Farmer's market

Yesterday I strolled from booth to booth at the farmer's market, admiring shining baskets of cherries, early zucchini and cucumbers, and wondering briefly if I could fit pineapple sage in my herb garden. I stopped at a table of multicolored tomatoes and bought five. I bypassed the bratworst stand and came upon a woman setting out gooseberries and raspberries. I had tasted gooseberries for the first time last year and, remembering the pie I made, bought a small basket. I picked up a large cabbage at another stall, and spent my last two dollars on a basil plant.

At Sharp Shopper I found Virginia peanuts, local honey, and a new item from the farm that produces the popcorn that Ben eats in vast quantities: white corn. I bought a bag along with a bag of popcorn. I also made a non-local purchase of black beans. Our black beans in the garden have pods of a size which I would eat green if we weren't growing them to dry.

I sliced one of the tomatoes and sprinkled them with the pinched-off top of the basil plant. We had them for supper along with leftover garbanzos and greens over rice (for Ben) and cornmeal (for me).

I've been feeling that it's time to bring our baseline phase to a close. We haven't yet decided what we should try to phase out. I'm inclined to continue eating dry beans until ours are ready to harvest, then re-evaluate depending on the size of our harvest. Cheese is often at the top of my food guilt list: non-local, refrigerated, processed, high fat, possibly from confined cows causing polluted run-off. . . but do I want to live without cheese? Or learn the complex-sounding process of making my own? Or pay $14 a pound for cheese from Charlottesville? Then there are rice, oats, sunflower seeds, vinegar, lentils. . . I can eliminate any or all of these from our diet for a week or a month, but do we really want to long-term?

Local-ish chocolate cake

This morning we had our oft-eaten breakfast of toast (local), eggs (100 foot), and tea (fair trade). Afterward I harvested our crop of garlic, planted last fall. We got some nice big heads as well as some small ones, probably 20-30. It's curing on our back deck.

Yesterday I cooked a chicken from a friend who butchered last summer. We rarely have chicken in the house (or any other meat) so I have been planning all my meals that involve chicken. For supper this evening I made a sesame chicken couscous salad (though I used quinoa instead of couscous) from the Simply in Season cookbook.
100 foot: Broccoli, snap peas, green onion
Local: Chicken, chicken broth
Non: Quinoa, soy sauce, lemon juice, olive oil, sesame oil, almonds

For dessert and breakfast tomorrow I made muffins and chocolate cake.
For the muffins:
100 foot: Black raspberries, eggs
Local: Butter, honey, flour
Non: Baking powder, salt

For the cake (of which Ben has just very kindly brought me a piece):
100 foot: Grated cucumber (frozen from last year)
Local: Butter, honey, flour, milk
Non: Cocoa powder (fair trade), salt, baking soda, vinegar, sunflower seeds, vanilla

The cake is a different recipe than what I usually use, and not as sweet. I think using local ingredients transforms chocolate cake into a healthy food, right? Perhaps I should have another piece.

Two meals from beets

I've missed a few days of writing, partially due to a suddenly leaking well pump tank, necessatating late-night trips to big-box hardware stores and a take-out meal due to no water. Since that has been resolved meal highlights have included a nearly all-local leaf soup and local popcorn, butter, and honey, along with non-local cinnamon.

For breakfast this morning we had a family favorite: flat pancakes (also known as crepes).
100 foot: Eggs
Local: Wheat, buttermilk, strawberries in jam, milk, ghee
Non: Sugar in jam, salt, coffee

Lunch was late, but very tasty: Roasted vegetables from the garden, bean salad, and just-baked bread.
100 foot: New potatoes, beets, turnips, onions, lemon thyme, parley, green beans (canned)
Local: Garlic, onions, bread, corn (frozen), honey
Non: Olive oil, white beans, garbanzo beans, vinegar, salt, pepper

For supper we weren't very hungry, so I cooked some of the beet greens left over from lunch. Ben is eating popcorn and I'm eating granola for a snack.

A lot of the "groceries" I buy these days are not really food items: toothpaste, cat food, bird seed, etc. I've been thinking about ways to reduce those as well. A few days ago as I was thinking about sweeteners, I was thinking that I would only buy white sugar for the hummingbirds. Then I thought about planting a bird garden next year rather than putting up bird feeders. I could plant sweet peas, monarda, nasturtiums, and sweet william for the hummingbirds, and sunflowers, thistles, and grasses for the other birds.

We have lots of rabbits in our yard right now, but I have no intention of making my own cat food any time soon. If only I could convince Krikkit to live on pine voles. . .

Mulberries

This afternoon I went over to our neighbor's yard to pick mulberries from his tree. It's a giant old spreading mulberry that's been dropping berries on the edge of the road for a couple of weeks now. As I picked two squirrels chased each other up and down the trunk. The berries were not the best I'd ever tasted, but they were plentiful. I picked almost half a gallon just from what I could reach from the ground, plus all those I ate. I washed and froze the berries when I was done. There is a mulberry cake recipe I want to try, or perhaps it's time for more pie. . .

Breakfast and lunch today were granola and leftovers, respectively, previously documented. Ben was at class this evening, so I had a rather miscellanious supper of peas and new potatoes, wheat cereal, and a bit of ice cream.

100 foot: Potatoes, peas, dill
Local: Butter, milk, wheat
Non: Sugar

I was excited to find fair trade organic sugar at Red Front today! Now I can buy local honey and maple syrup, and fair trade sugar. I'm still hunting for local molasses.

Sourdough bread

This morning Ben got up early to pick the peas before getting ready for work. He also put our loaf of sourdough bread, which had been rising overnight, in the oven to bake, so when I got up 20 minutes later it was already starting to smell good. Here's our sourdough bread recipe:

Sponge:
1 cup (or so) sourdough starter
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup water
Mix in the morning and let stand until evening. Sponge should be bubbly and slightly risen.

sponge from above
2-4 T honey
1/2 t. diastatic malt
1-2 t. salt
2 T melted butter
4-6 cups whole wheat flour

Remove 1/2 cup sponge, mix with 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup flour; store in refrigerator for next time. Mix honey, butter, malt, and salt with remaining sponge. Stir in flour until dough is stiff enough to knead. Add flour until dough is easy to handle but still slightly sticky. Too wet is better than too dry. Shape into loaf, place in greased loaf pan and cover with plastic wrap, leaving room for bread to rise. Let rise overnight. Place in oven, turn on to 375 degrees, and bake 35 minutes. Turn out of pan to cool.

Breakfast: Bread, honey, peanut butter, coffee, pie
Local: Bread, honey, PB, some pie ingredients, milk
Non: Coffee, some pie ingredients

Lunch was leftovers which I've catalogued in earlier posts.

Supper: Omelet, toast
100 foot: Swiss chard, eggs, parsley
Local: Onion, butter, honey, bread

The most exciting food is to be eaten shortly: Homemade strawberry ice cream!
100 foot: Eggs
Local: Milk, cream, strawberries, honey
Non: Vanilla extract

Invented meals and picky hens

Yesterday we got home late after a trip to Staunton where we saw A Merchant of Venice at the Blackfriar's Playhouse--excellent theater as always. We also ate supper at the Baja Bean Co., all non-local most likely.

Breakfast yesterday: Cornmeal pancakes
100 foot: Egg
Local: Cornmeal, butter, milk, yogurt whey
Non: Syrup, corn masa, coffee, salt

Lunch: Salad, bread, yogurt, strawberries
100 foot: Chard, lettuce, borage, egg, strawberries, mint tea
Local: Bread, bacon, honey, yogurt
Non: Vinegar, olive oil

Snack: Pie and milk again. . . (one piece left now!)

This morning's breakfast was scrambled eggs and toast. Our hens are laying 2-3 eggs per day these days, so we eat eggs frequently to keep up. Pastured eggs (which ours are) have something like five times the omega-3 of factory farmed eggs, half the collesterol, more vitamin B, and so on. My project this evening was trying to convince the hens that they would like to eat the broccoli worms that are attacking our crucifers. One hen, Zia, would eat a few of the smaller ones. The other two were skeptical. I'll keep trying; I had to convince them to try japanese beetles at first. Now there are few things they like better.
100 foot: Eggs
Local: Bread, honey, strawberries in jam, bacon fat
Non: Coffee, sugar in jam

Lunch was one of our favorite curry recipes which Ben discovered and we have since modified to use whatever we have.
100 foot: Peas
Local: Onions, ghee
Non: Rice, red lentils, garlic, spices, chutney

Supper was an invention of mine: one of those inspired by wanting to use whatever's in the fridge with a minimum of time and effort. I ended up making creamed turnip greens on toast with Swiss cheese. It was pretty good, though Ben would have preferred a base other than toast.
100 foot: Turnip greens
Local: Flour, butter, milk, toast, garlic flower buds
Non: Swiss cheese, dry mustard

I'll add here a perpetual item that I should have been including at the end of each day:
Snack for Ben: Popcorn
Local: Popcorn
Non: Olive oil, salt

Shelves vs. dirt

This morning I was on the east end of town for a meeting, so I stopped in to a new chain grocery store. Several people had told me that they enjoyed the layout and the wide selection of natural foods. While I wasn't sure if this meant local foods, I had some hopes. Not surprisingly, they turned out to be unfounded. I followed the directory toward the bulk foods aisle with hopes of finding brown basmati rice, but it seemed to consist largely of nuts, dried fruits, and candies. In the "natural foods" section nearby, I did find organic white rice for twice the price of my usual grocery store, Red Front. There was a large selection of what appeared to be organic junk food. I eventually selected cat food, non-scented shampoo, and vitamins and walked to the checkout past an employee unloading boxes of cherries from Washington state.

Now, there's really nothing wrong with this store. As chain groceries go, it's probably very nice. I am realizing more and more, however, that I don't want food that comes from stores. It sounds odd to say this. Cat food, shampoo, fine, but I'll eat the cherries that came from Ben's co-worker's tree. (Said cherries await my pitting in the refrigerator right now.) There is increasingly less and less food on the shelves of stores that I feel good about buying.

So, the meals for today:

Breakfast: Granola, milk, coffee, pie
Local: Milk, peanuts, honey, wheat bran, some pie ingredients (see yesterday)
Non local: Oats, sunflower seeds, flaxseed, molasses, coffee, some pie ingredients

Lunch: Turnips, sandwich
100 foot: Turnips, chard
Local: Bread (except salt), onion, PB, honey, yogurt

Snack: Pickled beets
100 foot: Beets
Non: Vinegar, sugar

Supper: Tamale pie, mint tea
100 foot: Cilantro, tomatillo salsa (partially), sweet and hot peppers (frozen), mint, stevia, egg
Local: Cornmeal, onion, buttermilk, yogurt whey, fat, honey, corn (frozen)
Non: Pinto beans, baking soda, salt

We have a 25lb bag of non-local rolled oats that go into our perpetual supply of granola, and I'm not sure what I could do without buying dry beans, BUT! Our bean plants, which I am growing to dry, are beginning to flower! I need to get out to the garden to pick the peas and strawberries before dark, so I shall close here.