Agricultural output in the counties around Wilmington is based on failing and outdated theories on commodities and land management. We are still basing growing decisions on the plantation monoculture mentality, a model that has borne a cycle of indebtedness, rural poverty and inequality for a hundred years. The old model was monocrop tobacco. The current models are monocrop soybeans, corn and occasionally sweet potatoes. Diversification is the key to breaking out of this old cycle and distributing proceeds based on the labor, imagination and effort of individual farmers, not based on the pure volume model of global commodities.

I have thought many times that Southeastern North Carolina needs to address issues of sustainability during the tobacco transition. To say it again, the key is really diversification in order to beat flooded markets and falling prices. I’m hoping some of these issues are addressed with a new initiative to define and develop regional food systems.

On Monday I went to Whiteville, NC with Jessica, April and Deb from the co-op. The purpose of the trip was to attend a meeting about getting grant funding for regional food systems development. The basic premise is to establish links between farmers and markets and create marketing materials. Growing a product is one thing, selling it is another. Farmers could grow all of the organic fennel they wanted, but without access to markets it would be a pointless exercise.

Markets are plentiful if you know where to look and how to ask – farmers markets, small grocery stores, restaurants, wholesale distributors. The key is setting things up so that there is minimal legwork and marketing for individual farmers. An ideal situation would have a central distribution point run by folks who do not have to be on the farm harvesting all day. These folks can spend their energy on getting the produce into the appropriate market. The grant addresses some of this need but does not go far enough.

What we really need is a centralized cooler facility, with access to graders, boxes and other packaging materials. Each county (there are six counties addressed in the grant) would have access to refrigerated trucks for either delivering to the market heavy counties such Brunswick and New Hanover or picking up from the producer heavy counties of Pender, Columbus, Robeson and Bladen. Large markets such as chain supermarkets could be persuaded to buy local produce if the problems of steady supply and volume were addressed, which would be addressed if enough producers used the centralized storage facility and were invested in the success of the project.

A good example of this type of facility in action is Eastern Carolina Organics in Pittsboro, NC. Without getting into too much detail, ECO acts as the marketing and distribution arm for its member farms. The farmers can focus on growing and ECO can focus on selling. This setup allows this farmer owned operation to sell into larger markets with competitive pricing.

If we were to apply the ECO model in the coastal plain, strong and growing farmer participation would be crucial from the very beginning. This isn’t something that could be started with a few farms with the idea of working on up. A critical mass is required in order to show the markets that the local produce supply is healthy in order for those same markets to abandon their wasteful California and South American food fetishes. And it all comes back to diversity as well. Can we offer the items a supermarket or school needs or can we simply offer animal feed, processed food fillers and sweet potatoes?

Easier said though; easier said. The food systems grant is a start. And simply meeting to discuss regional food systems is an even better start.

The rice and honey breakfast is great, but I’m finding that there isn’t always enough time to cook rice before work in the morning. With a 30 minute bicycle commute to factor in, 15 minutes of waiting for rice is a bit much. So here is my recipe for a very basic rice pudding that can be eaten cold over the course of several mornings.

1 – In a saucepan add ½ cup rice to 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cover. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed by the rice.

 

2 – Preheat oven to 325.

 

3 – In a glass baking dish, add 2 eggs, 2 ½ cups of the milk of your choice (I used some oat milk from The Stash, but goat milk will be next), ½ cup of honey (sugar if you have it or prefer it), and ¼ tsp salt (if you have it). You can also add vanilla and cinnamon, but 100 milers will have a hard time finding those items. Check your Stash as needed.

 

4 – Add the hot rice into the baking dish and mix thoroughly.

 

5 – Bake uncovered for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. The baking time might be more or less depending on what kind of milk you end up using.

 

6 – Remove from the oven and cool on a counter or put the dish in the fridge overnight.

 

7 – Enjoy for breakfast with some toast or eat it warm for dessert.

Adapted from online and book recipes; distilled to the primary 100 mile ingredients.

I used a quarter cup of Carolina Gold and a quarter cup of Forbidden Black in my first attempt at rice pudding. The result was, of course, black, but nonetheless tasty. As the song says, “use what ya got.”

In response to Jennie at Straight From the Farm, here are eight somewhat random things about me, a few of which are similar to hers…

#1 – My very first job was picking strawberries; I was 11 years old. Payment was per pint, and I remember picking way too many pints when I first started. After a nice talk with an adult who owned the berry patch (who spoke with a raised voice), I no longer worked as hard or as fast. Still, I bought a BMX bike with my earnings from those few weeks in the strawberry fields.

#2 – My first car was a 1978 Olds Cutlass Supreme. It cost me $1200. My brother crashed it while I was away at college. I bought a 1979 Cutlass the next summer for $200. I should have waited a few years; I could have saved some money.

#3 – Occasionally I write a zine called Quitter that I print and distribute myself. Each issue is a document of personal stories set against my perceptions of a dying world. Each issue is $1. If you would like a copy of any or all of the issues, please let me know. An excerpt from Quitter #3:

“At night, on a rainy night, streetlights reflect off the machines and roadways, providing the only beauty we can concede to those objects. An overhead light beaming into a pool of oil-soiled water provides enough mystery, enough beckoning from some magical world below, that a concession of majesty is not much to ask. However, deep in those reflections are all the kings and all the slaves, all the coal-burning trains and all the diesel smoke nightmares. In those reflections we see the destruction we work so hard to avoid yet find so easy to create.”

#4 – I have been involved in some form of agriculture since I was 7 years old. Cabbage picker, USDA apple inspector, guerrilla gardener, and now produce manager. I still feel that I have barely scratched around in the knowledge of living systems and am constantly humbled by how much plants and non-human animals can teach us.

#5 – I have never actually eaten cricket bread, but I have threatened to do so many times. However, Noel has been collecting crickets from the fields. I may soon make that bread and end all threats.

#6 – I am a bicycle commuter, pedaling 10 miles round trip, 5 days a week. I do own a truck that I run on biodiesel, but I never drive to work or drive anywhere for that matter. The truck sits idle for months on end. Automobiles are useful tools and have their place. That said, I don’t eat pasta with a hammer or turn the compost with a microphone or drive for the fun of it or to simply get where I am going that much faster. It just never works out that way.

My status as a bicycle commuter will change when I move to the country, so I will have to reevaluate what the automotive tool is good for.

#7 – In the winter of 1995, I tracked river otters - fitted with radio transmitter implants surgically inserted into their abdomens by Cornell veterinarians - through the swamps of Western New York. The otters were being reintroduced into their native habitat after successful wetland rehabilitation projects made the environment hospitable again. This was during my junior year in college. My ornithology professor Dr. Beason asked the class if anyone wanted some radio telemetry experience. A few folks raised their hands, but I was the only one who showed up when the day came for training.

Each time I went into the field, I drove a buckled old Department of Environmental Conservation truck that stalled all the time. While driving I tried to hold a large radio receiver out the window and listen for the tick-tick-tick of the transmitter. After two weeks of monitoring, the tick-tick-tick disappeared, the theory being that the otters were too far into the swamp to be effectively tracked with the current equipment. My tracking stint ended soon after, but there is still an active river otter reintroduction program.

#8 – My father is an electrician, and during the years immediately before my birth he ran a television repair service. I was named after the electrical trace that appears on an oscilloscope when examining voltage, resistance and such on electrical systems, parts and appliances. Ah, irony…

The Stash has lost some more members. The organic yellow mustard is empty, sugar is gone, mayonnaise jar is storing rubber bands and the ketchup is slipping fast. I find that I am adapting easily and really noticing how much of a crutch condiments can be with various meals. Instead of mayo and mustard on a sandwich, I just add extra tomato and peppers to make the chewing not so dry. That said, some things need to have replacements, one of those things being breakfast cereal.

My Arrowhead Mills organic four grain hot cereal ran out a few days ago. This cereal has been a staple in my diet for over a year and a half. Consisting of steel cut oats, flax seeds, whole cracked wheat, whole rye and barley grits, this cereal was filling and helped to get my digestive system geared up for the day. Every morning before work I would have a bowl of the four grain with some maple syrup and oat milk. The maple syrup ran out weeks ago, so I have been using honey. I still have a few containers of oat milk, which I now mostly use for cooking.

When the box of four grain was half full, I started exploring my options. For my location, an obvious choice was rice. I focused my attention there and found two places I could buy from, both out of range, but both sustainable in many ways and supportive of heirloom plants and conscious of their carbon footprint. Both deserve support, and I plan to do so.

The first source, Carolina Plantation, is located just over 100 miles away in Darlington, South Carolina. They grow heirloom Carolina Gold rice, a grain first grown in the South Carolina low country in 1685. They also grow aromatic white and brown rice as well as cowpeas and corn for grits. Carolina Plantation is also South Carolina’s first to use Green-e-Certified Renewable Energy.

The second source is Anson Mills, based in Columbia, SC. Anson Mills is well out of range, but important to support on many levels. They buy North and South Carolina grains primarily, mill to order, and are certified organic. They deal with heirloom grains such as Carolina Gold and Forbidden Black rice. They also provide grains with minimal polishing, as well as whole grain wheat and graham flours.

I ended up ordering products from both places. Yesterday my box of Carolina Gold rice from Carolina Plantation arrived in the mail. I ordered it two weeks ago as I dipped below a crucial level of The Stash’s four grain. I expected the rice to come in a few days. Somehow my order became screwed up and the shipment delayed for a week and a half. For my trouble and my patience, the shipper threw in a free pound of aromatic white rice.

My Anson Mills package came today – several pounds of Forbidden Black rice, Carolina Gold grits (broken pieces of rice from the milling process) and 15 pounds of whole wheat biscuit flour. I stuffed the rice in the fridge and came to the conclusion that I may have ordered a bit too much.

This morning I ate rice and honey for breakfast. The Carolina Gold rice is unlike any rice I have eaten in the past. The smell is kind of sweet and the taste is creamy, sort of like special risotto rice. The honey was all the sweetness it needed. I was hesitant about eating the rice sweet instead of the usual savory, but all in all, the whole new breakfast paradigm is just fine with me.

While the oat milk holds out, I plan to start making rice pudding several nights a week and eating that for breakfasts as well. With the addition of eggs and the oat milk, it might make a more sustaining breakfast. With the bounty of rice now on hand I can also start to experiment with rice breads, rice ferments and rice milk. Recipes for the experiments are on the way…