FDR had a victory garden, why not Obama?

I’m signing the petition to ask President Obama to dig up part of the South Lawn for a Victory Garden big enough to feed the First Family with food leftover for Washington DC soup kitchens. It would be a great demo project. And since we’re trying just about everything else that we tried during the Great Depression, why not a real Victory Garden? Eleanor Roosevelt loved hers and word is that Michelle O. is very interested.  Sign the Eat the View petition and don’t forget to watch the This Lawn Is Your Lawn video here.

Somebody’s listening in the White House

Holy grass-fed cow. Kathleen Merrigan, one of the dozen sustainable farm/food advocates on Food Democracy Now’s list of favorites for a high perch in the Obama administration, has been tapped for deputy secretary of agriculture. She is assistant professor and director of the Agriculture, Food and Environment Program at Tuft University. Imagine having someone in Washington who really can talk about farming, food and the environment at the same time. She’s an organic farming/environmental/food advocate/policy wonk who helped develop the federal standards for organic food labeling. And she worked at USDA in Texas when Jim Hightower was the most progressive Ag Commissioner in the country.

She has a Ph.D. in urban and environmental planning from MIT and a master’s degree in public affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. Most recently, she was administrator of the US Agricultural Marketing Service.

In other words, farmers, foodies and consumers won one. Actually we won two, as Obama recently announced he’s bringing his favorite Chicago chef to the White House, another sustainable food lover. Who knows, maybe there really will be a sustainable garden plot on the South Lawn before long.

There’s more grist on this from Grist.

A free-range chicken in every pot

It’s true that sustainably grown local food usually costs more than the standard supermarket fare. But when you realize that it tastes ten times better, is much better for your health, the environment and the local economy, and will actually go further in your weekly diet, it’s a heckuva great deal.

The big test for me was meat. A whole free-range, au natural chicken (no hormones or antibiotics) cost me $2.99 a pound at Chatham Marketplace this week-end. While a whole fryer at Food Lion might cost considerably less, it’s not nearly as tasty, which is why I used to pass up the fryers for boneless breasts at the supermarket, which also cost about $2.99 a pound.  I used to be willing to pay $2.99 a pound or more for rubbery meat that doesn’t even taste like chicken, until I discovered I could get a whole bird at my natural food co-op that had more flavor in its little wings than those hormone-enhanced breasts, for the same price. No brainer.

The free-range bird has some other advantages over the rubber chicken breasts at the supermarket.  Because it was raised without any pesticides and herbicides, toxic metals in its feed, or artificial hormones to fatten it, the free-bird is better for my health. And because it didn’t require petrochemicals to raise it, or much petroleum to deliver it to the marketplace, it’s better for the environment (and I get to reduce my carbon footprint).  Best of all,  most of the money I paid for it goes directly to the farmer and the rest goes to my local food co-op, which I co-own. So it’s good for my local and personal economy. 

What really sold me on buying a $2.99/pound free-range bird over $2.99/pound rubber breasts, was how far I could make the free-range hen stretch to feed  my husband and me for a week. A four-pound bird would give us 3-4 meals including a roast, some risotto or pasta, some quesadillas or sandwiches, and the best home-made spoup I’ve ever made.

As part of my commitment to sustainable locavore cooking whenever possible, I discovered that there really are distinct flavor benefits to making your own soup stock, especially if you make it from the long-simmering bones of an all natural chicken. Now I’m using every part of that free-ranger to make stock and my chicken risotto never tasted so good.  This week-end I made White Bean Soup Provencale (see Locavore Cooking in The Indy) using my stock as a base. It’s the best soup I’ve ever made, I have enough for about three more meals for two people, and it cost me about $2.00 total to produce. I’ve also got a freezer full of chicken stock for more risotto and soup recipes. All from one bird at $2.99/pound.

I used to think making soup from scratch meant buying chicken stock, vegetables and meat at the supermarket and mixing it up in a pot. It never tasted better than the Progresso from a can, so I didn’t understand why I should go through all the trouble.

Making soup from home-made free-range stock and other local ingredients is just as easy and has made all the difference. So my “expensive” free-range chicken is turning out to be one of the best investments I could make for the environment, my health and my pocketbook. I guess that’s why they call it sustainable.

Farmer Doug’s winter crop

Got a notice the other day from Debbie Roos, our expert sustainable ag agent, inviting all to a “show and tell” at Piedmont Biofarm. Doug Jones would reveal his “season extension techniques” for growing food all year long. Sounded intriguing. I figured we would hang out in a toasty greenhouse with some hydroponic lettuce and maybe some exotic seedlings awaiting planting for the early-bird garden.

But Farmer Doug, ever the innovator, had something much more interesting in store. Instead of steaming in his greenhouses, we huddled in the mud this cold drizzly February eve as Doug dazzled all with an impressive array of root crops, colorful lettuce and cooking greens. Arugula, spinach, baby beets, turnips, garlic, strawberry plants and more leafy things were still thriving in the field long after most farmers had put their beds to sleep for a cold winter nap. And he’s already got his peas planted in the ground..

Farmer Doug nonchalantly explained his tricks of the trade, involving the careful stretching of various mils of milky plastic sheeting to form protective tunnels over each row, held up by individually shaped wire arches. The plastic covers were pulled taut (very taut, Doug insisted, for if the plastic sags and touches the plant, they will get burned by the frost). The tunnels were secured with little plastic red pins every couple of feet along the edges.

Doug revels in details, so he got down to ‘em. You can weigh the plastic covers down with rocks but you have to use at least two at each spot, he counseled, because when it gets really windy, the plastic sheeting will cause the rock to roll (good for dancing, not for gardening) and you need the second rock as a brake. We heard about the pros and cons of 6 ply plastic versus construction-grade versus greenhouse cloth (the latter may be worth using in combination with one of the plastics when it gets down in the teens at night).

Doug, who has been experimenting with exquisite vegetables for 38 years, seems to enjoy choreographing the drama of covering and uncovering the plant rows at just the right moment to ensure the right daytime and nighttime temps for his winter babies. He knows from experience what happens when the day time temp under the plastic is too warm (the plants grow too quick and are weak) and the night time temperature is too cold (the lush but weak babies won’t be strong enough to survive). Like Goldilocks he wants it just right.

He also knows when it’s time for two layers of plastic during the day or night (and which combination of mils), and when it’s time to remove the sheets and let the seedlings breathe (to avoid fungus) and quickly cover them up again (to avoid insect predators who are not being killed off by their summer predators cause they’re already dead folks).

This is the kind of detail farmers love to jaw about and Farmer Doug loves to oblige. He could have talked all night and we would have listened. But it got dark and cold, so we said good-bye.

Farmer Doug could probably make a fortune on cable TV as the gardening guru, but we’re glad he prefers getting his hands dirty in PBO. We’re also grateful that he gets to grow all this good stuff because the good people at the Piedmont Biofuels biodiesel plant invited him to sow his farm wizardy at the end of Lorax Lane. Lucky for him and us an eight-foot cyclone fence around the property keeps the deer out and the innovators at work. Just right.

Learn more from Debbie Roos’ report, including details on extension techniques and resources.

Jeff and Cameron’s excellent culinary adventure

Down in PBO we’ve been mourning the departure of Jeff Barney and Cameron Ratliff from the Chatham Marketplace. Jeff had won me over when he began offering up gourmet dinners for the café hot bar. The ‘pork loin roast with mango chutney reduction’ got my attention, even before Chef Jeff magically appeared to personally ladle the gravy so I wouldn’t miss a drop.

Then there was the macaroni and cheese. I haven’t swallowed mac ‘n’ cheese since the kids got grown, but there wasn’t anything else tempting me on the bar spread that one night so I dipped into the creamy noodle bin. Oh – my – god. Jeff casually explained that he had used Brie instead of velveeta.

I was hooked. Sure didn’t taste or feel like no K & W. I stopped cooking altogether for awhile, picking up entrees and sometimes whole dinners to go, until I started realizing we couldn’t really afford to have Chef Jeff’s carry-out every night. Meanwhile, Cameron was doing a whizz-bang job promoting the stories behind our locavore co-op and the people who make it special.

We cried when they left but wished them well in their new venture up the road in Saxapahaw, population 1500, where they’ve been working their magic on a BP station/convenience store of all things.

Already their Saxapahaw General Store seems to have something for everyone. It’s the only food mart or eatery for miles around so they’ve kept the locals’ necessities, integrating cigarettes, Gatorade and toilet paper with an array of organic goodies and drink. The motor oil is at one end of the store and the wines from Benjamin Vineyards just up the road, are at the other.

They’ve also started serving up food on the week-ends (yes!), so it was time for a field trip. We finally made it up there on Sunday for brunch. Chef Jeff made my Swiss-sausage omelet, homefries and whole-grain toast taste extra special, probably cause it was served up by Cameron and cooked with local ingredients. Can you say “sustainable Saxapahaw” three times fast?

It ain’t perfect… yet. During cold weather you have to make do with the funky convenience store seating – you know those laminated booths. Ours had a view of the cola cooler and the motor oil shelf. But on warm days there’s a nice patio and you could even have a pic nic on the river. Or make a day of it by visiting on a summer Saturday afternoon for the farmer’s market across the street with live music.

The setting is the Rivermill Marketplace, the renovated mill featuring chic condos with dramatic views high over the Haw. As the Burlington Times-News said recently of the eatery and the setting: “Small-town atmosphere, big-city feel.”

One of these days we’ll make it up there for dinner. How could we not with a recent menu that boasted: duck breast salad, steelhead trout, Wagyu sirloin steak with sautéed spinach and duck-fat-fried potatoes (maybe that’s why those homefries were so good) and wild-caught sea scallops with risotto cakes and asparagus (the latter two ingredients favorites of mine from Chef Jeff’s Chatham Marketplace menu).

Check out their blog for menu news.

My CSA on You Tube

I’ve just joined the Edible Earthscape CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Farm, which means that from May through October I’ll have fresh, organically produced vegetables every week that are grown just a few miles from my home. Jason and Haruka Oatis moved to the Pittsboro NC area a year or so ago and began farming at a new incubator on the site of the Biofuels Coop. I’m excited about trying their CSA because I enjoy seeing new farmers taking root here (good for the environment, the local economy and me) and I want to support the incubator. (In fact, I’m open to the idea of “incubating” new CSA farmers on my own land. I’ve got a good source of water, natural fertilizer and all the leaves and newspapers you need for mulch, plus plenty of land close to the markets. I’m willing to trade use of my land for a small share of what’s grown.)  Meanwhile, here’s a video of Jason explaining how he chose to move to Pittsboro from Japan and why he and Haruka are committed to sustainable farming. http://edibleearthscape.wordpress.com/videos/You can also check out their blog and learn how you can subscribe to the CSA. http://edibleearthscape.wordpress.com