Back in the early fall, I had to the unique opportunity to follow Angela Roell, founder and operator of YardBirds Bees, into their active apiary. Surrounded by buzzing, swarming insects, I squirmed inside my protective suit and tried my best to keep the camera steady. Over two days of honey extraction and comb cutting, we…
Category: Features
The Mushroom Farm at Fungi Ally
Four years ago, Willie Crosby sat in his friend’s basement harvesting mushrooms from fruited sawdust logs. In a space that was only 8 x 16 feet, he could inoculate 200 logs per week with mushroom mycelium and bring them to harvest. Willie was a produce farmer but he was inspired to grow mushrooms after reading…
A cup of mushroom tea with Liat Racin, founder of Tamim Teas
A bite of ginger, a little nuttiness from the turmeric, and a deep earthiness. That must be the taste of the mushrooms… or maybe that’s still the turmeric. The hot cup of Lion’s Share mushroom tea steams, and makes the room smell of ginger. In Liat Racin’s kitchen in Somerville, the shelves are lined with…
The Vermont Non-GMO Cookbook: a Q&A with the author
New England-native Tracey Medeiros recently published The Vermont Non-GMO Cookbook, the pages of which are filled with recipes using seasonal produce and locally sourced goods. The Clean Food Club interviewed Tracey about her new book and her passion for the New England food system, and we talked about her love of Vermont maple syrup, the admiration she…
The Mobile Food Pantry Feeding Allston, Brighton and Mattapan
Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) is the largest anti-poverty organization in New England. They provide many different services to the community, including housing and youth services, fuel assistance, and workforce development. The ABCD Allston Brighton location focuses heavily on combating food insecurity, as the residents there are often in need. A few years ago,…
Inside the Discovery Portal
“All we knew when we got into this business was that people wanted a better option for food at their office. That’s what we knew. We didn’t exactly know how we were going to solve for that. We had a general idea, and that’s where the innovation of the LeanBox itself came out of, which…
OURgrain: a new food sustainability startup upcycles brewers’ spent grain
Tonight is all about product optimization. That’s what Sam Burgess, one of the co-founders of OURgrain, calls two hours of cooking in the incubator kitchen at Hope & Main in Warren, Rhode Island. According to the communal kitchen schedule, the four bakers only have two hours to get through five recipes. Half a dozen oatmeal…
The tart cherry boys who are changing your diet
A few weeks ago at Babson Food Day, I had the privilege of participating in the quick-serivce incubator for food entrepreneurs. Alfred Schofield, one of the entrepreneurs, presented Vital Fit Nutrition, a company that makes plant-based supplements. They launched with a tart cherry product that is an all-natural anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, and then they created a…
The Imminent Extinction of the Honey Bee
Honey bees are essential to the continuation of our diverse diets and physical welfare. According to the USDA, over one-third of the human diet, including fruits, legumes, and vegetables, come from insect-pollination, and of those foods approximately 80% is accomplished by honey bees alone. In addition, certain foods such as almonds can only be pollinated…
The Clean Food Club 