Farm and Foodshed Report
With your host: Robin Carpenter
The crucial stories impacting our local farms and foodshed
“Fresh Support for Drakes Bay Oyster Company” – episode aired March 18, 2013
** Listen online: http://kwmr.org/blog/show/4799 **
Nancy McDonough, General Counsel for the California Farm Bureau Federation:
“We very much endorse and advance a collaborative approach… It’s so important that we’re able to achieve environmental protection at the same time as we have agricultural production. We’re always looking for places to achieve that…. I think if anything hits the target of the sweet spot, the Drakes Bay Oyster Company does.”
Patricia Unterman, owner of the Hayes Street Grill and a pioneer of the sustainable seafood movement in restaurants:
“We’ve really seen a revolution in the way people are eating from the sea now. And that’s what makes the Drakes Bay oysters so valuable to us. My goodness, here’s a product that’s beautifully raised and really delicious. We pan-fry them, and they’re just so crisp and delicious and sweet. Here’s a product that is being harvested an hour away from the restaurant and the notion that we couldn’t get them anymore is devastating and terrible. It runs against the whole food movement that developed over these past 30 years.”
Jeff Creque an Agroecologist who is on the board of the Alliance for Local and Sustainable Agriculture of Marin County:
“That’s really the core of this whole issue: how do we care for our environment and also provide ourselves with the things that we need? And that’s the challenge for me in my work is always looking for that sweet spot between environmental protection and agricultural production. And the beauty of this concept [collaborative management] is that it really helps us look for those answers. It’s where we are I think globally now. We have a literal massive global crisis on our hands, and yet there’s 7 billion of us on the planet and we need to be fed and clothed. How do we do that? How do we weigh those, not just weigh those in a trade-off context, but is there a way we can actually combine those two realities in a way that can actually benefit both the environment and our needs as human beings in the planet?”
Click here to listen to the radio show online: http://kwmr.org/blog/show/4799
KWMR, a West Marin community radio station, airs a weekly show called The Farm and Foodshed Report. On Monday, March 18th, host Robin Carpenter brought together three of the “friends” who were part of an Amicus or Friends of the Court brief submitted in support of the Drake’s Bay Oyster Farm on March 13th. The “Three Amigos” on the show are Patricia Unterman, owner of the Hayes Street Grill and a pioneer of the sustainable seafood movement in restaurants, Nancy McDonough, General Counsel, California Farm Bureau Federation and Jeff Creque an Agroecologist who is on the board of the Alliance for Local and Sustainable Agriculture of Marin County (ALSA). This diverse group talked in an exciting and fresh new way about the crucial role Drake’s Bay Oyster Company plays both locally and beyond. It is clear that they came together because as stated in the brief, “There is no single voice that can speak for the “public interest” in keeping the Drakes Bay Oyster Farm open…” This show is well worth your time to hear some new perspectives.
Here’s a profile of Robin Carpenter
KWMR On-air Talent
Robin Carpenter
Host of: Farm and Foodshed Report
The Farm & Foodshed Report
The Farm & Foodshed Report is hosted by local writer and foodshed activist – “Hunt and Gather Girl” Robin Carpenter. Who said that Hunter Gatherers and Farmers can’t get along? Interviews with farmers, ranchers, fishermen, oystermen, chefs, artisan food makers, permaculturists, scientists, environmentalists, rabblerousers and advocates for a healthy, just and thriving food shed.
A foodshed is everything between where a food is produced and where a food is consumed – the land it grows on, the routes it travels, the markets it goes through, the tables it ends up gracing. The term was first used in the early 20th century to describe the global flow of food, the term has recently been resurrected to discuss local food systems and ways to create more sustainable and regenerative ways of producing and consuming food.
Robin Carpenter grew up in Ragg Swamp, Alabama where she learned the finer points of storytelling and food in a land rich with tall tales and well-marbled alligators. She’s now a writer and foodshed activist keeping an eye on the food chain from her home in West Marin. She’s a staff writer for Edible Marin and Wine Country and a correspondent for the Point Reyes Light. You can keep up with her adventures at www.huntandgathergirl.com.
Drakes Bay Oyster Company & the National Park Service. Watch the video, "THE FRAMING OF AN OYSTER FARM" at http://vimeo.com/52331881 