Plugging the Leak

I'm a glass half full kind of person. One way of looking at Home Depot's attempt to entice some Haines consumers to shop in Juneau is to look at it as an ad hoc "leakage" analysis.

An economic leakage analysis shows what consumers are acquiring non-locally. It shows how much money is "leaking" out of the community. This is important in building an economy because of the "multiplier" effect of a dollar spent locally. Here is a good explanation of the connection between the two economic concepts of the "multiplier effect" and "leakage" from the 2007 Shuman & Hoffer Leakage Analysis of the Martha's Vineyard Economy:

Every purchase triggers purchases by others within a community. For instance, a dollar spent on rent

might be spent again by the property owners at the local grocer, who in turn pays an employee, who then

buys a movie ticket. This phenomenon is what economists call “the multiplier.” The more times a dollar

circulates within a defined geographic area and the faster it circulates without leaving that area, the more

income, wealth, and jobs it creates. This basic concept in community economics highlights the importance

of maximizing the numbers of dollars being spent locally and minimizing their “leakage.”

might be spent again by the property owners at the local grocer, who in turn pays an employee, who then buys a movie ticket. This phenomenon is what economists call "the multiplier." The more times a dollar circulates within a defined geographic area and the faster it circulates without leaving that area, the more income, wealth, and jobs it creates. This basic concept in community economics highlights the importance of maximizing the numbers of dollars being spent locally and minimizing their "leakage."

Substitute DVD rental, ticket to Arts Council event for "movie ticket." You get the idea.

Haines resident and consumer Emily Seward is as concerned about leakage as I. To this end, she crafted a "flier" on the benefits of shopping locally. She wanted to leaflet the cars parked at the Senior Center today. Presumably, the drivers were exploring the wares offered by Home Depot. But she found out that the Borough prohibits "leafletting." I'm posting her message below. Look for it too on public bulletin boards around town. Thanks Emily!

Sustain Haines – Go Local!

The Benefits of Doing Business Locally
Haines, Skagway and Klukwan - when you buy from any one of our independent, locally owned business, significantly more of your money recirculates in the community.You strengthen our economic base. When you buy from a nationally owned business, you export our wealth.

Here are Five easy ways to 'Get Local'
1. Realize the benefits of shopping locally. Independent locally-owned businesses are essential to a vital local economy and community character. They use the goods and services of other local businesses, serve as community hubs, and are vital components of healthy neighborhoods and strong city centers. They're where the locals go. They're owned by our friends and neighbors, or maybe even by you.

2. Be aware of the impact of your dollars.
A locally owned independent business returns approximately 80% of each dollar spent back to the community. Local, independent businesses assist the community through a "multiplier effect": one dollar spent at a locally owned business will return five times that amount within the community through city taxes, employees' wages, and purchase of materials and supplies at other independent businesses. In addition, these businesses will turn that dollar back into the community through school funding, social services, and contributions to local non-profit organizations.

3. Talk to Local Retailers/Plan Ahead. Make special orders for products not readily available through local retailers. Many of our local businesses will even give you a discount for special, bulk orders.

4. Grow it! (or pay somebody else to) Community gardens and farmers markets are the new trend. Local produce will save you in the long term and most products are healthier for your family.

5. Keep the Jobs at home. Locally owned businesses create more jobs locally and, in some sectors, provide better wages and benefits than chains do.

The threat to our communities is real. The trend of increasing recruitment of and dependence on absentee-owned chains -- with formulas dictating everything from the look of the building to who does the printing to where the money gets deposited -- has unhealthy consequences. It's not just local businesses who suffer -- our communities are losing social, cultural and economic strength, a place for entrepreneurship, and the ability to choose our own futures.

Will "Locally Owned" Help the Bottom Line?

Some things just fall into place. Two days before Home Depot descends on Haines, those listening to KHNS, our local public radio, were treated to a discussion with Michael Shuman. Michael Shuman talked about building and sustaining local economies.

Shuman holds some impressive credentials. He is Director of the Institute for Economic Empowerment and Entrepreneurship with the Village Foundation in Washington. The Institute focuses on community-based solutions rooted in local markets and small business. Shuman earned an A.B. with distinction in economics and international relations from Stanford University in 1979 and a J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1982. No slouch.

I don’t think Shuman would reject Home Depot out of hand. No. He would evaluate the capacity of the non-locally owned business to contribute to the vibrancy and uniqueness of Haines. In fact, one thing he says policymakers can do is award “Good Community-keeping Seals” to “any firm that is not locally owned but is also a good performer with respect to workers, consumers, and the environment.” Uh oh. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported February 26 that Home Depot has been fined $1.3 million by the US Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency for storm water violations from construction sites around the country.

But business is about profits, so what is happening to the bottom-line when local is prioritized? According to Shuman’s February 11 blog entry, “The Small-Mart Revolution,” “Not only are consumers prioritizing price-competitive local goods and services, they are even willing to pay more for them.”

Throughout the United States, you can find signs that say, “Locally owned restaurant,” “Year-round business.” Shuman calls it “The Small-Mart Revolution” which he describes as “The growing passion of Americans to buy local, invest local, hire local, and think local… .” Tongue in cheek, he jokes, “You don’t find signs that say, ‘Not local – buy from us.’ ”

Yesterday I attended a free Made in Alaska workshop, sponsored by the Department of Community and Economic Development. The presenter, Bill, told me that producers often double sales of their product when they affix the Made in Alaska logo. My dream is that someday we will have the statistics to show that a sign in your shop window that says, Locally Owned Haines Establishment, will significantly and positively add to yours, and thus my, economic bottom line.

Starting Seeds - For Fun, Food, and Profit!

Last week the Farmers Market ad hoc steering committee met (Sid Moffat, Mike Denker, George Figdor, Mardell Gunn, and myself). We were trying to nail down dates. Worried that June 14 might be too early for the first market, but too late for “starts,” we looked at vendor sales data. Wow. One vendor grossed $80 selling starts as late as June 24. Another, also selling starts the same date, grossed $70. See the side bar for the 2008 Market dates.

So, don’t worry about planting too many seeds. Take your surplus to the Haines Farmers Market and recoup seed and soil money.

Sometimes lovingly planted seeds don’t sprout. What’s that all about? And what can be done to minimize that particular source of heartache.

My new favorite seed company, Denali Seed, posts some “Growing Tips” that might help. But they don’t spare feelings. “Poor germination, “ they write, “though usually blamed by the grower on the seed, is probably not the fault of the seed.” Darn. That means it’s probably my fault.

But here are some “dos” and “don’ts” that I’m trying hard to apply this year: pay attention to moisture; pay attention to planting depth (including to cover with soil or not); and pay attention to temperature. Optimizing these three dimensions will help the seed germinate quickly, because, as counter intuitive as this may be, “the longer the seed is in the soil before it sprouts, the more prone it is to rot and disease. “

Moisture: There is an embryo inside the seed. It needs both moisture and oxygen in order to break out of its dormancy. That’s why successful gardeners keep seed flats moist at all times. It's also why you are instructed to “press the seed into the soil.” Pressing assures contact between the seed and the moist soil. Seed packets are not labeled with this warning, but it might help if they were: “If the embryo of the seed becomes dry after it has swollen with moisture, the seed will die.”

Some seeds are encased in a really hard coat. In nature, this hard coat is scratched off by soil action. When you want to plant seeds with hard coats, you soak them first. Have you ever forgotten those peas you set soaking? Think of those years when your pea patch really didn’t germinate very well. I don’t know about you, but I blamed in on the peas, the weather, and the pea pulling blue jays. Given the warning below, I think it was probably my own fault – again. “Soak seed in warm water for a period of 8 to 24 hours, NO LONGER, then plant …IMMEDIATELY. Allowing the seed to stand in water for longer periods will starve the embryo for oxygen which kills the embryo.”

Flats can be covered with black plastic or newspaper to help preserve moisture during germination. If the seed requires light to germinate, cover with clear plastic. BUT be sure to check daily in order to remove the covering as soon as the seedlings sprout. That means, if you are going away for a few days, uncover your flats BEFORE you go!

Planting depth: Not all seeds get covered with soil, but for those that do, the rule of thumb is a depth of two times the seed diameter. If you plant the seed too deep, the stored energy in the seed runs out before the seedling reaches the soil surface. Have you ever measured the diameters of your seeds? Let’s see, that’s 2 mm of soil covering for the basil and pansies….that's a very very thin layer of dirt!

Some seeds actually require light to germinate. Lettuce and celery are in this category.

Temperature: For me, this is a problem. I keep my house quite cool. It’s only 68 F in the kitchen, about 5 feet from the wood stove. This time of year, I put seed flats on a shelf in front of a large bank of windows on the 3rd floor, but on average it’s still cooler than the recommended 68 – 70 F for germination - unless we are having an awesomely sunny day – unlike today. (Today it is gently but relentlessly snowing. )

The good news is that there are plants that actually start best at about 50- 55 F, including my signature lettuce. The Alaska Cooperative Extension Service lists the following flowers and veggies as cool starters: Petunia, Snapdragon, Sweet Alyssum, African Daisy, Ageratum, Larkspur, Nasturtium, Bachelor Button, Candytuft, Clarkia, Marigold, Phlox, Nemophila, cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower. I’ve started Lobelia and Verbena because they are slow growers, but I put those flats over a vent that wicks warm air from the stove up to the third floor, so maybe they will be OK. Sometimes an Alaskan gardener just has to push the envelope.

Adding a Bit of Science to Luck = Locally Grown Coffee

This time last week I promoted a Haines Alaska Master Gardener's Class. I am happy to say that over the past 7 days 13 students have registered. The class starts Sunday, May 18, under the instruction of Michele Hebert from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service. The Sheldon Museum and Cultural Center has graciously donated the Hakkinen Gallery as our classroom for the week. Thanks, too, to artist Bev Shup, who is postponing the installation of her show while we study horticulture.

Now, I am anxious to introduce some science into my growing practices. To date, I think I have just been lucky. For example, I started this blog by announcing that I was tossing some old lettuce and kale seeds into a mixture of Whitney Farms Compost and vermiculite. The fact that I now have lettuce is a testimony to the tenacity of the inner life of seeds, not to my intervention.

I have some seeds that I really really want to grow. So, I am following all the directions, from seed soaking time, to container cleaning, to soil sterilization, to optimum flat placement. You see, I have decided that to reduce my carbon footprint, I will grow my own coffee. This improbable quest started when I fell in love with the coffee plants growing at The Green Coffee Bean Company in Ketchikan.

One day, kind of like Jack in the Bean Stalk, Steve, TGCBC owner, tossed some green coffee beans into a pot of dirt. After a while - a long while, he said - they sprouted. Now he has several glistening 18" high plants. I was immediately beset with plant envy. I tried to hide it, but Steve noticed. He's that kind of guy. Quiet and keenly observant. The next time I visited he handed me several green beans. The beans came with a warning...keep them warm, moist, and above all, be patient. I installed what I thought was a most excellent mini-tropical environment over the heater in my boyfriend's bathroom. When it was time for me to return north, I left most explicit instructions to maintain the heat and keep the soil moist. By phone, I regularly inquired after green shoots, but nothing ... and nothing .... and nothing. Finally, on a return visit, I despondently emptied the cups, spilling the contents onto white sheets of scrap paper. Something alchemical must have taken place - from beans right into coffee. There wasn't any evidence that beans had ever lived in even one of those cups.

Distraught but not discouraged, I hopped on the Internet and ordered Coffea arabica and Coffea catura seeds from the Whatcom Seed Company: $3.84 and $3.29 for 12 seeds not including shipping and handling. The growing descriptions described in the catalogue pretty well matched what Steve had said: warm and moist.

Coffea arabica is easy to grow indoors, makes a very attractive houseplant and if it likes you well enough it will even reward you with flowers and berries. A six-foot plant can produce two to four pounds of coffee a year. Grow in medium light, or filtered or indirect sunlight. Use a rich, acid soil kept moderately moist. Peat moss in the potting mix will help provide acid conditions. Ideal temperatures are between 60 and 85 degrees. Give the roots room to grow. Hardy to 28F.

Coffea catura is an outstanding, dwarf arabica variety, which is a heavy bearer that does not require shading. Grows just 24" - 30" in height. In addition to producing the finest coffee beans, Coffea catura makes a splendid houseplant or, in warm climates, may be grown outdoors as an ornamental.

My boyfriend and I have an ongoing debate about instruction manuals: he reads them. I, on the other hand, believe that I am drawn to inanimate objects through some symbiotic relationship so if there is a problem we should just be able to "talk" about it. I am beginning to see the value of the instruction manual as the object's preferred mode of communication. I have taken to at least glancing at the instructions. Imagine my surprise when the set of instructions that accompanied my coffee beans said this: Seeds germinate in 6 weeks to 6 months at 75 degrees. Given the catalogue promo, I hadn't expected either the temperature requirement or the time to germination. When Steve it would take "a long while" for the beans to sprout, I had no idea.

I very much doubt that I can maintain a 75 degree temperature environment for 6 consecutive days, let alone 6 months - but I'm going to give it a try. Maybe some of the lettuce luck will rub off. To add to my luck, this time, I'm even going to sterilize my containers. And I'm going to follow the directions laid out in an excellent publication from the University of Alaska Cooperative Extension Service which explains that wood and plastic can be sterilized with a mixture of one part chlorine bleach to nine parts water. Clean the containers first and then let them stand in the bleach solution for 30 minutes. Dry before re-use. Wish me luck!

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How Does Shopping at Home Depot in Juneau Work into a Sustainable Haines Economy?

Does anyone have an answer to that question for me? It looks like I'll be able to ask Home Depot myself. Home Depot is coming to Haines to promote its products and services March 29. They've rented the Senior Center for the day. They told the Senior Center manager that they were particularly interested in marketing their floor coverings and floor covering installers.

Let's see, I can think of at least three Haines retailers who market floor coverings. I'm not sure about installation. I had a local carpenter nail down the oak flooring I got from Lutak Lumber eons ago. I snapped in some snap together floor covering myself; same with the paint - bought it locally and slathered it on myself. I have to admit though that I am not a very high-end type of gal.

I imagine the Home Depot CEO is very "high end" indeed. After Nardelli was let go with a $210 million severance package, the Home Deport Board of Directors hired Frank Blake for just $975,000 annually plus a cash bonus of three times his salary if he accomplishes certain performance targets.

Maybe one of those "targets" is to reach out to outlying communities like ours. According to the Senior Center manager, who did raise the topic of "buying local" with the Home Depot representative who contacted her, Home Depot considers Haines "local" from Juneau. Hmmmm... interesting. I tend to define "local businesses" as businesses that pay sales and property taxes to the Haines Borough. Now, as far as I know, Home Depot is coming to Haines to encourage us to shop in Juneau - at their store - either in person or by phone. Either way, I don't see any additional sales or property tax revenue coming our way as a result of their outreach.

"Buy Local" campaigns are springing up all over the country and the world. Why? It seems to have something to do with a sense that vibrant communities have an ineffable sense of place, and that that sense of place comes partly from independent businesses locally owned that serve local tastes and reflect each owner's preferences. And think about this:

Local owners, typically having invested much of their life savings in their businesses, have a natural interest in the community's long-term health. Community-based businesses are essential to charitable endeavors; their owners frequently serve on local boards and support numerous causes. (The Benefits of Doing Business Locally, downloaded from the American Independent Business Alliance.)

Sure sounds like the local business owners in Haines to me. I don't know of any Juneau merchants on our boards. But I do know that when Costco and Fred Myers were approached last year to help underwrite the Southeast Alaska State Fair (which takes place here in Haines), they said, "No." Costco and Freddy's told the Fair manager that they only support "local" causes. Looks like Home Depot is about to enlarge Juneau's definition of local.

Home Depot's website has a page called Corporate Governance Overview. It says that Home Depot strives to "...understand the impact we have on people and communities... ." Me too. I want to understand the impact shopping in Juneau has on the community of Haines. I want to know if shopping in Juneau helps supports the Dolphin Swim Team, the Haines Glacier Bears, the DDF Team. Maybe it does but studies show that

Non-profit organizations receive an average 250% more support from smaller locally owned businesses than they do from large national businesses. Top Ten Reasons to Choose Locally Owned Businesses, from the Sustainable Business Network of Portland.

And then there is this hard cold fact: A nationally owned store's profits are promptly exported to corporate headquarters. In the case of Home Depot, that would be Atlanta, GA. Let's see, corporate headquarters for Haisler Hardware, Haines Home Building, Lutak Lumber, Miles Upholstry are where? Oh yes, Haines, Alaska. It's a good bet that their profits will be in part pumped right back into our community. Maybe Home Depot will support the Southeast Alaska Fair this year if we are very good customers.

Denali Seeds: Locally Available + Tested/Bred in Alaska for Alaskan Growers = Good Choice!

"Why," I asked myself, " am I spending money on postage for seeds out of Washington and Oregon when I could buy seeds in Haines? Do I believe enough in a 'buy local' campaign to overcome a decades long habit of mail ordering seeds from Outside?"

I decided that the answers to my questions really depended on the quality of the seeds locally available. I investigated and found the quality to be just fine. So today I am going to talk to you about Denali Seed stocked by Haines Home Building. If you like what you hear, maybe you will end up doing what I did and buy locally too; if not this year - because you already ordered in February - then next year.

Alaska has two conditions that tend to make it horticulturally challenging: cold soils and long days. Denali Seed breeds plants and their seeds for characteristics that make them perform better in cool climates. They call these specially bred seeds "specialized." But all the seeds they offer have been tested and proven not to be adversely affected by those long days.

Blackjack zucchini seed is an example of their specialized seed. It is bred to germinate when the soil temperature is in the upper 30s. Most squash varieties require warmer soils.

Denali sells specialized tomato seeds too. These tomatoes set fruit when the night temperature is in the mid-40s. Standard varieties require night temps in the upper 50s and 60s. (Hmmm - maybe that's why my tomatoes wouldn't set - wrong seed variety.) Try Denali's Subarctic 25, Polar Baby, and Early Tanana.

Ever get an itch to grow corn? Check out Denali's specialized Polar Vee or Yukon Chief. Both varieties begin forming ears when the plant is just 2-feet tall, so the ears can mature in a short growing season.

If you have ever used Denali seeds, you might have noticed that the seeds produce small plants. According to Denali, this is on purpose: Many of the other varieties we offer produce only a small plant, so the plants do not waste the whole growing season producing large, lush vegetative tops before they set fruit.

Given all this good news about Denali seeds, I wondered why I hadn't caught on before this. I asked around. One long time Haines resident brought up the "force of habit" argument which I mentioned at the outset. They don't ship until February 15th, so it's not possible to drool over their colorful seed packets dreaming of lush gardens in the dead of winter. The last barrier may be this: Denali is only available through a retailer. They are a wholesale outfit. Sometimes the retailer runs out. That can happened. But right now the supply is plentiful. Run down before they run out!

Potato Blight

I'm not Irish, and I don't like potatoes except as "chips," but St. Patrick's Day causes the gardener in me to pause and reflect on a terrible crop failure: the 1845-46 potato blight that caused famine in Ireland. Lest we forget that food and social systems are inextricably intertwined, recall that the arrival of late blight (Phytophthora infestans) pushed half a million Irish out of their nation.

Half a million food refugees; that's equal to about 5/6 of the population of the state of Alaska on the move, trying to find a way to feed themselves.

Our food supply may not be threatened by disease, but the high cost of oil is driving up food production and transportation. Prices are rising. A reasonable response is to grow food locally.

But back to potatoes. Like the Irish, we can grow lots of potatoes. According to the Alaska Potato Profile, Revised in 2007, the commercial potato crop averaged 8000 tons per year over the last ten years, and added over $3 million annually to Alaska's economy.

So what about this blight problem? We have had late potato blight in Alaska. There is an unofficial report of blight in Southeast Alaska in the 1950s, but the presence of blight in Alaska was not formally documented until 1995. Here is the brief history of the Alaskan experience with blight as recorded in Late Blight Disease of Potato and Tomato in Alaska:

Late blight was seen in the Matanuska Valley in 1995, 1998, and 2005. The risk of late blight is similar each summer, but many years have had no outbreaks. In September 1995, late blight was found in one field of potatoes. This discovery was made late in the season.... In 1998 and 2005 seasons, late blight appears in mid-August, and cool wet weather allowed the disease to develop quickly. By September, late blight was seen throughout the Matanuska Valley. In 2005, late blight was seen in some gardens in Anchorage. Late blight was not found in Interior Alaska or on the Kenai Peninsula.

Blight is incredibly infectious. That's why it wrecked such havoc first in Europe and then in Ireland. Winds spread the airborne disease spores. But so do people. In an article published today in the New York Times (The Fungus That Conquered Europe), the author reports that the fungus actually comes from a valley in the highlands of Central Mexico; and remarkably, that the first recorded instance of the disease was not in Europe, not in Ireland, but in the United States - near Philadelphia and New York in 1843. By 1845, late blight had destroyed potato crops from Illinois to Nova Scotia, from Virginia to Ontario. But then, fatally for Europe, it cross the Atlantic with a shipment of seed potatoes ordered by Belgium farmers, hoping to invigorate their crops. Opps. Instead, by mid-October 1945, the fungus spread throughout Europe and the British Isles, wrecking havoc.

The European experience with blight as well as the more recent Alaskan experience is the reason why there are restrictions on the seed potatoes that you can order. All seed potatoes or potato plants sold in or imported into Alaska must be certified in the state or country in which they are grown, must be inspected in storage and found to be blight free, and must be inspected at the point of shipment and found to be blight free. The National Potato Council lists 16 seed potato certification programs, one of which is located at the Alaska Plant Materials Center.

Unfortunately, late blight likes temperatures between 50 and 80 degrees F, and humidity levels above 95 percent. Sounds like summer in SE Alaska to me. I refer you to the Fact Sheet for the Home Gardener for excellent photos of infected plants. Apparently, late blight cannot develop if the leaves are dry and the humidity is low. Since it's a little hard to control the weather, experts recommend that we space our potato plants further apart in order to increase air circulation around the plants - thus minimizing periods of leaf wetness.

Happy St. Patrick's Day and may your garden potatoes always be blight free.

Maybe You Can Make Time to Become a Certified Alaska Master Gardener in Haines this Spring!

I'm coming to a time in my life when I can no longer set aside that list of "things I've always wanted to do." And one of those things is to become an Alaskan Master Gardener. The class has been offered before in Haines by our much loved and respected extension agent, Jim Douglas. But I was "too busy." What a pity. So, setting aside regrets, I contacted the Cooperative Extension Service to inquire about a Master Gardener class for Haines. Michele Hebert and I have been exchanging emails all day.

Michele can offer the class in Haines tentatively the week of May 18; perhaps as early as the 15th. And I do mean "week." It is a 40-hour class based on the information in the "Alaska Gardener's Manual." Michele would like to conduct the class from 9-noon, and 1-5, Monday through Friday. She would like to have 10 students. The class needs to meet in a place where she can show slides. The class is $50 which covers the cost of the manual and other supplies. Topics include Introduction to Botany and Taxonomy; Soil and Fertilizers; Plant Propagation and Pruning; composting and Water Quality; Vegetables; Landscape Gardening; Fruit and Berry Crops; Lawn Care; Houseplants; Entomology and Vertebrate Pest; Plant Disease; Weed Management. All topics I've dabbled in - none of which I could even begin to say I've "mastered"!

The Master Gardener program exists throughout North America. (See the American Horticultural website for a map of all the different programs.) It is a huge outreach program. Certified Master Gardeners are volunteers with regionally specific horticultural knowledge who are educational resources for their communities. After we are trained we can fulfill our 40-hour volunteer commitment by talking about what we know ( we could host our very own version of You Bet Your Garden! Move over Mike McGrath!), by writing about what we know, by working side by side with others.

Maybe with our certificates tucked under our arms, we might get up the gumption to approach the school district and offer our services to help create a youth gardening program. That's what I am aiming for. Though I have been an Alaskan certified teacher for years, I am definitely a "cowgirl" gardener and need to bolster my credibility in that department. (If you are interested in youth gardening programs, check out Kids Gardening.) The school garden registry at Kids Gardening shows schools gardens in Palmer, Shageluk, and Anchorage. I'd love to see Haines School District listed there in the not too distant future.

If you are interested in a Master Gardener Class, please leave a comment and I will contact you. I will also post notices in the PO, the Library, Howsers, and Mountain Market. Let's do it!

Think Twice about 'Cage Free' and 'Free Range' Labels

Remember how former President Bill Clinton avoided perjuring himself? He resorted to grammar. I paraphrase: "It matters what the meaning of 'is' is." This is a pertinent comment because you may be surprised to learn what the official meaning of "cage free" is. I was.

According to the dictionary of terms at Sustainable Table, cage free means birds raised without cages. "Well, duh," you might reply. But I sort of thought that it meant birds roaming around on the fields, pecking bugs, pulling grass. According to Sustainable Table, "What this doesn't explain is if the birds were raised outdoors on pasture, if they had access to outside, or if they were raised indoors in overcrowded conditions. If you want to buy eggs or poultry that was raised outdoors, look for a label that says "Pastured" or "Pasture-raised."

The label "free range" is even more misleading - and believe me, I have confidently carried my free range poultry to the checkout counter more than once. What a dupe. It turns out that the definition of free range (at least according to Sustainable Table; please correct me if I am mislead and in turn misleading you) is

a term that refers to animals (usually poultry, and the eggs that they produce) that are not confined, meaning that these animals are able to go outdoors to engage in natural behaviors. It does not necessarily mean that the products are cruelty-free or antibiotic-free, or that the animals spend the majority of their time outdoors. The use of the term 'free range' is only defined by the USDA for poultry production, and need only mean that the bird has had some access to the outdoors each day, which could be a dirty or concrete feedlot. USDA considers five minutes of open-air access each day to be adequate. (Emphasis mine.)

Opps - not exactly what I had in mind when I envisioned "free range." I guess it does matter what "is" means after all. I'm going to look for "Pastured" or "Pasture-raised." I might be eating a lot less chickens.

A Plea to the Haines Borough Assembly

The peak oil task force report, Peak Oil & Energy Transition: Preparing for Challenges and Opportunities, was formally transmitted to the Haines Borough Assembly Tuesday March 11. The report is the culmination of a year’s worth of work by a local citizen group led by Mike Denker. The group studied the conditions that have led to the escalation in the price of oil. They studied strategies to coop with the result of the conditions: high prices, petroleum scarcity. Then they made recommendations. You can follow the Haines Borough link to the PDF of report.

I came on board late in the game – hired to compile and publish the report. I learned a lot. Probably the most important thing I learned is that the conditions leading to high oil prices are not just political – though politics enters. Mainly, the conditions are geological. There is a finite supply of easy oil, and it has “peaked,” meaning that it’s going to be more and more expensive to extract and to process what oil remains in the ground.

By “expensive,” I mean bank-breakingly expensive because at this stage of the game, demand is outstripping supply. And you know how that works - as long as there is demand for an item that is hard to come by, the price can go up and up and up – until the price is so high that demand is destroyed. There can be a lot of wreckage in the wake of that process. Think about it – oil is used to turn on the lights, heat our homes, transport our food, our supplies, make our medicine, grow our food; it is used to connect us one to the other. What happens when these supplies and activities cost more and more and more? I think people will suffer. But I also think the suffering can be mitigated by conservation, efficiency, and the development of alternative sources of renewable (after all, let’s learn from this experience) energy.

I like to believe and act as though our governments are formed and function in the best interests of the people they govern. So I think it’s imperative that our local government initiate policies that help constituents prepare for the transition to a more expensive world. Peak Oil & Energy Transition, prepared for the Haines Borough, articulates those policies and makes specific suggestions. I pray that the Haines Borough Assembly takes the situation seriously and follows through. I said so Tuesday night, and here’s what I said:

Mayor Shields and Members of the Assembly:

There is nothing new in the report. Does that surprise you? It should assure you. All of the findings in the report have been carefully researched. Nothing breaks new ground. On the contrary, if you adopt any or all of the recommendations you will be following policies and procedures similar to those adopted by municipalities across the country, and in Alaska, municipalities preparing for a post carbon future – a future where petroleum based energy is simply too expensive to use in the ways we have become accustomed to using it.

I’d like to mention the concept of a “market correction.” Some people believe that high prices for energy will bring forward solutions without government action. Maybe so, but I ask you, what is the nature of the investor who makes a killing in the market? Hasn’t the successful investor studied options, assessed trends, and looked into the future? Isn’t this what positions him to invest successfully? And the investor who ignores trends? Disregards unpleasant but reliable data? Sometimes that person goes bankrupt. Don’t let that “person” be the Haines Borough.

I am convinced that high energy prices, and high transportation costs will characterize our foreseeable future. The successful municipality, like the successful investor, will be the municipality that anticipates and adjusts before the market peaks, not after. Please take action now to reduce our dependency on non-renewable energy.

I heard Dan Parrent tell Mayor Shields that a successful municipal wood heat project will require a cheerleader. There has to be a somebody or a group of somebodies who believe in the project and are willing to work hard to show others that the project is economically viable and environmentally desirable. Please look carefully at Recommendation 1 in the Task Force report. You will find that the recommendation to establish a Community Energy Sustainability Commission is none other than a recommendation to institutionalize a cheerleading squad to bring Haines into the fold of municipalities re-designing themselves to survive the coming “market correction.”

Alaska Box Veggie Program

Michael Pollan has a new book: In Defense of Food. Download the intriguing introduction and consider this possibility: Pollan suggests that we have become "...a nation of orthorexics: people with an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating." Despite our national obession with nutrition, we seem to be the fattest and sickest developed nation on the planet. Why? Perhaps because we eat unfood - food that is processed, packaged, "festooned with health claims," and sold to us relatively cheaply by what he calls a "Nutritional Industrial Complex."

But the book is more than the natural history of our new national eating disorder. Pollan says he has a set of suggestions - but you have to read beyond the intro (clever marketer that he is!). "I’m not interested in telling you what to have for dinner, "Pollan writes. "No, these suggestions are more like eating algorithms, mental devices for thinking through our food choices. "

I am willing to go out on a limb here and bet that one of those suggestions is to eat whole foods, grown locally. Sometimes here in Alaska, we have a hard time executing the second half of this choice; we have a hard time connecting with locally grown food. This is the issue discussed recently by Kim Sollien in her excellent blog AK Root Cellar. Kim questions the impact on local producers of the popular CSA organic produce distribution program, Full Circle Farm.

Full Circle Farm, Carnation, Washington, works with local growers to provide food for subscribers far and wide. It's a great service because people, not matter how remote, can access fresh, organically grown produce. But subscribers often buy from Full Circle even when locally grown produce is available, thus inadvertently undermining the possibility of helping locally produced, Alaskan grown, food become a sustainable, economically viable proposition.

Kim is floating the proposition of the development of an Alaskan Box veggie membership program as an alternative to the non-Alaskan veggies obtained through Full Circle Farms.

I want to hear from you if you would be interested in becoming members of an all Alaskan Box veggie program. Your voices in volume could pique producer interest generating the momentum needed to build producer partnerships willing to give it a try. Ultimately, it's the consumer voice and dollar that will motivate this idea into reality.

Get in touch with Kim through her blog adn.com/akrootcellar. Warning: you do have to go through a registration process before you can leave a comment, but it's worth it. According to Kim, Alaskans import nearly 98% of their food, collectively spending $2 billion, but only $30 million in Alaska (including hay). In as much as possible, I would like to stem the flow of wealth out of the state, wouldn't you?

Working the 100-Mile Diet from an Archipelago

Lots of times, the idea of a 100-mile diet is associated with the idea of "eating local."

A 100-mile diet is composed of foods produced (or gathered) within 100-miles of your home. Theoretically, by circumscribing the distance your food has to travel to you, you eliminate some energy costs, especially the costs for transportation. It's a neat idea. Read more about it in Alisha Smith's and James MacKinnon's book: The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating (Canadian title), or Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally (US title). (The book is not yet available at the Haines Borough Public Library; try Babbling Books before ordering from Amazon. Remember, "...a dollar spent locally generates twice as much income for the local economy." 10 Reasons to Eat Local Food.)

Like a lot of popular ideas originating down south, a 100-mile diet just doesn't work quite the same up here. Equating "local" with a 100 mile diameter circle, my house at its center, and thinking that that's going to reduce transportation costs is a little far fetched. Why? Because I live not only in rural Alaska, but on an archipelago, so most of my allotted 100 miles are roadless and under water. So I doubt eating a 100-mile diet with Haines, Alaska at the center will save transportation costs - especially if I want to eat food from the edges of the 100 mile circle.

But check it out. It's fun. Go to 100 Mile Diet, and plug in our zip code. Our circle takes in Glacier Bay, Juneau, Angoon, Hoonah, a corner of Kluane, but doesn't quite stretch to include Whitehorse. (I am talking about food that we can grow, not food that travels under its own power, like salmon, halibut, eulachon, herring, and moose.)

It would be nice (imperative, maybe?) to find a solution to these transportation costs. Maybe what we need is an "Alaska Regional Food Management Authority Act" fashioned after the Alaska Regional Solid Waste Management Authority Act (AS 29.35.800-925). Let's see, the State says that the purpose of a solid waste management authority is to "provide cost-effective management of solid waste, including transportation... ." Wouldn't it be neat if growers in the region could get together and bring their products cooperatively and inexpensively to market? We need some visionaries here.

Transportation is a barrier to eating locally, both regionally (from the edges inward of our 100-mile circle) and nearby. It hits closer to home than you might imagine. Consider the cost in time and fuel to bring the dozens and dozens of eggs produced at the upper end of the Chilkat Valley down to the retail stores in town. Some producers just don't make the trip because they can't afford to. We probably don't need a state authorized "authority" to manage this type of transportation problem in the valley, but we do need to organize - sooner than later. Here's an idea: as the Haines Farmers' and Crafters' Market gets going, maybe it can actuate an electronic bulletin board for Haines producers to contact travellers willing to bring produce to markets at one end of the valley or the other.

When Can Locavores Eat Cheeseburgers?

This morning I got an email from a friend in California. He wrote that he just read an article on the internet that said

by eating an average of 3 cheeseburgers or hamburgers a week, Americans create emissions that exceed the emissons of all the automobiles in America.

My friend was pretty shocked. Can you imagine? he asked.

It is hard to imagine this claim. So I tried to track it down. I found what might be the "parent" article for the idea. I'm going to go out on a limb and refer you to The Cheeseburger Footprint by Jamais Cascio. After some sophisticated analysis using reliable data, he shows that

the greenhouse gas emissions arising every year from the production and consumption of cheeseburgers is roughly the amount emitted by 6.5 million to 19.6 million SUVs. There are now approximately 16 million SUVs currently on the road in the US.

Mr. Cascio says that the real point of the analysis

...is about how we live our lives, and the recognition that every action we take, even the most prosaic, can have unexpectedly profound consequences. The article was meant to poke us in our collective ribs, waking us up to the effects of our choices.

And that's what locavore is all about. You may be as amazed as I to learn that the word "locavore" (sometimes spelled "localvore") was the New Oxford American Dictionary 2007 word of the year. A locavore encourages people to grow or gather their own food; to buy from local farmers' markets. A locavore is conscious of the carbon footprint of the food s/he eats. Without getting too precise, a locavore will probably apply estimates of transportation costs as well as fat calorie counts as criteria for choosing between two or more products.

Obviously, the closer the food is produced to your home, the less energy it is going to take to get that food to you. Another intuitively obvious, but nonetheless often overlooked, fact is that eating locally is good for the local economy. In Ten Reasons to Eat Local Food, the author cites a study by the New Economics Foundation (London) that found

that a dollar spent locally generates twice as much income for the local economy. When businesses are not owned locally, money leaves the community at every transaction.

What is less obvious, is that locally produced may trump organically produced when environmental considerations are uppermost.

In a March 2005 study by the journal Food Policy, it was found that the miles that organic food often travels to our plate creates environmental damage that outweighs the benefit of buying organic.

(An astute reader will catch the caveat in that statement. If the organic food doesn't travel, then by all means, choose organic over non-organic!)

So, a locavore can clearly eat a cheeseburger when the family cow has produced the milk for the cheese and as well as the burger!

Grandmother's Wisdom from a Pre-Plastic Era

My friend Melissa sent me this grandmother story to help those of us trying to figure out post-plastic performance standards:

My grandmother faithfully lined the garbage can each week with newspaper. It turns out that a double sheet, folded a bit over the rim of the can, will just reach the bottom. She then put a sheet of paper in the bottom to protect it. Saved having to clean the garbage can. As much as she tried to get the rest of us to learn her behavior and follow in her footsteps, she wasn't all that successful. As she finally moved on to a rest home (at 101), her major voiced concern was "who is going to line the garbage can?". Maybe a lot of people will if they try this idea. Newspaper doesn't break down in a land fill very fast because it is buried, but it sure beats plastic.

Thanks Melissa!

Two thoughts: one: Community Waste Solutions (Haines) will put the newspaper through its composting process, thus enhancing newspaper degradation; and two: newspapers come at a premium, don't they? Let's assume that the newspaper you are using to line your containers is recycled newsprint- recycled from what? Ah...at some point it was virgin paper. A tree was cut somewhere sometime along the route to a liner.

But I am enough of a Luddite that I still like to read my news instead of hear it or get it on line. In fact, I can't think of anything more delicious than a cup of coffee and a hefty newspaper. So next time I indulge in this almost archaic past-time, I will think of Melissa's grandmother and dedicate a few pages to a cleaner garbage can.

Wood Ash & Brush Control

Is it just me, or does it seem like all good ideas come from someone else? Last night a bunch of us were talking about that 14,000 pounds of wood ash that might be produced from a municipal wood heat system. "Why not, " someone mused, "put it along the road right of ways to defeat the brush instead of using the mechanical cutter?" Why not? Distributing the ash would be more labor intensive (truck driver + people to spread the ash); but there might be savings in terms of operating fuel. Let's see - what is preferable? To pay people or to pay for fuel? Hmmmmm..... Even if it would not be a money-saving proposition, it might be a good way to redistribute wealth locally.

In the end, one of the best uses for tons of wood ash, is for weed control - but don't put in in between your raised beds in your gardens!

Wait on Wood Ash

Last night I attended a meeting about developing a wood heating system for the school and municipal buildings. Experts said that it makes economic sense (saves money, creates jobs) and wood suppliers and the local forester say the fuel supply is sustainable. The system under discussion is said to be smokeless (see Garn Wood Heat Systems) so air quality will be unaffected. But there will be ash - quite a bit of it. Let's see...according to information on the University of Connecticut horticulture site,

An average cord of wood, depending on the efficiency of combustion and wood type, will yield approximately twenty pounds of ashes or the equivalent of one five-gallon pail.

Preliminary numbers suggest that we would annually use at least 700 cords of wood to heat the school. That's 14,000 pounds of ashes or 700 5-gallon buckets. The presenter caught my attention when he said that the school in Darby, MT spreads its ashes on its playing fields. Can we do that too?

The answer, like most answers, is "very judiciously." Wood ash is like limestone, only different. It raises the alkalinity of the soil, only faster. And for plants, and lawns, and playing fields, faster may not be better. Limestone takes up to six months to take effect; wood ash is a very fine textured material, is highly water soluble, so quickly changes the soil pH. (pH stands for Potenz Hydrogen. Now you know!) Wood ash raises the alkalinity of the soil, usually measured on a scale of 1 (acid) through 7 (neutral) to 14 (alkaline).

According to Purdue University Consumer Horticulture, wood ash should never be used on acid loving plants - like potatoes, rhododendrons and blueberries. But applying small amounts to most soils will not adversely affect garden crops. So, how small is small? You have to know if your soil is acidic, slightly acidic, neutral, or alkaline, remembering that the acidity-alkalinity of your soil can vary from one corner of the garden or field to the other.

Acidic soils (pH less than 5.5) will likely be improved by wood ash addition. Soils that are slightly acidic (pH 6.0 to 6.5) should not be harmed by the application of 20 pounds per 100 square feet annually, if the ash is worked into the soil about 6 inches of so. However, if your soil is neutral or alkaline (pH 7.0 or greater), find another way to dispose of wood ash.

Now, maybe there was a typo in the University of Purdue information, because the University of Connecticut site says this:

A safe rate of wood ash application for a garden or lawn area would be twenty pounds per thousand square feet or a five-gallon pail full of wood ash.

Uh oh. That's a big difference - one 5-gallon bucket on a 10 x 10 plot, or one 5-gallon bucket on a 100 x 10 plot? Looks like some clarifying questions are in order. I'll see what I can do.

Regardless of the rate of application, it looks like it's imperative to determine the pH of your soil. You can get a fairly reliable measure with the home tests you can pick up at a gardening store, as long as you use distilled water. Turns out that tap water has a pH too (probably headed in the direction of alkalinity) and you will skew your results if you don't use distilled water.

There are also soil pH indicator plants. Dandelions indicate acidity; chickweed indicates alkalinity. And if you have them side by side? Definitely put those wood ashes somewhere else!

Elbow Grease - the Biodegradeable Alternative to Plastic Bags for Kitchen Garbage and Wastebasket Liners

I ran into my friend Julie while ferrying up the Lynn Canal between Juneau and Haines yesterday. Julie has successfully eliminated plastic grocery bags from her life. But that has created a new problem - with what do we now line our kitchen garbage containers, our waste baskets? The question only reveals how deeply plastic has become embedded in our lives. Check it out:

Plastic is over-running our planet. Estimates run as high as one million pieces of plastic per square kilometer (0.6 mile) floating in specific areas of the the Pacific Ocean. In this area, plastics outnumber plankton, the base of the marine food web. A surface trawl of the ocean found 6 pounds of plastic pieces for every pound of zoo plankton. Don't Think of a Plastic Bag!

I am old enough to remember NOT having plastic bags to line every little container. I actually remember being allocated the chore of scrubbing out metal waste baskets! That got me to thinking...did we always put our garbage into 30-gallon plastic bags and THEN put it in the garbage pail or did garbage just get dumped unceremoniously from the little to the bigger container? Well, ubiquitous plastic bags must be relatively new on the scene because I remember very well - and I'm not all that old - unbagged, sometimes overflowing, and yes - metal garbage cans. Maybe we can resurrect those old practices.

So, I telephoned one of our local sanitation companies (Community Waste Solutions) and happily learned that it is not necessary to bag garbage at all! Probably, a lot of you already knew that. But I've been lugging plastic bags full of trash to the dump or dump station for years. No longer. I can either haul my garbage can and dump it's unbagged contents into the dumpster, or I can reuse that 30-gallon plastic bag by opening it up and depositing the contents less the bag. I save money and maybe I can help improve the ratio of zoo plankton to plastic in the Pacific.

For those of us who are just desperate for eco friendly waste basket or kitchen garbage liners, check out Biodegradable Cornstarch Sacks the next time you are in the UK. Apparently this product is not yet available in the US.

Refusing Plastic Bags - Even those "Made from Recycled Plastic"

Some municipalities have to pass laws banning smoking, banning plastic bags. Here in Haines, Alaska, at least two proprietors I know have made human and environmental health part of their business practice: last year, Christy Tengs Fowler, Bamboo Room and Pioneer Bar, banned smoking. Recently, Mike Ward, Howsers IGA, announced that he will retire plastic bags. Pretty nice town we live in.

Mike's move raises the question of what type of bag to use. How about paper? Turns out that only about 20% of paper bags are actually recycled - better than the rate of recycling for plastic bags (5%) but still not very good. As with plastic bags, the manufacture of paper bags emits global warming gases, creates water pollution, and uses raw materials and energy.

Watch out for reusable bags made from recycled plastic. It turns out that that is not such a good deal. Take a look at the standard operating procedure for building a bag from recycled plastic:

The recycling process typically involves transportation of the discarded goods from the US to Asia where environmental regulations aren't as stringent. The raw materials are reprocessed to make the new material, which is shipped back to the US for assembly and transport to the retailer. The entire journey uses petroleum resources and creates harmful emissions. (Frequently Asked Questions, Plastic Bags, www.healthebay.org/assets/pdfdocs/PPI/FAQs_PlasticBags.pdf

How Big a Problem Are Plastic Bags - Really?

Evidently, most plastic bags do not biodegrade, they photo degrade. That means they break down into smaller and smaller pieces. They do not go away. Plastic resin polymers are so durable that they can take hundreds of years to break down, if they every truly do. Even worse, our plastic seems to flow to the sea. About 60-80% of all marine, and 90% of marine floating debris, is plastic. To sea birds, marine mammals, fish, and sea turtles, plastic bags resemble food or prey. Those discarded bags look uncannily like jelly fish or sponges. Annually, about 1 million seabirds, 100,000 marine mammals, and countless fish die through ingestion and entanglement in plastic debris, including plastic bags.(healthebay.org, Plastic Bag Fact Sheet).

How Big is the Problem? Take a Look.

For a visual of the size of the problem, go to photographer Chris Jordon's photo of 60,000 plastic bags - the number of plastic bags used in the United States every 5 seconds. http://www.healthebay.org/currentissues/ppi/theneed_chrisjordan_bags.asp.