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Meat and Climate Change

I’ve written about this before, as have many other people.  This is something Michael Pollan has brought up in his books and articles.  Now it’s official.

The UN climate chief now says in order to help prevent climate change, you should eat less meat.

According to this report, the production cycle of meat accounts for 18% of the world’s greenhouse gasses, while the world’s transport systems only account for 13%.  Implied in these figures seems to be that since meat also has to be transported to your table, by the time it gets there it will generate even more greenhouse gasses.

Being vegetarian will probably have a bigger impact on the environment than not driving a car or having a very fuel efficient one.  It can even be more important than if you travel by airplane.

Of course many people have access to locally produced meats, possibly even grass fed, that use less or even virtually no energy in their manufacture.  Even this has to be put into a little perspective however.  While you should certainly favor local and sustainably produced meats to others, there aren’t enough of these meats to feed the world, so eating more than your fair share will make them unavailable for others.  This certainly also applies to seafood too.  Regardless of it’s source, unless you raise all of your own meat yourself in a carbon neutral way, it’s important everyone does their part and eats less meat in the long run.

It’s better to stick with in-season, locally grown and biologically diverse foods.  Meat should be considered an occasional treat, if you eat it at all.  It’s important for your health and for the environment too.

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Amsterdam Farmer’s Market

Local Market

I’ve been meaning to post some pictures of our local Saturday farmer’s market for some time now.  Last Saturday I took my camera along.  Honestly it’s mostly locals who shop at this market, and someone with a camera really stands out and kind of gets in the way, which is why I haven’t made this post earlier.  Above is a picture of the entrance.  Everything sold at this market is supposed to be organic, but much of it is not certified.  As far as I know, there is only one other organic market in the city, and mine is the only true farmers market as the other is simply run by independent market stand operators.

The horse was just dumb luck.  We don’t normally have horses at the market.  There are however a couple of horses that ride around the city giving rides and tours to tourists, and just as I picked up my camera one went past the market.  A photo moment!

This market has a Dutch language website here.  You might have some luck using Google language tools to translate it.

Local Market

Above is my favorite cheese stand.  They are a farm, and they do sell some of their own cheese.  Mostly what they have done is collect organic artesian cheeses from small farms around Europe, and sell them.  They are really expensive, but also have some very nice cheese.

Local Market

The honey guy (above) is usually there, selling honey and honey related products.

Local Market

There are only about 4 or 5 stands selling vegetables regularly, and this is one I like because it’s reasonably priced and of good quality.  This market is actually on the small side, when all is said and done.

Local Market

The most exotic stand there sells only mushrooms.  Besides being very expensive, I honestly haven’t found much use for them.  I like mushrooms, but I don’t really know how to cook most of these.

Besides these stands, others sell fruits and juices, grains, house plants, cheese, olives, breads and meats.  Almost all the food related stands have farms behind them, but often sell other products that aren’t their own.  There’s a stand that sells vegetarian goodies like handmade sushi, pate, sandwiches and so on.  On the back side there are stands selling things like clothes and household things.  There’s a woman who runs a Scottish baked goods stand, and there is a power foods stand where you can stock up on wheat grass juice and goji berries.  Other stands come and go, and I’m sure I’ve forgotten a few.

I guess what I don’t like are the many non farmer’s market aspects to this market.  Many stands sell things that aren’t their own, and these things often come from far away.  I saw oranges this week, and these must have come from the southern hemisphere.  I was hoping to get a picture of some the the large bunches of bananas that often adorn the market and must come from elsewhere, but there weren’t any this week.

You often see things like chestnut mushrooms, which all the food stands sell, all look exactly the same, cost about the same, and you know come from the same wholesaler.

While I sometimes appreciate being able to buy these things while I’m shopping at the market, and I have a lot of respect for the need for farms to work together because it’s pretty hard for one farm to provide enough variety year round to stock a single market stall by themselves, this really goes far beyond that.  This is really a local farmers market, integrated with large scale food wholesalers.  Also while I say local, many farms come from far away and are on the large side.

Also none of these farms offer Community Supported Agriculture subscriptions, at least via their market stalls.  What sort of a true small farm would not choose to offer a CSA?

In fact, as far as I know, true CSAs are not available in Amsterdam.  What we have here instead is the polar opposite, and it’s called a ‘Vegetable Subscription’.  It’s run by the country’s largest organic produce wholesaler and is simply a selection of their choosing of all the leftover products that goes unsold through other channels.  Real CSAs couldn’t compete with this on a price basis, and I think most Amsterdammers wouldn’t understand the difference, so it’s unlikely CSAs will take off here anytime soon.

What I just said about CSAs only applies to Amsterdam and probably most large Dutch cities.  In the outlying areas I think there are lots of CSAs available, but I’m not really sure.

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Asparagus Progress

Asparagus

Some of my Mary Washington asparagus I started from seeds this year is looking pretty good.  The main problem is out of 24 seedlings, only about a third of them have turned into healthy and strong plants.  Some just didn’t survive, and other plants are just barely alive.

When you start asparagus from seed you don’t get your first harvest for three years anyway, and even then you get a light harvest.

Now however, I look set to need to keep replanting for a number of years before I get well established plants.  I’ll need to make a decision about keeping weak plants, or starting over with these too.  Since it’s possible to transplant asparagus crowns after the first year, I need to consider the pros and cons of moving all of this years plants into a single spot, or just filling the gaps with new plants.  Decisions, decisions…

I’m starting to see the advantages of starting with crowns instead of seeds.  Crowns of named varieties are hard to find here, as are crowns in general.  When you do find them, they are pretty expensive.  I’m wondering if I’m going to get any seeds from my plants this year or if I’ll need to order some more.

Anyone have any advice?