Detroit's free weekly is called the Metro Times, and every year they run a food issue. This year, I'm in it. The article is called "Food Fighters". It's a really well-written piece by a charming reporter named Michael Jackman. I was very pleased to meet his acquaintance. And what a fun interview.
Showing posts with label shameless self-promotion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shameless self-promotion. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Detroit Metro Times Article
Detroit's free weekly is called the Metro Times, and every year they run a food issue. This year, I'm in it. The article is called "Food Fighters". It's a really well-written piece by a charming reporter named Michael Jackman. I was very pleased to meet his acquaintance. And what a fun interview.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Customers of the month!
(Eastern Market's Flower Day, this May and every May)
---
My husband and I have been featured as March 2009 customers of the month for our local farmer's market, Eastern Market. It's a sweet little writeup. We love our market very much.---
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Well, dip me in butter and call me slippery!
I just got a call from an LA Times "letters to the editor" staff member-- seems my letter about keeping backyard animals as a humane alternative to industrial farming will be printed in tomorrow's edition. How 'bout them apples.
Monday, June 2, 2008
AP audio-visual slideshow link!
The print interviewer at the AP just sent me the link to the audio-visual portion of my interview. I gathered from his e-mail that this will be an a la carte item, available with or without the written story.
I was so nervous; this sounds (er, I sound) much better than I expected it to. Thank you, audio editors! I was all over the map, and this makes me sound, well, vaguely coherent...
http://live.ap.org/real_estate/interactives/urban_veggies/index.html
I was so nervous; this sounds (er, I sound) much better than I expected it to. Thank you, audio editors! I was all over the map, and this makes me sound, well, vaguely coherent...
http://live.ap.org/real_estate/interactives/urban_veggies/index.html
Sunday, May 25, 2008
"South LA Barnyards" article from the LA Times
Check out this story in the LA Times this morning. South LA is becoming heavily populated with a new wave of Latino immigrants, and they are bringing their farm animals with them.
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-rooster25-2008may25,0,45789.story?track=ntothtml
The article kinda got my ire up. The reporter seems to side with the city and the anti-farm-animal neighbors, but I could just be looking for that.
I actually wrote the reporter a letter-- nice-sounding, I hope--
"Dear Ms. Garrison- Thanks very much for reporting on this interesting trend. I would point out to you, though, that it's only been the last 60 years or so in this country that people have not kept "barnyard" animals on their small properties. Many early suburban developments in this country welcomed chickens and small herds of goats- it was often a selling point by builders to let people reconnect with "country" life. And around the world, keeping a small farm menagerie near, and sometimes in, the home is the norm, and greatly desired. This has been true for as long we have kept domesticated animals.
"Keeping loved and well cared-for farm animals in the city on such a small scale is not a health risk, even when they are slaughtered in the backyard. 20 billion meat animals a year are slaughtered using the Big Ag model. At that inhumane scale, it is anything but safe or healthy, and it is terribly polluting. And certainly, animal welfare is often the last consideration on these factory farms.
"Small backyard flocks of chickens provide eggs, nitrogen for the soil and pest control for the garden, and when their time is up, a lovely Sunday meal and a week's worth of soup from the carcass. Living this way reconnects us to our food cycle- something we have become deeply disconnected from in the last three generations, to our and our childrens' peril. It is my sincere wish that this intimate and gentle method of home farming become our national model for sustainability and humane living. We have a lot to relearn."
I decided that this letter is the bones for my Toastmaster's Speech next month...
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-rooster25-2008may25,0,45789.story?track=ntothtml
The article kinda got my ire up. The reporter seems to side with the city and the anti-farm-animal neighbors, but I could just be looking for that.
I actually wrote the reporter a letter-- nice-sounding, I hope--
"Dear Ms. Garrison- Thanks very much for reporting on this interesting trend. I would point out to you, though, that it's only been the last 60 years or so in this country that people have not kept "barnyard" animals on their small properties. Many early suburban developments in this country welcomed chickens and small herds of goats- it was often a selling point by builders to let people reconnect with "country" life. And around the world, keeping a small farm menagerie near, and sometimes in, the home is the norm, and greatly desired. This has been true for as long we have kept domesticated animals.
"Keeping loved and well cared-for farm animals in the city on such a small scale is not a health risk, even when they are slaughtered in the backyard. 20 billion meat animals a year are slaughtered using the Big Ag model. At that inhumane scale, it is anything but safe or healthy, and it is terribly polluting. And certainly, animal welfare is often the last consideration on these factory farms.
"Small backyard flocks of chickens provide eggs, nitrogen for the soil and pest control for the garden, and when their time is up, a lovely Sunday meal and a week's worth of soup from the carcass. Living this way reconnects us to our food cycle- something we have become deeply disconnected from in the last three generations, to our and our childrens' peril. It is my sincere wish that this intimate and gentle method of home farming become our national model for sustainability and humane living. We have a lot to relearn."
I decided that this letter is the bones for my Toastmaster's Speech next month...
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Interview
About two weeks ago, I was contacted by the Associated Press to be interviewed about the vegetable garden in my condo. Yeah, I know.
They found me via Kitchen Gardeners International. KGI has been getting a lot of publicity lately. It's really a terrific group, full of passionate and very knowledgeable people. I love it in there- though, truthfully, it can be a bit intimidating, too. I'm relatively new at this. A lot of them are gardening lifers, gardening professionals, and all-around well-read, plain-old brilliant folks. And I'm just smart enough to know I'm not that smart.
Ok, so the AP is doing a story on folks who vegetable garden in apartments. I'm one of only a handful of gardeners on the site who grows food in containers, so a reporter in DC contacted me through the site.
Can I just say it's been a totally nerve-wracking experience? Not due to the reporters and the photographer- good guys, all. I'm afraid it's all due to my own ridiculousness.
I suffer from pretty brutal stage-fright. My mind goes as blank as a sheet if I have to speak extemporaneously, even about a subject I know inside and out. It takes me some time to get over this with new people, and especially in a group setting. Everything I say comes out with long pauses, a whole lot of stammering, less than stellar word choices, and sentences that don't make much sense. It's torture for me, and probably not all that easy on the other party. It seems to be getting worse with age, too.
Well, that's pretty much what happened yesterday.
At first, I was just going to be part of the written story. But after an editor heard about the house rabbits and worms and how it all works together, he wanted to do an audio-visual slide show to accompany the written piece.
I think I did moderately ok with the written interview. It was over the phone; it was conversational and as comfortable as it could be. I still couldn't think of words, but the reporter was kind enough to help me fill in the blanks. But wow, I'm really despairing over the audio interview from yesterday.
Because they need clean, wide sections of just me speaking for the voice-over accompaniment, the reporter would ask me a question and I would just-- go. I never really knew when to stop, I decidedly could not think of words, sentences were completely mangled, I spluttered through nearly all of it. There was no start or finish, no beautiful arc. Everything I ever knew flew out of my head via my ear-holes. It was awful. I dreamed about it last night. Though I didn't sleep much.
I fear I'll come off as an idiot of sizable proportions. I just hope it can be made to sound better through the magic of digital editing. Gah. Please, please, Mr. Audio Editor, be kind.
They found me via Kitchen Gardeners International. KGI has been getting a lot of publicity lately. It's really a terrific group, full of passionate and very knowledgeable people. I love it in there- though, truthfully, it can be a bit intimidating, too. I'm relatively new at this. A lot of them are gardening lifers, gardening professionals, and all-around well-read, plain-old brilliant folks. And I'm just smart enough to know I'm not that smart.
Ok, so the AP is doing a story on folks who vegetable garden in apartments. I'm one of only a handful of gardeners on the site who grows food in containers, so a reporter in DC contacted me through the site.
Can I just say it's been a totally nerve-wracking experience? Not due to the reporters and the photographer- good guys, all. I'm afraid it's all due to my own ridiculousness.
I suffer from pretty brutal stage-fright. My mind goes as blank as a sheet if I have to speak extemporaneously, even about a subject I know inside and out. It takes me some time to get over this with new people, and especially in a group setting. Everything I say comes out with long pauses, a whole lot of stammering, less than stellar word choices, and sentences that don't make much sense. It's torture for me, and probably not all that easy on the other party. It seems to be getting worse with age, too.
Well, that's pretty much what happened yesterday.
At first, I was just going to be part of the written story. But after an editor heard about the house rabbits and worms and how it all works together, he wanted to do an audio-visual slide show to accompany the written piece.
I think I did moderately ok with the written interview. It was over the phone; it was conversational and as comfortable as it could be. I still couldn't think of words, but the reporter was kind enough to help me fill in the blanks. But wow, I'm really despairing over the audio interview from yesterday.
Because they need clean, wide sections of just me speaking for the voice-over accompaniment, the reporter would ask me a question and I would just-- go. I never really knew when to stop, I decidedly could not think of words, sentences were completely mangled, I spluttered through nearly all of it. There was no start or finish, no beautiful arc. Everything I ever knew flew out of my head via my ear-holes. It was awful. I dreamed about it last night. Though I didn't sleep much.
I fear I'll come off as an idiot of sizable proportions. I just hope it can be made to sound better through the magic of digital editing. Gah. Please, please, Mr. Audio Editor, be kind.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
