Local Eating Begins... at home (written Thursday - photos)

OK, so local eating obviously begins in the area but we're finding that it actually begins... in the fridge. We have been working our way through the perishable items in the refrigerator and freezer but our meals have still mostly been 90% local. We will probably add on a week or two at the end of our project next year to make it a solid year. Think about what you have in your pantry, fridge, and freezer and then take the next week to work your way through the oldest stuff - trust me, it will feel great!

In addition to the non-local items, we have been enjoying lots of local meals and ingredients: salads, deep green sauces and dressings, grilled sirloin and goat loin (Kevin did an awesome job preparing this!), and desserts of local berries and homemade goat's milk ice cream. We really have plenty to eat and lots of variety so far.

The results from our poll are in and the perishable food is gone from our pantry. Fifty-seven percent of you voted to donate the non-local food (although strangely the poll program registered 42% for keeping it... where is the extra 1% to make 100?) We gave some of the food to a friend (she wouldn't let me give it to her, she actually gave me grocery money for it!) and the remaining items will be donated.

I think this was good, as it would have persisted for quite some time if we'd tried to eat through it. This was actually a rather cleansing experience. I like having a well-stocked pantry, having staple ingredients at the ready for whatever I might like to make, but emptying those shelves and starting over felt pretty good. I think this was mostly due to the fact that I was feeling like we just weren't really getting started if we went through it all. There are still a few non-local and non-exception items on the bottom.


So, the pantry is emptier, as are the fridge and freezer, and we are continuing to look for local foods. I say the pantry is emptier and it is... and it isn't. I've been stocking up on local items for my on-hand supplies. I have no concerns about finding sufficient foodstuffs during the growing season. My greatest concern is making it through the winter and early spring months without a ready source of fresh food. So, I've been on the lookout for things I can put up myself or purchase in the approriate state.

A month ago I was elated to find Marjorie at the Edgebrook Farmers' Market with peanut butter jars full of dried beans... a great source of winter nutrients! And grown just west of here in Stephenson County! Hurray!

That first day I bought all she had. She and her booth partner were also kind enough to talk to us about dried legumes and to let Neva try her hand and shelling some. The following week I returned and when I was still a few feet away from her table Marjorie says, "It's my bean-buyer!" That's me, the bean buyer... I've bought all the beans she's had left every week. But I'm happy to be the "bean-buyer" and keep my pantry stocked for winter. I've also added a jar of beets from a friend (from last year but I've been saving them), and a jar of dill pickles from another new friend. There are a few non-local items lingering in the bottom of the pantry in this photo but we're getting there!

Day One (photos)

We greeted the day with a breakfast of fresh bread (done overnight in the bread maker) slathered with honey. Then the kids and I headed out to Angelic Organics to pick up our goat milk share and a dozen eggs and to get our first vegetable box.

Here's what was in the box! Lots of tasty things. I did grab one extra choi and a few garlic scapes from the box of extras/trades. We were excited to see the zucchini, too, not realy expecting to see any fruiting crops for a few more weeks (longer than that in our own garden!).

Well, I'd say our local eating today gets mixed reviews. We called it our official start day, which it was, but I couldn't stand to waste the perishable items and leftovers that persisted in our fridge so we did incorporate a few non-local items.

Breakfast was local (except for my coffee, which is allowed as an exception and the milk from Oberweis Dairy, which was the remaining half-gallon in the fridge). Kai had my own applesauce, canned last year from local apples (with canning lessons from my friend!) although I did mix in organic baby cereal. OK, not perfect but not a bad start.

Lunch... well lunch... Yesterday Neva and I had made homemade chapatis to go with our chicken and asparagus masala for dinner. At least the asparagus was local. There were two chapatis left and we each had one. There was also a yellow bell pepper, obviously not local, that was almost past it's prime. Kai even had some of that one in his fresh food feeder (a mesh bag that allows him to suck the dickens out of any whole food we put in there). I did eat my leftover spinach salad with green onions, garlic scapes, radish greens, and choi (all local) but I also fed Kai some green beans and brown rice which I had made up a month ago (I freeze the baby food I make in ice cube trays). Kevin, well, I need to work on him to get into the habit of packing a lunch... he had nothing.

For a snack, Neva had some of the dried fruit we had purchased a week earlier (I think dried fruit may be her one exception but we haven't discussed it yet).

Dinner was entirely local with one exception. We enjoyed copious amounts of steamed local, organic broccoli and lovely salads of red lettuce and chopped garlic scapes topped with my homemade Rosemary Ricotta (made from goat's milk) and... tomatoes. Aye, there's the rub.

I had purchased six tomatoes last week, thinking surely we'd eat them before Thursday... well, we didn't and I didn't feel like snacking on tomato salad last night so I used some of them today. We also used oil and vinegar on the salads which fall into our exceptions category.

We did celebrate our first day by opening a bottle of Domaine du Sac from the Wollersheim Winery in Wisconsin. They produce a number of types of wine but they only have a few for which they actually grow the grapes at their vineyard in Prairie du Sacm Wisconsin, this happens to be one made from locally-grown grapes (and a nice table wine, I might add!). We bought this bottle when we toured the winery three year ago while celebrating our wedding anniversary in November.

Here was our first dinner:

Tomorrow I'm thinking about a breakfast of eggs scrambled with chard and allums (onions and garlic scapes) and for dinner we'll try the loin of goat I purchased from Open Range Products in Pecatonica (and processed at Eichmans in Seward) with whole wheat rolls and salad and fresh strawberries from a farm near the Wisconsin boarder (from Edgebrook Farmers' Market) for dessert.

Between the veggies I got at the farmers' market, those I got from my friends, and those I picked up from the farm, not to mention more of the food still sitting in our fridge, we will be comfortable this weekend. Next Tuesday we'll get our first box from Pine Row Farm and the Tomorrow's Harvest cooperative of four local organic growers. I was nervous about having enough produce so we joined another local CSA. I'm looking forward to seeing what they produce (and picking up some of their eggs too!) on Tuesday morning.

Just to let you know, my intention is really to post just once or twice per week so check back next week for more updates. Have a great weekend!

Early/Mid- June – Ramping Up

I have been haunting the area farmers’ markets for over a month now, trying to acquaint myself with the farmers and their wares. I’ve been buying what I can there and have happily seen the addition of new items each week. Of course, you have to be careful and ask the right questions because I can tell that a number of the farmers have merely purchased for resale the items on their tables (sorry, without a greenhouse you aren’t harvesting tomatoes and cucumbers in late May).

I was excited to have put up the ten pounds of asparagus last week but I was even more pleased with my chicken experience the week before.

Until a year ago, I had never roasted a chicken. I love to cook and have a fair amount of experience but I had just never done that before (turkey and goose, yes, just not chicken). So, when I went to Open Range Products to collect the three chickens I had ordered directly from the farm, I wondered how it would work out for me. Kathy told me that free-range fowl should be cooked slow and long so I kept that in mind as I planned a meal for my family and my parents.

I roasted the chicken and served it with fresh asparagus, and choi salad. When we sat down to eat, Kevin asked if any of the meal was local. I was happy to announce that all but the wine and the onion and garlic I had roasted the chicken with was local. After the meal I needed to do something so the rest of the chicken wouldn’t go to waste.

I pulled the meat off the bone and stored that in the fridge for a future meal. I deglazed the roasting pan with red wine (non-local and a non-traditional choice for chicken, I know!) and saved the result for a gravy later in the week. I then cooked down the carcass and onion/garlic that it had roasted with in water to make broth. I chilled the broth in the fridge for a day and then I even skimmed the fat and froze it in small cubes (1/2 ice cubes) for later use for sautéing and such then I poured the broth into freezer containers and froze it. I was very pleased to think that I had use that bird as fully as I could think of. I even used some of the meat I pulled off for baby food for Kai (blended up, of course!).

So we’ve been ramping up slowly, having nearly local meals followed by not very local meals. We’ve now eaten out with friends for the last time for a year (Thai food) and have ordered our last pizza. In a few more days we will try our hardest to not bring any more non-local food into our house for year.

June 14 - Why don't I feel better?

A few weeks back I went to the Edgebrook Farmers’ Market for the first time this year. Even though it was mid-May and we weren’t starting our experiment until the middle of June, I wanted to start to get a feel for the lay of the land and start to explore our options. I was also planning to ramp up and start getting as much local food as possible, even before we began and I figured that by June, certain things would already be past their season so if I wanted to put things up in the freezer for winter, I’d have to start earlier.

There were only three vendors with foodstuffs and several more with flowers. It was early in the season so about all there was to be had was green onions, rhubarb, and asparagus. I stopped at the first table and bought several bunches of green onions for $1 each and two bunches of radishes for $1.25 each. He had asparagus for $2.25 a bunch (seemingly a pound each). I went to the next table with food and he had some lovely spinach for $1 a bag and an assortment of the same types of things as the first booth. He had bunches of asparagus for $2 a bunch. Well, I was thinking about trying to put some up to have in winter when I am sure we will be craving green so I asked him if he would cut a deal on a quantity of asparagus.

Well, he told me that by Wednesday he didn’t usually have much left as he harvested on Mondays and Thursdays but that on Fridays he is at the Colonial Village Market and would be willing to sell me quantities for $1.75 per pound; I should just look for Bill and his burgundy suburban. Great! I assumed he would prefer this because I could buy him out at the end of the week.

So, two days later I made my way to the Colonial Village Farmers’ Market. Now I had never been to this market because it’s a good drive from my house and there are two others in closer proximity but I was willing to do it if it meant I could get 20 or 40 pounds of asparagus. That morning a storm blew through early and but then I couldn’t go right for the start of the market because we were having some trees delivered that morning (beautiful redbud, bur oak, river birch, and swamp white oak from AckAck). I drove through a little rain on the way out but it stopped when I got within a few miles of the market. I arrived at 11:45 am, over an hour before scheduled closing time. When I rounded the corner and came in view of the market I found only two vendors, both selling plant material. No sign of the burgundy suburban to be found. I had wasted a 30 minute trip (each way) across town – there would be no asparagus to process this weekend. I assumed the vendors had decided it wasn’t worth their time as I imagine fewer customers come out on a rainy day.

The following week I decided to skip Edgebrook on Wednesday because I would instead go to Colonial Village to buy Bill out at weeks’ end and I had also ordered three chickens from Kathy at Open Range Products in Pecatonica (she has a booth at Edgebrook) and they were to be ready for pick-up on Friday at her farm so I would be driving out there. Friday dawned and Kai and I headed across town again. When we got there the market was full of vendors as it was, happily, a sunny day. I stopped first to buy some beautiful squash plants to add to my home garden and then went to see Bill. I inquired about his asparagus, reminding him of our conversation the week before, and he said, “You didn’t come last week.” I explained that I had and he said he had packed up early when the winds picked up and a tree fell down across the street. OK, so can I buy a large quantity of asparagus? Well, he said, he couldn’t sell me any for $1.75 because everything was going to a restaurant. Oh, well can I buy just a few then? Sure. I bought three bunches for $2 each. I asked if he would have larger quantities next week again and he said that the asparagus was almost done, that the weather would do it in and it would be going to seed.

I was disappointed because I had really planned to freeze and dry some, would he have any yet on Wednesday. Maybe a little, how much did I want? Up to 20 lbs. I don’t think I’ll have enough. So I asked him if I could call him closer to Wednesday to see if he would have any more to sell. He gave me his card and told me to call after dark since he spent his days in the garden.

On Monday I worked in my own garden until I couldn’t see well enough in the dark and went in and called him. He asked how much I wanted and I said 20 to 40 pounds. He told me that the asparagus was at it’s last so he would only have 5 pounds. OK, I said, I’ll take it on Wednesday. Should I come right at 9:00 am? He said I should try to be there by 10:00am.

Assuming that he was only going to hold the remaining asparagus unitl 10:00 am and then sell it to someone else, I was sure to get the kids together and out the door on Wednesday. Neva, Kai, and I got to Edgebrook and headed straight for Bill’s stall. When I got there he had a TON of asparagus! I was confused, thinking he had told me that he only had been able to harvest five pounds. So I went up and when it was my turn, his wife waited on me and I told her I was there for asparagus. She asked how much I wanted and I said I thought I might take it all (there were probably 20 pounds on the table and another 20 in a pile in the back of their vehicle). He overheard me and said, “Oh, you’re the lady who wanted a deal?” “Yes, I said, I’m the one who called.” “Well I have 175 pounds,” he said, rather snippily. “Oh,” I said, taken aback, “I only want 20 or 40 pounds then.” “You can only have five,” he replied.

I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to buy a quantity of asparagus, I assumed he wanted to sell his asparagus, and he would only let me buy five pounds? When I stammered that I had hoped to buy more he gave an exasperated reply, “I still have to go to market, I can’t sell it to you for that.” “Well, can I buy five pounds for $1.75 and another five pounds for $2?” “You want to do that?” “Sure.” So, I bought 10 pounds, which he bagged up into two bags from the loose stalks he had in the front of his vehicle. I also bought two quarts of strawberries ($4 each) and another bag of spinach ($1) for a grand total of $29. In the end, I paid $2 per pound for all of the asparagus but I didn’t argue because I was still feeling flustered.

It was only later, when reflecting on our exchange that I fully understood the problem. He could sell all of his asparagus for $2 per pound so why would he want to sell it to me for less, even if I was buying larger quantities? I had assumed he would like to get rid of what he had at the end of the week, even if selling if for 25 cents less. There was the root of our miscommunication.

When I processed the asparagus at home, I found that one bag contained asparagus that was past its prime, probably harvested the previous week. I had to cut all the heads off because they were mushy. At least, the larger of the two bags contained fresh vegetables. I steamed and froze that and dehydrated the rest in pieces for use in soups and sauces. I felt sad about the whole deal.

On Saturday (today), I visited the North Main Commons Market for the first time. Bill was there, of course, and as I made my way toward his stall I decided I should talk to him so he understood my end of the miscommunication. I had previously considered writing him a note to apologize and explain myself once I had figured out his side of things (but before I realized I had received old vegetables!). No customers were at his stall at that moment so I went up and explained what had happened and why I had misunderstood. I apologized, he confirmed for me that he didn’t want to sell any cheaper and showed me that he only had a few pounds left and that this was the end of the asparagus harvest. But basically, I felt he brushed me off and wanted me to move on. So I did. I may not patronize his stall again this summer.

But now I’m home again and I still don’t feel better. I had thought he would appreciate hearing that I wasn’t trying to take advantage of him but he really didn’t care.

What did I learn?

• I was reminded to check the quality of what a vendor bags for me. I often have done this in Europe, where even grocery store shopkeepers select the items and package it for you. I’m usually the person who tells them, specifically, which ones I want and which I don’t. I never opened the second bag that Bill handed me, just laid it into my shopping bag.
  
• I was reminded that my goal should not be to get a deal… if I wanted to do that I would go back to shopping at the supermarket where food is sadly under-priced and does not take into account the actual cost (to the farmer, our health, the environment, and the society it comes from) of any given item. I didn’t really need to save 25 cents per pound, I was just assuming that the whole world operated with a quantity discount. That was my mistake.

May - Guilt Factor

We were the subjects of an article in the local newspaper at the beginning of May and even though we don’t officially begin until the middle of June, I feel just a little guilty every time I go to the grocery store. I feel like I’m doing something I shouldn’t be.

I feel the same way when we’ve ordered pizza or picked up lunch or dinner during one of our busy days working in the garden. I figure we won’t be able to do that soon so I’m taking advantage of the fact that I can but I still feel a little ashamed… after all, this project is supposed to be about local eating and here we are eating “out” more than usual. I also feel a little bit like I want to gorge on things I will miss. It’s the proverbial feast before the famine, except I really don’t expect there to be a famine so it’s just a bonus feast.

Late May/Early June – Filling and planting beds (photos)

This blog is turning more into gardening notes but I’m trying to give the background of what we’ve done to prepare so far and then will start up with our day-to-day experiences (likely in weekly installments) once we’re in to our local year.

In late May, our wonderfully helpful neighbor came over with his Bobcat and helped transfer the seven or eight yards of topsoil from a pile in the front of the house to the raised beds in the back. He saved us time and back strain and we really appreciate it!

In the next few days I worked some organic chicken manure fertilizer into the beds and began planting the seedlings we had started at the beginning of the month as well as seeds from the other packets I had purchased.


By the Memorial Day I had planted carrots, radishes, bell peppers, bush beans, cucumbers, five kinds of potatoes, beets, red onions, white bunching onions, ruby swiss chard, black seeded simpson and bibb lettuce, and three types of tomatoes. By the end of May I had planted sweet corn, rhubarb, asparagus (purple and green), and horseradish roots (none of which will bear food this year). By the second weekend in June I had completely filled my available space by adding 24 cantaloupe and 19 watermelon seedlings (started a month earlier), garlic, popcorn, summer and winter squash, pie pumpkins, and broccoli, cabbage (three kinds), and 4 additional tomato plants from a friend (he started them all from seed.)

I couldn’t believe the change in things in just those first two weeks. I had never seen many of the seeds I planted. Sure, I’ve eaten beets and radishes but I had no idea what their seeds looked like. Nor had I even held a lettuce seed and beheld leaves on a sprouting potato – it was all new to me. But the growth was what I found amazing. Look at these photos of the radishes just a week after sowing and again, less than three weeks later, ready to harvest! Absolutely amazing.

I can tell that I will have some weeding challenges this year. I hope I nipped most of the velvet leaf early but I can see I will be pulling silver maple seedlings for some time to come. Just two trees were so prolific! I will also be fighting grass, as you can see, in the new planting areas we tilled. We didn’t have the time to wait a few weeks and till again, nor did we want to use herbicide so there will be grass coming up to compete with our veggies. Maybe next year I can work on a better solution.

Mid-May, 2008 – In search of flour

The kids and I were gone for a week in mid-May, joining my parents on the trip to Kansas to see my grandmothers and extended family. One grandmother had turned 80 in April and the other was turning 90 while we were there so we were headed to celebrate. I left my seedlings in Kevin’s care and set out to visit family and procure flour.

You see, the type of wheat that has sufficient gluten to rise for breads and baked goods is typically not grown in Illinois. I knew this, of course, having grown up with both sets of grandparents farming wheat in Kansas, but I keep hoping I would find someone who was having success with it here in Illinois.

Until I find that person, I need another plan as I feel that flour will be an important staple for us this year. Our project has not even started and I find myself invoking the Travel Clause. Anything we procure that comes from within 100 miles of a location we visit on our travels (somewhere we are going anyway) is fair game for us to return with and use. So I went to Kansas with a secondary motive… to find "local" flour.

My original expectation was to purchase a 50-pound bag of wheat from one of the grain elevators in either of my grandmothers’ towns. We have two small hand-operated mills that we received as wedding gifts and I just figured they would finally get put to constant use. However, my dad did an internet search for organic flour grown and produced in Kansas and found several producers and options, the easiest of which I must admit to taking.

Hudson Cream Flour is produced in Stafford County, Kansas from wheat grown by Stafford County farmers. Stafford County just happens to be about 75 miles due south of Luray, the town where my maternal grandmother lives. Perfect! What made it so easy, though, is that Hudson Cream Flour (whole wheat, unbleached, or bleached) is sold in Dillon’s stores throughout Kansas. On a routine trip to the grocery store I picked up 60 pounds (30 whole wheat, 30 unbleached white).

I returned home relieved to know that we would at least have bread but Kevin teases me for having cheated. I’m still searching for a producer in northern Illinois/southern Wisconsin (or even parts of easter Iowa!) who is growing the type of wheat I need but if I don’t find them, I have a back-up plan. I know I’ll return to Kansas within the year but, not wishing to incur Kevin’s teasing, I intend to ask my uncle to set aside a 50-lb bag when he harvests his field this June. Kevin says it’s less cheating if we grind our own (or have it ground at a local grist mill… more to come on that plan!). Does anyone know a farmer in my area who grows the right type of wheat?