#1a: Film Series: Program Questions in Scenes
Week 1
For week 1 I have chosen minutes 12:00-14:52 in the film Gather, which I have titled “new beginning”. This scene shows Chef Nephi Craig explaining the plans for a restaurant that serves Native foods grown by Apache farmers. This scene tells how Native people have been denied access to foods, especially healthy foods, but how they are now starting to build back up to food sovereignty. This scene answers the course question: Where and how do people raise the foods we are highlighting? The scene answers this question by providing an example of a sustainable farm on Apache land and how they are using that farm to help their community.
Week 2
For week two I have chosen minutes 28:50-29:55 from the film The Wine Wars, which I have titled “Advantages?”. In this scene they talk about how much tighter the rules for growing grapes are in France vs everywhere else in the world. France has restrictions on land they can use, irrigation, and how they can produce the wine. While other countries are much more free to do what they want. I think this scene shows how France, a country that values quality of wine over quantity, can be outcompeted by countries that value quantity over quality. This scene answers the course questions: Where and how do people raise the foods we are highlighting? What factors influence the quality of these foods, especially their flavor? By giving different examples of where wine is coming from and the differences in quality that brings.
#1b: (un)Natural Histories
These past few weeks we have been learning how to use Hypothesis.is to annotate and comment on articles. This tool has been very helpful in understanding the articles we have been reading and seeing how my classmates have interpreted these articles.
#1c: Regenerative Agriculture
Below is our wine natural history assignment which has information on climate, soils, and other conditions for growing grapes.
Soil and Climate
Define site slope: vineyard layout where grape plants are planted on a hill.
Define site aspect: What way you face a slope for maximum production
Define Macroclimate: the climate of a large geographical area
Define Mesoclimate: The local climate for a small area. Define Microclimate: climate of a small area that is often different from climates around the area.
Describe what growing degree days measure, how they are measured, and give an example of the GDD for a specific AVA. GDD measures heat accumulation. They are measured by subtracting 50 degrees from the average daily temperature. If the average temperature of an area was 60 degrees, the GDD would be 10.
Soil
Define soil texture: percent of sand, clay, and silt in a soil.
Define soil structure: the solid parts of soil and the pore space in soil make up the structure.
Define soil aggregate: A clump of soil that is naturally held together.
Define (in relation to soil structure) macroporosity and microporosity: Macroporosity is a soil that has a lot of pore space, meaning water and air easily travel through the soil. Microporosity is a soil with very little pore space, meaning water and air have a harder time traveling through the soil.
Growing Grapevines/grapes
Why is it recommended to prepare a vineyard site (soil prep, trellis) before planting vines? It is recommended to prepare the vineyard site beforehand so that you can make the soil conditions ideal for grapes so they can start off healthy.
Why is it recommended to grow grafted Vitis vinifera vines? It is recommended to grow these grafted vines because this variety has more of a tolerance to high soil ph and grafted plants have higher production.
When planting a vineyard, what climate and soil factors can impact what vine spacing to use? Plant spacing should be changed based on the temperature in the area in order to take advantage of the amount of heat available.
How can selection of trellis and pruning systems affect the microclimate around growing grape clusters (in general terms, you don’t need a long explanation)? Trellising and pruning both affect how much of a canopy there is from the plants. A larger canopy results in more shade and a cooler microclimate, while a smaller canopy results in more sun and a warmer microclimate.
List reasons used to explain why grapevines should be pruned every year. Grapevines need to be pruned because; without pruning they would grow out of the trellis, pruning allows you to control where the vines grow, pruning encourages growth.
Winemaking
Briefly explain why winemakers care about the temperature of fermenting grapes and how this may be controlled. The wine needs to be at the optimal temperature for the yeast to ferment, temperature can also affect flavor.
Briefly discuss how wine is stored to maintain quality, what are optimal conditions? Wine needs to be stored at the optimal temperature(55 degrees F) in order to maintain quality
#1d: Case Study Tasting Research: Wine With Luke Bradford, COR Cellars, Lyle WA
We got to listen to an interview with Luke Bradford from COR Cellars where he talked about his background in the industry and how he successfully runs a Winery.
1) Luke’s Story (1-13 min): Take notes as you listen such that you are able to use your notes to re-tell Luke’s story from Evergreen student to owner/founder of COR Cellars. Include your detailed notes here making sure to include information about how various but specific places, passions, tastes, and languages shaped Luke’s education and business decisions.
Evergreen brought him to WA and introduced him to his passion for wine. He worked at different farms and winery’s all over the place and furthered his passion. Then he started his own Winery in a growing area for winery’s.
2) COR Wines and Luke’s Wine Tasting Recommendation (58-92 min): Type your response to each of the following prompts based on Luke’s talk.
a. Why did Luke choose the name “COR Cellars”? Be sure to include at least 3 ways that for Luke “COR” evokes a sense of place.
COR is the latin word for heart. A latin quote about how good wine pleases the heart. COR also represents the core of all of the volcanoes in the area.
b. Why does COR have two labels? Which AVA corresponds with which label?
The lables represent where the wines come from.
c. What are at least 4 recommendations Luke makes for a wine tasting at COR?
Making a reservation, be on time, come ready to try different things and ask questions, don’t wear a strong perfume.
#1e: Stuckey’s Taste Book Experiments
We did a tasting lab from the book Taste by Barb Stuckey. I have attached the write up from that lab below.
#1f: Sustainable Entrepreneurship
We have been Reading The Fate of Food by Amanda Little. Here are some quotes that stood out to me:
“I learned that the food-growing efforts of individual producers have been riddled with hardships and impracticalities since, well, the beginning of human civilization.”
AMANDA LITTLE “THE FATE OF FOOD”
“The invention of hybrid seeds combined with the arrival of chemical pesticides and fertilizers brought on the paradigm shift known as the Green Revolution”
AMANDA LITTLE “THE FATE OF FOOD”
“Sustainable food advocated have scrupulously examined the flaws in our food system, but the large-scale solutions they’ve explored, if they’ve explored them at all, are relevant mostly to people who have the time, income, and creativity to cook from CSA, and the cultural reference to know what one is”
Amanda Little “The Fate of Food”
#1h: Foodoir: Your Story of Tasting Place
This Quarter I have chosen to read “Farming While Black” by Leah Penniman. In the first parts of this book Penniman describes her unlikely path to farming and feeling like she did not belong in the organic agriculture community because how white dominated of a field it is. She discusses how Black farmers have been farming for centuries and have made many of the key developments in organic agriculture. She then discusses starting Soul Fire farm, a CSA bases farm that provides food to those with little access to local organic produce. I have attached some of my favorite quotes from the book so far below.
“We agreed with the position of Malcolm X in his “Message to the Grass Roots”, a speech he delivered in 1963. “Revolution is based on land,” he said. “Land is the basis of all independence. Land is the basis of freedom, justice, and equality.”
Leah Penniman Farming While black
“In 1910, at the height of Black landownership, 16 million acres of farmland-14 percent of the total-was owned and cultivated by black families. Now less than one percent of farms are Black owned.”
Leah Penniman Farming While Black
#1i: Bibliography:
Rawal, Sanjay. 2020. “Gather.” USA: First Nations Development Institute
“The Wine Wars.” Films On Demand, Films Media Group, 2003, fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=107687&xtid=36438. Accessed 21 Jan. 2021.
Little, Amanda. Fate of Food: What We’ll Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter World. Harmony Crown, 2021.
Penniman, Leah, and Karen Washington. Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land. Chelsea Green Publishing, 2018.
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