How the Cook and the Gardener Saved the World

The story of the Cook and Gardener Partnership is about a community coming together to find a place for all of its residents to contribute to the well being of the community.  We do that first and foremost by producing our own food.  The following ideas form the basis for the services that Pat offers to the homeowner clients of CGP. It begins with the thought that when we produce locally what we consume locally we create cells of sustainability. The shorter our supply lines the more resilient we become. More importantly, sustainable cells produce a healthier and more beautiful way of life. When we decide to grow our own food, we begin to reintegrate ourselves into nature's processes. Our western culture has been separating humans from nature for thousands of years. We tend to put each aspect of our lives into cubicles. We go downtown to the office. We expect agriculture to be off over the horizon. We “preserve” nature in special areas away from our work an...

A system of production that produces everything that it needs to operate has no cost.  A system that uses everything it produces has no waste. Integrated Closed Loop Production Systems   The Cook and the Gardener Partnership (CGP) is based on the concept of integrating processes and closing production loops.   We can imagine the development of the chicken operation as a path through that process in which one part of the operation is related to all other parts of the operations. In their economics class Pat and Chris learned the concept of vertical integration as a way to control the supply chain for their food truck sales.  Vertically integrating the chicken portion requires that CGP can: 1 - produce fertile eggs to be incubated, 2 - raise the chicks for four months until the young roosters can be processed, 3 - raise the young hens an additional two months until they start laying eggs, 4 - collect the eggs, 5 - process the hens e...