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Cover of People, Places, & Plants, Summer 2003
JERI WOODHOUSE is a person who, as the bumper sticker says, thinks globally and acts locally.
She traces her interest in agriculture to the late 1970s when she worked as director of Harry Chapin's anti-hunger organization WHY (World Hunger Year). While raising awareness about starvation in Ethiopia and elsewhere, Woodhouse learned much about sustainable, chemical-free agriculture.
Her involvement in global issues caused her to carefully examine her own backyard.
"Food was not just a problem somewhere else," said Woodhouse. "In my own country, there was hungry and poor people with little access to quality food."
Today, Woodhouse is making a difference locally on Long Island through her companies Edible Petals and The Taste of the North Fork, at the northeastern end of Long Island.
On an acre of earth shared with Joyce Holzapfel of Major's Pond Farm, Woodhouse raises her pansies, nasturiums, chives blossoms, old varieties of roses, and many other edible flowers and herbs. The NYS Organic Farming Association certifies the "farm" organic.
Woodhouse also grows edible flowers and tender annuals in a quarter-acre plot at her home. There, she and her part-time staff of three produce flower jams, jellies, flavored butters and other products in her NYS Agriculture and Markets-approved kitchen.
Through her specialty food store, A Taste of the North Fork, Woodhouse promotes locally grown, organic food products, such as strawberry preserves and Asian vinaigrette. She packages her products and those of other growers and sends them all over the United States.
A percentage of the profits are donated to local environmental protection programs, such as Cornell's Southold Project in Aquaculture Training that replenishes shellfish in depleted waters.
Offering locally grown, top-quality food is important to Woodhouse. So is growing food in a safe, sustainable way.
"In my own small way, I'm helping to preserve and protect farmland," she said.
And what could be better for a hungry world. -- Lyn Dobrin
JERI'S JUDGEMENTS
"Don't assume that if you see a flower on a plate, that it is edible. Find out where it came from. Don't pick and eat flowers from the side of the road, or eat flowers purchased from a garden center. They may have pesticides on them. When buying edible plants, make sure that the grower is organically certified. Be careful about what you serve; some people are allergic to certain plants."
More News
Newsday - The perfect jelly, September 2004
Distinction Magazine - Savor a Taste of the North Fork, Aug/Sept 2004
Times-Review Newspapers - Off the Beaten Path, Annual Report 2004
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