May 2008 Archives

Here's a resource I'll be adding to our 'Gardeners & Growers' links: the Farmers Market Coalition. It's an educational and advocacy organization for people who produce and participate in farmers markets. From their web site: "The Farmers Market Coalition will be the central hub from which to locate allies, identify and share best practices, and positively impact public policy pertaining to farmers markets." Definitely check the News and Resources sections. In Resources, you can find lists of links for both market managers and vendors.

A new organization is being formed in Fairhope to address the issue of local food production. The first general public meeting of the Local Food Production Initiative will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 9 in the first floor auditorium of the Fairhope Public Library in downtown Fairhope. Everyone interested is invited to attend.

Among the issues that the Local Food Production Initiative will look into are establishing a community garden in Fairhope; expanding and promoting the Fairhope Farmers Market; encouraging the preservation of agricultural land by conservation easements or other incentives; and public education on the benefits of and opportunities for obtaining locally produced food.

For additional information about the Local Food Production Initiative contact Elaine Snyder-Conn at 251-990-4751, or Edward Lawrence at 251-928-4646 or edfairhope at bellsouth dot net.

ALSO: There will be a fund-raising jazz listening and big band dance event on Saturday, June 7 to raise funds for the newly formed Local Food Production Initiative. Music will be by the Dr. Jazz Normand Dance Orchestra with vocalist Lauren Jackson

The big band dance will be held at the Fairhope Unitarian Fellowship, 1150 Fairhope Avenue in Fairhope, across from the Baldwin County Satellite Court House, a few blocks east of U.S. 98. Dancing practice & tips 6:30 to 7 p.m.; the music & dance is 7 to 10:30 p.m. Dressy or sporty-casual. The requested contribution is $10 per person, $15 for two people. Hot hors d'oeuvres (no alcohol).

I might have let them ripen a touch longer, but who wouldn't be eager to harvest the first two tomatoes of the season? The thing you can't tell, because there's nothing in the photo for scale, is how small they are...the larger one is about 2.5" in diameter.

WHAT: A Taste of the Gulf Coast in partnership with Culinary Corps
WHEN: Wednesday, June 4, 5:30pm - 7:30pm
WHERE: Gulf Hills Hotel and Conference Center, Ocean Springs MS
COST: Approximately $25; cash bar will be provided by the hotel

CONTACT: Diane Claughton at 251.633.6944 for more information and tickets

WHY: Kick-off and fund raiser for the first Slow Food Gulf Coast project, a cookbook entitled "Lost and Found Family Recipes of the Gulf Coast," a remembrance and recreation of family recipes that were lost in hurricane Katrina.

Volunteers for the event are also needed.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

"A Taste of the Gulf Coast" will feature ingredients from the LA/MS/AL Gulf Coast Region and the producers who make such food possible. Designed as a cross between a cocktail party and a cooking demonstration, the event will allow ticket holders to taste a variety of local foods such as Sweet Home Farm cheese, Al’s Bread, Dita’s pepper jelly, Terri’s produce, Gloria and Morris’ goat sausage and much, much more. In addition the chefs will be cooking up such delights as herbed crepes with Gulf Coast shrimp and crawfish, smoked Lucedale quail, shitake mushroom and goat cheese tartine, French toast with blueberry compote and sweet potato scones with pecan-honey butter.

Slow Food Gulf Coast MS and AL is a relatively new chapter of Slow Food USA, founded last year and still in the process of developing a membership base. Slow Food is an international organization that originated out a reaction to the increasing pervasiveness of "fast food." Slow Food USA (the parent organization of Slow Food Gulf Coast) is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to supporting and celebrating the food traditions of North America. Slow Food USA believes that pleasure and quality in everyday life can be achieved by slowing down, respecting the traditions of the table and celebrating the diversity of the earth's bounty. You can read more about Slow Food USA and Slow Food International on the organization web sites.

Culinary Corps "designs, organizes and launches outreach experiences for culinary students and professionals. Currently, our efforts are centered on the rebuilding efforts and culinary renaissance of New Orleans, LA." You can read about their upcoming trip to the Gulf Coast region on their web site (note that the $300 cost listed there is for the chefs and students involved, not for people attending the Slow Food event).

Also from Culinate, a link to Making a Green Home, focusing on small ways to green your kitchen.

I do some of these things already and would like to do others; however, ditching our many plastic storage containers for glass will require an investment and on our limited budget that's not going to happen right away. (In case you didn't know, a lot of people are rethinking their use of plastics, specifically #7/polycarbonate, because of concerns about a cancer-causing chemical compound, BPA, leaching into food and water. Canada recently released an official statement labeling it as dangerous.)

Environmentally-friendly dishwasher detergents and laundry detergents can be purchased in Mobile at The Fresh Market, which carries a limited selection of Seventh Generation and Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day products, and Virginia's Health Foods (across the bay at the sister store Fairhope Health Foods), which has a larger selection.

Shopping bags are becoming ubiquitous at sales counters in stores, if not yet being used by consumers themselves. While they didn't draw a second glance in the cities where I used to live, I still get surprised and admiring comments here about my large canvas shopping bags. That's from the customers, that is. Store baggers may raise an eyebrow about them, or worse, ignore them. It can be helpful to try to assist with the bagging to create a little goodwill. As far as remembering to use them, after unloading I put them on a door handle so I can take them on my next trip to the car, and keep them accessible so it's no trouble to grab them on the way into a store.

With regard to hand soaps and bath soaps, it's easier to find handmade soap than it used to be, and new at the Cathedral Square Market last weekend was Retriever Soapworks, selling wonderful handmade goat's milk soaps. Run by two women in Citronelle with a small herd of goats, Retriever soaps all smell wonderful, come in a variety of attractive molds, and are affordably priced. I'll definitely be buying some when my current soaps run out.

Bulk items, mentioned in the article, are a lot harder to come by around here. There's a limited selection of grains, nuts, and snacks at Virginia's/Fairhope Health Foods, and Fresh Market stocks bulk coffee, nuts, snacks, and candies, along with a selection of prepackaged 'bulk' products (seems counterintuitive, doesn't it?). Ever'man Natural Foods co-op in Pensacola has a true bulk section, with products ranging from Fair Trade coffee to organic flours and grains, nuts, granolas, and snack foods. If you make trips to Pensacola anyway (as we do), it could be worth be checking out. Suffice it to say you won't be getting anything local by buying bulk, but with the exception of a few items (e.g. pecans) you're going to be hard pressed to find local versions of these products anywhere around here.

A relatively new project and blog (and a beautifully designed web site) from Anna Lappé, Take a Bite Out of Climate Change, addresses issues of agriculture, eating, and sustainability as one means of taking on the challenges of climate change.

Lappé is the co-author of Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen, and Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet, a revision of the early 70s classic penned by her mother Frances Moore Lappé, Diet for a Small Planet.

Via Culinate, The Rise of the 'Locavore', How the strengthening local food movement in towns across the U.S. is reshaping farms and food retailing.

There's even a mention of my former co-op in Bloomington, IN, Bloomingfoods, though since they've been around for 30 years they can hardly be described as an "upstart"!

Also via Edible Nation, Dan Barber writes Change We Can Stomach, an editorial in the New York Times about the relationship between cooking, farming, and the future of agriculture.

Via the Edible Nation news feed, a link to Mulch: Comments on agriculture, farm policy, and food safety, written by Ken Cook, president of Environmental Working Group.

I think we're all learning more about the relationship between Congress, big agriculture, farm subsidies, the state of our nation's food system, and the health of our citizens. This looks like a great place to keep abreast of the latest farm legislation.

A brief piece on NPR this morning about the relation between hard economic times and vegetable seed sales.

I'm not going to be saving $1500 on my groceries like the woman in the story - she must have a lot of kohlrabi and broccoli! I'd have to do some calculations to come up with an annual savings. I only have 180 square feet under cultivation, with 144 in vegetables and 36 in herbs, and at this point I'm not getting anywhere close to maximum yields.

I've received an inquiry about blueberries, and can confirm that both Betty's Berry Farm and Bee Natural Farm will be open for u-pick this year, beginning around June 1 (possibly by the end of May so check with them directly if you just can't wait to go).

You can find other u-pick locations (as well as contact information and directions) at PickYourOwn.org.

Betty mentioned that the berries should be large this year. She also told me the decision to run the u-pick is pretty much an annual one, as their expenses can vary greatly from one year to the next. But this year is a go! Watch for a story on Channel 15.

And yes, even though Bee Natural is a CSA, the u-pick blueberries are open to the public.

We bought some crab this weekend so we enjoyed eating locally the past two nights. (OK, I'm stretching it to say the crab is local because all I know is it's from the Gulf.)

SUNDAY NIGHT MENU:
Crab Cakes (recipe from David Rosengarten's Taste: One Man's Journey Through the World's Greatest Dishes)
Wax Beans, blanched and lightly seasoned (from Baldwin County, picked up at the farmers market)
New Potatoes, baked (from our garden)

MONDAY NIGHT MENU:
More Crab Cakes (OK, we don't need to get quite as much next time!)
Mixed Greens Salad (from our garden)
New Potatoes, boiled (from our garden)

Also, we hosted a party Saturday that boasted many, though not exclusively, local foods. We had jambalaya with Gulf shrimp, grilled summer squash from the farmers market, French potato salad with market potatoes, and a friend brought a ton of crawfish.

It's a good time to be eating in South Alabama!

Here are some more of our Caribe potatoes. The plants were starting to droop and that seemed like a sign of trouble, so I went ahead and dug up the row. I found that the stems beneath the soil were crawling with fast-moving tiny white insects, smaller than the head of a pin. The stems were visibly weakened and some had holes in them as well, although I could find no evidence of pests like borers. So far internet searches and a call to the master gardener helpline has not helped me identify them. But suffice it to say that I think it's too late to deal with them this season. The plants themselves have looked quite healthy up to this point, and the tubers are fine, but the yields are low. We got about 5.5 pounds of potatoes from that row, and we could have conceivably had as much as 15.

Admittedly I am not experienced at growing potatoes; this is only the second time I've planted them. Russian Banana fingerlings are my only repeat variety; the others I've tried have all been different. They're all tasty, but one thing I haven't liked about the Caribe is that it seemed to produce one very large potato and a few smaller ones, whereas the red variety I had last year seemed a bit more consistent on the size: mostly medium and small tubers.

I also lost a fennel plant this week. The bulb seemed to have rotted. I don't actually use the fennel; it's just in there for the foliage and as a butterfly host plant.

A couple of tomatoes are starting to ripen, and unfortunately the plants are continuing to show signs of blossom drop. It looks like only about 1 in 5 of the newest blossoms are setting fruit.

ADDITIONALLY, our satsuma is dropping fruit as well. We just planted it this spring, so I don't know if the problem is nutrients, water, or just a rough transition. It was loaded up with little satsumas when we got it, and now I bet it's lost a third of that.

Friday May 16 at 7:00pm on Alabama Public Television

In this week's installment of Alabama Stories, Alabama Goes Green with Lakia Richardson:

In 2008, Forbes magazine named Alabama one of the worst "green states" in the country. Alabama leaders, businessmen and homeowners are working to shake this stigma. Find out which businesses and communities in the state have set a goal of "going green," and the efforts they are making to do so. From fraternities to families, Alabama citizens are taking stock of their duty to preserve our resources. Lakia Richardson explains the origins of the green trend, as well as the controversies that surround the initiative.

They provide a nice resource list in PDF form (though I have no idea why they couldn't have made an online version).

OK, this IS a bit off-topic, but it is environmentally-related...

If you watch the WKRG news, you might have seen my husband interviewed tonight in this story on alternative transportation.

Incidentally, May is National Bike Month, and Bike to Work Day is this Friday, May 16.

Bike commuting may not be for everyone, and Mobile is not a bicycle-friendly city, but it is easier than you might at first suspect. After commuting for a month Chris told me, "You know, I don't have a car and it's not a disaster. I haven't regretted it once."

If you want to learn more, bicycle enthusiasts are eager to share information and help you get started. We bought our bikes at Mobile's Cadence 120 (owner Brad is also interviewed in the WKRG story), and the staff there are knowledgeable, friendly, and very helpful. There is also a substantial bike commuter online community; one of my husband's favorite sites is Bike Commuters.

We received a mention in the May 6 edition of Mobile's alternative weekly, Lagniappe.

In the Word of Mouth column, food editor Kinnon Phillips also mentions that a Buck's Pizza will be opening downtown in the former Janino's location, and that they plan to use local produce. I'm not familiar with Buck's; anyone ever had it?

Perdido Vineyards
22100 CR 47
Perdido, AL
251.937.9463

PRODUCTS

A variety of wines and vinegars produced from Alabama-grown fruits and vegetables. Depending on the product (red wines in particular), a portion of the fruit may be grown elsewhere, but whenever possible local produce is used. The wines feature muscadine grapes, and in the case of apple wine, Alabama apples.

WHERE TO BUY

At the farm, which also has free tastings and tours. Located in northeast Baldwin County.
Monday - Saturday, 10am - 5pm.
Closed Sundays, July 4, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years.

At the Mobile Cathedral Square Farmers Market.

GROWING/PRODUCTION METHODS

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Muscadine grapes are much higher in antioxidants than other varieties commonly used in winemaking, a fact new to me and pointed out by Rashmi at Eating Alabama.

Another harbinger of summer: insects in the garden.

A few of my tomatoes have been damaged by caterpillars that are either Tomato Fruitworms, also called Corn Earworms, or Beet Armyworms. Holes are chewed in the fruit; they start small and shallow but if you don't catch the worms they can do quite a bit of damage and the fruit starts to rot.

The tomatoes are also hosting some nymphs of the Leaf-footed bug. The damage isn't as dramatic, but they do use their piercing mouthparts to suck the fruits and plants.

For now I'm just diligently checking and handpicking the culprits or knocking them off into soapy water, which is the most simple organic control you can use. Other organic controls include BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) and neem.

You can get some nice documentation on the Alabama Cooperative Extension System web site. There's the Tomato Insect Management Guide for Alabama, and for new gardeners, Backyard Tomato Production.

Two pieces from Orion within the last eight months,

Where Have All the Joiners Gone? by Bill McKibben, from the March/April 2008 issue. A meditation on peak oil, the importance of neighbors, and the idea of "embracing nonindependence."

Horse Power by Dick Courteau, from September/October 2007. A small farmer with a lifetime of horse experience explores whether, in the days of environmental crisis and peak oil, horse power could once again fuel the American farm. I'm a life-long horse lover myself, and when I was a child I always used to fantasize about using horses instead of cars.

There was a good crowd at the market this morning, and a few more vendors than last week (last week a deluge blew in at around 9).

Available: summer squash of several varieties, new potatoes, collard greens, radishes, peaches, green beans and wax beans, sugar snap peas, lettuce, onions, wine, vinegar, honey, candles, cut flowers, herbs and plants, baked goods, and textiles.

I've harvested potatoes from two plants, but overall the plants need more time to mature. The seed potatoes were from Ronniger Potato Farm in Idaho, and are natural - raised using organic methods, but not certified. The purple variety is "Caribe," which is described as "having snow-white flesh that boils, steams, and makes the lightest and fluffiest mashed potatoes." The red variety is "Desiree," a "gourmet-quality potato with creamy yellow flesh." We also have some fingerlings in the ground, but they won't mature until later.

You can tell summer is just around the corner, and in fact today is decidedly muggy. We're still getting lettuce but the arugula is beginning to bolt; it won't last much longer. I'll miss the spicy leaves. My flat-leaf parsley has gone to seed; it does great in the winter but never lasts into the summer. The blackberries are still producing, a few at a time. I'm happy to say our tomatoes are doing MUCH better than last year; they have lots of fruit and look quite healthy, though I'm starting to find tomato hornworms. Though I haven't had the soil tested for it I'm sure we have nematodes, and my attempts to grow heirloom Brandywines last year were stymied by blossom drop. We had all of two fruits from about eight plants, although my husband said they were the best he'd ever tasted. In my detective work later, I found that heirlooms are very susceptible to nematodes, so I've switched, reluctantly, to resistant hybrids this year. I've also added as much compost as I could. The plants have done well so far, but I'm starting to notice some blossom drop even on these. One variety seems to have more than the other. I have some pole beans and squash that are not doing too great either, and I suspect the nematodes in their case as well.

Bill Finch on the pleasures of wild berry picking.