The Wisdom of the Radish (30 page)

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Authors: Lynda Browning

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9
Michael Pollan,
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
(New York: Penguin, 2006), 165.
10
University of California Vegetable Research and Information Center, “Leaf Lettuce Production in California,”
http://vric.ucdavis.edu
. According to the Center, lettuce should be “vacuum cooled” after harvesting and then stored just above freezing at 98 percent relative humidity. It “may be held for 2 to 3 weeks at 34 degrees F,” but “at 27 degrees F, shelf life is reduced to 1 to 2 weeks.”
11
United States Census of Agriculture, “Table 34. Vegetables, Potatoes, and Melons Harvested for Sale: 2007 and 2002” (2007),
www.agcensus.usda.gov
.
12
United States Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistic Service,
www.nass.usda.gov
. In 2008, California loose leaf lettuce industry had a $305-million value.
13
United States Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Pesticide Programs, “Carbaryl IRED Facts,”
www.epa.gov
.
14
Associated Press, “Worst Industrial Disaster Still Haunts India” (December 2, 2009),
www.msnbc.msn.com
.
Ingrid Eckerman,
The Bhopal Saga—Causes and Consequences of the World's Largest Industrial Disaster
(India: Universities Press, 2005).
15
Thompson, et al, “Pesticide Take-Home Pathway Among Children of Agricultural Workers: Study Design, Methods, and Baseline Findings,”
Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
45:1 (2003), 42–53.
16
Lu, et al, “Pesticide Exposure of Children in an Agricultural Community: Evidence of Household Proximity to Farmland and Take Home Exposure Pathways,”
Environmental Research
Section A 84 (2000), 290–302.
17
Curl, et al, “Evaluation of Take-Home Organophosphorus Pesticide Exposure among Agricultural Workers and Their Children,”
Environmental Health Perspectives
110(12) (December 2002), 787–792.
18
Columbia University, Center for Environmental Research and Conservation, “Introduced Species Summary Project: Giant Marine Toad (
Bufo marinus
),”
www.columbia.edu
.
19
United States Census of Agriculture, “Summary by Age and Primary Occupation of Principal Operator: 2007” (2007),
www.agcensus.usda.gov
. Thirty-two percent of America's youngest farmers—thirty-four years old or younger—are tenant farmers.
20
For examples of specific young farmers raising chickens, please see Provenance Farm in Oregon (
http://rachelprickett.wordpress.com/about
), Mighty Food Farm in Vermont (
http://mightyfoodfarm.com
), and Blue Fox Farm in Missouri (
www.bluefoxfarm.net
).
21
Louis P. Tremante, “Livestock in nineteenth century New York City,”
Urban Agriculture Magazine
,
www.ruaf.org
.
22
Jessica Bennett, “The New Coop De Ville: The Craze for Urban Poultry Farming,”
Newsweek
(November 17, 2008),
www.newsweek.com
.
23
American Farm Bureau, “Young Farmers and Ranchers Anticipate Bright Future,”
The Voice of Agriculture
(March 18, 2008),
www.fb.org
.
24
United States Department of Agriculture Economics, Statistics, and Market Information System, National Agricultural Statistics Service, “Farm Computer Usage and Ownership,”
http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu
.
25
See note 22.
26
United States Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service. “Statistics by Subject: National Statistics for Chickens.”
www.nass.usda.gov
.
27
United States Department of Agriculture Economics, Statistics, and Market Information System, National Agricultural Statistics Service, “Chickens and Eggs Annual Summary” (February 2010),
http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu
.
28
Bernard E. Rollin,
Animal Rights & Human Morality
(Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 2006).
29
G. M. Jones, “Guidelines to Culling Cows with Mastitis” (Virginia Tech, May 1999),
http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/404/404-204/404-204.html
.
30
Berton Roueche, Annals of Medicine, “Something a Little Unusual,”
The New Yorker
(May 15, 1965), 180,
www.newyorker.com
.
31
United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, “Food Spending in American Households, 2003–04,”
www.ers.usda.gov
. Average annual spending per person on tomatoes: $14.44.
32
Frameworks Institute, “How Did This Broccoli Get on My Plate? Framing Food as a Public Issue,”
www.frameworksinstitute.org/workshops/broccoli
.
33
U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Statistical Abstract, Arts, Recreation, and Travel: Recreation and Leisure Activities, “Table 1213. Sporting Goods Sales by Product Category: 1990 to 2007, and Projection, 2008,”
www.census.gov
.
34
HighBeam Business, “Industry Report: Chewing Gum,”
http://business.highbeam.com
. According to the report, total retail sales of gum in the U.S. in 2001 reached $2.8 billion.
35
James E. Deitz and James L. Southam,
Contemporary Business Mathematics for Colleges
(Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning, 2008).
36
Society of St. Andrew,
www.endhunger.org
.
37
Meg McConahey, “Sharing the Bounty,”
Santa Rosa Press-Democrat
(November 26, 2008),
www.pressdemocrat.com
.
38
See note 36.
39
Personal correspondence with WWOOF USA representative (November 2008).
40
Ric Bessin, “Sweet Corn Pests,” University of Kentucky College of Agriculture,
www.ca.uky.edu/entomology
.
41
Peter A. Peterson and Angelo Bianchi,
Maize Genetics and Breeding in the 20th Century
(Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Company, 1999).
42
United States Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, Quick Stats,
www.nass.usda.gov/quickstats
.
43
United States Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, Quick Stats,
www.nass.usda.gov/quickstats
. Includes both fresh and processing corn.
44
David Biello, “Insects Provide Billions in Free Services,”
Scientific American
(April 3, 2006),
www.scientificamerican.com
.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Without the decision of two lovers decades ago, Foggy River Farm would never have come to fruition. So my first thank-you goes to Emmett's grandparents, John and Kay. They settled on these rolling hills and fertile floodplains and made the land their home. I wish I could have known them—although in some way, I think I do. Though gone now, they will both be here always.
A farm takes intergenerational commitment. The first to farm would have been the last were it not for those who followed: in this case, Bob and Toni. Thanks for offering wisdom and solace in turn, supporting our efforts with space and equipment, and tolerating our loudmouthed roosters, alpacas, sheep, goats, and dogs—not to mention our redneck porch constantly covered in feed sacks, buckets, lug bins, boots, and chicken turds. I'm starting to learn that grapes are pretty cool, too.
Emmett and I are not the only ones whose hands have touched Foggy River Farm: we appreciate the contributions of Enrique, Ismael, Susana and Austin, Sofie, poet Will, Angel and Socorro, and the Amys. And of course our hardworking hens, insane goats, beet-brained sheep, rodent-controlling cats, and dedicated farm dogs (including dear Kea who herds nothing but buzzards).
That covers the farm end of things, but a book takes an entirely different community. First thanks goes to my mom, who purchased countless books for her reading-obsessed daughter and always held firm in her belief that I could
become a doctor, sled-dog racer in Alaska, or even an author—whatever I set my mind to. Her support has carried me far, and I'm still working on her guesthouse. Mom, you're the best. I'm so glad you've brought Kevin and Marilyn into our lives; I couldn't ask for a better family.
I'd also like to thank Elizabeth Kaplan, without whom the book would have remained a distant dream. (Am I seriously a published author? Pinch me.) I am truly honored to have Elizabeth's dedication, follow-through, passion, and good humor on my side. She's one of those people who just gets things.
Thanks are due as well to Gary Luke, Rachelle Longé, and Erin Riggio, whom I got to know through phone, e-mail, and Word's Track Changes, respectively. (Erin: Sorry for the excess parentheticals. Also, at first I thought your initials were A.U.) I have come to appreciate that publishing a book takes a village, and I'm grateful to have had such inspired, independent villagers supporting mine. Thank you
all
for taking a chance on me, guiding me through the process, and crafting this into a story fit to move from an endless series of Word files to a real, honestto-goodness, dead-tree book. I still can't believe it happened.
Teachers, like farmers, should be thanked more often. So I'd like to mention some of the teachers who taught me to write, and more important, to think: Julie Kennedy, Marvin Diogenes, Rick Barot and Malena Watrous, Ms. Zedalis, Mr. Goss, Mr. Up, and Dr. Hennessey. Deana Fabbro-Johnston, you are one of the most wonderful people in the world.
And of course, Emmett: my first reader, chief cheerleader, research assistant, rooster wrangler, love, and husband. It's fitting that this book begins and ends with you, and I hope that you think of the entire thing as a first chapter with many more to come.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lynda Hopkins was born and raised in suburban San Diego, then moved north to study Earth Systems and Creative Writing at Stanford University. After graduating with a BS, BA, and MS, she traveled around New Zealand in a camper van with her boyfriend, working on homesteads, market farms, and a dairy. Late one night, the delusional duo decided to start a farm of their own.
Lynda published her first written work in third grade, and has written for local and regional newspapers and magazines since college. This is her first book. She currently lives and works on Foggy River Farm in Healdsburg, California, where she can be found fulfilling the duties of a produce farmer, milkmaid, livestock midwife, writer, and community journalist—which is to say, she's not sleeping much but is sleeping very soundly indeed.
a
A young farmer featured in the
New York Times
was an Amherst graduate from the Upper East Side; his father is a foundation executive and his mother a writer. We'd later meet young farmers in our area with degrees in archaeology, English literature, and architecture.
b
To be fair to Emmett's level of common sense, we were supposed to be living in the small house that belonged to the spigot. Had we been living in the house (which Emmett's parents own), the salad bed would have been justified. But after I arrived, we learned that the fixer-upper house wouldn't be livable for several months, during which time we'd spend approximately one hour every day making out-of-the-way trips to water a fourby-eight-foot salad and carrot bed by hand. This tiny bed would take up an inordinate amount of our time, but despite repeated suggestions that we just let it die, we never could bring ourselves to do it in—especially since it seemed to inexplicably thrive while everything else on the farm struggled to survive.
c
The Spinosad organic pesticide—along with others—has been approved for use on brassica and lettuce crops as little as one day before harvest.
d
The recoverability of these nutrients from human waste is debatable. For a while, the New York City metropolitan area functioned as one great closed-loop agricultural system. Long Island was the farm belt that provided New York City with its food; the city, in turn, provided the farms with what was delicately termed “night soil.” “Night soil”—composted human waste—is no longer considered appropriate for growing food, although some farmers use it to fertilize non-edible shrubbery around the farm.
e
Impossibly, a neighbor found a second survivor the following afternoon—a Rhode Island Red, christened L.C. or Lucky Chicken, who wandered outside for twenty-four hours before being found several hundred yards from the coop.
f
Santa also probably would have been killed simply because he was a male chick, making him much less valuable than egg-laying hens. The culling of rooster chicks is common industry practice in commercial egg operations—and also hatcheries, such as the one from which I purchased my chicks.
g
Mason was not the real surname of the family, but rather the name used by the reporter who covered the story in the 1965 May edition of the
New Yorker
.
h
If eggs (mentioned in Chapter 3) are more expensive than grocery store eggs, it is because the price reflects a humane standard for the hen as well as the cost of locally purchased, organic feed—money that goes to support local feed stores and employees. As excited as I was about earning money from eggs, our flock essentially breaks even.
i
In Healdsburg, the farmers' market is a regular stop for several local chefs who pay full market price for produce.
j
Interestingly, termites—which subsist on a nitrogen-poor diet of dead wood—have established a parallel relationship with nitrogen-fixing diazotrophs that live in their guts.

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