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origins of local foods

Posted at 1:36 AM on October 18, 2008 by Vera Schabicki (2 Comments)

My friend Mr Van Cheeseman, who runs Flora at Bluebird Farms, said today that if you have a 60% crop loss the established wisdom is to dig it under and start over......hmmmm, I wonder if that could be a life metaphor (just kidding, I know we are all dragging our patchwork quilts around with us with varying degrees of joy and success). Last night I dreamt that I should bury my garden under leaves....and grass.....and horse poop....man why can't I keep it simple even in a dream, and just let it go......my lettuce bed is weeds, my beans are dug up by the armadillos......broccoli, little stumps with no growth. I am so grateful that someone out there knows what they are doing and are willing to do it, else we would starve.....

We are having a bit of a major family crisis.....the kind of thing that has been brewing for a long time but can no longer be contained.....all very sad and all, but in real Locavore terms, I am finding it hard to go to farmers markets, or the organic store, never mind make bread and cook meals......I want to sin and go to Cosco and buy the plastic clam shell of organic mixed baby greens from California and the lovely organic spinach......drown my sorrows in mangoes and avocadoes......I am really asking myself why I am making such a fuss about all of this food.....so few people worry at all, I have been willing to pay for organics for years, don't I get some sort of cosmic kudos for this,why is there always more effort required?.....well, I am grateful for the connections I have made in the last few months, I am getting my fresh milk and some really tasty green beans and collards as well as late nightshades......the Cheesemans have a lot of really beautiful and interesting chickens (and ducks and turkeys......),it seems that a portion of our population becomes obsessed with the charms of chickens, my friend Tammy is a victim of this as is Mrs. Cheeseman....one starts of with a couple of cute little chickies and within a few months new coops are being built and integration tactics are being tested (hmmm, more life metaphor) and suddenly you have tons of chickens. This is very good for my family because they have lots of cute and tasty eggs to sell.

I am late planning for the winter. I did get a big box of green beans and froze them. I got a big crate of tomatoes, pepper and eggplants to set aside for the winter, unfortunately my family problems overwhelmed me and they all went rotten in the kitchen, what a smell! I obtained more peppers, tomatoes and eggplants today, hopefully I will get to them, I have been thinking that if one just slices or chops these fresh foods and then puts them is plastic storage bags , that they would be pretty nice to freeze, I will let you know how this turns out.

I make Mozzarrella cheese every Friday, oddly enough, it does not always turn out well, sometimes it curdles like a Riccotta.....I am missing some food science here, any help would be appreciated.

I noticed that the wheat here in the south is all soft spring wheat (we have soy and corn as well), and then It occured to me that there is not a tradition of loaf bread here, the south is famous for its corn bread, biscuits, shortcake....... Soft wheat is used for pastry, it is crumbly whereas hard wheat has that stringy glutinous quality that one sees in a nice baguette......an elegant example of Locavorism in a historical context.

Best wishes, Vera

Comments (2)

hi Vera,

I understand how hard it can be to stay locavore when life would be easier to do what is simple and familiar. I must say in all our changes this year, I have fallen off the locavore wagon myself from time to time.

Take care of yourself, and I hope things get better for you soon.

April

Posted by April | October 21, 2008 10:01 AM

Good luck to you and your family, Vera. Sometimes there are things more important than eating locally. You gotta do what you gotta do. It's clear that you have the best interests of your family at heart, and that you've put a lot of thought, time, and energy into this project. Don't beat yourself up over the gardening difficulties; gardening is a slow learning process by nature and throws even the most experienced gardeners curve balls now and then. Especially when armadillos are involved! I hope everything works out as best it can.
Cheers,
Autumn

Posted by Autumn Long | October 21, 2008 1:57 PM