My garden experiment for this year...growing potatoes in old tires.  Tires can be acquired easily, you actually have to pay to get rid of them, so this is a good use.  Thanks Mike and Amanda!  And Susan for pointing out the idea...

http://www.ecopunk.org.uk/2007/03/growing-potatoes-in-tyres.html

Also, finding out that lovage can get to be 5' tall...I'm going to have to move the thing!  But, also learning that you can use lovage seeds like fennel seeds...priceless.   Thanks Matteo's Herbs Galore!

So it's been a few years, but...

I know it's been a few years since this was updated. I realize now it was my zeal for moving OUT of Johnstown, and since then have made a completely new life in Johnstown. Now that I'm back, and have a garden that I started last year, I think it makes perfect sense to actually post some things about seeds!! That is, if people are still using Blogger. Again, may make sense to move it too, much like the moves I have had in the past few years!

So, here is what I'M researching for this year. Heirlooms and Open Pollinated seeds are the best, because they are not genetically modified (we can have that argument here if we need to/ want to).

Here are some places to go!!! Let's talk gardening as a source of Local Food!!!

http://www.permacultureactivist.net/seeds/SeedResrcs.htm

http://www.vegparadise.com/heirloom.html

http://troyhillgarden.wordpress.com/

http://www.paseedsavers.org/heirloom_flowers.htm

berries and cherries

Of course, a good way to save money, eat locally, and heathfully is by picking your own produce when time allows.  It's also a good way to get your family together to pick and to teach children where food comes from!  Three places that I found in the newspaper are listed here:

BEAUTIFUL BLUEBERRIES.  You pick and ready picked, Rt 22, Penn Run, across from eastern orthodox foundation.  Open Mon-Sat 8-6 Tues 8-8, Closed Sunday.  Call avail ready picked: (724) 463-7915

RED RASPBERRIES, you pick $2.50/qt, we pick $5.00 /qt.  Call Alum Bank (814) 439-2897 for directions and availability.

PICK YOUR OWN CHERRIES. $1.25/lb (This year, July 1 7a-8p daily until all harvested) We have both sweet and sour cherries. Both varieties are excellent for baking, canning, freezing, preserves or just eating fresh. Our family and employees welcome you to our cherry orchards. It is our goal to make your visit here a pleasant and memorable one! Remember to bring your own containers (preferably handled ones) for picking.  274 Blossom Lane Schellsburg, PA 15559
Picking dates vary from year to year, but usually begin late June to early July. Hours are 7 AM to 8 PM daily until the crop is harvested.

Ridgetop Orchards also sells apples and peaches when ripe, apples beginning August, and peaches Mid-August

In addition, if you want to search for more Pick Your Own places, the website www.pickyourown.org is helpful.  Be sure to call first to the place that you set your eyes on, as there is no guarantee of updates to the website.  Good Luck!

And now, some words from food author Michael Pollan

Author Michael Pollan on "Food Inc." and How to Eat Well 

Friday, June 12, 2009 9:00 AM 
By Newsweek 
By Nicki Gostin
The last few years have been interesting times for food and eating habits, as "slow food," locavores and farmer's markets have entered mainstream conversations about how we eat. This spring saw Michelle Obama planting the first garden on White House grounds since the era of President Roosevelt. One of the Pied Pipers leading the movement to eat more fresh, local fruits, vegetables and meats has been author Michael Pollan. In books such as In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto and The Omnivore's Dilemma, Pollan explains why junk food really is junky and why it's so important not to eat food that has ingredients that you can't even pronounce. Now Pollan appears in the new documentary Food Inc., a disturbing look at giant food companies in the United States, with a focus on the beef industry. NEWSWEEK's Nicki Gostin spoke with Pollan about whether the cost of food at farmer's markets is worth it, why Europeans eat better than Americans and the steps we can all take to improve how we eat. Excerpts:
 
Gostin: Why is it so terrible that cows eat corn?
Pollan: Because it makes them sick when they eat it in large quantities. A little corn is not going to kill them, but when it's 80 to 90 percent of their diet, it deranges their metabolism. They are evolved to eat grass, that's what they're good at; when you put corn into that amazing organ called the rumen, it acidifies it and creates an environment where acid-loving bacteria such as E. coli 015787 are able to evolve. What's beautiful is a rumen has a very different ph than a human stomach; whatever bacteria live in the rumen would normally get killed by our stomach acids, but if you make the cow's digestive system more like ours, any bugs that evolve there will survive their transit to our stomach and go on to possibly make us sick. That's really the E. coli story, but there are other problems, too: To keep the animals healthy on that corn diet, you have to give them lots of antibiotics, they just wouldn't survive otherwise.
 
It's amazing in this film to see how removed the food industry is from actual food.
Even people who follow these issues in print for the last few years I think will be shocked to see this film, because the camera takes you places you have not been. One of the most noteworthy things about our food system is how invisible it is to most of us. The packages still have pictures of farms, but people don't see the places where their food is produced. As a journalist, visiting these places was transformative. To me, going on feed lots, chicken and hog operations, it changed the way I eat. You can't go through these places without being changed. You lose your appetite for certain kinds of food.
 
But farmer's markets are expensive and out of reach for a lot of people.
I think that's right, and that's why it's not enough to vote with your fork; if you can afford to, you should, but we have to vote with our votes to get in a different set of policies. It's not an accident that fast food is so cheap. This is what the government underwrites. Factory farming does not exist without subsidized corn, it doesn't exist without it being legal to give important human antibiotics to cattle, it doesn't exist without basically regulatory indulgence. And the fact [is that] we don't make these animal cities clean up their waste the way we would a human city of the same size, so the cheapness of this food is a result of government policy. If the government would put those kinds of resources into underwriting healthy and real food, whether that's grass-fed beef or organic produce, then the healthy calories could compete more effectively with the unhealthy calories. Healthy food should not be out of reach. On the other hand, I don't think it's ever going to be as cheap as junk food.
 
Why?
You do get what you pay for. There is a qualitative difference, and the goal should not be to make healthy food as cheap as junk food.
 
In Europe, people pay more for their food.
It's a culture question. Also they have a better safety net [in Europe]. You can afford to spend 15 to 17 percent of your income on food if you don't have to worry about healthcare, if you know you're going to get, I don't know, five weeks of vacation a year and your retirement is not in doubt. So one of the reasons we're so dependent on cheap food is we have a society that makes it hard to afford anything else.
 
There's also the problem that a lot of kids don't know what fresh fruit and vegetables are.
I was talking to the head of school lunch in Baltimore, and he had a field trip where he took some kids out to a peach orchard and he said a significant percentage of kids had never had a fresh peach. They'd only had peaches in syrup, and it blew their minds. And that should not be. Everyone in America should experience a fresh peach.
 
I find it depressing.
Well, there's a lot of money to be made selling cheap food, and there's a lot of power behind it, so it won't be easy to change. But school lunches are a very important place to push, because that is where you make this food accessible to everyone. The school lunch is the least elitist arena where you can bring about change, but it's going to cost money. I happen to think it would be a real investment, a real down payment on health-care reform, if you gave kids one healthy meal a day.
 
The movie talks a lot about Monsanto. Can you explain this?
It's a company that genetically modifies seeds, and they sell a very high percentage of the seeds worldwide now, and they're gradually consolidating their hold over the world's seed supply. They don't want farmers to save seeds. They are great believers in the fact [that] you should come to them every year, and so this age-old tradition of farmers saving a certain amount of seeds for the next year, they're determined to stamp it out. Now they have the law on their side. Beginning in 1985, the patenting of seeds in America has been the law. I think that was a really big mistake, and there should be exclusions for farmers who want to save their seeds. 

[Editor's note: Asked for comment, Monsanto representative John Combest wrote in an email, "Monsanto invests more than $2.6 million each day in research and development in order to bring new tools to farmers. If farmers ignored patent laws and saved our seeds, we would not be able to continuously fund the development of newer and better technologies." He added, "Regarding 'monopoly' allegations: Farmers have the option not to purchase biotech seed and also have the option not to purchase seed from Monsanto. … Farmers can purchase seed from over 200 different seed companies, many of whom sell both conventional and biotech seed."] 
 
You said before you've changed your eating habits. How?
I don't eat industrial meat anymore. I eat grass-fed beef, organic chicken from a place I know. It is more expensive, and as a result I eat less meat.
 
Which is a good thing, right?
It's a very good thing in matters of health and climate change. Your meat consumption is probably your biggest contribution to climate change. You can point to very healthy populations that eat a lot of meat, but they're not eating the kind of meat we're eating. They're eating wild meat. In general, meats have pushed fruits and vegetables and whole grains off the diet, and those are really important for your health. So the less meat you eat, the more you're going to be eating of those other things, and by and large, those are much better for your health. Meat is nutritious food; it has a lot of things your body needs, but we eat altogether too much of it. 
 
Also, the other thing I changed in my diet is I cook more. I think the first step in taking back control of your diet from the corporations who would feed you is to cook. To start with real food, real ingredients, and nothing will do more for your health than actually making food from scratch. That's a pretty subversive act in America these days, cooking.
 
Also, shopping at the farmer's market, getting out of the supermarket as much as you can. Now is the time, it's June, the markets are full of great produce. If you want to help build this food movement and improve your health and keep farmers in your community and keep the land open near where you live, the best thing you can do is go to a farmer's market.
 
Do you think it's a pivotal time for food right now?
I do. I think we are reaching a tipping point, to use a cliché. This is one of the most interesting social movements afoot right now. The politicians haven't quite recognized it yet. There are a very small handful who realize that there are votes in these issues. Hopefully this movie will be part of the change. We are realizing that the way we are eating is making us sick. The phrase "health-care crisis" is in large part another term for the catastrophe of the American diet. More than half the money we spend on health care goes to treat preventable diseases linked to diet. 
 
Did you get a little verklempt when Michelle Obama dug her garden?
[Laughs] I did. I thought it was great. Also, when she goes to food kitchens, she talks about the importance of real food and getting off processed food. I think she's a very important teacher. She didn't have to say [the White House garden] was an organic garden, and she did.

Local Housewares

Station 2 Pottery is a place with GREAT pottery, unique styles and colors, and priced reasonably. I bought a Butter Keeper from there this past winter, and it is still going strong, not to mention that it's beautiful!

Westerwald Pottery is the brain child of Phil Schaltenbrand, author, historian, professor, and potter extraordinaire. Schaltenbrand's pottery studios, located forty-five miles south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania along historic Route 40, are visited annually by thousands from across America and around the world who come to watch pottery being made the "old fashioned way." Phil's firm commitment to the revival of an ancient art form has been the driving force behind Westerwald Pottery, since 1975 when the company was formed. Westerwald Pottery was the first to offer personalized stoneware, the first to use authentic cobalt brush decoration, and the first to sign, stamp, and date each piece in the line. While not the largest producer of hand-made pottery in the U.S.A., Westerwald Pottery has consistently maintained the highest standards of excellence.

Animal Products!

I know it's strange to title it such, but I am a vegetarian, and only some of these products would be useful to me--though I'm sure many of you are happy I added more options of meat!

Finally for that update I promised you after I lost the card from the Farmer's Market the other week! D n' D Farms (Derrick and Dessie Carpenter) comes to the Johnstown Farmers Market, and sells animal products, a huge array of goat milk lotions, soaps, chapsticks, etc. in addition to goat, lamb, and veal, and I noticed some eggs on their table as well! Here's their information:

D n' D Farms
p/f. (814) 839-4579
contact@dndfarms.com
www.dndfarms.com

New Portage Farmers Market!!

Portage begins monthly markets for farm goods

By KATHY MELLOTT
The Tribune-Democrat

Old-time flavor
What: Monthly farmers market.
When: 9 a.m. to noon Saturday and June 20, July 18, Aug. 15 and Sept. 19.
Where: Site of the former Caldwell Avenue School on Main Street, Portage.
Information: portageboro.com

PORTAGE — Jim Kissell remembers a half-century ago when farmers and butchers from Claysburg, East Freedom and Blue Knob came down the mountain weekly to sell their goods door-to-door throughout Portage.

Those days are long gone, but Kissell, a longtime member of Borough Council, has taken the lead organizing a monthly farmers market that is set to begin Saturday.

“We used to buy right from the farmer, and we’re trying to provide a place where we can do something like that again,” Kissell said. 

Setup is free for farmers and nonprofits, but all vendors must register.

Other vendors – including those with flea market and garage sale items – can purchase a 10-foot-by-20-foot space for a flat fee of $25,

which covers the entire summer, Kissell said.

To date, three vendors have signed up for the first market on Saturday, said Michelle Claar, the borough secretary, who is handling registration and permits. 

Claar is directing interested vendors to the borough’s Web site, where details are available.

Kissell said the low response for the first market should turn around quickly as farmers and backyard gardeners begin to bring in their crops.

“Everything is slower than heck with this weather,” Kissell said.

“It’s early yet.”

Vendors must provide their own tables, have all items clearly priced and leave their sites cleaner than when they came, Kissell said.

No trash disposal will be available for the vendors, he said.