Opening Day at the Market !

The Kalamazoo Farmers' Market sparkled yesterday, thanks to the efforts of our Market Master, Pat. Tables were freshly painted and new signs welcomed visitors. And Saturday was the perfect day to kick off the new season - sunny, breezy and a bit on the cool side.

Opening day was especially fun for me because I volunteered to work with Elizabeth (aka the Market Goddess) at the People's Food Co-op table. She "showed me the ropes" on running the cash register and keeping the table stocked. Her pitch to passers-by to"try a sample of our stinky cheese!" was so effective, we sold out of locally made Garlic 'n Onion Gouda by mid-morning. I made a quick trip to the Co-op store for another stash to meet demand.

It's a bit too early for local produce, and what was available didn't last long. The only grower to offer asparagus sold out by 9:30, and a few early market mavens will be enjoying micro-greens and salad fixings from Dennis and Genevive at Blue Dog Greens.

Here's Jeff from Hillside Heirlooms talking with a customer about one of many varieties of heirloom tomatoes he started from seeds. They will be wonderful later this season.

And here's Dave posing proudly next to his sign:

My 4 hour shift was over in a flash, and it was great to make some new acquaintances and connect with old friends. Fans of Locavore Nation and our EatLocalSWMich listserv stopped by the table to introduce themselves, and some showed off their local food finds. Over and over throughout the morning I heard the same thing as waves of market-goers flowed by: "isn't it great the market has finally opened!"

Yes, indeed.

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Omnivore's Dilemma

In early March, my husband and I attended a discussion of the "Omnivore's Dilemma" written by Michael Pollen. It was a very interesting, thought provoking discussion. Many of the issues that have been discussed in Locavore Nation blogs were brought up. But in retrospect, what was even more interesting was the fact that thirty or so people attended this discussion, and only a few of those had read the book. You can definitely interpret that to mean several things, but I am taking the liberty to interpret that to mean people are that interested in food issues that they are willing to take two hours out of their day to find out more about them.

Another item of interest was the ages of the people that attended ranged from college age to the late 70's. The age group most notably absent was my husband and my group.

One of the comments that stuck with me was made by someone who was a child during WWII. He said "where are the victory gardens?", and mentioned how when he was a child, you would could walk down the street and eat fruit. Yes, the fruit trees are gone, and have been replaced with grass and arborvitaes.

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May Day

We had a magical May Day celebration. The food was fantastic (pot luck). We made baguettes, foccaccia with onions and herbs, parlsey butter (garden parsley, wild garlic, butter from Georgia) and garden cilantro butter. Ashley made a beautiful butter cake with a meringue icing, all local except the sugar.

It was a very large circle of multiple aged kids around the May pole, from three to seventeen, plus a couple of moms. I think it might have been thirty people dancing around the May pole, wow.

We have been having some stress and deprivation issues but I do not have time to share them right now because I am off for day number two of the Beale Street Music Festival. You have not lived until you have chaperoned six teen and pre-teen girls in seven hours of pouring rain, ankle deep in mud to hear the utterly charming (groan) My Chemical Romance. The mosh pit is not as much fun when you go as the mom, I am now officially old.

Best Wishes, Vera

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Sized perfectly for local eating

We live in a 1.5 story craftsman bungalow. I am sure you have seen a house like it and enjoyed most of what you saw when you toured it. That is, until you walked into the kitchen. Our open floor space consists of a 5' x 7' piece of real estate. Beyond that we have a 2'X2' counter next to the sink and a 4'x2' counter adjacent to that. This is where we do all of our cooking/canning/cutting/etc. The kitchen used to really get me down and I never understood how anyone could truly produce masterpieces from this kitchen. There never seemed to be enough counter or cupboard space, not to mention enough room for more than one person to work in there at a time.

Suddenly, this all has changed. We have one pantry cupboard that has four shelves. These used to explode at you once the door was opened. Well, eliminating all non local food has allowed us an extra shelf for storing our appliance overflow. Since taking on the local food challenge we have also eliminated cupboard all together to add in a dishwasher. In addition to that, our tupperware cupboard is becoming bare as we eliminate all of our once precious hard plastic screw top storage containers for fear of BPA.

I know that people have mentioned the decrease in trash, which is certainly true, but I am freeing myself of all sorts of items! The kitchen now feels like it makes sense. What more do you need room for beyond a cutting board, knife and room to get to the stove top? I never thought I would feel this way.

Now on to making the bathroom seem larger...

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Sustainability

This week I received two interesting links. The first one is very pertinent to eating local, many of you may have already seen this YouTube video. It is about four people in California who is off the grid, food-wise and energy-wise in the city, on a city lot. It is amazing. They supply 90-95% of their own food during the summer, and sell some to restaurants to boot. In winter they are down to supplying 55% of their own food from their city lot-an amazing statistic. And right now we are having a hard time getting 60% local food when buying it. Yikes. Here is the link:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mCPEBM5ol0Q

The other link, I am guessing was traveling around cyberworld for Earth Day. I found it so enlightening though, that I wanted to share. Everyone that I know that has seen it, has found it really connects things. Though not directly related to food, it is about sustainability. Here it is:

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

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No Rooster Required

Chickens fascinate me. My first experience with them was on Lori's farm last December. Prior to that visit, I'd never touched a chicken, observed their behavior, or listened to them "talk" to each other - all activities I love to do now. Shortly thereafter, I started getting eggs from a small farm close to my daughter's school.

One January morning when I went to collect my dozen from the porch (and deposit $ in the little cup inside the cooler via the honor system), the male half of the farming partnership, CJ, happened to be out in the yard. He invited me into the fenced area where the chickens were out doing chicken things - talking, pecking at the ground and gathering around us (curiosity, friendliness, something else?). CJ and I were crouching as close to chicken level as humanly possible, as I observed "you don't have roosters here. Don't you need roosters to get eggs from the hens?"

His reply: "No. Hens release eggs periodically, just like you do ... whether your husband is around or not!"

Now that CJ has cleared up this misconception (sorry, couldn't resist the pun), I feel a little awkward sharing my story with a national audience. So, help me out ... is this news to anyone else out there?

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Funny moment

The other day my oldest came out to talk to me while I was working in the garden, she was very serious and upset looking......I braced myself and she said "I can tell our money problems have gotten a lot worse", I looked at her quizzically and asked what she meant. She said "well, I was looking through our fridge and pantry and freezer and noticed we have almost no food........I laughed and said "oh no, that is just because we are Locavores". Funny moment.

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Local business, local food?

The CSA season here has officially opened, with our first-ever Fair Shares pick-up!

When you buy a community-supported agriculture (CSA) share, as the grower's season goes, so goes your dinner table. We're experimenting with a combined CSA - several local growers and producers contribute, and low-produce weeks are balanced out somewhat with non-seasonal products. Members pay up-front; Fair Shares averages just over $50/wk. for 47 weeks.

Earlier, a typical week's delivery was projected to be something like this: 1 lb. meat - beef, lamb, pork, buffalo, chicken, trout - (av. $8); 7 lbs. seasonal produce plus 1 bunch herbs and a melon (av. $22); 1 pkg. cheese or butter (av. $5); a dozen eggs (3 of 5 weeks, av $3.75); 1 pkg. of local bread or pasta (av. $4), and assorted other goodies -- locally roasted coffee, mushrooms, preserves, etc. (av. $8). In theory, that would almost feed the two of us for a week, although buying at farmers' markets, we'd redirect some of that dairy money to protein or more produce.

Week one brought the following:

1# farm-raised trout
15-oz. pkg. of clean, perfect dried black beans
12 white flour tortillas, small
I pint jar of homemade salsa
10 oz. block of green-onion flavored Jersey cheddar cheese
1 doz. brown eggs
12 oz. green lettuce
6.5 oz. fresh shittake and oyster mushrooms
1 lb. Fair Trade Guatemalan med. roast coffee beans

Some items were labeled with the name of the grower or producer, ingredients and/or nutritional info; others weren't. So for us, this week we'll need to shop for quite a few basics that later in the season will probably be filling out the order: meat that can be used as seasoning instead of a main dish, whole grain bread, veggies. The match will become increasingly good, we think, as the weeks go by. The pick-up was easy and efficient - kudos to Mike and Mary, our neighborhood hosts.

Meanwhile, yesterday was an exercise in "what does 'local' mean?" We had breakfast at relatively new small cafe a few blocks from home. The owners have spent years working for good causes in Africa, then returned to the States for health reasons, and now operate the cafe to support other family members continuing the work. The food was simple and delicious, and we met some neat new neighbors. Local business, yes. Local food, no - not yet, anyway.

Dinner came with a last-minute invite to a discussion group in the neighborhood. Again, locally prepared, not locally grown - on the other hand, we had the opportunity at the table to talk about our new CCSA and to meet a couple of others who were already members.

We've been eating bread and granola from a local bakery, and it will be a supplier for our CCSA. Local business, yes. Local food? We'll check that out... where do the ingredients come from? In my journal, a local bakery is categorized "LB" - local business (small, family-run local business, that is) - until we learn whether staple ingredients are also locally grown. And that takes us back to the need for at least simple labeling even on CCSA foods, which will help folks know who is growing the ingredients going into these beautiful things that are coming our way this season, and where.

Eating locally as a new-comer in the center of this very urban environment, but one still surrounded by family farms within a 150-mi radius, definitely has its own flavor, opportunities and challenges.

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Will Eat for Change

Members of my church are considering "something green" to replace part of the vast, unused blacktop in the back of the building. A community garden, native plants or a small greenhouse are among several options being tossed around. In addition, folks are joining CSAs, sharing their canning/preserving books and expertise, and the congregation is planning a local food-themed potluck in September. The catalyst? A brilliantly titled and expertly led workshop called "Will Eat for Change."

Chris Dilley, the General Manager of our local food co-op, is the architect and leader of this interactive workshop. Our awareness-raising session was billed as a way "to learn what's possible when we look closer to home for our food," a goal being to have us change - even in small ways - how we think about food.

We started with a brainstorming activity to identify the good, the bad and ugly about our food system: planting, growing, raising, harvesting, storing, processing, packaging and distribution. Several flip-chart pages later, we met in small groups to review some statistics relating to our local food system, including:

Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes, a network of 23 pantries providing emergency food assistance in Kalamazoo County, gave out over 1 million pounds of food in 2007. That is a 21% increase over 2006.

Michigan produces over 200 commodities on a commercial basis, making the state second only to California in agricultural diversity (Michigan Department of Agriculture).

If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country's oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Kingsolver & Hopp)

Our small groups used these statistics and others to come up with realistic and doable steps that could be taken to address demand for and access to locally grown and raised food.

I think it's safe to say this 90 minute session left us energized and a bit more knowledgeable about where our food comes from ... and willing to eat for change!

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From beef to pork

We made a substantial dent in the side of beef we bought last year. So much of a dent that I am a bit embarrassed to admit it. We love to share food, so my explanation is that we had tons of pot roast dinner parties.

The meat has been nothing short of fantastic. Organic, grass fed beef that has stood up to every side by side comparison we have thrown at it. Every time we ask someone, they have always chosen the Trail's End beef as the better product. Surprise.

But, some people talk about having to get their family used to eating local meats. I have mentioned before that I love the local chickens we have found. However, buying one chicken at a time isn't much of an issue. Buying one pig at a time is another issue.

We are in the market for a pig. Well, probably only 1/2 of a pig. But now, thanks to helpful comments, I know some people raise animals well, and some take a while to get great at the process. Needless to say, with this financial commitment, I am nervous.

What are your suggestions? Who do you use? Do you like them? Help! This beast will be with us for quite some time. If no suggestions come in, I will choose to believe the lovely people at Farm in the Market for their ideas.

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