Today’s post is a highly personal selection of recent articles and resources I’ve found interesting. Read together, they tell an expansive story of the promise, the failures and the complexity within our food system.

• urban animal husbandry
• the selling of a 144-year old Vermont family farm
• a local food revolution in northern Michigan
• the potential of urban agriculture in Detroit
• farming – the new American Dream?
• early action from the President’s Working Group on Food Safety
• Michael Pollan on how we can’t fix the health care system without fixing the food system
• tasting and tweeting to spread the word about small food businesses

read on for details and links

Food safety is not just a legal responsibility, but a moral and ethical obligation you have with your customers. (Chris Blanchard, Rock Springs Farm)

The Rodale Institute’s New Farm just posted Malcolm Robinson’s Handle With Care, which discusses food safety and handling practices for fruit and vegetable growers.

It highlights a Post-Harvest Handling Decision Tool from Iowa’s Value Chain Partnerships. (The Value Chain site is, in general, great resource for farmers and other folks working to strengthen regional food systems.)

Handle With Care emphasizes common sense and outlines accessible actions and processes to maintain food safety.  Some excerpts:

• Good post-harvest handling gives farmers a competitive edge, additional profits and fewer food safety concerns.

read on…

We’ll be profiling Local Orbit buyers and sellers from time to time and thought it would be great to kick off our new video series with a new farmer, Brad Boettcher. After losing his job at General Motors last year, Brad decided to become a full-time farmer and raise catfish, chickens and turkeys. Aimee Boettcher keeps bees.

Video: Wendy Williams
Photography: Peter Schottenfels