We see possibilities.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Posted by Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin on September 20, 2010
Since a story aired on MPR about the work of the Rural Enterprise Center, many regional and local newspapers have picked up and published the story. The Mankato Free Press among the first, the Post Bulletin and the Winona Daily News are some of those we have tracked.
Posted by Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin on September 15, 2010
At the end of this post is a very short video of Jose Vanegas processing their bean harvest recently just South of Northfield, MN. His wife Maria Sosa (speaking on the background) was bringing the bean bunches and loading the “aporreadero” or beating platform. The beans are hit with a wooden stick (another fellow from El Salvador who was there the day before used two sticks one on each hand and was going at it much faster for many hours), the bean shells that are hit open up and drop down the beans into the tarp below through spaces between the 2×2 boards that the platform is made off.
A Latin American family familiar with cooking black beans in different ways can eat around 75 lbs a year. This amount can be grown in a space of 25 x 50 feet. It takes about two hours to plant it (20 inches between rows and 4 to 6 inches between plants), holes are made with a how or a shallow row is carved in the soil. Beans germinate by the 4th or 5th day. Two to three times of weed removal early in their growth can suffice, once they start flowering they need to be left alone.
90 days later, the beans dry and can be picked. Picking of this small area is done in about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Beating the beans off the shells can be done in about anouther 30 minutes. After shelling, the platform is disassembled and the beans are poured from a bucket into another on a windy day to blow the small shell pieces and dust off, a fan can be used if there is no wind.
After blowing out the dust and shells, the beans are placed on a flat surface and stones and other foreign materials are removed. The beans are ready to be stored, regular paper bags do the job great as they keep light out and moisture and air circulation, very important for keeping the viability of the beans if they are also to be used for seeds.
For many of the families we work with, food security is a primary goal of their farming operations, this simple plan can supply a family with beans for the whole year, but then why settle for a 25×50 space when families can get together and plant a couple of acres and even have some beans to sell. This is the case of the Vanegas family who planted a bit more than an acre and a half and harvested close to 3,000 lbs.
Most of the beans were harvested with a combine, after picked, they were windrowed and combined. The bean beating platform was set-up to teach the kids (many of them) something about how their parents and many generations before them have done things (in fact for over 7,000 years beans have been grown and processed in similar ways across Latin America), machines are useful and can bring benefits, but some families just can’t afford them, lack of access to machines, does not have to interfere with a family’s ability to produce and process their own food if they so desire. And if coming together, like in this case, the harvest from the Vanegas-Sosa family will be enough to provide a key source of fiber, protein, basic amino acids. Although black beans do not supply the full 9 basic amino acids, if combined with a high lysine corn variety and squash (three sisters farming system) for vitamins, a low income family can have a diet far superior than anything they can buy and except for the squash, storing these foods is as simple as setting aside a small corner of the house and keeping it protected.
This system has survived for thousands of years and can survive many thousands more, it is energy efficient and anyone can use and afford it, these and other principles are critical in the process of designing sustainable food and agriculture systems.
Posted by Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin on September 7, 2010
Here is an article I just wrote as part of a series for the Northfield News. As usual, I wait until the Tuesday after the first Saturday of the month when they publish my contributions. This is #5 of a long list of titles I have in process.
From now on, I will link all of the postings as each article comes up. This you will have all of the stories related to The New Ecology of Food and our strategies and planning to develop processes and systems to scale up what works in sustainable agriculture so we can meet market demands, expand the economic frontier for sustainable agriculture products and create an identity for sustainability, one beyond individual claims and labels.
September 4th, 2010 Making Sense of the Numbers
August 7th, 2010 Investing in New Immigrant Families
July 3rd, 2010 The Story of Prink’s Farm
June 4th, 2010 The Ecology of Food: Mercedez’s Story
May 14th, 2010 Sustainability: The New Ecology of Food
Posted by Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin on August 30, 2010
This piece aired this morning on Minnesota Public Radio about our work launching new immigrant farming entrepreneurs or “agripreneurs”.
Audio:
Posted by Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin on August 19, 2010
It was over a year ago, when I heard of Riverbend Market Cooperative organizing meetings in Red Wing. I had already met with Latino families there in an effort to establish a presence and link local farmers with low income families. Our efforts in reaching out to potential future farmers in the Latino community in Red Wing were happening parallel to other efforts to organize the market cooperative, both would come produce a very attractive partnership.
Three weeks ago, Hillside Farmers Cooperative started providing frozen chickens to Riverbend Market Cooperative with very positive results and the development of a closer working relationship that promises to re-invigorate the engagement of Latino families in that community and region and an increase capacity of the Rural Enterprise Center to continue to reach out to new agripreneurs and community leaders in the area.
Here is a recent video produced on behalf of Riverbend Market Cooperative.
Posted by Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin on July 12, 2010
Don’t think it is a pipedream, it will come to your local farmer and to our area very soon. If anyone out there is working seriously on this issue, PLEASE drop us a note at the Rural Enterprise Center. There are many strategies to deal with this problem of meat processing in our region and we are working hard at one option. Our meat inspection officials are very supportive, but as all of us know, meat processing has to be done right for it to be consistently safe for consumers, this means working with professionals in this area to get this done right and build a network of mobile facilities to serve our region’s local food markets and farmers.
For a closer look at what we are learning and monitoring in other states, check this recent article. If you have insights into this or want to have a conversation, drop us a note from the contact link.
The Rural Enterprise Center is a program of
Main Street Project that focuses on enterprise development. Our mission is to strengthen communities by bringing together the support infrastructure, systems, resources and programs that rural entrepreneurs need to succeed. More...
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