Carbon farming is exciting and it's now making the news

For some time now I've been reading, hearing about and practicing "carbon farming", which means farming in such a way as to take carbon out of the atmosphere and put it in the soil. This is also known as carbon sequestration. Burning fossil fuels does the opposite, taking carbon out of the soil and putting it, eventually, into the atmosphere. "Carbon farming" can, to some extent, mitigate the effects of climate change and of having too much carbon in the atmosphere. There is a lot of info on carbon sequestration and the exact mechanism at work if you're interested on Wikipedia and all over the web. I wanted to mention it here because I find it a positive and exciting direction to put effort into. I am also excited that at the Paris climate talks last month, the role of organic agriculture in mitigating climate change was recognized, and several countries pledged to increase organic matter in their soils by 0.4% per year, which is significant.

Without getting into too many details, I want to say that agriculture can be a problem or it can be a solution when it comes to carbon. It depends on how it's done. Conventional agriculture which relies heavily on tillage, carbon based fuels, and artificial fertilizers, and industrial farming methods with animals in feed lots, is a source of carbon emission and contributes to the problems associated with too much carbon in the atmosphere such as global warming. But other types of farming such as intensive rotational grazing for animals, or some kinds of organic farming, can help offset global warming by putting carbon back in the soil. So as a consumer, how do you know what to look for?
Here are a few points you may want to ask your farmer about:

• Are they usinge reduced tillage methods? Excessive tillage releases carbon from the soil into the atmosphere.
• Are they using cover crops or mulch? These practices also minimize carbon release. Cover cropping in particular helps to store carbon in the ground through photosynthesis.
• Are they using synthetic fertilizers, which contribute to climate change and degrade soil health? Organic fertilizers are much better options, including manures and cover crops.
• If the have animals, such as cows, are they practicing rotational grazing? Properly done, rotational grazing can be very powerful in improving soils and increasing organic matter with carbon taken out of the atmosphere.

Again, I want to emphasise that when it comes to carbon and climate change, farming can be either a problem or a solution, so it is very important that as a consumer you engage with your farmer in a friendly way, or with whoever is your source of food and find out what kind of practices you're supporting with your dollars. Encouraging more environmentally friendly farming methods is something we can all do because we all must eat and that food is produced somehow. But how? is the question.
Peace

Winter Solstice

Darkest time of the year. Time of returning light. A beautiful time. Light within dark and dark within light.

Tomorrow is Sena's 12th birthday. I found some favorite pictures of her snuggled up against me on our bike trip in Europe. That was in 2004 - she was only 8 months old. Ed, Sena and I flew to Amsterdam and biked from there to Germany to visit my family, and then took the train to Romania on a 5 week trip. While we biked, some 500 km, Sena snuggled up against my back, looking out over my shoulder, interested in the countryside rolling by, or, most often, slept as in this picture.

Amsterdam

Netherlands

Budapest, Hungary

Essen, Germany at my aunt and uncle's house

Germany, countryside

Now my little girl is turning 12; she's almost as tall as I am, and wearing the same shoe size. As everyone warned us, time really did fly, and I am so glad that I was there every moment. My mom had told me before I had kids that there are few things as fulfilling as being with your children, watching them turn into the people they eventually become. She was right.
Peace

Sena got the sword

Sena and Aiyana got their black belts in karate recently. In addition, Sena got the sword in recognition of her hard work and focus. Getting the sword is quite an honor. In the past 10 years only 3 other people got it. Sena is very happy with how things turned out. She definitely worked hard and went far beyond what was required in order to get her black belt. I hope that she maintains that kind of focus in whatever she chooses to do in life.
Aiyana put a lot of effort into training for the black belt as well, but it's hard when you're up against big sis. In any case, Sena came up with the idea of making a sword for Aiyana to recognize her efforts as well. So she and Ed made her a beautiful mahogany sword, which Aiyana was not sure what to think of at first, but eventually ended up liking a lot.
Here is Sena striking some poses in the field.

Peace

Cozonac-like, GF

In Romania we have this bread-ish, cake-ish thing called cozonac, which we usually eat at holidays such as Christmas and Easter. The type I like is not overly sweet,and it has nuts and dried fruits in it. Being that it's getting close to Christmas, I started thinking about this bread quite a lot, but the problem is that we are gluten free now, and the Romanian version has wheat in it. So I came up with a gluten free version one night when I was lying in bed dreaming about it. I used a flour blend which I made myself from rice, tapioca, corn, buckwheat and teff. I also used dried cranberries, currants, as well as chopped almonds. And for an extra special touch I used dried orange peel. All in all it came pretty close to what I was dreaming of. The girls love it too and they have taken over the recipe now and are making it regularly.
So in the picture above you can see my breakfast of GF cozonac with my home made cheddar and some coffee with warm milk from Jasmine and Opal.
I am looking forward to sharing this bread with my family when the girls and I visit them in Montreal at Christmas. We'll see how they think it compares to the real thing .
Peace

A sunny, late fall afternoon walk

The fields are ready for winter, and look beautiful even in their starkness.

 

 

Peace

Farm girl practices karate