The Garden documentary

The Portland International Film Festival has been going on for about two weeks now and I had the pleasure of seeing a great documentary this week called The Garden.















A couple years ago I was traveling around the country, on tour with a documentary about infoshops that I had made with my friend Courtney. One of our stops was in LA and the people we were staying with mentioned that we should definitely check out the South Central Urban Farm while we were in town. It was one of my favorite things from the entire trip and really got me started thinking about the possibilities of urban agriculture as an act of resistance that yields tangible results and can really bring a community together. While we were there (early 2006) the farmers were already in a battle against the developer who eventually won and was able to bulldoze the land. At the time though, it seemed like the farmers would probably prevail. Seeing this oasis right in the middle of a warehouse district was incredible.

The documentary describes the history behind how the garden started in 1992 after the LA Riots, the work the community put into turning desolate industrial land into an urban farm capable of feeding over 350 families, and the battle to keep the land in the hands of the community. Despite wide-spread support, including by some prominent Hollywood actors, the land was eventually bulldozed. I won't go into detail but the documentary argues that there was a corrupt closed-door deal between the develop and the city, along with another community leader who was apparently motivated by greed. The details on what really transpired to allow the land to be bulldozed isn't quite clear at the end, but whatever happened, it is a tragedy.

On a brighter note, some of the South Central Farmers have gotten new land and are farming on it. If you live in the LA-area they are running a CSA that you can subscribe to.

Where to Buy Food?

I am continually looking for new places to buy my food. Living in Portland there are so many choices. When I first moved here I ended up living in a house across the street from Fred Meyer (i.e. the Northwest's version of Kroger). Because of this I ended up doing most shopping at this horrendous semi-localized version of Wal-Mart. The only good thing: using the self-checkouts to charge myself the conventional price for organic food. They actually had a really good organic/natural section of food. But the shopping experience was soul-killing. I also did some of my shopping at Trader Joe's for about the first 6 months- 1 year of living here.

At first Trader Joe's seemed like this amazing cornucopia of good food for really cheap prices. Little by little I realized that the majority of the food isn't that great. Sure, Trader Joes is good for things like a big jar of (mediocre) olives or the occasional bag of walnuts. But it's not a good place to do your regular weekly grocery shopping.

In the past I had always lived with one or multiple roommates who worked at Wild Oats or (since the merger) Whole Foods. Enjoying a 20% discount and not cooking at home very much, these specialty natural grocery stores didn't seem very expensive to me. Now Whole Foods seems insanely expensive. So, that is pretty much out of the question. Also I am getting more and more skeptical of Whole Foods and the corporate-industrial organic/natural food world. Industrial is really the key word here.

I am reading a book called Agrarian Dreams: The Paradox of Organic Farming in California by Julia Guthman. I highly recommend it if you are interested in the way that organics went from being a radical social movement to becoming an industry. I'm also reading The Way We Eat: Why our Food Choices Matter by Peter Singer and Jim Mason. Although Singer's writing has a tendency to annoy me because I find him a bit patronizing, it has made me think (again) about food choices and the politics of eating.

I moved about a year ago, away from the Fred Meyer to a neighborhood with a Safeway that is two blocks from my house. It's wonderful having a closeby grocery store and I really appreciate it since so many urban neighborhoods are food deserts, but I despise this Safeway. It is overpriced (products seem to be outrageously marked up at this location for some reason), bad selection, lots of expired stuff, lots of out of stock products all the time, and they never have enough people working so you end up standing in line forever!

In the warm months I try to go to the farmer's market once a week because a.) i enjoy the atmosphere and experience and b.) i like supporting local farmers using sustainable farming methods. But what to do in the winter? You might have read my last posting on CSAs - I'm thinking of doing that this spring. But I actually have found two amazing local grocery stores to shop at recently.

The first, Uncle Paul's Produce Barn, bills itself as a "year-round farmer's market." They sell only produce and (for the most part) local produce. Prices are very reasonable and the quality is always great. It is basically a tent (not an actual building) which is probably one reason they are able to keep prices affordable. I've been shopping there for about a year now.

More recently (a few weeks ago) I discovered the wonderful Sheridan Fruit Company. Less than a mile from my apartment and probably my favorite grocery store I've ever found shopped at. It is a full-service old-school grocery store with a deli, a good wine section, a decent beer section, mostly local (yet mostly affordable) produce with quite a bit of organics. Also a giant bulk section with all kinds of dried beans (one of my weaknesses), dried fruit, grains, etc. Also lots of specialty ethnic products like every shape of pasta you can think of. I love this place. Why aren't there more places like it? How do they survive? How do they manage to keep prices affordable? Shopping here is enjoyable, there is a sense of place and a sense of history (they've been in business since 1916). Anyway, I've finally found my grocery store.