November/ December 2011

November /December 2011

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The Pleasures of Eating

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Publisher’s Letter

Enjoy local food and winter outings

W

e often feature local food and the farmers who grow it, but the stories in this issue are unique. We found fresh, local food in the most unlikely places – an inner-city church grocery in a ‘food desert,’ the lunch buffet at a Northland casino and the cafeteria at an Overland Park medical center. The catalyst for getting local food beyond the farmers market and suburban grocery is Diana Endicott, founder and director of Good Natured Family Farms, an alliance of 150 local family farms. She has found partners throughout the city to deliver local food from farms to both the urban poor and those served by corporate food systems. You can learn more about it in our section, Good Food for All. If reading about the increasing availability of local food makes you wonder where your fresh vegetables will come from this winter, we supply you with many options. We’ve scoured the city to find winter farmers markets, local food and meal delivery services, holiday events featuring local food, grocery stores that buy from area farmers and farms that sell directly to consumers during the holiday season.

Also in this issue, we share The Pleasures of Eating, an essay from one of my favorite authors. I met Wendell Berry last year when he was in Kansas City speaking at an area church. I gave him a copy of Greenability and asked if he would contribute a commentary.

He was headed to The Land Institute to speak at the Prairie Festival and from there, to another speaking commitment. After a few minutes of conversation, in which he expressed concern about his time commitments, Wendell offered to let me reprint any of his essays. I have been reading and rereading

his work since, trying to find the perfect fit for just the right issue. With the assistance of Yes! Magazine in Bainbridge Island, WA and The State Journal in Frankfort, KY, we have managed to find a photo of him on the porch of his farmhouse. Enjoy!

As you and your family look to another holiday season and contemplate how you might spend it with more joy and less consumption, we offer a few ideas for your consideration. Discover the Christmas Bird Count, a century-old tradition that will get you out in nature on a winter day. Volunteers gain the satisfaction of being part of a nationwide project to help researchers track trends of birds that are thriving and declining. For simple holiday gift giving, we offer a list of environmental books – some older favorites and some new. And of course, we would be thrilled if you considered giving a gift of Greenability to friends and family this year. We’ll deliver it for you!

If you are looking for greener ways to spend your time this season, be sure to check our calendar at www.greenabilitymagazine.com. It’s loaded with seasonal events ranging from the Nature Lovers Book Club to a workshop on cob oven construction and many holiday outings for the entire family.

Thank you for another year of sharing your stories and ideas with us. We wish you and your family a peaceful season.

Julie Koppen Publisher julie@greenabilitymagazine.com

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Volume 5, Number 6 November/December 2011

Publisher Julie Koppen julie@greenabilitymagazine.com

OPERATIONS MANAGER Mary Lynn Coulson copy Editor Kim Broers Writers Benjamin Bachwirtz Wendell Berry Kristina Beverlin Mary Bush Kristi Mayo Graphic Design Kim Tappan/Tappan Design Connie Saum Photography Chad Hickman/ Blixt Photography Charlie Pearl Trent Reed Mike Stoakes Linda Williams

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Cover Photography Cardinal on Christmas Bird Count Linda Williams

Postmaster Send address changes to GREENABILITY, P.0. Box 414056, Kansas City, MO 64141-4056.

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Copyright All contents of this issue of Greenability are copyrighted by The Koppen Group Inc., 2011.

All rights reserved.

Greenability November/December 2011 (ISSN 1938-5749) is published bi-monthly (6 times per year) for $24 per year by The Koppen Group, Inc., 3412 Coleman Road, Kansas City, MO 64111.

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CONTENTS November/December 2011

Features

13 34 35

Wendell Berry: The Pleasures of Eating Celebrate sustainable success stories

Good Food for All

21 27 31

Local food desert gets a farm-fresh oasis Corporate food systems serve up local harvests Enjoy local food for the holidays

6 environmental books to give this season

Departments

4 37

From the Publisher

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Greenability Directory

Counting birds, so researchers can track trends

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Counting birds,

so researchers can track trends

By Kristi Mayo

The Red-Bellied Woodpecker (which also has a red head) nests in dead trees and fence posts and is more common than the Red-Headed Woodpecker. Photo: Linda Williams

I

n the predawn hours, a collection of dark forms huddled around a patch of open water. Snow and ice collected on feathers as the creatures waited, motionless, for the meager warmth promised by sunrise.

I stopped my vehicle on the dam above Smithville Lake and parsed the group

of birds with my binoculars. Streetlights near the dam and the luminescence of the snow afforded enough light to separate the dark Canada Geese from the white Snow Geese. All appeared headless, their faces turned into their backs. In the center sat five hulking white birds, much larger than the Snow Geese. These were Trumpeter Swans.

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I enjoyed a brief moment of celebration as I etched five hatch marks on our checklist beside the words Trumpeter Swan. This was the second time in as many years that we recorded this species on the Trimble Christmas Bird Count (CBC). I hoped this represented the beginning of a positive trend for the swans, a species formerly extirpated from the eastern United States, now making its way back thanks to reintroduction programs in states like Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

A gust of wind blew a violent swirl of snow around my vehicle, and a glance at the clock – already 5 a.m.

– sent me navigating through drifts to the visitor’s center to meet the other members of my party. Three of us piled our binoculars, tripods, spotting scopes, field guides, hats, coats, gloves, boots, coffee and other assorted birding gear into the SUV. Then we set out on our 12-hour mission: to trek around one piece of a section of land 15 miles in diameter, searching for and counting every avian species we could find.

It’s a 111-year tradition The concept of the Christmas Bird Count has its roots in a 19th-century tradition of conducting a competitive hunt on Christmas Day to see how many furred or feathered creatures one party could shoot.

The informal event was known as a “side hunt.”

In 1900, Frank Chapman, editor of the Audubon

Join the

Christmas Bird Count Who can help?

Birders with all levels of experience are encouraged to participate in their local Christmas Bird Count (CBC). Beginning birders will be teamed with those who have more experience. The result is an enjoyable learning experience for everyone involved.

What to wear Prepare and dress for all kinds of weather. Expect to spend hours outside of a vehicle, switching between standing quietly for long periods of time and vigorous hiking. Layers of comfortable, breathable clothing are highly recommended.

What to bring Bring a pair of binoculars, a spotting scope and tripod if you have one, a field guide, snacks and drinks. There is a $5 fee to participate for any observers 19 years of age or older.

Feeder watching If you live inside of a count circle and prefer to stay in the warm comfort of your own home, you can volunteer to count birds at your bird feeders. Contact your local count’s compiler to learn more.

Birds in decline To find a list and photographs of the 20 common North American birds with the greatest population declines since 1967, visit the National Audubon Society website.

For more information: www.audubon.org/bird/cbc

2011 Christmas Bird Count locations Squaw Creek CBC

Knob Noster CBC

December 20 Mound City, MO Compiler: Mark Robbins 785-864-3657 mrobbins@ku.edu

Trimble CBC December 17 Smithville, MO Compiler: Kristi Mayo 816-289-7828 kristi@writebirds.com

Olathe CBC December 17 Olathe, KS Compiler: Don Weiss 913-634-0135 don.weiss@comcast.net

Kansas City CBC

One of the most commonly observed owl species, the Short-Eared Owl, is often first seen flying low to the ground. Photo: Linda Williams

December 18 Kansas City, MO Compiler: Mike Stoakes 816-554-1956 mstoakes@juno.com

December 18 Knob Noster, MO Compiler: Vernon Elsberry 660-747-7988 (days) 660-747-5394 (evenings) apprassc@iland.net

St Joseph CBC December 17 St. Joseph, MO Compiler: Larry Lade 816-232-6125 gcrownkinglet@yahoo.com

Lawrence CBC December 17 Lawrence, KS Compiler: Galen Pittman 785-760-3572 gpittman@ku.edu

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Top: Ron Tatschi and Ruth Simmons trek through the snow counting birds in Fleming Park at Lake Jacomo. Photo: Mike Stoakes Above: Northern Cardinals often nest three to six feet off the ground on a protected tree branch.

Homeowners can provide sunflower or safflower seeds for Cardinals. Photo: Linda Williams Bottom left: Plant native shrubs to provide habitat for Spotted Towhees, which nest and feed close to the ground. Photo: Linda Williams Bottom right: The Eastern Bluebird nests in tree cavities, so planting shrubs and trees that bear fruit in your yard provides habitat for these songbirds. Photo: Linda Williams

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Society’s magazine Bird-Lore, proposed a new kind of side hunt: one where amateur and professional field ornithologists would count all the birds they found in one day. The results would be published in the magazine’s February 1901 issue.

That Christmas, 27 birders conducted the Christmas Bird Count in 25 areas from Toronto, Ontario to Pacific Grove in California. Today, 111 years later, more than 60,000 observers cover approximately 2,200 count circles scattered across the map from Canada to South America. To accommodate a growing number of circles and participants, Christmas Bird Counts are no longer conducted solely on December 25. They may now be scheduled on any day in a period from December 14 to January 5.

Each count circle measures 15 miles in diameter, and observers count every bird they see on a single calendar day. In 2009-2010, Missouri had 27 CBCs, and Kansas submitted 23 counts. The location of a count circle never changes, but the number of completed CBCs fluctuates from year to year as new circles are established and older ones grow dormant.

This winter, I will compile the Trimble CBC near Smithville, MO for the ninth time. When it all started in 2003, I was a few years out of college, married without children, and in love with birding. In spite of the hours I spent in the field trying to find rare wild birds, most of my pursuits up until then had been in isolation. I was primarily self-taught and did not participate in many field trips offered by Burroughs Audubon, the Kansas City chapter of the National Audubon Society. I had never been on a Christmas Bird Count or a Breeding Bird Survey – two long-standing bird censuses that are utilized frequently to determine trends in bird populations and distribution. Frankly, I enjoyed my time alone while bushwhacking after elusive sparrows or standing quietly on the banks of a lake scoping for distant waterfowl.

So it still comes as a surprise that when Chris Hobbs sent me an email in late 2003 to ask if I would be interested in taking over his role as compiler of the Trimble CBC, I replied without hesitation, “Sure.

Tell me what I need to know.”

For a CBC compiler, most of the work has already been completed by count day. In the weeks leading up to the day of the count, I field emails and phone calls from potential participants –

Greenability Challenge

answering their questions and accommodating various requests and schedules so that everyone has the opportunity to have fun and contribute to the count. I study a detailed map of the circle and divide it into territories large enough to keep the teams interested, but small enough that they have time to really dig into different habitats to locate as many birds as possible. I deal with the inevitable last-minute cancellations and volunteers. The night before the count, everyone has their assignments so they can meet their teammates and start counting at sunrise – or earlier, if they are willing to listen for owls in the hours before dawn.

Bird counts form collective memory With most of the organization completed, I can relax and focus on the next task at hand: 12 hours of non-stop birding in whatever elements Mother Nature decides to throw our way. The commitment of a time and attention exclusively to birding appeals to me.

Everyday field birding usually involves darting from one hotspot to the next, looking only at the locations most likely to yield “good” birds or big numbers and variety. But the structure of the Christmas Bird Count forces the birder to slow down and focus bird-finding energy on a relatively small area. It requires the observer to tally every bird in a flock. Each bush, each pond and each individual bird counts.

The required level of focus teases out memorable moments, as well: Standing in a pine grove, binoculars gripped in my hands, watching fat snowflakes filter

Top left: The Carolina Wren is frequently found in urban areas and often nests in hanging plants. Photo: Linda Williams Top right: Preferring wooded habitats, the Cooper’s Hawk can be seen soaring above a forest’s edge hunting for other birds.

Photo: Linda Williams Below: Kristi Mayo organizes the bird count at Smithville, MO each year. Photo: Trent Reed Bottom: The Trumpeter Swan is North America’s largest waterfowl species and nests in freshwater lakes, streams and rivers during winter months. Photo: Linda Williams

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Both the Herring Gull and the Ring-Billed Gull are familiar sights to most Americans. The Ring-Billed Gull is slightly smaller than the Herring and sports a black ring on its yellow bill. Photo: Linda Williams

straight down through the needles to gather on my gloves. Emerging from a long hike in the woods to find a dozen Bald Eagles perched above a lake cove packed full of geese. Staring through the lens of a spotting scope well past the last moments of useful light and finally intercepting a small flock of Bonaparte’s Gulls – a new species for the day.

The effort brings us closer to nature, and it feeds our natural impulse to hunt and collect. It provides a sense of camaraderie, and gives novice birders an opportunity to learn from veterans.

Participation in a CBC creates an opportunity to build experience, environmental awareness and long-lasting memories.

From the memories, however, comes something more tangible. An individual’s participation in a CBC also contributes to a much larger effort – something bigger than a single person in a car spying on waterfowl in a dark and frozen landscape. Each hatch mark on a checklist contributes to the collective memory of tens of

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thousands of amateur birders and ornithologists, visualized as tables of data.

What does the bird count tell us?

Since that first count on Christmas Day in 1900, the National Audubon Society has managed the data from a growing list of CBC circles. Researchers and conservation biologists use that data to learn more about the distribution and abundance of bird populations in North America and beyond.

Today the data tells us that Bewick’s Wren is in steep decline in the eastern United States, and it shows us clearly that Evening Grosbeak is no longer a common winter visitor in the lower 48 states.

Without the numbers contributed by the tens of thousands of people who volunteer their time to CBCs, these trends would be merely anecdotal.

Because CBC sightings are added to a growing database, the memories of those who enjoy birds in their backyards or local parks come to life, and they gain a strong, lasting voice.

Top: The Bald Eagle can now be seen in every state of North America as the result of a successful wildlife conservation project. Photo: Linda Williams Below: Local bird counters (from left) Sara Scheil, Barbara Van Vieck and Ruth Simmons watch for birds at feeders outside the Burroughs Audubon Library in Fleming Park at Lake Jacomo. Photo: Mike Stoakes

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Wendell Berry and his wife live and work on a farm in Port Royal, Kentucky.

Photo: Charlie Pearl/The Star Journal in Frankfort, KY.

The Pleasures of Eating B Y W E N D E L L B E R RY

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begin with the proposition that eating is an agricultural act. Eating ends the annual drama of the food economy that begins with planting and birth. Most eaters, however, are no longer aware that this is true. They think of food as an agricultural product, perhaps, but they do not think of themselves as participants in agriculture. They think of themselves as “consumers.” If they think beyond that, they recognize that they are passive consumers. They buy what they want — or what they have been persuaded to want — within the limits of what they can get. They pay, mostly without protest, what they are charged. And they mostly ignore certain critical questions about the quality and the cost of what they are sold: How fresh is it?

How pure or clean is it, how free of dangerous chemicals? How far was it transported, and what did transportation add to the cost? How much did manufacturing or packaging or advertising add to the cost? When the food product has been manufactured or “processed” or “precooked,” how has that affected its quality or price or nutritional value?

Most urban shoppers would tell you that food is produced on farms. But most of them do not know what farms, or what kinds of farms, or where the farms are, or what knowledge of skills are involved in farming. They apparently have little doubt that farms will continue to produce, but they do not know how or over what obstacles. For them, then, food is pretty much an abstract idea — something greenabilitymagazine.com

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they do not know or imagine — until it appears on the grocery shelf or on the table.

The specialization of production induces specialization of consumption. Patrons of the entertainment industry, for example, entertain themselves less and less and have become more and more passively dependent on commercial suppliers. This is certainly true also of patrons of the food industry, who have tended more and

About Wendell Berry

Wendell Berry is the author of more than 40 books of poetry, fiction and essays, including The Pleasures of Eating, which he shares here with Greenability readers. This and other essays about farming and food are featured in his book, Bringing it to the Table.

For more than four decades, Berry has farmed a hillside in his native Henry County, KY. He has taught at many prestigious schools, including Stanford University and Georgetown College, and is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship and the Ingersoll Foundation’s T.S. Eliot Award. In 2010, he received the National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama.

An avid voice for local farming, Berry promotes sustainable agriculture, a connection to place and the pleasures of good food.

more to be mere consumers — passive, uncritical, and dependent. Indeed, this sort of consumption may be said to be one of the chief goals of industrial production. The food industrialists have by now persuaded millions of consumers to prefer food that is already prepared. They will grow, deliver, and cook your food for you and (just like your mother) beg you to eat it. That they do not yet offer to insert it, prechewed, into our mouth is only because they have found no profitable way to do so. We may rest assured that they would be glad to find such a way. The ideal industrial food consumer would be strapped to a table with a tube running from the food factory directly into his or her stomach.

Perhaps I exaggerate, but not by much. The industrial eater is, in fact, one who does not know that eating is an agricultural act, who no longer knows or imagines the connections between eating and the land, and who is therefore necessarily passive and uncritical — in short, a victim. When food, in the minds of eaters, is no longer associated with farming and with the land, then the eaters are suffering a kind of cultural amnesia that is misleading and dangerous. The current version of the “dream home” of the future involves “effortless” shopping from a list of available goods on a television monitor and heating precooked food by remote control. Of course, this implies and depends on a perfect ignorance of the history of the food that is consumed. It requires that the citizenry should give up their hereditary and sensible aversion to buying a pig

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in a poke. It wishes to make the selling of pigs in pokes an honorable and glamorous activity. The dreams in this dream home will perforce know nothing about the kind or quality of this food, or where it came from, or how it was produced and prepared, or what ingredients, additives, and residues it contains — unless, that is, the dreamer undertakes a close and constant study of the food industry, in which case he or she might as well wake up and play an active and responsible part in the economy of food.

There is, then, a politics of food that, like any politics, involves our freedom. We still (sometimes) remember that we cannot be free if our minds and voices are controlled by someone else. But we have neglected to understand that we cannot be free if our food and its sources are controlled by someone else. The condition of the passive consumer of food is not a democratic condition.

One reason to eat responsibly is to live free.

But if there is a food politics, there are also a food esthetics and a food ethics, neither of which is dissociated from politics. Like industrial sex, industrial eating has become a degraded, poor, and paltry thing. Our kitchens and other eating places more and more resemble filling stations, as our homes more and more resemble motels. “Life is not very interesting,” we seem to have decided.

“Let its satisfactions be minimal, perfunctory, and fast.” We hurry through our meals to go to work and hurry through our work in order to “recreate” ourselves in the evenings and on weekends and vacations. And then we hurry, with the greatest

possible speed and noise and violence, through our recreation — for what? To eat the billionth hamburger at some fast-food joint hellbent on increasing the “quality” of our life? And all this is carried out in a remarkable obliviousness to the causes and effects, the possibilities and the purposes, of the life of the body in this world.

One will find this obliviousness represented in virgin purity in the advertisements of the food industry, in which food wears as much makeup as the actors. If one gained one’s whole knowledge of food from these advertisements (as some presumably do), one would not know that the various edibles were ever living creatures, or that they all come from the soil, or that they were produced by work. The passive American consumer, sitting down to a meal of pre-prepared or fast food, confronts a platter covered with inert, anonymous substances that have been processed, dyed, breaded, sauced, gravied, ground, pulped, strained, blended, prettified, and sanitized beyond resemblance to any part of any creature that ever lived. The products of nature and agriculture have been made, to all appearances, the products of industry. Both eater and eaten are thus in exile from biological reality.

And the result is a kind of solitude, unprecedented in human experience, in which the eater may think of eating as, first, a purely commercial transaction between him and a supplier, and then as a purely appetitive transaction between him and his food.

And this peculiar specialization of the act of eating is, again, of obvious benefit to the food

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industry, which has good reasons to obscure the connection between food and farming. It would not do for the consumer to know that the hamburger she is eating came from a steer who spent much of his life standing deep in his own excrement in a feedlot, helping to pollute the local streams, or that the calf that yielded the veal cutlet on her plate spent its life in a box in which it did not have room to turn around. And, though her sympathy for the slaw might be less tender, she should not be encouraged to meditate on the hygienic and biological implications of milesquare fields of cabbage, for vegetables grown in huge monocultures are dependent on toxic chemicals — just as animals in close confinements are dependent on antibiotics and other drugs.

The consumer, that is to say, must be kept from discovering that, in the food industry — as in any other industry — the overriding concerns are not quality and health, but volume and price. For decades now the entire industrial food economy, from the large farms and feedlots to the chains of supermarkets and fast-food restaurants, has been obsessed with volume. It has relentlessly increased scale in order to increase volume in order (probably) to reduce costs. But as scale increases, diversity declines; as diversity declines, so does health; as health declines, the dependence on drugs and chemicals necessarily increases. As capital replaces labor, it does so by substituting machines, drugs, and chemicals for human workers and for the natural health and fertility of the soil. The food is produced by any means or

any shortcuts that will increase profits. And the business of the cosmeticians of advertising is to persuade the consumer that food so produced is good, tasty, healthful, and a guarantee of marital fidelity and long life.

It is possible, then, to be liberated from the husbandry and wifery of the old household food economy. But one can be thus liberated only by entering a trap (unless one sees ignorance and helplessness as the signs of privilege, as many people apparently do). The trap is the ideal of industrialism: a walled city surrounded by valves that let merchandise in but no consciousness out.

How does one escape this trap? Only voluntarily, the same way that one went in: by restoring one’s consciousness of what is involved in eating; by reclaiming responsibility for one’s own part in the food economy. One might begin with the illuminating principle of Sir Albert Howard’s, that we should understand “the whole problem of health in soil, plant, animal, and man as one great subject.” Eaters, that is, must understand that eating takes place inescapably in the world, that it is inescapably an agricultural act, and how we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is used. This is a simple way of describing a relationship that is inexpressibly complex. To eat responsibly is to understand and enact, so far as we can, this complex relationship. What can one do? Here is a list, probably not definitive: 1. Participate in food production to the extent that you can. If you have a yard or even just a porch box or a pot in a sunny window, grow

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Greenability

something to eat in it. Make a little compost of your kitchen scraps and use it for fertilizer. Only by growing some food for yourself can you become acquainted with the beautiful energy cycle that revolves from soil to seed to flower to fruit to food to offal to decay, and around again. You will be fully responsible for any food that you grow for yourself, and you will know all about it. You will appreciate it fully, having known it all its life.

2. Prepare your own food. This means reviving in your own mind and life the arts of kitchen and household. This should enable you to eat more cheaply, and it will give you a measure of “quality control”: you will have some reliable knowledge of what has been added to the food you eat.

3. Learn the origins of the food you buy, and buy the food that is produced closest to your home. The idea that every locality should be, as much as possible, the source of its own food makes several kinds of sense. The locally produced food supply is the most secure, freshest, and the easiest for local consumers to know about and to influence.

4. Whenever possible, deal directly with a local farmer, gardener, or orchardist. All the reasons listed for the previous suggestion apply here. In addition, by such dealing you eliminate the whole pack of merchants, transporters, processors, packagers, and advertisers who thrive at the expense of both producers and consumers.

5. Learn, in self-defense, as much as you can of the economy and technology of industrial food production. What is added to the food

that is not food, and what do you pay for those additions?

6. Learn what is involved in the best farming and gardening.

7. Learn as much as you can, by direct observation and experience if possible, of the life histories of the food species.

The last suggestion seems particularly important to me. Many people are now as much estranged from the lives of domestic plants and animals (except for flowers and dogs and cats) as they are from the lives of the wild ones. This is regrettable,

“Only by growing some food for yourself can you become acquainted with the beautiful energy cycle that revolves from soil to seed to flower to fruit to food to offal to decay, and around again.” for these domestic creatures are in diverse ways attractive; there is such pleasure in knowing them.

And farming, animal husbandry, horticulture, and gardening, at their best, are complex and comely arts; there is much pleasure in knowing them, too.

It follows that there is great displeasure in knowing about a food economy that degrades and

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18

abuses those arts and those plants and animals and the soil from which they come. For anyone who does know something of the modern history of food, eating away from home can be a chore.

My own inclination is to eat seafood instead of red meat or poultry when I am traveling. Though I am by no means a vegetarian, I dislike the thought that some animal has been made miserable in order to feed me. If I am going to eat meat, I want it to be from an animal that has lived a pleasant, uncrowded life outdoors, on bountiful pasture, with good water nearby and trees for shade. And I am getting almost as fussy about food plants. I like to eat vegetables and fruits that I know have lived happily and healthily in good soil, not the products of the huge, bechemicaled factory-fields that I have seen, for example, in the Central Valley of California. The industrial farm is said to have been patterned on the factory production line. In practice, it looks more like a concentration camp.

The pleasure of eating should be an extensive pleasure, not that of the mere gourmet. People who know the garden in which their vegetables have grown and know that the garden is healthy

19

Greenability

and remember the beauty of the growing plants, perhaps in the dewy first light of morning when gardens are at their best. Such a memory involves itself with the food and is one of the pleasures of eating. The knowledge of the good health of the garden relieves and frees and comforts the eater.

The same goes for eating meat. The thought of the good pasture and of the calf contentedly grazing flavors the steak. Some, I know, will think of it as bloodthirsty or worse to eat a fellow creature you have known all its life. On the contrary, I think it means that you eat with understanding and with gratitude. A significant part of the pleasure of eating is in one’s accurate consciousness of the lives and the world from which food comes. The pleasure of eating, then, may be the best available standard of our health. And this pleasure, I think, is pretty fully available to the urban consumer who will make the necessary effort.

The Pleasures of Eating from Bringing it to the Table: On Farming and Food by Wendell Berry. Copyright 2009. Used by permission of Wendell Berry and Counterpoint Press. All rights reserved.

GOOD FOOD FOR ALL Photography by Chad Hickman

greenabilitymagazine.com

20

GOOD FOOD FOR ALL

Pastor Terry Glenn helps church member Keisha Haliburton select fresh fruit at the church grocery. Glenn runs the grocery with volunteers.

Local food desert gets a farm-fresh oasis

By Mary Bush Photography by Chad Hickman

T

hese days, when Afree Becton attends

hamburger meat and other fresh foods that are free

church at World Harvest Ministries in her

of pesticides, antibiotics and hormones. Prior to the

Kansas City, MO neighborhood, she can also

store’s opening in July, fresh, healthy foods were

do some grocery shopping. And it’s not just any

“It is such a blessing to have these foods right

grocery shopping.

Ivanhoe

here,” said Becton, who, before the store opened,

neighborhood, recently opened its own farm-to-

was traveling miles to buy fresh food for her and

table, corner grocery store. Now, Becton can take

her five children. “The store is a block away and my

home free-range chicken and eggs, apple butter,

kids can even run down to pick up something. It has

locally grown fruits and vegetables, all-natural

changed my life.”

The

21

almost impossible to find in her part of town.

Greenability

church,

located

in

the

city’s

It all started about a year ago, when Diana Endicott,

church’s rundown garage. Neighborhood shoppers were

founder and director of Good Natured Family Farms (GNFF),

welcomed to a totally transformed space filled with fresh,

an alliance of 150 local, family farms, teamed up with Terry

all-natural meats, produce and dairy products — all supplied

Glenn, Pastor of World Harvest Ministries, to help members

by the small and large family farms that make up the Good

of the church’s congregation and others in the neighborhood,

Natured Family Farms alliance.

gain access to fresh, healthy foods. Though produce, meats

“Getting the store opened was a total grassroots,

and dairy are available in grocery stores located several miles

volunteer effort,” said Endicott, who co-directed the project

away, many of the 40 families that attend Glenn’s church, as

with Otavio Silva, GNFF sustainability director. “We had

well as others in the neighborhood, don’t own cars, making it

genuinely caring and supportive volunteers from the church

difficult for them to procure the healthier foods.

and people passionate about this project, but very limited

According to Margaret May, executive director of the

financial means.”

Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council, the church sits right in

What church volunteers did have was time and skilled

the middle of the city’s “food desert”— an area that runs

people such as electricians, painters and plumbers. They also

between 31st Street to Emanuel Cleaver II Boulevard and

had a dilapidated, barely-lit church garage. Church members

from Prospect Avenue to the Paseo Boulevard.

pitched in to clean, paint and repair the garage, along with

“As in many center-city neighborhoods, residents don’t

other volunteers like Chris Shea, GNFF director of operations.

have access to fresh, healthy foods at an affordable price,”

Shea and his sons, Christopher and Brendan, recruited

said May. “It is a contributing factor to poor health problems

additional help from students from Bishop Miege High School

that are pervasive in center-city neighborhoods, including

and St. Agnes Catholic Grade School in Roeland Park.

the high incidence of childhood obesity.”

Balls Food Stores donated all the retail fixtures for the

But the food desert in the Ivanhoe neighborhood found

store, whose food is sourced from the company’s central

an oasis when World Harvest Ministries, at 3400 Woodland

warehouse. The final, important touches were two 10-foot

Avenue, opened its fresh food market in what was once the

by 10-foot industrial-grade, stainless-steel coolers, a freezer

Diana Endicott of Good Natured Family Farms and Pastor Terry Glenn (right) explain how the grocery operates to Dennis Boody of Southwest Boulevard Family Health Care Services in Kansas City, KS. greenabilitymagazine.com

22

and cash register, all financed with a $30,000 grant from the W.W. Kellogg Foundation and matched dollar for dollar by Good Natured Family Farms.

The store’s fresh bounty is displayed on long, folding tables and wooden crates — also donated — giving the entire space the look of an organized, well-stocked farmers market. It is staffed with church volunteers and open during the winter from noon to 5 p.m. every Thursday through Sunday.

“It is truly a one-of-a-kind, faith-based food ministry,” said Glenn, watching as the GNFF truck rolled up with the week’s delivery of fresh meats, produce and dairy products. “Everyone is involved, even the children. They love bagging food and explaining how everything works.”

The grocery store has caught the attention of officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Center for FaithBased and Neighborhood Partnerships in Washington, D.C. Officials there said they believe it is the only one of its kind in the country. Glenn is hopeful the store and its all-volunteer staff will soon also catch the eye of First Lady Michelle Obama.

“We’ve been told she knows about it,” said Glenn, who touts the store from his twice-weekly Christian radio show

Urban church grocery needs help

Laura Lindsey, an intern at Good Natured Family Farms, helps church volunteer BJ Becton unload the truck and stock the small church grocery at World Harvest Ministries.

World Harvest Ministries could use your help in its mission to provide healthy, local food to residents near the church at 3400 Woodland Avenue. The church grocery store is open, but still needs basic supplies and help renovating an old kitchen to be used for healthy cooking classes.

Specific requests include: • Financial assistance with utility bills • Commercial stove • Commercial refrigerator • Shelving for the grocery store • 15-passenger van For more information, contact Pastor Terry Glenn at 913-302-4130, or mail a financial contribution to World Harvest Ministries, 3400 Woodland, Kansas City, MO 64109.

23

Greenability

Good Natured Family Farms supplies the church grocery store with seasonal fruits and vegetables, locally produced jellies and pickles, hormone-free milk, grass-fed meat and eggs from free-range chickens.

on KPRT-1590 AM. “We’d love to have her visit and try some

(EBTs), pre-paid cards to those receiving Supplemental

of our fresh food.”

Nutrition Assistance, or food stamps. Profits from the store

The store’s supplier, Good Natured Family Farms, got its start 15 years ago when Endicott and a few other local

go back into the church to help pay mortgage and utility bills and support youth programs.

growers were selling home-grown tomatoes to small grocery

Though the store is bustling on most days, the busiest day

stores. Endicott’s passion for locally grown and produced

is Saturday, when the Kansas City Beans and Greens program,

foods, along with her extensive background in organic

owned and operated by the Menorah Legacy Foundation,

horticulture and meat processing, turned the farm alliance

matches dollar for dollar, those paying with EBTs.

into an organization that today has more than $4 million in

“It’s a wonderful program that matches up to $30 for those

sales of local all-natural meats, fresh produce, cheeses, milk,

using EBTs, which allows shoppers to get more fresh, healthy

jellies, eggs and other farm-fresh foods to Balls Foods’ 29

food,” said Glenn.

local super markets. She coordinates the alliance’s activities

Glenn said customers always snap up favorites like

from her family’s 400-acre organic farm, which she manages

hormone-free ground beef, farm-fresh eggs and dairy, all-

with her husband Gary about 80 miles south of Kansas City

beef hot dogs and organic sweet potatoes, corn, grapes

in Bronson, KS. Gary Endicott also helps with his family’s

and strawberries. But World Harvest Ministries doesn’t stop

400-acre farm in Ft. Scott, KS and the couple’s USDA federally

at merely marketing healthy foods. Glenn and wife Erika

inspected meat-processing plant.

also show their clientele how to cook healthily via Saturday

Endicott’s farm alliance sells many of the same fresh foods to World Harvest Ministries that are sold to the upscale Hen House Market stores. But the small, inner-city super market

afternoon cooking demonstrations.

“We haven’t been to culinary school, but we’ve seen a lot of Food Network,” laughed Glenn.

buys its food with a small markup, keeping prices low. Many

On a recent Saturday, the couple grilled free-range chicken

of the store’s customers pay with Electronic Benefit Transfers

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24

tastes of grilled, jalapeno hamburgers. They encourage their

“We’ve had people from the community come to shop, like

shoppers to use sea salt and olive oil as opposed to more

what they see, and begin attending our church,” said Glenn.

fatty oils or high-sodium seasonings.

In addition to the market at World Harvest Ministries, Endicott’s farm alliance has worked with other organizations

When Glenn is asked to speak to other organizations about the corner grocery at World Harvest Ministries, he likes to quote one of his favorite Bible verses.

and local businesses to provide healthy, locally grown

“It’s from the Book of Proverbs and says ‘Where there is no

foods to vulnerable neighborhoods. Good Natured Family

vision, the people perish,’” quotes Glenn. “Good Natured

Farms has teamed up with Hallmark Cards for some time,

Family Farms was truly a Godsend to us and part of that

encouraging the company’s employees to sponsor Good

vision. They, along with Balls Food and so many others, have

Food Boxes that are delivered to families living in inner-city

huge hearts and are such a part of affecting real change in this

and high-risk communities. Endicott’s organization is also

neighborhood. We couldn’t have done it without them.”

working with Guadalupe Center in Kansas City, MO to bring fresh, locally grown food to Plaza De Ninos and the center’s Head Start Program.

Endicott said she would like to see other markets like the church’s market in the Ivanhoe neighborhood.

“The World Harvest Ministries project is so special,” said Endicott. “Everyone on our end jumped on it and gave it their all and the same happened at the church. It could happen in other neighborhoods.”

In addition to providing healthy, accessible food for

Resources World Harvest Ministries

Beans and Greens Program

hlcfarmersmarket@yahoo.com 816-298-7074

www.beansandgreens.org 913-226-3100

Good Natured Family Farms

Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council

www.goodnatured.net 913-636-9989

www.incthrives.org 816-921-6611

its congregants, Glenn’s church has realized one other

Balls Food Stores

unexpected blessing.

www.henhouse.com

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Greenability

816.241.6400

1720 Wabash • kansas city, Missouri 64127

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GOOD FOOD FOR ALL

Corporate food systems serve up local harvests

From left: Sergio Gonzalez, executive chef at the Isle of Capri Casino, oversees the preparation of local food that is purchased through Sysco Food. Pat Cipolla is the director of produce marketing at Sysco, and Chet Koch is vice president and general manager at the casino.

By Mary Bush Photography by Chad Hickman

S

everal years ago, area residents who wanted locally

David Ball, president and CEO of Balls Food (which owns

grown, pesticide-free fruits and vegetables, all-natural

29 Hen House and Price Chopper stores in the metro area),

beef and free-range eggs, planned a trip to their local

says the movement toward local foods has been on the

farmers market and served their seasonal cuisine at home.

Now, those same foods are available in corporate food systems — from the local Hen House Market and Price

horizon for some time and that consumer awareness, product availability and centralized distribution have pushed it to the forefront.

Chopper stores owned by Balls Food Stores to the hundreds

“In the not-too-far past, farmers had to sell their foods

of metro-area restaurants and company cafeterias serviced

store to store, which didn’t allow them to compete

by worldwide food distributor Sysco Food. Add in school

efficiently with the large producers,” said Ball. “Now, like

lunches coordinated by Bistro Kids through Treat America

their larger competitors, it’s easier for the local farmers to get

and supplied by Sysco, and the locally grown food circle

their foods to the consumer via centralized warehouse and

expands even more.

distribution points.”

27

Greenability

Ball points to Good Natured

including

Shawnee

Mission

Family Farms (GNFF), an alliance

Medical Center, small and large

of more than 150 local farms,

educational

as a major player in making

as the University of Kansas and

that happen in the Kansas City

entertainment destinations such

area. Diana Endicott started the

as the Isle of Capri Casino.

organization 15 years ago, selling

The company sources some

fresh, garden-grown tomatoes to

of GNFF’s locally grown foods

small grocery stores. Realizing

from Balls’ centralized ware-

the inefficiency of going door to

house

door, she approached Balls Food

products such as milk, cheeses

about delivering her tomatoes to

and eggs directly from the farm

the company’s central warehouse

alliance.

and

institutions

purchases

such

other

— and so began the movement

“We buy as much local food as

of local food back into Kansas

we can,” said Pat Cipolla, director

City stores. Today, the farm

of produce marketing and a

alliance, which consists of farms within 200 miles of Kansas City, sells more than $4 million a year

Diana Endicott provides the supply of locally grown and raised food from Good Natured Family Farms to the Isle of Capri through a contract with Sysco Food.

of locally grown produce, meats, dairy and other products to Balls Foods.

23-year

veteran

of

Sysco.

“It’s one of the fastest growing categories in our business.”

Cipolla said an important factor in dealing with GNFF is GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) certification, which shows

Balls Food has played a major role in consumer awareness

adherence to guidelines the Food and Drug Administration

about the nutritional benefits of local foods. The company

uses for both on-farm production and post-production

joined in a national ‘Buy Fresh, Buy Local’ campaign about

processes that result in safe, healthy food. Farms undergo

seven years ago, and worked with GNFF to provide even

audits by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other

more farm-grown, healthy foods. Since then, Balls Food

auditors Sysco requires, such as Primus Labs, to ensure

customers have become very familiar with healthier foods

adherence to these guidelines.

available throughout their stores and through a seasonal Community Supported Agriculture program.

Endicott frequently takes customers and sales associates from Sysco and Balls Food on farm tours so they can meet

“Our customers are well educated about why local foods

the farmers and see for themselves how the foods are grown.

are desirable,” said Ball. “It works better for everyone. We

“Customers love to go,” said Endicott. “We have ongoing

like working with the farmers. They can make a living and the

dinners and tours at the farms throughout the summer and

customer gets a great product.”

fall. When you meet the farmers and see how passionate they

About four years ago, Good Natured Family Farms began working with Sysco Food to distribute the farm alliance’s

are about producing healthy food, you can’t help but catch their enthusiasm.”

foods to even more consumers. Sysco Foods is a global

Cipolla agrees. He has visited several Mennonite farms

leader in selling, marketing and distributing food products

in Rich Hill, MO and an Amish farm in Stanberry, MO that

to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, lodging

sells free-range eggs and recently became

establishments and other customers who prepare meals

GAP certified.

away from home. GNFF works with the local Sysco office in Olathe.

Sysco’s long list of metro-area customers that now use

“The Mennonite farm in Rich Hill is believed to be the first farm in the Mennonite

locally grown foods includes all sizes of eating establishments

community to be GAP

such as Overland Park restaurant Unforked, medical facilities

certified, and many have greenabilitymagazine.com

28

cooking camps and birthday parties for children. She decided to become more involved with school lunches when she saw what was available at the school her own kindergartener attended at the time.

“I knew there had to be a better way,” said Firquain, who holds a master’s degree in business. “We teamed up with Good Natured Family Farms and Oakhill Day School in Gladstone, MO and put together the first ‘Farm 2 School’ lunch program.

Today, the ‘Farm 2 School’ program uses locally grown foods to feed children at five schools in the Kansas City area and one in St. Louis.

Good Natured Family Farms also applied for and received a grant allowing the farm alliance and Bistro Kids to use the same concept for schools with children enrolled in Head Start Programs designed to help younger children be ready for school. The first of those schools, Plaza de Ninos, a preschool located at the Guadalupe Center in Kansas City, MO, now enjoys locally grown food at lunchtime, with more Head Start schools in the community scheduled to start soon.

Children at the schools that Bistro Kids serves consume lunches with healthy ingredients, like whole-grain pasta with fresh tomato sauce, pizza with farm-fresh vegetables, baked chicken strips made from scratch and locally sourced sausage.

Each week’s “Fun Friday” brings the fresh fruit and salad bar.

“It has the highest participation rate of anything we do,” said Firquain, known as Chef K to the children at the schools.

Preschool students at Plaza de Ninos enjoy healthy food from Good Natured Family Farms through the Farm 2 School program founded by Bistro Kids and now owned by Treat America. The food is delivered through Sysco.

Photo: Kiersten Firquain

“The kids love to build salads to their own taste.”

They also love to learn about the healthy foods they eat.

Bistro Kids has a garden in every school they work with so the children can see firsthand how food grows. The children also meet and mingle with some of the growers who provide

come on board since,” said Cipolla. “A handshake means

all natural beef and bison, free-range chicken, pesticide-

everything to these individuals and we are fortunate to be

free vegetables and other farm-grown, healthy foods. Bistro

doing business with them.”

Kids plans to be involved in more school lunch programs,

Another group of consumers with locally grown, healthy food on their plates are the school children serviced by Bistro

educating children about the health and taste benefits of locally grown foods.

Kids, an organization founded seven years ago by Olathe

The organization recently received some help in reaching

resident Kiersten Firquain. Bistro Kids provides healthy,

that goal. In July, Bistro Kids was acquired by Treat America, a

freshly made lunches and snacks to schools using food from

food service management company that manages more than

local farmers.

100 on-site dining facilities located primarily in the Midwest,

Firquain trained as a professional chef at the Culinary

such as the corporate dining facility at H&R Block. Bistro

Institute of America in Napa Valley, CA and began her

Kids now sources its food from Sysco, so is still using Good

career as a personal chef and caterer, also providing summer

Natured Family Farms’ locally grown food.

29

Greenability

According to Bill Pellion, Treat America’s vice president of

Sysco’s Pat Cipolla says it takes passionate people with

Dining Services, the acquisition of Bistro Kids fits beautifully

good ideas for the local food movement to build. But the

with the company’s mission.

common denominator is the local farmer.

“We want to encourage using locally sourced, nutritionally

“With the abilities and talents of the local farmers and

sound foods,” said Pellion. “Our goal is the same as Bistro

organizations like Good Natured Family Farms, the local food

Kids: to feed healthy food to as many kids as possible and

movement is here,” said Cipolla. “They are the ones who

even beyond that, to other groups of consumers. Kiersten

really make it happen, and we are privileged to be working

has the passion and knowledge to make that happen.”

with them.”

Resources Balls Food

Sysco Food

Guadalupe Center

913-573-1200

913-829-5550

816-421-1015

www.henhouse.com

www.sysco.com

www.guadalupecenters.org

Good Natured Family Farms

Bistro Kids

Treat America

913-710-5171

913-384-4900

913-636-9989

www.bistrokids.com

www.treatamerica.com

www.goodnatured.net

(785) 749-6020

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30

GOOD FOOD FOR ALL

Local farmers sell produce and baked goods in a heated pavilion at the City Market through February.

enjoy local food this winter

By Benjamin Bachwirtz

A

s the cold settles in, many farms rest and markets go quiet, but there are still ways to find fresh, wholesome food in Kansas City. Throughout the winter, several local farmers offer sustainably raised meats – including grassfed beef and heritage turkeys – as well as eggs, milk, cheese, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, nuts and other produce.

This local fare can be found at nearby grocery stores and at several farmers markets that move indoors for winter.

The Kansas City area hosts a number of holiday-themed food events, including those at Badseed Market and Whole

WINter FarMerS MarKetS badseed Market

December 2 – February 24 Fridays, 4 – 8 p.m.

1909 McGee St. Kansas City, MO 816-472-0027 www.badseedkc.com

City Market

November – February Saturdays, 7 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Sundays, 8 a.m. – 3 p.m.

20 E. 5th St. Kansas City, MO 816-842-1271 www.thecitymarket.org

31

Greenability

Foods Market. Local food will be showcased at the Hen House Holiday Celebration, where you can meet local farmers and sample their food. There, you can also hear Tyler Florence, celebrity chef and creator of “Sprout” organic baby foods.

Thanks to a new addition to Kansas City’s green food scene, you can get a local holiday feast delivered to your front door.

Conveniently Natural, which prepares and delivers meatless, organic meals from local ingredients, is offering several holiday specials including Fake Turkey Bake.

Check out these local resources for local, healthy fare:

Grand Court Four Seasons Farmers Market

Year-round Saturdays, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

107th & Wornall, just south of I-435

lOCal FOOD DelIVerY Conveniently Natural

3711 Southwest Trafficway Kansas City, MO 913-475-8004 www.convenientlynatural.com Offers weekly menu of organic, vegan meals with home delivery available.

Holiday items include Faux Turkey Bake with Pumpkin Gravy, Butternut Squash Gnocchi, Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole and Vegetable Stuffed Acorn Squash.

Special family-sized servings available for the holidays.

Door to Door Organics

877-711-3636 www.kcdoortodoororganics.com Get organic food delivered to your doorstep from local and regional farmers.

HOlIDaY FOOD eVeNtS badseed Pre-thanksgiving Market November 18 • 4 – 9 p.m.

Holiday Market

December 23 • 4 – 8 p.m.

1909 McGee St. Kansas City, MO 816-472-0027 www.badseedkc.com

Hen House Holiday Celebration October 28 – 29, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

October 30, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Overland Park Convention Center 6000 College Blvd.

Overland Park, KS www.henhouseholidaycelebration.com See chef competitions, meet local farmers and get a free reusable bag of samples at this 3-day event. Cost: $5 advance tickets at Hen House stores, $6 at the door.

lawrence Pre-thanksgiving Farmers Market November 19 • 7 – 11 a.m.

818 New Hampshire St. Lawrence, KS www.lawrencefarmersmarket.com

Whole Foods taste of the Holidays

November 3 • 5 – 8 p.m.

7401 W. 91st St. Overland Park, KS www.wholefoodsmarket.com Sample holiday foods and get tips and resources to make holiday meals easy, good for you and good for the planet.

Event is free.

GrOCerY StOreS

McGonigle’s Market

Several area grocery stores carry a variety of locally grown and harvested foods.

If you need help finding a specific local food, ask the store manager.

1307 W. 79th St. Kansas City, MO 816-444-4720 www.mcgonigles.com

the Community Mercantile

Nature’s Pantry

901 S. Iowa St. Lawrence, KS 785-843-8544 www.communitymercantile.com

19019 E. 48th St. Independence, MO 816-478-1990 www.pantry.biz

Green acres Market

Nature’s Market

4175 Mulberry Dr. Kansas City, MO 816-746-0010 www.greenacres.com

551 S.E. Melody Lane Lee’s Summit, MO 816-525-2625 www.naturesmarket.com

Hen House Markets

Nature’s Own Health Food Market

11 locations www.henhouse.com Hen House Markets are the primary source for meat, dairy, eggs and vegetables from more than 150 local farmers in Good Natured Family Farms.

Mother Nature’s Health Market 344 South 291 Hwy. Liberty, MO 816-415-4638 www.mothernaturesmkt.com

4301 Main St. Kansas City, MO 816-997-9420

Sweet Meadows Natural Market 1284 Foxwood Dr. Raymore, MO 816-318-1952

Whole Foods Market 7401 W. 91st St. Overland Park, KS 913-652-9633

donate. shop. volunteer.

We accept new and used furniture and building material donations that are in good, useable condition.

We offer a free collection service for large, pre-approved loads. You can also drop off your tax-deductible donation to ReStore KC. For a complete list of items we accept visit www.restorekc.org or call (816) 231-6889.

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DIreCt FrOM tHe FarM

Golden ridge Farms

These farmers will have turkeys, chickens, winter produce, dairy, eggs and nuts.

Contact them directly for availability and pickup or delivery.

913-406-9432 www.kspecans.com Pecans (will ship)

Green Dirt Farm

Chestnut Charlie’s

Weston, MO 816-386-2156 www.greendirtfarm.com Grass-fed lamb and award-winning organic cheeses, with yogurts and gift baskets. Available during the winter through its website, at the farm and at Badseed Market.

Lawrence, KS 785-841-8505 www.chestnutcharlie.com Organic chestnuts available at local stores, or by website order.

Cultivate KC (Formerly KCCUa)

Kansas City, KS www.cultivatekc.org Carrots, chard, kale, collards, turnips, scallions, arugula, salad greens, beets, radishes, potatoes, sweet potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes are available at Badseed Market and through a fall CSA.

Fahrmeier Farms

9364 Mitchell Trail Lexington, MO 816-289-2496 www.fahrmeierfarms.com www.fahrmeierfamilyvineyards.com Winter squash, spinach and lettuce are available at the farm, with wines available at the adjacent Fahrmeier Family Vineyards.

Good Natured Family Farms

More than 150 local family farms offer meats, heritage turkeys, dairy, eggs, produce and honey. Sold through Hen House Markets and other locations.

See website for complete list. www.goodnatured.net

Good Shepherd turkey ranch

785-227-5149 www.goodshepherdpoultryranch.com Heritage turkeys

Parker Farms Natural Meats

Richmond, MO 816-470-3663 www.parkerfarmsmeats.com Grass-fed beef and lamb, pasture-raised chicken, eggs and pork are available at Badseed Market and through a yearround CSA program.

Pisciotta Farms

Kidder, MO 816-803-9001 www.pisciottafarms.com Grass-fed beef and lamb, pastureraised chicken and eggs, and pork, are available at the City Market on the ďŹ rst and third Saturdays of November and December.

Platte Prairie Farms

Kansas City, MO 816-352-9213 www.PrairieTrading.com Winter squash, sweet potatoes, kale and spinach

Paradise locker Meats

Trimble, MO 816-370-6328 www.paradisemeats.com Local, natural meats and heritage turkeys

Albert Tamm Lumber Co. Roberts & Dybahl American Fire Sprinkler Anthony Plumbing Heating and Cooling Applied Ecological Services, Inc Black &Veatch Heritage Cast Stone BNIM Brookside Building Performance Central Fiber CFM Distributors JE Dunn Construction Construction and Abatement Services Cromwell Environmental Decent Energy,Inc. Urban Mining Homewares Brigid Greene Demilic USA LLC E&K of Kansas City Kohler ECS Geothermal Elmwood Reclaimed Timber Environmental Works, Inc EPA Region 7 Green Light Ground Source Systems, Inc James van Eman Architects Grundfos Metropolitan Energy Center Hendrickson Tree Care Company effi cie nt comfortable sm a r t r e n e wa ble h isto r ic

www.ProjectLivingProof.org

Henderson Engineers Key Lighting Roberts & Dybahl, Inc. Illumination Sales Elements of Green The Hayes Company The Jeske Company Trex KCP&L Smart Grid Habitat For Humanity Kansas City Restore Loma Vista Nursery MARC Solid Waste Management District PPG Industries Missouri Gas Energy WaterFurnace International Missouri Department of Conservation Missouri Department of Natural Resources LaFarge Patti Banks Associates Heartland Utilities for Energy Efficiency Rothers Design-Build Hermes Nursery Platte Clay Electric Cooperative Solar Solutions of Kansas City Vanderford & Assoc. University of Missouri-Kansas City United Heating and Cooling University of Kansas School of Architecture Aggrand Mark One Electric SFE Enterprises York International UPG 33

Greenability

Celebrate sustainable success stories

T

he Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) will honor seven sustainable success stories from 8:30 to 11 a.m.

December 2 at the Kauffman Foundation, 4801 Rockhill Road, Kansas City, MO. Three years ago, the MARC Board of Directors adopted a vision of sustainability for regional policy and planning work. This year’s program will highlight projects that focus on energy efficiency and conservation. The program is funded through the Regional Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy initiative, which is supported by the Department of Energy through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The 2011 honorees are:

• Clothesline Sale, Pembroke Hill School Parents Association • Energy Conservation and Education, Eudora USD 491 • Geothermal Project/Energy Conservation Measures, City of Prairie Village, Kan. • Grown in Ivanhoe, Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council • Project Living Proof, Metropolitan Energy Center • ReStore, Habitat for Humanity Kansas City • Sustainability in Action, University of Missouri – Kansas City The event is free; however, registration is required at www.marc.org or 816-701-8234.

Project Living Proof is a demonstration house showcasing energy efficiency, renewable energy and thefarming KCP&L Smart Grid. x 4.781 Sept11_Layout 1 9/19/11 2:07 PM sustainability_market ad 3.531

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Sustainable Agriculture (Market Farming) Entrepreneurship Certificate • Helps students realize dreams of opening their own sustainable direct market vegetable and fruit farm or other agriculture business • Answers consumer demand for locally grown food • Offers hands-on learning as part of practicum at the JCCC campus farm A partnership among Johnson County Community College’s hospitality management, horticulture and entrepreneurship programs and Kansas State University.

For more information, call: Stu Shafer at 913-469-8500, ext. 3494 or visit www.jccc.edu/sustainability

Johnson County Community College 12345 College Blvd., Overland Park, KS 66210

greenabilitymagazine.com

34

Green Ideas

6

environmental books to read or gift this holiday season

By Kristina Beverlin

W

ith the holidays just around the corner, you may find yourself in need of some novel ideas for stocking stuffers. In these pages, Greenability provides a list of six books on environmental topics, perfect for those who want to better understand the issues, or for those who just want to add to an environmental library. Certainly these books will make wonderful gifts, but they also allow you to expand your knowledge of climate change issues just in time for holiday dinner conversations. If selecting for yourself, consider using the library or purchasing them at a used bookstore. For gifts, consider shopping at a local bookstore.

1

Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health

BY MARION NESTLE In Food Politics, Marion Nestle debunks the notion that the nutritional advice consumers receive from many food companies is good for us. Nestle, a former chair of nutrition and food studies at New York University, argues that the food industry uses aggressive tactics to influence consumers and protect its interests, while threatening consumers’ nutritional health. She contends the industry promotes sales by lobbying and making financial contributions to influence Congress, federal agencies and health professionals.

The author shows how the food industry opposes government regulation and works to discredit nutritional recommendations, all the while making soft drinks easily available to children through alliances with schools. Nestle urges readers to demand ethical behavior and scientific honesty, and to choose foods wisely for better health choices.

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Greenability

2

Slow Death By Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things

BY RICK SMITH AND BRUCE LOURIE What started out as a dare between friends led to the authors’ research for Slow Death

By Rubber Duck. The authors are Canadian environmentalists who exposed themselves to routine products and watched the toxin levels in their bodies skyrocket. Unfortunately, most people undergo this experiment unknowingly every day. Smith and Lourie show how everyday exposures and product choices impact our toxin levels and health risks. They look at the levels of lead, bromine and chromium lurking in favorite toys. This book is packed with insights, backed by research and points out actions that will measurably reduce your exposure to harmful toxins.

3

Ecoholic: Your Guide to the Most Environmentally Friendly Information, Products and Services

5

BY WOODY TASCH Inquiries Into the Nature of Slow Money offers an alternative to the ‘bigger, better, faster, stronger,’ mantra of our economy. Author Woody Tasch explains the problems he sees with our current economic system and the threat those problems pose to our environment, and therefore humanity.

He presents a new strategy for investing in local food systems and introduces a group of fiduciary activists who are exploring the future after industrial agriculture. Their investment philosophy puts soil fertility into return-oninvestment calculations and considers the interests of people as a priority. Tasch shares his insight from decades of work as a venture capitalist, foundation treasurer and entrepreneur. He offers an alternative vision to old industrial concepts.

Slow money is firmly rooted in the new economic, social and environmental realities of the 21st century. It is a call to action for designing capital markets built around preservation and restoration, instead of excessive consumption.

BY ADRIA VASIL If you’re looking for a reference book that covers green choices in products from food to clothing, pick up a copy of Ecoholic. It will help in making more environmentally sound choices and avoiding “greenwashing.” Author Adria Vasil covers a wide range of topics, from how to keep harmful chemicals out of your life to making greener choices for homes and lawns. It includes information that may surprise even the most ecoconscious. Did you know a motorcycle expels 10 times more carbon monoxide than the average car?

4

Running Out of Water: The Looming Crisis and Solutions to Conserve Our Most Precious Resource

BY PETER ROGERS AND SUSAN LEAL Every day, we move closer to a water crisis. More than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, but less than one percent is accessible fresh water. While the amount of water on Earth has not changed since prehistoric times, our population has grown to 6.7 billion people. In Running Out of Water, Peter Rogers, a Harvard University professor, and Susan Leal, a former utility company manager, break down the facts about our current water situation. In the United States, individuals use about 80 to 100 gallons of water per day. The authors explain that shortages will escalate as our population reaches 8 billion by 2025. They propose new technologies and strategies that can help our growing population survive – starting with a 10 percent reduction in agricultural irrigation and low-cost approaches to providing basic sanitation and safe drinking water in countries like Brazil and Pakistan. They contend the biggest challenges are a disengaged public and inertia by political leaders.

Inquiries Into the Nature of Slow Money

6

The Weather Makers

BY TIM FLANNERY With extreme and catastrophic weather occurring more frequently, The Weather Makers offers topical and timely connections between climate change and global warming. Author Tim Flannery takes complex scientific research and makes it accessible to the average reader. He looks at the factors that have driven the planet’s climate, from the origins of fossil fuels to the potential sources of climate catastrophe. He also addresses the future of electric power produced by hydrogen, geothermal energy, wind and sun.

At the heart of his message is the call to drastically cut CO2 emissions – now.

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36

GREENABILITYDIRECTORY ARCHITECTS/BUILDERS

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Bennett Home Improvement & Building

cfm Distributors, Inc.

708 NW R.D. Mize Road Blue Springs, MO 816-564-1251 cell 816-229-4711 office

www.cfmdistributors.com

www. homeimprovementandbuilding.com Bennett Home Improvement installs “green” technologies that will enhance your home’s value while saving you money and protecting our environment.

1104 Union Ave. Kansas City, MO 816-842-5400

Cfm Distributors is the Midwest’s employee-owned provider of sustainable heating, cooling, and refrigeration solutions for home, office and industry.

EnergyWorks KC

EDUCATION Johnson County Community College Center for Sustainability 12345 College Blvd.

Overland Park, KS 913-469-8500

816-531-7283 www.EnergyWorksKC.org www.kcmo.org/EnergyWorksKC EnergyWorks KC provides resources to help you make smart, easy, energy-efficiency improvements to your home or business to save energy and enhance comfort.

www.jccc.edu/sustainability

FreeEnergy

Want a new “green” career? Explore JCCC’s sustainability programs and train for a career in the growing “green” industry.

816-461-8877

Mid-America Regional Council (MARC)

Residential & commercial energy audits, spray-foam insulation, air sealing, efficient HVAC & duct system design, geothermal GSHP, solar PV power, solar thermal.

600 Broadway, Suite 200 Kansas City, MO 816-474-4240

info@FreeEnergyCorp.com www.FreeEnergyCorp.com

www.marc.org

The Hayes Company

MARC is a non-profit association of city and county governments and the metropolitan planning organization for the bi-state Kansas City region.

Kansas City, MO 816-444-6352

www.thehayesco.com The Hayes Company offers Home Performance services for energy efficiency through energy audits, insulating, duct sealing, weatherization and HVAC balancing.

Sustainable Investment Solutions™ We help socially and environmentally conscious investors manage their money to make a positive impact on their own lives and our whole world.

Investment Advisory Representative

• Fee-only services from an Accredited Investment Fiduciary™ • Focused exclusively on SRI financial planning for over 15 years • Customized screening, shareholder activism and community investing

Email or call today for your free one-year subscription to our quarterly newsletter on socially responsible investing, Affirmative Thinking.

Jim Horlacher MBA, AIF® TreeHuggerJim@FirstAffirmative.com | 913.432.4958 | www.firstaffirmative.com First Affirmative Financial Network, LLC is an independent Registered Investment Advisor registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Jim Horlacher is an Investment Advisory Representative of First Affirmative Financial Network.

37

Greenability

Heartland Utilities for Energy Efficiency (HUEE)

UMB Financial Corporation

www.HUEE.org

1010 Grand Boulevard Kansas City, MO 816-860-7000

HUEE promotes energy efficiency through Atmos Energy, Independence Power & Light, Kansas City Board of Public Utilities, Kansas Gas Energy, Platte-Clay Electric Cooperative and Metropolitan Energy Center.

UMB offers complete banking, asset management, health spending solutions and related financial services to personal, commercial and institutional customers nationwide.

816-835-7593

www.umb.com

GREETING CARDS

Metropolitan Energy Center 3810 Paseo Kansas City, MO 816-531-7283

Posty Cards, Inc.

Metropolitan

1600 Olive Street Kansas City, MO 816-231-2323

ENERGY CENTER

www.kcenergy.org

The mission of the Metropolitan Energy Center is to help create resource efficiency, environmental health and economic vitality in the Kansas City region.

www.postycards.com Featuring Sustainable Sentiments® locally grown, green greeting cards. Build client and employee relationships with environmentally inspired cards for birthdays, holidays and other occasions.

Missouri Gas Energy

www.missourigasenergy.com

HOME IMPROVEMENT

Missouri Gas Energy offers an energy efficiency rebate for customers who purchase a qualifying energy-efficient, tankless natural gas water heating system.

Elements of Green 1919 Wyandotte Kansas City, MO 64108 816-842-0500

Small Step Energy Solutions

www.elements-of-green.com

Shawnee, KS 913-708-8004

Kansas City’s source for sustainable building, remodeling and finishing solutions like cabinets, countertops, flooring, tile, paint, solar and cleaning supplies.

www.smallstepenergy.com Small Step Energy Solutions specializes in home energy auditing and green energy building consultations for both new and existing homes.

Habitat ReStore 4701 Deramus Kansas City, MO 303 W. 79th St. Kansas City, MO 816-231-6889

FINANCIAL SERVICES First Affirmative Financial Network

www.restorekc.org

913-432-4958

Habitat ReStore collects quality, new and used building materials and sells them to the public at a discount. Proceeds benefit Habitat for Humanity home building.

www.firstaffirmative.com First Affirmative Financial Network is an independent, fee-only, fiduciary investment management firm specializing in socially and environmentally responsible investing.

B:7.25” (14’ 6”) T:7.25” (14’ 6”) S:6.75” (13’ 6”)

Visit us umb.com/rewards | Call us 816.860.4862

Count on More® Rewards Checking.

greenabilitymagazine.com

38

T:3.125” (6’ 3”)

For more information about Bridging The Gap, visit bridgingthegap.org

B:3.125” (6’ 3”)

Get rewarded.

Just for living your life.

S:2.625” (5’ 3”)

Nothing feels more rewarding than donating to a good cause.

When you open a Count on More® Rewards Checking account, your normal every day purchases will earn points you can use toward donations to select environmental organizations like Bridging The Gap in Kansas City. Donation gifts are available in $50 increments. The feeling is much bigger.

LAWN & GARDEN

LOCAL & ORGANIC FOOD

Eco Fertilization and Lubrication

Conveniently Natural

Eco Fertilization and Lubrication is an independent distributor of Aggrand natural and organic liquid fertilizers for use by homeowners, agriculture and landscape professionals.

Missouri Organic

Missouri Organic offers a convenient and affordable facility for customers to drop off green waste and purchase quality compost, topsoil and mulch.

Rooster Rubber LLC 1720 Wabash Avenue Kansas City, MO 816-241-6400

bdarling@roosterrubber.com www.roosterrubber.com Rooster Rubber manufactures 100-percent recycled, colored rubber products for landscaping, playground safety surfacing and equestrian arena footing. Never mulch again!

Good Natured Family Farms www.goodnatured.net

FRES UY

H

www.missouriorganic.com

Conveniently Natural is Kansas City’s premier organic and vegan meal delivery service. Finally – a convenient and affordable way to eat healthy.

Good Natured Family Farms is an alliance UY LOCA of more than 150 family farms that raise animals humanely and care for the Earth in a sustainable way.

B

7700 East 40 Highway Kansas City, MO 816-483-0908

www.convenientlynatural.com

L

www.ecoflkc.com

3711 Southwest Trafficway Kansas City, MO 913-475-8004

B

Tom Gorby, Aggrand dealer 913-593-5797

Green Dirt Farm P.O. Box 74 Weston, MO 816-386-2156

www.greendirtfarm.com Green Dirt Farm produces farmstead sheep’s milk cheese and 100-percent grass-fed lamb. We are an Animal Welfare Approved farm.

Hen House Holiday Celebration

www.henhouseholidaycelebration.com Meet local farmers and get a free reusable bag of samples on October 28-30 at the Overland Park Convention Center.

Electronics recycling done right.

Completed in the Midwest Never sold to brokers Never shipped overseas Safe & secure processing 90-95 percent recovery rate Not for profit Free pickup from KC Metro commercial locations

Insulate RIght…

Make It hayes tIght.

• • • •

Increase Comfort Lower Utility Costs "Green" Solutions Insulations for all Applications

10% OFF

any Insulation Service Must present this Ad. Valid 90 days from publication date

New Icynene LDR-50 made from highly renewable castor oil!

Kansas City’s environmentally responsible electronics recycler.

518 Santa Fe, Kansas City, MO 64105 816-472-0444

www.surplusexchange.org 39

Greenability

Family Owned Since 1978 www.thehayesco.com

(816) 444-6352 861-8700 (816) (913) 897-1978

We offer high-performance insulation from recycled newsprint.

PHOTOGRAPHY Blixt Photography

210 W. 5th St., Suite 102 Kansas City, MO 816-442-7389

www.blixtphoto.com Blixt Photography is the boutique-style studio of Chad Hickman and Ryan Hill, specializing in editorial, wedding and portrait photography.

RECYCLING County Line Auto Parts 1828 NW U.S. 50 Highway Kingsville, MO 816-697-3535 800-801-7787

The Surplus Exchange 518 Santa Fe Kansas City, MO 816-472-0444

www.surplusexchange.org The Surplus Exchange responsibly recycles electronics locally and offers pickup from metro commercial locations. Visit the Tech Shop and furniture showroom.

RENEWABLE ENERGY Brightergy 15209 W. 99th St. Lenexa, KS 816-866-0555

www.brightergy.com

www.countylineautoparts.com

Brightergy is the region’s most experienced solar design, installation, financing and leasing firm with hundreds of commercial and residential installations across the Midwest.

County Line Auto Parts specializes in recycled auto parts at affordable prices to suit your every need.

Cromwell Solar

Deffenbaugh Industries 2601 Midwest Drive Kansas City, KS 913-631-3300

www.deffenbaughinc.com Deffenbaugh is Kansas City’s hometown hauler for more than 50 years and the first to launch weekly residential and business recycling.

825 Vermont, Suite B Lawrence, KS 785-749-6020

www.PowerTomorrow.com For the past 12 years, Cromwell Solar has been Kansas and Missouri’s leader in the design and installation of solar energy.

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40

Decent Energy

Larsen & Associates, Inc.

www.decentenergy.com

785-841-8707 Contact: Jessica Pryor

Decent Energy provides integrated efficiency and renewable energy solutions, including energy audits, solar air heat and solar electric (pv).

Larsen & Associates provides geothermal installation services including loop installation, line purging and charging, pressure grouting, thermal fusion and drilling.

800-358-5790

ECS Geothermal 209 Richardson St. Smithville, MO 816-532-8334

www.geoecs.com ECS Geothermal has been installing geothermal heating and cooling systems and radiant floor heating in Kansas City for almost 20 years.

FreeEnergy

www.larsenenvironmental.com

WINERY Fahrmeier Family Vineyards 9300 Mitchell Trail Lexington, MO 816-633-2150

www.ffvineyards.com Established in 1947, Fahrmeier Family Vineyards handcrafts unique artisanal wines of uncompromising quality in the fertile hills of Lexington, MO.

816-461-8877

info@FreeEnergyCorp.com www.FreeEnergyCorp.com FreeEnergy is a full-service sustainability company. We design and install solar PV, solar thermal hot water and geothermal GSHP.

Do you want your green business or service to be seen by environmentally conscious readers?

List it in the GREENABILITY DIRECTORY. For information, contact Julie Koppen 816-931-3646 or julie@greenabilitymagazine.com

Energy Efficiency Grants Available. Apply Now. Organized in 2002, the Heartland Utilities for Energy Efficiency (HUEE) is a consortium of electric and gas utilities in the Kansas City metro area designed to promote energy efficiency in the marketplace through grants and education for area residents and organizations.

Help others save energy. Applications available at HUEE.org.

41

Greenability

Create New Holiday Memories!

Look for the Good Natured Family Farms products available at your favorite Hen House Market.

Delight your holiday guests with Good Natured Family Farms local farm fresh products.

Make a Meal that makes a difference with Good Natured Family Farms and Hen House Markets.

Heritage Turkey and Ham • All-Natural Beef Roasts • Bison • Artisan Sausage • Farmhouse Cheese • Tofu Free-Range Chicken • Acorn, Butternut, and Spaghetti Squash • Pie Pumpkins • Milk, Cream and Eggnogg Local Honey • Assorted Jams and Jellies • Louisburg Apple Cider • Farm to Market Bread Missouri Apples • Garden Fresh Hot House Tomatoes • Cal-Ann Farms Local Living Basil • Schweizer Orchards Crooked River Farms Fresh Herbs • Missouri Pecans • Chestnuts • Sauces and Seasonings by Chef Mark

w w w. h e n h o u s e . c o m

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w w w. g o o d n a t u r e d . n e t