yearofplenty

Top Ten Posts of 2010 at Year of Plenty

According to Google Analytics these were the most popular blog posts on Year of Plenty in 2010.

1. Newsflash: Dairy Industry Wants You to Eat More Dairy - What's So Controversial About That?

This post created quite a stir. It got picked up by the president of Dairy Management Corp. and was emailed to all of his contacts. The folks at Domino's Pizza linked it all over the internet. James McWilliams at the Atlantic Monthly credited Bill Bishop at the Daily Yonder with being the first to grasp the way this story was being misreported, but I think I was the first one on the story. My first official big scoop.

2. World Comparison: Fresh vs. Processed Food Consumption

Google placed this high on their search criteria, so it has received a steady flow of clickers all year and also got picked up in some online communities.

3. How My Little Blog Out-Reported the New York Times

This was my follow up to the Newflash post about Dairy Management.

4. Roast House Coffee Newest Roaster on the Spokane Scene

This year I actually started doing some in-the-field reporting, visiting local businesses and writing up short narratives. Roast House was one of the first.

5. What Would You Do If You Had One Year to Live?

This was my first and only blog post to get "Dished," meaning Andrew Sullivan at the Daily Dish linked to it as one of his "Quotes of the Day". 

6. Wendell Berry: Gardening as Health Regimen and Holy Sacrament

This post got picked up a couple different places on the web.

7. American Farm Bureau President Declares War on "self-appointed and self promoting food experts" 

Unlike the post on Dairy Management where large ag interests were eager to see my blog as an asset, this post led to quite a push back from folks at the AFB and the conventional farming community. The AFB PR took issue with my characterization that the AFB president had declared war on consumers concerned with large ag. practices. 

8. Why You Shouldn't Rototill Your Garden

I did a whole series of gardening posts last Spring and this was the most popular of the bunch. Other popular gardening posts include; How to Turn Your Lawn Into a Vegetable Garden, Planning Your Garden Plot (Companion Planning, Rotation, and Location), How to Make Your Own Professional Seed Starting Soil Mix, Tips for Planting the Garden, 

9. How to Get Started Raising Chickens in Your Backyard: Choosing You Chickens

This was part of a series of posts on raising backyard chickens. The other posts included one on building and designing a chicken coop and another on convincing your spouse it's a good idea.

10. Year of Plenty | The Book

I'm told the book goes to print on January 15 and will be released on March 1, 2011.

Thanks for everyone who has contributed and commented on the blog in the last year. If you want to follow along in 2011 you can sign up for the RSS Feed here, you can follow the blog on Twitter here, or click the Like button below to follow on Facebook.

Weekend Linkorama: Seattleite Hearts Spokane, Ronald McDonald the New Joe Camel & More

A Seattle native has fallen for the Lilac City. Reflecting on a recent visit he says;

I was struck by the familiarity of the city's scale. Spokane reminds me of the 1950s-'70s Seattle where I grew up: a gorgeous natural setting, an urban zone that didn't overwhelm with towers and pretension. A livable city before Yuppiepalooza took over.

I imagine this unlikely love story playing out like the movie Pretty in Pink when the rich popular guy from High School crosses the railroad tracks and sweeps Andie (Mollie Ringwald) off her feet. Just like in the movie, the rich guy's friends, (Bellevue, Redmond and Edmonds), will make fun of the unlikely love story between the underprivileged Spokane and the wealthy Seattle. And just like the movie where Andie's dorky friend Duckie (Jon Cryer), tries to step in and intervene on behalf of all the uncool kids, there will be a tug of war in this new love affair in which Cheney and Airway Heights and Moses Lake warn us not to associate ourselves with likes of Seattle. But in the the end we all know that just like in the movie, we'll dump Duckie and make out in the parking lot with the rich kid because in our heart of hearts we've always wanted to be liked by Seattle more than anything, even if Seattle is a rich narcissistic hipster. If I totally lost you with that, you didn't grow up in the 80's.

The same folks that brought an end to Joe Camel are taking a run at ending the reign of Ronald McDonald, a "deep fried Joe Camel for the 21st Century." Ronald McDonald isn't really that compelling to my kids. If you want to really raise a ruckus try to do away with the Happy Meal. Try to change it's name to the "Sad Meal," or something like that. 

New Study finds that post crash consumers have a different take on money and life;

Among the study’s key findings is that “having it all” is an unrealistic goal with 75% of those surveyed saying they would rather get out of the rat race than climb the corporate ladder – and instead, 76% said they would rather spend more time with family than make more money. Moreover, Americans are showing disenchantment with the pursuit of money with 75% again saying they would trade job security over a job that offered an opportunity for raises.

“The most surprising thing about our study was how much consumers were saying what they would NOT do for money, even when money worries are high on the list,” explained Graceann Bennett, Managing Partner and Director of Strategic Planning at Ogilvy & Mather Chicago. “Prioritizing your life based on money is seen as a sure way to be disappointed since the pursuit of money is often reliant on factors outside of consumers’ control. They have gone down this road before and are saying that they are not necessarily happier or better off as a result.”

Amen to that.

One the reasons it's hard to eat local is that the system isn't set up for it. The New York Times tells part of the story with an article on the shortage of slaughterhouses to process locally raised meat.

The Daily Yonder has an interesting set of maps that describe eating habits across the country.

And finally a study claims that biting the ear off that chocolate Easter Bunny just might be good for you.

According to a new study, small doses of chocolate every day could decrease your risk of having a heart attack or stroke by nearly 40 percent.

Weekend Linkorama: Freeway to Farm, Happy Meal Age Defying Face Cream & More

The McDonalds Happy Meal is ageless - no decay on the shelf after a year. I wonder if people will start making age defying face creams from Happy Meals, kind of like those melons from some obscure village in Italy that have natural preserving powers. Some serious brand extension possibilities there for McDs.

A freeway is turned into a farm. Yes San Francisco, we know you're way greener and groovier than the rest of us. You don't have to rub it in.

Study shows three core family practices that help fight obesity.

A new national study suggests that preschool-aged children are likely to have a lower risk for obesity if they regularly engage in one or more of three specific household routines: eating dinner as a family, getting adequate sleep and limiting their weekday television viewing time.

In a large sample of the U.S. population, the study showed that 4-year-olds living in homes with all three routines had an almost 40 percent lower prevalence of obesity than did children living in homes that practiced none of these routines.

The Inlander "Best of..." results are in. Spokane picked Starbucks for best coffee shop, Red Robin for best hamburger and Azteca for best Mexican. At least Taco Bell only got second in the "cheap eats" category. Come on Spokane. San Francisco is turning freeways into farms and we can't get enough of 90's Mall food court culture. Cleveland is turning their mall food courts into greenhouses and we're doubling down on refried beans at Azteca. Spokane Food Blog, take it from here.

On another note the Inlander has a new web site. Looks good.

Fed Up With Lunch teacher that is chronicling a year of school lunches that I reported on earlier in the year has gone viral.

Have a great weekend.

Picture: large wild Dandelion seed head with Arrowleaf Balsamroot in the background from last May.

Friday Linkorama

A veggie garden in front of New York's City Hall?

It's not just farmers and consumers who are in a tizzy over Michael Pollan;

But there is another cultural divide coming to the fore in our society, this one between farmer and farmer. The best current example of this phenomenon is the flare up of opposition to Michael Pollan’s books criticizing industrial grain farms and animal factories. Agribusiness has suddenly realized it can no longer just ignore the opposition. A large scale corn and soybean farmer, Blake Hurst, went online with something he called the “Omnivore’s Delusion” to blast Pollan’s “Ominivore’s Dillema.” The crap really hit the fan. Industrial farm supporters and pastoral farm supporters went at each other on the Internet like a couple of tomcats, the former labeled sneeringly as factory food producers and the latter called, even more sneeringly, “agri-intellectuals.” Fast farming vs. fake farming.

Are Spokane's locavores Spokavores or Spocavores? At least I haven't heard anyone say Spocalvore...yet.

Atkinson elementary in Portland is feeding their kids locally grown Rutabagas. It's been awhile since I reminded the readers of the blog that our family had a Grand Champion Rutabaga at the Spokane County Fair a couple years back. It's kind of the Oscar or Grammy of root crops.

If you don't have enough anxiety in your life and want to get freaked out about farm raised salmon go here.

A friend of a friend has a new book out on the intersections of environment and faith. Tending to Eden by Scott Sabin. Scott is the Exec. Director of Plant With Purpose, a Christian mission agency that focuses on enviormental/land issues for impoverished people in small villages. They're doing amazing stuff in Haiti. Our church has been planting trees with this organization instead of buying Poinsettias for Christmas and Easter Lilies for Easter. Go here to plant a tree in Haiti.

Speaking of books, there may be a Year of Plenty book in the not too distant future. More on that later.

Have a great weekend.

Year of Plenty Weekend Links

Here are some links worth exploring:

• Chipotle, Just Food and Human Rights

Excerpt: In Florida, the human rights crisis engulfing farm labor is perhaps most starkly visible. Tomato pickers have received virtually the same harvesting piece rate since 1980: 40-50 cents for every 32-pound bucket they fill. At this rate, workers must pick and haul a staggering 2.5 tons of tomatoes in order to earn minimum wage for a typical 10-hour day.

• Contemporary art takes a foodie turn with a wall full of donuts.

• Don't eat food or drink from containers containing BPA. It's old news but it looks like the FDA is finally getting around to making a statement on the matter. If you really want to get freaked out about plastic containers read this NYT article by N. Kristoff.

• Make what you love at home - top 10 recommendations here. Including how to make your own pizza oven.

• George Barna reports that mainline churches like the Presbyterian one I pastor may be well positioned to connect with younger Americans. Especially of interest is his comment regarding environmental issues.

George Barna, the researcher who analyzed the data for the report, commented that mainline Protestant churches seem to have weathered the past decade better than many people have assumed, but that the future is raising serious challenges to continued stability...He also indicated that the approach that many mainline churches take toward some current social issues – e.g., environmental challenges, poverty, cross-denominational cooperation, developing respectful dialogue, embracing new models for faith expression, and global understanding – position those churches well for attracting younger Americans.

• And based on the results of the recent Pew Study on the Millenial generation (early teens to late 20's) connecting with younger Americans is going to be a real challenge for any church.

They are the least religiously observant youths since survey research began charting religious behavior.

• Here's a link to a KREM TV news report on the church I pastor.

picture of is of a beautiful old stump up at Mt. Spokane.