Updates « boston localvores

Updates

Community / Updates — 3 Comments
30
Mar 10

By some miracle we got a community garden plot

garden

So we’ve decided to co-garden with friends (left). I am putting this photo up as a reminder that we made our first visit in coats and hats and gloves (March 28). At center is the plot itself, #22. As you can see, it borders the fence which borders the sidewalk. There was a mild debate about whether we should use the fence to grow peas or somesuch climbingness because of pea theft by passersby. But we tried to thieve a pea and it would actually be a lot more trouble and shrub-fording than a pea is really worth. So it was settled that the fence was a trellis.

It’s called the Squirrel Brand Community Garden because of it’s proximity to the Squirrel Brand candy company building (right).

We’re all CSA members, so we can really grow for variety. I’d take any suggestions for unusual New England fruits or vegetables. Also, we have catmint that the previous gardeners left behind, but also something we can’t identify. Anyone out there know what this is?

Fruit / Updates — 2 Comments
14
Mar 10

A coconut story or eating local on vacation

ryancoconuts1 We went to a small Caribbean island earlier this month. It’s called Vieques, and it’s technically a municipality of Puerto Rico, so therefore an American territory. It’s also where the U.S. Navy behaved like a bunch of total assholes for many decades, moving people off their land, testing bombs, running test seiges of family-packed beaches on Mother’s Day, and finally, leaving, but leaving thousands of acres still riddled with unexploded land mines.

Perhaps because of this, Vieques is still rather virgin. There are no massive resorts (one is coming, though, soon. But if there is an ugly part of the island, this resort found it. So there!), a couple of ATMs, two towns, a limited number of cars, and wild horses and chickens everywhere. Also, many beautiful, deserted beaches, with crystal clear, 80 degree turquoise water and not a building - or any real sign of civilization - to be seen for 10 or 20 miles.

Anyway, to further complicate our ugly American/utter bliss feelings was, of course, the food situation. We were warned that the only safe fish to eat was Caribbean lobster (scary! huge!), conch (slimy! only available in 10 pound bags!), and small, female red snapper (we didn’t find this at the dock). The other fish fed on an algae that made them unsafe for human consumption. One person told us if we were to be made sick from one of these fish, we could experience flu-like symptoms for three years. Needless to say, it was an entirely vegetarian week.

Which brings us to the coconuts (at least, we thought it would involve coconuts. You’ll see how it didn’t). The first photo (above) shows Ryan with the fruits of his wild foraging expedition. He got these three coconuts down from a tree by throwing an already downed coconut at them. And as if getting the down wasn’t hard enough, getting into them was even harder. Until we met Margo, but more on that later.

First, we tried removing the outer husk with a hammer and all of our appendages.

Once the fibrous, tough outer part was removed, we found what was recognizable to us as a coconut

cocohand

But there didn’t seem to be any way to get into this newfound coconut. Until we found the drill.

cocodrill

But it’s hard to drill a sphere. And we were not successful. But later in the week, we moved from one house to another, and the woman who owned our new digs, Margo, taught us a couple of things about coconuts. First, you need a machete. She had quite a few. Next, while she was able to halve the coconut whose outer shell we’d removed, this was really the least efficient method of harvesting and processing coconuts. Oh, and the milk - the liquid at the heart of the coconut - wasn’t saved. Or worth saving. Look closely at this picture, and you can see the milk bursting out as she makes the decisive blow.

Here’s what it looks like when it’s opened. We took the meat out, packed it away, snuck it through the airport agricultural inspection, and made coconut sorbet. It was awesome.

Grains / Updates — 3 Comments
14
Mar 10

Sprouting: a quick lesson

We still haven’t figured out the best uses for sprouted grains, but that hasn’t stopped us from sprouting them. According the internet, there are nutritional changes in the grain upon germination that are good for us peeps. Sprouted grains and beans are rich in vitamins, minerals, amino acids, proteins, enzymes and phytochemicals. Of wheat course, we can’t vouch for any of this, but it makes a certain amount of sense that a germinating seed is full of - and has unleashed - the energy that the plant will use to grow, flower, seed and die.

In culinary terms, the sprout has been relegated to that unwelcome wholesome flavor on cafe sandwiches. But our friend Jess once brought a pile of mung bean sprouts to a potluck and sauteed them in sesame oil and garlic. She served them to us warm. That was the revelation that led us to sprout. That, and the many, many pounds of grains that took over kitchen early this year. (An aside: Wheatgrass juice is simply sprouted wheatberries, just like the ones shown here, juiced. Another aside: Malted barley, the very heart of whiskey and many beers, is sprouted barley that is then kiln dried, a process which allows the yeast to access the proteins better. Cool, huh?)

It could not be easier. All you need is a jar, a rubberband and cheesecloth or something like it. A scrap of a rag will do.

Soak the grains/beans overnight
Rinse
Put them in a jar
Cover the jar with the cheesecloth/cheesecloth substitute
Turn upside down in a bowl, so that it’s not directly perpendicular, but at a slight angle, so that the water can drain.
Rinse twice daily (Just inside the jar. Simply fill the jar with water - through the cheesecloth - and drain.
Soon, you’ll see sprouts. Let them grow or don’t. You can eat them as brand new sprouts or let them get taller and greener
If you want a nice green sprout, keep them in very indirect sunlight during the sprouting and intial growth. Put them in direct sun for the last bit.

Oh, and please let us know if you have any good ideas for how to use sprouts.

Bulk / Grains / Updates — 1 Comment
10
Feb 10

Milling party!

Thank GOD our mill came with this headbanded, smiling man. He really made grinding corn and spelt on a Saturday night more fun than I imagine my commoner ancestors had it.

Of course, that’s fellow localvore Ryan, and Kristi on the hand crank. The mill is actually my brother’s. Liam, 25, a former Marine and Iraq war veteran and current out-of-control new-agey yoga teacher, Earth chakra seeker, raw foodist type has apparently been grinding his own flour for years. Who knew? Which is just to say, get to know your siblings. Because who knows what’s changed since we were all kids together. And they might have a mill that you might happen to need.

Ryan is holding the mill because this Ebay special kind of shook itself off of the counter, where it was clamped. But it made our milling party of five really feel like a party. Because people were always switching off, and no one was ever left alone, grinding, grinding, while the sound of laughter and clinking glasses floated in from the other room.

Members of our party each brought a few quarts each of whatever they wanted milled. The spelt milled easily down with one pass through the mill, while the harder wheats (like the Hadley wheat) we choose to put through twice. And, miraculously, the dent corn was ground down no problem into something that looks like it will make a very hearty polenta or porridge.

Only twice did someone (me!) pull the hopper off the rest of the thing and send grain flying all over. Here, enjoy some dark scenes from a mid-winter grain milling dinner party:

Updates — 1 Comment
4
Feb 10

Localvore brunch @ Garden at the Cellar

On Sunday, Feb. 7 from 11:30 to 2:30 p.m., we’re helping the good folks at the Garden at the Cellar coordinate a localvore brunch. Please help us pack the place. Part of the proceeds will benefit us, Boston Localvores, so we can continue to provide free and low-cost events highlighting local growers and producers. They are not accepting reservations. Just show up and be fed!

FIRST COURSE ($10 each)

Wild Mushroom Frittata
Burrata cheese, thyme crème fraiche

Sunchoke Rostï
arctic char “lox,” mâche

Stone Ground Buckwheat Blinis
huckleberries, vanilla cream

Seasonal Vegetable Flatbread
Westfield Farms goat cheese, toasted pine nuts

Local Cod Chowder
thyme, Hadley parsnips

Scituate Lobster Bisque

MAIN COURSE ($15 each)

Iggy’s Sourdough Tartine
scrambled eggs, grilled pork belly

Stillman Farm’s Lamb Sausage
lentils, grilled pita, Greek yogurt

House Made Local Corned Beef Hash
slow poached chip-in farm eggs, grilled onion rings

Iggy’s brioche French Toast
spiced apples, house churned brown butter, Vermont maple syrup

Anson Mills Cornbread Pain Perdu
applewood bacon, maple-pecan sour cream

Steak and Eggs
Hardwick Beef, Béarnaise, rostï

CSA / Grains / Updates — 4 Comments
24
Jan 10

The grain CSA hath arrived

The grain CSA we bought from Pioneer Valley Heritage Grains has finally come in. We split our share down the middle. What follows is what is in a whole share, and what follows that are some scenes from the efforts to make some order of it all. Yes, those are pillowcases we are storing the grains in. They tell us that because these grains have not been industrially dehydrated, they need to breath otherwise they’ll mold.

Also, we’re in the market for an inexpensive (or free!) mill. Any type, really, but one of the Kitchenaid attachments would be great.

30lbs of wheat (spring and winter wheat)
10lbs of black beans
10lbs of oats
20lbs of corn
5lbs of barley
6lbs of rye
15lbs of spelt
4lbs of emmer

: Kristi, pajamas, big mess

: Rye berries

: Some various storage

: Emmer

: Dent Corn

: Black Beans

Bulk / CSA / Preserving+canning / Updates — No Comments
13
Dec 09

Brilliant greens

bags

At one of the recent Shared Harvest Winter CSA distributions, where we are dutiful checker-inners and box movers, Gretta had some extra goodies for sale. But these smart people came early and bought ALL the kale. Something like 80 bunches.

This couple were there on behalf of their coop, where they live with 13 other people who have localvore sympathies. They planned to take all this home and process and freeze it for the coop’s use this winter.

They shared with us their plan to blanch the greens, then squeeze them into balls, freeze the balls on cookie sheets, then store the balls of greens in bags. We do this kind of flash freezing with all kinds of things (berries, ice cubes of pesto), but it had not crossed our minds to store greens this way. Brilliant.

Updates — No Comments
10
Dec 09

Taking back what Big Food stole from us

If you are here you probably already know this narrative: How, about 50 years ago, a confluence of women’s lib, the rise of food factories and masterful marketing of “convenience” killed our kitchens. Or, anyway, our necessary and personal relationships with them.

You probably are familiar with this other narrative too: The one where people realize that when we traded our kitchen bondage for a box of Hot Pockets and a roll of cookie dough, we got the shit end of the deal: We’ve accelerated the destruction of the environment, our health, our family farms and our economy. And all that time saved not cooking went to working more, watching the Food Network and getting fat.

We like that second narrative. And for us it is sort of the fundamental objective of the local foods movement: To give people the tools to look at the greater context of fake food and reclaim the agency (also happy bowels, happy farmers, happy soil, happier animals, etc) that is implicit in eating Real Food.

This is why we are really pleased to celebrate this community cookbook, which originated on a Boston-based message board, and is a shining example of that kind of attitude. Cook Food Every Day contributors are local artists, musicians, writers and home cooks and the book features their own recipes and their artwork. And all the proceeds are going to the Greater Boston Food Bank. (Get one for a suggested donations of $15-20.)

Take a look at their site and see what’s in the book. Also, consider going to PA’s Lounge in Somerville next Wednesday to meet the people involved, get a copy, eat a little and have a drink or three.

Updates — 9 Comments
20
Nov 09

Bell & Evans: A tiny report

Once, before we were renegade local food activists, we were newspaper reporters (who fell in love and ran away together).

So it brings our newspaperin’ hearts much joy to call people up out of the blue and ask them questions. We now bring you this shallowly-reported piece on Bell & Evans chickens:

Bell & Evans is one of those producers who confuse otherwise-ethical shoppers. They say “free range,” and they now sell “organic free range” chickens and chicken parts. And when you’re in the store, and you’re looking at those versus completely unidentifiable chicken, of course you think you’ve made the best choice. But it’s like those misleading surveys where the question is something like, “Do you support the war in Iraq” and your options are A). YES B). Yes and C) 110%. You’re not really being given good options. Or options at all.

The life of a Bell & Evans chicken is one of luxury for an industrial chicken. But it’s still very much an industrial chicken and their marketing is still a gross misuse of the term “free range.” They live indoors, in gigantic climate controlled chicken houses (so not even wind and fresh air from windows), where the lights turn on an off at certain times and where water and food is mechanically distributed.

Their “organic” chickens are legally required to have access to the out of doors, but, of course, it’s really not much of a yard. The woman who took our call assured that “It’s not like they have to go out,” as though the idea of a chicken wandering around outside is digusting or undesirable somehow and revealed that they don’t, in fact, go out much at all. That’s a terrifying glimpse into the brainwashing that goes on in this world.

One of the big selling points of these birds is that they are “air chilled.” For those of you who don’t know what this means, it’s the alternative to water chilling slaughtered poultry. Some say it’s more sanitary to air chill them because these water baths chill so many birds. But the Bell & Evans people want you to know that water chilling is less ideal for consumers because the birds take on water weight, which we then pay for at the register. Instead, their birds are hung from hooks and cruise around a factory for TWO MILES in cold air. How bizarre is it that humans build two mile long indoor conveyor systems?

What this person was unable to answer off the top of her head was how many chickens live and die per day, or month, or every year. “It’s a lot.” She knew it was quite a number of them. But she took down our phone number and email address and promised to get back with that information. And never did.

We struggle sometimes with whether or not we should come down so hard on those who are “trying” or doing some stuff right. But the bottom line is that this just isn’t good enough. Psuedo humane factory farming is just factory farming. If you’re going to eat meat, spend the money, take the time and find the real stuff.

Holiday turkey / Updates — 3 Comments
5
Nov 09

Walmart selling turkey for 40 cents per lb.

This is in today’s Metro. You can buy a whole, 12 pound turkey for 40 cents per pound, or just under 5 bucks.

But wait! What’s more is that the store is “reducing prices” on canned vegetables, cranberry sauce, stuffing, dinner rolls, and a five pound bag of red potatoes PLUS a pumpkin cake in order to keep the cost of feeding eight people under $20.

The local turkeys we’ve sourced range in price from around $6/lb to $9.50/lb. So a 12 pound turkey at those rates (say, $8/lb) is more like $100. That’s a pretty massive discrepancy. Something is so wrong here.