We compared hands, knees in my bed, unmade
Sweat and saliva,
Scent and taste-
this is how we will remember one another.
What else is permanent?
I’ve never told you what I wanted -
I’ve only whispered bits and pieces.
perhaps it’s in a pop song
would you listen if I played it for you
in the car, driving fast through nowhere
at night?
UNTITLED AS OF YET
Holocene was packed with a variety of people enjoying beverages and dishes prepared especially for the night using local ingredients.The local farmers, urban gardeners and members of the general public mingled as they awaited inFARMation to begin. The schedule for February 9 consisted of speakers presenting four new agriculture bills recently introduced to the house and soon to be voted on by Oregon legislators.
InFARMation (and Beers!) is a monthly information session held by Friends of Family Farmers. Kathy McQueeney, volunteer coordinator, calls the organization “a statewide non-profit that supports family-scale farmers and ranchers.” Another of FOFF’s goals is informing and involving the general public in issues that will ultimately affect what is on their plates.
For this reason, InFARMation is open to anyone interested in Oregon farming and sustainability. The monthly meetings are informal, and have been held at the popular Southeast Portland music venue, Holocene, since July 2010. InFARMation draws a varied crowd but the location, though not strategic, could attract some of the establishment’s young regulars.
One of the four bills, presented by Suzanne Briggs of, Collaboration, a sustainability consulting firm, is HB 2800. Better known as the Farm to Schools and School Garden bill, it would bring local food products to school cafeterias and offer economic and job growth in Oregon agriculture.
Farm to School and School Garden programs have been in the works since 2007. Three bills, HB 3307, HB 3476 and HB 3185 prepared the Oregon agricultural community to work with schools, created the initial farm to school program within the Oregon Department of Education and provided funding for Oregon garden education programs. The three bills passed unanimously as line items - not legal bills - in the Oregon Department of Agriculture and Oregon Department of Education’s budgets.
The ODA subsequently created a program coordinator position, and in 2008, the ODE, which oversees the Child Nutrition program, passed a supplement bill - 3601 A, which created a Farm to School coordinator position within the department.
Written in 2009, HB 2800 would further the progress of the program and form a stronger connection between schools and farms. Farm to School and School Garden programs would increase marketing opportunities for Oregon farmers and create as many as 477 jobs Oregon’s agricultural sector.
Pilot programs in 91 Portland and Gervais schools proved significantly beneficial to the Oregon economy. In a 14-week period, schools turned $66,000 - 7 cents per lunch - invested by Kaiser Permanente Community Fund at the Northwest Health foundation into over $225,000 in local spending. Ecotrust found that every dollar spent by the participating schools on local products, an additional 87 cents was spent in Oregon, which trickled down to nearly every sector of the Oregon economy.
Briggs makes a point that “we have almost 200 crops that are grown in this state and we aren’t contributing money to [putting] crops on school plates.” So why has HB2800 not been passed? Is Oregon opposed to helping local farmers and providing children with better food choices? No.
Unlike other agricultural bills, HB 2800 sees no opposition - economic woes are stalling its progress. Because Oregon does not contribute to its school lunch programs, additional funds are needed. HB 2800 would allocate $22,580,00 15 cents per lunch and 7 cents per breakfast for two years - of Oregon’s general fund for program costs. Money would be distributed through reimbursements to schools purchasing local products and grants for garden education programs. But, Oregon’s budget - like most states - is limited.
Briggs stresses the importance of the concept rather than the dollar amount. Though she does not see HB 2800 passing this session with its current provisions, she believes that it is possible in the future. Costs could be reduced if the program provided only for the most needy of Oregon’s school children - but this is not a hunger program. The goal of this bill is to provide economic opportunities to Oregon farmers and stimulate job creation in the agricultural sector. There is, of course, the important added benefit of offering Oregon’s children fresh, locally produced food products as a part of their school meals.
Standing in the DJ booth, Michele Knauss, Grassroots Organizer of FOFF, stated that “The whole reason we started InFARMation and beers! … was to really drive home the idea of the connection between food and farmers in Oregon.” After a quick count of “eaters” in the audience, she stressed that “as eaters, we are stakeholders in agricultural policy.” and that, because “the food comes with farms.” the policy should not be ignored, and more importantly, needs to be understood.
If passed, HB 2800 would strengthen Farm to School and School Garden programs and create a stronger connection between food and its sources. More importantly, HB 2800 would benefit small farms, the Oregon economy and eaters young and old - all goals of FOFF.
I admit that I do not understand
the word provincial, it comes to
me in Disney shapes and colors -
a blue-eyed fake-francophone
and a beautiful beast.
I want provence without the kitsch.
No expectations upon arrival and
just the language on my lips.
20 years later
We will paint the house white with a red door
and I will try to love you.
The steps to the porch will be cobblestone,
where cats will nap on hot and lazy afternoons in July.
It sounds like comfort, like Oxytocin.
The definition of winter, Pt. 1 and 2
I
I painted my toe
nails dark purple-red.
They peeked out of the
bath water and I
wondered why I had
done it in the middle of winter
when no one sees my
toes but me
II
It was only five
days. Five cold days, five
warm days. Not even
a week but nothing
lasts forever. I
will remember this,
please take note.
something about coffee
I am exploring bodies.
Of human beings, of water.
Because I am too busy watching
the way lips form around words,
I don’t know what the words are.
My mouth is empty. I fill it now with
color,laughter,mostly coffee. So
now, whatever tumbles out is
senseless and must be deciphered -
in vain.
I sip water from a small,
clear glass.
The glass is now poised on the
table under which my legs are
uncomfortably entwined together.
I peer through at that face:
distorted and further from me than
ever. A face I don’t know - a face
that I would like to know. Next time
I’ll take the whole ocean instead, and
I will remember to hold my breath.
I gulp the last gulp, return things to
my bag and walk past the counter,
holding my breath. Practice for the
Indian Ocean.
A dog bit my hand, last week -
a dog I had met before -
outside this place I’d never noticed
until I somehow noticed it. Now my
wallet is fat with receipts for
one-dollar and fifty cents, sometimes
two dollars.
Thank you.
