Dear Friends and Fellow Gardeners,

Welcome to the beginning of a new era, a new age for the World and a new life for me as I retire on January 13, 1999. I will continue to teach part time at Woodland Community College, work in the garden, and on the old house. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to visit with many of you in the months to come.

A question for the new Millennium. Why is it that, in this age of incredible volumes of information and new technology, we consistently fail to recognize the continuing loss of our most precious resource: the soil that grows our food? Less than one percent of the earth’s surface is soil capable of supporting plant growth for food. It takes about 500 years for the natural processes of the earth to make one inch of top soil, and yet, we squander it as if it were in endless supply. We live in a California valley blessed with some of the richest soil in the world. Because it is all around us, we take it for granted.

But of course reality is much more complicated. Some would say the loss of our agricultural land is because of greed, pure and simple. Profits are made by developers of residential, commercial, and industrial properties. Contractors would say that housing is more important than farming, and that they are creating jobs and providing homes for the ever growing population. Others would say that population is the problem, and that there are just too many people.

Many young people raised on farms find other occupations. As their parents age and opt for a less demanding lifestyle, they sell the farm. It is an unfortunate fact that economics forces many farmers to sell because the land is worth more as a subdivision than it is as a farm. All of this is very sad and forebodes an ill future.

There are alternatives to our present course. Cities must in-fill vacant spots within present boundaries. Much more must be done to create attractive multiple housing. Soil survey results must be included in every new office, business and industry planning document. Farmers must be regarded with respect and be able to secure a decent living from their work. We must collectively support every effort to improve the lives of farmers, even if it means more stringent laws to protect the land that grows our food.

Our biggest challenge is to make our cities livable and lovable and stop urban sprawl. I believe we have no right to cause future generations to struggle to produce food because in our glorious development of society, we covered the soil.

By ANITA YOUNG

While shopping for an Italian cookbook for a Christmas gift, I revisited Frances Mayes’s charming travel/cookbook, Under the Tuscan Sun. As Mayes explores her new part-time home in Tuscany she describes in luscious detail the traditional foods of the region. "Winter food makes me understand Tuscan cooking at a deeper level. French cooking, my first love, seems light years away: the evolution of a bourgeois tradition as opposed to the evolution of a peasant tradition. A local cookbook talks about la cusina povera, the poor kitchen, as the source of the now-abundant Tuscan cuisine."

January seems like a good time to cook frugally: the excesses of Christmas and New Year’s make simple fare welcome, and the bills arriving after holiday spending can make la cucina povera a necessity. One of my family’s favorite winter meals is Minestrone (literally "big soup") and hearty bread. It’s one of those recipes that changes with the ingredients on hand, but is based on a flavorful broth, beans and vegetables. The number served depends on how hungry you are; plan to make extra because it tastes even better the next day.

Minestrone to chase away the winter blues

2 quarts rich broth--make your own chicken, beef or vegetable stock
2 cups kidney beans--rinse and drain if using canned
2 cups garbanzo beans--rinse and drain if using canned

Fresh chopped vegetables: onion, carrots, celery, potato, other root vegetables, cabbage. Some cooks like to sauté the vegetables in olive oil before adding to the broth

2 - 4 cups chopped tomatoes--canned is fine
A handful of sun-dried tomatoes to intensify the flavor
Basil, oregano, parsley and/or bay leaf
salt & pepper to taste
1 cup green beans
1 - 2 cups zucchini or other summer squash
8 oz. dried pasta --a firm, dense pasta like shells, bowtie or penne

Simmer the kidney and garbanzo beans, chopped vegetables, tomatoes and seasonings in broth until vegetables are tender, about 45 minutes. Fifteen minutes before serving add green beans, squash and pasta. Add more broth or water during cooking, if necessary, to just cover pasta. Return to simmer and cook until the pasta is al dente. Serve steaming hot with good bread. Focaccia, Italian or French breads are flavorful choices.

By BOB MEYER

8 ounces veggie sausages, sliced or crumbled
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
2 TBS margarine
1.5 cups broccoli florets
2 carrots, diced
1 can vegetable broth or 2 vegetable bullion cubes + 2 cups water
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
9 ounces cheese tortellini
1 tsp. pepper
half tsp. dried basil
half tsp. dried thyme
1.5 qt milk
one third cup grated romano cheese

Sauté onion, garlic, and mushrooms with sausage until tender. In a separate pan (at least 3 qts.), cook the broccoli and carrots in broth until tender. Stir in the sausage mixture. Add the soup, tortellini and spices; heat through. Stir in the milk and romano cheese; heat through. Serve.

Bean Pie

By MYRTLE OSNER

When we think of the Nature Conservancy, most of us think of their work to save wild places around the world. And, indeed, that is one of the things they do best. By putting to work the money of a wealth of donors, some of the most threatened places in the world are slowly being bought and saved from destruction. Among them are portions of rainforests. Wildlife habitat links across North America provide corridor continuity that wildlife travel. On a trip to Costa Rica we heard of the attempts to do this linkage there to preserve the corridors traveled by endangered wildlife. The preservation of rare ecosystems is the goal.

It may surprise you to learn that in California, alliances are being forged between environmentalists and farmers resulting in several Nature Conservancy successes.

One of the most successful is the Cosumnes River Conservancy, managed by Mike Eaton. After the recent floods, he was able to convince farmers around the Cosumnes to cooperate with the Conservancy. The Cosumnes is one of the last undammed rivers in California, and flooding is a constant danger to farms. Instead of rebuilding the damaged levees, some farmers have now agreed to breach the levees, and allow winter flooding of their rice fields. Since rice is not planted until well after the flood period the river will be allowed to spread out and bring its nutrients and extra water to the land in the winter. At the same time, wildlife will be benefited. The Consumnes is on the Pacific Flyway, and is visited by legions of water birds during the winter. A nice visitor center has been built and is open for viewing. Just a few miles from I-5, you can see a bit of California returning to what it was like a century and more ago.

Another project of the Nature Conservancy was written up by the San Francisco Chronicle recently. The Denny ranch is foothill land along Mill Creek in Tehama County. You may know this as "Ishi Country", since it was up there that Ishi, the last of his indigenous tribe, came out of the foothills around Mill Creek in the early days of California. (see "Ishi in Two Worlds" by Theodora and Alfred Kroeber). The Denny ranch is part of the larger Lassen Foothills Project, which hopes to preserve 830,000 acres stretching from Mount Lassen to the Sacramento River. Under a conservation easement, the owners receive a payment for their development rights. The rancher continues cattle ranching as in the past, except that there are strict controls so that wildlife can continue to roam the hills. The area is large enough to preserve an ecosystem and harbor a great deal of wildlife. On its surface are some of the last remaining vernal pools in California. It will be permanently preserved by the bequest of the owner.

Other portions of the Lassen Foothills Project are managed by state and federal agencies. The goal of the project is to link ecosystems, to preserve one of the largest unbroken expanses of wildland in California.

To me it seems remarkable that such a project can be done and still preserve a ranching way of life. Instead of allowing the foothills to be cut up into housing developments on a uniquely important piece of land, The Nature Conservancy and others are working to preserve what is really a small but important part of our heritage.

Nature Conservancy is a national organization headquartered at 4254 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 100, Arlington, Va 22203.

By MYRTLE OSNER

A few weeks ago, American Farmland Trust opened an office in Stanislaus County. Being one of those people who worry about what we will eat when all the farmland has gone to cities, I thought it would be worthwhile to visit AFT and find out what they do.

American Farmland Trust believes that farmland is our most precious asset. Farming connects our communities and promotes economic stability. Well-managed farmland protects our soil and water quality and maintains wildlife habitat. Agriculture provides millions of jobs both on the land and in secondary industries linked to it. AFT started in the seventies when California began to build houses in the Santa Clara valley. The roots of Marin county’s farmland protection can be traced to Ralph Grossi, a farmer there who was concerned that Bay Area residential pressure might spoil the rural areas of Marin County. He was farming there at the time, and is now the president of American Farmland Trust, a national organization.

One of the tools being used to save farmland from development is the Legacy program, whereby retiring farmers who have no heirs but can no longer farm put their land in trust in perpetuity, permanently protected from development. It is then placed in the hands of a young family committed to agriculture as a way of life. The land is protected by a conservation easement.

A number of tools are available from Farmland Trust, including an extensive research arm available to members. One of its publications is "Farming on the Edge," which details how farmers close to cities can take steps to continue farming instead of selling out. Working with the state legislature to implement California’s Agricultural Land Stewardship Program, AFT succeeded in getting $13.7 million in the state budget. There are programs going on in a number of states right now.

Urban sprawl is needlessly destroying our agricultural base. Nearly a million acres of farmland are lost each year to suburban sprawl. The contention of many developers that farmers can go elsewhere to farm is not borne out by the facts. As farmers are pushed onto less productive soil, farming becomes a marginal enterprise, as well as contributing to soil erosion and endangering water supplies on. Sustainable farming, integrated pest management, and development of direct farmers’ markets are more AFT success stories. While a number of other organizations are working on these items as well, AFT has been the country leader.

AFT has offices in Davis and Visalia. The new one in Modesto will join these two in working to keep farms throughout the Great Central Valley. Its executive is Greg Clark, a Modestan whose office is at 1207 l3th St., Suite 5, Modesto 95354, Telephone 523-3276.

By BOB MEYER

During the 1900s, great strides were achieved in technology, sanitation and health. Our environment has suffered from these achievements, and the effects will be felt well into the next century. We will be required to modify our behavior if we want Earth to remain livable. New year/century resolutions should be based on the Four Laws of Sustainability:

1. Ecosystems dispose of wastes and replenish nutrients by recycling all elements.

2. Ecosystems use sunlight as their primary source of energy.

3. Population sizes are maintained such that overgrazing and other forms of overuse do not occur.

4. Biodiversity is maintained.

Resolutions based on these laws: