When Food Is Local, But Still Not Sustainable

Last night, like so many nights, I spent some of my very limited leisure time reading about native California plants on the Internet. I don't remember what tempted me to Google "native wild plum California," but there I was, and lo-and-behold there are 10 different species and subspecies of Prunus that grow wild in the Golden State (including our own desert almond). The mountains that hem in the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, home to the largest expanse of Class 1 (read: supremely fertile) soil in the world, are the southern most range of one such tree, the Klamath plum.

The fruit is edible, if not altogether delicious, but it's adapted to the ecology of the mountains, unlike the cultivated plum trees that are grown in the snowmelt-fed orchards on the valley below. Between the measured rows of plums below and their scattered, shrub-like cousins above is a space that describes the difference between agriculture and nature, showing in rather close quarters how something wild can be wrangled in order to dependably feed people. But even if you happen to live near those plum orchards — or the countless other farms that dot the valley — it's hard to argue that the food grown there is sustainable, even if it's local. Read more...

More about Environment, California, Sustainable, Farmer S Markets, and Local Food
When Food Is Local, But Still Not Sustainable