelmingly common, monocropping requires masses of fertilizer to replace depleted minerals, pesticides, water, and shade. However, companion crops can provide balanced exchanges of nutrients, chemicals that repel pests, roots for deeper water retention, and ground cover for protection and shade. Like people, plants are not meant to thrive in isolation. At their best, companion crops are allies: balanced, vibrant, and fruitful beyond the sum of their parts. 41
This book would not have been possible without the guidance of Char Miller, the W.M. Keck Professor of Environmental Analysis and History, Director of EA at Pomona College, and my deeply appreciated advisor. Thank you for your time and support to help me realize this exciting research project. Thank you to Madi Brothers for helping to inspire this research. Thanks to my family in KC and Washington, and my chosen family (Dan & Walter, Sofi Gardenswartz, the Avatar Night group, and the Physics Zoom regulars) for sharing places, ideas, and advice with me, and for keeping me healthy and happy through this summer research project. I would also like to extend my deepest love and gratitude to my dog Daisy. Finally, thank you to Pomona College for introducing me to Environmental Science and giving me the opportunity to do this meaningful work!
Haidee Clauer was born in Maine, raised in Kansas City, Missouri, and is currently a junior at Pomona College in Claremont, California; these lands include those of the Wabanaki Confederacy; Osage, Kickapoo, and Kansa; Kizh and Tongva. Haidee is majoring in physics along with studies in environmental analysis, art, and Earth sciences. Haidee hopes to continue this project, and pursue research in renewable energy and intersectional environmental justice. 42
Billion Agave Project, Regeneration International
Dan Nosowitz, Everything You Need to Know About the Trie Ofigins of the Everything Bagel, 2014
Eric Toensmeier, The Carbon Farming Solution, Chelsea Green Publishing, 2016
Regeneration International
Tanya Denckla Cobb, The Gardener’s A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food, Storey Publishing, 2003
The Seven Steps of Teuila Making, Izkali Tequila, Sep 7 2012.
"Hinks, Peter and McKivigan, John, editors. Williams, R. Owen, assistant editor. Encyclopedia of antislavery and abolition, Greenwood Press, 2007
Ken Albala, The Brief (But Surprisingly Global) History of Ketchup, Smithsonian Magazine, July 24 2018
Terry Garey, the Joy of Home Winemaking, 2012
Lynda Balslev, Cilantro: The Controversial Herb, NPR, May 2010
No Way to Treat a Guest: Why the H-2A Agricultural Visa Program Fails U.S. and Foreign Workers. Farmworker Justice. Farm Labor. May 2018. USDA Economic Research Service.
Peggy Trowbridge Filippone, The History of Ketchup, The Spruce Eats, Feb 12 2019
Tracy Fernandez Rysavy, The Immigrants Who Feed the Country, Green America
Lily Vasilev, Victoria Weinblatt, Robin Odach, et. al. Homeguides, SFGate
Project Drawdown,
Emily and Matthew Clauer
Andrea King Collier, A Reparations Map for Farmers of Color May Help Right Historical Wrongs, Civil Eats, June 2018
43