Wausau native pens book, promotes sustainable food practices
Wausau Daily Herald
Keith Uhlig
Many people become immersed in the organic food movement because they are interested in nutrition, health and diet.
Wausau native Temra Costa came to it from an environmental angle. Growing up mostly in the town of Stettin, the 1997 graduate of Wausau West High School appreciated the rolling hills and open fields of the area. But she didn’t make a connection between the land and food, or even give much thought to it.
“I didn’t grow up on a local organic diet, minus wild game,” said Costa, 31, now of Oakland, Calif. “My great-grandparents had a dairy farm, but that had a minor impact on me. … I’m two generations removed from the farm.”
Her passion for the environment solidified when she attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and her leaning toward organic food production came when she made the link between the earth and farming.
That, in turn, has led Costa to where she is today: the author of “Farmer Jane: Women Changing the Way We Eat,” a critically acclaimed book about influential female organic farmers. She also works to bring organic food and gardening to inner-city Oakland neighborhoods.
“I was in Madison, and I was getting involved in political activism,” Costa said.
Her advocacy for environmentalism naturally led to agriculture. “Food impacts community, soil, air, water,” she said.
After she graduated from UW-Madison with a degree in international agriculture and a minor in women’s studies, she took a job with a nonprofit called Community Alliance with Family Farmers and worked to rebuild the California agricultural system. She focused on supporting family farmers and sustainable-growing practices. To help family farms, she turned to the cities, because that’s where the majority of consumers are, and to help bolster demand for organic farming, she promoted “buy fresh/buy local” efforts.
While doing all this, she noticed that major players — farmers, educators, advocates, chefs — in the organic food movement were women. There’s a book there, she thought, and “Farmer Jane” was the end result.
It came out earlier this year and now is being sold in bookstores across the country, including Barnes and Noble in Rib Mountain and Janke Book Store in Wausau.
Jane Black, a food writer for the Washington Post, called Costa a “compelling writer” and the book “a good introduction” into the world of sustainable agriculture.
The book features profiles of well-known women in the organic food movement, and ends each chapter with “recipes for action,” ways that people can join the movement.
Costa certainly talks the talk — she’s a co-host on a radio talk show that focuses on sustainable food practices — and she walks the walk.
She has left the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, and now travels to promote her book and works as a sustainable food and farming consultant. One of her projects involves supporting efforts to bring organic food and gardening options to inner-city Oakland.
Lots of people in urban areas don’t have adequate access to fresh foods, and organic food can help them lead better lives, Costa argues. And by upping demand for organic food raised in a way that bolsters the environment, we all win. That’s the notion that drives her forward.
