Farm-to-Table: An Important Aspect of Sustainable Living

I’ve blogged often about sustainability in the built environment, i.e., building energy systems, stormwater management, GHGs and the like.

So, why not change it up once in awhile?  Let’s glance at the sustainable table.

When talking recently with my friend Bruce Davis, who directs the American Culinary Federation accredited Culinary Arts program at C.A.T. North high school, he asked me if I’d ever heard of Friends & Farms, an area procurement operation featuring farm-to-table foods through its partner farmers and other producers. Uhh, no.

So, meet Friends & Farms, here linked to its Pickup Locations list which includes St. John the Evangelist, located at 689 Ritchie Highway in Severna Park.  Get a look at its claims at How It Works where you’ll read: “We’ve done our homework and comparatively shopped at all of the major grocery stores, and not only do we come in at or below local grocery store prices for the same products, we also allow you to be able to trace from exactly where your food came and offer better quality.”

Friends & Farms also offers a major reduction in carbon footprint derived from the distance from which your food comes.

One up on Whole Foods?

Actually, this post is kind of a retourner voir. I did write about a unique farm-to-table experience featuring the famous culinary chef, Alice Waters.  (If you missed it, look here.)  And, as you know, from the early ’70s, the likes of Waters and Bill and Lola Zimmerman, their son Ron and his wife, Carrie Van Dyck, have proselytized for buying really fresh produce, dairy and anything else edible from local farmers. And, dining at places where locally produced food is the driver to healthful eating. If interested in seeing the place where the Zimmerman family established an herb farm in Woodinville, WA (east of Seattle), and currently flourishes as a culinary tour-de-force featuring a 9-course dinner, look here. Classes are also offered at this AAA 5-Diamond establishment. Bucket list, anyone? Well, Woodberry Kitchen, a Baltimore farm-to-table restaurant, has its own snazziness and is closer.

BTW, if you don’t know anything about C.A.T. North’s Baking and Pastry program, look here. A year ago or so, I, and a LEED AP colleague, wrangled an invitation to make a proposal to the school principal during a meeting of its current and prospective Business Partners starting at 11:30 am. We wanted to help Dan Schaffhauser put a very large solar array on his very large roof and offer a class on green building. We learned that the curriculum at both C.A.T. schools includes some classes in green building technology, and, while interested in the solar proposal, it wasn’t feasible due to the age of the roof, for one.

During our pitch, some students came in to the conference room with place mats, plates and flatware. What, a meal? Had no idea. Minutes later we all were eating a delicious lunch prepared in the school’s kitchen. Wow! Entree was a grilled pork chop, medium rare. And, get a look at the dessert plate that was placed in front of me. Cheesecake with chocolate border reminiscent of the geometric shapes in Frank Lloyd Wright leaded-glass windows. (Bruce’s program engages Friends & Farms in the spring. Composting and maintaining an herb garden are regular activities.)

How I met Bruce, culinary arts teacher, and baking/pastry teacher, Peter Ackerboom, is that I told Dan I wanted to go to the kitchen after the meal to compliment the kids. Geez! That’s some kind of real kitchen I saw there. As big as many restaurant kitchens I’ve visited, or bigger. And, several of Bruce’s students were there for us to greet. They (and Bruce and Peter) were pleased for the praise.

Speaking of praise, one of Bruce’s students, Leia Tyler, won the Maryland SkillsUSA culinary arts championship about a year ago, going on to place 17th at the national level last spring. More about Leia may be seen here, and about the SkillsUSA National Culinary Arts competition here.

Incidentally, CAT North is a certified MAEOE (Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education) green school.

P.S.  Coincidental to this post, did you see the Washington Post headline last week about food available in schools?  “For the first time, the federal government plans to regulate how food is marketed in public schools, part of first lady Michelle Obama’s efforts to reduce the allure of unhealthy foods to the nation’s children.

“The White House and the Agriculture Department on Tuesday proposed marketing regulations that would ban in-school advertising for foods that are high in sugar, fat and salt and do not meet new federal nutrition rules for foods served in the country’s 100,000 public schools.

“The proposal would affect all kinds of advertising that has become ubiquitous in schools — plastered across scoreboards, vending machines, posters, and even cups in the cafeteria.”

Government “meddling”? Or needed control of food industry marketing in the nation’s public school systems?