Oh, Freedom

As you know my kids started school yesterday. So my new found freedom warranted some free time for me to go shopping! Not for a new purse or shoes but for fresh food. All summer I refused to take my kids to the farmer's market or farm stands because of the gripping -when are we leaving, how long will we be here, I'm hungry. I took them a couple of times in the beginning of summer and that was enough for all of us. (Don't get me wrong, they are great kids, but I think they know if they gripe I won't take them. They like to work mom over, ha ha.) I can't think when they gripe. When I shop for food I need to think of how long the potatoes will last, how many apples to buy or do I really want eggplant.

I was so happy to be able to go to Smith Family Farm about 10 minutes away. I hadn't been there yet this season and I was pleasantly surprised at how much they had, and I bought most of it. (The next couple of days will be eating, baking, cooking and freezing for me.) My goal today was to start storing local produce for over the winter eating. I bought corn to freeze, and potatoes, onions and garlic to hide in a dark dry place. After I bought those I found some awesome heirloom tomatoes that almost look too beautiful to eat. (Below) Some huge blackberries that melt in your mouth. (Above)(I thought berry season was over.) And apples!!! Apples in summer! And here, it is so hot. (You will have to forgive me, I don't remember the names of the apples or tomatoes and I know that can be important. I'll go back next week and find out.) I also bought some lemons, nectarines and pears. I scored today and I am happy.

Be green.

OLS Week #5

I rarely eat eggs for breakfast, I am a cereal and coffee gal. But I was craving some over-easy eggs (or as my brother would say when he was a boy, "eggs lookin at ya") and toast. I was lucky enough to have some eggs left over from Shelly's Garden. And the bread I made the night before. The ingredients for the bread are not local but making it is. And a parsley sprig from our garden for photo effect. (I did eat it after.) Simply Good.

That was my local meal for the week. Next week I will probably be eating zucchini from our garden. Does anyone have a good zucchini recipe?

One Local Summer Week #4

Last week I didn't post my OLS meal because I didn't have one that was pure local. I have been feasting on local fruits and veggies but I didn't create one meal that was all local.

This week we had Mount Diablo Chicken Thighs w/ Grilled Veggies and Grilled Apricots drizzled with local honey for dessert.

The chicken thighs are from locally owned Brentwood Fine Meats and they get their chicken from the Fulton Valley, about 95 miles from here. The chicken is free range and hormone free. The marinade on the chicken consists of garlic, soy sauce, bell pepper and brown sugar. It was scrumptious on the grill!

The veggies are all local and they were flavored by my garden fresh thyme and oregano.

The apricots were freshly picked by me about 2 hours before grilling for about 12 minutes and drizzled with honey.

Mmm, good eats.

My Green Friday

I woke this morning to the heat. It is suppose to be 97 degrees outside today. Ohhhhh. And I am trying desperately not to turn on the A/C. So far so good at noon. But the heat really comes around 3 pm. But at that time, I am so excited, I am going on a farm tour sponsored by Contra Costa Resource Conservation District (RCD).

The tour's main focus is to educate children on where our food comes from, what it takes to produce it and what is done with it once it is processed. I am so excited to have this resource available. The kids will learn about soil, organics, seasons, food, farm machinery and storage of food. We will be visiting 2 farms, Simmoni-Massoni and Farmer's Daughter, for you bay area dwellers to come and visit our little u-pick and farm heaven.

But back to this morning. I actually did some gardening! (Now everything will die by the touch of my brown thumb.) I am on a green bean quest! I need green beans. They are the only thing out there I can grow from seed (organic of course) and, damn it, I will grow more! So I moved the watermelon plants we thought were not going to make it but are, to the back of the yard. And replaced them with green bean seeds. Then I decided to give up on growing NATURAL CALIFORNIA WILDFLOWERS (ya, I can't even grow native stuff!) and replace those with, drum roll, green beans. If everything goes as planned I will have 11 green bean plants, hopefully enough for freezing. I don't know, this is my first time growing veggies. Technically it is my husband's garden, I just water it. And now fertilize it. I use Dr. Earth and so far so good. But if you have a dog beware, they like to eat it and dig for it in your garden.

Watermelon

Cantaloupe

Our zucchini is coming along splendidly! The top picture (below) is from June 9th and below it from June 19th. They grow really fast. This city girl had no clue to this phenomenon. But I like it because the veggie grows fast also. (My husband's size 10's are hidden in the 2nd picture.) The 3rd picture is our little baby zucchini. (Can you tell this fascinates me?)

Baby Zucchini

And we finally gave up on 1 of our 3 tomato plants. It just looks ill. No water starting today. And I may replace him with.......a green bean seed!

Pathetic tomato plant

Have a green weekend.

P.S. Mama and daddy mocking bird are still keeping their chicks safe. Yesterday my neighbor found out that there are 2 chicks. Those birds are working hard.

One Local Summer: Week #2

I managed to stay away from eggs for dinner, barely. I found pork sausage from Lodi at the Thursday Antioch Farmer's Market. I emailed the most local ranch that sells beef and they have not returned the gesture. I will not give up my search for local meat.

My meals are simple, I usually don't like to cook and frankly I would eat cereal and local fruit all day if I lived alone. (I have a hubby and 2 kids.) This challenge is not only for the earth, it is for my health. It keeps me cookin'.

We had:

-Grilled Five Pepper Pork Sausage-Lodi, 44 miles
-Slightly steamed corn-Brentwood, 1 mile

-Slightly steamed broccoli and zuchini-farmers market, not sure how far but no more than 50 miles

The meal was perfect because we are now easily hitting over 85-90 degrees outside everyday. Gotta keep meals light and short for our summers.

Nectarines Don't Belong In Your Backpack

I rode my bike with the kids today to u-pick nectarines. The trees were overflowing with fruit so much I wanted to grab all of them and take them home. But we only took 5 pounds worth because they were going in my backpack, I was riding my bike home and we were stopping for u-pick cherries next.

These very sweet, perfectly soft nectarines DON'T BELONG IN A BACKPACK. Withing 2 minutes they were leaking through my Acme Bag into my backpack. Now I know why they are called NECTARines. Luckly I bought a really good backpack so my shirt and back never got sticky and wet. Next time we will bring a hard plastic container.

That's not the end, but it is the worst. We get to the cherry stand and no more cherries for the season. WHAT? They just came into season, like, 3 weeks ago! What is with that? Or better yet WTF?

Get out there and get your fresh food. You never know when Mother Nature will turn on you. Ha Ha.

(The picture above is not mine, I forgot my camera today. Bummer.)

The Local Short List

'Tis the season to eat local. Summer is the easiest time to start eating local. What does eating local mean? There are many variations but generally to eat the food grown in your community.

And why eat local? Here is an abbreviated list to help you start. And below the list are the resources you can reference for more details.

1. More nutritious


2. Tastes better


3. Saves the earth


4. Keeps family farms in business


5. Preserves open space


6. Keeps money local


7. Supports good old fashion pride in your community


8. Teaches where food comes from


9. It is fun
   

Sustainable Table-Buy Local

Locavores

Guideline to Buying Local Foods

Buy Fresh, Buy Local

One Local Summer Week #1

This summer I took on the "One Local Summer Challenge" at Farm To Philly's blog. I assumed it would be easy here where much of the land surrounding my town is still farmed. And it would be. Except my husband put a wrench in my efforts. He didn't do it on purpose, he doesn't even know that I am in the challenge.

What happen was he wanted meat this weekend. And to top it off he was willing to cook it. How could I not accept his offer? So Saturday we had steak and tonight we are having chicken, both on the grill. Well, I still have not been able to find a local meat producer. I found veggies, fruits, nuts, honey olive oil and eggs but no meat. I have to confess, the meat is from the supermarket. But it was on sale, I couldn't resist that either.

Yet all is not lost on our meals with non-local meat. The sides and marinades are mostly local, right down to the olive oil used to baste the bird. The chicken was grilled with a marinade of olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, basil, parsley, and oregano (the last 3 from our garden.) And we are having baked potatoes from the farmer's market. Yesterday our grilled veggies were corn, zuchini, onion, garlic and herbs all locally grown. I did buy the red bell pepper from the market. It was left over from this week and I needed to eat it. And may I add (just so I don't get in trouble too much by breaking Farm to Philly's rules) the cherries, oranges and nectarines my daughter and I have been munching on today for snacks are all local, I even rode my bike to get the cherries.

My daughter enjoying her cherries just a little too much.

So I am sorry that the whole meal is not local. I do plan on making more than one meal a week local. I just had to learn a hard lesson-don't make the meal on the weekend when my husband wants meat.

Mixed Greens

I had a good eco day today.

My Acme Workhorse 1500 bags came, don't you love the name? I love them already and haven't even used them. I should go grocery shopping to break them in! And my daughter got a Hello Kitty Sigg bottle, she thinks she is so cool now.

I finally listened to "More Hip than Hippie" with Val and Dori. I first heard of them on Green and Clean Mom's blog. I happily uploaded the last few days worth on my ipod, headed off to the gym and got a longer workout just so I could finish the segment. These gals are funny and informative. And they are out of Sacramento, I will have to meet these ladies some day.

I haven't killed my veggie garden. Actually my husband planted everything-tomatoes, beans, peppers, zuchini, cucumber, and watermelon-I just water them. But I can try to not kill an herb, Trader Joe's has these awesome basil plants for cheap right now, I may head over there to snag one. MMM...fresh pesto!

I picked, with very minimal help from my children, 5 pounds of boysenberries. MMM...they are going to taste great on top of French Vanilla Ice Cream!

I also ordered from Amazon three books. Silent Spring by Carson, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Pollan and Organic Body Care Recipes by Tourles. I did order them used, one is even coming from the San Francisco Good Will. I am so excited to read Silent Spring and Omnivore's Dilemma, they come highly recommended.

One Local Summer

Green Bean is at it again. She inspires me to do things I have never done and maybe never would have thought of. First I am buying hemp flip-flops and now I am taking on the "One Local Summer" challenge over at Farm To Philly. The challenge is to make one meal a week from local produce from June 1 to August 31. Head over to Farm to Philly and sign up.
I have to admit eating local is a breeze for me. My community here, within 5 miles of my house, produces tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, nuts, corn, potatoes, plums, strawberries, plums, cherries, asparagus, olive oil, wine, fresh eggs, and the list can go on. I am very lucky! My biggest dilemna would be finding meat. But now that I know I can get eggs I guess frittata will be on the menu. AND there is always fishing in the Delta and lakes. My husband and I are also growing our own very small garden, hopefully we will get produce.
I know that I am boasting but I love living where I live. And I am thankful my community will still support the local farmers. Please bear with me while I get over my excitement.
So go sign up, you have until Sunday, May 25th! See you at the farmers markets!

More on Local Produce

Again, I am so excited to be moving forward on the green road. Yesterday I went to a local farmer that just opened their season recently called Tachella Farms. They carry some of their own veggies and fruits and local produce also. I was proud of myself for asking where her products came from. (I am a pretty quiet person and only talk when necessary, but my husband would say otherwise, ha ha.) I bought red potatoes from Stockton, oranges from Watsonville and honey from "somewhere off the 5 highway". I can accept Stockton and Watsonville, I have been to both towns, but "somewhere off the 5 freeway", I am not sure if I like that answer. I still bought the honey because the family I bought from is local and I wanted to support them but I will be on a quest to find a more personal and local bee keeper/honey maker. The woman behind the counter caught on that I was looking for local and firmly assured me, in a motherly way, that all she sells is local and wouldn't expect her customers to eat anything but local. I felt so comfortable with her that I asked her where I can get local meat. She mentioned a guy from Orland, CA (about 160 miles away from me) that sells his beef at our farmer's market so I will try him next time I hit the farmer's market.
I know that I never mention organic. I am working on that. I think I am a little scared to find out that I am going to have to work harder and maybe travel further to get it. I work in steps. Local first and if I have to buy from the grocery store then I buy organic.
Well, I gotta go pick strawberries. The first crop at Chan's will be coming to an end soon and want to pick a few pounds to last me through the summer. Hopefully, if weather permits, Chan's will have a late summer crop also. And I can go pick again!
Happy Eating Locavores!