Except for the tomatoes. They’re not doing so hot. In fact they’re dying. There … I said it.

I’ve lost two plants so far and two more are looking quite peaked. I started my little garden with four robust-looking specimens I was very excited about. One was called a “gold medal” and another “Japanese Black.”

I wanted to see what those look like! 

Alas they died the first week.

“Minor setback,” I said and replaced them. I also got three more from a friend’s mom. So now I’ve got seven plants altogether and they’re all in varied states of what looks like a slow, wilting, trudge toward certain, shrunken, grimy, death.

I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. They get at least eight hours of sunlight a day and I water my garden extremely well!

I chalked the first, and even second, fruit’s demise up to my roommate’s extremely annoying, untrained dog, which I let Twitter name Mr. Darcy (another story) and his proclivity to urinate all over my tomatoes.

But now it’s undeniable. I’m the Ted Bundy of tomato growers. My plants are dropping like flies and it’s all my doing.

HELP!

In other news this basil’s doing very well and the photo above is of my very healthy-looking arugula.

To be fair, arugula kind of grows like a weed and basil’s a hardy plant as well but hey – I’m chalking it up as a win.

In addition to that my wild flowers are coming up nicely and the cucumbers are coming up at a steady pace as well.

I’ve also got carrots, which are going to look pretty ugly because of my rocky garden bed but I don’t really care – I think my garden looks awesome!

But seriously, if you have any tips to save my tomatoes we’d all be very grateful …

She wanted shopping lists, prices, comparisons and data. And to be fair … that’s not an evil expectation.

But that seems like entirely too much work for my blood…

And really this blog is less about calorie counting and price comparing and more about the community of eating.

The greatest loss to society since the industrialization of food systems hasn’t been the loss of nutrition – it’s been the loss of community – the brotherhood and kinship we once shared around the table.

Every society since the beginning of civilization has put breaking bread above any other activity or tradition. Every holiday was marked by feasting. Every wedding, birth or funeral – any turning of season was welcomed by a shared meal.

Now we just hit the drive-thru on the way home from work.

So rather than a mundane litany of what I ingest on a daily basis, this culinary journey is, and always has been, about meeting people and learning new things.

Which brings me to the point: I got talked into growing flowers by ladies from the Dahlia Society. 

Last weekend I went down to the Wenatchee Valley Farmer’s Market  looking froward to fresh asparagus and perhaps a fresh salmon. I ended up bringing home flowers that are promised to be, “as big as dinner plates!“

Although I can’t EAT dahlias, my interest was piqued by the colorful pictures of exquisite flowers … and I soon found myself gravitating toward the stall full of silver-haired women hustling and bustling about – all a-twitter about flowers.

Eight bucks and 10 bulbs later I was the proud new owner of what may become a whole flower bed. I was also the recipient of many emphatic entreaties to join local chapter of The Dahlia Society.

The ladies assured me that I would not be the only man in the group and as proof they conjured up an 80-something-year-old man to put my fears of male solitude at rest. After a short conversation he hustled me into buying tags for my soon-to-be “whoppers.” I was impressed with his reasoning of why you should have tags for your dahlias, “How else are you gonna know which is which?”

So though I’m not sure about joining any clubs, I did come home and dutifully plant dahlias that afternoon. 

So in 2-3 weeks we’ll see how this little detour in my blog turns out. But even though it wasn’t planned it’s been kind of fun (I’ve always enjoyed digging, as a child I was very good at it I recall). But pretty soon I guess I’ll have flowers as a result. Cool.

Listen … I’m not a hippie.

I don’t care if my food is organic or conventional.

I just love good, fresh food.

This being my second season writing the blog, The Locavore’s Dilemma, people ask me time and again, “What is local?”And the query is always intoned with the subtle undertone of, “And are you some kinda hippie, kid?“

So I decided to state, straight up, what I view as local food. Now mind, this is MY definition and you don’t have to agree.

But to me local is about WHO you’re buying from and not necessarily WHERE it’s from.

Typically, I define local food as food harvested within a 100-mile radius of where you live. But if it’s grown within 100 miles and is sold at Wal-Mart … I’m not gonna buy it.

It’s not a political thing. It’s not because I hate Wal-Mart or corporate America. It’s not because I’m a snob. There’s no overarching motive other than I’m picky and I don’t buy from Wal-Mart because I don’t think they need my money.

At least, they don’t need the money much as the guy down the street whose family I know does (shameless plug for Mike’s Meats and Farmer’s Market here). 

And of course, the bottom line … produce from the supermarket is just nasty.

As a kid I grew up eating fresh produce my mother procured on a daily basis from the fruit stand down the road. From the Spring to the Fall we ate fresh fruits and vegitables everyday. I loathed the asparagus season. I hated choking down the kale, fresh greens and sprouts I thought were bioengineered to make a kid like me miserable.

Now I look back upon my epicurean development and culinary education with a grateful awe. I still bless my mother’s name every time I come across a fruit stand or farmer’s market.

Now I take great joy in thumping melons, indenting eggplant and sniffing all sorts of assorted produce.

Even though my shopping takes the better part of Saturdays I’d never trade it in for the crowded supermarkets with the bleak, hospital lighting and irritated, after work-moms imperiously trying to shove their way before you in line.

So so long for the summer, supermarkets. I’ll miss ya … Not!

I planted three tomato plants and thanks to my roommate’s beast of a mutt and his unfortunate urination habits, one plant’s down and another is on the way out.

So I went to the farmer’s market near downtown Wenatchee this morning and picked up some reinforcements. I got a Brandywine, a Mortgage Lifter and a Black Krim and they are going in the ground momentarily.

And that damn dog might be too if he keeps up his shenanigans…

But despite Mr. Darcy‘s bladder’s efforts I’ve got some seeds sprouting so I’ll blog more later.

I mowed down impertinent weeds springing up in the dormant bed, rototilled the shit out of the poor excuse for soil and bought seeds from a very cross-eyed Home Depot associate in an orange smock.

So far, I’ve spent about $17 on seeds – 14 packages in all – and that’s the entirety of my investment is this year’s project.

But alas, tomorrow I will have to spend more since I will need a considerable amount of gardening soil to add to the bed before I plant.

Not cheap, planting soils costs at least $6.50 per 15 lb. bag. But as luck would have it my roommate and landlord offered to reimburse me. He said since I’m spending the time and effort to reclaim his yard he’d pay for the soil.

SAW-eet.

The space I have to work with isn’t large, it’s about 25 ft. long and 7 ft. wide. But planting seeds an average of 4 inches apart I plan to plant half in assorted vegetables and the rest in sweet corn.

I also bought some wildflowers because the picture looked pretty and I thought, “Hell, I’m growing stuff – might as well grow some pretty things…”

The first photo is what it looked like before tilling and here’s what it looked like after.

Still a long way to go.

These photos don’t show you the thumb-sized rocks littering the bed, which are thrown diagonally from the rototiller blades into my shins, but they’re there. From what I can tell from my digging it looks as if past homeowners have used this spot as their burn area and/or rock pile.

Not optimal.

While tilling I found old wire coat hangers, pieces of concrete and an old baby-doll shoe. I’m going to have to rake and collect the largest of  before I lay fresh soil and plant.

I should’a just ordered cable and watched the NBA finals.

I’m back for another season of eating local (and blogging about it) in North Central Washington.

Last season was great! I met local Ag businessmen, farmers and ranchers and was reminded how much blood, sweat and tears go into raising the food that so many of us Americans take for granted.

In an age when everyone expects food to be cheap and easy I learned a lot about what it really means to keep everyone fed and contribute to a system that maintains this region as an economic powerhouse of produce production.

So this year I’m kicking it up a notch.

In addition to eating local foods (which I define as food grown/raised in state) – I’m going to try to raise some of my own foodstuffs.

1. Chickens

Recently, Wenatchee City Council deemed it legal to raise up to four chickens or rabbits on property within city limits so that got me thinking … I could convert the dilapidated dog kennel in my backyard into a chicken coop!

We raised chickens when I was a kid and I know how to care for them so my plan is to pick up some laying hens at the local feed store and put ‘em up in the penthouse hen house!

That way I’ll have fresh eggs every day and it’ll keep the crazy neighbor next door on his toes. (That’s another story, but a guy that lives near likes to yell at passers-by and generally annoy the neighborhood. Now he’ll have someone to talk to. Cluck-cluck!)

2. Sweet Corn 

Over Easter weekend I visited family and my grandpa showed me a bag of corn seed he’s planning to plant soon. He’s going to put it in the ground bit by bit so every week through the harvest season my grandparents will have fresh, ripe sweet corn to eat.

I thought this was an ingenious plan and we’ve got room in the backyard to plant about four rows about 7 ft. long so I figure I can harvest my own corn come late summer and September.

3. Veggies and Gourds

So I’m not completely set on what array of vegetable’s I’m going to plant yet but I hear that gourds are hearty plants and since this is my first season of testing my green thumb – I figure the heartier, the better.

Plus I like squash.

I also hear that tomatoes are god for a beginning gardener and we grew cucumbers, mint and peppers when I was a kid so I think I’ll try those. 

But I really could use your help. If you know more than I do about gardening, growing your own food and eating local I’d love to hear your suggestions.

What’s grows well around here and what advice would you give to a first-time gardener?

Originally in the wholesale produce market, he made the move to retail using family financing to cover his start-up costs. He opened the business in mid-July and his children have worked in the store all summer.

Mike McKee, owner of Mikes Meats and Farmers Market

“It’s truly a family owned and operated business,” he said. “I think it’s important for my kids to be able to work with the public, look them in the eye, and make change. I think that will serve them well.”

He got his meat counter up and running in mid-September and most of his meat and produce is locally grown. For instance, he’s got a deal with Chris Bailey of Bailey’s Farm Fresh Produce in Wenatchee, to bring in freshly picked produce to the market every morning.

He’s also got a deal with the Kallstrom family in Quincy, who provide his store with fresh sweet corn. McKee said the Kallstrom’s corn is especially fresh, and the secret is that they stagger planting in the spring so they only have a few rows of corn ripening at the same time. That way, the corn the Kallstroms supply is always fresh no matter what time of the season.

The Kallstroms also supply corn to Farmhouse Table Produce on Mission Street in Wenatchee and McKee said that he too has been talking to Farmhouse about perhaps partnering up next season. No specifics have been hammered out yet, but McKee said he hopes it will be a profitable venture because unlike Farmhouse Table, he is a for-profit business.

“They’re nonprofit. I’m hoping not to be nonprofit,” he said, emphasizing the word “not”.

One way he hopes to keep making a profit throughout the winter is by keeping his produce stocked. The only way he can do that it to use produce distributors and bring in non-local products.

But he said to him, the quality of what he sells is more important than the source.

“If you’ve got something local that I wouldn’t eat versus something from across the mountains that is much better quality, I’m gonna carry something from across the mountains,” he said.

I shot and edited this on my free time because the Wenatchee Downtown Association invited me to be one of the judges for this competition and I had a great time doing it.

It’s an “Iron Chef” style cook off and the chefs have 30 minutes to come up with a dish using the secret ingredient.

The chefs are Rochelle Feil Adamowsky, a reporter and food blogger for the Wenatchee World, and Ashish Dhingra, a medical IT specialist.

Enjoy … I know I did.

For a news recap of the day and what the Taste of the Harvest did for the downtown economy, click here.

So the blog has been barren.

But I wanted to post this slide show from this weekend’s Taste of the Harvest festival in downtown Wenatchee.

It took place on Sept. 18 and was organized by the Wenatchee Downtown Association. They closed Wenatchee Avenue from 1st Street to Yakima Street and the farmers market step up shop on the street. There was a battle of the bands, a beer and wine garden, 5 and 10K river runs, tractors, farmers, classic cars and the “improv chef” cook-off contest – which I helped judge.

I’m putting together a little video of the contest to post tomorrow but I thought I’d put up some photos I snapped while walking around speaking with vendors and patrons.

On other fronts – next week I plan to speak with Congressman Doc Hastings as well as a spokesperson from the USDA about farm subsidies and Ag business. I’m also going to go visit the folks over at Stemilt to talk about their operation, their business model and how it’s helped them become one of the world’s leading fruit exporters.

After being furloughed in February from his job as a pilot for Horizon Air he decided to take up farming. This spring he started his new business, called Bailey’s Farm Fresh Produce in Wenatchee, and he has done what many new businessmen fail to do in their first year – turn a profit.

Chris Bailey

“I turned a profit this season,” he said. “I turned a profit starting in August.”

He said he only farms one acre but that he has grown as many as a hundred different varieties of vegetables, beans, fruit and even some flowers. He sells his produce primarily at the Wenatchee Valley Farmers Market and Mike’s Meats & Farmer’s Market but he said he has also sold to Farmhouse Table Produce on Mission Street and even Visconti’s Italian Restaurant.

He said he made three very deliberate decisions when starting his business. One was to not hire any employees. Two was not to borrow any money and three was to do everything manually.

“My objective was to start up as cheaply as possible,” he said. “It’s really impossible to do this kind of farming if you’re paying a mortgage on the place.”

He said that rather than borrowing money he dipped into his savings and didn’t pay more than $1000 for any piece of equipment. And doing everything himself has taught him a lot. He said he’s always been a gardener but this is first foray into Ag business.

“I decided this first year was kind of like being an intern for myself,” he said. “And I’ve learned a lot.”

He said next season he hopes to expand and farm five acres and produce less variety so he can sell more of what Wenatchee Valley consumers want.

Bailey said he enjoys his new job and doesn’t think he’ll go back to aviation. He said he appreciates the fact that he gets more time with his family – especially since he and his wife recently had their second child. He said the new business is like a baby as well.

“My wife says that we had twins this year.”