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Ramblings

Posted at 1:40 PM on May 14, 2008 by Vera Schabicki (5 Comments)

We have finally slowed down around here a bit, our houseguests have left and the endless driving around with six charming teens and preteens has alas come to an end. Before our guests arrived we attempted to make a lot of extra food to ease the time crunch. Natasha made 320 spice cookies, Ashley made several pounds of homemade pasta, Brittany made a couple of dozen chick pea veggie burgers, I made a few loaves of bread......the kids were thoroughly sick of it when they finally finished and all that stuff lasted for a week......How do people do this and not lose their enthusiasm?

I am curious what my fellow Locavores are eating, We have given up buying pasta, tortilla chips, tortillas, crackers, all of those things that make it a little easier to toss together a dinner (or lunch...). I chose instead to stick with some non local veggies and fruits, we buy onions, carrots, celery and potatoes, as well as frozen corn and peas and for fruit I buy apples....I also buy New York cheddar and Italian Parmegiano. We are eating a lot of rice and beans, a lot of greens (kale, collards,). We have had some cute little asparagus spears in our garden, but hardly the plethora we were hoping for after three years of waiting. We have lettuce that overwintered and has really taken off, and we are a salad loving family (it is starting to get a little bitter). Lots of bread including the No Knead recipe from Mother Earth News (if you have even a vague interest in home made bread this is very easy and very satisfying, it is also convenient because you mix the dough in moments and then do not have to mess with it until the next day), whole wheat Challah thanks to the wonderful and copious eggs from Mr. Helwig and the many gifts of eggs from Ms. Hazel and an easy slicing loaf from Deborah Madison's essential vegetarian book. We are also having lots of eggs, every day for breakfast at least. We make Mozzarella every week......I have not gone farther into the cheese making world. I make tortillas every day also, my son makes the dough on Sunday and then I break bits of it off every day, this recipe comes from the King Arthur whole grain baking book, Very Delicious.

I had hoped to get to the farmers market by now but between guests and other obligations I have not made it yet. My plan is to go on Thursday, the farmers market is an hour away, with gas prices going so high and all the other places I go I have to remind myself that food is just about the most important thing I can spend my time and money on. I sprained my ankle last night; hopefully it will go down a little by then.

Best Wishes, Vera

Comments (5)

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To all you people on this wonderful mission:

I hope at the end you will PLEASE make a cookbook. I will buy many.

You have all been so inspiring and illuminating.

We live on 11 acres in East Texas with my oldest son, the "farmer" also living on the property with his family. He grows, I pay and we can/preserve together. He and his fishing buddy made wild "Dewberry" Jam last week and I got a pint for Mother's Day. In the process, they killed 2 Cotton mouth water moccasins (snakes that should be in the water but were instead in a field also very poisonous) in the field and it was fresh as it is a wild berry grown here. I am so proud of these 30ish "boys". They have the vision. They don't have a pension plan or a 401 K... they fish and hunt and work a regular good not tremendous financial job.

A thrill for all our families is to pick a bunch of greens, some fresh new potatoes and onions and a make a great fresh supper.

My son's birthday is close to Mother's Day. He asked his wife to go fishing with him as his gift from her (he is also a tournament fisherman) and they caught enough fish to feed all of us (including the great grand parents) for Mothers Day. All the men cooked and even cleaned up the kitchen. We had fresh cabbage out of the garden coleslaw, potato salad, pinto beans, fried fish. Wish you could be her. Thanks, keep it up.

Posted by Margaret Flynn | May 15, 2008 7:10 PM

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Vera,

I thought locavoring would be easier on a farm, especially a farm in the south. I guess never assume. I am very impressed with all of the work you have put into this. We have been lucky, our bagels are 90% local, our bread is over 50% local and our pasta is about 80% local...not pure local, but local enough, where I am not making them. I guess it is like real estate, location, location, location. Being close to the wheat belt must help.

Making everything from scratch must be so time consuming, especially when it disappears in minutes into five teens/preteens! Wow. It sounds exhausting. Good luck.

Gina

Posted by Gina | May 21, 2008 6:07 AM

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Dear Margaret and Gina,

I have to say Margaret that it sounds like you are the one who should be doing this blog, wow, your description of family togetherness and resourcefullness and appreciation is really inspiring.......fresh food grown, gathered and prepared together....lovely.

Thank you Gina and Margaret both for your kind words, I do not know if this is exhausting because I am not efficient enough or if it is just too much work......and I do not even have to get my children bundled up and sent to day care and school at O dark hundred......I can see why Mcdonalds is as popular as it is.

I do not actually have a farm, I am a lapsed apartment dweller who ended up in Mississippi with land...I love the beauty and quiet.....I wish I had long years of garden wisdom to draw on....My efforts at this point are a little feeble, but I must say I love it anyhow.

Thanks again, Vera

Posted by vera schabicki | June 1, 2008 11:57 PM

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Hi, Vera! Thanks for sharing so much of your life with all of us. My wife and two kids and I live in Andalusia, Alabama. We moved here last June. I was so excited to be moving to a rural agricultural area where there is so much family farming going on.

It has been a shock as to how little local produce is actually available. There is a farmer's market here. But there were only two vendors the first time I went and one of them had brought vegetables down from a Birmingham market. They had no idea where they originated. My understanding is that farmers in the deep south carry their produce north to the cities, such as Memphis, Birmingham, Atlanta, Charlotte, etc. They can just get a much better price for them there.

We have started a small garden and are very excited about it. C'mon tomatoes! There is someone trying to establish a produce CSA that is organic within about 15 miles of us. We're hoping that starts working quickly. He said it would be the first certified organic farm in south Alabama.

Since there is so little available that is locally produced, I have gone to baking and making as many things from scratch as I can. Being a part-time stay-at-home dad does help on time, but it would be nice to at least be able to buy a loaf of locally produced sandwich bread!

Hang in there and let's hope it gets better for us in the deep south!

Peace!

Posted by Sam Persons Parkes | June 2, 2008 9:42 PM

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Dear Sam,

Thank you for your comments, it is cool how you moved and got right into being active in your community. I have noticed that our farmers markets and the little farm stands at the side of the road often have things that are imported (from California). There seem to be alot more local things than I am aware of, one has be in the know somehow, I am learning of more resources as I get to know more "locals" rather than just hanging out with transplants like me.....I hear that in some little towns farmers show up and just park their trucks and sell a few things that they have going.....we do not have this in Ashland as far as I know. Your comment about gettin, a couple of years ago I placed an order with a buying co-op called Morningside Farms??, they were in the Nashville area, they are very nice people and sell lots of cool well priced stuff....but I seem to remember a bread company called Shiloh farms or something like that, it might be worth checking them out.......I never ordered from them again because of the shipping costs but someone told me they have set up buying clubs in various locations......looking into this is on my to do list :).

Good luck and thanks for the nice comment, Vera

Posted by vera schabicki | June 12, 2008 12:24 AM