I know I haven't posted in ages. There is a reason. My hard drive crashed and I have been busy rebuilding my computer. I also took a lovely trip to Montana.
Between working on the computer, beating my gardens back into submission, new projects and reviewing a few chapters in a science text, I've been extremely busy.
I can give you some good news on the home front.
I made a large batch of spaghetti sauce today and I grew all of the ingredients myself. We've been eating a lot of food from the garden and I've had some left over to freeze.
Tomorrow I will be busy blanching broccoli to freeze.
I also stumbled upon a yogurt culture my daughter likes and I just successful made my second batch using a few tablespoons from the last batch of yogurt to activate this one.
I'll expand on these topics in upcoming posts.
Happy Gardening
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Landrace breeds - Randall Lineback
We are losing our biodiversity.
Ok, sure, you are intelligent and you have heard various types of animals and perhaps native plants are disappearing. I am sure polar bears, tigers and other large, mammals come to mind. But did you know we are losing our food biodiversity?
What has taken us 12,000 years to create, we are forgetting in place of seeds from multinationals and a handful of livestock animals that we are relying upon across the globe regardless of local conditions.
Just like the one size fits all garment, it works but it is not the best fit for a given individual.
No, I’m not talking about designer food. Well, perhaps I am in a way. However, the designer was your average farmer and his neighbor selecting the best traits over a succession of generations.
Did you know there is livestock, not just crops that have acclimated to certain conditions? There are certain cows that do well in heat. Others do well on poor forage. These types of breeds are referred to as landrace. They have evolved, via the artificial selection process of breeders, by selecting favorable traits for that given climate and purpose.
I just recently learned that there is a landrace breed of dairy cows from Vermont called the Randall Linebacks. This breed almost went extinct in the 1980s due to the fact that the only herd left was on a single dairy farm. They are the most endangered breed of cow in the United States.
Needless to say, I have fallen in love with this breed. My husband is duly worried that I will soon have a cow added to my collection of critters.
So how are Randalls different from the Holsteins or Jerseys we so often see on dairy farms? Besides their coloring, these cows are ideally acclimated to New England’s cooler/cold weather.
Another admirable feature is they subsist on a diet of grass forage. No grain. Wow, that is my kind of cow. For a farmer this is like gold. You don’t have to pay the extra cost of grain which Holsteins and Jerseys need. This is an added bonus to the environment and to us. The grain doesn’t need to be raised for the cows, it can directly feed people, nor does the grain need to be shipped from out west to a farm in New England.
Individuals who have recently been raising Randalls indicate that their milk production is acceptable. They produce approximately 4 gallons of milk a day at their peak which for a family cow or a small producer in manageable. While this is less than half as much as a Holstein or Jersey, this breed is smaller, eats less and eats more economically.
The last trait is ease of birthing. This breed does not require any veterinary intervention at birth. My understanding is there are a few breeds out there that do but I am not a dairy farmer. Since cows only produce milk for 10 or 11 months after giving birth, calving is a regular event on farms. Even my friend’s small farm with 5 cows heralds in the birth of two to four calves each year. Breeds which do not require emergency, middle of the night visits from the vet are advantageous since they are less costly.
Thanks to a small handful of individuals this breed did not pass into extinction and their numbers on the rise. But how many breeds have we lost? What are we in peril of losing? If you are considering raising farm animals, do your research. Is there a breed which is better suited for your particular area? Is there a farmer or hobbyist with a breed which is hardier locally than the ubiquitous breeds of cow, sheep, goat, chicken or duck? If so, consider the lesser known regional breed. You will be helping to save a key to our food security and a piece of time.
Ok, sure, you are intelligent and you have heard various types of animals and perhaps native plants are disappearing. I am sure polar bears, tigers and other large, mammals come to mind. But did you know we are losing our food biodiversity?
What has taken us 12,000 years to create, we are forgetting in place of seeds from multinationals and a handful of livestock animals that we are relying upon across the globe regardless of local conditions.
Just like the one size fits all garment, it works but it is not the best fit for a given individual.
No, I’m not talking about designer food. Well, perhaps I am in a way. However, the designer was your average farmer and his neighbor selecting the best traits over a succession of generations.
Did you know there is livestock, not just crops that have acclimated to certain conditions? There are certain cows that do well in heat. Others do well on poor forage. These types of breeds are referred to as landrace. They have evolved, via the artificial selection process of breeders, by selecting favorable traits for that given climate and purpose.
I just recently learned that there is a landrace breed of dairy cows from Vermont called the Randall Linebacks. This breed almost went extinct in the 1980s due to the fact that the only herd left was on a single dairy farm. They are the most endangered breed of cow in the United States.
Needless to say, I have fallen in love with this breed. My husband is duly worried that I will soon have a cow added to my collection of critters.
So how are Randalls different from the Holsteins or Jerseys we so often see on dairy farms? Besides their coloring, these cows are ideally acclimated to New England’s cooler/cold weather.
Another admirable feature is they subsist on a diet of grass forage. No grain. Wow, that is my kind of cow. For a farmer this is like gold. You don’t have to pay the extra cost of grain which Holsteins and Jerseys need. This is an added bonus to the environment and to us. The grain doesn’t need to be raised for the cows, it can directly feed people, nor does the grain need to be shipped from out west to a farm in New England.
Individuals who have recently been raising Randalls indicate that their milk production is acceptable. They produce approximately 4 gallons of milk a day at their peak which for a family cow or a small producer in manageable. While this is less than half as much as a Holstein or Jersey, this breed is smaller, eats less and eats more economically.
The last trait is ease of birthing. This breed does not require any veterinary intervention at birth. My understanding is there are a few breeds out there that do but I am not a dairy farmer. Since cows only produce milk for 10 or 11 months after giving birth, calving is a regular event on farms. Even my friend’s small farm with 5 cows heralds in the birth of two to four calves each year. Breeds which do not require emergency, middle of the night visits from the vet are advantageous since they are less costly.
Thanks to a small handful of individuals this breed did not pass into extinction and their numbers on the rise. But how many breeds have we lost? What are we in peril of losing? If you are considering raising farm animals, do your research. Is there a breed which is better suited for your particular area? Is there a farmer or hobbyist with a breed which is hardier locally than the ubiquitous breeds of cow, sheep, goat, chicken or duck? If so, consider the lesser known regional breed. You will be helping to save a key to our food security and a piece of time.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
The new family food budget
I haven’t written lately because I came down with a terrible summer cold which then turned into a sinus infection.
I have been reading, thinking, and trying to plan food for a year or until it comes back into season. It is currently strawberry season and I have been attempting to approximate how many quarts of strawberries I will need to put up until next year.
My small garden won’t yield enough strawberries to tide my family over until next year. Dehydrated strawberries are an easy snack to slip into my daughter’s backpack during the school year. I also like to use strawberries in jams, ice cream, rhubarb pies and in smoothies. I would have to guess that I probably buy a quart of strawberries almost every week of the year.
My buying behavior to date has been to buy strawberries in the store when the price comes down and then stock up. Herein lays my dilemma. I am a bargain hunter. I shop for the deal. I have to make my family’s dollar stretch as far as I can especially since I have less buying power than I did three or four years ago.
The decision to buy local has a substantial financial impact on the budget. Local strawberries are $6 a quart. In the grocery store, berries from California are selling for $3. Buying a few quarts is not a huge impact on the budget but I’m estimating I will need 40 to 50 quarts, that means an extra $120 to $150 and all of this money needs to come out of the budget over the next few weeks as opposed to spread out over an entire year. This knowledge sent me into a monetary funk. I need to be able to balance my checkbook at the end of the month. How can I justify buying local when it means I have less?
My main argument for local and organic has always been one about food quality and sustaining nature. We need a food system that does not deteriorate and erode the soil. We need a food system that does not lace its produce with toxic chemicals which stay on our foods no matter how much we wash them.
This argument alone didn’t float the boat entirely for me or my husband to spend $3 more per quart. We had to expand our thinking and look at our entire food production system. As we did this exercise we realized that buying local puts money into the pockets of local farmers which in turn supports their family and preserves the land as farmland. Buying the cheap fruit from California isn’t helping anyone long term except large agribusiness. The savings in money advocates a system that is doomed to fail where water is becoming less common and keeps the poor workers in the fields impoverished, usually immigrants.
When we looked at the system as a whole my husband and I agreed that we will buy as much local as we can afford. We decided that we needed to keep in mind that our own garden was producing free, or almost free, food for us and we needed to consider this as helping to offset the costs
This does not completely alleviate the cost of paying more for local food. I will still be hunting bargains, perhaps different ones (I see more consignment shops and thrift stores in my future). I will try to seek out owners to see if they will cut me a break on the cost if I buy in bulk. For example, yesterday I purchased a flat of strawberries instead of buying by the quart. This was equal to paying for 5 quarts and getting a 6th one for free.
I’ve done the math so far. I’ve purchased 9 quarts locally, harvested 1 from my garden and have spent a total of $48. Translation, the average cost of a quart of local strawberries is $4.80. Not too bad and not as devastating as the original $6 a quart I was looking at when I originally started pondering the situation. This still leaves me with another 30 – 40 quarts before I reach my goal. I’ll keep you updated on the cost of this part of my initiative.
I have been reading, thinking, and trying to plan food for a year or until it comes back into season. It is currently strawberry season and I have been attempting to approximate how many quarts of strawberries I will need to put up until next year.
My small garden won’t yield enough strawberries to tide my family over until next year. Dehydrated strawberries are an easy snack to slip into my daughter’s backpack during the school year. I also like to use strawberries in jams, ice cream, rhubarb pies and in smoothies. I would have to guess that I probably buy a quart of strawberries almost every week of the year.
My buying behavior to date has been to buy strawberries in the store when the price comes down and then stock up. Herein lays my dilemma. I am a bargain hunter. I shop for the deal. I have to make my family’s dollar stretch as far as I can especially since I have less buying power than I did three or four years ago.
The decision to buy local has a substantial financial impact on the budget. Local strawberries are $6 a quart. In the grocery store, berries from California are selling for $3. Buying a few quarts is not a huge impact on the budget but I’m estimating I will need 40 to 50 quarts, that means an extra $120 to $150 and all of this money needs to come out of the budget over the next few weeks as opposed to spread out over an entire year. This knowledge sent me into a monetary funk. I need to be able to balance my checkbook at the end of the month. How can I justify buying local when it means I have less?
My main argument for local and organic has always been one about food quality and sustaining nature. We need a food system that does not deteriorate and erode the soil. We need a food system that does not lace its produce with toxic chemicals which stay on our foods no matter how much we wash them.
This argument alone didn’t float the boat entirely for me or my husband to spend $3 more per quart. We had to expand our thinking and look at our entire food production system. As we did this exercise we realized that buying local puts money into the pockets of local farmers which in turn supports their family and preserves the land as farmland. Buying the cheap fruit from California isn’t helping anyone long term except large agribusiness. The savings in money advocates a system that is doomed to fail where water is becoming less common and keeps the poor workers in the fields impoverished, usually immigrants.
When we looked at the system as a whole my husband and I agreed that we will buy as much local as we can afford. We decided that we needed to keep in mind that our own garden was producing free, or almost free, food for us and we needed to consider this as helping to offset the costs
This does not completely alleviate the cost of paying more for local food. I will still be hunting bargains, perhaps different ones (I see more consignment shops and thrift stores in my future). I will try to seek out owners to see if they will cut me a break on the cost if I buy in bulk. For example, yesterday I purchased a flat of strawberries instead of buying by the quart. This was equal to paying for 5 quarts and getting a 6th one for free.
I’ve done the math so far. I’ve purchased 9 quarts locally, harvested 1 from my garden and have spent a total of $48. Translation, the average cost of a quart of local strawberries is $4.80. Not too bad and not as devastating as the original $6 a quart I was looking at when I originally started pondering the situation. This still leaves me with another 30 – 40 quarts before I reach my goal. I’ll keep you updated on the cost of this part of my initiative.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Strawberry fields
Strawberry fields forever, or at least I believed them to be a constant as a child. (sorry, I really couldn't resist quipping the song title)
One of the most prominent summertime memories from my childhood is about fields and fields of strawberries for as far as the eye could see. Okay, I was small and I couldn’t see nearly as far as I can now from a slightly higher vantage point but you get the idea. Strawberries and cows were part of the town where I grew up. There were three dairy farms and an expansive pick your own strawberry farm.
The dairies and the strawberry farm are both gone. The strawberry farm was replaced by houses with big grass yards, but a few acres of farmland survived and now produces a variety of crops as well as a small patch dedicated to strawberries.
As a young girl, I can remember the phone ringing in the middle of the night as the strawberry farmer called for my brothers. I was too small to tell you when the calls came for I have no recollection if they were at midnight or 4 am. I just remember my Mom rousing ‘the boys’ and sending them to the farm to help with the spraying so the berries didn’t freeze from a late frost.
I remember sitting amidst rows of strawberries that seemed to go on forever, a barely visible line of trees in the distance and the knowledge that there were more fields of berries beyond them. My mom and I would pick and pick for what would seem like hours filling large trays with plumps berries and then bringing them home to wash and hull. Other days my brothers would return home from the farm with flats of berries for my mother.
My first job was picking strawberries. I think I was paid 10 cents a quart. I remember one year I persuaded my best friend to pick with me. We would get up early, walk to the farm thinking we were pretty grown up to walk the path through the woods alone and spend the morning picking to earn a dollar and some change. The need for pickers was short lived so this job only lasted a few weeks each summer but it was enough to fill our pockets with money to buy candy bars or penny candy at the store.
I remember going with my parents to the fields in the evening time to pick up my brothers and watching as they good heartedly raced down a row of berries to see who could clean pick the row the fastest or fill a flat the quickest.
I never thought there would be a time when picking strawberries would not be a part of my summer activities. But, it seems to be something relegated to memories now. I revisited the few fields of strawberries that had survived several years ago. The land had changed hands several times since my childhood. I had hoped to rekindle part of the memories and experiences with my daughter. Instead, the outing was a glorious disaster with unpleasant, bitter tasting berries that were far and few between and a child begging to leave. I gave in quickly to her pleas. This was not the place of my childhood memories.
I have noticed in recent years that there are a few pick your own strawberry fields coming into existence but they are a bit of a drive.
I have devised my own solution and last year shared a little of the love for these berries with the daughter. I built my own 10 x 15 foot bed of berries. Already I can see hints of red. Tomorrow, I anticipate harvesting a small handful which I am sure will never make it to the front door. I think I’ll wait for my daughter to get home from school before I go to inspect our berries. I wonder who will find the most berries.
One of the most prominent summertime memories from my childhood is about fields and fields of strawberries for as far as the eye could see. Okay, I was small and I couldn’t see nearly as far as I can now from a slightly higher vantage point but you get the idea. Strawberries and cows were part of the town where I grew up. There were three dairy farms and an expansive pick your own strawberry farm.
The dairies and the strawberry farm are both gone. The strawberry farm was replaced by houses with big grass yards, but a few acres of farmland survived and now produces a variety of crops as well as a small patch dedicated to strawberries.
As a young girl, I can remember the phone ringing in the middle of the night as the strawberry farmer called for my brothers. I was too small to tell you when the calls came for I have no recollection if they were at midnight or 4 am. I just remember my Mom rousing ‘the boys’ and sending them to the farm to help with the spraying so the berries didn’t freeze from a late frost.
I remember sitting amidst rows of strawberries that seemed to go on forever, a barely visible line of trees in the distance and the knowledge that there were more fields of berries beyond them. My mom and I would pick and pick for what would seem like hours filling large trays with plumps berries and then bringing them home to wash and hull. Other days my brothers would return home from the farm with flats of berries for my mother.
My first job was picking strawberries. I think I was paid 10 cents a quart. I remember one year I persuaded my best friend to pick with me. We would get up early, walk to the farm thinking we were pretty grown up to walk the path through the woods alone and spend the morning picking to earn a dollar and some change. The need for pickers was short lived so this job only lasted a few weeks each summer but it was enough to fill our pockets with money to buy candy bars or penny candy at the store.
I remember going with my parents to the fields in the evening time to pick up my brothers and watching as they good heartedly raced down a row of berries to see who could clean pick the row the fastest or fill a flat the quickest.
I never thought there would be a time when picking strawberries would not be a part of my summer activities. But, it seems to be something relegated to memories now. I revisited the few fields of strawberries that had survived several years ago. The land had changed hands several times since my childhood. I had hoped to rekindle part of the memories and experiences with my daughter. Instead, the outing was a glorious disaster with unpleasant, bitter tasting berries that were far and few between and a child begging to leave. I gave in quickly to her pleas. This was not the place of my childhood memories.
I have noticed in recent years that there are a few pick your own strawberry fields coming into existence but they are a bit of a drive.
I have devised my own solution and last year shared a little of the love for these berries with the daughter. I built my own 10 x 15 foot bed of berries. Already I can see hints of red. Tomorrow, I anticipate harvesting a small handful which I am sure will never make it to the front door. I think I’ll wait for my daughter to get home from school before I go to inspect our berries. I wonder who will find the most berries.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
What's with lawns anyways?
I hate my lawn.
This opinion might startle you, but have you ever paused to think about what your lawn gives you in return? I challenge you to make a list. What are the pros of your lawn? In other words, what do you use it for, when was the last time you sat in your front yard entertaining guests, etc? What are the cons of your lawn?
My brother once sold a house he owned because it was too time consuming to maintain the golf course perfect lawn that was expected in the development where he lived. It was a pretty lawn, but other than admiring its green perfection as I walked from my car to his front door I never actually walked on it or sat in a chair gazing at it. This begs the question, what was its purpose and why are we a slave to being a conformist?
I confess I love the smell of fresh mown grass but what is behind this ugly little American dream of a picket fence and pristine front lawn?
The truth is these lawns are toxic, water demanding, monocultures which are ruining ours and the planet’s health. It is estimated that homeowners use 10 times as much chemical treatment in the form of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers in order to maintain a healthy lawn as compared to commercial agriculture. Most of these chemicals wash off into the local water shed contributing to environmental issues such as algae blooms and eutrophication in local lakes and ponds, decreased shellfish in the Chesapeake Bay and the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.
The small amount of gasoline we use to power our individual lawn mowers or tractors may not seem to have a significant impact on oil dependency and the dwindling of a finite resource. However, if we consider instead our collective use to mow 40 million lawns, the number quickly escalates. Furthermore, if we take into account that most herbicides and pesticides are derived from petroleum products and synthetic fertilizers from natural gas we can see that our fossil fuel dependency is greater than we originally conceived.
The environmental impact doesn’t end with fossil fuels. If you maintain a lawn you know you need to water it or else it will dry up and turn brown. In suburbia, this is a social no-no except when there is a water ban in effect. Water. It’s amazing to consider that we use possibly the most precious resource on our planet for something so trivial as to keep our lawns green. Our planet is over 70% water but only a fraction of 1% is accessible as fresh, potable water.
For many of us, our lawn occupies prime real estate. It has access to partial to full sun and the land is arable. Why then do we not demand more from this space? We spend time weed whacking, trimming, fertilizing, mowing, and reseeding this space on a regular basis. Is there something else we could use it for? Can we be smarter and more savvy in our use of this land?
Let’s consider 40 million homeowners converting a small portion of their lawn to grow food (0.025 acres). It’s not much land per person when you consider this but collectively, this is 1 million acres of food production. That is a lot of food.
So, I once again repeat my original question, what does your lawn give you in return? Could you plant a few edibles there or perhaps some native flowers and shrubs? Either way it is a win-win for you and our planet. Growing local flora will attract pollinators and wildlife to your yard. If you are interested in creating a wildlife habitat instead of food, I recommend you check out www.nwf.org for more information. Besides, there is no reason you have to decide on food or wildlife, you can combine the best of both to attract beneficial insects to your yard which will protect your harvest.
What are your dreams and ambitions for your yard? Even if it is just the addition of a blueberry bush to your foundation planting it is a monumental movement against the established norm.
Happy Gardening and Eating.
-Susan
This opinion might startle you, but have you ever paused to think about what your lawn gives you in return? I challenge you to make a list. What are the pros of your lawn? In other words, what do you use it for, when was the last time you sat in your front yard entertaining guests, etc? What are the cons of your lawn?
My brother once sold a house he owned because it was too time consuming to maintain the golf course perfect lawn that was expected in the development where he lived. It was a pretty lawn, but other than admiring its green perfection as I walked from my car to his front door I never actually walked on it or sat in a chair gazing at it. This begs the question, what was its purpose and why are we a slave to being a conformist?
I confess I love the smell of fresh mown grass but what is behind this ugly little American dream of a picket fence and pristine front lawn?
The truth is these lawns are toxic, water demanding, monocultures which are ruining ours and the planet’s health. It is estimated that homeowners use 10 times as much chemical treatment in the form of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers in order to maintain a healthy lawn as compared to commercial agriculture. Most of these chemicals wash off into the local water shed contributing to environmental issues such as algae blooms and eutrophication in local lakes and ponds, decreased shellfish in the Chesapeake Bay and the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.
The small amount of gasoline we use to power our individual lawn mowers or tractors may not seem to have a significant impact on oil dependency and the dwindling of a finite resource. However, if we consider instead our collective use to mow 40 million lawns, the number quickly escalates. Furthermore, if we take into account that most herbicides and pesticides are derived from petroleum products and synthetic fertilizers from natural gas we can see that our fossil fuel dependency is greater than we originally conceived.
The environmental impact doesn’t end with fossil fuels. If you maintain a lawn you know you need to water it or else it will dry up and turn brown. In suburbia, this is a social no-no except when there is a water ban in effect. Water. It’s amazing to consider that we use possibly the most precious resource on our planet for something so trivial as to keep our lawns green. Our planet is over 70% water but only a fraction of 1% is accessible as fresh, potable water.
For many of us, our lawn occupies prime real estate. It has access to partial to full sun and the land is arable. Why then do we not demand more from this space? We spend time weed whacking, trimming, fertilizing, mowing, and reseeding this space on a regular basis. Is there something else we could use it for? Can we be smarter and more savvy in our use of this land?
Let’s consider 40 million homeowners converting a small portion of their lawn to grow food (0.025 acres). It’s not much land per person when you consider this but collectively, this is 1 million acres of food production. That is a lot of food.
So, I once again repeat my original question, what does your lawn give you in return? Could you plant a few edibles there or perhaps some native flowers and shrubs? Either way it is a win-win for you and our planet. Growing local flora will attract pollinators and wildlife to your yard. If you are interested in creating a wildlife habitat instead of food, I recommend you check out www.nwf.org for more information. Besides, there is no reason you have to decide on food or wildlife, you can combine the best of both to attract beneficial insects to your yard which will protect your harvest.
What are your dreams and ambitions for your yard? Even if it is just the addition of a blueberry bush to your foundation planting it is a monumental movement against the established norm.
Happy Gardening and Eating.
-Susan
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Tomatoes and Bisphenol A
At last, the garden is almost completely planted. I’m hoping to grow a lot of food for my family and I’m not sure how long it will last. This year I will be keeping track how long each harvest lasts so I can make better decisions in future years regarding the amount I need to plant. Ideally, I would have enough to last until next year for the items I have decided to grow.
Tomatoes are at the top of my list to try and grow enough of to make it through most if not the entire year. They are highly acidic and therefore a great candidate to can and they freeze well. I really didn’t know how many tomato plants to buy so I settled on eight. Since I wanted to be able to can enough sauce for our household use, I purchased four paste or Roma tomatoes to be used primarily for this purpose but I expect tomatoes from the Early Girls Improved will also make their way into the sauces I put up.
I also purchased three heirloom tomatoes on a whim. How could I resist? There were several dozen varieties at the nursery and they all sounded so good. So I settled on ‘Mortgage Lifter,’ a big tomato to satisfy my husband’s desire to have a large tomato. A tomato called ‘Banana Legs’ which will be yellow and the last heirloom is called ‘Black Icicles’ which will be long and red/black in color. I thought if nothing else they would add some visual pizzazz to salads and other dishes.
In addition to the 11 tomato plants above, I put in four ‘Sun Gold’ cherry tomatoes. They are the absolutely sweetest tomato I have ever eaten. My only problem with this plant is it is so prolific I never know what to do with all the extras I pick. We can’t eat them fast enough. I’ve also found they don’t work well in recipes, they are too sweet. Please share any ideas you have on how to preserve these for future use.
Why am I so interested in trying to supply my own tomatoes for my household? In part, we love tomatoes and nothing compares to the flavor of fresh homegrown. Those things they sell in the grocery stores are nearly flavorless and do not deserve to be called tomatoes. These humble fruit from the nightshade family is a staple for a variety of dishes in my house including pasta dishes, pizza, and chili to name a few. The other reason I am interested is due to the presence of Bisphenol A (BPA) in canned tomato products.
You know that white lining you see inside the can? It contains BPA. The EPA and other government agencies say the small amount of BPA in cans is not harmful to human health but last year new studies were released which indicated that highly acidic foods (can you say tomatoes?) leaches BPA out of the lining of the cans. Prevention magazine suggested consumers who wished to avoid BPA to buy tomatoes or sauces in glass containers. To do so is an expensive endeavor and I have yet to see tomatoes in a glass container for sale in my grocery store.
So why should we be concerned about BPA? BPA is most notably known for its ability to act like an estrogen in humans and animals, aka an estrogen disrupter. There are numerous studies which link BPA to developmental problems, as well as, mammary and prostate cancer. Most studies indicate most risks are associated when the exposure is in utero or small children. However, new studies suggest that BPA exposure in adults may be linked to the diabetes and obesity epidemic we are now facing as a nation. It also changes brain chemistry from maternal instincts to anxiety. I suggest you check out the following website and its peer reviewed studies for more information on BPA. http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/newscience/oncompounds/bisphenola/bpauses.htm
Okay, the government organizations say our exposure to this chemical is much lower than the exposure limits they have set and therefore it is of little to no concern. This is the same government that decided mammograms for women in their 40s was a waste of money and should therefore not be performed. I am not going to leave it to the government to decide what is safe for me when there are studies out there which indicate that we are exposed through a variety of different sources to the threshold limit set by the EPA for this substance. We have created one big experiment with a myriad of chemicals in our modern world. I think it is too easy to assume that anyone understands what the synergistic effects of all of these things will have on us and the planet. As for me, I’m making efforts to avoid these chemicals we have let loose upon our world and incorporated into our food distribution.
To a chemical free diet
- Susan
Tomatoes are at the top of my list to try and grow enough of to make it through most if not the entire year. They are highly acidic and therefore a great candidate to can and they freeze well. I really didn’t know how many tomato plants to buy so I settled on eight. Since I wanted to be able to can enough sauce for our household use, I purchased four paste or Roma tomatoes to be used primarily for this purpose but I expect tomatoes from the Early Girls Improved will also make their way into the sauces I put up.
I also purchased three heirloom tomatoes on a whim. How could I resist? There were several dozen varieties at the nursery and they all sounded so good. So I settled on ‘Mortgage Lifter,’ a big tomato to satisfy my husband’s desire to have a large tomato. A tomato called ‘Banana Legs’ which will be yellow and the last heirloom is called ‘Black Icicles’ which will be long and red/black in color. I thought if nothing else they would add some visual pizzazz to salads and other dishes.
In addition to the 11 tomato plants above, I put in four ‘Sun Gold’ cherry tomatoes. They are the absolutely sweetest tomato I have ever eaten. My only problem with this plant is it is so prolific I never know what to do with all the extras I pick. We can’t eat them fast enough. I’ve also found they don’t work well in recipes, they are too sweet. Please share any ideas you have on how to preserve these for future use.
Why am I so interested in trying to supply my own tomatoes for my household? In part, we love tomatoes and nothing compares to the flavor of fresh homegrown. Those things they sell in the grocery stores are nearly flavorless and do not deserve to be called tomatoes. These humble fruit from the nightshade family is a staple for a variety of dishes in my house including pasta dishes, pizza, and chili to name a few. The other reason I am interested is due to the presence of Bisphenol A (BPA) in canned tomato products.
You know that white lining you see inside the can? It contains BPA. The EPA and other government agencies say the small amount of BPA in cans is not harmful to human health but last year new studies were released which indicated that highly acidic foods (can you say tomatoes?) leaches BPA out of the lining of the cans. Prevention magazine suggested consumers who wished to avoid BPA to buy tomatoes or sauces in glass containers. To do so is an expensive endeavor and I have yet to see tomatoes in a glass container for sale in my grocery store.
So why should we be concerned about BPA? BPA is most notably known for its ability to act like an estrogen in humans and animals, aka an estrogen disrupter. There are numerous studies which link BPA to developmental problems, as well as, mammary and prostate cancer. Most studies indicate most risks are associated when the exposure is in utero or small children. However, new studies suggest that BPA exposure in adults may be linked to the diabetes and obesity epidemic we are now facing as a nation. It also changes brain chemistry from maternal instincts to anxiety. I suggest you check out the following website and its peer reviewed studies for more information on BPA. http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/newscience/oncompounds/bisphenola/bpauses.htm
Okay, the government organizations say our exposure to this chemical is much lower than the exposure limits they have set and therefore it is of little to no concern. This is the same government that decided mammograms for women in their 40s was a waste of money and should therefore not be performed. I am not going to leave it to the government to decide what is safe for me when there are studies out there which indicate that we are exposed through a variety of different sources to the threshold limit set by the EPA for this substance. We have created one big experiment with a myriad of chemicals in our modern world. I think it is too easy to assume that anyone understands what the synergistic effects of all of these things will have on us and the planet. As for me, I’m making efforts to avoid these chemicals we have let loose upon our world and incorporated into our food distribution.
To a chemical free diet
- Susan
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Small success in eating local
I wanted to share my success in working toward my goal of feeding my family with local, sustainable raised food. I am not a purist in this endeavor. I am trying to achieve a balance of making choices to buy, produce and prepare food from local sources if and when possible and taking into account economics. I live on a budget.
Every little choice we make to eat local helps us decrease our ecological footprint and the ramifications on our planet’s finite sources and support local farmers. Hence, even little steps are big successes. I try to stress to my students that everyone working on the smallest change is part of a huge snowball effect.
There are two constants in our life, milk and eggs. The milk comes from a small dairy just up the road from my house. I walk there to get my milk. No trucks are needed to transport the milk and burn fossil fuels. Just me, my backpack and a good pair of shoes. The eggs are produced by my ducks. I have five females and I normally get five eggs a day. My family drinks a lot of milk because we like it and we regularly eat eggs, hence we decided to raise ducks. Even though I have not indicated here, we often eat eggs for breakfast or sometimes lunch.
Friday night pizza, a success we have been celebrating the last month or so. I just started making mozzarella cheese with the milk from my neighbor’s cows. I make the pizza crust with King Arthur’s flour. The company is out of Vermont and I’ve seen local’vore type places tout King Arthur’s flour but I do not know if the flour itself is raised in Vermont or elsewhere. The flour has another perk besides being from a somewhat local company, it is not bleached. Bleaching flour has ramifications on the ecosystem and potential on us humans. No thank you to bleached flour. Pizza crust is amazingly simple to make. 1/2c water, 2 c flour, 2 tsp yeast, a dash of sugar to get that yeast going and a drizzle of olive oil. Adjust adding water or flour as needed to get a nice dough. Plus you can always spice up your dough depending on how you feel with garlic, oregano or other seasonings.
Saturday and Sunday night we enjoyed strawberry rhubarb ice cream made from local milk and rhubarb from my garden. I had to cheat on the strawberry which was not local. I ran out of local, frozen strawberries in my freezer a few months ago. All in all, it was mostly local.
Sunday morning waffles were made with local eggs and milk, and King Arthur flour. Unfortunately I am feeling a bit too poor to buy real maple syrup. Home repairs must come first prior to indulging in such luxury. Besides, kids use a lot and don’t realize how expensive it is. It saves me from being an ogre or would that be an ogress?
Monday came and we celebrated Memorial Day with supper from our garden. The lettuce and radishes are ready to eat. I pulled a few new onions and picked some of the smallest leaves from the swiss chard I could find. I’ve discovered the smaller leaves are more palatable. Protein was from hard boiled duck eggs, although since they were fresh they were a bit tricky to peel. From the nether regions of the world, I supplemented with just a few cherry tomatoes which are not yet in season here and some olives. There was also fresh bread.
I confess to being most excited about being able to eat from our garden almost exclusively for supper Monday night. It was a wonderful feeling knowing that I was responsible for growing and raising the majority of what we ate and it tasted infinitely better than those prepared salads you buy at the store in a plastic bag.
I have more salads planned for this week to either serve as the main course or to supplement. I will need to start a new row of lettuce and radishes elsewhere in the garden in order to prolong my supply.
I hope you are able to make small changes either by deciding to purchase local milk or eggs or start to plan more local food into your menu. As the gardens mature I am sure our selection of local food will continue to expand.
Happy Gardening and Eating.
- Susan
Every little choice we make to eat local helps us decrease our ecological footprint and the ramifications on our planet’s finite sources and support local farmers. Hence, even little steps are big successes. I try to stress to my students that everyone working on the smallest change is part of a huge snowball effect.
There are two constants in our life, milk and eggs. The milk comes from a small dairy just up the road from my house. I walk there to get my milk. No trucks are needed to transport the milk and burn fossil fuels. Just me, my backpack and a good pair of shoes. The eggs are produced by my ducks. I have five females and I normally get five eggs a day. My family drinks a lot of milk because we like it and we regularly eat eggs, hence we decided to raise ducks. Even though I have not indicated here, we often eat eggs for breakfast or sometimes lunch.
Friday night pizza, a success we have been celebrating the last month or so. I just started making mozzarella cheese with the milk from my neighbor’s cows. I make the pizza crust with King Arthur’s flour. The company is out of Vermont and I’ve seen local’vore type places tout King Arthur’s flour but I do not know if the flour itself is raised in Vermont or elsewhere. The flour has another perk besides being from a somewhat local company, it is not bleached. Bleaching flour has ramifications on the ecosystem and potential on us humans. No thank you to bleached flour. Pizza crust is amazingly simple to make. 1/2c water, 2 c flour, 2 tsp yeast, a dash of sugar to get that yeast going and a drizzle of olive oil. Adjust adding water or flour as needed to get a nice dough. Plus you can always spice up your dough depending on how you feel with garlic, oregano or other seasonings.
Saturday and Sunday night we enjoyed strawberry rhubarb ice cream made from local milk and rhubarb from my garden. I had to cheat on the strawberry which was not local. I ran out of local, frozen strawberries in my freezer a few months ago. All in all, it was mostly local.
Sunday morning waffles were made with local eggs and milk, and King Arthur flour. Unfortunately I am feeling a bit too poor to buy real maple syrup. Home repairs must come first prior to indulging in such luxury. Besides, kids use a lot and don’t realize how expensive it is. It saves me from being an ogre or would that be an ogress?
Monday came and we celebrated Memorial Day with supper from our garden. The lettuce and radishes are ready to eat. I pulled a few new onions and picked some of the smallest leaves from the swiss chard I could find. I’ve discovered the smaller leaves are more palatable. Protein was from hard boiled duck eggs, although since they were fresh they were a bit tricky to peel. From the nether regions of the world, I supplemented with just a few cherry tomatoes which are not yet in season here and some olives. There was also fresh bread.
I confess to being most excited about being able to eat from our garden almost exclusively for supper Monday night. It was a wonderful feeling knowing that I was responsible for growing and raising the majority of what we ate and it tasted infinitely better than those prepared salads you buy at the store in a plastic bag.
I have more salads planned for this week to either serve as the main course or to supplement. I will need to start a new row of lettuce and radishes elsewhere in the garden in order to prolong my supply.
I hope you are able to make small changes either by deciding to purchase local milk or eggs or start to plan more local food into your menu. As the gardens mature I am sure our selection of local food will continue to expand.
Happy Gardening and Eating.
- Susan
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